Page 1092 - les-miserables

CHAPTER VIII

MARBLE AGAINST

GRANITE

It was hither that Marius had come on the first occasion
of his absenting himself from Paris. It was hither that he
had come every time that M. Gillenormand had said: ‘He
is sleeping out.’
Lieutenant Theodule was absolutely put out of counte-
nance by this unexpected encounter with a sepulchre; he
experienced a singular and disagreeable sensation which he
was incapable of analyzing, and which was composed of re-
spect for the tomb, mingled with respect for the colonel. He
retreated, leaving Marius alone in the cemetery, and there
was discipline in this retreat. Death appeared to him with
large epaulets, and he almost made the military salute to
him. Not knowing what to write to his aunt, he decided not
to write at all; and it is probable that nothing would have re-
sulted from the discovery made by Theodule as to the love
affairs of Marius, if, by one of those mysterious arrange-
ments which are so frequent in chance, the scene at Vernon
had not had an almost immediate counter-shock at Paris.

1092 Les Miserables