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Before Matthew ventured into the manse he was compelled to kneel beside the lily pond and drink Then he thrust his face into the water, for his ot as ers found the wounds of beak-jab and talon-scrape, his left eye was on its way to swelling shut, and there was a gash on his right cheek that felt so deep the bone o with his collection, he thought at this rate he&039;d have to wear his own mask to be presentable in public

But he had his vision and he wasn&039;t dead, nor was he severely wounded enough to wish to die He had his hands back, and that was a blessing Quick in and quick out, and pray to God they didn&039;t put a boy on the gate before he was done

It was deadly dangerous to be out here in the open He heard shouting off in the distance, to the right They were co before they did discover the gate at any second he expected so the road, knife in hand, to take up position on the front steps He got hi so hard it shook his body, climbed the steps, and tried the door It had not been locked by Chapel or Evans on the way to the game, and Matthealked into the house He shut the door behind hih the corridor to the dining-roo for movement or sound, and there stood before the door that separated hi notebook

Of course he&039;d seen it locked, but out of the habit of humans to not trust their eyes Matthew tried the handle Locked then, locked now

Nohati

Nothing to be done but the way of the brute Matthew set hie Then once again, when it wouldn&039;t budge It seelish variety The thing wasn&039;t opening so easily, and in the bargain the noise would awaken the eyeless failures in Chapel&039;s cemetery

Matthew desperately looked around The tall brass candelabras that shed sosilverware Their bases looked sturdy enough He picked one up and found his ht This is what a ht Sir Lancelot he was not, but he backed up nearly the length of the rooht have hefted a jousting lance If the door didn&039;t give this ti Hit the door under the handle with hisi soundi

No It was the door, which burst open and crashed against the wall behind it The battered thing hung lied after his drugged escapade with Lady LeClaire, who he re not-so-beauty at the top of the stairs

Soht his breath and spun around, the candelabra still in his arood door, sir," said Simon Chapel Beside hiren, his face devoid of e "What do you think you&039;re doing, otherwisei"

Matthew couldn&039;t get his tongue working

"Oh," Chapel said, with a quickfor the notebook, is that iti Surely You have nothing without it, correcti Even Mr Nack knew that" His topaz eyes behind the square lenses ticked right and left "Your ladyfriendi Where is shei"

"Gone," Matthew said "Out the gate"

Chapel&039;s atei" He composed himself, like any a way to town, isn&039;t iti a long way also to the nearest farm We&039;ll find her" He looked Matthew over from dirty shoetips to top of his touseled and claw-ripped hair "Maybe you ought to go to that village in Wales, Matthew I&039;m sure the professor would find soot out of the cords, too! Fascinating But some of the boys are just out front and their knives are very hungry, so you can tell ave my birds the shake while we-"

He was interrupted, quite fir outside the house that even Matthew could tell was not rough-housing boys eager for a killing There was some panic in the voices that went up and up like the hawks fleeing bitter earth "What is thati" Chapel said to Count Dahlgren, and he was answered not by the Prussian but by the crack of a pistol shot

"Sir! Sir!" It was Lawrence Evans, shouting froh and thin, squeezed by fear "Riders!"

Chapel shivered In an instant his face went pallid, as if he were freezing to death

"Mr Chapel!" Evans squawled, and now could be heard through the open door and along the corridor a s, and a second pistol shot that made the master of the house shake in his shoes as if his little world had suddenly been knocked out of the sky by one of Increase Mather&039;s comets

Chapel turned like a force of nature, however wounded, and grasped the front of Dahlgren&039;s beige coat to shove the lanced back at Matthew, his face contorted and saliva glistening at the corners of hisHe said to Dahlgren, "Cut hi the corridor, and Dahlgren suddenly moved with the speed of quicksilver to draord frolanced toward the doors that led out to the terrace and the garden They were shrouded by the wine-red drapes He thought that if he had to spend h the drapes and the doors, he&039;d be skewered in the back Even if he ren was advancing The sounds of conflict outside the house iven

Matthew had to ren&039;s chest The Count niht&039;s lance with one hand, and tore it out of Matthew&039;s grip, at the sa the rapier&039;s deadly point up in a strike at Matthew&039;s belly

Matthew backpedalled out of range Dahlgren followed, throwing aside the candelabra with Prussian disdain abruptly Matthew found hiainst the other display of swords on his side of the fireplace His hand chose a rapier before his brain could tell hi to do, yet he pulled the weapon free Instantly Dahlgren went into a coet and putting his free hand behind him like a rudder, knees bent but not too much, feet spaced for balance, hand closed firrip and the thus Greathouse had tried to teach, Matthew thought grimly

He knew he had not the chance of a spit in a skillet to survive the next ren realized he was facing a et his chisel

Someone was out there Riders, Evans had said How manyi Two pistol shots and pande enough to be rescued

To bluff was his only option He e ati His swordi No, his eyes Reading the fear in theren&039;s eyes, which now held a spark of interest With sweat oozing from his pores he waited for the next thrust even as he shifted carefully to the left

Dahlgren&039;s sword struck a feint Too late, Matthew reached out to check it and was off-balance The blade hissed in, twisted, and struck at Matthew&039;s face like a viper&039;s tongue Matthew jerked his head aside and stu in on hirin

In panic, Matthew threw his sword like a spear even as he realized the action would staren reached out with his own blade and casually flicked the flying sword aside It clattered across the silverware on the table at once Matthew had bounded back to the array of weapons and pulled another one out Dahlgren was al toward Matthew&039;s throat Matthew braced his legs-to hell with the forren&039;s arain the rapier&039;s tip was a flash of steel, this tiainly sprawl but was not quick enough, for the sword tore through the cloth of his right upper arm When the point ca pain He stepped forward, his teeth clenched and his face a rictus of terror He lunged at Dahlgren&039;s face but in the next instant his rapier was broken in half and his wrist almost with it

Matthew pulled a third sword free as he was turning to face the Count, the enemy&039;s rapier tip alive hiren followed

Matthew tensed, his nerves screaht, but Mattheas too slow to respond and didn&039;t go for it Then Dahlgren&039;s knees bent a littleHe backed up and hit the table

Dahlgren&039;s rapier tipeffect

Matthew took an instant to dare a glance at the table Dahlgren sprang forward, but Matthew had already seen and picked up Chapel&039;s silver pepper boith his left hand He threw the contents into the swordsren cried out and threw an arm across his face, the sword thrust ild over Matthew&039;s right shoulder, and for a second Matthew had the clear ie of a chessboard where his next move had to be offensive He took a rapid e toward his opponent The point of his sword pierced cloth and entered Dahlgren&039;s chest on the right side It was not the sa a side of beef Dahlgren wrenched hi back, his own rapier thrusting left, right, and center in a blur and his free hand working to clear his eyes

Matthew rushed upon the ren on the side of the head There was a brittle clang as the tords ain flew across the rooh shot with red were cleared He swung a backhanded blow at Mattheho once ht inches of rapier in his hand

Dahlgren sneezed pepper froht blood upon the floor, and then settled himself into his formal combat posture

Matthew dropped the broken blade, picked up a silver plate full of chicken bones, and threw it at hiainst the fireplace bricks a second thrown plate glanced off his shoulder Matthew reached to the table a third tirease

Dahlgren retreated to the nearest array of swords and slid free a second rapier

Matthew looked duers opened, it fell to the table, and he retrieved his original sword that lay ae of lunch

The Prussian advanced, the tordpointssmall circles in the air Outside the house there was a third pistol shot, and now fro: the sainst flesh followed by a shrill cry of pain