“Yes, it does appear very like it.”
“And who was this woman?”
“She was my ancestress.”
“Paoli took off his sword and gave it to her.
“ ‘Take it,’ he said, ‘I like time to make my excuses to woman.’ ”
“She was worthy of both—is it not so?”
“And now this sabre?”
“That is the one Buonaparte carried at the battle of the Pyramids.”
“No doubt it came into your family in the same manner as the poignard and the sword.”