Page 407 - les-miserables

breeze of dawn was rattling the leaves of the window, which
had been left open on their hinges. The fire was out. The can-
dle was nearing its end. It was still black night.
He rose, he went to the window. There were no stars in the
sky even yet.
From his window the yard of the house and the street were
visible. A sharp, harsh noise, which made him drop his eyes,
resounded from the earth.
Below him he perceived two red stars, whose rays length-
ened and shortened in a singular manner through the
darkness.
As his thoughts were still half immersed in the mists of
sleep, ‘Hold!’ said he, ‘there are no stars in the sky. They are
on earth now.’
But this confusion vanished; a second sound similar to the
first roused him thoroughly; he looked and recognized the
fact that these two stars were the lanterns of a carriage. By
the light which they cast he was able to distinguish the form
of this vehicle. It was a tilbury harnessed to a small white
horse. The noise which he had heard was the trampling of the
horse’s hoofs on the pavement.
‘What vehicle is this?’ he said to himself. ‘Who is coming
here so early in the morning?’
At that moment there came a light tap on the door of his
chamber.
He shuddered from head to foot, and cried in a terrible
voice:—
‘Who is there?’
Some one said:—

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