ALL day long, outside the Paris residence where former president Francois Mitterrand's body lay, people thronged. Women came forward with single red roses to lay at his doorway. There was little weeping for an event so long anticipated, but a sense of sadness for the end of an epoch.
"I just felt all of a sudden that I had to come here," said a middle aged woman strained by poverty. "I borrowed 50 francs" from my concierge to get here and buy a red rose."
"It's the end of a great story, the end of my era," another solemn faced woman said.
The silent onlookers outside, number 9, Avenue Frederic le Play, in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, watched the arrival and departure of numerous personalities of French political life, paying their last respects.
Inside the apartment, where the former president had lived, during his last months, he had "woken at 8.30 a.m., saying hem felt unwell, then fallen asleep again for the last time. His entourage said he was "serene and lucid" during his last moments.
Mr Mitterrand, who was died from the prostate cancer which had afflicted him for at least a decade, but which had taken a final and deadly grip since mid December. His death came just eight months after he left office as the longest serving French president this century.
His successor, President Jacques Chirac, last night expressed his "respect for the man of state and admiration for the private man" who, he said, had fought with great courage against his illness. He paid tribute, also, to Mr Mitterrand's defence of human rights.
The Elysee has ordered a national day of mourning for Mr Mitterrand on Thursday, when he will be buried in the town of his birth, Jarnac, in south west France. After a private Catholic ceremony, he will be interred in the Mitterrand family tomb where his parents and grandparents are buried.
He will not, after all, be buried in a plot of land on Mont Beuvray in central France, an historic site of the ancient Gauls.
A close friend and former minister, Mr Georges Kiejman, said yesterday that the president had expressly wished not to have a state funeral. But a public Mass will be held in Notre Dame cathedral in Paris on Thursday while the family mass is taking place.
In addition the leader of the Socialist Party, Mr Lionel Jospin, called for all sympathisers to gather at Place de la Bastille in eastern Paris, tomorrow evening. The choice of venue is symbolic, as it was the centre of popular celebrations after his victory as president in 1981.
The news of his death brought a wave of tributes from political leaders all over the world. His long standing European ally, Chancellor Helmut Kohl, said he was "a great patriot and European."
The President of the European Commission, Mr Jacques Santer, called him "an ardent and influential advocate of the European cause."
The new secretary general of Nato, Mr Javier Solana, said he was "one of the most important figures of the century." Europe would have been different without Francois Mitterrand, he said.
The British Prime Minister, Mr John Major, praised Mr Mitterrand's "outstanding" contribution to public life and the "courage and dignity" with which he faced death.
The Russian President, Mr Boris Yeltsin, said he was "one of the eminent heads of state of our times, who personally worked hard in support of Russian democracy.
The former president leaves a wife, Danielle, and two sons, Jean Christophe and Gilbert.
He also leaves an illegitimate daughter, Mazarine, whose existence was revealed publically last year. Mr Mitterrand spent his last Christmas with her and her mother, Ms Anne Pingeot, when they travel led to Aswan in Egypt for a holiday. But the former president returned to France very poorly on December 29th.