Then he sprang to the window.
"Do I come?" asked Stefan.
"No," Ellerey answered. "The Countess is in your keeping. Guide her to safety."
"I will do all a man may do," Stefan answered, as Ellerey swung himself free by the stout branch of a creeper near the window, and dropped into the garden.
CHAPTER XXVI
REBELLION
The servants, heartened by Baron Petrescu, contested the stairs step by step. With all the odds against them not one turned to fly. They were fighting for the mistress they loved, and were staunch to a man. Some fell, staining the thick carpet with their blood, yet even in dying struck one more blow as the soldiers trampled over them. Meeting with such unexpected resistance made the soldiers savage, and there was no quarter given or asked for. In the forefront of the battle Petrescu's sword did deadly work, for so mixed up were besieged and besiegers that those behind dared not fire. It was a hand-to-hand struggle, steel to steel, and although there could be no real doubt of the issue, the Baron knew that the longer he could hold the soldiers in check, the more time would the Princess and the Countess have to get away.
Stefan was silent until the sound of Ellerey's quick steps in the garden had ceased.
"Where does that lead to, Countess?" he said, pointing to a door at the other end of the room.
"To my bedroom."