Page 119 - 9th-language-english-2

starving, so I stole some bread. I was sentenced
to nineteen years in the galleys, pauses nineteen
years in hell. sobs Then began my stay in hell.
They chained me up like a wild animal; they lashed
Not to be republished
me like a hound. I fed on filth, for nineteen years,
nineteen years! They took away my name. They
took away my soul, and they gave me a devil in its
place. I was a man once. I’m a beast now, and
©KTBS
they made me what I am. Now, I’m free to starve.
Bishop : My son, you have suffered much, but there is hope
for all. You can have rest now.
Convict : Hope! Hope! Ha! Ha! Ha! laughs widely

Bishop : You have walked far. You are tired. Lie down and
sleep on the couch there. Good night, young man.

Jean Valjean was so exhausted that he fell asleep immediately.
Towards the middle of the night, he woke up. What awoke him
was the bed. It was long, long ago since he had slept on a bed.
He started reflecting about those nineteen years. He had been
sentenced for stealing bread. He tried to escape many times.
Each time he was caught, the court increased his sentence. And
nineteen years had gone by. He had entered the galleys sobbing
and shuddering. He came out hardened. Once he was free, he
asked for work. But no one was willing to take him. The cathedral
clock struck two. Jean Valjean thought about the silverware that
was laid on the table for dinner. He rose to his feet, hesitated for
a moment, listened and walked cautiously to the adjacent room.
The rays of the moonlight shone on the Bishop’s face. He slept
tranquilly. Jean Valjean stood terrified at this radiant figure.

The moral world has no greater spectacle than this – a trou-
bled and restless conscience on the verge of committing an evil
deed, contemplating the sleep of a good man. Suddenly Jean
Valjean went past the bed, straight to the cupboard. He saw the
silverware, took it, crossed the room, jumped out of the window,
ran across the garden, leaped over the wall like a tiger, and fled.

107