In that instant Fortunio whipped the chair from the table-top, and flung it forward.

One of its legs caught Garnache on the sword arm, deadening it for a second.

The sword fell from his hand, and Valerie shrieked aloud, thinking the battle at an end.

But the next moment he was on his feet, his rapier firmly gripped once more, for all that his arm still felt a trifle numbed.

As seconds passed the numbness wore away, but before that had taken place the table had been thrust forward, and the man beneath it had made it impossible for Garnache to hinder this.