"
"It was only to tell you," said Skeleton, "that I neither fear fire nor the
devil. But, if I were in a cell, and very sure of not being able to
escape--thunder! I believe I should be afraid."
"Of what?" asked Nicholas.
"Of being all alone," answered the cock of the walk.
"So, if you had to recommence your robberies and murders, and, instead of
prisons and galleys and guillotine, there were only cells, you would
hesitate?"
"Yes--perhaps" (_a fact_), answered the Skeleton.
And he spoke the truth. A noisy burst of laughter, and exclamations of joy
proceeding from the prisoners who were walking in the court, interrupted
the meeting. Nicholas rose precipitately, and advanced toward the door to
ascertain the cause of this unaccustomed noise.
"It is the Big Cripple!" cried Nicholas, returning.
"The Big Cripple?" said the provost; "and Germain, has he descended from
the talking-room?"
"Not yet," said Barbillon.
"Let him hurry, then," said Skeleton, "that I may give him an order for a
new coffin."
CHAPTER VIII.
THE PLOT.
Big Cripple, whose arrival had been hailed by the prisoners in the Lions'
Den with such noisy joy, and whose denunciation was to be so fatal to
Germain, was a man of middle stature; notwithstanding his obesity and his
infirmity, he seemed active and vigorous. His bestial physiognomy, as was
the case with most of his companions, much resembled a bull-dog's; his low
forehead, his little yellow eyes, his falling cheeks, his heavy jawbones,
of which the lower projecting beyond the other was armed with long teeth,
or rather, broken tusks, which protruded over the lips, rendered this
animal resemblance still more striking; he had on his head an otter-skin
cap, and wore over his coat a blue cloak with a fur collar.
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