any event.
He dined with a good deal of appetite.
On returning to his room, he communed with himself.
He examined the situation, and found it unprecedented; so unprecedented that in the midst of his revery he rose from his chair, moved by some inexplicable impulse of anxiety, and bolted his door.
He feared lest something more should enter. He was barricading himself against possibilities.
A moment later he extinguished his light; it embarrassed him.
lt seemed to him as though he might be seen.
By whom?
Alas!
That on which he desired to close the door had already entered; that which he desired to blind was staring him in the face,-- his conscience.
His conscience; that is to say, God.
Nevertheless, he deluded himself at first; he had a feeling of security and of solitude; the bolt once drawn, he thought himself impregnable; the candle extinguished, he felt himself invisible.
Then he took possession of himself:
he set his elbows on the table, leaned his head on his hand, and began to meditate in the dark.
"Where do I stand?
Am not I dreaming?
What have I heard?
Is it really true that I have seen that Javert, and that he spoke to me in that manner?
Who can that Champmathieu be?
So he resembles me! Is it possible?
When I reflect that yesterday I was so tranquil, and so far from suspecting anything!