illed him," said I, and looked up at her stonily, as Nat's
head fell back, with a weight I could not mistake, on my arms.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE FIRST CHALLENGE.

"The remedye agayns Ire is a vertu that men clepen Mansuetude,
that is Debonairetee; and eek another vertu, that men callen
Patience or Suffrance. . . . This vertu disconfiteth thyn
enemy. And therefore seith the wyse man, `If thou wolt
venquisse thyn enemy, lerne to suffre.'"--
CHAUCER, _Parson's Tale_.

"You have killed him." I lowered Nat's head, stood up and accused her
fiercely.

She confronted me, contemptuous yet pale. Even in my wrath I could
see that her pallor had nothing to do with fear.

"Say that I have, what then?" She very deliberately unhitched the
gun from her bandolier, and, after examining the lock, laid it on the
turf midway between us. "As my hostage you may claim vendetta; take
your shot then, and afterwards Marc'antonio shall take his."

"No, no, Englishman!" Marc'antonio ran between us while yet I stared
at her without comprehending, and there was anguish in his cry.
"The Princess lies to you. It was I that fired the shot--I that
killed your friend!"

The girl shrugged her shoulders indifferently. "Ah, well then,
Marc'antonio, since you will have it so, give me my gun again and
hand yours to the cavalier. Do as I tell you, please," she
commanded, as the man turned to her with a dropping jaw.

"Princess, I implore you--"

"You are a coward, Marc'antonio."

"Have it so," he answered sullenly. "It is God's truth, at all
events, that I am afraid."

"For me? But I have this." She tapped the barrel of her gun as she
took it from him. "And afterwards--if that is in your mind--
afterwards I shall still have Stephanu."

She said it lightly, but it brought all the blood back to his brow
and cheek with a rush. Not for many days did I learn the full
meaning of the look he turned on her, but for dumb reproach I never
saw the like of it on man's face.

Her foot tapped the ground. "Give him the gun," she commanded; and
Marc'antonio thrust it into my hands. "Now turn your back and walk
to that first tree yonder, very slowly, pace by pace, as you hear me
count."

Her face was set like a flint, her tone relentless. Marc'antonio
half raised his two fists, clenching them for a moment, but dropped
them by his side, turned his back, and began to walk obedientl