She rushed to it with a cry of relief.

She had just laid her hand on the lock when the third report of cannon burst over the place.
Starting back a step, Grace lifted her hands mechanically to her ears.

At the same moment the third shell burst through the roof of the cottage, and exploded in the room, just inside the door.

Mercy sprang forward, unhurt, from her place at the window.

The burning fragments of the shell were already firing the dry wooden floor, and in the midst of them, dimly seen through the smoke, lay the insensible body of her companion in the room.