2186 Les Miserables
longer capable of a crescendo, and Thenardier himself could
add nothing to this blackness of this night.
A momentary pause ensued.
Thenardier, raising his right hand to a level with his fore-
head, formed with it a shade, then he brought his eyelashes
together, by screwing up his eyes, a motion which, in con-
nection with a slight contraction of the mouth, characterizes
the sagacious attention of a man who is endeavoring to rec-
ognize another man. He did not succeed. Jean Valjean, as
we have just stated, had his back turned to the light, and he
was, moreover, so disfigured, so bemired, so bleeding that
he would have been unrecognizable in full noonday. On the
contrary, illuminated by the light from the grating, a cellar
light, it is true, livid, yet precise in its lividness, Thenardier,
as the energetic popular metaphor expresses it, immediately
‘leaped into’ Jean Valjean’s eyes. This inequality of condi-
tions sufficed to assure some advantage to Jean Valjean in
that mysterious duel which was on the point of beginning
between the two situations and the two men. The encoun-
ter took place between Jean Valjean veiled and Thenardier
unmasked.
Jean Valjean immediately perceived that Thenardier did
not recognize him.
They surveyed each other for a moment in that half-
gloom, as though taking each other’s measure. Thenardier
was the first to break the silence.
‘How are you going to manage to get out?’
Jean Valjean made no reply. Thenardier continued:
‘It’s impossible to pick the lock of that gate. But still you