will be free to go and sleep at home. You see that our intentions are not evil."
Terrible images passed through Marius'' mind.
What!
That young girl whom they were abducting was not to be brought back? One of those monsters was to bear her off into the darkness? Whither?
And what if it were she!
It was clear that it was she.
Marius felt his heart stop beating.
What was he to do?
Discharge the pistol?
Place all those scoundrels in the hands of justice?
But the horrible man with the meat-axe would, none the less, be out of reach with the young girl, and Marius reflected on Thenardier''s words, of which he perceived the bloody significance:
"If you have me arrested, my comrade will give a turn of his thumb to the Lark."
Now, it was not alone by the colonel''s testament, it was by his own love, it was by the peril of the one he loved, that he felt himself restrained.
This frightful situation, which had already lasted above half an hour, was changing its aspect every moment.
Marius had sufficient strength of mind to review in succession all the most heart-breaking conjectures, seeking hope and finding none.
The tumult of his thoughts contrasted with the funereal silence of the den.
In the midst of this silence, the door at the bottom of the staircase was heard to open and shut again.