Page 65 - les-miserables

not have cut off his head, if you please; clemency must be ex-
ercised, agreed; but a good banishment for life. An example,
in short, etc. Besides, he was an atheist, like all the rest of
those people. Gossip of the geese about the vulture.
Was G—— a vulture after all? Yes; if he were to be judged
by the element of ferocity in this solitude of his. As he had
not voted for the death of the king, he had not been includ-
ed in the decrees of exile, and had been able to remain in
France.
He dwelt at a distance of three-quarters of an hour from
the city, far from any hamlet, far from any road, in some
hidden turn of a very wild valley, no one knew exactly
where. He had there, it was said, a sort of field, a hole, a lair.
There were no neighbors, not even passers-by. Since he had
dwelt in that valley, the path which led thither had disap-
peared under a growth of grass. The locality was spoken of
as though it had been the dwelling of a hangman.
Nevertheless, the Bishop meditated on the subject, and
from time to time he gazed at the horizon at a point where
a clump of trees marked the valley of the former member of
the Convention, and he said, ‘There is a soul yonder which
is lonely.’
And he added, deep in his own mind, ‘I owe him a visit.’
But, let us avow it, this idea, which seemed natural at the
first blush, appeared to him after a moment’s reflection, as
strange, impossible, and almost repulsive. For, at bottom,
he shared the general impression, and the old member of
the Convention inspired him, without his being clearly
conscious of the fact himself, with that sentiment which

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