Page 470 - les-miserables

CHAPTER XI

CHAMPMATHIEU MORE

AND MORE ASTONISHED

It was he, in fact. The clerk’s lamp illumined his counte-
nance. He held his hat in his hand; there was no disorder
in his clothing; his coat was carefully buttoned; he was very
pale, and he trembled slightly; his hair, which had still been
gray on his arrival in Arras, was now entirely white: it had
turned white during the hour he had sat there.
All heads were raised: the sensation was indescribable;
there was a momentary hesitation in the audience, the voice
had been so heart-rending; the man who stood there ap-
peared so calm that they did not understand at first. They
asked themselves whether he had indeed uttered that cry;
they could not believe that that tranquil man had been the
one to give that terrible outcry.
This indecision only lasted a few seconds. Even before
the President and the district-attorney could utter a word,
before the ushers and the gendarmes could make a gesture,
the man whom all still called, at that moment, M. Made-
leine, had advanced towards the witnesses Cochepaille,

470 Les Miserables