Children of the Siege by Diney Costeloe

Author:Diney Costeloe [Costeloe, Diney]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Head of Zeus

15

Hélène ran, stumbling away from the wall, towards the huge building in front of her, her one idea being that she must get as far away from the Gaston-man as possible. She knew from the sounds of fighting that he and his henchmen had caught Jeannot, but there was nothing she could do for him; Jeannot had yelled at her to run and she had.

She found she was in a walled area stacked with timber and piles of bricks. In its centre was the tall building with a large yard at the front and a cluster of old wooden sheds at the back. She could hear the shouts of men working nearby, the rumble of cartwheels, the whinny of a horse. She scurried across to the old buildings and peering out from their shelter, saw a waggon standing in the yard, the horse waiting patiently as several men shifted its load of crates and barrels into the warehouse. They shouted to each other as they passed the load from man to man, unaware of a young girl crouching among the weeds watching them. On the far side of the yard was a pair of huge gates, open to the street beyond.

Hélène glanced anxiously behind her. There was no sign of pursuit from the other side of the wall, but she was terrified that at any minute Gaston and his men would clamber over and come after her. She looked back at the workmen in the yard, a human chain between her and the freedom of the street beyond, and made up her mind. She drew a deep breath and erupted from the cover of the old sheds, running headlong across the yard towards the gate.

‘Hey! You! Stop!’ The cry came from the foreman who had been standing out of her sight. He ran to cut her off as she made her dash for freedom, but she’d had the element of surprise and though his fingers actually caught hold of her dress, she was able to jerk away, run out into the street and keep running. She had no idea where she was or where she was going, she simply ran, turning left or right as she came to each street corner with the idea of confusing any pursuit, but there was none and when she finally ran into a square with a fountain playing in its centre, she flopped down on its stone balustrade and gulped down cool fresh water from her cupped hands. A woman walked into the square, a small white dog on a lead prancing along beside her. She paused, looking down with distaste at the girl sitting beside the fountain. What was it coming to? Street urchins like that in this area, muddying the drinking water with their filthy hands? The dog saw Hélène and began to bark.

‘That’s right, Toto,’ said the woman in a loud voice as she drew her skirts away. ‘You tell this dirty little girl to go away.’ Toto continued to bark

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