The next instant he sprang up and faced the door. Glancing at Cicely, I
saw her cowering down in her chair.
The young Squire had hardly gained his feet when the door flew open and
the figures of two men appeared on the threshold--Sir Felix Williams and
his only son, the father and brother of Cicely.
There, in the doorway, the intruders halted; but for an instant only.
Almost before the Squire could draw, his sweetheart's brother had sprung
forward. Like two serpents their rapiers engaged in the candle-light.
The soundless blades crossed and glittered. Then one of them flickered
in a narrow circle, and the brother's rapier went spinning from his hand
across the room.
Young Cardinnock lowered his point at once, and his adversary stepped
back a couple of paces. While a man might count twenty the pair looked
each other in the face, and then the old man, Sir Felix, stepped slowly
forward.
But before he could thrust--for the young Squire still kept his point
lowered--Cicely sprang forward and threw herself across her lover's
breast. There, for all the gentle efforts his left hand made to
disengage her, she clung. She had made her choice. There was no sign
of faltering in her soft eyes, and her father had perforce to hold his
hand.
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