"We can get into Liege," said Paul, rousing himself from his mood of reflection, "but I"m not sure about staying there. I think you had better take your maid and go to Brussels, Aunt Claire.
The rest of the servants ought to go home, I think."
It was curious to see how their positions were reversed in this emergency. It was Paul who was in command now, not his aunt.
"Do you think so?" she said. "Why, Paul?"
"Because I am afraid that there will be hard fighting around Liege. I do not think the town will be defended for very long; it cannot be. It is supposed only to check the German advance, to gain a little time, so that the French and the English, if they come to our aid, may have time to ma.s.s their troops to the west and the north. I am sure Uncle Henri would say I was right, and I can arrange it for you to be sent to Brussels, I am sure."
Madame de Frenard was a little inclined to smile, in spite of the fire and all the woe it had brought with it.
"Why, Paul, how can you arrange anything?"
she asked. "Have you, perhaps, suddenly acquired influence with the army?"
"He certainly has!" interrupted Arthur, his eyes shining. "Oh, Aunt Claire, we"ve done so many wonderful things to-night!"
So he let the cat out of the bag, and, with so much of a start, Madame de Frenard was not satisfied until she had the whole story out of them.
She caught her breath when she heard of the shots that had been fired at them, but she looked very proud and happy, too.
"Oh, that was splendid!" she cried. "We may be a little nation, we Belgians, but we can meet them when even our boys can defy them and outwit them so magnificently! Now I know that I can trust you! Paul, it is as if your uncle were here!
You shall take his place, and I shall do whatever you say is right."
Paul grew red, and embarra.s.sment checked his speech for a moment.
"It was just luck, of course," he said, confusedly.
"Anyone could have done what we did, you know. But I"m glad you"ll go on to Brussels, Aunt Claire, and I think Major du Chaillu will be glad to make the arrangements, before the railway is interrupted. I will go now and get out the carriages."
"Very well, Paul, do so. It is lucky that we have those left, at any rate."
Paul and Arthur helped the men to get out the carriages and harness the horses, frightened by the noise and confusion of the fire. And Paul and Arthur, too, rode in the carriage that took their aunt and her maid into Liege.
"I didn"t think we would be coming back to Liege quite so soon," said Arthur, a little ruefully.
"This isn"t as exciting as the first trip we made to-night, either."
"No, but I think it"s safer," said Paul, rather dryly. "And there"ll be more than enough excitement to make up for it when the Germans come, Arthur."
"Oh, I suppose so!"
"I am going to take you two boys to Brussels with me," said Madame de Frenard, suddenly.
Paul was quiet at that; it was Arthur who cried out in vigorous protest.
"Oh, no, Aunt Claire!" he exclaimed. "There"s so much for us to do here!"
"There will be plenty for you to do in Brussels,"
she said, with decision. "It"s settled. I can"t allow you to stay here if it isn"t safe for me."
Arthur looked to Paul for help, but Paul only smiled. His aunt looked at him curiously.
"So you are willing to go without arguing, Paul?" she asked.
"You said it was settled, Aunt Claire," he replied. "If a thing is settled, there is no use in arguing about it, is there?"
She smiled faintly. She knew Paul well enough to know that when his mind was made up he never was willing to admit that a thing was settled until it was settled as he wished. She wondered what he had up his sleeve, for she was sure that he was quite as anxious as Arthur to stay in or around Liege.
As a matter of fact, Paul was the only one of them all who had even a remote idea of what was coming. He could not foresee all the horrors of invasion and battle. No one can do that, or wars would never be begun. But he did realize that dire trouble was in store, and that a good many civilians, and especially women and young children, would be sent away from Liege before there was any fighting, if that were possible. There was something else that Paul grasped better than either Arthur and his aunt, and that was the probable course of the invasion.
He knew that in a few days Liege, strong fortress though it was, would be engulfed. It might hold out for a long time; he thought it probably would. But the Germans would be all about it.
The Uhlans would sweep along, far beyond the range of the guns of the forts, cutting communications, interrupting railways, blocking the roads, and Liege must depend upon itself for food, for ammunition, for all the things that would be needed. For that reason, he thought, General Leman would encourage all who could to get out of the city before the actual siege began. And he had an idea that there was no real question of his going, or Arthur; that they would have to wait their turn, at least. That was why he submitted so quietly to his aunt"s declaration that he and Arthur were to go with her.
When they arrived in Liege he found that, late as it was, the city was still awake and stirring.
Outside of the railway station there was a great crowd. There were women there with children clinging to their skirts. They carried odd-shaped bundles. Plainly this was a sudden flight for most of them, and they had s.n.a.t.c.hed up their greatest treasures, and wrapped them as best they could."
"Why, it looks like a regular panic!" said Madame de Frenard. "I don"t see what there is to be afraid of yet, at any rate. I don"t see how we are going to get away, either, Paul."
"I"ll try to find Major du Chaillu," said Paul.
"Arthur, will you stay here while I go?"
He went off when Arthur nodded, and threaded his way through the confusion and the crowds to General Leman"s headquarters. There, after a good deal of difficulty, and after he had been turned away several times by impatient sentries, he succeeded in finding his friend the major. To him he explained the situation.
"Your aunt and her maid?" said du Chaillu.
"Yes, I shall be able to manage that."
"My cousin and I cannot go, I suppose?"
"Not to-night, I"m afraid, my boy. The orders are very strict." He looked a little puzzled, but went on: "I"d like to make an exception in your case, for you have done so much for Belgium--"
"Oh, I don"t want to go and neither does Arthur!" cried Paul, with a laugh. "It"s just as I thought. Only my aunt wants us to go, and I was afraid that perhaps we could."
The major laughed, too.
"That"s more like what I had expected from you," he said. "Yet it would be better if you did go. However, women and children first. We"ve made the rule, and we must make no exceptions, or it would be impossible to enforce it at all."
"Oh, we"ll get along all right," said Paul.
"And--well, I have an idea that may not be of any use, so that I"d better not say anything about it yet. But I hope that Paul and I can still do something for Belgium and Liege."
"I"ve no doubt that you will try to do that,"
said du Chaillu. "Come, show me where you left your aunt, and I will see that she is allowed to go out on the next train. I will take her into the station by a private entrance for there is little chance of getting through the crowd in any other way."
He was as good as his word. Madame de Frenard listened to his explanation of how impossible it was for Paul and Arthur to be allowed to go on the train, and glanced at Paul. She thought that she understood his submissiveness better now!
"But--women and children?" she said.
"Surely these boys?"
"We are not children!" protested Paul and Arthur in one breath.
Major du Chaillu smiled rather sadly.
"No, they are not children in such times as these, Madame," he said. "We have not quite come to the point of calling upon boys to fight, but we cannot treat them as children. Still, I shall see that they are looked to, as well as I can, be a.s.sured of that, Madame de Frenard."