I will not attempt to give any detailed account of the state of the town
during this evening. For myself I was utterly worn out, and went to rest
as soon as M. de Clairon left me, having satisfied, as well as I could,
the questions of the women. Even in the intensest excitement weary
nature will claim her dues. I slept. I can even remember the grateful
sense of being able to put all anxieties and perplexities aside for the
moment, as I went to sleep. I felt the drowsiness gain upon me, and I
was glad. To forget was of itself a happiness. I woke up, however,
intensely awake, and in perfect possession of all my faculties, while it
was yet dark; and at once got up and began to dress. The moment of
hesitation which generally follows waking--the little interval of
thought in which one turns over perhaps that which is past, perhaps that
which is to come--found no place within me. I got up without a moment's
pause, like one who has been called to go on a journey; nor did it
surprise me at all to see my wife moving about, taking a cloak from her
wardrobe, and putting up linen in a bag. She was already fully dressed;
but she asked no questions of me any more than I did of her. We were in
haste, though we said nothing. When I had dressed, I looked round me to
see if I had forgotten anything, as one does when one leaves a place. I
saw my watch suspended to its usual hook, and my pocketbook, which I had
taken from my pocket on the previous night. I took up also the light
overcoat which I had worn when I made my rounds through the city on the
first night of the darkness. 'Now,' I said, 'Agnès, I am ready.' I did
not speak to her of where we were going, nor she to me. Little Jean and
my mother met us at the door. Nor did _she_ say anything, contrary to
her custom; and the child was quite quiet. We went downstairs together
without saying a word. The servants, who were all astir, followed us. I
cannot give any description of the feelings that were in my mind. I had
not any feelings. I was only hurried out, hastened by something which I