"What did you say?" suddenly asked Mr. Timm, with great animation.
"I said Mrs. Rose Pape is a capital woman."
"Did you not say she had taken the business quite lately?"
"Yes; for she used to be a midwife. The French revolution has made her an innkeeper."
"That is original."
"Isn't it? But then Mrs. Rose is an original, too. She has a wonderful knack for business; and when the trouble commenced in Paris, she said: 'Now golden days are coming for beer-houses with female waiters!' The next day she had rented the 'Dismal Hole.'"
"I am exceedingly anxious to make the acquaintance of the excellent lady."
During this conversation the friends had followed little frequented paths in the park, and were now near the magnificent gate which leads on this side straight from the park into the city. The crowd at the Booths must have dissolved immediately after they had left it, for the head of an immense procession coming from that direction had just reached the gate. Here they met the crowd that were still coming from the city into the park. It could not be avoided; the crowds met and filled the narrow passages of the great gate immediately before the guard-house, where a company of soldiers was standing with arms grounded. The people gazed and wondered at the unusual sight. Others pushed their way up to see what was the matter. In an instant the guard-house was surrounded by hundreds of men standing in a semi-circle, which was steadily growing smaller and smaller. The captain in command of the company, a tall officer with a savage expression in his sharply-marked features, cast furious glances at the multitude, but did not deign to say a word. It was easy to see what was going on in his soul. Suddenly he gave an order with an angrily-shrill voice: "Attention! Eyes right! Shoulder arms! Attention! Load!"
The ramrods rattled, and in an instant the order was obeyed.
It had been intended as a warning merely for the crowd; but, as it will happen in such cases, it produced exactly the opposite effect to what had been intended. Those who stood nearest could not move back, and those behind had only become more curious to know what the noise of the ramrods meant. A fatal encounter between the soldiers and the people seemed unavoidable.