"
"But, you have fenced with Lotzen frequently since then, you say?"
"Many times, sir."
"Hasn't he invariably used that particular attack?"
"And been met always by the regular defence. I took no chances on his
discovering the secret. I am confident he thinks, now, I disarmed him
by a mere accident."
"I suppose you let him score on you occasionally?" I said.
Moore shook his head. "Never, unless it were the very limit of his
reach. I don't trust him--sometimes, buttons are lost from foils. I
try to be very diplomatic by touching him very infrequently. Though I
rather think it is pearls before swine; for he is too good a fencer not
to see I am sparing him, and too jealously vindictive to appreciate my
courtesy."
I picked up a foil and made it whistle through the air.
"Come, Colonel Bernheim," I said, "I am at your service. Shall we use
the masks?"
"For Your Highness's sake, yes," he answered. "I'm apt to be a trifle
wild at times."
There was nothing especially graceful about my senior Aide; and,
besides being past the prime of life, he was of a rather bulky
tallness, stolid and phlegmatic. I could readily imagine his style,
and a very few passes confirmed it.
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