d like
huge bits of broken walls, threatening Paris with imminent destruction.
The rain was not yet falling. But suddenly a cloud burst above the
central quarters, and a water-spout ascended the Seine. The river's
green ribbon, riddled and stirred to its depths by the splashing drops,
became transformed into a stream of mud; and one by one, behind the
downpour, the bridges appeared to view again, slender and delicately
outlined in the mist; while, right and left, the trees edging the grey
pavements of the deserted quays were shaken furiously by the wind.
Away in the background, over Notre-Dame, the cloud divided and poured
down such a torrent of water that the island of La Cite seemed
submerged. Far above the drenched houses the cathedral towers alone
rose up against a patch of clear sky, like floating waifs.

On every side the water now rushed down from the heavens. Three times
in succession did the right bank appear to be engulfed. The first fall
inundated the distant suburbs, gradually extending its area, and
beating on the turrets of Saint-Vincent-de-Paul and Saint-Jacques,
which glistened in the rain. Then two other downpours, following in
hot haste one upon the other, streamed over Montmartre and the
Champs-Elysees. At times a glimpse could be obtained of the glass roof
of the Palace of Industry, steaming, as it were, under the splashing
water; of Saint-Augustin, whose cupola swam in a kind of fog like a
clouded moon; of the Madeleine, which spread out its flat roof, looking
like some ancient court whose flagstones had been freshly scoured;
while, in the rear, the huge mass of the Opera House made one think of
a dismasted vessel, which with its hull caught between two rocks, was
resisting the assaults of the tempest.

On the left bank of the Seine, also hidden by a watery veil, you
perceived the dome of the Invalides, the spires of Sainte-Clotilde,
and the towers of Saint-Sulpice, apparently melting away in the moist
atmosphere. Another cloud spread out, and from the colonnade of the
Pantheon sheets of water streamed down, threatening to inundate what
lay below. And from that moment the rain fell upon the city in all
directions; one might have imagined that the heavens were
precipitating themselves on the earth; streets vanished, sank into the
depths, and men reappeared, drifting on the surface, amidst shocks
whose violence seemed to foretell the end of the city. A prolonged
roar ascended--the roar of all the wa