Page 221 - les-miserables

fine fingers of the vestal virgin who stirs the ashes of the
sacred fire with a golden pin. Although she would have re-
fused nothing to Tholomyes, as we shall have more than
ample opportunity to see, her face in repose was supremely
virginal; a sort of serious and almost austere dignity sud-
denly overwhelmed her at certain times, and there was
nothing more singular and disturbing than to see gayety
become so suddenly extinct there, and meditation succeed
to cheerfulness without any transition state. This sudden
and sometimes severely accentuated gravity resembled the
disdain of a goddess. Her brow, her nose, her chin, pre-
sented that equilibrium of outline which is quite distinct
from equilibrium of proportion, and from which harmony
of countenance results; in the very characteristic interval
which separates the base of the nose from the upper lip, she
had that imperceptible and charming fold, a mysterious
sign of chastity, which makes Barberousse fall in love with a
Diana found in the treasures of Iconia.
Love is a fault; so be it. Fantine was innocence floating
high over fault.

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