It Is Lucky That the Pont D’Austerlitz Bears Carriages — Les Misérables

Uncertainty is at an end for Jean Valjean. Fortunately it still lasts for the men. He takes advantage of their hesitation. It is time lost for them, but gained for him. He slips from under the gate where he has concealed himself, and goes down the Rue des Postes, towards the region of the Jardin des Plantes. Cosette is beginning to be tired. He takes her in his arms and carries her. There are no passers-by, and the street lanterns have not been lighted on account of there being a moon. He redoubles his pace. In a few strides he has reached the Goblet potteries, on the front of which the moonlight renders distinctly legible the ancient inscription offering jugs, flower-pots, pipes, brick, and tiles to every comer. He leaves behind him the Rue de la Clef, then the Fountain Saint-Victor, skirts the Jardin des Plantes by the lower streets, and reaches the quay. There he turns round. The quay is deserted. The streets are deserted. There is no one behind him. He draws a long breath.

He gains the Pont d'Austerlitz. Tolls are still collected there at that epoch. He presents himself at the toll office and hands over a sou. It is two sous, said the old soldier in charge of the bridge. You are carrying a child who can walk. Pay for two. He pays, vexed that his passage should have aroused remark. Every flight should be an imperceptible slipping away. A heavy cart is crossing the Seine at the same time as himself, and on its way, like him, to the right bank. This is of use to him. He can traverse the bridge in the shadow of the cart. Towards the middle of the bridge, Cosette, whose feet are benumbed, wants to walk. He sets her on the ground and takes her hand again.

The bridge once crossed, he perceives some timber-yards on his right. He directs his course thither. In order to reach them, it is necessary to risk himself in a tolerably large unsheltered and illuminated space. He does not hesitate. Those who were on his track had evidently lost the scent, and Jean Valjean believed himself to be out of danger. Hunted, yes. Followed, no. A little street, the Rue du Chemin-Vert-Saint-Antoine, opens out between two timber-yards enclosed in walls. This street is dark and narrow and seems made expressly for him. Before entering it he casts a glance behind him. From the point where he stands he can see the whole extent of the Pont d'Austerlitz. Four shadows were just entering on the bridge. These shadows had their backs turned to the Jardin des Plantes and were on their way to the right bank. These four shadows were the four men. Jean Valjean shuddered like the wild beast which is recaptured. One hope remained to him: that the men had not, perhaps, stepped on the bridge, and had not caught sight of him while he was crossing the large illuminated space, holding Cosette by the hand. In that case, by plunging into the little street before him, he might escape, if he could reach the timber-yards, the marshes, the market-gardens, the uninhabited ground which was not built upon. It seemed to him that he might commit himself to that silent little street. He entered it.