ery dull and dark. The
walks were almost deserted, although it was scarcely half-past nine. I
took a turn beneath the trees: the evening was cold; and I soon left the
gardens by the Rue de Rivoli gate. A good many people were standing
there "to see the grand people come from the fete"--a fete given by
lackeys in a deserted mansion!

LXXXVIII.

I was busy writing, when suddenly I heard a fearful detonation, followed
by report on report. The windows rattled: I thought the house was
shaking under me. The noise continued: it seemed as if cannon were
roaring on all sides. I rushed down into the street; frightened people
were running hither and thither, and asking questions. Some thought that
the Versaillais were bombarding Paris on all sides. On the Boulevards I
was told it was the fort of Vanves that had been blown up. At last I
arrived on the Place de la Concorde: there the consternation was great,
but nothing was known for certain. Looking up, I saw high up in the sky
what looked like a dark cloud, but which was not a cloud. I tried again
and again to obtain information. It appeared pretty certain that an
explosion had taken place near the Ecole Militaire-doubtless at the
Grenelle powder-magazine, I then turned into the Champs Elysees. A
distant cracking was audible, like the noise of a formidable battery of
mitrailleuses. Puffs of white smoke arose in the air and mingled with
the dark cloud there. I no longer walked, I ran: I hoped to be able to
see something from the Rond Point de l'Etoile. Once there, a grand and
fearful sight met my eyes. Vast columns of smoke rolled over one another
towards the sky. Every now and then the wind swept them a little on one
side, and for an instant a portion of the city was visible beneath the
rolling vapours. Then in an instant a flame burst out--only one, but
that gigantic, erect, brilliant, as one that might dart forth from a
Tolcano suddenly opened, up through the smoke which was reddened,
illumined by the eruption of the fire. At the same moment there were
explosions as of a hundred waggons of powder blown up one after another.
All this scene, in its hideous splendour, blinded and deafened me. I
wanted to get nearer, to feel the heat of the burning, to rush on. I had
the fire-frenzy!

[Illustration: RAZOUA, GOVERNOR OF THE ECOLE MILITAIRE.[97]]

Going down to the Quai de Passy, I found a dense crowd there. Some one
screamed out: "Go back! go back! the fire will soon reac