[Footnote 10: These mines were prepared by us to throw down several walls, to assist our troops in getting in.] Tuesday, November 17th. The General and his Staff went out to meet Sir C---- C----. I went over to Charlie, but there was not much to be seen from his house, and there was a 24-pounder in the Dawk Office Compound, just below his window, which, when it fired, regularly blew a blast into the room, much to my annoyance. I returned to dinner; and when the General came home in the evening, he said, as he passed into the house, "Ladies, I have seen the Commander-in-Chief." The communication was now opened with our troops; some of his staff remained talking with us,[11] and we then heard that Col. N----, and Mr. S----, A.D.C., had been wounded. The General had rushed across to the Commander-in-Chief, through a heavy fire. After prayer in the evening, he called Dr. F---- aside, and said a few words to him; and when Dr. F---- came back he said: "All ladies, and the sick and wounded, are to be out of the garrison before to-morrow night, and can only take what they can carry in their hands." It came upon us like a thunderbolt; one felt almost paralysed--so helpless! How were we to go, and what could we take with us? We were told not to name it; out of our own garrison that night, or else I should have gone off to Charlie at once. Several of the ladies sat up all night, stitching things of value into their petticoats, &c.; I sat up a little while, but I got such an internal shivering and spasms with the start it had given me, that I was obliged to go to bed, fearing I might get one of my attacks; of course, sleep was out of the question. [Footnote 11: While I was talking to an officer, a bullet passed between our faces.]