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File: Ch.06, Chapter 6: The Risks and Returns from Investing

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Total return is equal to:

a. capital gain + price change.

b. yield + income.
c. capital gain - loss.
d. yield + price change.

Ans: d
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: Return

2. Which of the following is not part of the yield component of total return?

a. Dividend payment on common stock

b. Coupon interest payment on bonds
c. Capital gain upon sale of stock
d. Dividend payment on preferred stock

Ans: c
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: Return

3. Investors should be willing to invest in riskier investments only:

a. if the expected holding period is short term.

b. if there are no safe alternatives except for holding cash.
c. if the expected return is adequate for the risk level.
d. if they are speculators.

Ans: c
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: Risk

4. If interest rates are expected to rise, you would expect:

a. bond prices to fall more than stock prices.

b. bond prices to rise more than stock prices.
c. stock prices to fall more than bond prices.
d. stock prices to rise and bond prices to fall.

Ans: a
Difficulty: Moderate
Ref: Risk

Chapter Six 70
The Risks and Returns from Investing
5. An impending recession is an example of:

a. interest rate risk.

b. inflation risk.
c. market risk.
d. financial risk.

Ans: c
Difficulty: Moderate
Ref: Risk

6. Financial risk is most closely associated with:

a. the use of equity financing by corporations.

b. the use of debt financing by corporations.
c. equity investments held by corporations.
d. debt investments held by corporations.

Ans: b
Difficulty: Moderate
Ref: Risk

7. Political stability is the major factor concerning:

a. exchange-rate risk.
b. systematic risk.
c. nonsystematic risk.
d. country risk.

Ans: d
Difficulty: Moderate
Ref: Risk

8. Liquidity risk:

a. is the risk that investment bankers normally face.

b. is lower for small OTC stocks than for large NYSE stocks.
c. is a risk associated with secondary market transactions.
d. increases whenever interest rates increase.

Ans: c
Difficulty: Moderate
Ref: Risk

Chapter Six 71
The Risks and Returns from Investing
9. The housing bubble and resulting credit crisis of 2008 is an example of:

a. nonsystematic risk.
b. systematic risk.
c. inflation risk.
d. political risk

Ans: b
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: Risk

10. If a U.S. investor buys foreign stock, his dollar-denominated return will
increase if the dollar:

a. appreciates relative to the foreign currency.

b. depreciates relative to the foreign currency.
c. remains unchanged relative to the foreign currency.
d. moves to a net gain position relative to all foreign currencies.

Ans: b
Difficulty: Difficult
Ref: Risk

11. New financial disclosure regulations affecting the brokerage industry are
a type of:

a. market risk.
b. financial risk.
c. business risk.
d. liquidity risk.

Ans: c
Difficulty: Moderate
Ref: Risk

12. Which of the following corresponds most closely with an increase in interest
rates?

a. Business risk
b. Financial risk
c. Liquidity risk
d. Inflation risk

Ans: d
Difficulty: Moderate
Ref: Risk

Chapter Six 72
The Risks and Returns from Investing
13. Assume an investor purchases a bond when the Euro is quoted at $0.96 per Euro
and sells the bond when the Euro is quoted at $1.12 per Euro. Relative to the
dollar, the Euro has:

a. appreciated, and the investor has gained from the currency move.
b. appreciated, and the investor has lost from the currency move.
c. depreciated, and the investor has gained from the currency move.
d. depreciated, and the investor has lost from the currency move.

Ans: a
Difficulty: Difficult
Ref: Currency and Returns

14. To calculate the return on a stock that pays a year-end dividend, an investor
should:

a. divide the stock’s sale price by its purchase price and subtract 1.
b. add the dividend and sale price, divide by the purchase price and subtract 1.
c. divide the sale price by the purchase price and add the dividend yield.
d. divide all cash flows received by the selling price and subtract 1.

Ans: b
Difficulty: Moderate
Ref: Measuring Returns

15. Which of the following is true regarding the cumulative wealth index? It:

a. is measured by adding up the total returns over the holding period and dividing by
the investment.
b. uses a beginning index value (often set to $1, but it can be set to any amount).
c. is the present value of the future cash flows expected from the investment.
d. uses the arithmetic mean as the rate of growth of one’s wealth.

Ans: b
Difficulty: Difficult
Ref: Measuring Returns

16. Adding 1 to return produces the:

a. arithmetic mean.
b. return relative.
c. cumulative wealth index.
d. geometric mean.

Ans: b
Difficulty: Difficult
Ref: Measuring Returns

Chapter Six 73
The Risks and Returns from Investing
17. In deriving changes in wealth over time, the return relative solves the problem of:

a. inflation.
b negative returns.
c. interest rates.
d. tax differences.

Ans: b
Difficulty: Moderate
Ref: Measuring Returns

18. If the Dow Jones Industrials had a price appreciation of 6 percent one year and yet
total return for the year was 9 percent, the difference would be due to:

a. the tax treatment of capital gains.

b. the cumulative wealth effect.
c. dividends.
d. inflation.

Ans: c
Difficulty: Moderate
Ref: Measuring Returns

19. In order to determine the compound growth rate of an investment over

some period, an investor would calculate the:

a. arithmetic mean.
b. geometric mean.
c. calculus mean.
d. arithmetic median.

Ans: b
Difficulty: Moderate
Ref: Summary Statistics for Returns

20. A major difference between real and nominal returns is that:

a. real returns adjust for inflation, and nominal returns do not.

b. real returns use actual cash flows, and nominal returns use expected cash flows.
c. real returns adjust for commissions, and nominal returns do not.
d. real returns show after-tax returns, and nominal returns show before-tax returns.

Ans: a
Difficulty: Moderate
Ref: Summary Statistics for Returns

Chapter Six 74
The Risks and Returns from Investing
21. When most people refer to mean rate of return, they are referring to the:

a. holding period rate of return.

b. arithmetic average rate of return.
c. geometric average rate of return.
d. cumulative average rate of return.

Ans: b
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: Summary Statistics for Returns

22. Which of the following statements regarding the arithmetic mean and the
geometric mean is true?

a. The arithmetic mean is always a better measure of average performance.

b. The geometric mean is always a better measure of average performance.
c. The arithmetic mean is a better measure of performance over single periods.
d. The geometric mean is the best estimate of the expected return for the next period.

Ans: c
Difficulty: Difficult
Ref: Summary Statistics for Returns

23. The equity risk premium is the difference between the expected return:

a. on stocks and bonds.

b. on high-grade stocks and low-grade stocks.
c. on stocks and the risk-free rate.
d. on a stock market index and the inflation rate.

Ans: c
Difficulty: Moderate
Ref: Measuring Risk

24. Which of the following statements about the expected equity risk premium is
true?

a. It is occasionally negative.
b. There is no direct way to measure it.
c. It decreases as investor uncertainty increases.
d. It increases as the risk-free rate increases.

Ans: b
Difficulty: Difficult
Ref: Measuring Risk

Chapter Six 75
The Risks and Returns from Investing
25. The standard deviation of a security measures the:

a. systematic risk of the security.

b. unsystematic risk of the security.
c. total risk of the security.
d. risk per unit of return for the security.

Ans: c
Difficulty: Moderate
Ref: Measuring Risk

26. Present value is based on the concept of:

a. compounding.
b. systematic risk.
c. duration.
d. discounting.

Ans: d
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: Compounding and Discounting

27. Over the past 50 years, which of the following financial assets showed the
greatest amount of price volatility, as measured by standard deviation?

a. Small-cap stocks
b. Large-cap stocks
c. Treasury bonds
d. Treasury bills

Ans: a
Difficulty: Moderate
Ref: Realized Returns and Risks from Investing

28. A number of prominent observers expect the equity risk premium in the future to
be:

a. considerably lower than that of the past.

b. considerably higher than that of the past.
c. very similar to the historical average.
d. very similar to the recent value.

Ans: a
Difficulty: Difficult
Ref: Realized Returns and Risks from Investing

Chapter Six 76
The Risks and Returns from Investing
29. If you invest in German bonds and the Euro becomes stronger during your
holding period, then:

a. you will be able to buy back fewer dollars when you redeem your bond.
b. your dollar-denominated return will increase.
c. your-dollar denominated return will decrease.
d. your return will be the interest you receive.

Ans: b
Difficulty: Difficult
Ref: Taking A Global Perspective

30. As the dollar falls,

a. foreign investors owning U.S. stocks suffer.

b. U.S. investors owning U.S. stocks suffer.
c. U.S. investors owning foreign stocks suffer.
d. foreign investors owning foreign stocks suffer.

Ans: a
Difficulty: Moderate
Ref: Taking A Global Perspective

True-False Questions

1. Another name for a capital gain is yield.

Ans: False
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: Return

2. Return and risk are inversely related.

Ans: False
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: Risk

3. The less the variability of return, the greater the risk.

Ans: False
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: Risk

Chapter Six 77
The Risks and Returns from Investing
4. Bond prices and interest rates are inversely related.

Ans: True
Difficulty: Moderate
Ref: Risk

5. It is generally easier to predict interest rate risk than market risk.

Ans: True
Difficulty: Difficult
Ref: Risk

6. New regulations concerning auto emissions would be a type of market risk for the
auto industry.

Ans: False
Difficulty: Moderate
Ref: Risk

7. International mutual funds offer investors global diversification without exchange

rate risk.

Ans: False
Difficulty: Difficult
Ref: Risk

8. A Chinese stock denominated in Chinese yuan will have an increase in its

dollar-denominated return if the Chinese yuan strengthens against the dollar.

Ans: True
Difficulty: Difficult
Ref: Taking A Global Perspective

9. Holding interest rates constant, a narrowing of the equity risk premium implies a
decline in the rate of return on stocks because the amount earned beyond the risk-
free rate is reduced.

Ans: True
Difficulty: Moderate
Ref: Summary Statistics for Returns

10. The most common measure of inflation is the Producer Price Index.

Ans: False
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: Summary Statistics for Returns

Chapter Six 78
The Risks and Returns from Investing
11. The standard deviation of returns, calculated as the square root of the variance of
returns, is a measure of total risk of an asset or portfolio.

Ans: True
Difficulty: Moderate
Ref: Measuring Risk

12. Both present value and future value are based upon the concept of the time value
of money.

Ans: True
Difficulty: Easy
Ref: Compounding and Discounting

Short-Answer Questions

1. Assume you are a U. S. citizen who purchases $20,000 worth of bonds of the
Deep Shaft Mining Company in Kenya. What sources of risk can you identify
with this investment?

Answer: Business risk, country risk, political risk, exchange-rate risk.

Difficulty: Moderate
Ref: Types of Risk

2. What common variable is used in the calculation of both the cumulative wealth
index and the geometric mean return? How is the common variable calculated?
How is it used in each?

Answer: Return (R) is used in both calculations.

R = [CFt + (PE - PB)]/PB.
CWIn = WI0 (1 + R1)(1 + R2) . . . (1 + Rn)
G = [(1 + R1)(1 + R2) . . . (1 + Rn)] 1/n - 1
Difficulty: Difficult

3. When should an investor use the arithmetic mean return? The geometric mean
return?

Answer: The arithmetic mean is better for single period returns, whereas, the
geometric mean is better for multiple periods. Furthermore, the arithmetic
mean is better for investors that rebalance their holdings, whereas the
geometric mean is better for investors that buy and hold.
Difficulty: Moderate

Chapter Six 79
The Risks and Returns from Investing
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4. What is the best measure of risk for a sole proprietorship?

Answer: The best measure of risk for a sole proprietorship (a single asset) is
standard deviation of returns to capture total risk, since there is no
diversification.
Difficulty: Moderate

5. What was the effect on foreign investors owning U.S. stocks when the dollar fell
in 2008?

Answer: Foreign investors owning U.S. stocks suffered from the unfavorable
currency movement as well as decline in the U.S. stock markets.
Difficulty: Moderate

Fill-in-the-blank Questions

1. CFt + (PE - PB) CFt + PC

TR = -------------- = ---------
PB PB

where
CFt = ______________________________________________
PE = ______________________________________________
PB = ______________________________________________
PC = ______________________________________________

Answer: cash flows during measurement period t, price at the end of period t (or
sale price), purchase of asset or price at the beginning of the period,
change in price during the period
Difficulty: Moderate

Critical Thinking/Essay Questions

1. The returns and risk measures in this chapter are calculated from historical data.
Are such measures good predictors of the future? What are some circumstances
that could change to impact future return and risk? How can an investor use these
return and risk measures to help construct a portfolio?

Answer: Historical risk and returns are a starting point for the analyst to assess
future prospects. The return and risk parameters for individual companies
can change due to changes in management, product decisions,
competition, regulation, changes in financial structure, etc. An analyst can
use historical data and temper it with judgment about the future for
constructing a portfolio.
Difficulty: Moderate

Chapter Six 80
The Risks and Returns from Investing
2. What is the major drawback of a return measure? Why is it the most common
return calculation used by investors?

Answer: The return measure does not consider the change in the value of the
currency over time. Since many investors do not consider inflation in their
calculations, and the total return measure is a quick way to measure return,
it is widely used by investors.
Difficulty: Moderate

Problems

1. A stock is purchased for $50 on January 1 and sold on December 31 for $72. A
$5.00 per share dividend is paid at the end of the year.

(a) Calculate the R.

Solution: (a) R = (Dividend + Change in Price)/ Beginning Price

= ($5 + $22)/$50 = 0.54 or 54 percent

Difficulty: Moderate

2. The S&P 500 showed the following Rs for a 6 year period: 11.1 percent, -5.2
percent, 20.3 percent, 26.7 percent, -12.4 percent, and 2.2 percent.

(a) Calculate the arithmetic mean return for the 6-year period.
(b) Calculate the geometric mean return for the 6-year period.

Solution: (a) Arithmetic mean = X/n = [11.1 + (-5.2) + 20.3 + 26.7 + (-12.4) + 2.2]/6
= 42.7/6 = .0712 or 7.12 percent

(b) To calculate the geometric mean, convert to RRs and obtain the product of the six
RRs.

G = [1.111 x .948 x 1.203 x 1.267 x .876 x 1.022]1/6 - 1

= [1.4372] 1/6 - 1 = 1.0623 - 1 = .0623 or 6.23 percent

Difficulty: Difficult

3. Calculate FV of $100,000 at the end of 64 years given an interest rate of 10.38%.

Solution: Future Value = Present Value (1 + r)n

= $100,000 (1.1038) 64
= $100,000 (555.8849840) or on a financial calculator:
= $55,588,498.40 100000 PV, 64N, 10.38 Int,
Solve for FV = $55,588,498,40
Difficulty: Easy

Chapter Six 81
The Risks and Returns from Investing
4. John Crossborder buys 1 share of Telmex at 140 pesos when the value of the peso
is stated in dollars at $0.35. One year later, Telmex is selling for 155 pesos and
paid a dividend of 5 pesos at yearend. If after one year the value of pesos is
$0.29, what is John's rate of return in U. S. dollars?

Solution: Return Relative in pesos = [(155 - 140 + 5)/140] + 1.0 = 1.1429

Domestic R = 1.1429[0.29/0.35] - 1 = -0.0531 or -5.31%

Difficulty: Difficult

5. If you deposit $1,000 today at 12 percent, how much will you have in 10 years?

Solution: Using a financial calculator: 1000 PV, 12 interest rate, 10 N,

solve for FV = $3,105.85

Difficulty: Easy

6. What is the present value of $20,000 to be received in 40 years if the interest rate
is 9 percent?

Solution: Using a financial calculator: 20000 FV, 9 interest rate, 40 N,

solve for PV = $636.75

Difficulty: Easy

Chapter Six 82
The Risks and Returns from Investing
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hang upon the master-stroke which you will have to accomplish by
surprising the garrison of Domfront ere wind of the affair hath
reached the fort, and by holding a couple of hundred soldiers of
Bonaparte in durance until reinforcements can reach you. It is a
heavy task for such young shoulders, my son," she added earnestly.
"May God give you strength to carry it through."
"I would give my life," murmured Laurent dully, "for the right to
remain at La Frontenay for the next few days."
"A Marquis de Mortain," broke in Madame with rigid sternness,
"cannot lag behind when those of his kindred are risking their lives
for their King. Have no fear for Fernande, my dear boy," she added
more gently. "It is as well that she stays here with me. I can keep an
eye on her. You can trust me to keep your treasure in safety for you,
against your speedy return."
Obviously Laurent was neither convinced nor pacified; but there was
nothing more to be said. Within the next few moments M. de
Courson returned, and uncle and nephew had to talk over their plans
of the next forty-eight hours. It were best, so M. de Courson
decided, that they should go immediately to Courson and make
arrangements for mustering their men there before the general rally
in the Cerf-Volant woods two days later. Laurent would have wished
to take a final, impassioned farewell of his fiancée, but on this M. de
Courson—as his senior and his leader—pronounced a decided veto.
This was not the time for sentimental dalliance and indulgence in
nerve-racking fits of jealousy. Laurent now was amenable to military
discipline, which was all the more strict as subservience to it was
purely voluntary.
Madame gave her unqualified approval to M. de Courson's decision.
Fernande, she declared, would be well guarded and under her own
eye. She—Madame—would see that the child's emotional nature did
not lead her into some headstrong act of folly.
After a while Laurent had perforce to yield; disobedience was out of
the question. At this juncture it would even bear an uglier name
than that; and though the young man's heart was aching for a last
sight of his beloved, though he longed to plunge his gaze into her
blue eyes and to read within their limpid depths all that he would
have longed to find, of love, of ardour and of fidelity, he braced
himself up for a great effort, and with, at any rate, outward calm, he
bade his mother an affectionate farewell and finally followed M. de
Courson out of the château.
Madame la Marquise, from the window beside which she was
standing, was able to watch the two slim figures—her son and her
brother—as they strode rapidly down the broad avenue of the park,
until a clump of tall-growing conifers hid them from her view.
Then she fell on her knees, and resting her elbows on the window-
ledge, she buried her face in her hands.
"God! My God!" she prayed, with all the ardour of a devotee, "give
success to our arms! Bring those two back triumphant and
victorious! Bring our beloved King back to his throne again!"
 CHAPTER XVI
THE IRREPARABLE

I
Ronnay de Maurel had been absent nearly a year from his home. He
had joined the Emperor in Poland, and despite his game leg, he had
fought at Jena and Auerstadt, at Eylau and at Friedland.
When the two Emperors met upon the bridge at Tilsit and decided
on the terms of peace, de Maurel, created Marshal of France on the
field of Auerstadt, returned quietly to La Vieuville in time, he hoped,
to close the eyes of old Gaston and to hear his last dying words. He
had been home just three days. The day after his arrival he sent
back the military representatives who had looked after his factories
for him during his absence, and quietly took up once more the reins
of government, which an unendurable heart-ache had caused to
drop temporarily out of his hands. He laid aside his fine uniform and
once more took up his blouse and his woollen cap. Old Gaston was
too feeble to note the subtle change which had come over his
nephew during twelve months of rough campaigning among the
snows and the marshes of Poland; he did not perceive how passing
seldom Ronnay ever spoke now, or how he sat late into the night
staring straight out before him with a yearning gaze in his dark,
deep-set eyes. He had passed through Paris on his way home and
brought back a number of books with him—he who before this had
never troubled about one in his life—and when his eyes ached from
staring into vacancy, he would open one of these books, and
drawing the lamp closer to him, he would rest his elbow on the table
and shade his face with his hand and become so absorbed, that the
grey dawn would oft find him still sitting in the invalid's room, with
the book open in front of him—unless he had pushed it aside and
sat with his head buried in his hands.
On the day of his arrival he had, with the help of Madame Lapin,
reorganized the La Vieuville household on a more comfortable basis.
But little could be done in the way of comforts for the dying man; he
was past noticing if his room was aired or his food brought to him at
regular intervals. The village doctor visited him from time to time,
but there was nothing to be done now. The machinery of life was
worn out; for over a year now it had threatened to break down
altogether—an iron constitution and an invincible will to live until the
beloved nephew came home once more, had alone kept the
enfeebled heart to its work.
To Ronnay de Maurel the aspect of La Vieuville seemed infinitely
dreary; the thought of the factories and the foundries singularly
uninspiring. What mattered it that he had come home—a great deal
older, a little more crippled, more impatient and more indifferent?
Old Gaston could not now last more than a few days, and the
representatives of the War Office had seen to it that the output of
guns and of munitions did not fall too far short of the Emperor's
needs. Why should a man come home—a man who had courted
death in an hundred desperate fights—a man who had nothing to
live for, no one to care for, no one who would rejoice when he
returned or who would weep if he fell ... when countless precious
sons and brothers and lovers and husbands were left to rot unburied
on the ice-covered plains of Poland, and countless mothers and
widows mourned, broken-hearted, at their loss?
But it was not his way to let things drift. Peace had, of a truth, been
signed at Tilsit, but it was not like to be a lasting peace. The
European Powers had once and for all decided that France was not
to remain in bondage to the Emperor whom she worshipped. He was
in everybody else's way, he must be swept aside in order to make
room for the effete and incompetent Bourbons, who were hanging
on to the coat-tails of England and Austria and Russia, with a view to
reaping the chestnuts which others had pulled out of the fire for
them. De Maurel was one of those who would have preferred their
idolized Emperor to sit at home after this last campaign, to enjoy the
fruit of his victories and to prove to the world that France, when she
divested herself of the old régime, had gained a benefactor, even
though she had had to pass through fire and water, through crime
and ignominy, ere she got him. But to know Napoleon intimately, as
did the privileged few, was to realize that measureless ambition
which was destined to hurl him, not only down from the giddy
heights of triumph and of victory whereon his glorious achievements
of the last two campaigns had established him, but also from his
secure place within the heart of his people, a place which he would
only reconquer when his mortal remains were brought back to
France after the years of conflict and of misery which were to come.

II
That all was not well at the factories de Maurel did not fail to
perceive within four-and-twenty hours of his return. The military
overseers had done their duty—the output of munitions, if not lavish,
had been adequate, and there had been no open rebellion among
the workers. But in the first tour of inspection which the master
made of his demesnes he realized how more than surly was the
temper of former malcontents now and how sorely had the loyalty of
the honest workmen been tried.
Complaints and grumblings had not been listened to now for over a
year; the rough admonitions of a sympathetic taskmaster had given
place to peremptory commands from military disciplinarians and to
threats of condign punishment at the slightest sign of discontent. It
would take many weeks of untiring patience and firmness to re-
establish the happy concord which reigned in the foundries and
armament works a year ago. As for the powder factories, de Maurel
was compelled to reserve judgment as to where real grievances
began and slackness and covert rebellion ended. Leroux, suave and
obsequious, at once aroused his distrust, but the War Office
representatives, when they left, had given the man an excellent
character, both for trustworthiness and for industry, and de Maurel
was not the man to act on mere intuition.
Intuition had played him such a damnable trick a while ago when he
would have staked his soul on the loyalty of a pair of blue eyes!
Mathurin certainly struck a note of warning, but he found his master
so unapproachable, that he dared not say much, and old Gaston had
long since been too feeble to see anything that was going on.
Of Madame la Marquise up at La Frontenay he could glean but little
information. M. le Marquis had been absent a great deal during the
year with M. de Courson, and Mademoiselle Fernande had remained
with her aunt during the absence of M. le Marquis; but neither she
nor Madame had done more than pay the one visit to the foundries
as the orders of the War Office authorities were very peremptory on
that point. The ladies were seldom seen outside the limits of the
château; they had dismissed all the servants whom Vardenne had
engaged for them locally, and replaced them gradually by
importations of their own.
It was generally understood in the district that Mademoiselle de
Courson was now formally affianced to M. le Marquis de Mortain.

III
It was on the day following the council of war at La Frontenay that
Ronnay de Maurel started out soon after dawn for one of his
favourite tramps across the moors and through the woods. Before
he went away last July he had left very strict orders that no one
should henceforth be allowed to wander in the La Frontenay woods.
The explanation was given that valuable game was being preserved
there, and one of old Gaston's last efforts at administering his
nephew's property was to establish in accordance with Ronnay's
express instructions, a veritable army of keepers in the district, with
discretionary powers to warn every trespasser off the forbidden
grounds.
De Maurel, therefore, when he started off on that exquisite June
morning to re-visit the place where he had suffered the most terrible
mental torture which heart of man could endure, felt confident that
he would remain secure from intrusion; that, above all, he need not
fear a rencontre which would inevitably reopen the burning wound
which time had not even begun to heal.
To him, now that a year of hard work and hard fighting had passed
over that awful day of misery and of shame, it seemed as if time had
stood still; as if it had been but a few hours ago that he had started
out—just as he did now—on that walk beneath the early morning
sunshine, which had ended in such an appalling disaster—in the
total wreckage of his life, of his newly-awakened youth, of every
newly-risen hope of home and of happiness. Then, as now, the dew
still lay upon the carpet of moss, the mountain-ash and the elder
were in full bloom, and the mating birds had finished building their
nests. Then, as now, the swallows circled swiftly overhead, and a
lark rose from the ground at his feet and sang its joyful song of
thanksgiving to God.
But then the world held for him an exquisite being who was all
tenderness and charm, who had lured him with her blue eyes, until
he remembered that he, too, was young and he, too, had a right to
love and happiness; the woods had held for him a nymph with feet
like the petals of flowers, with sun-kissed hair which shone like living
gold. A nymph! a creature of grace, of air, of light, whose fragrance
was akin to a wilderness of roses, whose laugh was like the song of
the lark, and whose arms were white and slender like the lilies! And
when she stood before him or lay placid and drowsy in his arms,
mysterious voices in the woods had murmured in his ear insidious
promises of happiness to come.
He, poor fool, had listened to those voices—sirens' voices, which are
wont to lure the unfortunate mariner on life's ocean to his own
destruction—to his own misery and undoing; sirens' voices which
whispered that the exquisite fairy-like form which lay like a nestling
bird in his arms would one day be his for always—that she would
always snuggle up, just like this, against his shoulder; that he would
one day cull a kiss from those perfect lips, that he would one day
have the right to hold her and keep her and to guard her for always
against every ill.
Since then the voices of the sirens had turned to harsh and dismal
screeching; the hopes of a year ago had turned to blank despair, and
the savour of that triumphal aspiration turned to the dead sea fruit
of unconquerable humiliation.
Prussian cannon had disdained the prey which Ronnay de Maurel
had offered with crazy recklessness; he had come back laden with
honours, a broken-hearted and lonely man; and the birds still sang,
the woods were still fragrant, the world of sunshine and of
springtide, of flowering trees and full-blown roses mocked at his
irretrievable beggary.

IV
And when Fernande de Courson started out that same morning,
soon after daybreak, in a random spirit of wandering, and her
footsteps led her—unconsciously, perhaps—in the direction of the
woods, she, too, had little thought of meeting Ronnay de Maurel
again. The hour was so early that not another soul was abroad—so
early that not a sound stirred the quietude of valley and of hills save
the distant murmuring of the tiny stream which found its resting-
place in the silent pool.
It was an hour, too, wherein even the keepers established by old
Gaston to patrol the La Frontenay woods usually slackened their
vigilance. It was too late for poachers, too early for tramps;
Fernande, as she left the meadows behind her, turned into a
woodland path unperceived.
For a time she walked on somewhat aimlessly. It was deliciously cool
under the trees, and the smell of budding blossom, of wet moss and
of pine, acted as a tonic on her overstrung nerves. She wandered
on, not allowing herself to think. All through the past few days she
had tried not to feel that Ronnay de Maurel had come back; she had
tried to forget that he was near, that any day, any moment, if she
took her walks abroad she might come face to face with him.
And, in a measure, she had succeeded. She was now Laurent de
Mortain's future wife, the follies of a year ago must yield to a sober
view of future events. Except for that one brief, if vehement outburst
yesterday in the presence of Madame's monstrous callousness, she
had succeeded in relegating the man to whom she had done an
infinite wrong to the furthermost recesses of her mind. But here, in
these woods where every murmur among the trees, every call of
bird or fragrance of flower, reminded her of him—in the woods
through which she had once passed nestling against his shoulder,
secure in the embrace of his strong arms, thoughts of him went
hammering through her brain. All the dangers which beset him
through Joseph de Puisaye's plan of campaign and Leroux' treachery
caused her heart to beat with a nameless horror and fear. At every
moment she thought to hear his rugged voice calling her by name,
and even now her heart almost stilled its beating as a woodland
echo seemed to bring back to her ear that cry of triumph which had
rent her very soul: "You love me, Fernande!"
And as she wandered on, she lost count of time, and soon she found
that she had lost her way. She had never entered the La Frontenay
woods from the direction of the château since first she came to stay
there, and she had no idea now which way to turn in order to go
back home again. Soon she felt tired and dispirited; she did not
know how long she had been wandering, nor how far she had gone.
Then all at once she knew where she was. She had walked a few
steps along a moss-covered path, which wound its way right through
the thicket, and suddenly there came a break in the coppice, and
there before her lay the silent pool, with its mossy banks and clumps
of wild iris and of meadowsweet, and the fallen tree-trunk where she
had sat that day—a whole year ago.
And as she made her way nearer to the water, she saw Ronnay de
Maurel sitting there on the bank; he was leaning against the fallen
tree-trunk, his elbow resting upon it and his head supported by his
hand.
She would have fled if she could, for at sight of him she had at once
realized that to meet him here and now was the last thing in the
world that she had wished. She realized that rather than he should
see her, rather than she should speak with him, she would have run
for miles, fearful only lest he should follow her track. How could she
meet him—even to speak the words of contrition which for the past
year she had longed to utter one day—how could she meet him
whilst up at La Frontenay her own kindred, her own friends, those
whom she loved, were planning treachery and murder against him!
But unfortunately now there was no time to run away; already he
had seen her, and before she could stir from the spot, he had
struggled to his feet and was coming towards her. Even then she
would have given worlds to be able to go, but she could not. For one
thing, he walked more haltingly than he had ever done before—and
then he looked older, less sure of himself, more forlorn and solitary.
He dragged his wounded leg more markedly—more as he used to do
in the olden days when he was overtired, and all her womanly
tenderness and pity went out to him, because of that indefinable air
of helplessness which his lameness momentarily gave him. Not only
did Fernande de Courson not beat a hasty retreat, but when he
paused, irresolute and timid, it was she who came a step or two
nearer to him.
"I am afraid that I am trespassing," she said tentatively, for, of a
truth, she felt suddenly frightened—frightened at his look—a look of
bitter resentment, she thought, of hate perhaps as absolute as she
had felt for him in days gone by.
"Nay, it is I," he retorted dryly, "who have no right to be here, seeing
that it is evidently Mademoiselle de Courson's favourite walk. By
your leave, I will vacate the field. The keepers should have warned
me. Had they done so, I would not have come."
He bowed in his usual awkward style and made as if to go, but with
a word Fernande called him back. For a moment or two he
hesitated. No doubt he, too, had as great a desire to run away as
she had; but the girl now—with one of those contradictory impulses
which are peculiar to sensitive temperaments—felt an unconquerable
wish to speak with him ... if only for the purpose of challenging him
to those words of reproach which he had spared her on that day
when Laurent's cruel scorn and her own callousness had struck him
as with a physical blow.
"M. de Maurel," she cried, moved by that sudden impulse.
"At your commands, Mademoiselle," he replied.
"I ... I ... believe me I had no thought of meeting you here ... or of
intruding upon your privacy ... but now that we have met, I beg of
you that you will let me tell you...."
She paused, feeling that a hot flush had risen to her cheeks and that
her words sounded both halting and cold. And yet he had made no
movement to stop her. It had never been his way to interrupt. For
good or ill, he always listened to the end of whatever anyone chose
to say. He had listened to the end, when Laurent, with a few harsh
words, had shattered the shrine wherein he had set his fondest
illusions; he stood quite still now, ready to listen to everything she
might wish to say. But somehow it was just his attitude of quiet
expectancy which stemmed the flow of her words. It was only when
she had been silent for some few seconds and apparently was not
going to speak again, that he interposed calmly:
"Is there any necessity for you, Mademoiselle, to tell me anything?
Surely not, seeing that it distresses you. Will you, on the other hand,
permit me to offer you my well-meant congratulations on your
approaching marriage with my brother?"
Already Fernande had recovered some measure of self-control. Her
dignity was on the qui vive. Apparently he meant to meet every
advance on her part with frigid enmity. The look of resentment in his
eyes had deepened, and to Fernande's keen senses it seemed as if
they held no small measure of scorn as well.
"I thank you," she said coolly. "It was ma tante's intention to send
you an announcement of our fiançailles, but we only heard
yesterday with any certainty that you had returned."
"There is no occasion for my mother to trouble herself about such
trifling conventions with me," he retorted. "I feel so sure that she
hath no desire to claim the slightest kinship with a de Maurel that
any formalities of the kind which she seems to contemplate would
be a mere farce."
"You are very irreconcilable, M. de Maurel," said Fernande coldly,
"and are making your mother and Laurent suffer for the
thoughtlessness which I committed a year ago, and of which I would
like you to believe that I have since bitterly repented."
"I have no recollection of any thoughtlessness on your part,
Mademoiselle ... certainly of none which should cause you any
regret."
"Your actions belie your words," she rejoined quietly. "If, as you say,
you have not only forgiven but forgotten the foolishness of a year
ago, then why have you kept aloof from your mother ... from us all?
You were wont to be a constant visitor at Courson, your mother and
Laurent have enjoyed your hospitality for the past twelve months.
Yet you have not been nigh La Frontenay, and 'tis three days since
your return."
"My uncle Gaston is dying," he said curtly; "he and the works have
claimed my attention."
"Does that mean, then, that you will come?" she asked, "one day
soon when you are not so engaged?"
Then, as he made no reply, she added more insistently: "Your
mother and Laurent bore no part whatever in the wrong which I
alone committed. M. de Maurel, why should you remain at enmity
with them?"
"At enmity, Mademoiselle?—am I at enmity with my mother or with
my brother? Surely not."
"Why not go to see them? Why not come to see us all as you used
to do?"
"Chiefly, I think," he replied roughly, "because up at La Frontenay no
one has any desire to see me. My brother and I have nothing in
common—my mother and I still less. You, Mademoiselle Fernande,
proved to me a year ago what an utterly ridiculous boor I was, fit
only to be jeered at and made game of. Now a bear is not usually a
good plaything for women; he is apt to snarl and render himself
odious by his antics. He is far better out of the way, believe me."
"You are ungenerous, M. de Maurel. God knows how bitterly I have
regretted my folly! I had no thought of seeing you here, 'tis true, but
now, despite your harshness, I am glad that we have met. Words of
sorrow and of repentance which refused me service a year ago have
seared my heart ever since. I could not speak then, I was too much
overcome by shame and by remorse. But I entreat you to believe
that not a day has gone by during the past twelve months that I did
not in my heart pray for your forgiveness. I was very young then,
very thoughtless and very inexperienced. I knew nothing of men,
nor was I vain enough to gauge the amount of mischief that
thoughtless coquetry on my part would wreak. M. de Maurel, for the
hurt I caused you that day I do sincerely beg your forgiveness.
Before then ma tante and Laurent had reason to believe that in you
they had found a friend. I entreat you, do not add to my remorse by
venting on them your resentment which should be for me alone."
Her voice broke in a short sob. Her blue eyes were filled with tears.
Overhead the sun had hidden its radiance behind a bank of clouds,
and all around the woods appeared grey and desolate, and from the
pool there came the melancholy croaking of frogs and the call of
wood-pigeons was wafted through the trees.
"The bear must dance again, eh?" rejoined de Maurel harshly. "He
may prove dangerous if he slips his chain. I wonder what it is that
does go on inside La Frontenay that all this mise en scène should
have been resorted to once more in order to hoodwink me?"
Fernande drew back as if she had been struck. A hot flush rose to
the very roots of her hair; it seemed to her as if an unseen and
aggressive hand had thrown a veil right over her head, and then
dealt her a heavy blow between the eyes. Everything around her
suddenly appeared blurred and a strange sense of cold crept into
her limbs.
"I don't understand," she stammered.
"Ah! but I think you do, Mademoiselle Fernande," he retorted. "A
year ago it was thought necessary to enchain the Maurel bear so
that he might dance to Royalist pipings; for this he was lured and
cajoled and fed with treacle and honeyed words. The foolish,
awkward creature began to dance; he was ready to see nothing save
a pair of blue eyes that looked as limpid as a mountain stream, to
hear nothing save the piping of a voice as clear and guileless as that
of a lark. Unfortunately the jealous ravings of a puppy wakened the
clumsy brute from his trance ... wakened him too soon, it seems, but
so roughly that, feeling dazed and shaken, he preferred to crawl
away out of sight rather than remain a butt for mockery and ridicule.
Now he has come back and may prove dangerous again—what?
Bah! the same old methods can easily be tried again, the same
honeyed words spoken, the same blue eyes raised tantalizingly to
his. Too late, Mademoiselle Fernande!" he added, with a laugh which
sounded strident and harsh as it echoed through the woods. "The
bear has awakened from his winter sleep, he is not like to be caught
napping again."
"M. de Maurel," protested Fernande, "you are not only ungenerous
now, but wilfully cruel and unchivalrous; and, of a truth, your
harshness now hath killed every feeling of remorse which I have felt.
You have, of a truth, the right to hate me, the right to hate us all;
but I spoke to you in all sincerity, and my humility and repentance
should at least have saved me from insult."
"Sincerity!" he exclaimed, "sincerity from a Courson! Ah!
Mademoiselle Fernande, you said just now that I was at enmity with
my brother Laurent. By my faith, I will remain for ever his debtor.
But for his interference on that memorable day meseems that
Madame my mother would have succeeded in staging once again
the tragedy which had already once been enacted at La Frontenay,
when a de Maurel took a de Courson for bride, and the final curtain
rang down upon his broken heart."
"A broken heart!" she retorted hotly, "you! Nay, every word that you
utter hath proved to me the foolishness of my remorse. Your heart
hath been full only of outraged vanity and of unreasoning
resentment, the while I wept countless tears of sorrow and of
regret."
"Regret for what, Mademoiselle?" he exclaimed roughly. "What, I
pray you, had you to regret? You say that you wept countless tears
—what for? Had you to mourn the only illusion of your life? Had you
to mourn the loss of every hope which for days and nights had
haunted you with its sweet, insistent call? Had you to weep because
the one being in this mean and sordid world whom you thought pure
and true—almost holy—suddenly appeared before you false and
cruel—double-tongued and insidious, a commonplace siren set to lay
a trap for men? Had you to weep because the being whom you had
learned to worship had with wanton frolic and a mocking smile
plucked out your heart-strings and left you forlorn and desolate, a
prey to ignominy and to lifelong regret? And had you to weep tears
of bitter humiliation in the knowledge that those who hated and
despised you were laughing their fill at your folly? Oh! I, too,
Mademoiselle Fernande, was young then ... I, too, was
inexperienced ... I was a dolt and a fool—but what wrong, in God's
name, had I done you that you should treat me so?"
Silently Fernande had listened, her hand grasping a clump of
branches of young chestnut, else mayhap she would have fallen.
That feeling of a veil enveloping her head was still with her; there
was a buzzing in her ear through which his harsh voice came with a
sound like hammering upon the portals of her brain. The agony and
misery which rang out from his words found their echo in her own
heart. Indeed, many a time in the past year had she felt pitifully
sorry for the man whom she had wronged with such unpardonable
thoughtlessness, but never before had she felt as she did now;
never before had she realized the full extent of the misery which she
had caused.
His voice broke into a heartrending sob. He covered his face with his
hands with a gesture of such racking pain, that she would have
given her very life at this moment for the right to comfort him.
"M. de Maurel," she said gently, and, indeed, now her voice was
softer than that of a cooing dove, "God alone knows how deeply
your words have hurt me; and I go away to-day feeling that you
have made me atone for all that I made you suffer. Indeed, indeed, I
had no thought a year ago that my senseless coquetry could arouse
in a noble-hearted man like you, feelings which I so little deserved.
Whatever you may think, however, I did not lie to you when I told
you that for the past year, not one day has gone by without a
thought of burning remorse in my mind for what I had done. I did
not lie when I sued for your forgiveness. This I do swear to you by
every memory that clusters round this glade, by every memory that
speaks to you as well as to me in the rustle of the leaf-laden trees
and in the murmurings of the woods; I swear it by the unforgettable
hour when we both heard the gentle cooing of the wood-pigeons,
and my hand rested in yours in complete amity. As for the future, 'tis
not likely that we shall ever meet again. I hope to leave La
Frontenay very soon—to-day if I can. May I therefore beg you in all
earnestness to take up the threads of friendship with your mother—
there where my own foolishness caused them to snap? Go to her, M.
de Maurel ... go to-day if you can. Do not forget that she is your
mother.... Do not let her forget that you are her son. God be with
you and guard you! And whatever may happen in the future, will you
at least try to bear in mind that Fernande de Courson would gladly
give her life to heal the wound which she hath inflicted. Time will
inevitably do that," she added with a choked little sigh, "and in the
years to come you will mayhap think less bitterly of me."
Then she turned and, like a deer, she vanished in the thicket.
Ronnay's hands fell from his face. For a long while he remained
there gazing on the spot where she had stood. Through the
murmurings of the wood he still could hear the echo of her silvery
voice, and it seemed to him that her pale face, with the tear-filled
eyes, still peeped at him from between the branches of the coppice,
and that the perfume of her white gown and of her golden hair still
filled the air with their intoxicating fragrance.
Then with a heavy sigh he, too, turned and went his way.
 CHAPTER XVII
A LAST APPEAL

I
Fernande had said nothing to Madame la Marquise of her rencontre
with Ronnay de Maurel. Of a truth, Madame, despite her many
promises to Laurent, had not kept a very close eye on her niece's
movements. Fernande had been away from the château during the
best part of the morning; she came home with tear-stained eyes,
and her gown had obviously trailed in the mud, but Madame
apparently noticed nothing. All the day she wandered about the
château in a perfect fever of excitement. In the afternoon a runner
came over from Courson with news from all the chiefs. The next day
was now irrevocably fixed upon for the attack on the foundries.
Leroux was to be given his final instructions, and Madame herself be
prepared to hold the château against any assault delivered against it
by the local peasantry, who no doubt were well armed by de Maurel
and had been drilled against any emergency.
M. de Courson had added a special note to the letter telling
Madame, that the Comte de Puisaye had decided to send his friend
Prigent with forty or fifty men to La Frontenay in case of attack.
"The château can very easily be held," M. de Courson's note went
on, "and we have no fears for you, knowing your energy and
resourcefulness. Give Leroux the fullest instructions possible, then
do not send for him again during the day. I have an idea that he is
being watched by spies of de Maurel's, and he will have to be very
circumspect for the next thirty-six hours. As for us all, we are more
full of hope than ever. We reviewed our men last night in the park.
They are marvellously enthusiastic and firm in the belief that their
prowess will rally thousands of waverers to the Fleur-de-Lis. De
Puisaye has recruited a further two hundred, and hath now a force
of over six on the further side of Mortain. Everything, therefore, is
for the best, and nothing but some absolutely unforeseen accident
can now rob us of success. Above all, I entreat you, my dear sister,
be as silent and discreet as the grave. Remember that walls of
French châteaux have oft had ears in the course of their history.
Speak to no one of our plan for to-morrow ... not to Matthieu
Renard, not to his wife. Do not discuss it with Fernande in the
presence of those whom you think most loyal. To-morrow afternoon
at three o'clock see Leroux in your private boudoir. Be sure that door
and windows are closed and that no one lurks behind curtains or
screens. Then tell the man to have everything ready for that night.
De Puisaye will arrive at the foundries soon after midnight, and he
will expect to find arms for six hundred men ready to his hand. After
that he will see to everything himself. Command Leroux to speak to
no one, to trust no one—but to select with the utmost care the fifty
men whom he requires to remain at the factories with him, in order
to surprise the watchmen and prevent the alarm being given. Keep
Fernande out of your councils, my dear Denise, as far as you can.
The child appears to me to be overwrought and might do some act
of headstrongness which might ruin everything. Something seems to
have occurred between her and Laurent just before we left La
Frontenay. You will know, no doubt, what it was. Laurent is a prey to
most acute jealousy. He has worried me considerably since
yesterday. He hath need of all his courage and coolness to bear his
share of our work to-morrow night. While I lead the attack on
Mortain it will be his duty to hold up the garrison of Domfront, else
they may fall on de Puisaye and his men, or else on me, when
perhaps not one of us would come out of it alive. I would not wrong
Laurent by suggesting that he is not up to the task, but it were well
if Fernande sent him a loving message by this same runner, in order
to reassure him and to brace him up for his task. Now, my dear
sister, I can do nothing more save commend you and my child to the
care of God."
The letter closed with many assurances of affection and a tone of
seriousness, which showed that M. de Courson was not perhaps
quite in such an optimistic frame of mind as were his chiefs.

II
Madame had frowned and uttered an exclamation of impatience
when in her brother's letter she had read the passage about Laurent.
The Fates which are wont to spin the threads of human destinies
without heeding the best-laid plans of men, smiled, no doubt, in
their lonely eyrie up on the summit of the Brocken, when Madame la
Marquise de Mortain, disdaining her brother's advice, chose in her
usual dictatorial, self-willed way to send a message to Laurent
herself, rather than ask Fernande to do so.
She couched her message in loving and reassuring terms, but she
said nothing to Fernande on the subject. Why, she could not herself
have said. There was no reason why the girl should not be told that
her fiancé was in the throes of a maddening attack of jealousy, and
that a word from her might soothe his perturbed spirit and restore to
him that courage of which he would presently be in such sore need.
But Madame had a horror of anything that might present her
beloved son in an unfavourable light. Any failing or weakness of his
would, she felt, redound in a measure to her discredit. That is the
only reason why she said nothing to Fernande, and why she herself
sent the message to Laurent which, as events unfortunately proved
subsequently, had not the effect of reassuring him.
In other matters she acted entirely in accordance with her brother's
orders. Obedience in that case meant military discipline, and rather
flattered Madame's sense of her own importance and responsibility.
She spent the best part of the day in her own room, and, entirely
self-absorbed, she completely ignored Fernande's presence and
Fernande's movements. From the château she could see or hear
nothing of the bustle and movement of the distant factories, but it
seemed to her as if their unheard throbbings found their echo
against her heart. To-morrow, she thought, they would for the last
time manufacture engines of war to help the King's enemies in their
disloyalty and their treachery; for the last time to-morrow would the
abominable Corsican upstart look to La Frontenay for the
cementation of his throne. She could not spare a thought for the son
against whom she was intriguing with such ruthless callousness. A
year ago she had planned to win him over to her side. In this she
had signally failed. She might have tried again now, only that there
was no time for protracted diplomacy.
To bring Ronnay de Maurel back to heel was a doubtful proposition;
if it did succeed, it would be months before good results could be
hoped for. In the meanwhile the King could not wait. Ronnay de
Maurel stood in his way: therefore must the loyal adherents of the
King sweep the offending obstacle from his path.

III
Leroux arrived punctually at three o'clock the following afternoon.
Madame la Marquise was in Fernande's room, talking platitudes to
the young girl in a tardy fit of remorse at having neglected her so
completely these past two days.
Fernande appeared more dejected than she had been before, and
Madame had much ado to keep her temper from breaking away
against so much pessimism, which almost amounted to disloyalty.
It was old Annette who announced Leroux, and Madame la Marquise
sent a message down to say that she would see him immediately. As
soon as Annette had gone, Fernande, with one of her sudden,
impulsive gestures, threw her arms round Madame's shoulders.
"Before it is too late, ma tante," she cried, with a tone of desperate
entreaty, "will you not think—just once more?"
"Too late for what, child?" retorted Madame impatiently, and she
shook herself free from the young girl's arms which encircled her
with a forceful and passionate grip.
"Too late to avert this appalling calamity," replied Fernande. "That
man Leroux is a criminal, a murderer," she continued with ever-
increasing vehemence. "His greed for the money which has been
offered him will render him utterly unscrupulous. I could see it in his
face the other day ... when he was here ... and M. de Puisaye was
speaking to him. He will stick at nothing, ma tante, at nothing in
order to gain his ten thousand francs."
"Well, my dear," rejoined Madame coldly, "we want a man who will
stick at nothing. King Louis hath no use for velvet gloves, for
mincing ways, or for half-hearted cowards these days. We have to
fight an unscrupulous foe, remember. What is Bonaparte, what are
these regicides, I'd like to know, but criminals and murderers! What
is Mademoiselle de Courson at this moment," she added, as with
flaming cheeks and glowing eyes she turned on Fernande and would
have smitten her with a look—"what is Mademoiselle de Courson
now save a half-hearted coward, unworthy to stand shoulder to
shoulder with her father, her lover, her kinsfolk in their homeric
struggle for justice and for right?"
But Fernande bore the withering looks and the insult unflinchingly. It
seemed as if in the last two days she had stepped boldly across the
dividing line which separates blind unquestioning childhood from
understanding and reasoning womanhood. All the horror for past
crimes and past excesses committed against her King and against
her cause was still present in her mind; but now she refused to
accept the complacent theory that crime must beget worse crime
and that revenge and reprisals, murder and pillage, would ever help
the righteousness of a cause or be justifiable in the sight of God.
"Bid me fight, ma tante," she retorted proudly, "side by side with my
father; bid me meet the enemies of my King in loyal combat, and I'll
warrant you'll not find me weak or cowardly. Fight! Yes, let us fight—
fight as did George Cadoudal and Louis de Frotté and Henri de la
Rochejaquelin—let us fight like men, but not like criminals. In God's
name let us not stoop to murder."
"Murder, child!" exclaimed Madame, "who talked of murder, I should
like to know?"
"Would you swear, ma tante," riposted Fernande slowly, "that whilst
you traffic with a man like Leroux, the possibility of an awful,
hideous, horrible murder has never presented itself to your mind?
That you have never envisaged the likelihood of Ronnay de Maurel
getting wind of this affair and of his taking Leroux to task for his
proposed treachery? Have you never thought, ma tante, of what
would happen if Leroux thought that his master suspected him, and
if he then came face to face with him—somewhere alone...?"
Just for the space of one second Madame la Marquise de Mortain
stood quite still—rigid almost as a statue—with eyes closed and lips
tightly set. Just for the space of that one second it seemed as if
something human, something womanly, stirred within that heart of
stone. Then an impatient exclamation escaped her lips.
"Tush, child!" she said. "I'll not be taken to task by you. Who are
you, pray, that you should strive to throw your childish sensibilities,
your childish nonsense across the path of your King's destiny?
Ronnay de Maurel must take his chance in this fight," she added, as
she threw back her head with a movement of invincible
determination. "He has chosen the traitor's path; while he and his
kind have the power, they stick at nothing to bring us into
subjection. We have the chance now ... one chance in a thousand—
to gain the upper hand of all these regicides and these minions of
Bonaparte. To neglect that chance for the sake of a craven scruple
were now an act of criminal folly. Let that be my last word, child,"
continued Madame, as she made for the door; "do not let me hear
any more of your warnings, your prophecies, or your sermons. What
has been decided by our chiefs shall be done—understand?—and
what must be, must be. And when your father returns, after having
risked his life for the cause which you seem to hold so lightly, take
care lest the first word he utters be one of condemnation of a
recreant daughter."

IV
Madame la Marquise did not pause to see what effect her last stern
words had upon Fernande. She sailed out of the room with no
further thought in her mind of the passionate appeal which had left
her utterly cold. To her now there existed only one thing in the
entire world, and that was the project for the seizure of the La
Frontenay foundries and its consequent immense effect upon the
ultimate triumph of the Royalist cause. Everything else, every
thought, every feeling, every duty she swept away from her heart
and from her mind as petty, irrelevant, and not worthy to be
weighed in the balance with the stupendous issue which was at
stake.
Indeed, as she sped down to the hall for this final momentous
interview with Leroux, she felt greatly thankful that yesterday she
had not acted on her brother's advice, and that she had written to
Laurent herself rather than allowed Fernande to do so. The girl, in
writing to her lover, might have indulged in one of those
dithyrambics which were so unexplainable, and which might still
further have upset Laurent. As it was, everything was for the best,
and Madame dismissed any latent fears from her mind just as readily
as she had dismissed any slight twinge of remorse which Fernande's
words might have caused to arise in her heart.
Leroux, gruff and surly as usual, had been shown into a small library
adjoining the great entrance-hall of the château, a room which M. de
Courson had of late used as an office for transacting the
correspondence of his party and receiving any messengers sent to
him by one of his chiefs. Here the man had waited, while Madame
was being detained upstairs by Fernande's last tender appeal.
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