My art was considerable, as all the world knows.
I had been a professor in the University of Paris until this fever of war fell upon me, and I set out to discover its realities for myself. What skill could do for suffering men, I had done these many months, and yet here was I as far from it all as though a ship had carried me to the Indies and the desolation of the ocean lay all about me.
These, I say, were my thoughts, and the night—that wonderful night of summer—did nothing to better them. Perchance I should have spent it there upon the balcony but for that which I had expected—the return of the assassins to the spoils from which they had been scared. It could not have befallen otherwise. The time, I suppose, would have been about ten of the clock. They entered the garden below me, and I heard their footsteps upon the grass. But now there were many of them, and even from the balcony it was apparent to me that all were armed.
IV
I returned to the room, and, crossing it swiftly, had my hand already upon the key of the door when a new sound arrested me.
The sound proceeded from the gallery of the great staircase. I heard a key turned and a door creak upon its hinges. A moment later the faint light of a candle illumined the staircase, and the figure of a woman appeared.
It was all very sudden. But the half of a minute, I suppose, elapsed between the first sound of the key and the appearance of the beautiful creature who now stood in the gallery; yet to me it seemed an age of waiting. There I stood motionless, watching that vision which the candle revealed—the vision of the sleeper awakened, and a woman's cloak thrown about her shoulders.
"Good God!" I cried, "the dead have come to life!" Beyond all doubt this must be the sister of the murdered man.
"Mademoiselle," I said, taking a step forward. And at that she cried out in terror and let the candle drop. Instantly I strode to her side and caught both her hands, for it was evident she was swooning.
"Mademoiselle," I repeated, "I am a Frenchman, and came to this house to help your brother. Help me in your turn. There are men in the garden, and they are coming in—we must be quick, mademoiselle."