Page 396 - les-miserables

interest of all, not for my own; I am Madeleine, and Mad-
eleine I remain. Woe to the man who is Jean Valjean! I am
no longer he; I do not know that man; I no longer know
anything; it turns out that some one is Jean Valjean at the
present moment; let him look out for himself; that does not
concern me; it is a fatal name which was floating abroad in
the night; if it halts and descends on a head, so much the
worse for that head.’
He looked into the little mirror which hung above his
chimney-piece, and said:—
‘Hold! it has relieved me to come to a decision; I am quite
another man now.’
He proceeded a few paces further, then he stopped
short.
‘Come!’ he said, ‘I must not flinch before any of the con-
sequences of the resolution which I have once adopted; there
are still threads which attach me to that Jean Valjean; they
must be broken; in this very room there are objects which
would betray me, dumb things which would bear witness
against me; it is settled; all these things must disappear.’
He fumbled in his pocket, drew out his purse, opened it,
and took out a small key; he inserted the key in a lock whose
aperture could hardly be seen, so hidden was it in the most
sombre tones of the design which covered the wall-paper; a
secret receptacle opened, a sort of false cupboard construct-
ed in the angle between the wall and the chimney-piece; in
this hiding-place there were some rags— a blue linen blouse,
an old pair of trousers, an old knapsack, and a huge thorn
cudgel shod with iron at both ends. Those who had seen

396 Les Miserables