Charles paused for a reply, drawing his dagger from its sheath.  When Max saw the naked weapon, I noticed that he gave a start, though it was almost imperceptible.  He at once recovered himself, and straightening to his full height, stepped to within two feet of the duke.

“If I plotted or intended to kill you, my lord,” said Max, less moved than any other man in the room, “it is your right to kill me; but even were I guilty I doubt if my Lord of Burgundy, who is noted the world over for his bravery, would strike an unarmed man.  If Your Grace wished to attack me, you would give me arms equal to your own.  If you should kill me, unarmed as I am, you would be more pitiable than any other man in Burgundy.  You would despise yourself, and all mankind would spurn you.”

“Do you not fear me?” asked the duke, still clutching the hilt of his unsheathed dagger.

“I do not believe you have the least intent to kill me,” answered Max, “but if you have, you may easily do so, and I shall be less to be pitied than you.  No, I do not fear you!  Do I look it, my lord?”

“No, by God, you don’t look it.  Neither have you cause to fear me,” said Charles.  “There is not another man in Christendom could have stood this ordeal without flinching.”

To a brave man, bravery is above all the cardinal virtue.  Charles turned toward his courtiers and continued:—­

“There is one man who does not fear me—­man, say I?  He is little more than a boy.  Men of Burgundy, take a lesson from this youth, and bear it in mind when we go to war.”

The duke began to unbuckle his shirt of mail, speaking as he did so:—­

“I’ll soon learn who has lied.  I’ll show this boy that I am as brave as he.”

Charles turned to Calli.

“Sir Count, did you not say this knight wished to kill me, even at the cost of his own life?”

“I so said, my lord, and so maintain upon my honor as a knight and upon my hope of salvation as a Christian.  I so heard him avow,” answered Calli.

“I will quickly prove or disprove your words, Sir Count,” said the duke, removing his mail shirt and throwing it to the floor.  Then he turned to Max and offered him the hilt of his dagger:  “If you would purchase my death at the cost of your life, here is my dagger, and you may easily make the barter.  I am unarmed.  One blow from that great arm of yours will end all prospects of war with your Switzerland.”

Max hesitatingly took the dagger and looked with a puzzled expression from it to the duke’s face.  Campo-Basso and his Italian friends moved toward their lord as if to protect him, but Charles waved them back with a protesting palm.

“Switzerland is not my native land, Your Grace, nor do I seek your life.  Take your dagger,” said Max.

“I offer you better terms,” said Charles.  “If you wish to kill me, I now give you safe conduct beyond the borders of Burgundy.”