登陆注册
12107900000040

第40章 PART ONE(39)

Having taken this survey,he executed a movement like that of a man who has made up his mind,strode to his alcove,grasped his knapsack,opened it,fumbled in it,pulled out of it something which he placed on the bed,put his shoes into one of his pockets,shut the whole thing up again,threw the knapsack on his shoulders,put on his cap,drew the visor down over his eyes,felt for his cudgel,went and placed it in the angle of the window;then returned to the bed,and resolutely seized the object which he had deposited there.It resembled a short bar of iron,pointed like a pike at one end.It would have been difficult to distinguish in that darkness for what employment that bit of iron could have been designed.Perhaps it was a lever;possibly it was a club.

In the daytime it would have been possible to recognize it as nothing more than a miner's candlestick.

Convicts were,at that period,sometimes employed in quarrying stone from the lofty hills which environ Toulon,and it was not rare for them to have miners'tools at their command.

These miners'candlesticks are of massive iron,terminated at the lower extremity by a point,by means of which they are stuck into the rock.

He took the candlestick in his right hand;holding his breath and trying to deaden the sound of his tread,he directed his steps to the door of the adjoining room,occupied by the Bishop,as we already know.

On arriving at this door,he found it ajar.

The Bishop had not closed it.

Ⅺ WHAT HE DOES

Jean Valjean listened.

Not a sound.

He gave the door a push.

He pushed it gently with the tip of his finger,lightly,with the furtive and uneasy gentleness of a cat which is desirous of entering.

The door yielded to this pressure,and made an imperceptible and silent movement,which enlarged the opening a little.

He waited a moment;then gave the door a second and a bolder push.

It continued to yield in silence.

The opening was now large enough to allow him to pass.

But near the door there stood a little table,which formed an embarrassing angle with it,and barred the entrance.

Jean Valjean recognized the difficulty.

It was necessary,at any cost,to enlarge the aperture still further.

He decided on his course of action,and gave the door a third push,more energetic than the two preceding.

This time a badly oiled hinge suddenly emitted amid the silence a hoarse and prolonged cry.

Jean Valjean shuddered.

The noise of the hinge rang in his ears with something of the piercing and formidable sound of the trump of the Day of Judgment.

In the fantastic exaggerations of the first moment he almost imagined that that hinge had just become animated,and had suddenly assumed a terrible life,and that it was barking like a dog to arouse every one,and warn and to wake those who were asleep.

He halted,shuddering,bewildered,and fell back from the tips of his toes upon his heels.He heard the arteries in his temples beating like two forge hammers,and it seemed to him that his breath issued from his breast with the roar of the wind issuing from a cavern.

It seemed impossible to him that the horrible clamor of that irritated hinge should not have disturbed the entire household,like the shock of an earthquake;the door,pushed by him,had taken the alarm,and had shouted;the old man would rise at once;the two old women would shriek out;people would come to their assistance;in less than a quarter of an hour the town would be in an uproar,and the gendarmerie on hand.For a moment he thought himself lost.

He remained where he was,petrified like the statue of salt,not daring to make a movement.

Several minutes elapsed.

The door had fallen wide open.

He ventured to peep into the next room.Nothing had stirred there.

He lent an ear.

Nothing was moving in the house.

The noise made by the rusty hinge had not awakened any one.

This first danger was past;but there still reigned a frightful tumult within him.

Nevertheless,he did not retreat.

Even when he had thought himself lost,he had not drawn back.

His only thought now was to finish as soon as possible.

He took a step and entered the room.

This room was in a state of perfect calm.

Here and there vague and confused forms were distinguishable,which in the daylight were papers scattered on a table,open folios,volumes piled upon a stool,an arm-chair heaped with clothing,a prie-Dieu,and which at that hour were only shadowy corners and whitish spots.

Jean Valjean advanced with precaution,taking care not to knock against the furniture.He could hear,at the extremity of the room,the even and tranquil breathing of the sleeping Bishop.

He suddenly came to a halt.

He was near the bed.

He had arrived there sooner than he had thought for.

Nature sometimes mingles her effects and her spectacles with our actions with sombre and intelligent appropriateness,as though she desired to make us reflect.

For the last half-hour a large cloud had covered the heavens.

At the moment when Jean Valjean paused in front of the bed,this cloud parted,as though on purpose,and a ray of light,traversing the long window,suddenly illuminated the Bishop's pale face.

He was sleeping peacefully.

He lay in his bed almost completely dressed,on account of the cold of the Basses-Alps,in a garment of brown wool,which covered his arms to the wrists.

His head was thrown back on the pillow,in the careless attitude of repose;his hand,adorned with the pastoral ring,and whence had fallen so many good deeds and so many holy actions,was hanging over the edge of the bed.

His whole face was illumined with a vague expression of satisfaction,of hope,and of felicity.It was more than a smile,and almost a radiance.

He bore upon his brow the indescribable reflection of a light which was invisible.The soul of the just contemplates in sleep a mysterious heaven.

A reflection of that heaven rested on the Bishop.

It was,at the same time,a luminous transparency,for that heaven was within him.

That heaven was his conscience.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 九转帝尊

    九转帝尊

    一个少年,终身废物,天生丹田破碎,无法修炼。在这个强者为尊的世界,他如同蝼蚁般任人宰割。在一次意外的逃亡中,偶然得到了一部改变他命运的功诀。创功诀,炼丹药。四境之强无不有求于我!从此他神挡杀神,佛挡杀佛。傲世九天,唯我是尊!
  • 守护甜心之原版

    守护甜心之原版

    这本小说由动漫《守护甜心》改编成小说。喜欢守护甜心的戳进来哦。不喜的也勿喷哈。大家可以加我QQ:2308435820
  • 超级储蓄卡

    超级储蓄卡

    外出晨运的郑世强捡到被人丢弃的银行卡,别人的卡都是用来存钱。这张卡却是略有不同。存点力量,平时弱不禁风,用时力大无穷。存点速度,平时步履蹒跚,用时动若狡兔。这都是基础,存储视觉,那叫过目不忘。存储味觉,美食家分分钟的事。存储嗅觉,现实版闻香识女人。。。。。什么,升到一定级别还能开通银行卡商城。。。。。。
  • 火澜

    火澜

    当一个现代杀手之王穿越到这个世界。是隐匿,还是崛起。一场血雨腥风的传奇被她改写。一条无上的强者之路被她踏破。修斗气,炼元丹,收兽宠,化神器,大闹皇宫,炸毁学院,打死院长,秒杀狗男女,震惊大陆。无止尽的契约能力,上古神兽,千年魔兽,纷纷前来抱大腿,惊傻世人。她说:在我眼里没有好坏之分,只有强弱之分,只要你能打败我,这世间所有都是你的,打不败我,就从这世间永远消失。她狂,她傲,她的目标只有一个,就是凌驾这世间一切之上。三国皇帝,魔界妖王,冥界之主,仙界至尊。到底谁才是陪着她走到最后的那个?他说:上天入地,我会陪着你,你活着,有我,你死,也一定有我。本文一对一,男强女强,强强联手,不喜勿入。
  • 纸间

    纸间

    从小被爷爷收养长大的孤儿方乾,在一次重伤时开始了家族传承千纸鹤,从而一步步走进折纸的世界,一层层解开身世之谜,恩怨情仇,风霜雪雨,沙场驰骋,风花雪月,带你领略不一样的以纸为媒的世界!
  • 心间的月光

    心间的月光

    除了死亡,对我来说一切的离开都是背叛。-----许陵琛本文属于小言,并非悬疑判案,资料管理错误哦。
  • 腹黑老公,我爱你

    腹黑老公,我爱你

    “我不会爱上你的。”她低着头。“没事,我爱你就行。”他拥过她。“迟枫慰!我恨你!!!”她在雨中对他怒吼。……“夏颖瑶,我爱你!”他跪在雨中抱着昏迷的她。……“老公,你是万能的吗?”夏颖瑶抓抓头发。“为了你,即使不是万能的,我也可以为你而变得万能。”迟枫慰宠溺的在她额上留下一吻。……“你不恨我吗?”迟枫慰低垂着眸。“嘿嘿,先爱完再说。”夏颖瑶环上他的颈。《腹黑老公,我爱你》敬请期待!
  • 我不认输

    我不认输

    ‘什么,·······要我去鹰腾上学‘老天为什么要这样对我·······
  • 世界著名动物故事

    世界著名动物故事

    本系列精选的动物故事以其妙趣横生的情节,生动有趣的个性风格,以及深刻隽永的哲理,潜移默化地影响着孩子们日后的做人与做事。现在,将这些经典故事以一种全新的方式展现给孩子们,相信它一定会给读者五光十色的童年增添一抹亮丽的色彩,并伴随他们走过快乐的童年时光。
  • DS

    DS

    鲜为人知、百年一次的杀戮游戏,又一次拉开了序幕。这场游戏被深喻人世的老人们称为“神祇的杀机恶魔的玩笑”……28个或稚嫩或强健的男女中如要活下一个,就必要互相残杀,直到只剩下一个,游戏终结,三个月内还有一人以上人口,将全部致死。因游戏被赐予“神力”的人为了生存,是否要在死亡空间内开始又一轮惨无人道的竞技呢……