Part 59 (1/2)
”Decidedly,” he had said, ”this man must be killed”
Le Chapelier had not answered him Almost, indeed, had the Breton shuddered at his coht that this fellow Moreau was hardly human Also he had found him incomprehensibly inconsistent When first this spadassinicide business had been proposed to hi ehoulish flippancy that was revolting, at ti still
Their preparations were made quickly and in silence, yet without undue haste or other sign of nervousness on either side In both rim determination prevailed The opponent must be killed; there could be no half-measures here Stripped each of coat and waistcoat, shoeless and with shi+rt-sleeves rolled to the elbow, they faced each other at last, with the co score that stood between the as to what must be the issue
Beside the captain, alert and watchful
”Allez, messieurs!”
The slender, wickedly delicate blades clashed together, and after a s, and almost as impossible to folloith the eye The Marquis led the attack, iorously, and almost at once Andre-Louis realized that he had to deal with an opponent of a very different mettle fro La Motte-Royau, of terrible reputation
Here was a iven extraordinary speed and a technique that was almost perfect In addition, he enjoyed over Andre-Louis physical advantages of strength and length of reach, which rendered hiether formidable And he was cool, too; cool and self-contained; fearless and purposeful Would anything shake that calm, wondered Andre-Louis?
He desired the punishment to be as full as he could make it Not content to kill the Marquis as the Marquis had killed Philippe, he desired that he should first know himself as powerless to avert that death as Philippe had been Nothing less would content Andre-Louis M le Marquisof that cup of despair It was in the account; part of the quittance due
As with a breaking sweep Andre-Louis parried the heavy lunge in which that first series of passes culleefully, after the fashi+on of a boy at a sport he loves
That extraordinary, ill-tih made M de La Tour d'Azyr's recovery hastier and less correctly dignified than it would otherwise have been
It startled and discomposed hiet hoe so beautifully timed and so truly delivered
He, too, had realized that his opponent's force was above anything that he could have expected, fencing-ht be, and on that account he had put forth his uty to make an end at once
More than the actual parry, the laugh by which it was acco And yet it was the end of so It was the end of that absolute confidence that had hitherto inspired M de La Tour d'Azyr He no longer looked upon the issue as a thing forgone He realized that if he was to prevail in this encounter, he o warily and fence as he had never fenced yet in all his life
They settled down again; and again--on the principle this time that the soundest defence is in attack--it was the Marquis who ame
Andre-Louis allowed him to do so, desired hinificent speed of his against the greater speed that whole days of fencing in succession for nearly two years had given the master With a beautiful, easy pressure of forte on foible Andre-Louis kept himself completely covered in that second bout, which onceit now, Andre-Louis parried it by notouch At the saht within the other's guard, thus placing his man so completely at his mercy that, as if fascinated, the Marquis did not even attempt to recover hih: He just s eyes of M de La Tour d'Azyr, and e
”Come, come, h an uncovered man?” Deliberately he fell back, whilst his shaken opponent recovered himself at last
M d'Orht
Le Chapelier swore softly,Providence to play the fool in this fashi+on!”
Andre-Louis observed the ashen pallor that now over spread the face of his opponent
”I think you begin to realize, monsieur, what Philippe de Vilmorin must have felt that day at Gavrillac I desired that you should first do so
Since that is accomplished, why, here's torapidity For a moment his point seemed to La Tour d'Azyr to be everywhere at once, and then froement in sixte, Andre-Louis stretched forith swift and vigorous ease to lunge in tierce He drove his point to transfix his opponent whoes uncovered in that line But to his arin, La Tour d'Azyr parried the stroke; infinitely rin La Tour d'Azyr parried it just too late Had he completely parried it, all would yet have been well But striking the blade in the last fraction of a second, the Marquis deflected the point from the line of his body, yet not so completely but that a couple of feet of that hard-driven steel tore through the muscles of his sword-arm
To the seconds none of these details had been visible All that they had seen had been a shirl of flashi+ng blades, and then Andre-Louis stretched ale that had pierced the Marquis' right arm just below the shoulder
The sword fell froers, which had been rendered powerless, and he stood now disar, before his opponent, who had at once recovered With the blood-tinged tip of his sword resting on the ground, Andre-Louis surveyed hih our own clumsiness has escaped us at the last ht be hailed as another victory for the Paladin of the Third Estate; only himself could know the extent and the bitternest of the failure