"Well, I have been thinking it over. I don't pretend to be a really good shot with the pistol, though I have practised a bit. Do you know whether the count is a good swordsman?"
"He has the reputation of being an excellent one."
"Well, I took lessons with the sword four years ago when I was at Vittoria, but I have never used a straight sword since. I don't suppose he is a better shot with the pistol than I am. I wish you to say that I have not touched a sword for years, but that if he will give me a fortnight to practise I will choose that weapon; if he objects to that, I will take pistols. I fenced for nearly six months at Vittoria and worked very hard, and my master said that I was really a good swordsman, and had learned as much as a Spaniard would in two years. I think with hard work that I can get it back again in a fortnight."
Three hours later Don Lopez returned. "I have arranged it as you desired. It seems the count knows nothing of pistols, and he is quite willing to give you a fortnight to prepare for the encounter."
"Very well, then. I will go this evening to a fencing school, and will put in six hours' work a day, divided into three lessons of two hours each."
"But that would be prodigious, señor!"
"If you feel my muscles you will, I think, admit that they can stand pretty hard work."
Arthur went to the man who was considered to be the first teacher of fencing in Madrid, and arranged to go to him three times a day--at eight in the morning, at two in the afternoon, and at seven in the evening. The master at first said that it would be impossible for him to practise for so long a time.
"Well, at any rate, professor, I will try. It is quite possible that for the first three or four days I shall have to rest a bit sometimes, but I think at the end of the fortnight I shall be able to work the six hours a day without difficulty."
Arthur took off his coat and waistcoat, and turned up his shirt-sleeves.