The first flakes of the new snow began to fall, and the sinister sky,
heavy with clouds, took on the darkness of twilight, although night was
far away. Yet the huge rents and holes in the houses and the fallen
masonry seemed to grow more distinct in the gloom. The village consisted
chiefly of one long street, and as John looked up and down it, he did
not see a single human being. Nothing was visible to him but the iron
hoof of war crushing everything under it, and he shuddered violently.
The snow began to drive, whipped by a bitter wind, and he drew the heavy
blue overcoat closely about him. The shuddering which was not of the
snow and the cold, passed, but his heart was ice. The abandoned town
over which Germans and French had fought oppressed him like a nightmare.
What had become of Julie? Why had Philip asked her to meet him at such a
place? There was the hospital, but it was in the plain below, where
lights now shone faintly through the heavy gray air and the driving
snow.
Surely Lannes could not have made any mistake! John had learned to trust
his judgment thoroughly and Philip, too, knew the country so well. If he
had sent for Julie to come to Chastel he must have had a good reason
for it, although the snow was bound to delay the coming of the _Arrow_
to meet her. If she had reached Chastel she would remain there, and not
go to the hospital in the plain below.
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