We were admitted to the pavilion by Clara, and I was surprised by the completeness and security of the defenses.  A barricade of great strength, and yet easy to displace, supported the door against any violence from without; and the shutters of the dining-room, into which I was led directly, and which was feebly illuminated by a lamp, were even more elaborately fortified.  The panels were strengthened by bars and crossbars; and these, in their turn, were kept in position by a system of braces and struts, some abutting on the floor, some on the roof, and others, in fine, against the opposite wall of the apartment.  It was at once a solid and well-designed piece of carpentry; and I did not seek to conceal my admiration.

“I am the engineer,” said Northmour.  “You remember the planks in the garden?  Behold them?”

“I did not know you had so many talents,” said I.

“Are you armed?” he continued, pointing to an array of guns and pistols, all in admirable order, which stood in line against the wall or were displayed upon the sideboard.

“Thank you,” I returned; “I have gone armed since our last encounter.  But, to tell you the truth, I have had nothing to eat since early yesterday evening.”

Northmour produced some cold meat, to which I eagerly set myself, and a bottle of good Burgundy, by which, wet as I was, I did not scruple to profit.  I have always been an extreme temperance man on principle; but it is useless to push principle to excess, and on this occasion I believe that I finished three quarters of the bottle.  As I eat, I still continued to admire the preparations for defense.

“We could stand a siege,” I said at length.

“Ye—­es,” drawled Northmour; “a very little one, per—­haps.  It is not so much the strength of the pavilion I misdoubt; it is the double danger that kills me.  If we get to shooting, wild as the country is, some one is sure to hear it, and then—­why then it’s the same thing, only different, as they say:  caged by law, or killed by carbonari.  There’s the choice.  It is a devilish bad thing to have the law against you in this world, and so I tell the old gentleman upstairs.  He is quite of my way of thinking.”

“Speaking of that,” said I, “what kind of person is he?”

“Oh, he!” cried the other; “he’s a rancid fellow, as far as he goes.  I should like to have his neck wrung to-morrow by all the devils in Italy.  I am not in this affair for him.  You take me?  I made a bargain for missy’s hand, and I mean to have it too.”

“That, by the way,” said I.  “I understand.  But how will Mr. Huddlestone take my intrusion?”

“Leave that to Clara,” returned Northmour.

I could have struck him in the face for his coarse familiarity; but I respected the truce, as, I am bound to say, did Northmour, and so long as the danger continued not a cloud arose in our relation.  I bear him this testimony with the most unfeigned satisfaction; nor am I without pride when I look back upon my own behavior.  For surely no two men were ever left in a position so invidious and irritating.