The voice broke off short.
“M’sieur! M’sieur Huart! Hello!—hello?” cried the girl in wonder and apprehension.
There was no response, only a slight buzz. She replaced the receiver upon the Instrument, and turned the handle quickly. Then she listened again. All was silence.
“Hello! hello?” she called. “Hello, Liège! Hello, Liège!”
The wire was dead—cut, perhaps by a German shell!
Again and yet again she tried to obtain response to her call.
Their nearest exchange was that at Dinant.
“Hello, Dinant! Dinant!” she kept repeating. “Hello, Dinant!”
But from Dinant there was no reply.
Upon her the blow had fallen. Edmond, so manly and brave, was already at the front—one of the first to go forth against the giant invader of their gallant little nation. Those words from her father’s employé in Liège had conveyed volumes to her.