|
Chapter XIIChapter XII
Chapter XII
This was the second year of the scarcity. In the preceding year, the
surplus remaining from former seasons had more or less supplied the
deficiency; and the people, neither satiated nor famished, but certainly
sufficiently unprovided for, had reached the harvest of 1628, in which our
story finds us. Now, this harvest, so long and eagerly looked forward to,
proved still less productive than the former, partly on account of the adverse
character of the season (and that not only at Milan, but, in great measure, in
the surrounding country), and partly by the agency of man. Such were the
ravages and havoc of the war - that amiable war to which we have already
alluded - that in the parts of the country bordering on its scene, much more
land than usual remained uncultivated and deserted by the peasants, who
instead of working to provide food for themselves and others, were obliged to
wander about as beggars. I have said, more than usual, because the
insupportable taxes, levied with unequalled cupidity and folly - the habitual
conduct, even in perfect peace, of the stationary troops, - conduct which the
mournful documents of the age compare to that of an invading enemy - and other
reasons, which this is not the place to enumerate, had for some time been
producing this sad effect throughout the whole of the Milanese: the particular
circumstances, of which we are now speaking, being but the sudden exacerbation
of a chronic disease. No sooner had this deficient harvest been gathered in,
than the provisions for the army, and the waste which always accompanies them,
made such a fearful void in it, that scarcity quickly made itself felt, and
with scarcity its melancholy, but profitable, as well as inevitable, effect, a
rise of prices.
But when the price of food reaches a certain point, there always arises
(at least, hitherto it has always arisen; and if it is so still, after all
that has been written by so many learned men, what must it have been in those
days!) - there always arises an opinion among the many that it is not the
effect of scarcity. They forget that they had foreseen and predicted such an
issue; they suddenly fancy that there is plenty of corn, and that the evil
proceeds from there not being as much distributed as is required for
consumption; propositions sufficiently preposterous, but which flatter both
their anger and their hopes. Corn monopolists, either real or imaginary, large
landholders, the bakers who purchased corn, all, in short, who had either
little or much, or were thought to have any, were charged with being the
causes of the scarcity and dearness of provisions; they were the objects of
universal complaint, and of the hatred of the multitude of every rank. The
populace could tell with certainty where there were magazines and granaries
full and overflowing with corn, and even requiring to be propped up; they
indicated most extravagant numbers of sacks; they talked with certainty of the
immense quantities of grain secretly despatched to other places, where,
probably, it was asserted with equal assurance and equal excitement, that the
corn grown there was transported to Milan. They implored from the magistrates
those precautions which always appear, or at least, have always hitherto
appeared, so equitable, so simple, so capable of drawing forth the corn which
they affirm to be secreted, walled up, or buried, and of restoring to them
abundance. The magistrates, therefore, busied themselves in fixing the highest
price that was to be charged upon every commodity; in threatening punishment
to any one who should refuse to sell; and making other regulations of a
similar nature. As, however, all human precautions, how vigorous soever, can
neither diminish the necessity of food, nor produce crops out of season: and
as these individual precautions offered no very inviting terms to other
countries where there might be a superabundance, the evil continued and
increased. The multitude attributed such an effect to the scarcity and
feebleness of the remedies, and loudly solicited some more spirited and
decisive measures. Unfortunately, they found a man after their own heart.
In the absence of the governor, Don Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordova, who was
encamped over Casale del Monferrato, the High Chancellor Antonio Ferrer, also
a Spaniard, supplied his place at Milan. This man saw (and who could help
seeing it?) that a moderate price on bread is in itself a most desirable
thing; and he thought (here was his mistake) that an order from him would
suffice to produce it. He fixed the limit (la meta, by which name the tariff
was distinguished in articles of food,) at the price that bread would have
had, if the corn had been generally sold at thirty - three lives the bushel,
and they sold it as high as eighty. He acted like the old woman who thought to
make herself young again by changing her baptismal faith.
Regulations less irrational and less unjust had, on more than one
occasion, by the resistance of actual circumstances, remained unexecuted; but
that this should be carried into effect was undertaken by the multitude, who,
seeing their demands at last converted into a law, would not suffer it to be a
mere form. They immediately ran to the bake - houses, to demand bread at the
fixed price; and they required it with that air of threatening resolution
which passion, force, and law united could impart. It need not be asked if the
bakers resisted. With sleeves turned up, they were busied in carrying, putting
into the oven, and taking out thence, without intermission; for the people,
having a confused idea that it was too violent an attempt to last long,
besieged the bake - houses incessantly, to enjoy their temporary good fortune;
and every reader can imagine what a pleasure it must have been to drudge like
a slave, and expose one`s self more than usually to an attack of pleurisy, to
be, after all, a loser in consequence. But with magistrates on one side
threatening punishments, and the people on the other importunate, murmuring at
every delay that was interposed in serving them, and indefinitely menacing
some one or other of their chastisements, which are always the worst that are
inflicted in this world - there was no help for it; drudge they must; they
were forced to empty and replenish their ovens, and sell. However, to keep
them up to such employment, it was of little avail to impose strict orders,
and keep them in constant fear: it was a question of absolute practicability;
and had the thing lasted a little longer, they could have done no more. They
remonstrated incessantly against the iniquitous and insupportable weight of
the burden laid upon them, and protested they would willingly throw the shovel
into the oven, and take their departure; and yet they continued to persevere
as they could, longing, hoping, that some day or other, the High Chancellor
would come to his senses. But Antonio Ferrer, who was what would now be called
a man of character, replied that the bakers had made enormous profits in past
times; that they would equally make great gains in better times to come, that,
therefore, it was both reasonable and necessary they should make some
compensation to the public, and that, in the mean while, they must get on as
they could. Whether he were really convinced of the truth of those reasons he
alleged to others, or whether, perceiving, from its effects, the impossibility
of maintaining this regulation, he was willing to leave to others the odium of
revoking it; for who can now look into Antonio Ferrer`s mind? yet certain it
is he did not relax one iota of what he had established. At length, the
decurioni (a municipal magistracy composed of nobles, which lasted till the
ninety - sixth year of the last century) informed the Governor, by letter, of
the state in which matters stood, hoping he might be able to suggest some
remedy.
Don Gonzalo, buried over head in the affairs of war, did what the reader
will certainly imagine: he nominated a Council, which he endowed with full
authority to fix such a price upon bread as could become current, thus doing
justice to both parties. The deputies assembled, or it was expressed, after
the Spanish fashion, in the jargon of those days, the junta met; and, after a
hundred bowings, compliments, preambles, sighs, whisperings, airy
propositions, and subterfuges, urged, by a necessity which all felt, to come
to some determination, conscious that they were casting an important die, but
aware that there was no other course to be taken, they at length agreed to
augment the price of bread. The bakers once more breathed, but the people
raved.
The evening preceding the day in which Renzo arrived at Milan, the
streets and squares swarmed with men, who, transported with indignation, and
swayed by a prevailing opinion, assembled - whether acquaintances or strangers
- in knots and parties without any previous concert, and almost without being
aware of it, like rain - drops on a hillside. Every conversation increased the
general belief, and roused the passions of both hearer and speaker. Amongst
the many excited ones, there were some few of cooler temperament, who stood
quietly watching with great satisfaction the troubling of the water, who
busied themselves in troubling it more and more, with such reasonings and
stories as rogues know how to invent, and agitated minds are so ready to
believe, and who determined not to let it calm down without first catching a
little fish. Thousands went to rest that night with an indeterminate feeling
that something must and would be done. Crowds assembled before day - break:
children, women, men, old people, workmen, beggars, all grouped together at
random; here was a confused whispering of many voices; there, one declaimed to
a crowd of applauding bystanders; this one asked his nearest fellow the same
question that had just been put to himself; that other repeated the
exclamation that he heard resounding in his ears; everywhere were disputes,
threats, wonderings; and very few words made up the materials of so many
conversations.
There only wanted something to lay hold of: some beginning, some kind of
impetus to reduce words to deeds, and this was not long wanting. Towards
daybreak, little boys issued from the bakers` shops, carrying baskets of bread
to the houses of their usual customers. The first appearance of one of these
unlucky boys in a crowd of people, was like the fall of a lighted squib in a
gunpowder magazine. `Let us see if there`s bread here!` exclaimed a hundred
voices, in an instant. `Ay, for the tyrants who roll in abundance, and would
let us die of hunger,` said one, approaching the boy; and, raising his hand to
the edge of the basket, he snatched at it, and exclaimed, `Let me see!` The
boy coloured, turned pale, trembled, and tried to say, `Let me go on;` but the
words died between his lips, and slackening his arms, he endeavoured to
disengage them hastily from the straps.
`Down with the basket!` was the instantaneous cry. Many hands seized it,
and brought it to the ground; they then threw the cloth that covered it into
the air. A tepid fragrance was diffused around. `We, too, are Christians; we
must have bread to eat,` said the first. He took out a loaf, and, raising it
in the view of the crowd, began to eat: in an instant all hands were in the
basket, and in less time than one can relate it, all had disappeared. Those
who had got none of the spoil, irritated at the sight of what the others had
gained, and animated by the facility of the enterprise, moved off by parties
in quest of other straying baskets, which were no sooner met with than they
were pillaged immediately. Nor was it necessary to attack the bearers: those
who unfortunately were on their way, as soon as they saw which way the wind
blew, voluntarily laid down their burdens, and took to their heels.
Nevertheless, those who remained without a supply were, beyond comparison, the
greater part; nor were the victors half satisfied with such insignificant
spoil; and some there were mingled in the crowds who had resolved upon a much
better regulated attack. `To the bake - house, to the bake - house!` was the
cry.
In the street called La Corsia de` Servi was a bake - house, which is
still there, bearing the same name, - a name that, in Tuscan means `The Bakery
of the Crutches,` and, in Milanese, is composed of words so extravagant, so
whimsical, so out - of - the - way, that the alphabet of the Italian language
does not afford letters to express its sound.^1 In this direction the crowd
advanced. The people of the shop were busy questioning the poor boy who had
returned unladen, and he, pale with terror, and greatly discomposed, was
unintelligibly relating his unfortunate adventure, when, suddenly, they heard
a noise as of a crowd in motion; it increases and approaches; the forerunners
of the crowd are in sight.
[Footnote 1: El prestin di scanse.]
`Shut, lock up; quick, quick:` one runs to beg assistance from the
sheriff; the others hastily shut up the shop, and bolt and bar the doors
inside. The multitudes begin to increase without, and the cries redouble of -
`Bread! bread! Open! open!`
At this juncture the sheriff arrived, in the midst of a troop of
halberdiers. `Make room, make room, my boys; go home, go home: make room for
the sheriff!` cried he. The throng, not too much crowded, gave way a little,
so that the halberdiers could advance and get close to the door of the shop,
though not in a very orderly manner. `But, my friends,` said the sheriff,
addressing the people from thence, `what are you doing here? Go home, go home.
Where is your fear of God? What will our master the King say? We don`t wish to
do you any harm, but go home, like good fellows. What in the world can you do
here, in such a crush? There is nothing good to be got here, either for the
soul or body. Go home, go home!` But how were those next the speaker, who saw
his face and could hear his words, even had they been willing to obey - how
were they to accomplish it, urged forward as they were, and almost trampled
upon by those behind; who, in their turn, were trodden upon by others, like
wave upon wave, and step upon step, to the very edge of the rapidly increasing
throng? The sheriff began to feel a little alarmed. `Make them give way, that
I may get a little breath,` said he to his halberdiers; `but don`t hurt
anybody. Let us try to get into the shop. Knock; make them give way!`
`Back! back!` cried the halberdiers, throwing themselves in a body upon
their nearest neighbours, and pushing them back with the point of their
weapons. The people replied with a grumbling shout, and retreated as they
could, dispersing blows on the breast and stomach in profusion, and treading
upon the toes of those behind; while such was the general rush, the squeezing
and trampling, that those who were in the middle of the throng would have
given anything to have been elsewhere. In the mean while, a small space was
cleared before the house; the sheriff knocked and kicked against the door,
calling to those within to open it: these, seeing from the window how things
stood, ran down in haste and admitted the sheriff, followed by the
halberdiers, who crept in one after another, the last repulsing the crowd with
their weapons. When all were secured, they re - bolted the door, and, running
up - stairs, the sheriff displayed himself at the window. We leave the reader
to imagine the outcry!
`My friends!` cried he: many looked up. `My friends! go home. A general
pardon to all who go home at once!`
`Bread! bread! Open! open!` were the most conspicuous words in the savage
vociferations the crowd sent forth in reply.
`Justice, my friends! take care; you have yet time given you. Come, get
away; return to your houses. You shall have bread; but this is not the way to
get it. Eh! . . . eh! what are you doing down there? Eh! at this door? Fie,
fie upon you! I see, I see: justice! take care! It is a great crime. I`m
coming to you. Eh! eh! away with those irons; down with those hands! Fie! you
Milanese, who are talked of all over the world for peaceableness! Listen!
listen! you have always been good sub . . . Ah, you rascals!`
This rapid transition of style was caused by a stone, which, coming from
the hands of one of these good subjects, struck the forehead of the sheriff,
on the left protuberance of his metaphysical profundities. `Rascals! rascals!`
continued he, shutting the window in a rage, and retiring from view. But
though he had shouted to the extent of the powers of his throat, his words,
both good and bad, had vanished and consumed in thin air, repulsed by the
cries which came from below. The objects that now, as he afterwards described,
presented themselves to his view, were stones and iron bars, (the first they
could lay hold of by the way,) with which they tried to force open the doors
and windows; and they already had made considerable progress in their work.
In the mean time, the masters and shop - boys appeared at the upper
windows, armed with stones, (they had probably unpaved the yard,) and crying
out to those below, with horrible looks and gestures, to let them alone, they
showed their weapons, and threatened to left fly among them. Seeing that
nothing else would avail, they began to throw at them in reality. Not one fell
in vain, since the press was such that even a grain of corn, as the saying
was, could not have reached the ground.
`Ah! y`u great vagabonds! you great villains! Is this the bread you give
to poor people? Ah! alas! oh! Now, now, at us?` was raised from below. More
than one was injured, and two boys were killed. Fury increased the strength of
the people; the doors and bars gave way; and the crowd poured into the
passages in torrents. Those within, perceiving their danger, took refuge in
the garrets: the sheriff, the halberdiers, and a few of the household gathered
together here in a corner, under the slates; and others, escaping by the sky -
lights, wandered about on the roof like cats.
The sight of the spoil made the victors forget their designs of
sanguinary vengeance. They flew upon the large chests, and instantly pillaged
them. Others, instead, hastened to tear open the counter, seized the tills,
took out by handfuls, pocketed and set off with, the money, to return for
bread afterwards, if there remained any. The crowd dispersed themselves
through the interior magazines. Some laid hold of the sacks and drew them out;
others turned them wrong side upwards, and untying the mouth, to reduce them
to a weight which they could manage to carry, shook out some of the flour;
others crying out, `Stay, stay!` came underneath to prevent this waste, by
catching it in their clothes and aprons; others, again, fell upon a kneading -
trough, and seized the dough, which ran over their hands and escaped their
grasp on every side: here, one who had snatched up a meal - sieve, came
brandishing it in the air. Some come, some go, some handle: men, women,
children, swarm around; pushes, blows, and cries are bandied about; and a
white powder that rises in clouds and deposits itself in every direction,
involves the whole proceeding in a thick mist. Outside, is a crowd composed of
two reverse processions, which alternately separate and intermingle, some
going out with their prey, others entering to share the spoil.
While this bake - house was being thus plundered, none of the others were
quiet and free from danger; but at none had the people assembled in such
numbers as to be very daring. In some, the masters had collected a few
auxiliaries, and stood upon their defence: others, less strong in numbers, or
more terrified, came to some kind of agreement; they distributed bread to
those who had begun to crowd around their shops, if they would be content with
this and go away. Those who did withdraw, did so not so much because they were
contented with their acquisitions, as because the halberdiers and police,
keeping at a distance from the tremendous scene at the Bake - house of the
Crutches, appeared, nevertheless, elsewhere in sufficient force to keep in awe
these smaller parties of mutineers. By this means, the confusion and concourse
continued to augment at this first unfortunate bake - house; for all those
whose fingers itched to be at work, and whose hearts were set upon doing some
great deed, repaired thither, where their friends were in greatest numbers,
and impunity was secure.
Such was the state of things, when Renzo, finishing, as we have related,
his piece of bread, came to the suburb of the Porta Orientale, and set off,
without being aware of it, exactly to the central scene of the tumult. He
continued his way, now urged forward, now hindered, by the crowd; and as he
walked, he watched and listened, to gather from the confused murmurs of voices
some more positive information of the state of things. The following are
nearly the words he caught on his way.
`Now,` said one, `the infamous imposture of these villains is discovered,
who said there was no more bread, nor flour, nor corn. Now we see things
clearly and distinctly, and they can no longer deceive us as they have done.
Hurrah for plenty!`
`I tell you all this just goes for nothing,` said another; `it is only
like making a hole in water; so that it will be the worse for us, if we don`t
get full justice done us. Bread will be sold at a low price: but they will put
poison in it to kill us poor people like flies. They`ve snid already that we
are too many: they said so in the council; and I know it for certain, because
I heard it with these ears from an acquaintance of mine, who is the friend of
a relation of a scullion of one of these lords.`
`They are not things to be laughed at,` said another poor wretch, who was
foaming at the mouth, and holding up to his bleeding head a ragged pocket -
handkerchief; some neighbour, by way of consolation, echoing his remark.
`Make way, gentlemen: pray be good enough to make way for a poor father
of a family, who is carrying something to eat to five famished children.`
These were the words of one who came staggering under the weight of a large
sack of flour; and everybody instantly drew back to attend to his request.`
`I,` said another, almost in an under - tone, to his companion, `I shall
take my departure. I am a man of the world, and I know how these things go.
These clowns who now make so much noise, tomorrow or next day will be shut up
in their houses, cowering with fear. I have already noticed some faces, some
worthy fellows, who are going about as spies, and taking note of those who are
here and not here; and when all is over they will render in an account, and
bring punishment on those who deserve it.`
`He who protects the bakers,` cried a sonorous voice, which attracted
Renzo`s attention, `is the superintendent of provisions.`
`They are all rascals,` said a by - stander.
`Yes; but he is at the head of them,` replied the fiist.
The superintendent of provisions, elected every year by the governor,
from a list of six nobles, formed by the council of decurioni, was the
president of this council, as well as of the court of provisions, which,
composed of twelve noblemen, had, together with other duties, that of
overlooking the distribution of corn in the city.
The person who occupied this post must, necessarily, in times of scarcity
and ignorance, have been regarded as the author of the evil, unless he had
acted like Ferrer - a course which was not in his power, even had the idea
entered his mind.
`Rascals!` exclaimed another: `could they do worse? They have actually
dared to say that the high chancellor is an old fool, to rob him of his
credit, and get the government into their own hands. We ought to make a large
hen - coop, and put them in, to live upon vetches and cockle - weed, as they
would treat us.`
`Bread, eh!` said one who was making as great haste as he could. `Bread?
Blows with stones of a pound weight - stones falling plump, that came down
like hail. And such breaking of ribs! I long to be at my own house.`
Among such sentences as these, by which it is difficult to say whether he
were more informed or perplexed, and among numberless knocks and pushes, Renzo
at last arrived opposite the bake - house. The crowds here had considerably
dispersed, so that he could contemplate the dismal scene of recent confusion -
the walls unplastered and defaced with stones and bricks, the windows broken,
and the door destroyed.
`These are no very fine doings,` thought Renzo to himself: `if they treat
all the bake - houses in this way, where will they make bread? In the
ditches?`
From time to time somebody would issue from the house, carrying part of a
bin, of a tub, or of a bolting hutch, the pole of a kneading instrument, a
bench, a basket, a journal, a waste - book, or something belonging to this
unfortunate bake - house; and shouting `Make room, make room,` would pass on
through the crowd. All these, he observed, went in the same direction, and to
some fixed place. Renzo, determined to find out the meaning of this procedure,
followed behind a man who, having tied together a bundle of broken planks and
chips, carried it off on his back, and, like the others, took the road that
runs along the northern side of the cathedral, and receives its name from the
flight of steps which was then in existence, and has only lately been removed.
The wish of observing what happened, did not prevent our mountaineer, on
arriving in sight of this noble pile, from stopping to gaze upwards, with open
mouth. He then quickened his pace to overtake his self - chosen guide; and, on
turning the corner, gave another glance at the front of the building, at that
time in a rude and far - from - finished state, keeping all the while close
behind his leader, who advanced towards the middle of the square. The crowds
became more dense as he went forward, but they made way for the carrier; and
while he cleft the waves of people, Renzo, following in his wake, arrived with
him in the very centre of the throng. Here was a space, and in the midst a
bonfire, a heap of embers, the relics of the implements before mentioned.
Around, the people were dancing and clapping their hands, mingling in the
uproar a thousand shouts of triumph and imprecation.
The man with the bundle upset it into the embers; others, with a long
half - burnt pole, gathered them up and raked them together from the sides and
underneath: the smoke increased and thickened, the flame again burst forth,
and with it, the redoubled cries of the by - standers: `Hurrah for plenty!
Death to those who would starve us! Away with the famine! Perish the Court of
Provision! Perish the junta! Hurrah for plenty! Hurrah for bread!`
To say the truth, the destruction of sieves and kneading - troughs, the
pillaging of bake - houses, and the routing of bakers, are not the most
expeditious means of providing a supply of bread; but this is one of those
metaphysical subtleties which never enter the mind of the multitude. Renzo,
without being of too metaphysical a turn, yet not being in nuch a state of
excitement as the others, could not avoid making this reflection in his mind;
he kept it, however, to himself, for this, among other reasons: because, out
of so many faces, there was not one that seemed to say, `My friend, if I am
wrong, correct me, and I shall be indebted to you.`
The flame had again sunk; no one was seen approaching with fresh
combustibles, and the crowd was beginning to feel impatient, when a rumour was
spread that at the Cordusio (a small square or cross - way not far distant)
they had laid siege to a bake - house. In similar circumstances, the
announcement of an event very often produces it. Together with this rumour, a
general wish to repair thither gained ground among the multitude: `I am going;
are you going? Let us go, let us go!` were heard in every direction; the crowd
broke up, were set in motion, and moved on. Renzo remained behind, almost
stationary, except when dragged forward by the torrent; and in the mean while
held counsel with himself, whether he should make his escape from the stir,
and return to the convent in search of Father Bonaventura, or go and see this
affray too. Curiosity prevailed. He resolved, however, not to mingle in the
thickest of the crowd, at the risk of broken bones, or something worse; but to
keep at a distance and watch. Having determined on his plans, and finding
himself tolerably unobserved, he took out the second roll, and, biting off a
mouthful, moved forward in the rear of the tumultuous body.
By th outlet at one corner of the square, the multitude had already
entered the short and narrow street Pescheria vecchia^2 and thence, through
the crooked archway, into the Piazza de` Mercanti.^3 Very few were there who,
in passing the niche which divides, about the centre, the terrace of the
edifice then called the College of Doctors, did not cast a slight glance
upwards at the great statue that adorns it - at that serious, surly, frowning,
morose countenance of Don Filippo II., which, even in marble, enforces a
feeling of respect, and seems ready to say, `I am here, you rabble!`
[Footnote 2: The Old Fish Market.]
[Footnote 3: The Square of the Merchants.]
This niche is now empty, by a singular accident. About a hundred and
seventy years after the events we are now relating, one morning, the head of
the statue that stood there was exchanged, the sceptre was taken out of his
hand, and a dagger placed there instead, and on his statue was inscribed the
name of Marcus Brutus. Thus adorned, it remained, perhaps, a couple of years;
but, one morning, some persons who had no sympathies with Marcus Brutus, and
who must even have borne him a secret grudge, threw a rope around the statue,
tore it down, and bestowed upon it a hundred injuries; thus mangled, and
reduced to a shapeless trunk, they dragged it along, with a profuse
accompaniment of epithets, through the streets, and when they were well tired,
threw it - no one knows where. Who would have foretold this to Andrea Biffi,
when he sculptured it?
From the square of the Mercanti the clamorous multitude turned into the
by - street de` Fustagnai, whence they poured into the Cordusio. Every one,
immediately on entering the square, turned their eyes towards the bake - house
that had been indicated to them. But, instead of the crowd of friends whom
they expected to find already at work, they saw only a few, irresolutely
hovering about at some distance from the shop, which was fastened up, and
protected by armed men at the windows, who gave tokens of a determination to
defend themselves in case of need. They, therefore, turned back and paused, to
inform those who were coming up, and see what course the others would wish to
take; some returned, or remained behind. There was a general retreat and
detention, asking and answering of questions, a kind of stagnation, sighs of
irresolution, then a general murmur of consultation. At this moment an ill -
omened voice was heard in the midst of the crowd: `The house of the
superintendent of provisions is close by; let us go and get justice, and lay
siege to it.` It seemed rather the common recollection of an agreement already
concluded, than the acceptance of a proposal. `To the superintendent`s! to the
superintendent`s! was the only cry that could be heard. The crowd moved
forward with unanimous fury towards the street where the house, named at such
an ill - fated moment, was situated.
|
