It is a thing of which I have never yet been guilty,"
replied Samoval, with deadly smoothness in that reminder of his
victorious past. He stepped forward and looked about the
quadrangle. "I am afraid the moon will occasion us some delay,"
he said. "It were perhaps better to wait some five or ten
minutes, by then the light in here should have improved."
"We can avoid the delay by stepping out into the open," said Sir
Terence. "Indeed it is what I had to suggest in any case. There
are inconveniences here which you may have overlooked."
But Samoval, who had purposes to serve of which this duel was but
a preliminary, was of a very different mind.
"We are quite private here, your household being abed," he answered,
"whilst outside one can never be sure even at this hour of avoiding
witnesses and interruption. Then, again, the turf is smooth as a
table on that patch of lawn, and the ground well known to both of
us; that, I can assure you, is a very necessary condition in the
dark and one not to be found haphazard in the open."
"But there is yet another consideration, sir. I prefer that we
engage on neutral ground, so that the survivor shall not be called
upon for explanations that might be demanded if we fought here.
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