But Marie's horse cast a shoe, and it was some
time before we could find a smith. Then at Etampes, where we
stopped to lunch, we were kept an unconscionable time waiting for
it. And so we approached Paris for the first time at sunset. A
ruddy glow was at the moment warming the eastern heights, and
picking out with flame the twin towers of Notre Dame, and the one
tall tower of St. Jacques la Boucherie. A dozen roofs higher
than their neighbours shone hotly; and a great bank of cloud,
which lay north and south, and looked like a man's hand stretched
over the city, changed gradually from blood-red to violet, and
from violet to black, as evening fell.
Passing within the gates and across first one bridge and then
another, we were astonished and utterly confused by the noise and
hubbub through which we rode. Hundreds seemed to be moving this
way and that in the narrow streets. Women screamed to one
another from window to window. The bells of half-a-dozen
churches rang the curfew. Our country ears were deafened.
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