Page 440 - les-miserables

‘Of course. Nothing else was possible.’
‘To penal servitude?’
‘For life.’
He continued, in a voice so weak that it was barely
audible:—
‘Then his identity was established?’
‘What identity?’ replied the lawyer. ‘There was no iden-
tity to be established. The matter was very simple. The
woman had murdered her child; the infanticide was proved;
the jury threw out the question of premeditation, and she
was condemned for life.’
‘So it was a woman?’ said he.
‘Why, certainly. The Limosin woman. Of what are you
speaking?’
‘Nothing. But since it is all over, how comes it that the
hall is still lighted?’
‘For another case, which was begun about two hours
ago.’
‘What other case?’
‘Oh! this one is a clear case also. It is about a sort of
blackguard; a man arrested for a second offence; a convict
who has been guilty of theft. I don’t know his name exactly.
There’s a bandit’s phiz for you! I’d send him to the galleys on
the strength of his face alone.’
‘Is there any way of getting into the court-room, sir?’ said
he.
‘I really think that there is not. There is a great crowd.
However, the hearing has been suspended. Some people
have gone out, and when the hearing is resumed, you might

440 Les Miserables