Another
circumstance, too, struck me: the windows, instead of being crowded by
numbers of eager spectators, were strongly shuttered and barred;
and when that was impossible, the glass frames were withdrawn, and
bed-mattresses and tables placed in the spaces. Along the parapets,
also, vast crowds of armed men were to be seen, and the tower and
battlements of St. Roch were studded over with soldiers of the National
Guard, all armed and in readiness. From the glances of the artillerymen
beneath to the groups above, it required no great prescience to detect
that they stood opposed to each other as enemies.

It was a calm mellow evening of the late autumn. The air was perfectly
still; and now the silence was unbroken on all sides, save when, from a
distance, the quick tramp of cavalry might be momentarily heard, as if
in the act of forcing back a crowd; and then a faint shout would follow,
whose accents might mean triumph or defiance.

I was already beginning to weary of expectancy, when I perceived, from
the movement on the house-tops and the church tower, that something was
going forward within the view of those stationed there. I had not to
look long for the cause, for suddenly the harsh, sharp beat of a drum
was heard, and immediately after the head of a column wheeled from one
of the side streets into the Rue St. Honore. They were grenadiers of
the National Guard, and a fine body of men they seemed, as they marched
proudly forward till they came to a halt before the steps of St.
Roch. Handkerchiefs were waved in salutation to them from windows and
housetops, and cheering followed them as they went. A single figure at
the entrance of La Dauphine stood observing them with his glass: he
was an artillery officer, and took a long and leisurely survey of the
troops, and then directed his eyes towards the crowded roofs, which he
swept hastily with his telescope. This done, he sauntered carelessly
back, and disappeared.

The grenadiers were soon followed by the line, and now, as far as my eye
could carry, I beheld vast masses of soldiery who filled the street
in its entire breadth. Up to this all was preparation. Not a sight, or
sound, or gesture indicated actual conflict, and the whole might have
meant a mere demonstration on either side, when suddenly there burst
forth a crash like the most terrific thunder. It made the very street
tremble, and the houses seemed to shake as the air vibrated around
them; a long volley of mu