Page 2208 - les-miserables

time, he made a negative sign with his head, as though re-
plying to some question which he had inwardly addressed
to himself.
A bad sign for the sick man are these mysterious dia-
logues of the doctor with himself.
At the moment when the doctor was wiping Marius’
face, and lightly touching his still closed eyes with his fin-
ger, a door opened at the end of the drawing-room, and a
long, pallid figure made its appearance.
This was the grandfather.
The revolt had, for the past two days, deeply agitated, en-
raged and engrossed the mind of M. Gillenormand. He had
not been able to sleep on the previous night, and he had
been in a fever all day long. In the evening, he had gone to
bed very early, recommending that everything in the house
should be well barred, and he had fallen into a doze through
sheer fatigue.
Old men sleep lightly; M. Gillenormand’s chamber ad-
joined the drawing-room, and in spite of all the precautions
that had been taken, the noise had awakened him. Surprised
at the rift of light which he saw under his door, he had risen
from his bed, and had groped his way thither.
He stood astonished on the threshold, one hand on the
handle of the half-open door, with his head bent a little
forward and quivering, his body wrapped in a white dress-
ing-gown, which was straight and as destitute of folds as a
winding-sheet; and he had the air of a phantom who is gaz-
ing into a tomb.
He saw the bed, and on the mattress that young man,

2208 Les Miserables