Desnoyers had been in the station only twice, when going and coming from Germany.  Others were now taking the same road.  The crowds were swarming in from the environs of the city in order to see the masses of human beings in geometric bodies, uniformly clad, disappearing within the entrance with flash of steel and the rhythm of clanking metal.  The crystal archways that were glistening in the sun like fiery mouths were swallowing and swallowing people.  When night fell the processions were still coming on, by light of the electric lamps.  Through the iron grills were passing thousands and thousands of draught horses; men with their breasts crossed with metal and bunches of horsehair hanging from their helmets, like paladins of bygone centuries; enormous cases that were serving as cages for the aeronautic condors; strings of cannon, long and narrow, painted grey and protected, by metal screens, more like astronomical instruments than mouths of death; masses and masses of red kepis (military caps) moving in marching rhythm, rows and rows of muskets, some black and stark like reed plantations, others ending in bayonets like shining spikes.  And over all these restless fields of seething throngs, the flags of the regiments were fluttering in the air like colored birds; a white body, a blue wing, or a red one, a cravat of gold on the neck, and above, the metal tip pointing toward the clouds.

Don Marcelo would return home from these send-offs vibrating with nervous fatigue, as one who had just participated in a scene of racking emotion.  In spite of his tenacious character which always stood out against admitting a mistake, the old man began to feel ashamed of his former doubts.  The nation was quivering with life; France was a grand nation; appearances had deceived him as well as many others.  Perhaps the most of his countrymen were of a light and flippant character, given to excessive interest in the sensuous side of life; but when danger came they were fulfilling their duty simply, without the necessity of the harsh force to which the iron-clad organizations were submitting their people.

On leaving home on the morning of the fourth day of the mobilization Desnoyers, instead of betaking himself to the centre of the city, went in the opposite direction toward the rue de la Pompe.  Some imprudent words dropped by Chichi, and the uneasy looks of his wife and sister-in-law made him suspect that Julio had returned from his trip.  He felt the necessity of seeing at least the outside of the studio windows, as if they might give him news.  And in order to justify a trip so at variance with his policy of ignoring his son, he remembered that the carpenter lived in the same street.

“I must hunt up Robert.  He promised a week ago that he would come here.”