g, as
the fiendish cries half-deafened me, old tales of the Jacquerie and its
doings, and how we had trodden it out.

Suddenly the din and tumult flashed to a louder note; as when hounds on
the scent give tongue at sight. I turned quickly from the house,
recalled to a sense of the position and peril. The iron bar was
yielding to the pressure. Slowly the left wing of the gate was sinking
inwards. Through the widening chasm I caught a glimpse of wild, grimy
faces and bloodshot eyes, and heard above the noise a sharp cry from
Croisette--a cry of terror. Then I turned and ran, with a defiant
gesture and an answering yell, right across the forecourt and up the
steps to the door.

I ran the faster for the sharp report of a pistol behind me, and the
whirr of a ball past my ear. But I was not scared by it: and as my
feet alighted with a bound on the topmost step, I glanced back. The
dogs were halfway across the court. I made a bungling attempt to shut
and lock the great door--failed in this; and heard behind me a roar of
coarse triumph. I waited for no more. I darted up the oak staircase
four steps at a time, and rushed into the great drawing-room on my
left, banging the door behind me.

The once splendid room was in a state of strange disorder. Some of the
rich tapestry had been hastily torn down. One window was closed and
shuttered; no doubt Croisette had done it. The other two were open--as
if there had not been time to close them--and the cold light which they
admitted contrasted in ghastly fashion with the yellow rays of candles
still burning in the sconces. The furniture had been huddled aside or
piled into a barricade, a CHEVAUX DE FRISE of chairs and tables
stretching across the width of the room, its interstices stuffed with,
and its weakness partly screened by, the torn-down hangings. Behind
this frail defence their backs to a door which seemed to lead to an
inner room, stood Marie and Croisette, pale and defiant. The former
had a long pike; the latter levelled a heavy, bell-mouthed arquebuse
across the back of a chair, and blew up his match as I entered. Both
had in addition procured swords. I darted like a rabbit through a
little tunnel left on purpose for me in the rampart, and took my stand
by them.

"Is all right?" ejaculated Croisette turning to me nervously.

"All right, I think," I answered. I was breathless.

"You are not hurt?"

"Not touched!"

I had just time then to draw my swo