Page 2185 - les-miserables

CHAPTER VIII

THE TORN COAT-TAIL

In the midst of this prostration, a hand was laid on his
shoulder, and a low voice said to him:
‘Half shares.’
Some person in that gloom? Nothing so closely resem-
bles a dream as despair. Jean Valjean thought that he was
dreaming. He had heard no footsteps. Was it possible? He
raised his eyes.
A man stood before him.
This man was clad in a blouse; his feet were bare; he held
his shoes in his left hand; he had evidently removed them
in order to reach Jean Valjean, without allowing his steps
to be heard.
Jean Valjean did not hesitate for an instant. Unexpected
as was this encounter, this man was known to him. The man
was Thenardier.
Although awakened, so to speak, with a start, Jean
Valjean, accustomed to alarms, and steeled to unforeseen
shocks that must be promptly parried, instantly regained
possession of his presence of mind. Moreover, the situation
could not be made worse, a certain degree of distress is no

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