Key Passage for Analysis

On page 188 is a key passage. It reads...

"Darkness closed around, and then came the ringing of church bells and the distant beating of the military drums of the Royal Guard, as the women sat knitting, knitting. Darkness encompassed them. Another darkness was closing in as surely, when the church bells, then ringing pleasantly in many an airy steeple over France, should be melted into thundering cannon; when the military drums should be beating to drown a wretched voice, that night all potent as the voice of Power and Plenty, Freedom and Life. So much was closing in about the women who sat knitting, knitting, that they their very selves, were closing in around a structure yet unbuilt, where they were to sit knitting, knitting, counting dropping heads."

What is significant in this passage? How is it significant to the meaning of the entire story? What is foreshadowed?