“Yes; all your friends have gathered round to defend you, all your old patients from the hospital, whom I found in the convalescent home.”
“Thank you. Thank you.” And she added, in a quivering voice, “The others? Those two men?”
“Run away. Ya-Bon’s gone after them.”
“But what did they want with me? And what miracle brought you all here?”
“We’ll talk about that later, Little Mother Coralie. Let’s speak of you first. Where am I to take you? Don’t you think you’d better come in here with me, until you’ve recovered and taken a little rest?”
Assisted by one of the soldiers, he helped her gently to the house which he himself had left three-quarters of an hour before. The girl let him do as he pleased. They all entered an apartment on the ground-floor and went into the drawing-room, where a bright fire of logs was burning. He switched on the electric light:
“Sit down,” he said.
She dropped into a chair; and the captain at once gave his orders:
“You, Poulard, go and fetch a glass in the dining-room. And you, Ribrac, draw a jug of cold water in the kitchen. . . . Chatelain, you’ll find a decanter of rum in the pantry. . . . Or, stay, she doesn’t like rum. . . . Then . . .”
“Then,” she said, smiling, “just a glass of water, please.”