2184 Les Miserables
was he to go? What direction should he pursue? To follow
the incline would not conduct him to his goal. If he were to
reach another outlet, he would find it obstructed by a plug
or a grating. Every outlet was, undoubtedly, closed in that
manner. Chance had unsealed the grating through which
he had entered, but it was evident that all the other sew-
er mouths were barred. He had only succeeded in escaping
into a prison.
All was over. Everything that Jean Valjean had done was
useless. Exhaustion had ended in failure.
They were both caught in the immense and gloomy web
of death, and Jean Valjean felt the terrible spider running
along those black strands and quivering in the shadows. He
turned his back to the grating, and fell upon the pavement,
hurled to earth rather than seated, close to Marius, who still
made no movement, and with his head bent between his
knees. This was the last drop of anguish.
Of what was he thinking during this profound depres-
sion? Neither of himself nor of Marius. He was thinking of
Cosette.