At last the young gentleman took his departure, mopping himself with
a fine kerchief that left a trail of perfume on the air. M. des
Amis closed the door, and turned to the applicant, who rose at once.
"Where have you studied?" quoth the fencing-master abruptly.
"Studied?" Andre-Louis was taken aback by the question. "Oh, at
Louis Le Grand."
M. des Amis frowned, looking up sharply as if to see whether his
applicant was taking the liberty of amusing himself.
"In Heaven's name! I am not asking you where you did your
humanities, but in what academy you studied fencing."
"Oh - fencing!" It had hardly ever occurred to Andre-Louis that
the sword ranked seriously as a study. "I never studied it very
much. I had some lessons in... in the country once."
The master's eyebrows went up. "But then?" he cried. "Why trouble
to come up two flights of stairs?" He was impatient.
"The notice does not demand a high degree of proficiency. If I am
not proficient enough, yet knowing the rudiments I can easily
improve.
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