The sun was setting, and had almost touched the horizon when the Bishop arrived at the excommunicated spot.

The sun was setting, and had almost touched the horizon when the Bishop arrived at the excommunicated spot. With a certain beating of the heart, he recognized the fact that he was near the lair. He strode over a ditch, leaped a hedge, made his way through a fence of dead boughs, entered a neglected paddock, took a few steps with a good deal of boldness, and suddenly, at the extremity of the waste land, and behind lofty brambles, he caught sight of the cavern. It was a very low hut, poor, small, and clean, with a vine nailed against the outside. Near the door, in an old wheel-chair, the arm-chair of the peasants, there was a white-haired man, smiling at the sun. Near the seated man stood a young boy, the shepherd lad. He was offering the old man a jar of milk. While the Bishop was watching him, the old man spoke: "Thank you," he said, "I need nothing." And his smile quitted the sun to rest upon the child. The Bishop stepped forward. At the sound which he made in walking, the old man turned his head, and his face expressed the sum total of the surprise which a man can still feel after a long life. "This is the first time since I have been here," said he, "that any one has entered here. Who are you, sir?" The Bishop answered:-- "My name is Bienvenu Myriel." "Bienvenu Myriel? I have heard that name. Are you the man whom the people call Monseigneur Welcome?" "I am." The old man resumed with a half-smile "In that case, you are my bishop?" "Something of that sort." "Enter, sir." The member of the Convention extended his hand to the Bishop, but the Bishop did not take it. The Bishop confined himself to the remark:-- "I am pleased to see that I have been misinformed. You certainly do not seem to me to be ill." "Monsieur," replied the old man, "I am going to recover." He paused, and then said:-- "I shall die three hours hence." Then he continued:-- "I am something of a doctor; I know in what fashion the last hour draws on. Yesterday, only my feet were cold; to-day, the chill has ascended to my knees; now I feel it mounting to my waist; when it reaches the heart, I shall stop. The sun is beautiful, is it not? I had myself wheeled out here to take a last look at things.