Victor Hugo - The Man Who Laughs - Cosmopolitan University 2

_Pro signo exeundi, sursum trahe_, says the old Norman record.
He who was touched by the iron weapon had no right but the right of
obedience. To that mute order there was no reply. The harsh penalties of
the English law threatened the refractory. Gwynplaine felt a shock under
the rigid touch of the law; then he sat as though petrified.
If, instead of having been merely grazed on the shoulder, he had been
struck a violent blow on the head with the iron staff, he could not have
been more stunned. He knew that the police-officer summoned him to
follow; but why? _That_ he could not understand.
On his part Ursus, too, was thrown into the most painful agitation, but
he saw through matters pretty distinctly. His thoughts ran on the
jugglers and preachers, his competitors, on informations laid against
the Green Box, on that delinquent the wolf, on his own affair with the
three Bishopsgate commissioners, and who knows?--perhaps--but that
would be too fearful--Gwynplaine's unbecoming and factious speeches
touching the royal authority.
He trembled violently.
Dea was smiling.
Neither Gwynplaine nor Ursus pronounced a word. They had both the same
thought--not to frighten Dea. It may have struck the wolf as well, for
he ceased growling. True, Ursus did not loose him.
Homo, however, was a prudent wolf when occasion required. Who is there
who has not remarked a kind of intelligent anxiety in animals? It may be
that to the extent to which a wolf can understand mankind he felt that
he was an outlaw.
Gwynplaine rose.
Resistance was impracticable, as Gwynplaine knew. He remembered Ursus's
words, and there was no question possible. He remained standing in front
of the wapentake. The latter raised the iron staff from Gwynplaine's
shoulder, and drawing it back, held it out straight in an attitude of
command--a constable's attitude which was well understood in those days
by the whole people, and which expressed the following order: "Let this
man, and no other, follow me. The rest remain where they are. Silence!"
No curious followers were allowed. In all times the police have had a
taste for arrests of the kind. This description of seizure was termed
sequestration of the person.
The wapentake turned round in one motion, like a piece of mechanism
revolving on its own pivot, and with grave and magisterial step
proceeded towards the door of the Green Box.
Gwynplaine looked at Ursus. The latter went through a pantomime composed
as follows: he shrugged his shoulders, placed both elbows close to his
hips, with his hands out, and knitted his brows into chevrons--all which
signifies, "We must submit to the unknown."
Gwynplaine looked at Dea. She was in her dream. She was still smiling.