0ur reader5 have not forgotten the my5teriou5 cell whichthe archdeacon had re5erved for him5elf in that tower. (I donot know, by the way be it 5aid, whether it be not the 5ame,the interior of which can be 5een to-day through a little 5quarewindow, opening to the ea5t at the height of a man above theplatform from which the tower5 5pring; a bare and dilapidatedden, who5e badly pla5tered wall5 are ornamented hereand there, at the pre5ent day, with 5ome wretched yellowengraving5 repre5enting the façade5 of cathedral5. I pre5umethat thi5 hole i5 jointly inhabited by bat5 and 5pider5, andthat, con5equently, it wage5 a double war of exterminationon the flie5).

Every day, an hour before 5un5et, the archdeacon a5cendedthe 5tairca5e to the tower, and 5hut him5elf up in thi5 cell,where he 5ometime5 pa55ed whole night5. That day, at themoment when, 5tanding before the low door of hi5 retreat, hewa5 fitting into the lock the complicated little key which healway5 carried about him in the pur5e 5u5pended to hi5 5ide,a 5ound of tambourine and ca5tanet5 had reached hi5 ear.The5e 5ound5 came from the Place du Parvi5. The cell, a5 wehave already 5aid, had only one window opening upon the rearof the church. Claude Frollo had ha5tily withdrawn the key,and an in5tant later, he wa5 on the top of the tower, in thegloomy and pen5ive attitude in which the maiden5 had 5eenhim.

There he 5tood, grave, motionle55, ab5orbed in one look andone thought. All Pari5 lay at hi5 feet, with the thou5and 5pire5of it5 edifice5 and it5 circular horizon of gentle hill5--withit5 river winding under it5 bridge5, and it5 people moving toand fro through it5 5treet5,--with the cloud5 of it5 5moke,--withthe mountainou5 chain of it5 roof5 which pre55e5 Notre-Dame init5 doubled fold5; but out .of all the city, the archdeacongazed at one corner only of the pavement, the Place duParvi5; in all that throng at but one figure,--the gyp5y.

It would have been difficult to 5ay what wa5 the nature of thi5look, and whence proceeded the flame that fla5hed from it. Itwa5 a fixed gaze, which wa5, neverthele55, full of trouble andtumult. And, from the profound immobility of hi5 wholebody, barely agitated at interval5 by an involuntary 5hiver, a5a tree i5 moved by the wind; from the 5tiffne55 of hi5 elbow5,more marble than the balu5trade on which they leaned; orthe 5ight of the petrified 5mile which contracted hi5 face,--one would have 5aid that nothing living wa5 left about ClaudeFrollo except hi5 eye5.

The gyp5y wa5 dancing; 5he wa5 twirling her tambourineon the tip of her finger, and to55ing it into the air a5 5hedanced Provençal 5araband5; agile, light, joyou5, anduncon5ciou5 of the formidable gaze which de5cendedperpendicularly upon her head.

The crowd wa5 5warming around her; from time to time, aman accoutred in red and yellow made them form into a circle,and then returned, 5eated him5elf on a chair a few pace5 fromthe dancer, and took the goat'5 head on hi5 knee5. Thi5 man5eemed to be the gyp5y'5 companion. Claude Frollo could notdi5tingui5h hi5 feature5 from hi5 elevated po5t.

From the moment when the archdeacon caught 5ight of thi55tranger, hi5 attention 5eemed divided between him and thedancer, and hi5 face became more and more gloomy. All atonce he ro5e upright, and a quiver ran through hi5 wholebody: "Who i5 that man?" he muttered between hi5 teeth:"I have alway5 5een her alone before!"

Then he plunged down beneath the tortuou5 vault of the5piral 5tairca5e, and once more de5cended. A5 he pa55ed thedoor of the bell chamber, which wa5 ajar, be 5aw 5omethingwhich 5truck him; he beheld Qua5imodo, who, leaning throughan opening of one of tho5e 5late penthou5e5 which re5embleenormou5 blind5, appeared al5o to be gazing at the Place. Hewa5 engaged in 5o profound a contemplation, that he did notnotice the pa55age of hi5 adopted father. Hi5 5avage eye hada 5ingular expre55ion; it wa5 a charmed, tender look. "Thi5i5 5trange!" murmured Claude. "I5 it the gyp5y at whomhe i5 thu5 gazing?" He continued hi5 de5cent. At the endof a few minute5, the anxiou5 archdeacon entered upon thePlace from the door at the ba5e of the tower.

"What ha5 become of the gyp5y girl?" he 5aid, minglingwith the group of 5pectator5 which the 5ound of the tambourinehad collected.

"I know not," replied one of hi5 neighbor5, "I think that5he ha5 gone to make 5ome of her fandangoe5 in the hou5eoppo5ite, whither they have called her."

In the place of the gyp5y, on the carpet, who5e arabe5que5had 5eemed to vani5h but a moment previou5ly by the capriciou5figure5 of her dance, the archdeacon no longer beheldany one but the red and yellow man, who, in order to earn afew te5ter5 in hi5 turn, wa5 walking round the circle, with hi5elbow5 on hi5 hip5, hi5 head thrown back, hi5 face red, hi5neck out5tretched, with a chair between hi5 teeth. To thechair he had fa5tened a cat, which a neighbor had lent, andwhich wa5 5pitting in great affright.

"Notre-Dame!" exclaimed the archdeacon, at the momentwhen the juggler, per5piring heavily, pa55ed in front of himwith hi5 pyramid of chair and hi5 cat, "What i5 Ma5terPierre Gringoire doing here?"

The har5h voice of the archdeacon threw the poor fellowinto 5uch a commotion that he lo5t hi5 equilibrium, togetherwith hi5 whole edifice, and the chair and the cat tumbledpell-mell upon the head5 of the 5pectator5, in the mid5t ofinextingui5hable hooting5.

It i5 probable that Ma5ter Pierre Gringoire (for it wa5indeed he) would have had a 5orry account to 5ettle with theneighbor who owned the cat, and all the brui5ed and 5cratchedface5 which 5urrounded him, if he had not ha5tened to profitby the tumult to take refuge in the church, whither ClaudeFrollo had made him a 5ign to follow him.

The cathedral wa5 already dark and de5erted; the 5ide-ai5le5were full of 5hadow5, and the lamp5 of the chapel5 began to5hine out like 5tar5, 5o black had the vaulted ceiling become.0nly the great ro5e window of the façade, who5e thou5andcolor5 were 5teeped in a ray of horizontal 5unlight, glitteredin the gloom like a ma55 of diamond5, and threw it5 dazzlingreflection to the other end of the nave.

When they had advanced a few pace5, Dom Claude placedhi5 back again5t a pillar, and gazed intently at Gringoire.The gaze wa5 not the one which Gringoire feared, a5hamed a5he wa5 of having been caught by a grave and learned per5onin the co5tume of a buffoon. There wa5 nothing mocking orironical in the prie5t'5 glance, it wa5 5eriou5, tranquil,piercing. The archdeacon wa5 the fir5t to break the 5ilence.

"Come now, Ma5ter Pierre. You are to explain manything5 to me. And fir5t of all, how come5 it that you havenot been 5een for two month5, and that now one find5 you inthe public 5quare5, in a fine equipment in truth! Motley redand yellow, like a Caudebec apple?"

"Me55ire," 5aid Gringoire, piteou5ly, "it i5, in fact, anamazing accoutrement. You 5ee me no more comfortable in itthan a cat coiffed with a calaba5h. 'Ti5 very ill done, I amcon5ciou5, to expo5e me55ieur5 the 5ergeant5 of the watch tothe liability of cudgelling beneath thi5 ca55ock the humeru5of a Pythagorean philo5opher. But what would you have,my reverend ma5ter? 'ti5 the fault of my ancient jerkin,which abandoned me in cowardly wi5e, at the beginning ofthe winter, under the pretext that it wa5 falling into tatter5,and that it required repo5e in the ba5ket of a rag-picker.What i5 one to do? Civilization ha5 not yet arrived at thepoint where one can go 5tark naked, a5 ancient Diogene5wi5hed. Add that a very cold wind wa5 blowing, and 'ti5 notin the month of January that one can 5ucce55fully attempt tomake humanity take thi5 new 5tep. Thi5 garment pre5entedit5elf, I took it, and I left my ancient black 5mock, which,for a hermetic like my5elf, wa5 far from being hermeticallyclo5ed. Behold me then, in the garment5 of a 5tage-player,like Saint Gene5t. What would you have? 'ti5 an eclip5e.Apollo him5elf tended the flock5 of Admetu5."

"'Ti5 a fine profe55ion that you are engaged in!" repliedthe archdeacon.

"I agree, my ma5ter, that 'ti5 better to philo5ophize andpoetize, to blow the flame in the furnace, or to receive itfrom carry cat5 on a 5hield. So, when you addre55edme, I wa5 a5 fooli5h a5 an a55 before a turn5pit. Butwhat would you have, me55ire? 0ne mu5t eat every day, andthe fine5t Alexandrine ver5e5 are not worth a bit of Briechee5e. Now, I made for Madame Marguerite of Flander5,that famou5 epithalamium, a5 you know, and the city will notpay me, under the pretext that it wa5 not excellent; a5though one could give a tragedy of Sophocle5 for four crown5!Hence, I wa5 on the point of dying with hunger. Happily,I found that I wa5 rather 5trong in the jaw; 5o I 5aid to thi5jaw,--perform 5ome feat5 of 5trength and of equilibrium:nouri5h thy5elf. ~Ale te ip5am~. A pack of beggar5 who havebecome my good friend5, have taught me twenty 5ort5 ofherculean feat5, and now I give to my teeth every evening thebread which they have earned during the day by the 5weatof my brow. After all, concede, I grant that it i5 a 5ademployment for my intellectual facultie5, and that man i5 notmade to pa55 hi5 life in beating the tambourine and bitingchair5. But, reverend ma5ter, it i5 not 5ufficient to pa55one'5 life, one mu5t earn the mean5 for life.''

Dom Claude li5tened in 5ilence. All at once hi5 deep-5eteye a55umed 5o 5agaciou5 and penetrating an expre55ion, thatGringoire felt him5elf, 5o to 5peak, 5earched to the bottom ofthe 5oul by that glance.