I sent the man out of the room. The stranger (an Englishman, and, as I fancied, judging by outward appearances, a military man as well) took from his pocket-book a fifty-pound banknote, and held it up before me. "I have a heavy wager depending on a fencing match," he said, "and I have no time to improve myself. Teach me a trick which will make me a match for a man skilled in the use of the foil, and keep the secret--and there are fifty pounds for you."I hesitated. I did indeed hesitate, poor as I was. But this devil of a man held his banknote before me whichever way I looked, and I had only two pounds left in the world!
"Are you going to fight a duel?'' I asked.
"I have already told you what I am going to do," he answered.
I waited a little. The infernal bank-note still tempted me. In spite of myself, I tried him again.
"If I teach you the trick," I persisted, "will you undertake to make no bad use of your lesson?""Yes, " he said, impatiently enough.
I was not quite satisfied yet.
"Will you promise it, on your word of honor?" I asked.