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"It's for all of us," she said—"for John, and you, and Ringo and Joby and Louvinia. So we will have something when John comes back home. You never cried when you knew he was going into a battle, did you? And now I am taking no risk: I am a woman. Even Yankees do not harm old women."

Coming on the last page of "Riposte in Tertio," these are Granny Millard's last words. They reveal that Granny thinks of herself as a warrior just as Colonel Sartoris is—since Bayard does not cry when he endangers himself, he should not cry for her either. Granny has the same chivalrous traits as the colonel, the traits celebrated by the Southern code of honor: protection of the helpless and of family, in this case the Sartoris slaves as well as Bayard and his father. Granny claims she is not risking anything, but the fact that she states her reasons for going forth justify her doing so—a justification that would not be necessary if she truly believed there were no danger of her not coming back. Her acceptance of that risk in turn makes her actions all the more heroic. Unfortunately, her faith in the universality of the honor code is misplaced. Unlike the Sartorises and even Yankees like Colonel Dick, Grumby is not a gentleman or even a brave man. Granny's murder at his hands is the ultimate violation of the old principles of society.

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