ng to us. He has
spent already six years in prison for manslaughter, and a year for
a brutal assault upon a constable. Guiseppe was tried in his native
country for a particularly fiendish murder, and escaped, owing, I
believe, to some legal technicality. That, however, has nothing to do
with the matter. These men have sworn to fight to the death, and
the girl, I understand, is willing to return to Jim if he should be
successful, or to remain with Guiseppe if he should show himself able
to retain her. The fight between these men, my friends, has been
transferred from Seven Dials for your entertainment. It will take place
before you here and now."

There was a little shiver amongst the audience. Francis, almost to his
horror, was unable to resist the feeling of queer excitement which stole
through his veins. A few yards away, Lady Isabel seemed to have become
transformed. She was leaning forward in her chair, her eyes glowing,
her lips parted, rejuvenated, dehumanised. Francis' immediate companion,
however, rather surprised him. Her eyes were fixed intently upon Sir
Timothy's. She seemed to have been weighing every word he had spoken.
There was none of that hungry pleasure in her face which shone from the
other woman's and was reflected in the faces of many of the others. She
seemed to be bracing herself for a shock. Sir Timothy looked over his
shoulder towards the door which opened upon the sanded space.

"You can bring your men along," he directed.

One of the attendants promptly made his appearance. He was holding
tightly by the arm a man of apparently thirty years of age, shabbily
dressed, barefooted, without collar or necktie, with a mass of black
hair which looked as though it had escaped the care of any barber for
many weeks. His complexion was sallow; he had high cheekbones and a
receding chin, which gave him rather the appearance of a fox. He shrank
a little from the lights as though they hurt his eyes, and all the time
he looked furtively back to the door, through which in a moment or two
his rival was presently escorted. The latter was a young man of stockier
build, ill-conditioned, and with the brutal face of the lowest of his
class. Two of his front teeth were missing, and there was a livid mark
on the side of his cheek. He looked neither to the right nor to the
left. His eyes were fixed upon the other man, and they looked death.

"The gentleman who first appeared," Sir Timothy observed, stepping up
into