A week had passed, and the Gambrevault blew the last rally; her drums on the battlements of the keep where the women and children had been gathered, a dumb, panic-ridden flock, together like sheep in a pen. The great banner flapped above their heads with a solemn and . The sun was spreading on the sea a golden track towards the west, and the shouts of the besiegers rose from the courts.  
On the stairs and in the banqueting hall the last remnant of the had gathered, half-starved men, silent and grim as death, game to the last finger. They handled their swords and waited, moving restlessly to and fro like caged . They knew what was to come, and hungered to have it over and done with. It was the waiting that made them curse in undertones. A few were at prayer on the stone steps. Father Julian stood with his crucifix at the top of the stairway, and began to chant the "Miserere"; some few voices followed him.
 
In the inner court Colgran's men surged in their hundreds like an impatient sea. They had down the garden, the and statues, the flowers under their feet. On the outer walls marked every window of the keep. In the inner court cannoneers were training the of a bombard against the gate. A and perpetual clamour sounded round the grey walls, like the roar of breakers about a headland.
 
Flavian stood on the dais of the banqueting hall and listened to the voices of the mob without. Yeoland, in the harness Fulviac had given her, held at his side. The man's was up, and he looked pale, but calm and as a Greek god. That morning his own , with the Gambrevault arms, had disappeared from his bed-side, a suit of plain black harness left in its stead. No amount of interrogation, no command, had been able to a word from his or esquires. So he wore the black armour now perforce, and prepared to fight his last fight like a gentleman and a .
 
Yeoland's hand rested in his, and they stood side by side like two children, looking into each other's eyes. There was no fear on the girl's face, nothing but a calm resolve to be of the hour and of her love, that her like a . The man's glances were very sad, and she knew well what was in his heart when he looked at her. They had taken their , vows that bound them not to survive each other.
 
"Are you afraid, little wife?"
 
"No, I am content."
 
"Strange that we should come to this. My heart grieves for you."
 
"Never grieve for me; I do not fear the unknown."
 
"We shall go out hand in hand."
 
"To the shore of that eternal sea; and I feel no wind, and hear no moaning of the bar."
 
"The stars are above us."
 
"."
 
"No glittering void."
 
"But the face of God."
 
A thundered; a sudden, sullen roar followed, a of clashing swords, the noise of men str............