Aix, telling Arthur that an unreliable Carmelite monk, who had mistakenly been entrusted with details of the proposed cession, had left the monastery without notice. Ch. 10 (32): René abdicates, but refuses to disown Ferrand, who arrives with news of the defeat of the Burgundians at Granson. Sigismond gives Arthur an account of the battle and reveals that the Black Priest and the Carmelite were both Albert in disguise. Margaret tells Arthur she is giving up and expires. Ch. 11 (33): After Margaret's funeral, Oxford helps to arrange the transfer of Provence to Louis. Ch. 12 (34): The Burgundian cannoneer Colvin gives Oxford and his son an account of a second Burgundian defeat, at Murten, and of Charles's subsequent depression. They go to La Riviere, where Oxford revives the Duke's spirits. Ch. 13 (35): The Burgundian forces arrive at Nancy, where Arthur kills Rudolph in single combat and is promised Anne's hand by Albert. Ch. 14 (36): Fleeing from the victorious Swiss forces, Oxford and his son come across the corpses of Charles, Albert, and Schreckenwald. Sigismond takes the two of them into safe custody. Anne and Arthur are married and live near Geierstein until Arnold's death in 1482. Oxford and his son then re-enter the political arena and play a prominent part in the defeat of the last Yorkist king Richard III at Bosworth in 1485, using the necklace bequeathed to them by Margaret for funds to levy troops. Reception Anne of Geierstein met with an exceptionally favourable reception from its reviewers. Most of them were happy to detect no signs of declining powers, or of exhaustion in subject matter. The opening Alpine description attracted almost universal praise (The Westminster Review was alone in finding it exaggerated and improbable), as did the variety of incident throughout. Of the characters Arnold Biederman and Charles of Burgundy were considered particularly striking. Dissentient voices or comments found the relationship between history and plot unbalanced, 'not a novel but an ancient chronicle, with a love story worked in upon it' as The Examiner put it. The same critic joined two other unfavourably disposed colleagues in The Athenaeum and The Edinburgh Literary Gazette in judging most of the characters weak. Anne of Geierstein and opals In 1913, an American writer commented: There is in fact little evidence that the superstition was common before the 1850s. A popular gift book of the 1840s was entitled