was ready to receive him.

"We shall see about that, Sir Captain Fracasse--doughty knight of
Bohemiennes!" said Vallombreuse disdainfully, and the conflict began.
The duke was not de Sigognac's equal at this kind of work, but still he
was skilful and brave, and had had too much good instruction to handle
his sword like a broom-stick, as Lampourde expressed it. He stood
entirely upon the defensive, and was exceedingly wary and prudent,
hoping, as his adversary must be already considerably fatigued by his
encounter with Malartic, that he might be able to get the better of him
this time, and retrieve his previous defeat. At the very beginning he
had succeeded in raising a small silver whistle to his lips with his
left hand--and its shrill summons brought five or six armed attendants
into the room.

"Carry away this woman," he cried, "and put out those two rascals. I
will take care of the captain myself."

The sudden interruption of these fresh forces astonished de Sigognac,
and as he saw two of the men lift up and carry off Isabelle--who had
fainted quite away--he was thrown for an instant off his guard, and very
nearly run through the body by his opponent.

Roused to a sense of his danger, he attacked the duke with renewed fury,
and with a terrible thrust, that made him reel, wounded him seriously in
the upper part of the chest.

Meanwhile Lampourde and Scapin had shown the duke's lackeys that it
would not be a very easy matter to put them out, and were handling them
rather roughly, when the cowardly fellows, seeing that their master was
wounded, and leaning against the wall, deathly pale, thought that he was
done for, and although they were fully armed, took to their heels and
fled, deaf to his feeble cry for assistance. While all this was going
on, the tyrant was making his way up the grand staircase, as fast as
his corpulence would permit, and reached the top just in time to see
Isabelle, pale, dishevelled, motionless, and apparently dead, being
borne along the corridor by two lackeys. Without stopping to make any
inquiries, and full of wrath at the thought that the sweet girl had
fallen a victim to the wickedness of the cruel Duke of Vallombreuse,
he drew his sword, and fell upon the two men with such fury that they
dropped their light burden and fled down the stairs as fast as their
legs could carry them. Then he knelt down beside the unconscious girl,
raised her gently in his arms, and found that her heart was