laurence did not hesitate : he had expected silence , abandoned houses , perhaps even wreckage and looting ; he moved on steadily and did not look to see what damage might have been done , until he came into dover street , and was at last surprised : to find it crammed with carriages , ten linkmen standing at the door of one great town-house , fine young ladies and their chaperones , british gentlemen , french officers all going up the stairs and a great bustling noise of music and laughter and dish-clattering spilling down .