practise with them, but
I shall lose no time in getting the best instruction I can, here."

"You may want it, Kennedy. We are not particularly liked by the
French officers, because we are generally chosen to lead an
assault, or for other desperate service. Duelling is, of course,
forbidden, but that in no way prevents duels from being frequent.
As for fighting in action, as far as I have seen or heard,
swordsmanship does not go for a great deal. If you press on hard
enough, and there are men following you, the enemy give way,
generally, before it comes to hand-to-hand fighting. If, on the
other hand, they are the more numerous, and hold their position in
the breach, it is the musketry that settles it. It is only when
two officers happen to meet, in a fierce fight, that swordsmanship
becomes of importance.

"We have a good school in the regiment, and there are several
famous masters of fence in the town, so I should advise you to
give a couple of hours a day, for a time, to making yourself a
first-rate swordsman. I have just left off. Our maitre d'armes
tells me I am too hotheaded ever to make a fine blade; but I
should fancy, from the way you have been arguing, that you are
likely to be cooler than most of us in a fencing bout. It is the
fault with us all that we are apt to lose our tempers, and indeed
Maitre Maupert, who is the best teacher here, declines absolutely
to take any of us as pupils, saying that, while we may do
excellently well in battle, he can never hope to make first-class
fencers of men who cannot be relied upon to keep their heads cool,
and to fight with pointed weapons as calmly as they might fence
with a friend in a saloon."

"Well, I shall work hard to become a fair swordsman," Desmond
said, with a laugh. "I suppose there is plenty of time to spare."

"Plenty. We have a couple of hours' drill in the morning, and
after that, except when you are officer of the day, you can spend
your time as you like. The colonel and two of his officers attend
at the king's levees, when he is in Paris, but, as he spends the
greater portion of his time at Versailles, we are seldom called
upon for that duty."

A few days after Desmond's arrival, the colonel took him with him
to Saint Germain, where James the 3rd, as his supporters called
him, held a miniature court. The colonel presented Desmond as a
loyal subject of His Majesty, and a newly-joined cornet in his
regiment.

The young prince was a lad of eightee