Honour is satisfied, and the encounter
was a serious one for you. Let the matter rest here, I beseech you!"
Vallombreuse could not help being secretly convinced of the justice of
these remarks, but was not willing to avow it openly, even to his most
intimate friend. He was a sufficiently accomplished swordsman himself
to appreciate de Sigognac's wonderful prowess, and he knew that it far
surpassed his own much vaunted skill, though it enraged him to have to
recognise this humiliating fact. He was even obliged to acknowledge, in
his inmost heart, that he owed his life to the generous forbearance of
his hated enemy; who might have taken it just as well as not, but had
spared him, and been content with giving him only a flesh wound, just
severe enough to put him hors-de-combat, without doing him any serious
injury. This magnanimous conduct, by which a less haughty nature would
have been deeply touched, only served to irritate the young duke's
pride, and increase his resentment. To think that he, the valiant and
puissant Duke of Vallombreuse, had been conquered, humiliated, wounded!
the bare idea made him frantic. Although he said nothing further to his
companion about his revenge, his mind was filled with fierce projects
whereby to obtain it, and he swore to himself to be even yet with the
author of his present mortification--if not in one way, then in another;
for injuries there be that are far worse than mere physical wounds and
hurts.
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