Page 2287 - les-miserables

direction, pushed his inquiries as far as the prefecture of
police. There, no more than elsewhere, did the information
obtained lead to any enlightenment.
The prefecture knew less about the matter than did the
hackney-coachman. They had no knowledge of any arrest
having been made on the 6th of June at the mouth of the
Grand Sewer.
No report of any agent had been received there upon this
matter, which was regarded at the prefecture as a fable. The
invention of this fable was attributed to the coachman.
A coachman who wants a gratuity is capable of anything,
even of imagination. The fact was assured, nevertheless, and
Marius could not doubt it, unless he doubted his own iden-
tity, as we have just said.
Everything about this singular enigma was inexplicable.
What had become of that man, that mysterious man,
whom the coachman had seen emerge from the grating of
the Grand Sewer bearing upon his back the unconscious
Marius, and whom the police-agent on the watch had ar-
rested in the very act of rescuing an insurgent? What had
become of the agent himself?
Why had this agent preserved silence? Had the man suc-
ceeded in making his escape? Had he bribed the agent? Why
did this man give no sign of life to Marius, who owed every-
thing to him? His disinterestedness was no less tremendous
than his devotion. Why had not that man appeared again?
Perhaps he was above compensation, but no one is above
gratitude. Was he dead? Who was the man? What sort of a
face had he? No one could tell him this.

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