Then she impulsively took his little misshapen form in her arms and hugged it passionately.

Her bright hair fell all over him, almost hiding him.
Madame Roussillon was lying on a bed in an adjoining room moaning diligently, at intervals handling her rosary and repeating a prayer.
The whole town was silent outside.
"Why don't you go get the pretty flag down and hide it before they come ?" Jean murmured from within the silken meshes of Alice's hair.
In his small mind the gaudy banner was the most beautiful of all things.

Every day since it was set up he had gone to gaze at it as it fluttered against the sky.

The men had frequently said in his presence that the enemy would take it down if they captured the fort.
Alice heard his inquisitive voice; but it seemed to come from far off; his words were a part of the strange, wild swirl in her bosom.
Beverley's look, as he turned and left her, now shook every chord of her being.

He had gone to his death at her command.