*Evangeline*
My heart is pounding so hard that I can scarcely breathe. I move the curtain aside only a fraction. There is more shadow than light, but I can see Claybourne is surrounded. His only weapon is his walking stick.
Then in a lightning-quick movement, he pulls it apart to reveal a rather nasty-looking swordlike instrument. “I believe, gentlemen, you will be breaking fast with the devil this morning, not I.”
He lunges toward the man who holds his servant, and the servant somehow manages to break free of the hold and send the ruffian to the ground.
Claybourne’s move is a feint, I realize, a ploy to simply distract that man so the servant will be at an advantage, because no sooner have Claybourne made a motion to go one way, he reverses direction, making a jabbing motion toward
