Page 1935 - les-miserables

CHAPTER I

A DRINKER IS A BABBLER

What are the convulsions of a city in comparison with the
insurrections of the soul? Man is a depth still greater than
the people. Jean Valjean at that very moment was the prey
of a terrible upheaval. Every sort of gulf had opened again
within him. He also was trembling, like Paris, on the brink
of an obscure and formidable revolution. A few hours had
sufficed to bring this about. His destiny and his conscience
had suddenly been covered with gloom. Of him also, as well
as of Paris, it might have been said: ‘Two principles are face
to face. The white angel and the black angel are about to
seize each other on the bridge of the abyss. Which of the
two will hurl the other over? Who will carry the day?’
On the evening preceding this same 5th of June, Jean
Valjean, accompanied by Cosette and Toussaint had in-
stalled himself in the Rue de l’Homme Arme. A change
awaited him there.
Cosette had not quitted the Rue Plumet without mak-
ing an effort at resistance. For the first time since they had
lived side by side, Cosette’s will and the will of Jean Valjean
had proved to be distinct, and had been in opposition, at

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