the master of the place,
as he took the rapier from Tom; and the next minute the youth from
the country stood in silent admiration and amaze, whilst the two
blades crossed and flashed, and twined and clashed, with a
precision and masterly deftness which aroused his keen delight and
envy. To become a proficient like that would be something worth
living for; and his quick eyes studied the movements and methods of
the two adversaries, till he felt he had begun to have some little
notion of the tricks by which such results were attained.

When Lord Claud came back to fetch him, at the end of the
stipulated hour, it was to find young Tom without coat, vest, or
peruke, and bathed in perspiration; but so keenly interested in the
new science, that it was all his comrade could do to drag him away.

"Egad, Tom, but you will make a pretty swordsman one of these days!
Captain Raikes says he has never had a more promising pupil. You
have winded him as well as yourself. But all that exertion must
have given you an appetite. We will to Pontac's and refresh
ourselves; and when you have cooled down, I will take you to see a
man as great in his way as Captain Raikes with the foils. Oh yes,
you can come again at your leisure for another lesson. But I have
no fears for you, tomorrow, even now. Whatever may betide, you are
no child with the sword."

The coffee house to which Lord Claud now conducted him was a much
finer and more select place than the Folly, and Tom was much
interested in the fine company there, all of whom welcomed Lord
Claud heartily, and seemed to desire to draw him into talk.

Although dressed in the height of the fashion, and not without
their fopperies and extravagances, the company here interested
itself less with private scandal than with public affairs, and
there was much talk of the war abroad, and of the return of the
Duke of Marlborough, which it was now thought would take place
before long.

"But he has first to go to Berlin, to cajole the King of Prussia to
send help to Italy, to the Duke of Savoy," cried one of the
company, who seemed best informed on military matters. "It will
take a good one to wring eight thousand soldiers out of His Majesty
of Prussia, but if any man can do it, it will be Johnny Churchill!
I remember him even when we were boys together. He had a tongue
that would flatter the nose off your face, if you did but listen to
him! A voice of silver, and a hand of iron--those are the gifts