Faustina
glided like a shadow down the vast staircase, slipped through one
of the gates just as the bewildered porter was about to close it,
and in a moment was out in the midst of the multitude that
thronged the dim streets--a mere child and alone, facing a
revolution in the dark.
CHAPTER V.
Gouache made his way as fast as he could to the bridge of Sant'
Angelo, but his progress was constantly impeded by moving crowds--
bodies of men, women, and children rushing frantically together at
the corners of the streets and then surging onward in the
direction of the resultant produced by their combined forces in
the shock. There was loud and incoherent screaming of women and
shouting of men, out of which occasionally a few words could be
distinguished, more often "Viva Pio Nono!" or "Viva la
Repubblica!" than anything else. The scene of confusion baffled
description. A company of infantry was filing out of the castle of
Sant' Angelo on to the bridge, where it was met by a dense
multitude of people coming from the opposite direction. A squadron
of mounted gendarmes came up from the Borgo Nuovo at the same
moment, and half a dozen cabs were jammed in between the opposing
masses of the soldiers and the people. The officer at the head of
the column of foot-soldiers loudly urged the crowd to make way,
and the latter, consisting chiefly of peaceable but terrified
citizens, attempted to draw back, while the weight of those behind
pushed them on.
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