“Surely, you mean killed in open warfare, Enrico? In our days people are not murdered wholesale,” said Isabel, opening her eyes widely with horror and astonishment.
“Listen to my letter, Isabel. It is from an old friend and officer of my own regiment, and after telling me that the corps has been ordered to join Sir Henry Havelock’s force, it says:—
“‘The proceedings at Cawnpore are a blot on humanity. The women, children, and sick were placed in barracks, which it was thought the enemy would respect. Their guns thundered night and day on Wheeler’s entrenchments, held only by a handful of men against the rebel army; but, not content with this, they threw carcasses filled with powder on to the thatched roof which they knew covered the defenceless women, burned it and them, shouting and laughing when they saw the flames.’”
“How horrible!” ejaculated Isabel.
“Ay: but this is not all,” continued Hughes, reading on. “‘Without water, without provisions, the cruel Nana offered terms, offered life and liberty. They were accepted, and then, in detail, the soldiers having laid down their arms, were murdered.’”
Hughes put down the letter, and a sorrowful silence ensued. He was thinking of his late months of idleness, while such events had been passing around him, and thinking of them, too, with regret.
Isabel was meditating also, but her thoughts were turned on the future, and on her husband’s duty.
Hughes again took up the letter. “‘They who met death,’” he continued reading, “‘were happy; but the prisoners suffered far worse. General Havelock, to join whom we are marching up-country, has beaten the rebels everywhere in detail, and as the news of his victories reached Cawnpore, the European prisoners were led out in small batches, the men were murdered, with every refinement of cruelty possible; the children were killed, their brains dashed out before their parents’ eyes, while wives and daughters were given up to the savage lust of the sepoys, only to meet death at a later period.’”
Isabel started from her seat, her eyes were bright as she walked to and fro, and she pushed her hair back from her forehead with both hands as she spoke.
“Have you done, Enrico?” she asked, her breath seeming to come fast and thick.