"Madame," rejoined Lenet, "I say again to your Highness that Richon is not a coward,--that I will answer for him with my head; and if he capitulated, it was certainly because he could not do otherwise." The princess, pale with rage, was about to hurl at Lenet one of the aristocratic invectives which she deemed a sufficient substitute for good sense; but when she saw the averted faces, and eyes that avoided her own, Lenet with head erect, and Ravailly looking down at the floor, she realized that her cause would indeed be lost if she persevered in that fatal system; so she resorted to her usual argument. "Unfortunate princess that I am," said she; "every one abandons me, fortune as well as men! Ah! my child, my poor child, you will undergo the same fate as your father!" This wail of womanly weakness, this burst of maternal grief, found, as always, an echo in the hearts of those who stood by. The comedy, which the princess had so often enacted with success, once more accomplished its purpose. Meanwhile Lenet made Ravailly repeat all that he could tell him concerning the capitulation of Vayres. "Ah! I knew it must be so!" he suddenly ejaculated. "What did you know?" the princess asked him. "That Richon was no coward, madame." "What has confirmed you in that opinion?" "The fact that he held out two days and two nights; that he would have been buried beneath the ruins of his fort had not a company of recruits rebelled and forced him to capitulate." "He should have died, monsieur, rather than surrender," said the princess. "Ah! madame, can one die when one chooses?" said Lenet. "I trust," he added, turning to Ravailly, "that he obtained honorable terms." "No terms at all, I fear," Ravailly replied. "I was told that the negotiations were conducted by a lieutenant, so that there may have been some treachery, and instead of having an opportunity to make terms Richon was betrayed." "Yes, yes," cried Lenet, "he must have been betrayed! I know Richon, and I know that he is incapable, I will not insult him by saying of a cowardly act, but of an act of weakness. Oh, madame!" continued Lenet, "betrayed, do you understand? Let us look to his safety at once. Surrender negotiated by a lieutenant, Monsieur Ravailly? There is some great misfortune hovering over poor Richon's head. Write quickly, madame; write, I entreat you!" "Write?" said the princess, sourly; "why should I write, pray?" "Why, to save him, madame." "Nonsense! when a man surrenders a fortress, he takes measures to ensure his own safety." "But do you not understand that he didn't surrender it, madame? Do you not hear what the captain says, that he was betrayed, sold perhaps,--that it was a lieutenant who signed the capitulation, and not he?" "What would you have me do for your Richon?"