He walked around the house, endeavoring to attract the attention of the inmates.
"Can you not see that the fire is gaining upon you?" he cried. "Come out, quick!"
But there was no reply, only in the interim of silence they again heard the old fool's monotonous chanting, the very words even being audible.
"We must save them at any cost!" exclaimed Levet. "Come, comrades!"
They tried to force the door, but as it resisted their efforts they supposed it must be locked.
With a blow of his elbow he shattered the glass, and, inserting his hand through the fracture, adroitly opened the casement. It was one of the talents taught him by his early instructors, the river thieves.
Then, springing upon the window ledge, he entered the chamber, followed by Levet.
"One dead already!" cried the surgeon. "Great Heaven, it is Lebeau! No, he still breathes! Hand me a lantern, gentlemen!"
He was already upon his knees beside the dying man.
At the name of Lebeau a sudden thought crossed Frank's mind. If the man he had sought high and low had been found in this sordid retreat, perhaps he was close upon the solution of the enigma. Hastily he sprang up the steep steps of the little stairway,--so hastily that he slipped in the tracks left by Lebeau's bleeding hands. Upon the landing of the second floor an unexpected enemy lay in wait for him; a jet of smoke and flame, issuing from the wide-open door, scorched his face and nearly suffocated him. With his hands upon his eyes he attempted to rush through, but tripped over a pair of legs extended upon the floor.
"Still another body!" he thought with horror.
Upon his knees he felt his way with difficulty up to the face of the dead. It was Lord Mowbray who lay there upon his back, his hair burned to a crisp, his features blackened but still set in that last defiant grimace.
Frank had seen enough and was about to recoil to the door, when it seemed to him that in a corner of the chamber he descried a human figure lying upon a bed.
Gathering all his energy, he darted thither.
The surgeon answered the call with several men, but they were arrested by the terrible current of scorching air which traversed the chamber from the window to the door.
Such was the only thought that filled Frank's distracted brain. In despair he threw himself upon the bed, murmuring, "Esther, my beloved!"