"You have no chance, Mr. Quarren."
"With—him?" He shrugged his contempt. "I don't consider him at all——"
"I don't care to hear you speak that way!" she said, hotly.
"Oh, I won't. A man's an ass to vilify his rival. But I wasn't even thinking of him, Strelsa. My fight is with you—with your unknown self behind that barrier. Garde à vous!"
"I decline the combat, Monsieur," she said, trying to speak lightly.
"Oh, I'm not afraid of you—the visible you that I'm looking at and which I know something about. That incarnation of Strelsa Leeds will fight me openly, fairly—and I have an even chance to win——"
"Do you think so?" she said, lip between her teeth.
"Don't you?"
"No."
"I do.... But it's your unknown self I'm afraid of, Strelsa. God alone knows what it may do to both of us."