he has lost some of his quickness of reposte, there are, Monsieur
Dessin says, few fencers who could even now treat him lightly."

"And you have had the benefit of his instruction as well as that of
my countryman?" Monsieur Dalboy asked.

"Yes," Rupert said, "my grandfather, although he cares not at his
age for prolonged exercise, has yet made a point of giving me for a
few minutes each day the benefit of his skill."

"I should like to have a bout with you, Master Holliday," Monsieur
Dalboy said; "will you take a foil? I am curious to see what the
united teaching of my countryman and that noted swordsman Colonel
Holliday may have done. To me, as a master, it is interesting to
discover what is possible with good teachers, when the science is
begun young. What may your age be, Master Holliday?"

"I am four months short of sixteen," Rupert said, "and I shall be
very proud of the honour of crossing swords with so famed a master
as yourself, if you think me worthy of so great a privilege."

There was quite a sensation in the fencing school, round which were
gathered some forty or fifty of the young men of the day, when
Maitre Dalboy called for his plastron and foil, for it was seldom
indeed, and then only with swordsmen of altogether exceptional
strength, that Monsieur Dalboy condescended to fence, contenting
himself ordinarily with walking about the school and giving a hint
now and then to those fencing with his assistants, not, perhaps,
more than once a week taking a foil in his hand to illustrate some
thrust or guard which he was inculcating. At this call, therefore,
there was a general silence; and everyone turned to see who was the
fencer whom the great master thus signally deigned to honour.

Great was the astonishment when, as Monsieur Dalboy divested
himself of his coat and vest, the lad who had entered with Lord
Fairholm and Sir John Loveday was seen similarly to prepare for the
contest.

"Who is he? What singular freak is this of the maitre to take up a
foil with a boy!" was the question which ran round the room.

Several of those present had met Rupert Holliday, and could give
his name; but none could account for the freak on the part of the
master.

Fortunately Rupert was unacquainted with the fact that what seemed
to him a natural occurrence was an extraordinary event in the eyes
of all assembled, and he therefore experienced no feeling of
nervousness whatever. He knew that Colonel Holliday was a mast