[larsdangly]

It seems clear to me. The text explicitly tells you that if you take the attack option you ALSO get a second attack with the Main Gauche delivered with a -4 DX adjustment. Unless you impose some additional house rules on top of what is written, your choices are either: get 1 pt of protection and attack normally with your main weapon, or get 1 pt of protection, attack normally with your main weapon, AND attack at -4 DX with the main-gauche. Any sensible person would normally do the latter, and would prefer to do this over having a small shield if the two had the same requirements and penalties.