The Man Who Laughs

by Victor Hugo

  They reached a closed door; it opened. They passed through, and it closed again. Then they came to a second door, which admitted them, then to a third, which also turned on its hinges. These doors seemed to open and shut of themselves. No one was to be seen. While the corridor contracted, the roof grew lower, until at length it was impossible to stand upright. Moisture exuded from the wall. Drops of water fell from the vault. The slabs that paved the corridor were clammy as an intestine. The diffused pallor that served as light became more and more a pall. Air was deficient, and, what was singularly ominous, the passage was a descent.

  Close observation was necessary to perceive that there was such a descent. In darkness a gentle declivity is portentous. Nothing is more fearful than the vague evils to which we are led by imperceptible degrees.

  It is awful to descend into unknown depths.

  How long had they proceeded thus? Gwynplaine could not tell.

  Moments passed under such crushing agony seem immeasurably prolonged.

  Suddenly they halted.

  The darkness was intense.

  The corridor widened somewhat. Gwynplaine heard close to him a noise of which only a Chinese gong could give an idea; something like a blow struck against the diaphragm of the abyss. It was the wapentake striking his wand against a sheet of iron.

  That sheet of iron was a door.

  Not a door on hinges, but a door which was raised and let down. Something like a portcullis.

  There was a sound of creaking in a groove, and Gwynplaine was suddenly face to face with a bit of square light. The sheet of metal had just been raised into a slit in the vault, like the door of a mouse-trap.

  An opening had appeared.

  The light was not daylight, but glimmer; but, on the dilated eyeballs of Gwynplaine the pale and sudden ray struck like a flash of lightning.

  It was some time before he could see anything. To see with dazzled eyes is as difficult as to see in darkness.

  At length, by degrees, the pupil of his eye became proportioned to the light, just as it had been proportioned to the darkness, and he was able to distinguish objects. The light, which at first had seemed too bright, settled into its proper hue and became livid. He cast a glance into the yawning space before him, and what he saw was terrible.

  At his feet were about twenty steps, steep, narrow, worn, almost perpendicular, without balustrade on either side, a sort of stone ridge cut out from the side of a wall into stairs entering and leading into a very deep cell. They reached to the bottom.

  The cell was round, roofed by an ogee vault with a low arch, from the fault of level in the top stone of the frieze, a displacement common to cells under heavy edifices.

  The kind of hole acting as a door, which the sheet of iron had just revealed, and on which the stairs abutted, was formed in the vault, so that the eye looked down from it as into a well.

  The cell was large, and if it was the bottom of a well, it must have been a cyclopean one. The idea that the old word cul-de-basse-fosse awakens in the mind could only be applied to it if it were a lair of wild beasts.

  The cell was neither flagged nor paved. The bottom was of that cold, moist earth peculiar to deep places.

  In the midst of the cell, four low and disproportioned columns sustained a porch heavily ogival, of which the four moldings united in the interior of the porch, something like the inside of a mitre. This porch, similar to the pinnacles under which sarcophagi were formerly placed, rose nearly to the top of the vault, and made a sort of central chamber in the cavern, if that could be called a chamber which had only pillars in place of walls.

  From the key of the arch hung a brass lamp, round and barred like the window of a prison. This lamp threw around it--on the pillars, on the vault, on the circular wall which was seen dimly behind the pillars--a wan light, cut by bars of shadow.

  This was the light which had at first dazzled Gwynplaine; now it threw out only a confused redness.

  There was no other light in the cell--neither window, nor door, nor loophole.

  Between the four pillars, exactly below the lamp, in the spot where there was most light, a pale and terrible form lay on the ground.

  It was lying on its back; a head was visible, of which the eyes were shut; a body, of which the chest divas a shapeless mass; four limbs belonging to the body, in the position of the cross of Saint Andrew, were drawn toward the four pillars by four chains fastened to each foot and each hand. These chains were fastened to an iron ring at the base of each column. The form was held immovable, in the horrible position of being quartered, and had the icy look of a livid corpse. It was naked. It was a man.

  Gwynplaine, as if petrified, stood at the top of the stairs, looking down. Suddenly he heard a rattle in the throat.

  The corpse was alive.

  Close to the spectre, in one of the ogives of the door, on each side of a great seat, which stood on a large flat stone, stood two men swathed in long black cloaks; and on the seat an old man was sitting, dressed in a red robe--wan, motionless, and ominous, holding a bunch of roses in his hand.

  The bunch of roses would have enlightened any one less ignorant than Gwynplaine. The right of judging with a nosegay in his hand implied the holder to be a magistrate, at once royal and municipal. The Lord Mayor of London still keeps up the custom. To assist the deliberations of the judges was the function of the earliest roses of the season.

  The old man seated on the bench was the sheriff of the county of Surrey.

  His was the majestic rigidity of a Roman dignitary.

  The bench was the only seat in the cell.

  By the side of it was a table covered with papers and books, on which lay the long, white wand of the sheriff. The men standing by the side of the sheriff were two doctors, one of medicine, the other of law; the latter recognisable by the sergeant's coif over his wig. Both wore black robes--one of the shape worn by judges, the other by doctors.

  Men of these kinds wear mourning for the deaths of which they are the cause.

  Behind the sheriff, at the edge of the flat stone, under the seat, was crouched--with a writing-table near to him, a bundle of papers on his knees, and a sheet of parchment on the bundle--a secretary, in a round wig, with a pen in his hand, in the attitude of a man ready to write.

  This secretary was of the class called keeper of the bag, as was shown by a bag at his feet.

  These bags, in former times employed in law processes, were termed bags of justice.

  With folded arms, leaning against a pillar, was a man entirely dressed in leather, the hangman's assistant.

  These men seemed as if they had been fixed by enchantment in their funereal postures round the chained man. None of them spoke or moved.

  There brooded over all a fearful calm.

  What Gwynplaine saw was a torture chamber. There were many such in England.

  The crypt of Beauchamp Tower long served this purpose, as did also the cell in the Lollards' prison. A place of this nature is still to be seen in London, called the Vaults of Lady Place. In this last-mentioned chamber there is a grate for the purpose of heating the irons.

  All the prisons of King John's time (and Southwark jail was one) had their chambers of torture.

  The scene which is about to follow was in those days a frequent one in England, and might, even, by criminal process, be carried out to-day, since the same laws are still unrepealed. England offers the curious sight of a barbarous code living on the best terms with liberty. We confess that they make an excellent family party.

  Some distrust, however, might not be undesirable. In the case of a crisis, a return to the penal code would not be impossible. English legislation is a tamed tiger with a velvet paw, but the claws are still there. Cut the claws of the law, and you will do well. Law almost ignores right. On one side is penalty, on the other humanity. Philosophers protest; but it will take some time yet before the justice of man is assimilated to the justice of God.

  Respect for the law: that is the English ph
rase. In England they venerate so many laws that they never repeal any. They save themselves from the consequences of their veneration by never putting them into execution. An old law falls into disuse like an old woman, and they never think of killing either one or the other. They cease to make use of them; that is all. Both are at liberty to consider themselves still young and beautiful. They may fancy that they are as they were. This politeness is called respect.

  Norman custom is very wrinkled. That does not prevent many an English judge casting sheep's eyes at her. They stick amorously to an antiquated atrocity, so long as it is Norman. What can be more savage than the gibbet? In 1867 a man was sentenced to be cut into four quarters and offered to a woman--the Queen. [1]

  Still, torture was never practiced in England. History asserts this as a fact. The assurance of history is wonderful.

  Matthew of Westminster mentions that the "Saxon law, very clement and kind," did not punish criminals by death; and adds that "it limited itself to cutting off the nose and scooping out the eyes." That was all!

  Gwynplaine, scared and haggard, stood at the top of the steps, trembling in every limb. He shuddered from head to foot. He tried to remember what crime he had committed. To the silence of the wapentake had succeeded the vision of torture to be endured. It was a step, indeed, forward; but a tragic one. He saw the dark enigma of the law under the power of which he felt himself increasing in obscurity.

  The human form lying on the earth rattled in its throat again.

  Gwynplaine felt some one touching him gently on his shoulder.

  It was the wapentake.

  Gwynplaine knew that meant that he was to descend.

  He obeyed.

  He descended the stairs step by step. They were very narrow, each eight or nine inches in height. There was no handrail. The descent required caution. Two steps behind Gwynplaine followed the wapentake, holding up his iron weapon; and at the same interval behind the wapentake the justice of the quorum.

  As he descended the steps Gwynplaine felt an indescribable extinction of hope. There was death in each step. In each one that he descended there died a ray of the light within him. Growing paler and paler, he reached the bottom of the stairs.

  The larva lying chained to the four pillars still rattled in its throat.

  A voice in the shadow said: "Approach!"

  It was the sheriff addressing Gwynplaine.

  Gwynplaine took a step forward.

  "Closer," said the sheriff.

  The justice of the quorum murmured in the ear of Gwynplaine so gravely that there was solemnity in the whisper:

  "You are before the sheriff of the county of Surrey."

  Gwynplaine advanced toward the victim extended in the centre of the cell. The wapentake and the justice of the quorum remained where they were, allowing Gwynplaine to advance alone.

  When Gwynplaine reached the spot under the porch, close to that miserable thing which he had hitherto perceived only from a distance, but which was a living man, his fear rose to terror. The man who was chained there was quite naked, except for that rag so hideously modest, which might be called the vineleaf of punishment, the succingulum of the Romans, and the christipannus of the Goths, of which the old Gallic jargon made cripagne. Christ wore but that shred on the cross.

  The terror-stricken sufferer whom Gwynplaine now saw seemed a man of about fifty or sixty years of age. He was bald. Grizzly hairs of beard bristled on his chin. His eyes were closed, his mouth open. Every tooth was to be seen. His thin and bony face was like a death's-head. His arms and legs were fastened by chains to the four stone pillars in the shape of the letter X. He had on his breast and belly a plate of iron, and on this iron five or six large stones were laid. His rattle was at times a sigh, at times a roar.

  The sheriff, still holding his bunch of roses, took from the table with the hand which was free, his white wand, and standing up said, "Obedience to her Majesty."

  Then he replaced the wand upon the table.

  Then in words long-drawn as a knell, without a gesture, and immovable as the sufferer, the sheriff, raising his voice, said:

  "Man, who liest here bound in chains, listen for the last time to the voice of justice; you have been taken from your dungeon and brought to this jail. Legally summoned in the usual forms, formaliis verbis pressus; not regarding to lectures and communications which have been made, and which will now be repeated, to you; inspired by a bad and perverse spirit of tenacity, you have preserved silence, and refused to answer the judge. This is a detestable licence, which constitutes, among deeds punishable by cashlit, the crime and misdemeanour of averseness."

  The sergeant of the coif on the right of the sheriff interrupted him, and said, with an indifference indescribably lugubrious in its elect:

  "Overhernessa. Laws of Alfred and of Godrun, chapter the sixth."

  The sheriff resumed:

  "The law is respected by all except by scoundrels who infest the woods where the hounds bear young."

  Like one clock striking after another, the sergeant said:

  "Qui faciunt vastum in foresta ubi damæ solent founinare."

  "He who refuses to answer the magistrate," said the sheriff, "is suspected of every vice. He is reputed capable of every evil."

  The sergeant interposed:

  "Prodigus, devorator, profusus, salax, rufianus, ebriosus, luxuriosus, simulator, consumptor patrimonii, elluo, ambro, et gluto."

  "Every vice," said the sheriff, "means every crime. He who confesses nothing, confesses everything. He who holds his peace before the questions of the judge, is in fact a liar and a parricide."

  "Mendax et parricida," said the sergeant.

  The sheriff said:

  "Man, it is not permitted to absent one's self by silence. To pretend contumaciousness is a wound given to the law. It is like Diomede wounding a goddess. Taciturnity before a judge is a form of rebellion. Treason to justice is high treason. Nothing is more hateful or rash. He who resists interrogation, steals truth. The law has provided for this. For such cases, the English have always enjoyed the right of the foss, the fork, and chains.

  "Anglica Charta, year 1088," said the sergeant.

  Then with the same mechanical gravity, he added:

  "Ferrum et fossam, et furcas cum aliis libertatibus."

  The sheriff continued:

  "Man! Forasmuch as you have not chosen to break silence, though of sound mind and having full knowledge in respect of the subject concerning which justice demands an answer, and forasmuch as you are diabolically refractory, you have necessarily been put to torture, and you have been, by the terms of the criminal statutes, tried by the peine forte et dure. This is what has been done to you, for the law requires that I should fully inform you. You have been brought to this dungeon. You have been stripped of your clothes. You have been laid on your back naked on the ground, your limbs have been stretched and tied to the four pillars of the law; a sheet of iron has been placed on your chest, and as many stones as you can bear have been heaped on your belly, 'and more,' says the law."

  "Plusque" affirmed the sergeant.

  The sheriff continued:

  "In this situation, and before prolonging the torture, a second summons to answer and to speak has been made you by me, sheriff of the county of Surrey, and you have satanically kept silent, though under torture, chains, shackles, fetters, and irons."

  "Attachiamenta legalia," said the sergeant.

  "On your refusal and contumacy," said the sheriff, "it being right that obstinacy of the law should equal the obstinacy of the criminal, the proof has been continued according to the edicts and texts. The first day you were given nothing to eat or drink."

  "Hoc est super jejunare," said the sergeant.

  There was silence, the awful hiss of the man's breathing was heard from under the heap of stones.

  The sergeant-at-law completed his quotation:

  "Adde augmentum abstinentiæ ciborum diminutione. Consuetudo brittanica, art 504."


  The two men, the sheriff and the sergeant, alternated. Nothing could be more dreary than their imperturbable monotony. The mournful voice responded to the ominous voice, it might be said that the priest and the deacon of punishment were celebrating the savage mass of the law.

  The sheriff resumed:

  "On the first day you were given nothing to eat or drink. On the second day you were given food, but nothing to drink. Between your teeth were thrust three mouthfuls of barley bread. On the third day they gave you to drink, but nothing to eat. They poured into your mouth at three different times, and in three different glasses, a pint of water taken from the common sewer of the prison. The fourth day is come. It is to-day. Now, if you do not answer, you will be left here till you die. Justice wills it."

  The sergeant, ready with his reply, appeared.

  "Mors rei homagium est bonæ legi."

  And while you feel yourself dying miserably," resumed the sheriff, "no one w ill attend to you, even when the blood rushes from your throat, your chin, and your armpits and every pore, from the mouth to the loins."

  "A throtebolla," said the sergeant, "et pabu et subhircis et a grugno usque ad crupponum."

  The sheriff continued:

  "Man, attend to me, because the consequences concern you. If you renounce your execrable silence, and if you confess, you will only be hanged, and you will have a right to the meldefeoh, which is a sum of money."

  "Damnum confitens," said the sergeant, "habeat le meldefeoh. Leges Inæ, chapter the twentieth."