but I must confess that his
unequalled performance to-day filled me with astonishment; it was simply
marvellous. Neither Girolamo nor Paraguante, those two world-renowned
swordsmen, could have surpassed it. I watched him closely, and I tell
you that even they could not have withstood him. It took all your
remarkable skill--which has been so greatly enhanced by the Neapolitan's
instructions--to avoid being mortally wounded; why your defeat was a
victory in my eyes, in that it was not a more overwhelming one."

"I don't know how I am to wait for this wound to heal," the duke said,
after a short pause, "I am so impatient to provoke him again, and have
the opportunity to revenge myself."

"That would be a very hazardous proceeding, and one that I should
strongly advise you not to attempt," Vidalinc replied in an earnest
tone. "Your sword-arm will scarcely be as strong as before for a long
time I fear, and that would seriously diminish your chances of success.
This Baron de Sigognac is a very formidable antagonist, and will be
still more so, for you, now that he knows your tactics; and besides, the
confidence in himself which his first victory naturally gives him would
be another thing in his favour. Honour is satisfied, and the encounter
was a serious one for you. Let the matter rest here, I beseech you!"

Vallombreuse could not help being secretly convinced of the justice of
these remarks, but was not willing to avow it openly, even to his most
intimate friend. He was a sufficiently accomplished swordsman himself
to appreciate de Sigognac's wonderful prowess, and he knew that it far
surpassed his own much vaunted skill, though it enraged him to have to
recognise this humiliating fact. He was even obliged to acknowledge, in
his inmost heart, that he owed his life to the generous forbearance of
his hated enemy; who might have taken it just as well as not, but had
spared him, and been content with giving him only a flesh wound, just
severe enough to put him hors-de-combat, without doing him any serious
injury. This magnanimous conduct, by which a less haughty nature would
have been deeply touched, only served to irritate the young duke's
pride, and increase his resentment. To think that he, the valiant and
puissant Duke of Vallombreuse, had been conquered, humiliated, wounded!
the bare idea made him frantic. Although he said nothing further to his
companion about his revenge, his mind was filled with fierce projects
whereby