CHAPTER IX.

THE LIGHTNING BEGINS TO FLASH AMONGST THE PEOPLE

The evening wore a threatening aspect.

Groups were formed on the Boulevards. As night advanced they grew larger

and became mobs, which speedily mingled together, and only formed one

crowd. An enormous crowd, reinforced and agitated by tributary currents

from the side-streets, jostling one against another, surging, stormy,

and whence ascended an ominous hum. This hubbub resolved itself into one

word, into one name which issued simultaneously from every mouth, and

which expressed the whole of the situation: "Soulouque!"[12] Throughout

that long line from the Madeleine to the Bastille, the roadway nearly

everywhere, except (was this on purpose?) at the Porte St. Denis and the

Porte St. Martin, was occupied by the soldiers--infantry and cavalry,

ranged in battle-order, the artillery batteries being harnessed; on the

pavements on each side of this motionless and gloomy mass, bristling

with cannon, swords, and bayonets, flowed a torrent of angry people. On

all sides public indignation prevailed. Such was the aspect of the

Boulevards. At the Bastille there was a dead calm.

At the Porte St. Martin the crowd, hemmed together and uneasy, spoke in

low tones. Groups of workmen talked in whispers. The Society of the 10th

December made some efforts there. Men in white blouses, a sort of

uniform which the police assumed during those days, said, "Let us leave

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The History of a Crime