realities, that lair, the ruffians, that adventure, to what purpose?
And was he very sure that this nightmare had actually existed?
They were two, and they adored each other, and beyond that there was nothing.
Nothing else existed. It is probable that this vanishing of hell in our rear is inherent to the arrival of paradise.
Have we beheld demons?
Are there any? Have we trembled?
Have we suffered?
We no longer know.
A rosy cloud hangs over it.
So these two beings lived in this manner, high aloft, with all that improbability which is in nature; neither at the nadir nor at the zenith, between man and seraphim, above the mire, below the ether, in the clouds; hardly flesh and blood, soul and ecstasy from head to foot; already too sublime to walk the earth, still too heavily charged with humanity to disappear in the blue, suspended like atoms which are waiting to be precipitated; apparently beyond the bounds of destiny; ignorant of that rut; yesterday, to-day, to-morrow; amazed, rapturous, floating, soaring; at times so light that they could take their flight out into the infinite; almost prepared to soar away to all eternity.
They slept wide-awake, thus sweetly lulled. Oh! splendid lethargy of the real overwhelmed by the ideal.
Sometimes, beautiful as Cosette was, Marius shut his eyes in her presence.