He bowed to her—and then faced me.
"Has Monsieur le Coquin any particular spot in which he prefers to receive my point?" he asked.
"None, my Lord," I answered; "I shall leave that to your own good taste."
"Merci, monsieur, merci!" he said, and saluted. "Yet, I may not be outdone in generosity. Therefore, in exchange for your hilt, monsieur, you shall have the whole length of my blade in your heart."
"That, my Lord, is on the Knees of the Gods," I said.
Then our swords fell to talking and our tongues were still.
[Illustration: Then our swords fell to talking in the garden of the masked ball.]
The turf was free of brush or trees; and, as I have already said, the illumination was so arranged that, practically, there were no shadows. The Garden seemed almost as bright as day; indeed, save that the light was white, we might, just as well, have been duelling at noon-tide as at midnight.