cried incredulously.

'Yes,' I said sternly, feeling every nerve tingle with long-suppressed
rage. 'I will fight as I am. Off with your back and breast, if you are
a man. And I will so deal with you that if you see to-morrow's sun you
shall need a mask for the rest of your days!'

'Ho! ho!' he answered, scowling at me in surprise, 'you sing in a
different key now. But I will put a term to it. There is space enough
between these tables, if you can use your weapon; and much more than you
will need to-morrow.'

'To-morrow will show,' I retorted.

Without more ado he unfastened the buckles of his breast-piece, and
relieving himself of it, stepped back a pace. Those of the bystanders
who occupied the part of the room he indicated--a space bounded by
four tables, and not unfit for the purpose, though somewhat
confined--hastened to get out of it, and seize instead upon neighbouring
posts of 'vantage. The man's reputation was such, and his fame so great,
that on all sides I heard naught but wagers offered against me at odds;
but this circumstance, which might have flurried a younger man and
numbed his arm, served only to set me on making the most of such
openings as the fellow's presumption and certainty of success would be
sure to afford.

The news of the challenge running through the house had brought together
by this time so many people as to fill the room from end to end, and
even to obscure the light, which was beginning to wane. At the last
moment, when we were on the point of engaging, a slight commotion marked
the admission to the front of three or four persons, whose consequence
or attendants gained them this advantage. I believed them to be the
party of four I have mentioned, but at the time I could not be certain.

In the few seconds of waiting while this went forward I examined our
relative positions with the fullest intention of killing the man--whose
glittering eyes and fierce smile filled me with a loathing which was
very nearly hatred--if I could. The line of windows lay to my right and
his left. The evening light fell across us, whitening the row of faces
on my left, but leaving those on my right in shadow. It occurred to me
on the instant that my mask was actually an advantage, seeing that it
protected my sight from the side-light, and enabled me to watch his eyes
and point with more concentration.

'You will be the twenty-third man I have killed!' he said boastfully, as
we crossed swords and stood an