It is craftily done on the part of Sir Rudolph.

He reckons that if I appear he will kill me; that if I do not appear, I shall be branded as a coward, and my claims brought into disrepute.

It may be, too, that it is a mere ruse to discover if I be in the neighborhood.

Some rumors thereof may have reached him, and he has taken this course to determine upon their truth.

He has gone too far, and honest men will see in the cartel itself a sign that he misdoubts him that my claims are just; for were I, as he says, a Saxon serf, be sure that he would not condescend to meet me in the lists as he proposes.