On the road, Bois-Doré furnished his young kinsman with such precise details concerning his brother's death, the recovery of his nephew, the episode of the Catalan knife, the admission extorted from the culprit by his indignation, and finally the testimony of the ring, that Guillaume could not persist in upholding his friend's honor. He admitted that he really knew very little of him, having become intimate with him on slight acquaintance, and that at Bourges there had come to his ears some reports, far from honorable if they were true, concerning the duel which had forced the Spaniard to disappear. Monsieur Sciarra Martinengo was said to have been struck by him, contrary to all the laws of honor, at a moment when he had asked for a suspension of the combat, his sword being broken. Guillaume had refused to credit that charge; but Bois-Doré's revelations made him look upon it as more serious, and he promised to go to Briantes the next morning to inspect the evidence, and make the acquaintance of the beautiful Mario. XXXIII In proportion as conviction entered his mind, Guillaume became expansive and friendly with the marquis, no less from a sense of natural equity than from an inborn tendency to be governed absolutely by his latest impression. "By my soul!" he said, when they were near the town, "you have acted like a gallant man, and the blow that you dealt him, which nailed him to the turf, was one of the most beautiful sword thrusts that I have ever heard of. I have never seen its like, and when you have proved to me that poor Sciarra was such a vile wretch as you say, I shall not be sorry to have seen this one. If I had been less pained, I would have congratulated you upon it. But whatever regret or satisfaction I may feel because of this death I declare that you are a superb swordsman, and I would that I were your equal at that sport!" Our two cavaliers were already on the Pont des Scabinats--now des Cabignats,--riding toward the gate in the fortifications, when Adamas, who had recovered his courage and had duly reflected, overtook them and begged them to listen to him. "Do you not think, messires," he said, "that the bringing-in of this body will cause a great commotion in the town?" "Even so," said the marquis, "do you suppose that I wish to conceal the fact that I have avenged my honor and my brother's death?"