An error of a hair's breadth will suffice to let three inches of steel into one's body.' They were at the top of the Via Condotti, and in the distance they could see the Piazza di Spagna, lighted up by the full moon, the stairway bathed in silver, and the Trinita de' Monti rising into the soft blue.
'Certainly,' continued the Baron, 'you have great advantages over your adversary, amongst others, a cool head--also you have been out before.

I saw you in Paris in your affair with Gauvaudan--you remember?
A grand duel that! You fought like a god!' Andrea laughed, much gratified.

The praise of this unrivalled duellist made his heart swell with pride, and infused fresh vigour into his muscles.

Instinctively, he grasped his walking stick, and repeated the famous pass which pierced the arm of the Marquis de Gauvaudan the previous winter.
'Yes,' he said, 'it was a direct return hit after a parry of "contre de tierce."' 'On the floor, Giannetto Rutolo is a skilful swordsman, but in the open he gets confused.

He has only been out once before with my cousin Cassibile, and he came off badly.