Page 2326 - les-miserables

lenormand drawing-room those feet of his, which dragged
behind them the disgraceful shadow of the law? Should he
enter into participation in the fair fortunes of Cosette and
Marius? Should he render the obscurity on his brow and
the cloud upon theirs still more dense? Should he place his
catastrophe as a third associate in their felicity? Should he
continue to hold his peace? In a word, should he be the sin-
ister mute of destiny beside these two happy beings?
We must have become habituated to fatality and to en-
counters with it, in order to have the daring to raise our
eyes when certain questions appear to us in all their hor-
rible nakedness. Good or evil stands behind this severe
interrogation point. What are you going to do? demands
the sphinx.
This habit of trial Jean Valjean possessed. He gazed in-
tently at the sphinx.
He examined the pitiless problem under all its aspects.
Cosette, that charming existence, was the raft of this
shipwreck. What was he to do? To cling fast to it, or to let
go his hold?
If he clung to it, he should emerge from disaster, he
should ascend again into the sunlight, he should let the bit-
ter water drip from his garments and his hair, he was saved,
he should live.
And if he let go his hold?
Then the abyss.
Thus he took sad council with his thoughts. Or, to speak
more correctly, he fought; he kicked furiously internally,
now against his will, now against his conviction.

2326 Les Miserables