The Equinox (Volume I, Number I)

THE DREAM CIRCEAN sword, blind him, rush in with my dagger—he gave back and back in a circle round the courtyard. “No sound came from the room above. Probably we three were alone. The fight was not to be prolonged for ever; the weight of the fur would tire me soon, counter- balance the advantage of age. Then, almost before I knew what had happened, we were fighting in the street. I would not cry for help; one was more likely to rouse a bandit than a guardian of the peace. And, besides, who could say how the law stood ? “T had certainly killed a lady; I was doing my best, with the aid of her stolen cloak, to kill a servant of the house; I contemplated an abduction. Best kill him silently, and be gone. “But when and how had Jean pulled open the iron gates and retreated into the street? “It mattered little, though certainly it left an uneasy sense of bewilderment; what mattered was that here we were fighting in semi-darkness—the dawn was not fairly lifted— for life and death. “Ten thousand crowns, Monsieur Jean,’ I cried, ‘and my service!’—I gave him my style—‘I see you can be a faithful servant.’ “* Faithful to death!’ he retorted, and I was sorry to have to kill him. “We fenced grimly on. “«But,’ I urged, ‘your mistress is dead. Your duty is to her child, and I am her child’s-——’ “He looked up from my eyes. ‘An omen!’ he cried, pointing to the great statue of St. Michael trampling Satan, 121