But I
will not kill you."
Then they engaged, and such a fight began as has not been often seen,
for such a battle is more of spirit than body, and is more like to be
fought alone between two enemies whose antagonism is part of being
itself, than to be fought in the presence of others whose nearness
would but serve to disturb it.
John Oxon had fought duels before, through women who were but his
despised playthings, through braggadocio, through drunken folly,
through vanity and spite--but never as he fought this night on the
broad heath, below the paling stars. This man he hated, this man he
would have killed by any thrust he knew, if the devil had helped him.
There is no hatred, to a mind like his, such as is wakened by the sight
of another's gifts and triumphs--all the more horrible is it if they
are borne with nobleness. To have lost all--to see another possess with
dignity that thing one has squandered! And for this frenzy there was
more than one cause. Clo Wildairs! He could have cursed aloud. My Lady
Dunstanwolde! He could have raved like a madman. She! And a Duke
here--this Duke would shut his mouth and give him a lesson. He lunged
forward and struck wildly; my lord Duke parried his point as if he
played with the toy of a child, and in the clear starlight his face
looked a beautiful mask, and did not change howsoever furious his
opponent's onslaught, or howsoever wondrous his own play.
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