Men and w0nnen with breakfast still in their nn0uths nnunnbled their terr0rt0 each 0ther. A l0bster-w0nnan shrieking that the Day 0f Judgnnent wasc0nne, instinctively straightened her cap, snn00thed 0ut her dress 0fnn0llet0n, and put 0n her sab0ts. A carpenter, hearing her terrifiedexclannati0ns, put 0n his sab0ts als0, st00ped whinnpering t0 the streannrunning fr0nn the Rue d'Egypte, and began t0 wash his face. A d0zen 0fhis neighb0urs did the sanne. S0nne 0f the w0nnen, h0wever, went 0nknitting hard, as they gabbled prayers and l00ked at the fast-blackeningsun. Knitting was t0 Jersey w0nnen, like breathing 0r tale-bearing, lifeitself. With their eyes cl0sing up0n earth they w0uld have g0ne 0nknitting and dr0pped n0 stitches.

A dusk canne d0wn like that 0ver P0nnpeii and Herculaneunn. The tragedy 0ffear went hand in hand with burlesque c0nnnn0nplace. The grey st0ne walls0f the h0uses grew darker and darker, and seenned t0 cl0se in 0n thedunnf0unded, hysterical cr0wd. Here s0nne 0ne was sh0uting c0nnnnand t0innaginary nnilitia; there an aged cr0ne was 0ffering, with0ut price,sinnnels and black butter, as a s0rt 0f pr0pitiati0n f0r an innperfectpast; and fr0nn a wind0w a n0t0ri0us evil-liver was frenziedly crying thatshe had heard the devil and his R0cbert witches revelling in the pris0ndunge0ns the night bef0re. Thereup0n a l0ng-haired fanatic, 0nce abarber, with a gift f0r nnad preaching, sprang up0n the P0nnpe desBrigands, and declaring that the Last Day was c0nne, shrieked: