Les Misérables, v. 1/5: Fantine

by Victor Hugo

  CHAPTER VIII.

  INSIDE THE COURT.

  Without suspecting the fact, the Mayor of M---- enjoyed a species ofcelebrity. During the seven years that his reputation for virtue hadfilled the whole of the Bas Boulonnais, it had gradually crossed theborder line into two or three adjoining departments. In addition tothe considerable service he had done the chief town, by restoringthe glass-bead trade, there was not one of the one hundred and fortyparishes in the bailiwick of M---- which was not indebted to him forsome kindness. He had ever assisted and promoted, when necessary, thetrades of other departments: thus he had supported with his credit andfunds, the tulle factory at Boulogne, the flax-spinning machine atNivers, and the hydraulic manufacture of canvas at Bourbus sur Cauche.The name of M. Madeleine was everywhere pronounced with veneration, andArras and Douai envied the fortunate little town of M---- its Mayor.The Councillor of the Royal Court of Douai, who presided at the presentArras assizes, like every one else, was acquainted with this deeply anduniversally honored name. When the usher discreetly opened the door ofthe judges' robing room, leaned over the President's chair, and handedhim the paper, adding, "This gentleman wishes to hear the trial," thePresident made a deferential movement, took up a pen, wrote a few wordsat the foot of the paper, and returned it to the usher, saying,--"Showhim in."

  The unhappy man whose history we are recording had remained near thedoor of the court at the same spot and in the same attitude as whenthe usher left him. He heard through his reverie some one say to him,"Will you do me the honor of following me, sir?" It was the same usherwho had turned his back on him just before, and who now bowed to theground. At the same time the usher handed him the paper; he unfoldedit, and as he happened to be near the lamps he was able to read, "ThePresident of the Assize Court presents his respects to M. Madeleine."He crumpled the paper in his hands, as if the words had a strange andbitter after-taste for him. He followed the usher, and a few minuteslater found himself alone in a room of severe appearance, lighted bytwo wax candles standing on a green-baize covered table. He still hadin his ears the last words of the usher, who had just left him,--"You are in the judges' chamber; you have only to turn the handle ofthat door, and you will find yourself in court behind the President'schair." These words were mingled in his thoughts with a confusedrecollection of narrow passages and dark staircases, which he had justpassed through. The usher had left him alone; the supreme moment hadarrived. He tried to collect himself, but could not succeed; for it isespecially in the hours when men have the most need of thought thatall the threads are broken in the brain. He was at the actual spotwhere the judges deliberate and pass sentence. He gazed with stupidtranquillity at this peaceful and yet formidable room, in which somany existences had been broken, where his name would be echoed erelong, and which his destiny was traversing at this moment. He lookedat the walls and then at himself, astonished that it was this roomand that it was he. He had not eaten for more than twenty-four hours,he was exhausted by the jolting of the cart, but he did not feel it;it seemed to him that he did not feel anything. He walked up to ablack frame hanging on the wall, and which contained under glass anautograph letter of Jean Nicolas Pache, Mayor of Paris, and Minister,dated, doubtless in error, Juin 9 an II., and in which Pache sentto the commune a list of the ministers and deputies under arrest attheir own houses. Any who saw him at this moment would doubtless haveimagined that this letter appeared to him very curious, for he did notremove his eyes from it, and read it two or three times. But he read itwithout paying attention; and unconsciously he was thinking of Fantineand Cosette.

  While thinking, he turned, and his eyes met the brass handle of thedoor that separated him from the assize court. He had almost forgottenthis door, but his eye, at first calm, rested on it, then became wildand fixed, and was gradually filled with terror. Drops of perspirationstarted out from his hair and streamed down his temples. At onemoment he made with a species of authority blended with rebellionthat indescribable gesture which means and says so well,--"By heaven,who forces me?" Then he turned hurriedly, saw before him the door bywhich he had entered, walked up, opened it, and went out. He was nolonger in that room, but in a passage, a long narrow passage, cut up bysteps and wickets, making all sorts of turns, lit up here and there byreflectors like the night-lamps for the sick,--the passage by which hehad come. He breathed, he listened, not a sound behind him, not a soundbefore him, and he began to fly as if he were pursued. When he hadpassed several turnings, he listened again,--there was still the samesilence and the same gloom around him. He panted, tottered, and leanedagainst the wall; the stone was cold, the perspiration was chilled onhis forehead, and he drew himself up with a shudder. Then standingthere alone, trembling from cold, and perhaps from something else, hethought. He had thought all night, he had thought all day; but he onlyheard within him a voice that said, Alas!

  A quarter of an hour passed thus; at length he inclined his head,sighed with agony, let his arms droop, and turned back. He walkedslowly and as if stunned; it looked as if he had been caught up in hisflight, and was being brought back. He entered the judges chamber, andthe first thing he saw was the handle of the door. This handle, whichwas round and made of polished brass, shone for him like a terrificstar; he looked at it as a sheep would look at the eye of a tiger. Hiseyes would not leave it, and from time to time he took a step whichbrought him nearer to the door. Had he listened he would have heard,like a species of confused murmur, the noise in the adjoining court;but he did not listen and did not hear. All at once, and withoutknowing how, he found himself close to the door; he convulsively seizedthe handle, and the door opened. He was in the assize court.