"
"You know it is not a lie," Rupert said calmly. "I know he told you
he was afraid to fight me, for that I was more than his match; and
it seems to me, sir, that this seeming pity for my youth is a mere
cover of the fact that you would rather choose as your victim
someone less skilled in fence than I happen to be. Are you a
coward, too, sir, as well as a ruffian?"
"Enough!" the German gasped.
"Swartzberg," he said, turning to his friend, "make the
arrangements; for I vow I will kill this insolent puppy in the
morning."
Lord Fairholm at once stepped forward to the Hessian captain.
"I shall have the honour to act as Mr. Holliday's second. Here is
my card. I shall be at home all the evening."
Rupert now resumed his seat, while Captain Muller and his friend
moved to the other end of the saloon. Here he was surrounded by a
number of German officers, who endeavoured to dissuade him from
fighting a duel in which the killing of his adversary would be
condemned by the whole army as child murder.
"Child or not," he said ferociously, "he dies tomorrow. You think
he was mad to insult me. It was conceit, not madness. His head is
turned; a fencing master once praised his skill at fence, and he
thinks himself a match for me--me! the best swordsman, though I say
it, in the German army. No, I would not have forced a quarrel on
him, for he is beneath my notice; but I am right glad that he has
taken up the glove I meant to throw down to his fellow.
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