Page 1310 - les-miserables

whom he called M. Leblanc, except that Jondrette was ac-
quainted with them. Athwart the mysterious words which
had been uttered, the only thing of which he caught a dis-
tinct glimpse was the fact that an ambush was in course
of preparation, a dark but terrible trap; that both of them
were incurring great danger, she probably, her father cer-
tainly; that they must be saved; that the hideous plots of the
Jondrettes must be thwarted, and the web of these spiders
broken.
He scanned the female Jondrette for a moment. She had
pulled an old sheet-iron stove from a corner, and she was
rummaging among the old heap of iron.
He descended from the commode as softly as possible,
taking care not to make the least noise. Amid his terror as to
what was in preparation, and in the horror with which the
Jondrettes had inspired him, he experienced a sort of joy at
the idea that it might be granted to him perhaps to render a
service to the one whom he loved.
But how was it to be done? How warn the persons threat-
ened? He did not know their address. They had reappeared
for an instant before his eyes, and had then plunged back
again into the immense depths of Paris. Should he wait for
M. Leblanc at the door that evening at six o’clock, at the
moment of his arrival, and warn him of the trap? But Jon-
drette and his men would see him on the watch, the spot
was lonely, they were stronger than he, they would devise
means to seize him or to get him away, and the man whom
Marius was anxious to save would be lost. One o’clock had
just struck, the trap was to be sprung at six. Marius had five

1310 Les Miserables