Page 445 - les-miserables

quainted, in common with the rest of the world, with this
name which was so profoundly and universally honored.
When the usher, discreetly opening the door which con-
nected the council-chamber with the court-room, bent over
the back of the President’s arm-chair and handed him the
paper on which was inscribed the line which we have just
perused, adding: ‘The gentleman desires to be present at the
trial,’ the President, with a quick and deferential movement,
seized a pen and wrote a few words at the bottom of the pa-
per and returned it to the usher, saying, ‘Admit him.’
The unhappy man whose history we are relating had re-
mained near the door of the hall, in the same place and the
same attitude in which the usher had left him. In the midst
of his revery he heard some one saying to him, ‘Will Mon-
sieur do me the honor to follow me?’ It was the same usher
who had turned his back upon him but a moment previous-
ly, and who was now bowing to the earth before him. At the
same time, the usher handed him the paper. He unfolded it,
and as he chanced to be near the light, he could read it.
‘The President of the Court of Assizes presents his re-
spects to M. Madeleine.’
He crushed the paper in his hand as though those words
contained for him a strange and bitter aftertaste.
He followed the usher.
A few minutes later he found himself alone in a sort of
wainscoted cabinet of severe aspect, lighted by two wax
candles, placed upon a table with a green cloth. The last
words of the usher who had just quitted him still rang in his
ears: ‘Monsieur, you are now in the council-chamber; you

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