“The blood of those who may suffer if you drive me to use force will be upon your head. I have told you you can go free.” “The blood of the Bourbon soldiers here will be shed freely in defence of their master, and for the rest the responsibility is yours, my lord, not mine.” “I give you this last chance to avoid a conflict.” Gerard whispered to her before she answered. “You ask me to surrender, and I am authorized by my Lord Gerard de Bourbon to answer you thus. Cry a truce for forty-eight hours and we will come to you voluntarily to the Castle.” “I will not give you forty-eight seconds,” was the angry reply, and with that the Governor turned away. He rapidly completed his dispositions for the feinted attack which commenced almost immediately. It was delivered with much show of force from four different points round the house, and was accompanied by a great deal of musketry firing on both sides. But this, owing to the darkness, did little or no harm to either party. The result satisfied the Governor that there really was a considerable body of men opposed to him, and he drew off his troops and surrounded the maison, and left instructions with the officer in command to keep up the pretence of an attack and to make one or two demonstrations during the night. Then he rode back to the Castle, carrying with him the conviction that in a day or two at most Gerard would be again in his hands. Inside Malincourt a very different view of the position was taken. The attack was regarded as the proof of the Governor’s intention to make good his threat to storm the maison and burn it; while the ease with which it was beaten off only served to rouse the suspicion that it was no more than the preface to a much more serious effort. “His object is to test our strength,” said Gerard to Pascal, “and to see whether we really are in any force. We may look for the real fighting later. If we had known, we would have saved our powder.” “We could ill spare it. Slight as the thing was, it has made grievous inroads on our supply.” “We need not be anxious. It will last out till morning, and then we shall go. They are likely to try and harry us through the night, so that we must be on our guard, but the real attack will be delivered in daylight, and before it comes we must be out of the house. We have gained our end, the delay of a night, and for to-morrow we can safely trust ourselves to the burghers.” “I would rather have trusted to these walls if only Babillon could have got up with the arms.” “But he cannot, in the face of the soldiery round the house.” “There is the secret passage. I could go and find him and guide him by that way.” “But the risk, man. If a suspicion were roused we should have the one chance of escape stopped. Not for an armoury full of guns and powder would I have that way discovered.” “True enough; it is perhaps too great a risk,” agreed Pascal.