Page 64 - les-miserables

CHAPTER X

THE BISHOP IN THE

PRESENCE OF AN

UNKNOWN LIGHT

At an epoch a little later than the date of the letter cited in
the preceding pages, he did a thing which, if the whole town
was to be believed, was even more hazardous than his trip
across the mountains infested with bandits.
In the country near D—— a man lived quite alone. This
man, we will state at once, was a former member of the
Convention. His name was G——
Member of the Convention, G—— was mentioned with
a sort of horror in the little world of D—— A member of
the Convention—can you imagine such a thing? That ex-
isted from the time when people called each other thou, and
when they said ‘citizen.’ This man was almost a monster. He
had not voted for the death of the king, but almost. He was a
quasi-regicide. He had been a terrible man. How did it hap-
pen that such a man had not been brought before a provost’s
court, on the return of the legitimate princes? They need

64 Les Miserables