Yess, sair." And
another laugh. At length quiet reigned in the hotel. Sophia said
to herself: "I won't stir from this bed till it's all over and
Gerald comes back!"
She dozed, under the sheet, and was awakened by a tremendous
shrieking, growling, and yelling: a phenomenon of human bestiality
that far surpassed Sophia's narrow experiences. Shut up though she
was in a room, perfectly secure, the mad fury of that crowd,
balked at the inlets to the square, thrilled and intimidated her.
It sounded as if they would be capable of tearing the very horses
to pieces. "I must stay where I am," she murmured. And even while
saying it she rose and went to the window again and peeped out.
The torture involved was extreme, but she had not sufficient force
within her to resist the fascination. She stared greedily into the
bright square. The first thing she saw was Gerald coming out of a
house opposite, followed after a few seconds by the girl with whom
he had previously been talking. Gerald glanced hastily up at the
facade of the hotel, and then approached as near as he could to
the red columns, in front of which were now drawn a line of
gendarmes with naked swords. A second and larger waggon, with two
horses, waited by the side of the other one.
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