Tressilian imitated his example punctually,yet could not forbear saying,as he drew his weapon,My lord,as I have been known to many as one who does not fear death when placed in balance with honour,methinks I may,without derogation,ask wherefore,in the name of all that is honourable,your lordship has dared to offer me such a mark of disgrace as places us on these terms with respect to each other?If you like not such marks of my scorn,replied the Earl,betake yourself instantly to your weapon,lest I repeat the usage you complain of.It shall not need,my lord,said Tressilian.God judge betwixt us!and your blood,if you fall,be on your own head.He had scarce completed the sentence when they instantly closed in combat.
But Leicester,who was a perfect master of defence among all other exterior accomplishments of the time,had seen on the preceding night enough of Tressilian's strength and skill to make him fight with more caution than heretofore,and prefer a secure revenge to a hasty one.For some minutes they fought with equal skill and fortune,till,in a desperate lunge which Leicester successfully put aside,Tressilian exposed himself at disadvantage;and in a subsequent attempt to close,the Earl forced his sword from his hand,and stretched him on the ground.
With a grim smile he held the point of his rapier within two inches of the throat of his fallen adversary,and placing his foot at the same time upon his breast,bid him confess his villainous wrongs towards him,and prepare for death.
I have no villainy nor wrong towards thee to confess,answered Tressilian,and am better prepared for death than thou.Use thine advantage as thou wilt,and may God forgive you!I have given you no cause for this.No cause!exclaimed the Earl,no cause!--but why parley with such a slave?Die a liar,as thou hast lived!He had withdrawn his arm for the purpose of striking the fatal blow,when it was suddenly seized from behind.
The Earl turned in wrath to shake off the unexpected obstacle,but was surprised to find that a strange-looking boy had hold of his sword-arm,and clung to it with such tenacity of grasp that he could not shake him of without a considerable struggle,in the course of which Tressilian had opportunity to rise and possess himself once more of his weapon.Leicester again turned towards him with looks of unabated ferocity,and the combat would have recommenced with still more desperation on both sides,had not the boy clung to Lord Leicester's knees,and in a shrill tone implored him to listen one moment ere he prosecuted this quarrel.
Stand up,and let me go,said Leicester,or,by Heaven,I will pierce thee with my rapier!What hast thou to do to bar my way to revenge?Much--much!exclaimed the undaunted boy,since my folly has been the cause of these bloody quarrels between you,and perchance of worse evils.Oh,if you would ever again enjoy the peace of an innocent mind,if you hope again to sleep in peace and unhaunted by remorse,take so much leisure as to peruse this letter,and then do as you list.While he spoke in this eager and earnest manner,to which his singular features and voice gave a goblin-like effect,he held up to Leicester a packet,secured with a long tress of woman's hair of a beautiful light-brown colour.Enraged as he was,nay,almost blinded with fury to see his destined revenge so strangely frustrated,the Earl of Leicester could not resist this extraordinary supplicant.He snatched the letter from his hand--changed colour as he looked on the superion--undid with faltering hand the knot which secured it--glanced over the contents,and staggering back,would have fallen,had he not rested against the trunk of a tree,where he stood for an instant,his eyes bent on the letter,and his sword-point turned to the ground,without seeming to be conscious of the presence of an antagonist towards whom he had shown little mercy,and who might in turn have taken him at advantage.But for such revenge Tressilian was too noble-minded.He also stood still in surprise,waiting the issue of this strange fit of passion,but holding his weapon ready to defend himself in case of need against some new and sudden attack on the part of Leicester,whom he again suspected to be under the influence of actual frenzy.
The boy,indeed,he easily recognized as his old acquaintance ****on,whose face,once seen,was scarcely to be forgotten;but how he came hither at so critical a moment,why his interference was so energetic,and,above all,how it came to produce so powerful an effect upon Leicester,were questions which he could not solve.