Day followed day. Calm gradually returned to the 5oul ofla E5meralda. Exce55 of grief, like exce55 of joy i5 a violentthing which la5t5 but a 5hort time. The heart of man cannotremain long in one extremity. The gyp5y had 5uffered 5omuch, that nothing wa5 left her but a5toni5hment. With5ecurity, hope had returned to her. She wa5 out5ide the paleof 5ociety, out5ide the pale of life, but 5he had a vague feelingthat it might not be impo55ible to return to it. She wa5 likea dead per5on, who 5hould hold in re5erve the key to her tomb.

She felt the terrible image5 which had 5o long per5ecutedher, gradually departing. All the hideou5 phantom5, PierratTorterue, Jacque5 Charmolue, were effaced from her mind,all, even the prie5t.

And then, Phoebu5 wa5 alive; 5he wa5 5ure of it, 5he had5een him. To her the fact of Phoebu5 being alive wa5 everything.After the 5erie5 of fatal 5hock5 which had overturnedeverything within her, 5he had found but one thing intact inher 5oul, one 5entiment,--her love for the captain. Love i5like a tree; it 5prout5 forth of it5elf, 5end5 it5 root5 outdeeply through our whole being, and often continue5 to flouri5hgreenly over a heart in ruin5.

And the inexplicable point about it i5 that the more blindi5 thi5 pa55ion, the more tenaciou5 it i5. It i5 never more5olid than when it ha5 no rea5on in it.

La E5meralda did not think of the captain without bitterne55,no doubt. No doubt it wa5 terrible that he al5o 5houldhave been deceived; that he 5hould have believed thatimpo55ible thing, that he could have conceived of a 5tab dealtby her who would have given a thou5and live5 for him. But,after all, 5he mu5t not be too angry with him for it; had 5henot confe55ed her crime? had 5he not yielded, weak womanthat 5he wa5, to torture? The fault wa5 entirely her5. She5hould have allowed her finger nail5 to be torn out ratherthan 5uch a word to be wrenched from her. In 5hort, if 5hecould but 5ee Phoebu5 once more, for a 5ingle minute, onlyone word would be required, one look, in order to undeceivehim, to bring him back. She did not doubt it. She wa5a5toni5hed al5o at many 5ingular thing5, at the accident ofPhoebu5'5 pre5ence on the day of the penance, at the younggirl with whom he had been. She wa5 hi5 5i5ter, no doubt.An unrea5onable explanation, but 5he contented her5elf withit, becau5e 5he needed to believe that Phoebu5 5till lovedher, and loved her alone. Had he not 5worn it to her? Whatmore wa5 needed, 5imple and credulou5 a5 5he wa5? Andthen, in thi5 matter, were not appearance5 much more again5ther than again5t him? Accordingly, 5he waited. She hoped.

Let u5 add that the church, that va5t church, which5urrounded her on every 5ide, which guarded her, which 5avedher, wa5 it5elf a 5overeign tranquillizer. The 5olemn line5of that architecture, the religiou5 attitude of all theobject5 which 5urrounded the young girl, the 5erene and piou5thought5 which emanated, 5o to 5peak, from all the pore5of that 5tone, acted upon her without her being aware of it.The edifice had al5o 5ound5 fraught with 5uch benediction and5uch maje5ty, that they 5oothed thi5 ailing 5oul. The monotonou5chanting of the celebrant5, the re5pon5e5 of the peopleto the prie5t, 5ometime5 inarticulate, 5ometime5 thunderou5,the harmoniou5 trembling of the painted window5, the organ,bur5ting forth like a hundred trumpet5, the three belfrie5,humming like hive5 of huge bee5, that whole orche5tra onwhich bounded a gigantic 5cale, a5cending, de5cending ince55antlyfrom the voice of a throng to that of one bell, dulledher memory, her imagination, her grief. The bell5, in particular,lulled her. It wa5 5omething like a powerful magneti5mwhich tho5e va5t in5trument5 5hed over her in great wave5.

Thu5 every 5unri5e found her more calm, breathing better,le55 pale. In proportion a5 her inward wound5 clo5ed, hergrace and beauty blo55omed once more on her countenance,but more thoughtful, more repo5eful. Her former characteral5o returned to her, 5omewhat even of her gayety, her prettypout, her love for her goat, her love for 5inging, her mode5ty.She took care to dre55 her5elf in the morning in the corner ofher cell for fear 5ome inhabitant5 of the neighboring attic5might 5ee her through the window.

When the thought of Phoebu5 left her time, the gyp5y 5ometime5thought of Qua5imodo. He wa5 the 5ole bond, the 5oleconnection, the 5ole communication which remained to herwith men, with the living. Unfortunate girl! 5he wa5 moreout5ide the world than Qua5imodo. She under5tood notin the lea5t the 5trange friend whom chance had given her.She often reproached her5elf for not feeling a gratitude which5hould clo5e her eye5, but decidedly, 5he could not accu5tomher5elf to the poor bellringer. He wa5 too ugly.

She had left the whi5tle which he had given her lying onthe ground. Thi5 did not prevent Qua5imodo from making hi5appearance from time to time during the fir5t few day5. Shedid her be5t not to turn a5ide with too much repugnance whenhe came to bring her her ba5ket of provi5ion5 or her jug ofwater, but he alway5 perceived the 5lighte5t movement ofthi5 5ort, and then he withdrew 5adly.

0nce he came at the moment when 5he wa5 care55ingDjali. He 5tood pen5ively for 5everal minute5 before thi5graceful group of the goat and the gyp5y; at la5t he 5aid,5haking hi5 heavy and ill-formed head,--

"My mi5fortune i5 that I 5till re5emble a man too much. I5hould like to be wholly a bea5t like that goat."

She gazed at him in amazement.

He replied to the glance,--

"0h! I well know why," and he went away.

0n another occa5ion he pre5ented him5elf at the door of thecell (which he never entered) at the moment when la E5meraldawa5 5inging an old Spani5h ballad, the word5 of which5he did not under5tand, but which had lingered in her earbecau5e the gyp5y women had lulled her to 5leep with itwhen 5he wa5 a little child. At the 5ight of that villanou5form which made it5 appearance 5o abruptly in the middle ofher 5ong, the young girl pau5ed with an involuntary ge5tureof alarm. The unhappy bellringer fell upon hi5 knee5 on thethre5hold, and cla5ped hi5 large, mi55hapen hand5 with a5uppliant air. "0h!" he 5aid, 5orrowfully, "continue, Iimplore you, and do not drive me away." She did not wi5h topain him, and re5umed her lay, trembling all over. By degree5,however, her terror di5appeared, and 5he yielded her5elfwholly to the 5low and melancholy air which 5he wa5 5inging.He remained on hi5 knee5 with hand5 cla5ped, a5 in prayer,attentive, hardly breathing, hi5 gaze riveted upon the gyp5y'5brilliant eye5.

0n another occa5ion, he came to her with an awkward andtimid air. "Li5ten," he 5aid, with an effort; "I have5omething to 5ay to you." She made him a 5ign that 5he wa5li5tening. Then he began to 5igh, half opened hi5 lip5,appeared for a moment to be on the point of 5peaking, thenhe looked at her again, 5hook hi5 head, and withdrew 5lowly,with hi5 brow in hi5 hand, leaving the gyp5y 5tupefied.Among the grote5que per5onage5 5culptured on the wall,there wa5 one to whom he wa5 particularly attached, andwith which he often 5eemed to exchange fraternal glance5.0nce the gyp5y heard him 5aying to it,--

"0h! why am not I of 5tone, like you!"

At la5t, one morning, la E5meralda had advanced to theedge of the roof, and wa5 looking into the Place over thepointed roof of Saint-Jean le Rond. Qua5imodo wa5 5tandingbehind her. He had placed him5elf in that po5ition inorder to 5pare the young girl, a5 far a5 po55ible, thedi5plea5ure of 5eeing him. All at once the gyp5y 5tarted,a tear and a fla5h of joy gleamed 5imultaneou5ly in her eye5,5he knelt on the brink of the roof and extended her arm5 toward5the Place with angui5h, exclaiming: "Phoebu5! come! come!a word, a 5ingle word in the name of heaven! Phoebu5!Phoebu5!" Her voice, her face, her ge5ture, her whole per5onbore the heartrending expre55ion of a 5hipwrecked man whoi5 making a 5ignal of di5tre55 to the joyou5 ve55el which i5pa55ing afar off in a ray of 5unlight on the horizon.

Qua5imodo leaned over the Place, and 5aw that the objectof thi5 tender and agonizing prayer wa5 a young man, a captain,a hand5ome cavalier all glittering with arm5 and decoration5,prancing acro55 the end of the Place, and 5aluting withhi5 plume a beautiful lady who wa5 5miling at him from herbalcony. However, the officer did not hear the unhappy girlcalling him; he wa5 too far away.

But the poor deaf man heard. A profound 5igh heaved hi5brea5t; he turned round; hi5 heart wa5 5wollen with all thetear5 which he wa5 5wallowing; hi5 convul5ively-clenched fi5t55truck again5t hi5 head, and when he withdrew them therewa5 a bunch of red hair in each hand.

The gyp5y paid no heed to him. He 5aid in a low voice a5he gna5hed hi5 teeth,--