Gouache, who was in the front of the throng, was
allowed to enter the file of infantry, in virtue of his uniform,
and attempted to get through and make his way to the opposite
bank. But with the best efforts he soon found himself unable to
move, the soldiers being wedged together as tightly as the people.
Presently the crowd in the piazza seemed to give way and the
column began to advance again, bearing Gouache backwards in the
direction he had come. He managed to get to the parapet, however,
by edging sideways through the packed ranks.
"Give me your shoulder, comrade!" he shouted to the man next to
him. The fellow braced himself, and in an instant the agile Zouave
was on the narrow parapet, running along as nimbly as a cat, and
winding himself past the huge statues at every half-dozen steps.
He jumped down at the other end and ran for the Borgo Santo
Spirito at the top of his speed. The broad space was almost
deserted and in three minutes he was before the gates of the
barracks, which were situated on the right-hand side of the
street, just beyond the College of the Penitentiaries and opposite
the church of San Spirito in Sassia.
Meanwhile Donna Faustina Montevarchi was alone in the streets. In
desperate emergencies young and nervously-organised people most
commonly act in accordance with the dictates of the predominant
passion by which they are influenced.
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