She stared at him a second, then laughed, a thought unpleasantly.

"Pish! But you are mad," she scorned him. "Do you need ask if I
intend to resist - I, with the strongest castle in Dauphiny? By
God! sir, if you need to hear me say it, hear me then say that I
shall resist him and as many as the Queen may send after him, for
as long as one stone of Condillac shall stand upon another."

The Seneschal blew out his lips, and fell once more to the chewing
of his beard.

"What did you mean when you said I could have given you no worse
news than that of his coming alone?" she questioned suddenly.

"Madame," said he, "if this man comes without force, and you resist
the orders of which he is the bearer, what think you will betide?"

"He will appeal to you for the men he needs that he may batter down
my walls," she answered calmly.

He looked at her incredulously. "You realize it?" he ejaculated.
"You realize it?"

"What is there in it that should puzzle a babe?"

Her callousness was like a gust of wind upon the living embers of
his fears. It blew them into a blaze of wrath, sudden and terrific
as that of such a man at bay could be. He advanced upon her with
the rolling gait of the obese, his cheeks purple, his arms waving
wildly, his dyed mustachios bristling.