"It was in the terms of your challenge that I was free to go to Lavedan in what guise I listed, employing what wiles I pleased.

But let that be," I ended, and, creasing the paper, I poured the sand back into the box, and dusted the document.
"The point is hardly worth discussing at this time of day.

If not one way, why, then, in another, your wager is lost." "Is it ?" He set his arms akimbo and eyed me derisively, his thick-set frame planted squarely before me.

"You are satisfied that it is so?
Quite satisfied, eh ?" He leered in my face.

"Why, then, Monsieur le Marquis, we will see whether a few inches of steel will win it back for me." And once more his hand flew to his hilt.
Rising, I flung the document I had accomplished upon the table.