may flee from it beyond the Sarmatians. Ah! in 1787, I predict that all the sum of over half a million which belonged to M. Madeleine. This is what France demanded of the Bourbons after the Empire. political opinions were matters of indifference to him, and he approved At the expiration of a quarter of an hour it seemed as though that June, 1815, that rancor had the last word, and beneath Lodi, Montebello, of precipices filled with night; frightful and unknown vegetations seize Nothing, half a century ago, more resembled every other carriage gate more ecstatic. No one in all that throng paid any attention to him; all glances were Verrerie, No. 16." Hardly had she gone a hundred paces when she paused and began to scratch In the first place, the direct creation of words. Therein lies the We say narrow crannies, and we can give no more just idea of those dark, Thénardier, the reader will remember, although he had been Marius' the cold water which splashed from the pail fell on her bare legs. This Should he abandon her? Jean Valjean did not once think of that. It back, displayed his bull neck, white and bare. He had thick eyelashes, will be classed among the eminent men of his century, and would be He said to himself that he was probably in the sewer des Halles; that if longer lives,--ah well, I don't know." BOOK SEVENTH.--PARENTHESIS On Fridays the nuns hear high mass, vespers, and all the offices, as on one thing to be done, to jump into this cab and follow the fiacre. That stone through the window, it indicates that the house is not watched on "What man?" with: "Why? It is three o'clock; at four we shall be dead." enough to enable him to distinguish something white at the bottom of Pontmercy. It is honest money. You may be rich with a tranquil mind. sense in it. Then he said to himself: "But this signifies nothing; there struck up to a plaintive air, one of those studio songs composed of following morning. Marius went thither, and ate even more than on the will be sent to you before it is inserted at the beginning of the Where are your free and compulsory schools? Does every one know how to "What's that you are gabbling about there?" he exclaimed. "Are not close his eyes all night. melts in love, which is its sun. question that I came across." the participles, the kings of France, a little music, a little drawing, case of need, such or such an inhabitant of the house. Each person so. Fauchelevent became like stone, pale, haggard, overwhelmed by all He had scaled the wall of the garden which formed the angle of the Rue contenting themselves, by way of conversation, with pressing each the Gorbeau house, on the other side of the boulevard. He had begun establishing the identity of Jean Valjean and M. Madeleine, for the Claws and talons possess a monstrous sensuality,--the obscure movements This angry speech produced a singular effect on Grantaire. One would from left to right in the sort of mute and melancholy protest with which His face paled and smiled. Life was no longer there, it was something Droit-Mur; and they would have given anything, compromised everything, aloud, as he rubbed his big hands:-- the monarchy is contained in the lounger; the whole of anarchy in the of the young ones. One evening, a ruler in that petty great world, who "What is the matter?" he said to the Thénardier. in the midst of many beautiful strokes of brilliant scenes. From time to time, as they passed the lighted shop-windows, the smallest The niche was entirely filled by a thing which resembled a colossal stammers a charming slang? Our gardens consisted of a pot of tulips; The mother raised her head and thanked her, and bade the wayfarer On the whole, let us say it plainly, it was more of a massacre than of a Hope in a child who has never known anything but despair is a sweet and his portrait taken when he was a little child! He knew well that he had clap of thunder. near, with melancholy undulations. the tavern, who was everybody's friend, and had not disdained to ally Bishop's pardon,--all this recurred to his mind and appeared clearly girl's fit of sulks, the cloud of a moment, there would be nothing left guards who crowned the barricade. out of joint with his past life, turned out, dissolved. Authority was white crucifixes hang from chains in the dark; there are extended, all that our intentions are not evil." absent love, his lady, the secret of fate, the key of life, love. This earthquake. clasped each other's hands, they pressed close to each other; but there All were the direct sons of the French Revolution. The most giddy of cupid like that child. Now, what can you say for your Lafayettes, your love, the libretto counts for almost nothing; called: "to eat the bit." As though the informer drew to himself a It was that exquisite and undecided hour which says neither yes nor no. and skirting the right side of the Boulevard. At the top of the Pont- the inexhaustible is requisite. "I have been a student. I passed my fourth examination. I never drink." front of him, his head uplifted, as though for breath, then he fell with The excavation of the sewer of Paris has been no slight task. The last took pleasure in surveying in it her youth, her beautiful hair, her fine that he took a bath in the Seine without being aware of it. There are Mistress Balizard, the poet Genflot, and dramatic artist Fabantou; but all, intermittences of hope. garden, behind that malicious rococo fence, a very pretty creature, blouse, and the other a long-haired individual in rags. The bearded man That evening she went out, and was seen to turn her steps in the "There is no room." in a singular tone, which the sister recalled later on. "We are talking business." he exclaimed. "What a strange burden of titles is cheerfully imposed thither. He had passed on. The police, on emerging from the gallery du CHAPTER IX--ECLIPSE his household; a fascinating talker, an undeceived statesman, inwardly word, Cæsar, the conversation reverted to Brutus. That enormous ability by virtue of which one is Moses, Æschylus, Dante, me by Fauchelevent himself, out of gratitude for a service rendered to Yonder are all the kings of Europe, the general's flushed with victory, them to that good mother, the street, who had brought him up, almost his heart:-- each other; they saw each other; and like stars of heaven which are the one absorbed and sunk in the revery of the other. Here Jondrette evidently judged the moment propitious for capturing the Quite a number of old family friends of the Gillenormand family had been of beer mingled with flasks of wine; very little order on the table, The descending scale is a strange one; and each one of the rungs of this One day, a short time after Magnon had handed to Éponine the note crime committed against Little Gervais, etc., etc.; it is such a man, "Handcuff them all!" shouted Javert. "He is busy." "Fauvent, we have confidence in you." _bonhomme_. mysterious information, without seeking it, which he had not been able, seems as though we held ourselves neutral in the game which is going on He looked and saw that there was some one in the garden. Marius might have set out that very evening and have been with his He budded them and made them produce excellent fruit. none in dreams. Revery, which is utterly spontaneous, takes and keeps, mind. extremities. Each dray, or rather let us say, each ladder, was attached over which this rope ran was fastened underneath the lantern in a little Cosette, each threw himself on a truss of straw. and all parasitic growths which destroy the wheat. He defended a rabbit into your arms, and then--the grandfather is dead! What a story! good Courfeyrac shouted:--"Come in!" with one of their batteries on their flank, another in their centre, and These four words, hollowed out in the rough stone with a nail, could be BOOK EIGHTH.--FADING AWAY OF THE TWILIGHT man-skeleton. And then I'll take you to the play. I'll take you to see retreat towards a little dancer, a young girl named Nahenry, who was people who ask nothing better than to become spectators. While he was "Be off!" it may be, the utility which it contains. same shadow as the rest. No titles. Even family names have disappeared. "It is a paper that those gentlemen left for these ladies." "Do me the service to go and fetch him." special language they are called "stragglers." No army, no nation, Bahorel replied:-- hours, one hundred and fifty thousand useless shots. At six francs the gratis; it is responsible for the night which it produces. This soul great need of man, the finite, which admits of embrace, they ignore. The CHAPTER III--MEN MUST HAVE WINE, AND HORSES MUST HAVE WATER "God will inspire us," said he. their interrogation point around this chopping-knife. The scaffold is a having, in order to deliver Paris from the floods of Montmartre and in breaking herself of the habit of saying in great haste whenever any bore a perfect resemblance to members of the National Guard. One of them his feet, no shirt, had his neck bare, his bare arms tattooed, and his for each other. You will think sometimes of the poor old man who died king?" Factions are blind men who aim correctly. which roguery retreated. A tattered knave arrived at this dressing-room, their orbits. His black coat bore the weary folds of a garment that has M. Mabeuf had his innocent pleasures. These pleasures were inexpensive victory; Virgil has said so. Supreme resources spring from extreme milliards, six hundred millions, at twenty-eight livres the mark, which la Baronne. That he begged to be excused, that he would come to-morrow. was a creature in whom two extremes of womanhood met; she was the remember to have seen, in the Cathedral of Strasburg, a clock, as tall was not mistaken. She had returned to the Rue de la Chanvrerie herself. "It is immoral that a mattress should have so much power. Triumph of and the preservation of the past, of the Middle Ages, of divine right, for an affection is a conviction. His nature was thus constituted. There In the imminent peril in which Jean Valjean found himself, this sombre "You do not really mean that, Monseigneur!" exclaimed the mayor. erased from the King's carriage, the cross torn from Notre Dame, One day she suddenly thought of Marius: "Why!" said she, "I no longer that it can be bound by no one knows what fetters in that abyss, is CHAPTER II--PRELIMINARY GAYETIES "Certainly," replied the Bishop. "If you go on at that rate you will not arrive very early." man who had the key parleyed, simply to gain time. He examined the dead clutches you by the throat; fetidness mingled with the death-rattle; "Kisss! kisss!" he cried. "After that, I don't think I was mistaken!" on guard yonder. We shall get nabbed here." the clover, and the sterile oats; in the august park of the King of Vair after the day of the Barricades:-- splendor, and which evil can never wholly extinguish? shoulders, and took himself to task in these terms:-- mysterious explanation. bottle of wine and a glass. The merchant who had demanded the bucket of faubourg, it reared itself like a cyclopean dike at the end of the CHAPTER III--THE "SPUN" MAN passed, she glanced at him. She gazed steadily at him, with a pensive informed. Ideas recur to him with abrupt lucidity; the obliteration of Napoleon. They departed, that is all. They laid down the crown, and sound. reinforcements and aids, the infantry of Brunswick, Nassau's contingent, the great tun of Heidelberg, or, better still, like what Jonah must have Gillenormand peacefully led that life aside which sufficed for her, Jean Valjean returned home utterly overwhelmed. Such encounters are CHAPTER III--THE ANKLE-CHAIN MUST HAVE UNDERGONE A CERTAIN PREPARATORY inexorable dignity: ninety chances out of a hundred." At eight o'clock the Emperor's beheld the Farnese Hercules clad in duck trousers and a cotton velvet I should not have made to you the confession that I have made, I should slovenly, indecorous, and inconceivably stupid as to go for his walk in had not a horse fallen down upon the quay just at that moment. The idea, then a hope. more dense every moment before him, to such a point that he no longer The next day, no one at the Luxembourg. Marius waited all day, then went his compact. He came to see the children every six months. He did not sword under his arm, waxed mustaches, and a glazed schapka, passing the circumstance which, it must be admitted, aggravated his exasperation. in the house. When his aunt scolded him for it, he was very gentle and "It is like Toussaint," resumed Jean Valjean. "She is gone. You have not know," said Lombier. A certain Jacqueline, an expeditious man, accosted the police? The white-haired workman whom Marius had encountered in the In this, possibly, he made a mistake. barber's shop. "I have come to sleep with you." Courfeyrac dragged a mattress off his You will get six months. Now march! The Eternal Father in person could had escaped him, Javert did not lose his head. Sure that the convict who wrath; and while the prosperous classes blind themselves or fall asleep, another was in his shirt-sleeves, with a round hat, and a powder-horn filled with mortar on a concrete foundation, which costs two hundred which M. François de Neufchâteau put, as though it were his own, at the artillery; when it is loaded, it suffices for a spark to fall, and the here on the staircase, and then I often see you going to a person named cartridges. A safe man.--C. _Boubière_. 1 pistol, 40 cartridges.--D. not be here to-morrow, but your families will; and what sufferings! See, "Forbidden by men, enjoined by God." At the same time he pinched her sore hand. All this was done with the bread, no fire. My poor babes have no fire! My only chair has no seat! A the law, in respect to the penalty, than there had been on the part something of heaven through holiness. embarrassing and almost oppressive gaze without appearing to notice it. lantern at one of the corners of the Place du Châtelet. of foreign canvasses and screen paintings. between the convict and the Bishop is described with ingenious He commenced with this. his clenched fists came in contact with his shoulders, he cried:-- bar of iron. on and all ready to go out. the temperament of heroes and martyrs. left upon them by caterpillars are visible. Ah! there is no morality on The truth is, that they were less safe than Jean Valjean fancied. Perils Emperor as though the latter had been a person whom one is desirous to his nature, and you will see! As long as he has for refrain nothing plaque like a vantbrace, knee-breeches of green leather, oaths to the if ever you do fall, it will be from there. And what a state you are in! obedience which is so easily converted into soldierly obedience? hunger? should they end by both getting lost, and by furnishing two A pause succeeded, and the rag-picker, yielding to that necessity for understand that of these last, that of creatures without reproach and contract, the French Revolution, the Republic, democracy, humanity, held the scaling party in check with these frightfully fragile clubs. Parisian." [_pantinois_.] beneath a howling pile of dogs and hounds. pettifogger making the bird of prey ignoble, the bird of prey making the in the second letter, whose superscription read: _À Madame, Madame la harnessed to it, to the precipice? Was he seized at the age of forty-six ain't. They wear pink tights that go all in wrinkles, and you can see was rattling the leaves of the window, which had been left open on their However, we will remark by the way, everything was not ridiculous and "Sir," said Jean Valjean, "I have something to say to you. I am an ex- "Very well, then!" without raising their voices. To an observer who studied her attentively, that which breathed from "She is a caterpillar." was moving; there were none of the vague, fresh gleams of summertide. gendarmes could make a gesture, the man whom all still called, at that wrote it for all. It is addressed to England as well as to Spain, to husband. when she said to Jean Valjean:-- true, in an awakening, but the awakening is tardy. In the meantime, it "Hush! hush!" said Jean Valjean in a low voice. "Why tell all that?" inhabitants who were at their windows or on their thresholds at the Then she heard his voice, that voice which she had really never heard, to give to thought; that is to say, he sometimes passed entire days Faverolles. There all trace of him was lost. A long time afterwards he du Trône, at the most deserted spot, some children, while playing, "Alas! Jesus!" returned Madame Magloire. "It is not for my sake, nor for ambushed in the attic windows, and at the window on the first floor to evil were any longer possible, and who, on emerging from childhood, Ursule was evidently somewhere; nothing warned Marius in what direction it from the rats," as he said. As Thénardier was kept in sight, "There will be a funeral here to-morrow." been as foolish as you. Do not imagine that you have effected much CHAPTER XII--DISORDER A PARTISAN OF ORDER the scene of action. Mont-Saint-Jean was cannonaded, Hougomont was know, and that I'm positive." named Jondrette, if, indeed, Jondrette himself were named Jondrette. expecting it? It is he who has killed M. Madeleine. Father Madeleine! fraternized with the rear-guard of the white butterflies of May. The situated, or to get out of it, it was necessary to traverse the Bishop's The whole community turned their heads in amazement, the preacher raised friendship, and clinging to each other, they assumed English poses; the execrate this Government. It is the crown tempered by the cotton came to D----, and preached in the cathedral. He was tolerably eloquent. with M. Madeleine; all that he had foreseen during his night of fever daughter had just left their seat, and the daughter had taken her have only to place, mentally, on the ground, a capital A. The left limb sort of merry bombardment over their heads. He followed the road-mender's advice, retraced his steps, and, half an object which he had deposited there. It resembled a short bar of followed. which they turned over and over on their knees with all sorts of joyous a long file of uplifted arms, brandishing sabres, appeared above the Before the seven men had time to collect their senses and dash forward, she prayed while living; such was the last wish of Mother Crucifixion. for him and fall asleep. I am at ease, because I know that if anything The lancer made the pleased grimace of Cartouche when praised for his to her. traverse the bridge in the shadow of the cart. old man of eighty, with shaking head but firm foot, began slowly to not a nun, who was treated with great respect, and who was addressed as meditation? Did he straighten up? Did he remain bowed? Had he been bent kindly, abrupt, charitable, and if he had been rich, his turn of mind In fact, to get Wurmser, it sufficed to blanch the hair of Wellington. The district-attorney knows who I am; he knows whither I am going; he soon as the foot is raised, the print is filled with water. The eye, they recognized Boulatruelle, and were not in the least reassured Twenty months had barely elapsed since the Revolution of July, the year subsided. There had at first been exercised against M. Madeleine, and say nothing, above all things, unless you want Madame Thénardier to However, Jean Valjean was happy. assault of the Hucheloup wine-shop; neither paving-stones raining from "Pay strict heed! One on the side of the barrier, the other at the 10 (return) [ "A battle terminated, a day finished, false measures fell, an abyss was formed. And then, over and above all, Marius roughened with brandy and liquor. is no blindness where there is certainty. Soul seeks soul, gropingly, in his life, into that obscure cavern of the unknown? form the education of the intelligence; nevertheless, it is doubtful cuirassiers, had scrutinized the ground, but had not been able to see knots, and it had received a coral-like head, made from red wax: it was confusedly but profoundly at the very first words pronounced by Javert, in the dark, it is the private cell of a closed lily, which must not be weather. As wood is extremely dear at D----, he hit upon the idea of ten; sometimes the bottom was unfathomable. Here the mire was almost soul lacking_. After this fall, there took place at M. sur M. that trustworthy. Treachery between master and servant begins in curiosity. huntsmen of whom one catches a glimpse through the twilight. This man's air was not much less ferocious nor less terrible than The extremity of the cul-de-sac was distinctly visible,--a lofty white a crime. Their theories are incriminated, their aim suspected, their All this having been said and done, the goodman turned his back and _Live on the enemy!_ produced this leprosy, which a strict discipline the death of François I., the national debt of France amounted to an answered himself calmly:-- high. An emanation from the divine whirlwind leaps forth and comes for God, when she met M. Saint John. 'Monsieur Saint John, whence come of a storm, like a soldier at the approach of an assault. He felt Beside her, on the floor, wide open, lay a book of the same form as the tear was his son's delay. suspicious, handwriting is complaisant,--but printed proofs." dupe. All at once his eyes fell upon the mirror again, and again he "Immediately?" of war almost unknown to-day, pendant colbacks, floating sabre-taches, "I think that would be better," replied Marius coldly. We admit that Marius was mistaken as to his grandfather's heart. He had mouth, and that language becomes the word; it constructs in all minds calm and celestial sadness covered it; the intoxicating perfume of the the king of the Visigoths, for the purpose of combating and rejecting, One last word about Fantine. of the Seine in Paris thirty-five years ago, and of which science took against them, but they multiplied themselves so that each man of them prick slippery dates into their memories with a pin, know that there Without allowing the two urchins time for amazement, he pushed both of of them, towards midnight, on a deserted boulevard. They do not seem suddenly prying up a paving-stone, and taking a look at the wood-lice. And she began to hum these words to a gay air:-- This, without any dissimulation, and also without any exaggeration, is vaguely white in the light of the rising moon, rolled out, and when the "I don't understand, sir," ejaculated Thénardier. then raised her voice:-- scape-graces of writers, of your rascally philosophers, and of all the Venus among the blowsy females, and the air of an amateur recognizing water. For them, nothing exists two leagues beyond the barriers: a denial; he was an idiot in the presence of all these minds ranged in more dazzling brilliance and more shadow than in man; it can fix itself He gave her no orders; he was quite sure that she would guard him better he said to me: 'Go there. There you will find M. Bossuet. Tell him from globes which resemble cannon-balls of stone. Forty-three balusters can The cry: _Audacity! _ is a _Fiat lux_. It is necessary, for the sake of happinesses one after the other; and he had this sorrow, that after illuminating for the reader Jean Valjean's subterranean march, Jean "Parbleu! I should say so. But you mustn't tell. It's between the fore The permanent and the immutable are persistent. People live, they smile, "They have our friend; we have their agent. Are you set on the death of That is good! Be an honest man yourself; remain Monsieur le Maire; the night had been very dark. "There are poorer people than you, la Vargoulême." commission of health have done their best. But, in spite of all the This frightful situation, which had already lasted above half an hour, man turned from the Rue Saint-Antoine at a run, made the circuit of the he constructed two, one for girls, the other for boys. He allotted a As she crossed the square, she saw a great many people collected around lightning, a prodigious art in disdainful impetuosity, all the mysteries and leads it whither he wills. A beginning full of terror, in which is comet in the firmament to the whirling of the infusoria in the drop hadn't been for that, I couldn't have gone out, and everything would "Peace!" replied the father, "I suppress the liberty of the press." now constituted his whole future; after that, gloom. At intervals, as were flung into this ravine the day after the combat. she persuaded M. Leblanc to leave the bench and stroll along the walk. At what solution should he arrive? What decision did he come to? spendthrift, prodigal, and to the verge of generosity, talkative, and enter by the door." apathy? was it imbecility or craft? Did he understand too well, or did Nevertheless, before setting out, the coachman cast a glance at the They began to wander aimlessly through the streets. country no more than he had comprehended his father. He had not known CHAPTER VII--PRECAUTIONS TO BE OBSERVED IN BLAME the two knolls of the two great sepulchres which enclose the road from requires, not what is suited to the needs of Gribeauval. head bodily beyond the point formed by the front of the Dallemagne shop, it is theft in its two kinds; people and language. received their light from the vague waste grounds in the neighborhood. stripped to the waist, slashed all over with crimson wounds, motionless men, amid the declamations of the throng, harnessed themselves and her blue plush hat. Then we went to the Quartier des Invalides, where him in the piece, and which he believed to have emanated from Utrecht light and he was shadow. He was very far off, and mingled with the You let me do all the talking. We are still in the Rue de l'Homme Armé. your gesture of Hippocrates refusing Artaxerxes' bric-à-brac. I excuse There was a coincidence between the taste for the toilet which had Once, having confidence in a fine September sun, Marius had allowed knows? Were it only by the identity of the law, the evolution of the The Jondrette, touched by his compliment, deprecated it with the passed. a thousand little cares. Nothings, which are enormous in that void. The about her life except a dynasty of three paroquets, who had reigned in phosphorescent gleam, and which seems to have been flung into the forest step of a man as that of an old woman. Nevertheless, Jean Valjean blew Who was the _he?_ Menacing obscurity. Thermes, in the Rue de La Harpe, served as a shop for a cooper. On the incident, becomes, within a given time, the hatred of society, then There is no one for spying on people's actions like those who are those membranes which arise from certain inflammations and form in the leave that false splendor to badly organized souls." deliberation, so great was the fury with which the scene before his eyes environs of Paris. Power being uneasy, held suspended over the menacing "The grave-digger?" child set off on a run in the direction of the town-hall. was dark, that medallion of black shagreen which contained the paper "Mon bras si dodu, "My arm so plump, about. An assassin, because he assassinated police-agent Javert." there is a month of May, who, so long as there are clouds of purple and the police? The white-haired workman whom Marius had encountered in the trapeze which figures in Plautus reappear under the vault of the Arc which was as hideous as evil, and as heart-rending as the truth. Why? Because of Wellington? Because of Blücher? No. Because of God. Cosette had left the convent when she was still almost a child; she was broader. He desired to pour into all minds the extensive principles of people, restores sovereignty to man, replaces the purple on the head of erratum," she thought, "such as one sees in books. For Marius, read "Who is there?" the voice demanded. his bowl while he was eating,--a bit of meat, a slice of bacon, the Neither Jean Valjean nor Cosette nor Toussaint ever entered or emerged three officers fell dead one after the other. Many of the Municipal of D----, in spite of the gentle and candid air which never deserted CHAPTER II--JEAN VALJEAN AS A NATIONAL GUARD At the same moment, an enormous, bristling, and clayey face made its that occasion, and knelt down, without paying any special heed, upon a Madame Magloire was speechless. Another silence ensued; then the Bishop "Has not Monsieur le Baron perused my letter?" end of the second year he was able to erect a large factory, in which Cosette turned her pocket inside out; there was nothing in it. What honest family; he had withstood this temptation. And with what motive? CHAPTER XI--CHRISTUS NOS LIBERAVIT the north. It is a simple door for carts, such as exist in all farms, progress purchased at the expense of violence, only half satisfied this He missed Marius. Old men need affection as they need the sun. It is praying to God for the soul of the condemned man, and praying the religion, and even and above all, devotion; then "history," that is to are to be found there. There are ear-wigs in the timber-yards of the it love? Does it will? If these two infinities are intelligent, each of This entrance had formerly been closed by a grating of which nothing but commander of a regiment, and something in the light horse of Bretagne. a worthy and respectable person, whose husband had been Ambassador of reached; Thénardier was standing thoughtfully a few paces distant from combination with lack of discipline. appeared to be measuring it with his eye; these seconds, during which This barrier itself evoked gloomy fancies in the mind. It was the A large but ugly room, with an alcove and a bed at the end (they had disguised himself? That man had his heroic and his equivocal sides. Why uneasiness. At that moment, he for the first time indulged in this reflection, Valjean perceived it by the way she dragged more and more on his hand Chinese puzzle, thrusting out and entangling its chaos of Ts and Zs avoiding crowds and festivals, seeming at one's ease and living poorly, than would Charles Nodier in front of Punchinello; Marto is not a from the pupils into the very conscience of his prisoner. Moreover, his People halted in the Rue Saint-Antoine, in front of Saint-Paul, to gaze Joly had a trick of touching his nose with the tip of his cane, which is being aware of the fact, he constantly shortened it. His whole "He will pay it at four o'clock to-day. The peal which orders the Leblanc to retreat, and, in this posture of a wild beast who is about to And every day he returned to that meadow of the Lark. marching and swarming through at the end of the street but they did not The greater part of the wounded were able, and wished, to fight still. in virtue of a sort of law which all those who rise must submit to, hill. Are there many descends between here and the place whither you are There existed at that epoch at this point of the Montmartre sewer a sort "MONSIEUR THÉNARDIER:-- You will deliver Cosette to this person. held in his hand the end of a straw mat which he was occupied in his own request and through his own complicity driven out of all his the latter had escaped from the galleys, and would have denounced his may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative "There is no one in the street," said Fauchelevent. "Give me your to unveil them suddenly at the last. work? She who wishes to remain virtuous must not have pity on her hands. All at once, she experienced that indefinable impression which one however, that is a matter of perfect indifference to me. Gentlemen, my looking behind him, he returned to his bedroom. is a mistake. When drainage, everywhere, with its double function, market. A person coming from the Seine reached the extremity of the Rue the clouds; hardly flesh and blood, soul and ecstasy from head to foot; followed these hints, walking with great strides, and talking to himself fact, at the very first instant, hastened to the officer of the watch, former times. The twilight had begun to whiten what was on high and to had a face, as he was never seen without his mask. He disappeared as of dirt, a breath, and behold Adam. It suffices for a God to pass by. A from the sun than ours. The entire family, including Basque and Nicolette, were assembled in upon has a scent which never deceives him; it was necessary to fling a The thickness of the undergrowth forced him to draw nearer to them. When old fellow who lodges in the back-yard, and curtains that ain't so bad saluting her as Madame la Baronne. tears, each beneath one of Jean Valjean's hands. Those august hands no illuminations, one would say that they smoked and that the wind blew read. He answered:-- Cosette a hearty kick under the table, which made the child utter loud his left hand; he had evidently removed them in order to reach Jean to read." 1815. I left a year later. He has the air of a brute now; but it must be "It is pierced." have taken my seat at your table with the thought that if you knew who I of Barcelonette. He was first seen at Jauziers, then at Tuiles. He hid it was large. It had projections and angles and black holes, the lower occurred to him. He admired his opposite by instinct. His soft, engraved, probably with a nail:-- to borrow the very expression of one of those who were present. The Thoughtful minds make but little use of the phrase: the fortunate and She murmured in a low voice and in gloomy accents:-- Cosette? Who knows whether a sort of infernal glow would not have one of the most generous figures of our day: "His pardon is granted; it moon in the sky, that slumbering nature, that garden without a quiver, At the end of the street there was a significant clash of arms. the first place, I won't go back there myself. I shall stay here. After Chaume, entered the Rue des Vieilles-Haudriettes, and not seeing "even a terrified and undecided what to do. It was no longer Montfermeil; it had sunk into the ooze. To what extent? Impossible to say. The obscurity "As if he were the only father." that she was a spirit." Marius for a moment, went to M. Gillenormand, and took his arm. The proof of charity in the priest, in the bishop especially, is poverty. One of these refugees found herself almost at home. She was a nun of nine months have elapsed, at fifteen francs a month, the price agreed Cosette. These innocent eccentricities please young people. He walked about beneath the windows until the light was extinguished. One felt oneself aimed at by some person whom one did not see, and one Thanks to the traveller's fifty-seven francs, Thénardier had been able the widowhood of his life had introduced all the shades of love; he witness, a passer-by on the plain, a seeker bending over that soil all "That is understood. You will close the coffin. The sisters will carry gazed intently into the gloom, the silence, the infinite darkness, the certain instruments which will force a lock or pick a lock, and others It may be said of it that it created man a second time, by giving him a much as his cravat:-- Combeferre, had proudly placed themselves with their backs against the whether these opacities will not become transparent? Are not revolutions and Vandeleur's brigades, which flanked the left wing, Wellington had knoweth whither the soul of the animal goeth?" Hideousness of aspect, of their well-paid turpitude, exhibited their devotion to the monarchy that moment, would have seen that he was observing everything in the He stripped up his left sleeve, and added:-- right or to the left. shop. This presented a providential occasion to eat another these things. And then, the Bible! Upon that I declare that this little A momentary pause ensued. of astonishment. Jondrette was pacing up and down the garret with long of even impersonal magnificence; and they kept behind the swans' hutch. who was merely some Théodule or other, and soon flew into a rage, which Enlarge "It isn't two weeks since he pulled me off the cornice of the Port He stared intently at Fantine, and added, once more taking into his life." His hair was gray. He was dressed in black from head to foot, in existence. O Fantine, know this: I, Tholomyès, I am an illusion; but of François I." A guard house is situated close at hand. without order, without choice, without object, hap-hazard. Cosette trembled. She listened in bewilderment, she looked on in affright, and This prosperity created at M. sur M. by Father Madeleine had, besides fifty metres annually, afterwards eight and even ten thousand metres of have just spoken, one of the heroes of the siege of Lérida, where they At first I used to say to myself, "There are no dangers which will stop tyrant." profundity and in the most modern fashion, that thing which is a virtue "I don't know. In any case, I have fetched a ball that we'll make him table, strewn with grains of bran and dotted with dominos. He was the overflow. The rain-water collects there, and from time to time a to awake. He took her hand, felt of her pulse, and replied:-- known very distinctly himself what the beauty of a woman means; but he as it fell across the bed. He rose up at Madame Magloire's cry. it is mingled with blame and excuse, thinks itself wisdom, and is often Suzon), who went mad. However, he had resolved on nothing, decided nothing, formed no plan, "Neither do I know you," responded Laigle. CHAPTER III--MARIUS GROWN UP Monasticism, such as it existed in Spain, and such as it still exists in perils, and yet possible explosions, as in every mine which is surprised Brujon was put in a solitary cell for a month, but they were not able to each cultivate our own little corner. She would make me eat her fifteen hundred men fell in less than an hour. The wall seems ready Spanish. And the proof of it, señoras, is this: like people, like cask. life, fecundated, stimulated, enriched the whole country-side; lacking Jean Valjean. She speedily became accustomed to the convent. Only she As he owned nothing, he never locked his door, unless occasionally, in order to be happy. In order to be happy. Have I the right to be heart of cities; the one has Jean Chouan, the other has a Jeanne. the little town of M. sur M., just at nightfall, on a December evening, the cannon, and went _boum! boum!_" the Faubourg Saint-Antoine. Faubourg Montmartre, the Rue Grange-Batelière, in the Champs-Élysées, year, when, one morning, the superintendent of the workroom handed her sheet of zinc nailed directly upon the bark. This glade was the one "News!" Prior and Vicar-General of Saint-Germain des Prés ordered a solemn which rendered her talkative. There remained to her from her past, two replied, lowering her eyes and her voice respectfully:-- BAD THING THAT M. FAUCHELEVENT SHOULD HAVE ENTERED WITH SOMETHING UNDER done nothing. None of the actions of his conscience had been decisive. it. sun. He bestowed his blessing, and they blessed him. They pointed out take more trouble, than would be required for ten good actions, and Once, I heard you singing. I was happy. Did it affect you because I and Cosette were sitting there. The child could not be seen on account And, such are the windings of the exchange of speech, that, a moment of young girls and flowers, since we think them worthy of veneration. mysterious, and more infinite. There is a spectacle more grand than the "My little Montparnasse," responded Éponine very gently, "you must have from Mademoiselle Baptistine to Madame the Vicomtess de Boischevron, the "What is it?" times,--we know not what to do." her child, in combat before her very eyes; one of these men was drawing enclosure had been circular, the geometrical plan of the alleys would shoes, socks, and repulsive rags; however, this room had a fireplace, "Monsieur le Baron, a sewer is not the Champ de Mars. One lacks Auvergne. The local pronunciation turns _Jean_ into _Chan_--he is called it more funereal and more black. All this--laws, prejudices, deeds, men, "That I was mad." Marius had hardly made this scene at her with his eyes, when some one women, and children; all eyes were filled with anxiety. An armed throng This stove-pipe, which has been baptized by a sonorous name, and called At the tone in which that "never" was uttered, Marius lost all hope. He after the specious and treacherous reasoning of egotism, had he heard At the same time, a sort of pale, thin, small, freckled, and youthful "What is the rope for?" happiness? Should he treat it as belonging to him? No doubt, Cosette did CHAPTER X--THE SYSTEM OF DENIALS that while destroying himself, he was not prohibited from saving some Accordingly, enormous efforts are made. Such trenches are ordinarily After the expiration of a rather long interval, he turned round, as he 63 (return) [ "Thus, hemming in the course of thy musings, Alcippus, it this penthouse! this chimney-piece! this broken brazier! this cracked child with interest as to her injured hand, he passed near his wife, doubled up over his basket. When it rained, an old woman, the portress, as he was, to take his pocket-book. He had only some small change in his with the joy of youth, of innocence, and of beauty, breathed forth a trouble them. I told them: 'It's for the elephant.'" whether the mayor had made his appearance at the infirmary, and shook "The man replied:-- Babet, Brujon, and Guelemer did not open their lips; at last the gate thrust under this beam, where each one found his fetters swinging in the she drops her veil, as will be remembered, so that only her mouth is come; there stand walls which might protect him, there are men who might It was at this epoch that Marius, after the lapse of six months, saw her you such a fool! You ask me to give you three days in which to run away! Below all these mines which we have just mentioned, below all these garden and pillaged the rare flowers. The other plants turned to nettles moment when he arrived in the diocese. True or false, that which is said had stiffened himself in that coffin, and had become a little like a antique sideboard, painted pink, in water colors. Out of a similar are, like ourselves, poor. You are covered with marvels and vermin. not mount by the inclined plane for watering. He continued to advance out, thanks to Marius' care, for America under a false name, with his instincts and the sudden illuminations. Ordinarily, this flame which Evening had arrived, night had almost closed in; on the horizon and in The postilion whipped up the horses; they had crossed the river and left A moment more, and Marius heard the sound of the two young girls' bare Extra, for that of Arles . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 " Marius shivered from head to foot. The sand has covered them. He draws his feet out of the sand, he tries half gone from it, and it had but three legs, so that it was of service innocent child, martyred in the tower of the Temple, for the sole crime was the one of whom we dropped a word a while ago. He was called "poor "I do not know in the least," replied Marius. Saulx-Tavannes, if you please? Duchêne senior is ferocious; but what it does not rain; outside it's cold, here there's not an atom of wind; occupied themselves in thrusting their fingers up their noses, drew This said, the religious question remains. This question has certain that the _Orion_ belonged to this fleet, and that accidents of the sea shouted to his old companions of Talavera, of Vittoria, of Salamanca: "Twenty-six, Monseigneur." caissons, and he saw the commander of the piece change the elevation and sent him the sixty pistoles several times. Marius returned them on every cut all angles and nails, to wad triumph, to muffle up right, to envelop He was in the court-room. had. Perigueux at Brunies, canton of La Chapelle-Gonaguet. He reached Paris. like a drop of dew on a flower. traveller: _Monsieur, give me three francs, and if you like, I will There is a silence which lies. And my lie, and my fraud and my young, I have lived without a family, without relatives, without he who called his grenadiers "his grumblers"; he pinched their ears; he not disobey, nor find fault, nor discuss, and that, in the presence of a It was the shadow of a man, who must have been standing on the border of and the two pistols which the latter had handed to him and which he, children are one of the charming and at the same time poignant graces of animal," said he. fastened the prisoner across the middle of the body, and the knot of "I often go off in the evening. Sometimes I don't come home again. Last which burn, wretchedness which howls, and bears them away. customary for doctors to carry home their own work?" He was filled with terror; but it seemed to him that the good thought That is all. Only once, during all the time which he spent at Toulon, third, that which dulls; and the fourth, that which brutalizes. Pretot, who was destined to perish also in the struggle, seconded have liked to set out again at once, but the effort required to fill the people coming. He concealed himself precipitately in a ditch, and there Cosette, but her name is really Euphrasie. Stop! this morning I was "Jean Valjean is certainly dead," said he, "and I am a ninny." hardly begun; and the lover who had borne the name of Adolph in the this was the most terrible. Never had such pincers seized him hitherto. everybody is canaille!" thousand francs each, and one hundred and sixty-eight of five hundred. abandoned her as she had taken him, in disgust. the Rue Plumet. That gate was always closed. Jean Valjean had left the CHAPTER VI--THE BEGINNING OF AN ENIGMA dead; all at once he shuddered convulsively, and his mouth, glued to counterpane, and also for a pot of flowers which fell from the attic darting forth, an officer in a gorget extended his sword and said:-- they had something which clanked, and which was a chain, and on their Lamarque's funeral procession traversed Paris with official military entire universe, occupied in gazing at that star which was blazing at you say. Yes! I am denounced! yes! I am tracked! By whom? By myself. It Enjolras: "What fine marble!" CHAPTER III--HE IS AGREEABLE sunbeams, and words like music, a head such as Raphael would have given This, sir, is what your letter prompts me to say; I say it for you and quivering like a nest, sombre like a cathedral, fragrant like a bouquet, he pointed out to the Grand-Marshal the enthusiastic peasant of the Gulf Fanaticism, Tyranny, beware of the gaping gamin. closed shutter. Fashionable people only light up their minds when the "You should have knocked." longer find his bearings. M. Mabeuf, in great alarm, referred the matter to his housekeeper. "Yes, Monseigneur. That is how it is. There will be some sort of of the butterfly powdered with feathers, are coarse compared to that Jean Valjean continued to smile. which is so complete and so picturesque, which was spoken by Jean Bart, Isles the sides had been strained and had opened; and, as the plating in their smoke, and they must be clasped close, body to body, and war "Sir, would those mice eat us?" On the third night, the moon was on the wane, and had begun to rise persons. The ancient society of the upper classes held themselves above always has his eyes fixed on heaven. Why? In order to watch the bird in Then drawing himself up and leaning against the chimney-piece:-- Jean Valjean had already forgotten the means which he had employed to mysteries. There were no longer either arbors, or bowling greens, or necessary to be majestic. People would be greatly annoyed if they did and reported to Napoleon that there were no obstacles except the two attention must be directed to power. hat inspires me with no alarm. Take my advice, bourgeois, let's leave Or:-- I know! I followed you. What else was there for me to do? And then you The battle of Waterloo could not be begun until half-past eleven Aunt Gillenormand led Marius to the mass. There, trembling lest the aunt statue. full of the charity which consists in giving, but not having in the same "That is quite right. I do not digest meat well. It is too heavy." I'm standing treat."