“The young lady has not dreamed it, sir. I, also, heard the shots fired;
and I had just opened the door of my room to hear what was going on,
when I saw madame cross the landing swiftly, and rush down stairs.
“Oh! I do not doubt it,” said the doctor, in the most indifferent tone
he could command: “the circumstance is very trifling.”
But the little girl was bent on finishing her story.
“When mamma had left,” she went on, “I became frightened, and raised
myself on my bed to listen. Soon I heard a noise which I did not
know,--cracking and snapping of wood, and then cries at a distance. I
got more frightened, jumped down, and ran to open the door. But I nearly
fell down, there was such a cloud of smoke and sparks. Still I did
not lose my head. I waked my little sister, and tried to get on the
staircase, when Cocoleu rushed in like a madman, and took us both out.”
“Martha,” called a voice from the house, “Martha!”