786 Les Miserables
The child sighed as though a load had been lifted from
her breast.
The ground was damp, the shed open on all sides, the
breeze grew more keen every instant. The goodman took off
his coat and wrapped it round Cosette.
‘Are you less cold now?’ said he.
‘Oh, yes, father.’
‘Well, wait for me a moment. I will soon be back.’
He quitted the ruin and crept along the large building,
seeking a better shelter. He came across doors, but they were
closed. There were bars at all the windows of the ground
floor.
Just after he had turned the inner angle of the edifice,
he observed that he was coming to some arched windows,
where he perceived a light. He stood on tiptoe and peeped
through one of these windows. They all opened on a toler-
ably vast hall, paved with large flagstones, cut up by arcades
and pillars, where only a tiny light and great shadows were
visible. The light came from a taper which was burning
in one corner. The apartment was deserted, and nothing
was stirring in it. Nevertheless, by dint of gazing intently
he thought he perceived on the ground something which
appeared to be covered with a winding-sheet, and which
resembled a human form. This form was lying face down-
ward, flat on the pavement, with the arms extended in the
form of a cross, in the immobility of death. One would have
said, judging from a sort of serpent which undulated over
the floor, that this sinister form had a rope round its neck.
The whole chamber was bathed in that mist of places