Page 329 - les-miserables

CHAPTER XIII

THE SOLUTION OF

SOME QUESTIONS

CONNECTED WITH THE

MUNICIPAL POLICE

Javert thrust aside the spectators, broke the circle, and
set out with long strides towards the police station, which is
situated at the extremity of the square, dragging the wretch-
ed woman after him. She yielded mechanically. Neither he
nor she uttered a word. The cloud of spectators followed,
jesting, in a paroxysm of delight. Supreme misery an occa-
sion for obscenity.
On arriving at the police station, which was a low room,
warmed by a stove, with a glazed and grated door opening
on the street, and guarded by a detachment, Javert opened
the door, entered with Fantine, and shut the door behind
him, to the great disappointment of the curious, who raised
themselves on tiptoe, and craned their necks in front of the
thick glass of the station-house, in their effort to see. Curi-

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