."

"We will do more than keep them quiet," exclaimed Sophie; "we will make
them useful by setting them an example; only tell us what you want us to
do."

"The best thing you can do is to close all the shutters and windows
looking to the front in the upper storey, and to place chests of drawers
and bedding against them, so that if bullets are fired they will do no
harm."

"That we will do, my son," said Madame La Touche, rising from her seat;
and she hurried off, accompanied by Sophie.

La Touche at once summoned his _maitre d'hotel_ and the other servants.

"My friends," he said, "I have no intention of letting the insurgents
destroy my chateau, as they have done those of other persons, and I will
trust to you to defend it to the last."

A party of Englishmen would have cheered. They, however, merely said,
"_Oui! oui! monsieur_; we are ready to do what you tell us."

Among the servants came Larry. I told him what we expected would
happen, and what he was to do.

"Shure we'll be after driving the `spalpeens' back again," he answered.
"I was little thinking that we should have this sort of fun to amuse us
when we came to France."

We lost no more time in talking, but immediately set to work to shut all
the doors on the ground floor, and to nail pieces of timber and strong
planks against them. The windows were closed with such materials as
could be obtained. There were more forthcoming than I expected; and La
Touche acknowledged that he had laid in a store some time before.

He then summoned the _maitre d'hotel_ and two other servants, and led
the way--accompanied by Larry and me--down a steep flight of stone steps
to a vault beneath the house. Opening the door of what was supposed to
be a wine cellar, he showed us a stand of twenty muskets, with pistols
and pikes, several casks of powder and cases of bullets. Larry, at once
fastening a belt round his waist, and tucking a couple of muskets under
each arm, hurried off, the servants following his example. La Touche
and I each took as many more, and returned to the hall.

His first care was to place his men two and two at each of the parts of
the building likely to be attacked.

"These countrymen of mine fight better together than singly," he
observed. "And now let us go round and examine our defences, to
ascertain that no part is left insecure."

Some time was spent in making these various arrangements. Every now and
then La Touche ran in to see his