With the cold air entered a fresh volume of sound.

On the walls and timbered gables opposite her--and so near that she could well-nigh touch them with her extended arm--strange lights played luridly; and here and there, at dormers on a level with her, pale faces showed and vanished by turns.
She looked down.

For a moment, in the confusion, in the medley of moving forms, she could discern little or nothing.

Then, as her eyes became more accustomed to the sight, she made out that the tide of conflict was running inward into the town, a sign that the invaders were gaining the mastery.
"Well ?" Madame Royaume asked, her voice querulous.
Anne strove to say something that would soothe her mother.

But a sob choked her, and when she regained her speech she felt herself impelled, she knew not why, to tell the truth.