disappointed frown. "But 'anything for a quiet
life' is my motto. This is a mighty fine place, I'm thinking, where two
brave fellows can cut each other's throats in peace and without
disturbance." Major Querto stood by with the air of an indispensable
umpire.

The _escrime_ of those days had not attained its later refinements. The
combatants were placed opposite to each other, each flinging a cloak
about his left arm, to serve as a shield, and they prepared to encounter
in what would seem a fashion of "rough-and-tumble" to our modern
masters.

Both were brave men, and in the bloom of manhood. Elliot was the taller,
but Le Gallais, some seven or eight years older, far exceeded in
strength and weight. After scant ceremony the thrusting began. Feet
trampled, steel rang. A furious pass from the Jerseyman was with
difficulty caught in Elliot's cloak, and the sword for a moment
hampered. Before Le Gallais could extricate it, Elliot, with a savage
cry, ran in upon him, drawing back his elbow, so as to stab his
adversary with a shortened sword. A scuffle ensued, of which no
bystander could follow with his eye the full details, till the Scot's
sword was seen to turn upwards, and the point to pierce his own throat.
Each combatant fell backwards, Le Gallais bleeding from the left hand,
and Elliot spouting black gore from a severed artery.

At that instant cries name from the outside of the ring, "The guard!"
On which the spectators hastened to disperse, while the
Lieutenant-Governor rode up at the head of a mounted patrol. Elliot was
taken from the ground in a dying state, and Le Gallais arrested, and
ordered to Mont Orgueil, to await the arrival of the magistrate, who
should make the preliminary inquiry.

Left in that irksome durance, but with wound duly cared for, Alain had
abundant time to muse over the mistakes and misfortunes of the past.
After the inquiry he was necessarily committed for trial at the next
criminal session; and fell at first into a semi-mechanical existence.
But slowly the twin stars of memory and hope rose out of the dark, while
conscious integrity began to clear the moral aether. He tried in vain to
cherish remorse, but Elliot's treachery overbore the effort; slowly calm
returned.

It was true that the news of Elliot's fraud had been made known to the
ladies of Maufant by himself. But as he thought over the matter in the
solitude of his chilly cell, he could not see any reason to blame
himself on tha