"You want to screen him from my vengeance, you false one!" said he,
retreating a few steps, so as to guard the door. "Defend your life,
sir!"

"Do you defend yours!"

Both drew at the same moment.

Two shrieks followed, one in the room, the other behind the tapestry, for
neither Angelique nor the widow had been able to restrain her alarm as
the two swords flashed in air. In fact the latter had been so frightened
that she fell heavily to the floor in a faint.

This incident probably saved the young man's life; his blood had already
begun to run cold at the sight of his adversary foaming with rage and
standing between him and the door, when the noise of the fall distracted
the duke's attention.

"What was that?" he cried. "Are there other enemies concealed here too?"
And forgetting that he was leaving a way of escape free, he rushed in the
direction from which the sound came, and lunged at the tapestry-covered
partition with his sword. Meantime the chevalier, dropping all his airs
of bravado, sprang from one end of the room to the other like a cat
pursued by a dog; but rapid as were his movements, the duke perceived his
flight, and dashed after him at the risk of breaking both his own neck
and the chevalier's by a chase through unfamiliar rooms and down stairs
which were plunged in darkness.

All this took place in a few seconds, like a flash of lightning. Twice,