Most of
them were overtaken and cut down at once. Two or three only gained the
windows and leaped out.
The instant resistance had ceased, Walter rushed into the drawing room,
bidding the men run down and hold the lower windows. Mrs. Conyers lay in
a dead faint on the sofa. Claire, with a face as pale as death, was
standing beside her.
"Walter!" she gasped out; "then we are safe!"
She tottered, and would have fallen, had not Walter rushed forward in
time to catch her, and place her in a chair:
"Don't faint, my dear Claire," he said urgently. "There is your mother to
be looked after, and I must run downstairs, for they are attacking the
house."
"I won't faint," Claire said, laughing and crying in a manner which
frightened Walter more than her fainting would have done. "I shall be
better directly, but it seems almost like a miracle. Oh, those dreadful
men!"
"They have all gone now, Claire. We hold the house, and have cleared them
out. Pray, calm yourself and attend to your mother. I must go. Don't be
frightened at the firing. My father will be here in a few minutes, with
aid."
"Oh! I am not frightened, now," Claire said; "and oh! Walter, you are
bleeding dreadfully."
"Never mind that now," Walter said; "I will see to it, when it is all
over.
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