Had kissed and wept, imploring him not to kill.

Certain faces flashed through his memory, certain sounds and words rang in it.

A woman in a yellow silk waist, unfastened at the breast, had sung in a loud, sobbing voice: "And so let us live while we can And then--e'en grass may cease to grow." All these people, like himself, grown wild and beastlike, were seized by the same dark wave and carried away like rubbish.

All these people, like himself, must have been afraid to look forward to see whither this powerful, wild wave was carrying them.

And drowning their fear in wine, they were rushing forward down the current struggling, shouting, doing something absurd, playing the fool, clamouring, clamouring, without ever being cheerful.