The wrist is as delicate an organ as the throat--the
articulations of the legs as sensitive as the vocal chords. The
mechanism suffers from the smallest disturbance; the instrument gets out
of gear and will not answer to the player. After a night of play or
drink, Camillo Agrippa himself could not thrust straight, and his
parries were neither sure nor rapid. An error of a hair's breadth will
suffice to let three inches of steel into one's body.' They were at the
top of the Via Condotti, and in the distance they could see the Piazza
di Spagna, lighted up by the full moon, the stairway bathed in silver,
and the Trinita de' Monti rising into the soft blue.
'Certainly,' continued the Baron, 'you have great advantages over your
adversary, amongst others, a cool head--also you have been out before. I
saw you in Paris in your affair with Gauvaudan--you remember? A grand
duel that! You fought like a god!'
Andrea laughed, much gratified. The praise of this unrivalled duellist
made his heart swell with pride, and infused fresh vigour into his
muscles. Instinctively, he grasped his walking stick, and repeated the
famous pass which pierced the arm of the Marquis de Gauvaudan the
previous winter.
'Yes,' he said, 'it was a direct return hit after a parry of "contre de
tierce."'
'On the floor, Giannetto Rutolo is a skilful swordsman, but in the open
he gets confused.
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