Page 2160 - les-miserables

to their agents contains this article: ‘Always have on hand a
hackney-coach, in case of emergency.’
While these two men were manoeuvring, each on his
own side, with irreproachable strategy, they approached an
inclined plane on the quay which descended to the shore,
and which permitted cab-drivers arriving from Passy to
come to the river and water their horses. This inclined plane
was suppressed later on, for the sake of symmetry; horses
may die of thirst, but the eye is gratified.
It is probable that the man in the blouse had intended to
ascend this inclined plane, with a view to making his escape
into the Champs-Elysees, a place ornamented with trees,
but, in return, much infested with policemen, and where
the other could easily exercise violence.
This point on the quay is not very far distant from the
house brought to Paris from Moret in 1824, by Colonel
Brack, and designated as ‘the house of Francois I.’ A guard
house is situated close at hand.
To the great surprise of his watcher, the man who was
being tracked did not mount by the inclined plane for water-
ing. He continued to advance along the quay on the shore.
His position was visibly becoming critical.
What was he intending to do, if not to throw himself into
the Seine?
Henceforth, there existed no means of ascending to the
quay; there was no other inclined plane, no staircase; and
they were near the spot, marked by the bend in the Seine to-
wards the Pont de Jena, where the bank, growing constantly
narrower, ended in a slender tongue, and was lost in the wa-

2160 Les Miserables