Page 928 - les-miserables

‘Let it be a white cloth, then.’
‘You are not like other men, Father Madeleine.’
To behold such devices, which are nothing else than the
savage and daring inventions of the galleys, spring forth
from the peaceable things which surrounded him, and
mingle with what he called the ‘petty course of life in the
convent,’ caused Fauchelevent as much amazement as a gull
fishing in the gutter of the Rue Saint-Denis would inspire
in a passer-by.
Jean Valjean went on:—
‘The problem is to get out of here without being seen.
This offers the means. But give me some information, in the
first place. How is it managed? Where is this coffin?’
‘The empty one?’
‘Yes.’
‘Down stairs, in what is called the dead-room. It stands
on two trestles, under the pall.’
‘How long is the coffin?’
‘Six feet.’
‘What is this dead-room?’
‘It is a chamber on the ground floor which has a grated
window opening on the garden, which is closed on the out-
side by a shutter, and two doors; one leads into the convent,
the other into the church.’
‘What church?’
‘The church in the street, the church which any one can
enter.’
‘Have you the keys to those two doors?’
‘No; I have the key to the door which communicates with

928 Les Miserables