They
spoke, they cried, they babbled, they murmured in a mad dialogue of joy!
How are we to paint thee, O joy!

"My life!"

"My heaven!"

"My love!"

"My whole happiness!"

"Gwynplaine!"

"Dea, I am drunk. Let me kiss your feet."

"Is it you, then, for certain?"

"I have so much to say to you now that I do not know where to begin."

"One kiss!"

"O my wife!"

"Gwynplaine, do not tell me that I am beautiful. It is you who are
handsome."

"I have found you again. I hold you to my heart. This is true. You are
mine. I do not dream. Is it possible? Yes, it is. I recover possession
of life. If you only knew! I have met with all sorts of adventures.
Dea!"

"Gwynplaine, I love you!"

And Ursus murmured,--

"Mine is the joy of a grandfather."

Homo, having come from under the van, was going from one to the other
discreetly, exacting no attention, licking them left and right--now
Ursus's thick shoes, now Gwynplaine's cape, now Dea's dress, now the
mattress. This was his way of giving his blessing.

They had passed Chatham and the mouth of the Medway. They were
approaching the sea. The shadowy serenity of the atmosphere was such
that the passage down the Thames was being made without trouble: no
manoeuvre was needful, nor was any sailor called on deck. At the other
end of the vessel the skipper, still alone, was steering. There was
only this man aft. At the bow the lantern lighted up the happy group of
beings who, from the depths of misery, had suddenly been raised to
happiness by a meeting so unhoped for.

CHAPTER IV.

NAY; ON HIGH!

Suddenly Dea, disengaging herself from Gwynplaine's embrace, arose. She
pressed both her hands against her heart, as if to still its throbbings.

"What is wrong with me?" said she. "There is something the matter. Joy
is suffocating. No, it is nothing! That is lucky. Your reappearance, O
my Gwynplaine, has given me a blow--a blow of happiness. All this heaven
of joy which you have put into my heart has intoxicated me. You being
absent, I felt myself dying. The true life which was leaving me you have
brought back. I felt as if something was being torn away within me. It
is the shadows that have been torn away, and I feel life dawn in my
brain--a glowing life, a life of fever and delight. This life which you
have just given me is wonderful. It is so heavenly that it makes me
suffer somewhat. It seems as though my soul is enlarged, and can
scarcely be contained in