The other two were open--as if there had not been time to close them--and the cold light which they admitted contrasted in ghastly fashion with the yellow rays of candles still burning in the sconces.

The furniture had been huddled aside or piled into a barricade, a CHEVAUX DE FRISE of chairs and tables stretching across the width of the room, its interstices stuffed with, and its weakness partly screened by, the torn-down hangings.

Behind this frail defence their backs to a door which seemed to lead to an inner room, stood Marie and Croisette, pale and defiant.

The former had a long pike; the latter levelled a heavy, bell-mouthed arquebuse across the back of a chair, and blew up his match as I entered.

Both had in addition procured swords.