“I’ve never been alone before,” she explained, and her teeth fairly chattered with terror.  “I can pay, and pay well—­I’ve thirty thousand francs in gold on me.”

“Then, for Heaven’s sake, don’t let anyone know it!” I said, very abruptly.  “I don’t want money, but there are others who may.  Be careful—­a fortune like that may lead to your destruction.  Hide it!”

She stared at me in amazement.  Evidently the idea that dishonesty existed never occurred to her.  She thanked me for the advice and hoped she had not offended me, and begged me to take pity on her.

“Did anyone see you come in here?”

She thought not.

“For if they did I fear you will have to share the common lot.  I have no reason to give you preference.  The others might protest.”

I stuck my head out of the doorway.  When I turned around, those three helpless creatures stood clinging to one another in the big empty vestibule, making a most pitiable group.

“Go up two flights of stairs—­turn to your left and follow the corridor to the end.  The last door on your left opens into a room with a huge double bed.  It was too big for our hospital.  That’s the only reason we didn’t bring it down.  It’s at your disposal.  Don’t thank me.  Good-night.”

When I got a moment I went to Yvonne’s room.  “Did she think she could get up a little:  long enough to take some dinner?  Perhaps she might put on a few clothes and make an effort to walk around her room.”  Ten days in bed had made her very weak.  She must try to gain a little strength.  She promised and I departed.  The idea of carrying her out bodily was anything but encouraging!

At six-thirty the public distribution of soup recommenced.  Who my guests were I have no idea.  There were more than a hundred of them.  That was clear enough from the dishes that were left.  Just as the last round had been served, George came in to say that the village was beginning to get uneasy—­people from Neuilly St. Front and Lucy-le-Bocage and Essommes had already passed down the road, and the peasants looked to the chateau for a decision!

I went out to the gate.  Yes, true enough, our neighbors from Lucy (five miles distant) had joined the procession.  Then there was a break, and a lull, such as had not occurred for two days, and in the silence I again recognized the same clattering sound that had caught my ear on the hill top the afternoon before.  This time it was much more distinct, but was soon drowned out by the rumbling of heavy wheels on the road.

Surely this time it was artillery!

I wrapped my shawl closer about me and sat down on the low stone wall that borders the moat, while little groups of peasants, unable to sleep, clustered together on the roadside.

Nearer and nearer drew the clanking noise and presently a whole regiment of perambulators, four abreast, swung around the corner into the moonlight.