"Fear not for me, mademoiselle!" I cried, catching Montignac's blade again with my dagger, and giving a thrust which he avoided by leaping backward.
"Good, Montignac!" cried La Chatre, looking on from the window. "He cannot reach you! If you cannot kill him, you may keep him engaged till the troops come back!"
"I shall kill him!" was Montignac's reply, while he faced me with set teeth and relentless eyes.
"Listen, monsieur!" cried mademoiselle. "If you die, I shall die with you!" And she ran from behind me to the centre of the chamber, where I could see her.
"And if I live?" I shouted, narrowly stopping a terrible thrust, and stepping back between the table and the bed.
"If we live, I am yours forever! Ernanton, I love you!"
At last she had confessed it with her lips! For the first time, she had called me by my Christian name! My head swam with joy.
"You kill me with happiness, Julie!" I cried, overturning the table towards Montignac to gain a moment's breath.
"I shall kill you with my sword!" Montignac hurled the words through clenched teeth. "For, by God, you shall have no happiness with her!"
His white face had an expression of demoniac hate, yet his thrusts became the more adroit and swift, his guard the more impenetrable and firm. His body was as sinuous as a wild beast's, his eye as steady. The longer he fought, the more formidable he became as an adversary. He was worth a score of Vicomtes de Berquin.