Take your foot away, sir, if you please!"
Then irritated, though he was so small, and becoming almost menacing:--
"Come now, will you take your foot away?
Take your foot away, or we''ll see!"
"Ah!
It''s still you!" said Jean Valjean, and rising abruptly to his feet, his foot still resting on the silver piece, he added:--
"Will you take yourself off!"
The frightened child looked at him, then began to tremble from head to foot, and after a few moments of stupor he set out, running at the top of his speed, without daring to turn his neck or to utter a cry.
Nevertheless, lack of breath forced him to halt after a certain distance, and Jean Valjean heard him sobbing, in the midst of his own revery.
At the end of a few moments the child had disappeared.
The sun had set.
The shadows were descending around Jean Valjean.^_^本^_^作^_^品^_^由^_^思^_^兔^_^網^_^提^_^供^_^線^_^上^_^閱^_^讀^_^
He had eaten nothing all day; it is probable that he was feverish.
He had remained standing and had not changed his attitude after the child''s flight.
The breath heaved his chest at long and irregular intervals.
His gaze, fixed ten or twelve paces in front of him, seemed to be scrutinizing with profound attention the shape of an ancient fragment of blue earthenware which had fallen in the grass. All at once he shivered; he had just begun to feel the chill of evening.