He raised Madame de Castro, kneeling at his feet, and held her close in a passionate embrace. She tried to pray, or to cry out, but she could not.
At this moment a great uproar was heard in the street.
"Ah!" Diane succeeded in ejaculating, her eye kindling once more with a ray of hope.
"Good!" said Wentworth, with a demoniac laugh; "it seems that the people are beginning to plunder on their own account while waiting for the enemy. So be it! They are doing quite right, upon my word! It is for the governor to set the example."
"Mercy!" she managed to say once more.
"No, no!" was Lord Wentworth's response. "You are too beautiful."
She swooned.
But the governor had not even had time to kiss Diane's colorless lips, when the uproar came nearer.
Vicomte d'Exmès, the two Peuquoys, and three or four French archers burst violently through the doorway and appeared upon the threshold.
Gabriel fairly leaped upon Lord Wentworth, sword in hand, with a terrible cry.