Then he caught sight of
John and exclaimed:
"Ah, here is our young American, he who has been transformed into a
good Frenchman! Glad am I to see you alive and unhurt, but I bring you
news which is unpleasant. Ah, well, such is life! It must be expected in
a war like this."
Alarm leaped up in John's heart. He felt instinctively that it concerned
Lannes! Was he dead? But he steadied his voice and said:
"May I ask what it is, General?"
"That young friend of yours and great servant of his nation, Philip
Lannes, the famous aviator. He has been wounded. No, don't be alarmed,
it's not mortal, but it will keep him in hospital for some time. It
happened two days ago, nearly a hundred miles west of here. He had just
landed from his aeroplane, and he was fired at by some German
skirmishers hidden in a wood. Fortunately French cavalry were near and
drove off the Germans. Lannes is so young and so healthy that his
recovery will be complete, though slow."
"What a misfortune at such a time!" exclaimed John.
"What do you mean by 'at such a time'?"
Then John related the presence of Julie Lannes in Chastel and the manner
of her capture by Auersperg. He told, too, why she had come there.
General Vaugirard puffed out his huge cheeks and whistled a note or two.
"I can't understand why Lannes should have wanted her to come to such an
exposed place," he said.
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