Page 1324 - les-miserables

CHAPTER XVI

IN WHICH WILL BE

FOUND THE WORDS TO

AN ENGLISH AIR WHICH

WAS IN FASHION IN 1832

Marius seated himself on his bed. It might have been
half-past five o’clock. Only half an hour separated him from
what was about to happen. He heard the beating of his ar-
teries as one hears the ticking of a watch in the dark. He
thought of the double march which was going on at that
moment in the dark,—crime advancing on one side, justice
coming up on the other. He was not afraid, but he could not
think without a shudder of what was about to take place. As
is the case with all those who are suddenly assailed by an
unforeseen adventure, the entire day produced upon him
the effect of a dream, and in order to persuade himself that
he was not the prey of a nightmare, he had to feel the cold
barrels of the steel pistols in his trousers pockets.
It was no longer snowing; the moon disengaged itself

1324 Les Miserables