"But, tell me, where is Paul?"
Albert looked around him.
"He must be here,—unless fright has made him run away."
"No, he is not here. But you are sure that he ran out of the tower, are you not?"
"Certainly, since it was he who came and shook me in my bed while I was asleep."
At this moment a young boy in a night-gown came out of the crowd, and, approaching Albert, said,—
"No; it was I, sir, who shook you."
Monsieur Roger looked at the boy who had just spoken, and he felt a horrible fear take possession of him. He saw that it was the farm-boy. It must have been he whom he had seen fleeing a moment before with Albert. But Paul? Had he remained in the turret? And the flames which licked the walls had almost reached the floor where Paul was sleeping. Was the poor boy still asleep? Had he heard nothing?
"A ladder!" cried Monsieur Roger, with a cry of fear and despair.
The ladder was immediately brought; but it was impossible to place it against the turret, whose base was in flames.