He sent that notorious young gentleman a challenge, and on the following morning he left him dead in the horsemarket behind the Hotel Vendome.

But far from a murder, monsieur, it was an act of justice, and the most richly earned punishment with which ever man was visited." "Even if so," cried the Vicomte in some surprise, "why all this heat to defend a brawler ?" "A brawler ?" I repeated after him.

"Oh, no.

That is a charge his worst enemies cannot make against Bardelys.

He is no brawler.