She was too brave for that.

She would stay and fight her battle to the end.
That was a dreary week for Ranald.

He was lonely and heartsick for the woods and for his home and friends, but chiefly was he oppressed with the sense of having played the fool in his quarrel with De Lacy, whom he was beginning to admire and like.

He surely might have avoided that; and yet whenever he thought of the game that had swept away from Rouleau all his winter's earnings, and of the cruel blow that had followed, he felt his muscles stiffen and his teeth set tight in rage.

No, he would do it all again, nor would he retreat one single step from the position he had taken, but would see his quarrel through to the end.