With a choking cry of rage Thibaut
dragged his sword into the air.
"You fool," he hissed, "I'll kill you!"
"We shall see," Villon answered gallantly, as he stood on guard
alert and wary.
For a moment the he-rascals and she-rascals held their breath. The
great figure in the shining steel seemed so to dominate the slight
frame of their favourite that anything like an equal contest between
the two men seemed little less than ridiculous. What skill of
Villon's could hope to avail against the mighty sweep of that huge
soldier's weapon? Suddenly the swift spirit of Huguette solved the
problem. Springing forward with the delicate agility of a young
panther, she poised, opinionative, between the opponents.
"Fair play!" she screamed. "This is David and Goliath," and as she
spoke she pointed with one hand at Villon while with the other she
struck with her open palm a ringing blow on the cuirass of Villon's
antagonist. "Let them fight it out with sword and lantern in the
dark."
A loud shout of applause greeted the girl's suggestion. That
fantastic form of duello was not unfamiliar to the free companions
of the Court of Miracles, and Villon himself, eager as he was for
the combat, was keen enough to see how well this way might work for
the surety of his purpose.
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