"Is, I am sure, known to me, alone. The man, with whom I worked it out, died a week after it was perfected."
"But, you have fenced with Lotzen frequently since then, you say?"
"Many times, sir."
"Hasn't he invariably used that particular attack?"
"And been met always by the regular defence. I took no chances on his discovering the secret. I am confident he thinks, now, I disarmed him by a mere accident."
"I suppose you let him score on you occasionally?" I said.
Moore shook his head. "Never, unless it were the very limit of his reach. I don't trust him—sometimes, buttons are lost from foils. I try to be very diplomatic by touching him very infrequently. Though I rather think it is pearls before swine; for he is too good a fencer not to see I am sparing him, and too jealously vindictive to appreciate my courtesy."
I picked up a foil and made it whistle through the air.
"Come, Colonel Bernheim," I said, "I am at your service. Shall we use the masks?"
"For Your Highness's sake, yes," he answered. "I'm apt to be a trifle wild at times."