The echoes of the squabbles which were rending the Legislative Assembly reached the depths of the provinces, now in an exaggerated, now in an attenuated form, varying so greatly as to obscure the vision of the most clear-sighted.

The only general feeling was that a denouement was approaching.

The prevailing ignorance as to the nature of this denouement kept timid middle class people in a terrible state of anxiety.

Everybody wished to see the end.

They were sick of uncertainty, and would have flung themselves into the arms of the Grand Turk, if he would have deigned to save France from anarchy.
The marquis's smile became more acute.