“‘Yes.’
“‘Yourself, too?’
“‘Yes.’
“Mortimer’s smile became more sinister, as he raised his foil.
“‘Take your position, sir,’ he said; ‘I am going to save you the latter trouble.’
“I grasped my weapon, and placed myself on guard.
“In an instant he had thrown himself upon me with a fury which indicated the profound passion under his assumed coolness. His eyes blazed; his lips writhed into something like a deadly grin; I felt that I had to contend rather with a wild animal than a man. The grave yawned in the moonlight at our very feet, and Mortimer closed in, with fury, endeavoring to force me to its brink, and hurl me into it.
“Ten minutes afterward the combat was over; and it was Mortimer who occupied the grave.
“He had given ground an instant, to breathe; had returned to the attack more furiously than before; a tremendous blow of his weapon snapped my own, eighteen inches from the hilt; but this had probably saved my life instead of destroying it, as Mortimer, from his fierce exclamation as the blade broke, evidently expected.
“Before he could take advantage of his success, I sprang at his throat, grasped his sword-arm with my left hand, and, shortening my stump of a weapon, drove the point through his breast.