Up the stairs he sped, and flung open the door of the bedroom. Lorraine stood in the middle of the room, looking out into the darkness. She turned at the sound of the opening door: "Jack!"
"Hurry!" he gasped; "this time they mean business. Where is your sentinel? Where is the general? Hurry, my child--dress quickly!"
He went out to the hall again, and looked up and down. On the floor below he heard somebody say that the general was dead, and he hurried down among a knot of officers who were clustered at the windows, night-glasses levelled on the forest. As he entered the room a lieutenant fell dead and a shower of bullets struck the coping outside.
He hastened away up-stairs again. Lorraine, in cloak and hat, met him at the door.
"Keep away from all windows," he said. "Are you ready?"
She placed her arm in his, and he led her down the stairs to the rear of the Château.
"Have they gone--our soldiers?" faltered Lorraine. "Is it defeat? Jack, answer me!"
"They are holding the Château to protect the retreat, I think. Hark! The gatling is roaring like a furnace! What has happened?"
"I don't know. The old general came to speak to me when I awoke. He was very good and kind. Then suddenly the sentinel on the stairs fell down and we ran out. He was dead; a bullet had entered from the window at the end of the hall. After that I went into my room to dress, and the general hurried down-stairs, telling me to wait until he called for me. He did not come back; the firing began, and some shells hit the house. All the troops in the garden began to leave, and I did not know what to do, so I waited for you."
Jack glanced right and left. The artillery were leaving by the stable road; from every side the infantry streamed past across the lawn, running when they came to the garden, where a shower of bullets fell among the shrubbery. A captain hastening towards the terrace looked at them in surprise.
"What is it?" cried Jack. "Can't you hold the Château?"
"The other Château has been carried," said the captain. "They are taking us on the left flank. Madame," he added, "should go at once; this place will be untenable in a few moments."
Lorraine spoke breathlessly: "Are you to hold the Château with the gatling until the army is safe?"
"Yes, madame," said the captain. "We are obliged to."
There came a sudden lull in the firing. Lorraine caught Jack's arm.