Page 418 - les-miserables

ger his fault. It was not the act of his own conscience, but the
act of Providence.
He breathed again. He breathed freely and to the full
extent of his lungs for the first time since Javert’s visit. It
seemed to him that the hand of iron which had held his
heart in its grasp for the last twenty hours had just released
him.
It seemed to him that God was for him now, and was
manifesting Himself.
He said himself that he had done all he could, and that
now he had nothing to do but retrace his steps quietly.
If his conversation with the wheelwright had taken place
in a chamber of the inn, it would have had no witnesses, no
one would have heard him, things would have rested there,
and it is probable that we should not have had to relate any
of the occurrences which the reader is about to peruse; but
this conversation had taken place in the street. Any colloquy
in the street inevitably attracts a crowd. There are always
people who ask nothing better than to become spectators.
While he was questioning the wheelwright, some people
who were passing back and forth halted around them. After
listening for a few minutes, a young lad, to whom no one
had paid any heed, detached himself from the group and
ran off.
At the moment when the traveller, after the inward de-
liberation which we have just described, resolved to retrace
his steps, this child returned. He was accompanied by an
old woman.
‘Monsieur,’ said the woman, ‘my boy tells me that you

418 Les Miserables