Page 1336 - les-miserables

two families of tools which burglars call cadets and fauch-
ants.
The fireplace and the two chairs were exactly opposite
Marius. The brazier being concealed, the only light in the
room was now furnished by the candle; the smallest bit of
crockery on the table or on the chimney-piece cast a large
shadow. There was something indescribably calm, threat-
ening, and hideous about this chamber. One felt that there
existed in it the anticipation of something terrible.
Jondrette had allowed his pipe to go out, a serious sign
of preoccupation, and had again seated himself. The candle
brought out the fierce and the fine angles of his counte-
nance. He indulged in scowls and in abrupt unfoldings of
the right hand, as though he were responding to the last
counsels of a sombre inward monologue. In the course of
one of these dark replies which he was making to himself,
he pulled the table drawer rapidly towards him, took out a
long kitchen knife which was concealed there, and tried the
edge of its blade on his nail. That done, he put the knife back
in the drawer and shut it.
Marius, on his side, grasped the pistol in his right pock-
et, drew it out and cocked it.
The pistol emitted a sharp, clear click, as he cocked it.
Jondrette started, half rose, listened a moment, then
began to laugh and said:—
‘What a fool I am! It’s the partition cracking!’
Marius kept the pistol in his hand.

1336 Les Miserables