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There were in the room some idle people of the neighbourhood,

who, after having discussed the great news from Milan of the

preceding day, wondered how affairs were going on; as the

circumstances of the rebellion had left their curiosity

unsatisfied as to its termination; a sedition neither suppressed

nor successful; suspended rather than terminated; an unfinished

work; the end of an act rather than of a drama. One of them

detached himself from the company, and, approaching the

new-comer, asked him, "If he came from Milan?"

"I?" said Renzo, endeavouring to collect his thoughts for a

reply.

"You; if the enquiry be lawful."

Renzo, contracting his mouth, made a sort of inarticulate sound,

"Milan, from what I hear-from what they say-is not a place where

one would go now, unless necessity required it."

"The tumult continues, then?" asked he, with eagerness.

"One must have been on the spot, to know if it were so," said

Renzo.

"But do you not come from Milan?"