Page:The Monk, A Romance - Lewis (1796, 1st ed., Volume 2).djvu/101

 fortunate enough to lay one of my adversaries at my feet: but before this I had already received so many wounds, and was so warmly pressed, that my destruction would have been inevitable, had not the clashing of swords called a cavalier to my assistance. He ran towards me with his sword drawn: several domestics followed him with torches. His arrival made the combat equal: yet would not the bravoes abandon their design, till their servants were on the point of joining us. They then fled away, and we lost them in the obscurity.

The stranger now addressed himself to me with politeness, and enquired whether I was wounded. Faint with the loss of, I could scarcely thank him for his seasonable aid, and entreat him to let some of his servants convey me to the hotel de las Cisternas. I no sooner mentioned the name than he professed himself an acquaintance of my father's, and declared that he would not permit my being transported to