I do believe I heard the Blessed Virgin say, 'Help is at hand.' At least, I felt her words, mother." Yolanda moved about the room aimlessly for several minutes and by chance stopped at the table.

She started to take up the quill and ink-well to carry them back to her parlor, which was in Darius (Darius was the name of the tower that rose from the castle battlements immediately above Castleman's House under the Wall), and her eyes rested on the small iron box in which the letter to King Louis had been deposited.

An unconscious motive, perhaps it was childish curiosity, prompted her to examine the missive.

She took the pouch from the box and found it unsealed.

She listlessly drew out the missive and began to read, when suddenly her face grew radiant with joy.