La Faloise leaned forward and looked down at the boulevard.

Over against them the windows of a hotel and of a club were brightly lit up, while on the pavement below a dark mass of customers occupied the tables of the Cafe de Madrid.

Despite the lateness of the hour the crowd were still crushing and being crushed; people were advancing with shortened step; a throng was constantly emerging from the Passage Jouffroy; individuals stood waiting five or six minutes before they could cross the roadway, to such a distance did the string of carriages extend.
"What a moving mass! And what a noise!" La Faloise kept reiterating, for Paris still astonished him.
The bell rang for some time; the foyer emptied.

There was a hurrying of people in the passages.

The curtain was already up when whole bands of spectators re-entered the house amid the irritated expressions of those who were once more in their places.