about a mile. The two barricades of the Rue de
Rivoli and of the Rue de la Coutellerie, near which are the offices
of the municipal services--the lighting of the city, the octroi,
waters, sewers, etc.,--will not be taken until too late, in spite of
the energy with which the army attacks them. It is feared that the
flame will reach the neighbourhood of the great warehouses, so
thickly do the burning flakes fall and scatter destruction. The
barricades of the quays are still intact, it will be another hour
yet before they are taken. The firemen are there furiously at work,
but their efforts are insufficient! It would take tons of ammonia to
slake the fury of the petroleum which flows like hot lava upon the
place from the Hotel de Ville, and the horrible reflection reddens
the waters of the Seine, so that the current of the river seems to
flow with blood, which stains the stones as it dashes against the
arches of the bridge!"

These scenes are being pictured to me as I gaze upon the terrible
conflagration, and all that is told me I seem to see. An irresistible
longing to be near seizes me. I am under the power of an invincible
attraction. I lean forward, my arms outstretched; I run a great risk of
falling, but what matters? The sight of these almost sublime horrors has
burnt itself into my very brain!

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 107: Ferre, the friend of Raoul Bigault, and his colleague in
the Commission of General Safety, like the latter, had inhabited the
prisons for a considerable time for his political writings, seditious
proposals, plots against the state, etc. He is a small man about five
feet high, and very active. He signed with avidity the suppression of
nearly all the journals of Paris, and the sentence of death of a great
number of unfortunate prisoners, with the approbation of Raoul Bigault.
He willingly undertook to announce to the Archbishop of Paris that his
last hour had arrived. The following order, drawn up by him, was found
on the body of an insurgent:--"Set fire to the Ministry of Finance
immediately, and return here.

4 Prairial, An 79.

(Signed) TH. FERRE."

See Appendix, No. 10.]

XCVII.

She walks with a rapid step, near the shadow of the wall; she is poorly
dressed; her age is between forty and fifty; her forehead is bound with
a red checkered handkerchief, from which hang meshes of uncombed hair.
The face is red and the eyes blurr