by a flat stone without a coping.
Cosette was the difficulty, for she did not know how to climb a wall. Should he abandon her?
Jean Valjean did not once think of that. It was impossible to carry her.
A man''s whole strength is required to successfully carry out these singular ascents.
The least burden would disturb his centre of gravity and pull him downwards.
A rope would have been required; Jean Valjean had none.
Where was he to get a rope at midnight, in the Rue Polonceau?
Certainly, if Jean Valjean had had a kingdom, he would have given it for a rope at that moment.
All extreme situations have their lightning flashes which sometimes dazzle, sometimes illuminate us.
Jean Valjean''s despairing glance fell on the street lantern-post of the blind alley Genrot.
At that epoch there were no gas-jets in the streets of Paris. At nightfall lanterns placed at regular distances were lighted; they were ascended and descended by means of a rope, which traversed the street from side to side, and was adjusted in a groove of the post. The pulley over which this rope ran was fastened underneath the lantern in a little iron box, the key to which was kept by the lamp-lighter, and the rope itself was protected by a metal case.
Jean Valjean, with the energy of a supreme struggle, crossed the street at one bound, entered the blind alley, broke the latch of the little box with the point of his knife, and an instant later he was beside Cosette once more.