they had opposed to them only one man, and another
whom they regarded as a lad, scarcely to be taken into
consideration, they rushed upon them. They were
quickly undeceived. Ronald parried the first
blow aimed at him, and with his riposte stretched
his opponent on the pavement, and then springing forward,
after a few rapid thrusts and parries ran the next
through the shoulder almost at the same moment that
Malcolm stretched another opponent on the ground.
Terrified at the downfall of three of their number,
while a fourth leaned against a door post disabled,
the two remaining ruffians took to their heels and
fled at the top of their speed, the whole affair having
lasted scarce a minute.
“Tell your employer,” Ronald said to the
wounded man, “that I am not to be disposed of
so easily as he imagined. I should be only giving
you what you deserve if I were to pass my sword through
your body; but I disdain to kill such pitiful assassins
except in self defence.”
The next morning Ronald communicated to Colonel Hume
what had happened.
“It’s just as well, my young friend, that
you are going to leave Paris. I received orders
half an hour ago for the regiment to march to the
frontier at once. That is the marquis’s
doing, no doubt. He thought to get rid of you
last night and to punish me this morning; but he has
failed both ways. You have defeated his cutthroats;
I shall be heartily glad to be at the front again,
for I am sick of this idle life in Paris.”
“I am heartily glad to be out of Paris,”
Ronald said to Malcolm on their first halt after leaving
the capital. “It is not pleasant to regard
every man one meets after dark as a possible enemy,
and although I escaped scot free from the gang who
attacked us the other night, one cannot always expect
such good fortune as that. It was a constant weight
on one’s mind, and I feel like a new man now
that we are beyond the city walls.”
“Nevertheless, Ronald, we must not omit any
precautions. Your enemy has a long purse, and
can reach right across France. That last affair
is proof of his bitterness against you, and it would
be rash indeed were we to act as if, having made one
attempt and failed, he would abandon his plans altogether.
He is clearly a man who nourishes a grudge for years,
and his first failure is only likely to add to his
vindictive feeling. I do not say that your danger
is as great as it was in Paris, but that is simply
because the opportunities of attacking you are fewer.
I should advise you to be as careful as before, and
to be on your guard against ambushes and surprises.”
“Well, it may be so, Malcolm, and of course
I will be careful; but till I have proof to the contrary
I shall prefer to think that the marquis will trust
to my being knocked on the head during the war, and
will make no further move against me until the regiment
returns to Paris.”
