Part 44 (2/2)

”Cheer!” gasped Lorraine; and the battered Chateau rang again with frenzied cries of triumph.

The wounded were calling for water, and Jack and Lorraine brought it in bowls. Here and there the bedding and wood-work had caught fire, but the line soldiers knocked it out with their rifle-b.u.t.ts.

Whenever Lorraine entered a room they cheered her--the young officers waved their caps, even a dying bugler raised himself and feebly sounded the salute to the colours.

By the light of the candles Jack noticed for the first time that Lorraine wore the dress of the Province--that costume that he had first seen her in--the scarlet skirt, the velvet bodice, the chains of silver. And as she stood loading the rifles in the smoke-choked room, the soldiers saw more than that: they saw the Province itself in battle there--the Province of Lorraine. And they cheered and leaped to the windows, firing frenziedly, crying the old battle-cry of Lorraine: ”Tiens ta Foy! Frappe! Pour le Roy!” while the child in the bodice and scarlet skirt stood up straight and snapped back the locks of the loaded cha.s.sepots, one by one.

”Once again! For France!” cried Lorraine, as the clamour of the Prussian drums broke out on the hill-side, and the hoa.r.s.e trumpets signalled from wood to wood.

A thundering cry arose from the Chateau:

”France!”

The sullen boom of a Prussian cannon drowned it; the house shook with the impact of a sh.e.l.l, bursting in fury on the terrace.

White faces turned to faces whiter still.

”Cannon!”

”Hold on! For France!” cried Lorraine, feverishly.

”Cannon!” echoed the voices, one to another.

Again the solid walls shook with the shock of a solid shot.

Jack stuffed the steel box into his breast and turned to Lorraine.

”It is ended, we cannot stay--” he began; but at that instant something struck him a violent blow on the chest, and he fell, striking the floor with his head.

In a second Lorraine was at his side, lifting him with all the strength of her arms, calling to him: ”Jack! Jack! Jack!”

The soldiers were leaving the windows now; the house rocked and tottered under the blows of sh.e.l.l and solid shot. Down-stairs an officer cried: ”Save yourselves!” There was a hurry of feet through the halls and on the stairs. A young soldier touched Lorraine timidly on the shoulder.

”Give him to me; I will carry him down,” he said.

She clung to Jack and turned a blank gaze on the soldier.

”Give him to me,” he repeated; ”the house is burning.” But she would not move nor relinquish her hold. Then the soldier seized Jack and threw him over his shoulder, running swiftly down the stairs, that rocked under his feet. Lorraine cried out and followed him into the darkness, where the cras.h.i.+ng of tiles and thunder of the exploding sh.e.l.ls dazed and stunned her; but the soldier ran on across the garden, calling to her, and she followed, stumbling to his side.

”To the trees--yonder--the forest--” he gasped.

They were already among the trees. Then Lorraine seized the man by the arm, her eyes wide with despair.

”Give me my dead!” she panted. ”He is mine! mine! mine!”

”He is not dead,” faltered the soldier, laying Jack down against a tree. But she only crouched and took him in her arms, eyes closed, and lips for the first time crushed to his.

XXV

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