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unknown system of wheels, and your utter destruction be compassed in its
complex machinery.
The poor and weak live in terror of being crushed. The crowd ever expect
to be trodden down. Gwynplaine had long been one of the crowd.
A singular state of human uneasiness can be expressed by the words: Let
us see what will happen. Gwynplaine was in this state. You feel that you
have not gained your equilibrium when an unexpected situation surges up
under your feet. You watch for something which must produce a result.
You are vaguely attentive. We will see what happens. What? You do not
know. Whom? You watch.
The man with the paunch repeated, "You are in your own house, my lord."
Gwynplaine felt himself. In surprises, we first look to make sure that
things exist; then we feel ourselves, to make sure that we exist
ourselves. It was certainly to him that the words were spoken; but he
himself was somebody else. He no longer had his jacket on, or his
esclavine of leather. He had a waistcoat of cloth of silver; and a satin
coat, which he touched and found to be embroidered. He felt a heavy
purse in his waistcoat pocket. A pair of velvet trunk hose covered his
clown's tights. He wore shoes with high red heels. As they had brought
him to this palace, so had they changed his dress.
The man resumed,--
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