text:  All had evidently come to a full stop and even that horrible machine above my head had ceased to clank and crush; for what is a spectacle in France without an audience? The chief headsman with two or three of his assistants true to their post alone remained--waiting for the return of the people; yet even they cast many a lingering glance towards the pageant whose plumes flags and kettledrums passing across the entrance of the square made their patriotism more difficult from minute to minute