"Take off your coat," he said, "and let us see what you can do.
Nature, at least, designed you for a swordsman. You are light,
active, and supple, with a good length of arm, and you seem
intelligent. I may make something of you, teach you enough for my
purpose, which is that you should give the elements of the art to
new pupils before I take them in hand to finish them. Let us try.
Take that mask and foil, and come over here."
He led him to the end of the room, where the bare floor was scored
with lines of chalk to guide the beginner in the management of his
feet.
At the end of a ten minutes' bout, M. des Amis offered him the
situation, and explained it. In addition to imparting the rudiments
of the art to beginners, he was to brush out the fencing-room every
morning, keep the foils furbished, assist the gentlemen who came for
lessons to dress and undress, and make himself generally useful.
His wages for the present were to be forty livres a month, and he
might sleep in an alcove behind the fencing-room if he had no other
lodging.
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