s heart, and feared to look on her own sword?

[Illustration: SHE BEGAN TO THINK OF CONFESSING THAT SHE WAS A WOMAN]

When she saw her formidable rival advancing towards her with his sword
drawn, she began to think of confessing that she was a woman; but she
was relieved at once from her terror, and the shame of such a discovery,
by a stranger that was passing by, who made up to them, and as if he had
been long known to her, and were her dearest friend, said to her
opponent, "If this young gentleman has done offence, I will take the
fault on me; and if you offend him, I will for his sake defy you."
Before Viola had time to thank him for his protection, or to inquire the
reason of his kind interference, her new friend met with an enemy where
his bravery was of no use to him; for the officers of justice coming up
in that instant, apprehended the stranger in the duke's name, to answer
for an offence he had committed some years before: and he said to Viola,
"This comes with seeking you:" and then he asked her for a purse,
saying, "Now my necessity makes me ask for my purse, and it grieves me
much more for what I cannot do for you, than for what befalls myself.
You stand amazed, but be of comfort." His words did indeed amaze Viola,
and she protested she knew him not, nor had ever received a purse from
him; but for the kindness he had just shown her, she offered him a small
sum of money, being nearly the whole she possessed. And now the stranger
spoke severe things, charging her with ingratitude and unkindness. He
said, "This youth, whom you see here, I snatched from the jaws of death,
and for his sake alone I came to Illyria, and have fallen into this
danger." But the officers cared little for hearkening to the complaints
of their prisoner, and they hurried him on, saying, "What is that to
us?" And as he was carried away, he called Viola by the name of
Sebastian, reproaching the supposed Sebastian for disowning his friend,
as long as he was within hearing. When Viola heard herself called
Sebastian, though the stranger was taken away too hastily for her to ask
an explanation, she conjectured that this seeming mystery might arise
from her being mistaken for her brother; and she began to cherish hopes
that it was her brother whose life this man said he had preserved. And
so indeed it was. The stranger, whose name was Antonio, was a
sea-captain. He had taken Sebastian up into his ship, when, almost
exhausted with fatigue, he was