End of the Story of the Cake — The Hunchback of Notre-Dame

La Esmeralda turns pale and comes down from the pillory, staggering as she goes. The recluse calls after her. She is a thief of Egypt, the voice says, and she will climb the pillory once more. The people mutter that the sacked nun is in one of her rages. Women who pray day and night are feared, and fear makes them sacred. No one moves against her. With that, the shouting is over.

The hour has come to take Quasimodo down. He is untied, and the crowd scatters. Near the Grand Pont, Mahiette stops and asks Eustache what he did with the cake. The boy says that while she talked with the lady in the hole, a big dog took a bite, and then he bit the cake himself. Asked if he ate all of it, he blames the dog, who would not listen. She calls him a terrible child, scolding and smiling at once. He already eats all the fruit from the cherry tree in their orchard at Charlerange, and his grandfather says he will be a captain. She warns him, and they go on.