At moments he seemed hardly to dare to touch her,air max 97 even with his breath; then again he would strain her tightly to his bony breast as if she were his only possession, his treasure— as the mother of this child would have done.Then, too, how affecting was this protection offered by a creature so misshapen to one so unfortunate— a girl condemned to death, saved by Quasimodo!— the extremes of physical and social wretchedness meeting and assisting one another.The plaudits of the crowd burst forth anew. Having dashed along the gallery, he vanished again into the interior of the Cathedral, and a moment afterward reappeared on the upper platform, still bearing the Egyptian in his arms, still running madly.
On entering the sacristy, he had torn off alb, cope, air max 90 and stole, had tossed them into the hands of the amazed verger, escaped by the private door of the cloister, ordered a wherryman of the “Terrain” to put him across to the left bank of the Seine, and had plunged into the steep streets of the University, knowing not whither he went, meeting at every step bands of men and women pressing excitedly towards the Pont Saint-Michel in the hope of “still arriving in time” to see the witch hanged— pale.He thought of the folly of lifelong vows, of the futility of chastity, science, religion, and virtue, of the impotence of God.
And then his laugh came again when he remembered that Ph?bus was living; that, after all, the captain was alive and gay and happy, with a finer uniform than ever, and a new mistress whom he brought to see the old one hanged.He wrung his hands in agony at the thought that the woman, a mere glimpse of whose form veiled in shadows and seen by his eye alone would have afforded him the supreme measure of bliss, had been given thus, in broad daylight, at high noon, to the gaze of a whole multitude, clad as for a bridal night.Towards the hour of sunset, air max he took counsel with himself and found that he was well-nigh mad.
