Besides he had the plan--just as
soon as his partner should disappear--of bringing to live there with
him certain lady-friends who were wandering around in search of a
problematical dinner, and feeling timid in the solitude of their own
quarters. Danger often gathers congenial folk together and adds a new
attractiveness to the pleasures of a community. The tender affections of
the prisoners of the Terror, when they were expecting momentarily to
be conducted to the guillotine, flashed through his mind. Let us drain
Life's goblet at one draught since we have to die! . . . The studio of
the rue de la Pompe was about to witness the mad and desperate revels of
a castaway bark well-stocked with provisions.
Desnoyers left the Gare d'Orsay in a first-class compartment, mentally
praising the good order with which the authorities had arranged
everything, so that every traveller could have his own seat. At the
Austerlitz station, however, a human avalanche assaulted the train.
The doors were broken open, packages and children came in through the
windows like projectiles. The people pushed with the unreason of a crowd
fleeing before a fire. In the space reserved for eight persons, fourteen
installed themselves; the passageways were heaped with mountains of
bags and valises that served later travellers for seats. All class
distinctions had disappeared.
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