must renounce the idea.
He was trying to accustom himself to the thought that all was over, and that he should die without having beheld "that gentleman" again.
But his whole nature revolted; his aged paternity would not consent to this.
"Well!" said he,-- this was his doleful refrain,--"he will not return!"
His bald head had fallen upon his breast, and he fixed a melancholy and irritated gaze upon the ashes on his hearth.
In the very midst of his revery, his old servant Basque entered, and inquired:--
"Can Monsieur receive M. Marius?"
The old man sat up erect, pallid, and like a corpse which rises under the influence of a galvanic shock.
All his blood had retreated to his heart.
He stammered:--
"M. Marius what?"
"I don''t know," replied Basque, intimidated and put out of countenance by his master''s air; "I have not seen him.
Nicolette came in and said to me:
`There''s a young man here; say that it is M. Marius.''"
Father Gillenormand stammered in a low voice:--
"Show him in."
And he remained in the same attitude, with shaking head, and his eyes fixed on the door.
It opened once more.
A young man entered. It was Marius.
Marius halted at the door, as though waiting to be bidden to enter.
His almost squalid attire was not perceptible in the obscurity caused by the shade.