My aunt went below to baste the poulet for his dinner.

The house was very still; nothing was to be heard but the ticking of the clock.
All at once I heard heavy feet tramping towards the house, and a confused medley of rough voices.

The next instant, the house door was battered as if to break it in, which, being of solid oak, was no easy matter.

The door being opened, I heard a faint cry of terror from my aunt, and a brawling and trampling impossible to describe.

I looked down from the stair-head and counted forty-two dragoons, trampling in one after another, till, the house being of moderate size, there was hardly room for them to stand.