UNDER SENTENCE OF DEATH;
OR,
A CRIMINAL’S LAST HOURS.
TOGETHER WITH
TOLD UNDER CANVAS,
AND
CLAUDE GUEUX.
BY
VICTOR HUGO,
Author of “Les Misérables,” “By the King’s Command,”
“The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” etc.
TRANSLATED BY SIR GILBERT CAMPBELL, BART.
LONDON:
CROOME & CO.,
12, ST. BRIDE STREET, LUDGATE CIRCUS, E.C.
CONTENTS.
| PAGE | |
| UNDER SENTENCE OF DEATH; OR, A CRIMINAL’S LAST HOURS | 9 |
| TOLD UNDER CANVAS:—BUG-JARGAL | 99 |
| CLAUDE GUEUX | 309 |
UNDER SENTENCE OF DEATH.
UNDER SENTENCE OF DEATH.
CHAPTER I.
Sentenced to death!
For five whole weeks have I lived with this onethought, always alone with it, always frozen by itsghastly presence, always crushed beneath its overwhelmingweight.
At first, years ago, as it seemed, not mere weeksas it really was, I was a man like any other. Everyday, every hour, every minute was ruled by its ownidea. My intellect, young and fresh, lost itself in aworld of fantasy. I amused myself in mapping outa life without order, and without end, weaving into athousand fantastic patterns the coarse and slendertissue of my existence. There were lovely girls,cardinals’ copes, victories won, theatres full of lifeand light, and then again the young girls, and walksin the twilight under the spreading boughs of thechestnut trees. My imagination always picturedscenes of pleasure. My thoughts were free, andtherefore I was free also.
But now I am a prisoner. My body is in irons ina dungeon, and my soul is fettered by an idea—onehorrible, murderous, and implacable i