Roundabout Papers - Penn State University

Thackeraydering wretch in his cell. She described the street, thegate, the convent, the very dress which he wore, andwhich you saw to-day.“And now this is what happened. In his chamber in theRue St. Honore, at Paris, sat a man alone—a man whohas been maligned, a man who has been called a knaveand charlatan, a man who has been persecuted even tothe death, it is said, in Roman Inquisitions, forsooth,and elsewhere. Ha! ha! A man who has a mighty will.“And looking towards the Jacobins Convent (of which,from his chamber, he could see the spires and trees),this man willed. And it was not yet dawn. And he willed;and one who was lying in his cell in the convent ofJacobins, awake and shuddering with terror for a crimewhich he had committed, fell asleep.“But though he was asleep his eyes were open.“And after tossing and writhing, and clinging to thepallet, and saying, ‘No, I will not go,’ he rose up anddonned his clothes—a gray coat, a vest of white pique,black satin small-clothes, ribbed silk stockings, and awhite stock with a steel buckle; and he arranged hishair, and he tied his queue, all the while being in thatstrange somnolence which walks, which moves, whichflies sometimes, which sees, which is indifferent to pain,which obeys. And he put on his hat, and he went forthfrom his cell; and though the dawn was not yet, he trodthe corridors as seeing them. And he passed into thecloister, and then into the garden where lie the ancientdead. And he came to the wicket, which Brother Jeromewas opening just at the dawning. And the crowd wasalready waiting with their cans and bowls to receive thealms of the good brethren.“And he passed through the crowd and went on hisway, and the few people then abroad who marked him,said, ‘Tiens! how very odd he looks! He looks like a manwalking in his sleep!’ This was said by various persons:—“By milk-women, with their cans and carts, cominginto the town.“By roysterers who had been drinking at the tavernsof the Barrier, for it was Mid-Lent.“By the sergeants of the watch, who eyed him sternlyas he passed near their halberds.229