Page 782 - les-miserables

shapeless mask which loomed vaguely through the gloom.
The building was a sort of ruin, where dismantled cham-
bers were distinguishable, one of which, much encumbered,
seemed to serve as a shed.
The large building of the Rue Droit-Mur, which had a
wing on the Rue Petit-Picpus, turned two facades, at right
angles, towards this garden. These interior facades were even
more tragic than the exterior. All the windows were grated.
Not a gleam of light was visible at any one of them. The up-
per story had scuttles like prisons. One of those facades cast
its shadow on the other, which fell over the garden like an
immense black pall.
No other house was visible. The bottom of the garden
was lost in mist and darkness. Nevertheless, walls could be
confusedly made out, which intersected as though there
were more cultivated land beyond, and the low roofs of the
Rue Polonceau.
Nothing more wild and solitary than this garden could
be imagined. There was no one in it, which was quite natu-
ral in view of the hour; but it did not seem as though this
spot were made for any one to walk in, even in broad day-
light.
Jean Valjean’s first care had been to get hold of his shoes
and put them on again, then to step under the shed with
Cosette. A man who is fleeing never thinks himself suffi-
ciently hidden. The child, whose thoughts were still on the
Thenardier, shared his instinct for withdrawing from sight
as much as possible.
Cosette trembled and pressed close to him. They heard

782 Les Miserables