"But why? You might--you might have killed him! Perhaps you have!"

He stiffened slightly, and twisted one end of his small moustache. "I
think not," he said, faint regret in his voice.

Chris thought not too, judging by the clamour of invective which the
injured man had managed to pour forth. But for some reason she pressed
the point.

"But--just imagine--if you had!"

He shrugged his shoulders with extreme deliberation.

"_Alors_, Mademoiselle Christine, there would have been one _canaille_
the less in the world."

She was a little shocked at the cool rejoinder, yet could not somehow
feel that her _preux chevalier_ could be in the wrong.

"He might have killed you," she remarked after a moment, determined to
survey the matter from every standpoint. "I am sure he meant to."

He shrugged his shoulders again and laughed. "That is quite possible. And
you would have been sorry--a little--no?"

She raised her clear eyes to his. "You know I should have been
heart-broken," she said, with the utmost simplicity.

"But really?" he said.