Just as he was going up the stairs he noticed on the other side of
the wall, and against the deserted wall of the Rue de la Barrière des
Gobelins, Jondrette, wrapped up in the "philanthropist's" overcoat, and
conversing with one of those ill-looking men who are usually called
prowlers at the barrière; men with equivocal faces and suspicious
soliloquies, who look as if they entertain evil thoughts, and most
usually sleep by day, which leads to the supposition that they work
at night. These two men, standing to talk in the snow, which was
falling heavily, formed a group which a policeman would certainly
have observed, but which Marius scarce noticed. Still, though his
preoccupation was so painful, he could not help saying to himself that
the man to whom Jondrette was talking was like a certain Panchaud,
_alias_ Printanier, _alias_ Bigrenaille, whom Courfeyrac had once
pointed out to him, and who was regarded in the quarter as a very
dangerous night-bird. This Panchaud afterwards figured in several
criminal trials, and eventually became a celebrated villain, though at
this time he was only a famous villain. At the present day he is in a
traditionary state among the bandits and burglars. He was the model
toward the end of the last reign, and people used to talk about him
in the Lion's den at La Force, at nightfall, at the hour when groups
assemble and converse in whispers. In this prison, and at the exact
spot where the sewer, which served as the way of escape for the thirty
prisoners in 1843, opened, this name, PANCHAUD, might be seen daringly
cut in the wall over the sewer, in one of his attempted escapes. In
1832 the police already had their eye on him, but he had not yet fairly
made a start.
CHAPTER XI.
WRETCHEDNESS OFFERS HELP TO SORROW.
Marius ascended the stairs slowly, and at the moment when he was going
to enter his cell he perceived behind him, in the passage, the elder
of Jondrette's girls following him. This girl was odious in his sight,
for it was she who had his five francs; but it was too late to ask them
back from her, for both the hackney coach and the cab were now far
away. Besides, she would not return them to him. As for questioning her
about the abode of the persons who had been here just now, that was
useless, and it was plain that she did not know, for the letter signed
Fabantou was addressed "To the benevolent gentleman of the church of
St. Jacques du Haut-pas." Marius went into his room and threw the door
to after him, but it did not close; he turned and saw a hand in the
aperture.
"Who's that?" he asked.
It was the girl.
"Oh it's you!" Marius continued almost harshly,--"always you! What do
you want of me?"
She seemed thoughtful, and made no answer, and she no longer had her
boldness of the morning; she did not come in, but stood in the dark
passage, where Marius perceived her through the half-open door.
"Well, answer!" said Marius; "what do you want of me?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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