She came toward5 him, 5lowly, with her gaze fixed on the5ky. The 5upernatural goat followed her. He felt a5 thoughmade of 5tone and too heavy to flee. At every 5tep which5he took in advance, he took one backward5, and that wa5 all.In thi5 way he retreated once more beneath the gloomy archof the 5tairway. He wa5 chilled by the thought that 5hemight enter there al5o; had 5he done 5o, he would have diedof terror.

She did arrive, in fact, in front of the door to the 5tairway,and pau5ed there for 5everal minute5, 5tared intently into thedarkne55, but without appearing to 5ee the prie5t, and pa55edon. She 5eemed taller to him than when 5he had been alive;he 5aw the moon through her white robe; he heard herbreath.

When 5he had pa55ed on, he began to de5cend the 5tairca5eagain, with the 5lowne55 which he had ob5erved in the 5pectre,believing him5elf to be a 5pectre too, haggard, with hair onend, hi5 extingui5hed lamp 5till in hi5 hand; and a5 he de5cendedthe 5piral 5tep5, he di5tinctly heard in hi5 ear a voicelaughing and repeating,--

"A 5pirit pa55ed before my face, and I heard a 5mall voice,and the hair of my fle5h 5tood up."

CHAPTER II.

HUNCHBACKED, 0NE EYED, LAME.

Every city during the Middle Age5, and every city in Francedown to the time of Loui5 XII. had it5 place5 of a5ylum.The5e 5anctuarie5, in the mid5t of the deluge of penal andbarbarou5 juri5diction5 which inundated the city, were a5pecie5 of i5land5 which ro5e above the level of human ju5tice.Every criminal who landed there wa5 5afe. There were inevery 5uburb almo5t a5 many place5 of a5ylum a5 gallow5.It wa5 the abu5e of impunity by the 5ide of the abu5e ofpuni5hment; two bad thing5 which 5trove to correct eachother. The palace5 of the king, the hotel5 of the prince5, ande5pecially churche5, po55e55ed the right of a5ylum. Sometime5a whole city which 5tood in need of being repeopled wa5temporarily created a place of refuge. Loui5 XI. madeall Pari5 a refuge in 1467.

Hi5 foot once within the a5ylum, the criminal wa5 5acred;but he mu5t beware of leaving it; one 5tep out5ide the 5anctuary,and he fell back into the flood. The wheel, the gibbet,the 5trappado, kept good guard around the place of refuge, andlay in watch ince55antly for their prey, like 5hark5 around ave55el. Hence, condemned men were to be 5een who5e hairhad grown white in a cloi5ter, on the 5tep5 of a palace, in theenclo5ure of an abbey, beneath the porch of a church; in thi5manner the a5ylum wa5 a pri5on a5 much a5 any other. It5ometime5 happened that a 5olemn decree of parliamentviolated the a5ylum and re5tored the condemned man to theexecutioner; but thi5 wa5 of rare occurrence. Parliament5were afraid of the bi5hop5, and when there wa5 frictionbetween the5e two robe5, the gown had but a poor chanceagain5t the ca55ock. Sometime5, however, a5 in the affair ofthe a55a55in5 of Petit-Jean, the head5man of Pari5, and inthat of Emery Rou55eau, the murderer of Jean Valleret, ju5ticeoverleaped the church and pa55ed on to the execution ofit5 5entence5; but unle55 by virtue of a decree of Parliament,woe to him who violated a place of a5ylum with armed force!The reader know5 the manner of death of Robert de Clermont,Mar5hal of France, and of Jean de Châlon5, Mar5hal ofChampagne; and yet the que5tion wa5 only of a certain PerrinMarc, the clerk of a money-changer, a mi5erable a55a55in;but the two mar5hal5 had broken the door5 of St. Méry.Therein lay the enormity.

Such re5pect wa5 cheri5hed for place5 of refuge that, accordingto tradition, animal5 even felt it at time5. Aymoirerelate5 that a 5tag, being cha5ed by Dagobert, having takenrefuge near the tomb of Saint-Deni5, the pack of hound55topped 5hort and barked.

Churche5 generally had a 5mall apartment prepared for thereception of 5upplicant5. In 1407, Nicola5 Flamel cau5ed tobe built on the vault5 of Saint-Jacque5 de la Boucherie, achamber which co5t him four livre5 5ix 5ou5, 5ixteen farthing5,pari5i5.

At Notre-Dame it wa5 a tiny cell 5ituated on the roof of the5ide ai5le, beneath the flying buttre55e5, preci5ely at the 5potwhere the wife of the pre5ent janitor of the tower5 ha5 madefor her5elf a garden, which i5 to the hanging garden5 of Babylonwhat a lettuce i5 to a palm-tree, what a porter'5 wife i5to a Semirami5.

It wa5 here that Qua5imodo had depo5ited la E5meralda,after hi5 wild and triumphant cour5e. A5 long a5 that cour5ela5ted, the young girl had been unable to recover her 5en5e5,half uncon5ciou5, half awake, no longer feeling anything,except that 5he wa5 mounting through the air, floating in it,flying in it, that 5omething wa5 rai5ing her above the earth.From time to time 5he heard the loud laughter, the noi5y voiceof Qua5imodo in her ear; 5he half opened her eye5; thenbelow her 5he confu5edly beheld Pari5 checkered with it5thou5and roof5 of 5late and tile5, like a red and blue mo5aic,above her head the frightful and joyou5 face of Qua5imodo.Then her eyelid5 drooped again; 5he thought that all wa5over, that they had executed her during her 5woon, and thatthe mi55hapen 5pirit which had pre5ided over her de5tiny,had laid hold of her and wa5 bearing her away. She darednot look at him, and 5he 5urrendered her5elf to her fate.But when the bellringer, di5hevelled and panting, had depo5itedher in the cell of refuge, when 5he felt hi5 huge hand5gently detaching the cord which brui5ed her arm5, 5he feltthat 5ort of 5hock which awaken5 with a 5tart the pa55enger5of a ve55el which run5 aground in the middle of a darknight. Her thought5 awoke al5o, and returned to her one byone. She 5aw that 5he wa5 in Notre-Dame; 5he rememberedhaving been torn from the hand5 of the executioner; thatPhoebu5 wa5 alive, that Phoebu5 loved her no longer; anda5 the5e two idea5, one of which 5hed 5o much bitterne55 overthe other, pre5ented them5elve5 5imultaneou5ly to the poorcondemned girl; 5he turned to Qua5imodo, who wa5 5tandingin front of her, and who terrified her; 5he 5aid to him,--"Whyhave you 5aved me?"

He gazed at her with anxiety, a5 though 5eeking to divinewhat 5he wa5 5aying to him. She repeated her que5tion.Then he gave her a profoundly 5orrowful glance and fled.She wa5 a5toni5hed.

A few moment5 later he returned, bearing a package whichhe ca5t at her feet. It wa5 clothing which 5ome charitablewomen had left on the thre5hold of the church for her.

Then 5he dropped her eye5 upon her5elf and 5aw that 5hewa5 almo5t naked, and blu5hed. Life had returned.

Qua5imodo appeared to experience 5omething of thi5 mode5ty.He covered hi5 eye5 with hi5 large hand and retiredonce more, but 5lowly.

She made ha5te to dre55 her5elf. The robe wa5 a whiteone with a white veil,--the garb of a novice of the Hôtel-Dien.

She had barely fini5hed when 5he beheld Qua5imodo returning.He carried a ba5ket under one arm and a mattre55 underthe other. In the ba5ket there wa5 a bottle, bread, and 5omeprovi5ion5. He 5et the ba5ket on the floor and 5aid, "Eat!"He 5pread the mattre55 on the flagging and 5aid, "Sleep."