But he would smile, and raise me up, and
make some pretty speech, very gentle, and very dreadful, and bring me
back to mamma, and then I should die."
But at nineteen well-nourished maidens do not pass the night in
mourning, however heavy their hearts may be, and Alice slept at last,
and perhaps was happier in her innocent dreams.
The night passed without further incident, and the next day, though it
may have shown favorable signs to practised eyes, seemed very much, to
the public, like the day which had preceded it. There were fewer shops
closed in the back streets; there were not so many parties of wandering
apostles of plunder going about to warn laborers away from their work.
But in the principal avenues and in the public squares there were the
same dense crowds of idlers, some listless and some excited, ready to
believe the wildest rumors and to applaud the craziest oratory.
Speakers were not lacking; besides the agitators of the town, several
had come in from neighboring places, and they were preaching, with
fervor and perspiration, from street corners and from barrel-heads in
the beer-houses, the dignity of manhood and the overthrow of tyrants.
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