"Yes, you! The surprise coup planned by de Puisaye has failed. The alarm was given at the armament works an hour and a half ago; since then there has been continuous firing in the direction of Mortain. The garrison there has been aroused, that of Domfront, too, no doubt. Some of our contingents have been surprised. They are selling their lives dearly at this hour. Your father is probably fighting over there. Who is it, then, who has betrayed us to Ronnay de Maurel and delivered our brave little army into the hands of our enemies?" "Not I!" protested Fernande loudly. Light had suddenly broken on the hideous mystery which had confronted her when she first entered this room. She understood everything now--her aunt's prostration, her despair, the semi-insanity which was overclouding her brain, making her see lurid phantoms of treachery. She--Fernande--was suspected of having betrayed her father, her lover, her friends; and Madame la Marquise, clinging to that abominable thought, was rapidly losing all sense of justice, of reasoning and of right. The girl's very soul was outraged at the monstrous accusation. "How dared you harbour such abominable thoughts of me?" she cried indignantly. A strident laugh broke from Denise de Mortain's throat. "Would you prefer it if I thought that you had stolen out of the chateau to-night--and alone--in order to meet a swain behind the nearest hedge?" "Oh!" "That was Laurent's estimate of you; and I--like a fool--thought he must be mad." "Laurent?" "Laurent was here--to-night," continued Madame, as she came a step or two nearer to Fernande, and the words--hot, passionate, fierce--came tumbling through her lips. "For two days he was tortured with thoughts of your treachery. I tell you he seemed nearly mad. To-night he could hold out no longer. He deserted his post--he, who is the soul of honour! He came here, just in time to see you steal out of the chateau like a flirty wench. An hour and a half ago the alarm bell from the factories clanged through the night. Laurent was here then, pouring out his heart in bitterness and in misery. But the sound recalled him to his duty, which he had forgotten while thinking of you. He went back in order to redeem the hour of folly which led him to desert his post. He went back in order to die fighting beside my brother and his friends." "Oh, my God!" moaned Fernande, as she covered her face with her hands.