Page 1347 - les-miserables
P. 1347
CHAPTER XX
THE TRAP
The door of the garret had just opened abruptly, and al-
lowed a view of three men clad in blue linen blouses, and
masked with masks of black paper. The first was thin, and
had a long, iron-tipped cudgel; the second, who was a sort
of colossus, carried, by the middle of the handle, with the
blade downward, a butcher’s pole-axe for slaughtering cat-
tle. The third, a man with thick-set shoulders, not so slender
as the first, held in his hand an enormous key stolen from
the door of some prison.
It appeared that the arrival of these men was what
Jondrette had been waiting for. A rapid dialogue ensued be-
tween him and the man with the cudgel, the thin one.
‘Is everything ready?’ said Jondrette.
‘Yes,’ replied the thin man.
‘Where is Montparnasse?’
‘The young principal actor stopped to chat with your
girl.’
‘Which?’
‘The eldest.’
‘Is there a carriage at the door?’
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