De la Foret was smiling as he turned to Angele.

She looked wonderingly at him, for she had felt that she must comfort him, and she looked not for this sudden change in his manner.
"Is prison-going so blithe, then ?" she asked, with a little uneasy laugh which was half a sob.
"It will bring things to a head," he answered.

"After danger and busy days, to be merely safe, it is scarce the life for Michel de la Foret.
I have my duty to the Comtesse; I have my love for you; but I seem of little use by contrast with my past.

And yet, and yet," he added, half sadly, "how futile has been all our fighting, so far as human eye can see." "Nothing is futile that is right, Michel," the girl replied.

"Thou hast done as thy soul answered to God's messages: thou hast fought when thou couldst, and thou hast sheathed thy blade when there was naught else to do.