Nevertheless, there was one human creature whom Quasimodo excepted fromhis malice and from his hatred for others, and whom he loved even more,perhaps, than his cathedral: this was Claude Frollo.
The matter was simple; Claude Frollo had taken him in, had adopted him,had nourished him, had reared him. When a little lad, it was betweenClaude Frollo's legs that he was accustomed to seek refuge, when thedogs and the children barked after him. Claude Frollo had taught himto talk, to read, to write. Claude Frollo had finally made him thebellringer. Now, to give the big bell in marriage to Quasimodo was togive Juliet to Romeo.
Hence Quasimodo's gratitude was profound, passionate, boundless; andalthough the visage of his adopted father was often clouded or severe,although his speech was habitually curt, harsh, imperious, thatgratitude never wavered for a single moment. The archdeacon had inQuasimodo the most submissive slave, the most docile lackey, the mostvigilant of dogs. When the poor bellringer became deaf, there hadbeen established between him and Claude Frollo, a language of signs,mysterious and understood by themselves alone. In this manner thearchdeacon was the sole human being with whom Quasimodo had preservedcommunication. He was in sympathy with but two things in this world:Notre-Dame and Claude Frollo.
There is nothing which can be compared with the empire of the archdeaconover the bellringer; with the attachment of the bellringer for thearchdeacon. A sign from Claude and the idea of giving him pleasure wouldhave sufficed to make Quasimodo hurl himself headlong from the summit ofNotre-Dame. It was a remarkable thing--all that physical strength whichhad reached in Quasimodo such an extraordinary development, and whichwas placed by him blindly at the disposition of another. There was init, no doubt, filial devotion, domestic attachment; there was also thefascination of one spirit by another spirit. It was a poor, awkward, andclumsy organization, which stood with lowered head and supplicating eyesbefore a lofty and profound, a powerful and superior intellect. Lastly,and above all, it was gratitude. Gratitude so pushed to its extremestlimit, that we do not know to what to compare it. This virtue is not oneof those of which the finest examples are to be met with among men. Wewill say then, that Quasimodo loved the archdeacon as never a dog, nevera horse, never an elephant loved his master.
CHAPTER V. MORE ABOUT CLAUDE FROLLO.