Page 54 (1/1)

He bore down upon ht for ed and ca the circle after I had caught his steel, I carried it out of his hand It whirled an instant, a shiainst the marble balustrade half a dozen yards away With his sword it seee, too, departed, and he stood at my mercy, a curious picture of foolishness, surprise, and fear

Now the Chevalier de Saint-Eustache was a young ive such an act as he had been guilty of--that of drawing his sword upon a man who carried no weapons--would have been not only a ridiculous toleration, but an utter neglect of duty As an older man it behoved entle So, quite dispassionately, and purely for his own future good, I went about the task, and adhness it would be hard to better I was not discriht my cane doith a rhythmical precision, and whether it took him on the head, the back, or the shoulders, I held to be more his affair than ht receive in the course of it were inconsiderable details so that the lesson was borne in upon his soul Two or three tiht to close with ar exchange of blows My object was not to brawl, but to administer chastisement, and this object I ree of success

At last Roxalanne interfered; but only when one blow a little more violent, perhaps, than its precursors resulted in the sudden snapping of the cane and Monsieur de Eustache's utter collapse into aheap

"I deplore, ht with such a spectacle, but unless these lessons are administered upon the instant their effect is not half so salutary"

"He deserved it, monsieur," said she, with a note almost of fierceness in her voice And of such poorh me I walked over to the spot where his sword had fallen, and picked it up

"Monsieur de Saint-Eustache," said I, "you have so dishonoured this blade that I do not think you would care to wear it again" Saying which, I snapped it acrossit far out into the river, for all that the hilt was a costly one, richly wrought in bronze and gold