Page 2040 - les-miserables

him to widowhood. The rest of us have mistresses, more or
less, who make us crazy, that is to say, brave. When a man is
as much in love as a tiger, the least that he can do is to fight
like a lion. That is one way of taking our revenge for the ca-
pers that mesdames our grisettes play on us. Roland gets
himself killed for Angelique; all our heroism comes from
our women. A man without a woman is a pistol without a
trigger; it is the woman that sets the man off. Well, Enjol-
ras has no woman. He is not in love, and yet he manages to
be intrepid. It is a thing unheard of that a man should be as
cold as ice and as bold as fire.’
Enjolras did not appear to be listening, but had any one
been near him, that person would have heard him mutter in
a low voice: ‘Patria.’
Bossuet was still laughing when Courfeyrac exclaimed:
‘News!’
And assuming the tone of an usher making an an-
nouncement, he added:
‘My name is Eight-Pounder.’
In fact, a new personage had entered on the scene. This
was a second piece of ordnance.
The artillery-men rapidly performed their manoeuvres
in force and placed this second piece in line with the first.
This outlined the catastrophe.
A few minutes later, the two pieces, rapidly served, were
firing point-blank at the redoubt; the platoon firing of the
line and of the soldiers from the suburbs sustained the ar-
tillery.
Another cannonade was audible at some distance. At the

2040 Les Miserables