The whole impression was that of a man whom a whiff of wind would blowaway; with the body of an ascetic and the simplicity of a kid. Theface had some particular sort of wisdom, difficult to define andimpossible to imitate. He held in his hand a tiny cane of the sortcarried at the court of Louis Quinze. Louis Capet himself had given itto him; and you might have had the life of the little gentleman, but notthis cane with the tiny golden bust of his unhappy monarch.

He stood on the steps of the prison and looked serenely on the muttering,excited crowd.