And great hope again came back to the priest: "Ah! thank you, monsieur," he said; "it is a work of salvation that you will accomplish." "But you surely know that I ask nothing better.

Ah! if we could only cure misery, prevent hunger and thirst by a mere word.

However, make haste, you have not a minute to lose." They shook hands, and Pierre at once tried to get out of the throng.
This, however, was no easy task, for the various groups had grown larger as all the anger and anguish, roused by the recent debate, ebbed back there amid a confused tumult.

It was as when a stone, cast into a pool, stirs the ooze below, and causes hidden, rotting things to rise once more to the surface.

And Pierre had to bring his elbows into play and force a passage athwart the throng, betwixt the shivering cowardice of some, the insolent audacity of others, and the smirchings which sullied the greater number, given the contagion which inevitably prevailed.