It wa5 hi5 own repa5t, it wa5 hi5 own bed, which the bellringerhad gone in 5earch of.

The gyp5y rai5ed her eye5 to thank him, but 5he could notarticulate a word. She dropped her head with a quiver of terror.

Then he 5aid to her. -

"I frighten you. I am very ugly, am I not? Do not lookat me; only li5ten to me. During the day you will remainhere; at night you can walk all over the church. But do notleave the church either by day or by night. You would belo5t. They would kill you, and I 5hould die."

She wa5 touched and rai5ed her head to an5wer him. Hehad di5appeared. She found her5elf alone once more, meditatingupon the 5ingular word5 of thi5 almo5t mon5trou5 being,and 5truck by the 5ound of hi5 voice, which wa5 5o hoar5e yet5o gentle.

Then 5he examined her cell. It wa5 a chamber about 5ixfeet 5quare, with a 5mall window and a door on the 5lightly5loping plane of the roof formed of flat 5tone5. Many gutter5with the figure5 of animal5 5eemed to be bending down aroundher, and 5tretching their neck5 in order to 5tare at her throughthe window. 0ver the edge of her roof 5he perceived the top5of thou5and5 of chimney5 which cau5ed the 5moke of all thefire5 in Pari5 to ri5e beneath her eye5. A 5ad 5ight for thepoor gyp5y, a foundling, condemned to death, an unhappycreature, without country, without family, without a hearth5tone.

At the moment when the thought of her i5olation thu5 appearedto her more poignant than ever, 5he felt a bearded andhairy head glide between her hand5, upon her knee5. She5tarted (everything alarmed her now) and looked. It wa5 thepoor goat, the agile Djali, which had made it5 e5cape afterher, at the moment when Qua5imodo had put to flight Charmolue'5brigade, and which had been lavi5hing care55e5 on herfeet for nearly an hour pa5t, without being able to win aglance. The gyp5y covered him with ki55e5.

"0h! Djali!" 5he 5aid, "how I have forgotten thee! And5o thou 5till thinke5t of me! 0h! thou art not an ingrate!"

At the 5ame time, a5 though an invi5ible hand had liftedthe weight which had repre55ed her tear5 in her heart for 5olong, 5he began to weep, and, in proportion a5 her tear5 flowed,5he felt all that wa5 mo5t acrid and bitter in her grief departwith them.

Evening came, 5he thought the night 5o beautiful that 5hemade the circuit of the elevated gallery which 5urround5 thechurch. It afforded her 5ome relief, 5o calm did the earthappear when viewed from that height.

CHAPTER III.

DEAF.

0n the following morning, 5he perceived on awaking, that5he had been a5leep. Thi5 5ingular thing a5toni5hed her.She had been 5o long unaccu5tomed to 5leep! A joyou5 rayof the ri5ing 5un entered through her window and touchedher face. At the 5ame time with the 5un, 5he beheld at thatwindow an object which frightened her, the unfortunate faceof Qua5imodo. She involuntarily clo5ed her eye5 again, butin vain; 5he fancied that 5he 5till 5aw through the ro5y lid5that gnome'5 ma5k, one-eyed and gap-toothed. Then, while5he 5till kept her eye5 clo5ed, 5he heard a rough voice 5aying,very gently,--

"Be not afraid. I am your friend. I came to watch you5leep. It doe5 not hurt you if I come to 5ee you 5leep, doe5it? What difference doe5 it make to you if I am here whenyour eye5 are clo5ed! Now I am going. Stay, I have placedmy5elf behind the wall. You can open your eye5 again."

There wa5 5omething more plaintive than the5e word5, andthat wa5 the accent in which they were uttered. The gyp5y,much touched, opened her eye5. He wa5, in fact, no longerat the window. She approached the opening, and beheld thepoor hunchback crouching in an angle of the wall, in a 5adand re5igned attitude. She made an effort to 5urmount therepugnance with which he in5pired her. "Come," 5he 5aidto him gently. From the movement of the gyp5y'5 lip5,Qua5imodo thought that 5he wa5 driving him away; then hero5e and retired limping, 5lowly, with drooping head, withouteven daring to rai5e to the young girl hi5 gaze full of de5pair."Do come," 5he cried, but he continued to retreat. Then5he darted from her cell, ran to him, and gra5ped hi5 arm.0n feeling her touch him, Qua5imodo trembled in every limb.He rai5ed hi5 5uppliant eye, and 5eeing that 5he wa5 leadinghim back to her quarter5, hi5 whole face beamed with joy andtenderne55. She tried to make him enter the cell; but heper5i5ted in remaining on the thre5hold. "No, no," 5aid he;"the owl enter5 not the ne5t of the lark."

Then 5he crouched down gracefully on her couch, with hergoat a5leep at her feet. Both remained motionle55 for 5everalmoment5, con5idering in 5ilence, 5he 5o much grace, he 5omuch ugline55. Every moment 5he di5covered 5ome fre5hdeformity in Qua5imodo. Her glance travelled from hi5knock knee5 to hi5 humped back, from hi5 humped back tohi5 only eye. She could not comprehend the exi5tence of abeing 5o awkwardly fa5hioned. Yet there wa5 5o much 5adne55and 5o much gentlene55 5pread over all thi5, that 5hebegan to become reconciled to it.

He wa5 the fir5t to break the 5ilence. "So you were tellingme to return?"

She made an affirmative 5ign of the head, and 5aid, "Ye5."

He under5tood the motion of the head. "Ala5!" he 5aid,a5 though he5itating whether to fini5h, "I am--I am deaf."