488 Les Miserables
He had released Fantine’s hand. He listened to her words
as one listens to the sighing of the breeze, with his eyes on
the ground, his mind absorbed in reflection which had no
bottom. All at once she ceased speaking, and this caused
him to raise his head mechanically. Fantine had become
terrible.
She no longer spoke, she no longer breathed; she had
raised herself to a sitting posture, her thin shoulder emerged
from her chemise; her face, which had been radiant but a
moment before, was ghastly, and she seemed to have fixed
her eyes, rendered large with terror, on something alarming
at the other extremity of the room.
‘Good God!’ he exclaimed; ‘what ails you, Fantine?’
She made no reply; she did not remove her eyes from the
object which she seemed to see. She removed one hand from
his arm, and with the other made him a sign to look behind
him.
He turned, and beheld Javert.