She pushed the door open and went in by the familiar way, letting the dark cloak that covered her court dress fall to the ground as she passed the threshold.

Half a dozen young nobles, grouped near the entrance, made way for her to pass.
When they recognized her, their voices dropped suddenly, and they stared after her in astonishment that she should appear at such a time.

She was doubtless in ignorance of what had happened, they thought.

As for the throng in the hall, there was no restraint upon their talk now, and words were spoken freely which would have been high treason half an hour earlier.

There was the noise, the tension, the ceaseless talking, the excited air, that belong to great palace revolutions.
The press was closer near the steps of the throne, where the King and Mendoza had stood, for after they had left the hall, surrounded and protected by the guards, the courtiers had crowded upon one another, and those near the further door and outside it in the outer apartments had pressed in till there was scarcely standing room on the floor of the hall.