Page:Ten Years Later.djvu/220

208 "I am aware of that, Monsieur de Wardes, and I fully appreciate your kindness. Shall we take off our doublets?"

"As you please, my lord."

"Do not hesitate to tell me, Monsieur de Wardes, if you do not feel comfortable upon the wet sand, or if you think yourself a little too close to the French territory. We could fight in England, or else upon my yacht."

"We are exceedingly well placed here, my lord; only I have the honor to remark that, as the sea is rising fast, we have hardly time "

Buckingham made a sign of assent, took off his doublet and threw it on the ground, a proceeding which De Wardes imitated. Both their bodies, which seemed like two phantoms to those who were looking at them from the shore, were thrown strongly into relief by a dark-red violet-colored shadow with which the sky became overspread.

"Upon my word, your grace," said De Wardes, "we shall hardly have time to begin. Do you not perceive how our feet are sinking in the sand?"

"I have sunk up to the ankles," said Buckingham, "without reckoning that the water is even now breaking in upon us."

"It has already reached me. As soon as you please, therefore, your grace," said De Wardes, who drew his sword, a movement imitated by the duke.

"Monsieur de Wardes," said Buckingham, "one final word. I am about to fight you because I do not like you — because you have wounded me in ridiculing a certain devotional regard I have entertained, and one which I acknowledge that, at this moment, I still retain, and for which I would willingly die. You are a bad and heartless man, Monsieur de Wardes, and I will do my utmost to take your life; for I feel assured that, if you survive this engagement, you will in the future- work great mischief toward my friends. That is all I have to remark, Monsieur de Wardes," continued Buckingham, as he saluted him.

"And I, my lord, have only this to reply to you: I have not disliked you hitherto, but since you have divined my character, I hate you, and will do all I possibly can to kill you;" and De Wardes saluted Buckingham.

They crossed swords at the same moment, like two flashes of lightning in a dark night. The swords seemed to seek each other, guessed their position, and met. Both were practiced swordsmen, and the earlier passes were without any result. The night was fast closing in, and it was so