He had kept me confined for months. I could have forgiven him that, but I could not forget that he had insulted, on that memorable night, Lady Margaret Carroll, by coupling her name with his. What though she was to be the bride of Lord Dunraven, I would avenge this insult to her; she could not prevent me from doing this. Ah! it would be sweet to fight once more for her. Her hand and love were hers to bestow where she wished, but she could not say me nay in this matter, and so with a right joyful heart I faced the Spaniard in the gathering gloom. Thrust after thrust he tried, but I met them all with a readiness that surprised myself. I had not fought such a fight as this before; had not crossed swords with a man so worthy of my steel. Trick after trick he tried, some I had never seen before, but the gods fought with me, and as though by intuition I met him and sent him staggering back again. A look of black wrath was upon his face; piqued at being met at every point, he was losing his head at my swordsmanship. "Ah!" he said, as we struggled upon the slippery deck, "the gentleman fights well. Perhaps he thinks that beyond the water there waits for him a lovely lady. Let him not fool himself. She is ere now the bride of a noble lord, who holds her fast in bands which she cannot break." But I kept my temper. I had only to keep cool, and the victory was mine, and so I only lunged at him with all my strength. The sharp point of my blade touched his cheek, and with a turn of the wrist I laid it open from ear to neck. With a scream of pain he came at me like a wild cat, but I met him and cut him in the side, so that he staggered back again; pressing forward, I lunged at him once more. He recovered himself, the blood spouting from his cheek, and met my blade with a cut, that, had I not sprang back quickly, would have run me through and through. Pressing upon me, he rained blow after blow with point and blade. I had never seen such fury. It was as though he were a madman, and it was only with the greatest difficulty that I protected myself. The smile had passed from his face, and a look of awful anger had replaced it. If he could only reach me, he would give his black soul. "So Dunraven has outwitted thee," I taunted. "To the victor belongs the spoil." "The furies take thee!" he cried furiously. "If I have lost, so also hast thou. I would rather that my lord should win than thou. Curse thee!" and he struck with all his force at my head. "He has used thee well, has done his work with thee, and then, when thou art of no further use, has cast thee aside like a squeezed lemon," and I laughed in his face.