In a few moments there was a stampede from the dining-room. The guests hurried as fast as they could to the basement and cellars.
Tommy, in his progress, was impeded by two burly men who were making their way leisurely. Spencer was a few feet in front of him, making for the crowd that surged round the doors. As he looked around the deserted tables, he saw Miss Keane standing alone, her eyes almost rigid with terror, her hands clutching convulsively the back of the chair on which she had been sitting. It was evident that the Colonel had quickly removed Mrs. L'Estrange from the scene of danger, and she had been too panic-stricken to follow them.
He crossed over to her. "Excuse me," he said gently. "I am a friend of Mr. Esmond's. How is it you are alone? Did your companions desert you?"
"Colonel Desmond took my cousin, and told me to keep close behind them. when I got up, my limbs seemed unable to move. I feel as if I were paralysed."
He took her arm and put it through his. It was evident she had been rendered immobile by terror.
"I will take care of you," he said soothingly. "Downstairs you will be quite safe. But we will let this crowd get through first."
Tommy Esmond came bustling up, all anxiety. Truth to tell, he did not feel over brave, but his anxiety for himself was lost in the contemplation of her white face and stricken eyes.
Slowly, cheered by the presence of the two men, a little colour flowed back into her cheeks, and she smiled wanly.
"I am a fearful coward," she explained. "I go all to pieces in even the mildest thunderstorm."
And it was in this wise, amid the crash of falling bombs, and the roar and clamour of our own guns, that Guy Spencer made the acquaintance of Stella Keane.