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P. 616
CHAPTER II
IN WHICH THE
READER WILL PERUSE
TWO VERSES, WHICH
ARE OF THE DEVIL’S
COMPOSITION, POSSIBLY
Before proceeding further, it will be to the purpose to
narrate in some detail, a singular occurrence which took
place at about the same epoch, in Montfermeil, and which
is not lacking in coincidence with certain conjectures of the
indictment.
There exists in the region of Montfermeil a very ancient
superstition, which is all the more curious and all the more
precious, because a popular superstition in the vicinity of
Paris is like an aloe in Siberia. We are among those who re-
spect everything which is in the nature of a rare plant. Here,
then, is the superstition of Montfermeil: it is thought that
the devil, from time immemorial, has selected the forest as a
616 Les Miserables
