Maurice Leblanc

“ At heart, as there was nothing to enlighten her as to her frame of mind, she was hoping for a miracle. Would the miracle occur in Vorski? Incapable of generosity though he was, would not the monster hesitate none the less in the presence of an utterly unnecessary crime? A father does not kill his son, or at least the act must be brought about by imperative reasons; and Vorski had no such reasons to allege against a mere child whom he did not know and whom he could not hate except with an artificial hatred. ”

“ The three of them hardly spoke and said not a word of their trip across the island, nor of the duel of the afternoon. In any case, these were details which did not interest Veronique and which, even if she had paid attention to them, would not have aroused her. Everything had become indifferent to her. The words reached her ears but assumed no definite meaning. She thought of nothing but dying.
When it was dark, Vorski gave the signal for departure.
“Then you're still determined?” asked Otto, in a voice betraying a certain hostility. ”

“ Thirty yards from where they stood, in the direction of the Calvary of the Flowers, just beyond the blasted oak, they saw something white, a figure which was trying, at least so it seemed, to hide behind a clump of bushes.
“Not a word, not a movement,” Vorski ordered. “Do nothing to let him think that we've discovered him. Conrad, come with me. You, Otto, stay here, with your revolver in your hand, and keep a good watch. If they try to come near and to release her ladyship, fire two shots and we'll run bade at once. ”

“ It was as though somebody had fired at us.”
“There was no report.”
“A stone, then; a stone that must have hit the oak.”
“We'll soon see,” said Vorski.
He turned his lantern and at once let fly an oath:
“Damn it! Look, there, under the lettering.”
They looked. An arrow was fixed at the spot to which he pointed. Its feathered end was still quivering.”
“An arrow!” gasped Conrad. “How is it possible? An arrow!”
And Otto spluttered:
“We're done for! It's us they were aiming at!”
“The man who took aim at us can't be far off,” Vorski observed. “Keep your eyes open. We'll have a look.” ”

“ It was a rough ascent; and every moment one of the three men, leaving the invisible path that skirted the grass in front of the house and led to the open space by the Fairies' Dolmen, tripped in the brambles or in the runners of ivy. ”

“ Was it here that her son was to fight? She received the sudden intuition that it must be; and her heart contracted.
“Francois,” she said, “Francois, have no fear.... I shall save you.... Oh, forgive me, Francois darling, forgive me!... All this is a punishment for the wrong I once did.... It is the atonement.... The son is atoning for the mother.... Forgive me, forgive me!...”
At that moment a door opened on the ground-floor and voices ascended from the doorstep. She recognized Vorski's voice among them.
“So it's understood,” he said. “We shall each go our own way ”

“ And so it was against her own child that she had sent up wishes and for the monster that she had prayed!
“Francois is dead,” she repeated. “Vorski has killed him.”
The door opened and the heard Vorski's voice. He entered, with an unsteady gait:
“A thousand pardons, dear lady, but I think Vorski must have fallen asleep. It's your father's fault, Veronique! He had hidden away in his cellar some confounded Saumur which Conrad and Otto discovered and which has fuddled me a bit! But don't cry; we shall make up for lost time.... Besides everything must be settled by midnight. So... ”

“ Nothing, it seemed to Veronique, could any longer save her from the end for which she craved with all her heart. She no longer hoped for the intervention of which Otto had spoken.' In reality she was not thinking at all. Her son was dead; and she had no other wish than to join him without delay, even at the cost of the most dreadful suffering. What did that suffering matter to her? There are limits to the strength of those who are tortured ”