Page 378 - les-miserables

These two thoughts were so closely intertwined in his
mind that they formed but a single one there; both were
equally absorbing and imperative and ruled his slightest ac-
tions. In general, they conspired to regulate the conduct of
his life; they turned him towards the gloom; they rendered
him kindly and simple; they counselled him to the same
things. Sometimes, however, they conflicted. In that case,
as the reader will remember, the man whom all the country
of M. sur M. called M. Madeleine did not hesitate to sacri-
fice the first to the second—his security to his virtue. Thus,
in spite of all his reserve and all his prudence, he had pre-
served the Bishop’s candlesticks, worn mourning for him,
summoned and interrogated all the little Savoyards who
passed that way, collected information regarding the fami-
lies at Faverolles, and saved old Fauchelevent’s life, despite
the disquieting insinuations of Javert. It seemed, as we have
already remarked, as though he thought, following the ex-
ample of all those who have been wise, holy, and just, that
his first duty was not towards himself.
At the same time, it must be confessed, nothing just like
this had yet presented itself.
Never had the two ideas which governed the unhappy
man whose sufferings we are narrating, engaged in so serious
a struggle. He understood this confusedly but profoundly at
the very first words pronounced by Javert, when the latter
entered his study. At the moment when that name, which he
had buried beneath so many layers, was so strangely articu-
lated, he was struck with stupor, and as though intoxicated
with the sinister eccentricity of his destiny; and through

378 Les Miserables