She made no sound and seemed to be frozen into immobility by the import of the information.
"The Austrians have fortified the other end of the Pass, but it is said that the Russians are in great numbers, sweeping everything before them——"
"Przemysl—! Lemberg—!"
"Lemberg has fallen. The fate of Przemysl hangs in the balance." He shrugged. "Tomorrow, perhaps, may see the Cossacks at Dukla Pass."
"And then——"
"I do not wish to alarm you," he said gently. "Six hundred years have passed over Schloss Szolnok, and it still stands. I am not going to run away."
"But you can do nothing—against so many."
"They will not bother us, I think. The Austrians, you see, have passed us by. They are taking all their artillery to Javorina and Jägerhorn and mounting them upon the old emplacements of the ruins. The defense will be made there where the gorge is narrower."
"But if they should come—here—the Cossacks—!" she whispered fearfully.
He laughed easily. "Ah, Countess, I am not a half-bad jailer, after all?"