Wednesday, March 21, 2012

A tout venant le Coeur vend des Carreaux.

A tout venant le Coeur vend des Carreaux.    [14]   This is the factory of Goblet Junior:   Come choose your jugs and crocks,   Flower-pots, pipes, bricks.   The Heart sells Diamonds to every comer.He left behind him the Rue de la Clef, then the Fountain Saint-Victor, skirted the Jardin des Plantes by the lower streets, and reached the quay.   There he turned round.   The quay was deserted.   The streets were deserted.   There was no one behind him.   He drew a long breath.   He gained the Pont d'Austerlitz.   Tolls were still collected there at that epoch.   He presented himself at the toll office and handed over a sou.   "It is two sous," said the old soldier in charge of the bridge. "You are carrying a child who can walk.   Pay for two."   He paid, vexed that his passage should have aroused remark. Every flight should be an imperceptible slipping away.   A heavy cart was crossing the Seine at the same time as himself, and on its way, like him, to the right bank.   This was of use to him. He could traverse the bridge in the shadow of the cart.   Towards the middle of the Bridge, Cosette, whose feet were benumbed, wanted to walk.   He set her on the ground and took her hand again.   The bridge once crossed, he perceived some timber-yards on his right. He directed his course thither.   In order to reach them, it was necessary to risk himself in a tolerably large unsheltered and illuminated space.   He did not hesitate.   Those who were on his track had evidently lost the scent, and Jean Valjean believed himself to be out of danger.   Hunted, yes; followed, no.   A little street, the Rue du Chemin-Vert-Saint-Antoine, opened out between two timber-yards enclosed in walls.   This street was dark and narrow and seemed made expressly for him.

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