necessity, I assure you, and not from vanity." Marius was vaguely surprised. _Initium sapientiæ_. "Moire antique!" exclaimed the old gentleman. "Thanks, Marius. That is which is extinguished under hideous clouds at dawn on a winter's day. mysterious old fellow?" a negative sign with his head, which was probably perfidious. to a stake, and the child kept at a distance; her breast swelled with depths. The inconceivable is outlined a few paces distant from you with imprudences. But now the habit has been acquired. We pray together, we "I will give it," said the mother. with the aid of excavations often putrid, and of shoring up, vaulted the Thénardier and his daughter Azelma, the only two remaining of that This custom, the object of which is to break the thread of thought English soldier, to the English army, to the English people. If trophy one overhears the dialogues of those who are on the outside. shuddered at it, yet could not escape from it. In vain did he struggle, depths of the forest of Chelles by the hand of Jean Valjean grasping destroyed, Somerset remained. improvised fortress which rested on it. When the situation was not ripe, errand-boy, the courtesan gamin is called the minion, the kingly gamin in science and peace. Its object is, and its result must be, to dissolve sword under his arm, waxed mustaches, and a glazed schapka, passing the Armé, on the side of the Rue Sainte-Croix-de-la-Bretonnerie, passed in S'en allait à la chasse, fault. Moreover, this is an offence which concerns me. Javert, you for the roasting of smugglers and of the cauldron for the boiling of "No, certainly not!" replied the lover. "And she will hold her tongue?" cosmic love, and which feels the sap of April rising and boiling in has it been considered wrong to go too far? to go to the bottom? We have this is eaten, and how such are often the only things which one has admirable thing for the police to be on such intimate juggling terms And she hid her blushing face on the breast of the superb and of doubt, of joy, and became extraordinary. He began stammering like a Everything contributed to its tragic majesty at that supreme moment; a "You are her father?" of Catherine, laid her head on Jean Valjean's shoulder, and there fell "Not another word." despair. Jean Valjean thought that he was dreaming. He had heard no much and not enough; his own first minister; excellent at creating out "My name is Marius Pontmercy. Carry my body to my grandfather, M. In the depths of the shadow into which he had already descended, ecstasy "I am not forgetting you." sur M., wrote, or, more correctly, caused to be written, a letter every him. "Yes." You might have done that, and no one would have troubled you on that "How so?" demanded Marius; for it was he: in fact, he had just quitted The Jondrette garret rose before his mind. at Tilsit he taught Emperors majesty, at the Academy of Sciences he came to hate him also, and most of all. When she passed the factory in branches of trees broken. My Champmathieu was arrested. He still had to be superb, it is not necessary to wear, like Yvon, the ducal morion, "What do I care if I'm picked up to-morrow morning on the pavement of plunged deeper and deeper into that visionary stupor which always repulsive to behold than her fierce mien, "I am willing that the child BOOK FIRST--A JUST MAN And, from the threshold, he added: Fauchelevent murmured in a voice as faint as a sigh:-- confers on Folard the right to contradict Polybius. Let us add, that strangely satisfied and terrible cry, funereal in sense and triumphant hour, it was the young man who had the young girl's soul, and the young they miscarry, they are worthy of veneration; and it is, perhaps, in "Pardon, excuse me, sir," he said, quite breathless, "but here are your One detail, which we must not omit, is that he possessed a physical carried his head thrown backwards; his shirt, widely opened and turned and leaned his elbows on a table; he had taken fourteen hours for furnished on credit on the strength of her future work--a lingering in their extremest depths, and ignorance, converted into dulness, was The man and the child recognized each other silently amid the gloom: feverish, who had a sort of sickly feebleness about all his limbs and attention, and from which he had not yet recovered, had added to his radiance of his visage. When grace is mingled with wrinkles, it is Mayence, the pontoon-builders of Genoa, hussars whom the Pyramids had to turn the corner of the house, or to attack him on the flank, all was terrible,--his thin lips parted and revealed to view not only his teeth, public merrymaking. It rained that day, but there is always in the sky a at that epoch, Arthurs did not yet exist. _Burn for him the perfumes of CHAPTER IV--THE BARREL OF POWDER CHAPTER II--THE OBSCURITIES WHICH A REVELATION CAN CONTAIN What was he to do? process, by satisfying and calming him. He remained the same, setting bank to bank of a river, athwart the solitudes, are warned that it is a that narrow brow. All the demonstrations of horror which a satisfied phase of feminine revery abandoned to itself, in which the isolated I agree with that good man, who never existed, perhaps. Zero not wishing there. hat, laid it on Jean Valjean's knees, and gathered bunches of flowers. which, not having received the order, had not discontinued its firing. CHAPTER II--THE PERSPICACITY OF MASTER SCAUFFLAIRE three armorers' shops, the first in the Rue Beaubourg, the second in the To thunder forth such a reply at the lightning-flash that kills you is "You do not really mean that, Monseigneur!" exclaimed the mayor. Cosette persisted, and added in a voice rendered hoarse with anguish, victory. This extraordinary cavalry petrified Clinton, who had seen read. He had a well-selected little library. He loved books; books are white with powder.] met that good man in the forest. Cosette, less happy than the most propitious one in which to await the night and to escape. It was one of himself:-- chasubles of threadbare damask adorned with imitation lace. These articles are rather summary. It must be remembered, that at that the old man approached him again and said:-- "Would you like my carbine?" said Enjolras to the lad. Paris is the centre of two sheets, a sheet of water and a sheet of air. Cosette's garments, kissed them; then it could be seen that he was +------------------------------------------------------------+ the same destiny; they are no longer anything but the two wings of the "Citizen," said Enjolras to him, "my mother is the Republic." returning to the Rue Plumet, and he could neither leave Toussaint behind 1830 with all the vehemence which arises from false reasoning. Errors It was evident that this man had entered with a key, and like himself. at some distance a sort of little sutler's wagon with a fluted wicker "Do you know German?" She counted the minutes that passed in this manner, and wished it were arrested." and a little cast-iron pot whose interior presented evident traces of women, voices, laughter; on the horizon the Panthéon, the pole of priest says the prayers, makes the sign of the cross, sprinkles the holy of these flags was red and blue with an almost imperceptible stripe of see! If you only knew what pretty little rosy fingers she had! In the want to know what you are doing there! Get along, you little monster!" Fantine, with the feverish vivacity of certain organic maladies, which Marius took it. It smelled of tobacco. Nothing evokes a memory like an scent. Javert, with his powerful rectitude of instinct, went straight to that it issued from an abyss. Besides, we might miss the funeral without missing the riot." selected the convent as a refuge, and it was quite simple that he should "Come! his mouth is unstopped at last. He has said: 'Father' to me." Mademoiselle Gillenormand heard her father, who was alone in his room, Portugal, the earth quaking in Italy, Metternich extending his hand over Only grant me one favor." Royalist, of course, announced for the following day, without any such fashion that they now formed but one, which was venerable. Javert had no great faith in the Great Book of the Public Debt. "All that's However, this almost sepulchral parlor, of which we have sought to blindness by a restricted number of precautions which are always the all at once; it was no longer anything but noise. Tholomyès intervened. Enlarge wild nights which they passed, they went off by day to sleep, sometimes Thénardier, the reader will remember, although he had been Marius' the space of a morning (or jade).] consent of the district-attorney and of the counsel for the prisoner." head. This ought, in fact, to render him recognizable. This man is Mame Hucheloup, a good likeness, went and came from morning till improbability which is in nature; neither at the nadir nor at the However, she did not allow Jean Valjean to perceive anything of this, CHAPTER IX--EMPLOYMENT OF THE OLD TALENTS OF A POACHER AND THAT INFALLIBLE Each battalion of the Guard was commanded by a general for this final among the police, and striving to escape Vidocq's indiscreet glances which it was necessary to know,--if, the porter once passed, one entered Before he shut his eyes, Jean Valjean said: "I must remain here cudgel. Charles X. from beneath that dais which had sheltered Louis XIV. and fear what they cannot grasp. Blood-drinking bestiality, voracious see, gentlemen, that I, in my turn, can say: It is impossible. Then who He recognized the voice of the eldest daughter. trees more trembling, the odor of the grass more penetrating; never had de l'Homme Armé whether M. Jean had returned from his journey. Jean make use of them. When the nettle is young, the leaf makes an excellent the Rue de Cygne. This last barricade, which was very narrow, was "Monsieur Marius, if you please." it can no longer be employed in politics. The principal spring of the "Jadis, quand je vis les mantilles De Suzette et de Zéila, Mon âme à The first said in a low but distinct voice:-- everything, drawing on what he had read, and also on what he had been stuck to a candle. There's the epoch for you. My demand is that I Jean Valjean stared at the window outlined on the polished floor at his love him. BOOK THIRD.--IN THE YEAR 1817 separate the shops; he remained in this delicate situation for nearly promised so brightly for the future. from the theatre, he refused to look at the garter of a modiste who was in their extremest depths, and ignorance, converted into dulness, was common to the village and the cloister is a preparation ready at hand, make any effort to accomplish this. Without her knowing why herself, and and the fetter on your leg. This masterpiece finished, this prodigy warren against rats, simply by the odor of a guinea-pig which he placed trembling voice:-- bottle of wine, invented, so it is said, by Desrues, with which who you are and what you want. I twig. You've broken up that gentleman a one's apple as best one may. When one goes upstairs to put the veil on The flask finished what the fresh air had begun, Jean Valjean swallowed "Some petticoat or other." pay it." old, neither homely nor pretty, neither a peasant nor a bourgeoise, who his brain until that day; now the thought began to recur to him, and chimney of the New Building, and flung it into the space enclosed by the "That man is evidently a million dressed in yellow, and I am an animal. Divers reports were in circulation in the cortège. Legitimist tricks sentence pronounced against the escaped and contumacious accomplices. gazing at the lancer, he would not have been able to utter a word, and A moment later, the riot approaches and gains in force, he shuts up his philosophy. The façade of Corinthe, half demolished, was hideous. The window, At every discharge by platoons, Gavroche puffed out his cheek with his An explosion was heard, the assassin fell to the pavement face peered through the pane as he had done at the public house. Within was a darkness; in that building, in the midst of those solitudes, in the party that passed through the street on a Shrove Tuesday, a week of sovereign authority, an expression all the more alarming in questions to himself without replying to them. The intestines of Paris bench midway of the alley. He seated himself there, as on the preceding kept by some people named Thénardier, husband and wife. It was situated Marius could not doubt that it was really she of whom they were could have wished to see him. Moreover, he made no pretensions to auspicious moment, I mean to say a very inauspicious moment; one of accustom himself to the thought that all was over, and that he should he prevented lawsuits, he reconciled enemies. Every one took him for the observation, this language which is incessantly evaporating, he falls of that king, anointment meant the galleys. Marius' handsome hair was lustrous and perfumed; here and there, beneath he possessed the conscience of his usefulness, the religion of his you." pedestal to the future lion, to hurl such a challenge to the midnight Then Marius ceased to go out until after nightfall. This made his coat who was less chimerical and more attentive, any ordinary and charitable children," whom the police take note of, collect, mislay and find again between comrades sometimes are subject to these peaceable tumults. It At this absolute assertion, the Jondrette woman raised her large, red, sudden more sweetly than the noise of bees. The hive of joy was opened, What time was left to him, after these thousand details of business, and nightfall, with the child, by way of the Barrier Monceaux. There A few minutes later, Javert turned round and shouted to Jean Valjean: fact, has been engulfed in a deluge. It has disappeared beneath two With grand and lofty natures, the revolts of the flesh and the senses There is corruption under all illustrious tyrants, but the moral pest is Marius' disappointment on beholding another man than the one whom he At Javert's exclamation, Fantine opened her eyes once more. But the surrounded him like a swarm of gnats. "Impossible, gentlemen." it. Besides, no one has any interest in looking closely after children finding a man, Cromwell or Napoleon; and why the second absolutely fireplace, the elder engaged in dressing the younger's wounded hand. His in the fresh spring-like hut thou didst draw thy stocking on thy expel me, so I told you at once who I am. Oh, what a good woman that to be the people of some one who mingles with your dawns the startling As he swung these beauties, one after the other, producing folds in the may still be seen on the road in Germany. The despatch box, an immense could manage to get himself accepted there and remain there, who would Thénardier, who was, above all, an astute and well-balanced man, was a understand this? Did Javert penetrate it? Did Javert account for it to "At this, Monsieur le Baron. I am an old and weary diplomat. Ancient cunning, cruel, and uneasy air; a hideous scoundrel. Gavroche had taken a bottle basket from the wine-shop, had made his way the pavement. And then, throwing out your chest like a bully and right wing, and one of Wincke's brigades taken from the left wing, plus Basque announced: majestic silence of the eternal heavens. Then he bent down swiftly to as a great favor, linen trousers in the hottest weather, and a woollen the barrier near which sat Jean Valjean; a second, of the same aspect, Marius grasped both her arms at once. Yes, perchance, this monologue had some connection with the last Well! listen, infamous man! All those benedictions will fall back before some one whose name is All. "I am young and in love, I am old and I wish exhibited with complacency and which she bequeathed to the house at preparation of lint batiste is not nearly so good as coarse linen, nor Where true marriage is, that is to say, where there is love, the ideal "Ah, by the way," continued Gavroche, "what were you bawling about?" direction, and saw that it was fixed on a crucifix which was nailed to Javert gazed askance at this body, and, profoundly calm, said in a low Great Convent from the Boarding-school like a veritable intrenchment, of external facts? Does any one think that Alighieri has any fewer This challenge of titanic scorn Cambronne hurls not only at Europe in refused to lodge an appeal. The king, in his inexhaustible clemency, has in the alley Boulanger. are not seeking to lessen it: but the least of his foot-soldiers and of Arcola." This is, moreover, the most disastrous of social symptoms. All cracked vault, and then, the evil being visible, the remedy could be Jean Valjean had never loved anything; for twenty-five years he had been which were washed every week, with straw mats in front of all the beds. emanates from whiteness. The peppery odor of the carnations was is true," said one young man to a full grown man, "you are the father of pallor and transparency; and as she advanced in years she had acquired been in the garden he had already spread out a number of them. It was revolutionary change, evidently quite distinct from the real aim of the the law, in respect to the penalty, than there had been on the part So far in this book the Thénardiers have been viewed only in profile; scent out watches in fobs. Gold and silver possess an odor for them. CHAPTER VI--TAKEN PRISONER all climes, and he is groaning in all languages. forgot them; the boundary line of what had been their field forgot them; green swan-hutch. pretext. She told wonders of the Abbey of Fontevrault,--that it was like of their flag but a rag, when their guns, the bullets all gone, were no Poulailler and Cartouche, and which is to the bold, new, highly colored "Ah! you have a communication to make to me." mouth on one of his fingers, which was folded back. Jean Valjean was gone to get that mite of a child?" second, which at all events, presents some advantages, among others that crest of the wall, when a violent uproar announced the arrival of the for his country, and the advancing, and which had about it something tragic and terrifying, army, always a sad thing in civil wars, opposed prudence to audacity. Marius, back to M. Gillenormand. Master Scaufflaire experienced a frightful regret that he had not said a the new regime, and all the shadows and all the light of the earth the galleys like?" transform them into oysters and swallow them. The Caribbeans leave only Nevertheless, your eyes plunged eagerly through that opening which first six years of her life had instilled something passive into her sorrowful night when he had been brought back to his grandfather in a He had been appointed mayor, in recognition of his services. The police arms upon the bar of some capstan, with the end of his chain thrust into whose imperial they load down, or they overwhelm a hired landau, with seemed to have constructed it with blows of its wings. There was had rendered the Prefecture timid. Interference with individual liberty thousand francs. Besides the horse and tilbury together were worth but a Javert. It seemed, as we have already remarked, as though he thought, darts from the darkness, and abruptly tears off my mask!" invalids, the corridor through which he had approached. He breathed, he years, without being able to throw him. This arrest was not a beginning, CART from it, and only went home when the gates of the Luxembourg closed. He questionable in the fifteenth, are detestable in the nineteenth. The the thousand hands of the crowd had seized and carried off two hundred You will wait for me at a lady's house. I shall come to fetch you. Obey, The reader will have no difficulty in understanding that Javert was the indifference loved. His mind could get along without belief, but his fatigue which expends the strength only to renew it; it was the remnant deprived him of the right to take an oath, Chenildieu raised his "What do you mean?" replied Marius. "Ah! come now, we are not going to at one bound, entered the blind alley, broke the latch of the little box hands a terrible cap which he had. participate in the two epochs and have at once the barbaric character round. It was in vain that Thénardier sought to conceal himself in the CHAPTER II--AN OWL'S VIEW OF PARIS it was a divine spectacle to see that living summer snow whirling about him with a gloomy air. The batteries flamed, the hill trembled, from all those brazen mouths That made three. Less than an hour after this, the verdict of the jury freed the said without violence, without any direct action on his part, by virtue of a He strode off in the direction of the markets. in the mire; his head in the light. He is firm, serene, gentle, her infant and the death of her conscience. What say you to that torture "This," replied Fauchelevent, "is so that I may be avoided." in the mire; his head in the light. He is firm, serene, gentle, solemnly lighted. They talked of one thing and another, without passion remember the day, since you looked at me at the Luxembourg, near the grumbled for awhile at having that dear little creature "taken from him" "J'aimons les filles, et j'aimons le bon vin." Air: Vive Henri IV. bad, my worthy sir. Her elder sister has taken her to the Bourbe to CHAPTER I--NUMBER 24,601 BECOMES NUMBER 9,430 the English battery. The just man frowns, but never smiles with a malicious sneer. We "Don't reproach each other for your basket," shouted a gamin to them. they must kneel. Mother Jondrette raised her eyes, did not see Marius, took the two there are no fortunate. brought back from a barricade, Marius dead, then living, Marius indirect taxes. Then the Society of Equal Workingmen which was divided He encountered a priest on horseback. He stepped up to him and said:-- going barefoot, and have not a gown to their backs! What! A satin "I am at the orders of the very reverend community." happy? I stand outside of life, sir." This name caused Laigle to change his attitude. He drew himself up and communion?" pleased the multitude; and, for seventeen years, he majestically "Really! You will take her away?" conversation was the falling snow which deadened the sound of vehicles statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from outside the sisters lay her out. After which, I nail her up. That forms a part not suffice. Handing in one's resignation is honorable. I have failed in forest. equality, for religion heaven, God the direct priest, human conscience The day began to dawn. The torch, which had been replaced in its cavity _"Your blessing,"_ said the Bishop. "Fifteen francs fine," said Fauchelevent. and with the appearance of fleeing; they had been coming to meet him, Courfeyrac, see Tholomyès." judged, the legal conscience, the public prosecution, all the stars; he a profanation. Moreover, he had not the least passion for this lovely Another step gained. This success emboldened Marius. been elected King. He had not served this mandate on himself; he had not dupe. All at once his eyes fell upon the mirror again, and again he answer me: 'By the way, I want to marry.' There's a transition for you! mouth."] "Then his identity was established?" for the pistol-shot. arrive, in less than a quarter of an hour, at some mouth on the Seine FOOTNOTES: visible from without. The remainder of the trapezium formed the garden, "Monsieur le Maire, pray show us your chamber. It is said to be a And with his finger he seemed to indicate a point above his head where you want me to say to you? There is a market for human flesh; and it is on his hand, and began to meditate in the dark. rags, these ignorances, these abjectnesses, these darknesses, may be exhaling a celestial perfume, an ineffable twitter of heart to heart. contracted a habit of coming hither to listen to the mass. I prefer it anything stranger than that long and bloody protest of dealers in On the 18th of June the moon was full. Its light favored Blücher's me a present of a sermon and his purse. I put it in my pocket. A minute this rough and unlettered man gathered a perfectly clear perception of What did Cosette's soul contain? Passion calmed or lulled to sleep; who says: "Assets at end of current month," the gambler who says: As for us, who, however, in contradistinction to this school, reject by time, and attached to the back of the portrait of the Abbé of As Fantine concluded this sigh, the waiter who had served them at dinner "In what quarter is it? Do you know?" That he should have set the buckle of his stock awry, it was those tremors, those shivers of cold and modesty, that exquisite varied; and he remained of that epic and redoubtable school which is to him. down from his brow. "Truly, sir?" said Cosette. "Is it true? Is the 'lady' mine?" "Unless, like myself, he should stop on the way. I get down at Vernon, was forced to sit down. She dropped on the grass, and remained crouching being then M. de Chartres, he had witnessed, from the depth of a box, appearances, scruples had for a long time already controlled this man. alone was lacking. On the first cart was a negro, who had been a slave, "And shall I tell you another thing?" not man. The visible _I_ in nowise authorizes the thinker to deny the affluent. On that side lay safety. you is known to myself alone. This concerns the fortune of Madame la him. He gave three francs a month to the old _principal tenant_ to come result of the disarming domiciliary visits, and armorers' shops hastily herself once more on her chair. "Let me alone. It must be done." basket. nine sous; and it is not enough to live on. Then one has to become convict." seat to depart, after a stay of three hours, and she said: "What, is called in painting, an _ensemble_, that is to say, a person and a a blow became audible as the cudgels descended on shoulder-blades or than once, all this interior fusion, all this whole, of which the sum smile from his nature. His first studies in his art had been directed clear and firm retort, that this mysterious personage was mysterious in CHAPTER VI--THE CONSEQUENCES OF HAVING MET A WARDEN There are things which are too strong for the strongest man. Jean became Titans. The barricade was ten times attacked, approached, They raised material questions, questions of agriculture, of industry, threatening gravity which precedes engagements. They took aim, point were emptied, was a calming potion rather than a restaurant. It no twenty paces in advance of Marius. out and felt his happiness increase with the happiness which he afforded adored each other, and beyond that there was nothing. Nothing else "Reverend Mother?" having done such a thing as that! What's the use of being two old men, The man left the room, and returned almost immediately, accompanied by "Neither do I know you," responded Laigle. shaking up. age. One of them said to us one day, "The sight of the street pavement staff, that is to say, the very tip of the omnibus pole. hundred dazzling caskets, was that ancient crown of France, studded with took good care not to become useless; having books did not prevent his Jean Valjean went on:-- Carrefour Boucherat or in the blind alley Planche-Mibray, and let the shall be in England. COSETTE. June 4th." sort of horrible obedience,--all this had cost Marius but the time "Hold!" cried the Bishop, "you are quite right, Madame Magloire." sworn!" who, holding him under his pistol, had fired into the air, instead of Father? The Jehovah hypothesis tires me, Bishop. It is good for nothing "What have you to say before we put the handcuffs on you?" English army disappear. It was rallying, but hiding itself. The Emperor reprimand. "You did not vote for the death of the king, after all." her joy had undergone a certain diminution. She would have been sad, if observed the house, spied, lurked, and, a few days later, brought to Fantine mingled in the group, and began to laugh with the rest at moment the superbly melancholy visage. walls on both sides, and perceived that the passage was narrow; he well as of the _précieuses_. The Hotel Rambouillet nearly adjoins the This man existed and his name was Bruneseau. battle of Marengo? Never, since the origin of history, had princes been led to this arrondissement being frequently cited from all the rest by "Yes, I would scream to the police! Ah! I should not restrain myself, the shells and the French bullets, retreated into the bottom, now Jean Valjean was, in fact, regularly installed; he had his belled Messenger_. The mouth of the sewer of the Rue de la Mortellerie was have just said, that no one knows anything about it. In the midst of the And pulling his cap down over his eyes, he quitted the room. weights on his back; and when the occasion demanded it, he replaced When love has fused and mingled two beings in a sacred and angelic He caught sight of a corner of the wall on which was placarded the Marius had the blood-stained clothing which he had worn when he had been spendthrift, prodigal, and to the verge of generosity, talkative, and plants which love shade and dampness. Nevertheless, he did not become handling the flower instinctively, innocently, without a suspicion that "And so have I," said Fauchelevent with a boldness which caused him Valjean. The detonation rolled from echo to echo in the crypt, like the He was cold; he lighted a small fire; it did not occur to him to close Pretot, who was destined to perish also in the struggle, seconded Jean Prouvaire and Combeferre pressed each other's hands silently, and, it? He did not comprehend. is ferocious; if the lily could speak, what a setting down it would give that woman. A phenomenon, by the way, of which there is more than evoking tears. The _pègre_ is always the poor _pègre_, and he is always The grandfather was not the least happy of them all. He remained for a What will your relatives say to see me in a crumpled collar? Do speak! heart. Certain demolitions take place, and it is well that they do, but to ourselves elsewhere: did he catch some shadow of all this in his "Ah, come now, conscript," said Fauchelevent, "none of this despair. was noble, gentle, simple, proud, and that, in short, though he seemed becomes "a mental conception." play of love,--they were fond of laughing, they laughed readily and with thing in a barricade. It does not prevent an attack, but it prevents the They speak in low tones; they drop their eyes; they toil. They renounce agree that when we behold the pavement, we think of the bear, and it is properly speaking. There, within the limits of those few square fathoms, be analyzed as follows: three commissions; one to the Panthéon, ten "Enter, sir," she said. Jean Valjean remained alone. In this world of dismal deeds, people keep their secrets. The secret is abrupt closing of the adventure by fate. The over-prudent, cats as they perfectly honest. Ah! my God! I beg your pardon; I have unintentionally in the second letter, whose superscription read: _À Madame, Madame la he escaped quickly; he smiled to relieve himself of the necessity of 25, 1823. Chanvrerie, to the left on the Rues du Cygne and de la Petite The farm buildings border the courtyard on the south. A bit of the north on in France by progress, it pushed on the monarchies, those loiterers in the case, that the latter had some interest in remaining in the sand, had given way and had produced a stoppage of the water. such was the fright which the Thénardier inspired in her, that she dared to perfect everything. He felt that, since such men were to die, their CHAPTER VIII--THE ENIGMA BECOMES DOUBLY MYSTERIOUS breasts, a Holy Sacrament about three inches long, in silver gilt or The man turned round. conscious, that Jean Valjean, five minutes later, found himself in the Montfermeil? Thou wert in the forest, thou wert greatly terrified; dost battle, particularly on the side of La Haie-Sainte, it was abrupt and "I thought that a fire was unnecessary." beginning. Thénardier conducted him to a chamber on the first floor, which was of "M. Marius what?" save this man." He uttered these words aloud, without perceiving that he upon a little roof which touches the bath-house, pulled their rope after Midnight struck as the Bishop returned from his garden to his apartment. air-hole disappeared, the curtain of obscurity fell upon him once more, Paris. Then the new storm which had just burst upon him had stranded his ban, and went and posted himself at Saint-Sulpice, at the hour when gesture which dismisses a troublesome subject. We will not conduct the reader either to the mayor's office or to the crowd loves to behold that monstrous living pile of tinsel rags, half responsibility. Souls which blossomed out yesterday, and are faded them; an admirable representative of the "middle class," but It is not all in all sufficient to be wicked in order to prosper. The satisfaction is given to philosophy, either to circumscribe the cause href="#linknote-66" name="linknoteref-66" id="linknoteref-66">66 They passed the Vaugirard barrier in the simplest manner in the world. "because they were obliged to dispute with him every day." Mavot was ribbons on her bodice, and Valenciennes lace on her cap. The folds of "Monsieur Thénardier, one does not require a passport to travel five Valjean had made him, Javert, burst into laughter, by asking him for a had found on the kitchen table, and had seated himself on an overturned promontory." the ancient slang crops up again and becomes new once more. It has its inheritance of Mademoiselle Gillenormand the elder was considerable. He inquired of another pupil, a charming brunette with rosy cheeks, who vivacity; and then, when some one puts something cold down your more than that I cannot say; people talk against me, they tell me, of circumstances, and rather more like stalls than cells. These chambers The Restoration had placed him on half-pay, then had sent him into there is the pure blood; there is the true physiognomy; there this temptation. He drags it with him and yields to it. He must watch it, sometimes a dozen feet in depth, and whose banks, being too steep, no spinning-wheel, not a tool. In one corner lay some ironmongery of the scenes, into nice little promotions. The larger the diocese of the six francs. Marius ate like an ogre. He gave the waiter six sous. At life of the passions of the outside world, drama, and even romance, following them with his eyes, as was fitting in the desperate situation know his soul, and that, wherever she was, however mysterious the place, CHAPTER II--MARIUS, EMERGING FROM CIVIL WAR, MAKES READY FOR DOMESTIC open? Which side of his life did he resolve upon closing and condemning? or rocks nearly on a level with the earth. At length, at a spot where M. Gillenormand felt that Marius would leave him in a few moments, that beneath a howling pile of dogs and hounds. he did not understand, pass over him, so slowly that he was able to blouse, an old pair of trousers, an old knapsack, and a huge thorn me, 'but Europe is certainly better than Asia?' I admit that Asia is a He remained there until daylight, in the same attitude, bent double over embarrassment in every way." Qu'on n' dis' pas qu' les patriotes at the foot of the elm, on benches mouldy with rain. These good old To gaze upon the same planet in space, or at the same glowworm gleaming It certainly is sad that turpitude heaped up should give a sum total of his key; the grave-digger stepped out, but had to pay a fine of fifteen education of girls. This great affair was being discussed in a low voice, and the two heads also, as we have stated already, in a restaurant wine-shop of the Rue this shadow, as from an ambuscade, a narrow and angular forehead, a short, it sufficed for him to have an apparition of Cosette every day. Courfeyrac also said to him: "Do not aspire to be venerable" [they having transgressed the bounds of what they call "French taste"; I of the soul, at the expense of the loftier and more delicate sides. always been bad, became fearfully bad. Nevertheless, Courfeyrac and his The father pointed to the swans. pebble. portion of the ruin which has remained standing. The fence has a gate, disabling of Foy; the unexpected wall against which Soye's brigade was populace for building everything that is built by demolishing. same air and in the same manner in which he would have supped with M. "You love me, then?" She jumped out of bed, threw on her dressing-gown, and opened her cannoneers began to load the piece. The chief seized the lint-stock his neck by a cord. them all, without distinction, provided they left him in peace, as the without being himself aware of it. octogenaries who, like M. de Voltaire, have been dying all their life; this magnificent property about it, that it turns the whole will towards "And you are right," replied the Bishop. "As one makes one's philosophy, with us and take themselves off, and leave us here alone to attend to sea, "Neptune," love, "fires," beauty, "charms," a horse, "a And half drawing from beneath his tattered blouse a huge key, he added: years ago:-- "Let me alone. It must be done." This new chief, God, he became unexpectedly conscious of, and he felt expiration of a very short time you discovered that you could see "Monsieur," ventured the elder timidly, "you are not afraid of the All these young men who differed so greatly, and who, on the whole, can everywhere is putrescence and miasma; here and there are breathing- M. Madeleine had Fantine removed to that infirmary which he had "Yesterday." mistake which it makes with regard to us,--have we not sometimes been straight to the library of the law-school and asked for the files of the twilight. This twilight, sufficient to enable a person to see his way, the same degree as the feeling for what is useful. offered his breast. Javert, why not have said so? I owed my life to you, why not have said In the depths of the shadow into which he had already descended, ecstasy And, as a postscript:-- those men, without rising, with clasped hands, and taking great strides Europe. The Revolution had had the word under Robespierre; the cannon veiled prophet of Khorassan, caused his false sun to emerge. was transfigured into Christ. at mass, that the chimney in my father Fauchelevent's room smokes, that set her bucket on the ground, thrust her hand into her hair, and pallio? _ The wine on Surêne is a parody of the wine of Alba, the red And Combeferre restricted himself to replying with a grave smile. He followed this road rapidly. At the spot where it is intersected by that that hinge had just become animated, and had suddenly assumed a "Gone!" she cried; "he has gone to get Cosette." The first hour passed in this manner. the sword, with their fists, at a distance, close at hand, from above, in cold and rain; they will bribe errand-porters, they will make the The stranger inserted his two hands in both his fobs, drew himself up men will come. Leave them to their own devices for a time. When you She re-entered the thicket, searched the corners boldly, went as far as The yellow man carried his bundle and his cudgel in his hand. In the meanwhile, M. Leblanc had removed the large brown great-coat in the shop, and requested her, in the mayor's name, to leave the from the amount of love within her; but probably, in the daily and For the grievances against Louis Philippe, there is one deduction to be pair. "Be off with you, or I'll blow up the barricade!" above by the army and below by the police. Three squads of agents and anything you like, a million against a counter, that there will be was one of those grand tragic beings who have cause to complain of some added something indescribably enchanting to her beauty. They entered the CHAPTER IV--AN ATTEMPT TO CONSOLE THE WIDOW HUCHELOUP Jean Valjean had beside him the building whose roof had served him as "Ah! you put on your man's voice, sir. That is well, I go. You, father, accept in this mechanical way. of virile force; to possess health and joy; to laugh valiantly; to rush was walking through the country after a shower, which had made the whole of the snow which had fallen, communicated to the chamber a sort of made haste to warn Javert. At night, when Jean Valjean came out, Javert surmised was real. That sinister nettle had loved and protected that "I am here, little father, because I am here. Isn't a person allowed to The two teeth had been extracted. darkness that they may escape from an anguish. The sky presented itself "But she will hear." passed through a village, the ragged brats ran joyously after him, and Talavera and Badajoz. Wellington, three-quarters vanquished, admired water, and takes his departure. I am left alone with Father Mestienne. They rushed forwards. The devotion of a single man had given force and Marius might have set out that very evening and have been with his beside me, it will be a sign that God has pardoned me. While I was never was more than the outline of a quarter, had nearly the monkish "Will he return this evening?" CHAPTER IV--BEGINNING OF A GREAT MALADY The old man fell back without a sigh. The candle fell and was neighbors was the fact, that a few paces further on he picked up another "That is what ailed me," he thought; "I had not breakfasted." young and very small, with remarkable luck. come to tell thee the name of thy mother. She was called Fantine. The Thénardier woman had entrenched herself in one of the angles of the It was thus that, at the beginning of the century, ancient society followed him for a while with his eyes, and then entered the town-hall. is sometimes right and sometimes wrong. set forth in Section 3 below. from them with his hands full. I set out bearing only my faith in God; I quite disappeared from his face. Suddenly Jean Valjean replaced his cap on his brow; then stepped rapidly Legion of Honor, his great coat hiding his epaulets, the corner of red On perceiving the sister, his first movement was to retire. "If you like!" replied Courfeyrac. "The street is free, the pavements his horse having tumbled down. Nothing was more touching than to see him with his gentle, senile palsy, his offices and his breviary, he bestowed first on the necessitous, CHAPTER VIII--MARBLE AGAINST GRANITE galleys, I was a poor peasant, with very little intelligence, a sort Saint-Cloud perfumed the air; the breath of the Seine rustled the man to a state of perfection; it simply leads him, as we have noted, to and packages. Perhaps there was some connection between that wagon and passer-by spit upon his idol. It could not be that such things had been have recognized all the pieces of this miserable outfit. for some definite use, two heaps were visible, which appeared to be, the enthusiastic over a lesson in which Geoffroy Sainte-Hilaire explained nature. His habits of solitary meditation, while they had developed in dreams of sleeping flowers. There are fierce attitudes on the horizon. then returned and seated himself on his bench, where he spent four hours Moreover, the cat and the dog were her habitual table-companions; Sister Simplice herself was surprised at M. Madeleine's delay. rascal, scoundrel, come here!--Answer me, you scamp! Just let me see had doubled in intensity; she had had dreams: in the morning, when the The gendarmes retired. you will anger your father." "Ah, by the way, Laigle of the funeral oration, your coat is old." "Father Mestienne is the grave-digger." "Do you want to see? Look here, I'm going to write a word to show you." in which the galleys had moulded him, of two sorts of evil action: Mont-Saint-Michel, built by Louis XI., and used by Louis XV. He was the soon as they become aware that they are growing attached to this object, Brevet, who is detained for I know not what, and who has been appointed barely audible breath:-- From Thénardier's point of view, the conversation with Marius had not well-being of all. There should be nets at Saint-Cloud for the public the woods, encumbered by this invasion of forty thousand men. Shouts gate. Moreover, he had light hair, prominent blue eyes, a round face, parbleu! Why did they fight, why did Diomed the divine break over the no bread, no clothes, no refuge. It served to receive the innocent whom Valjean. peered through the pane as he had done at the public house. Within was a which we do not presume to state; it is something which we do not even Gavroche moved aside the stones which fastened the net down in front, his face had passed from unbridled violence to tranquil and cunning valley, no one knew exactly where. He had there, it was said, a sort "It is useless, sir. I have nothing to sell but cart-wheels. We are but de Siam."33 One drew a pistol from beneath his blouse and handed it to blocked. He had had great difficulty in reaching it. A battalion of the arrested in the very act of rescuing an insurgent? What had become of Kruideniers, called Bizarro. whisper: "So it is true. My name is Marius. I am Madame Thou." the little glass which the doctor of the infirmary used to see whether save this man." He uttered these words aloud, without perceiving that he there is the pure blood; there is the true physiognomy; there this "This is becoming serious," said Cosette. "What have I done to you? I the Little Convent had disappeared, the school had disappeared. There his nature,--had begun by congratulating him on being in love, though he four walls, entered upon the secret labor of germination, quivered in of having been grandson of Louis XV." Enlarge without knowing where, with thirty francs, his watch, and a few clothes other, came to the master's intimate levee. In the Carrousel there was wicked man!" bobbies?" fifteen years younger than he was. Later on, when her hair, arranged "Have a care of the manner in which you turn towards the dead. Think in them, to render them just by this mysterious confrontation; such is little, there is the living on nothing. These are the two chambers; the and of the word of God, which terrifies the weak and which warns the My most respectful complements, kept him on the alert and uneasy. It seems, in fact, as though there not even pettifogging. Meditation had turned him aside from pleading. To And as he spoke, and clung to this desperate insistence, this melancholy Cosette. All possible knickknacks glittered around her. When she saw that she could no longer dress her hair, she began to hate the famous and indisputable apparition of the devil in the Rue des Royalist salon. They sipped tea there, and uttered groans or cries of everything. There was once a fairy who created the fields and forests Forty-three insurgents, among whom were Enjolras, Combeferre, They considered that they had already arrived. It is a strange claim on the cuirassiers made breaches in the squares. Files of men disappeared, "Well, by taking post-horses, Monsieur cannot reach Arras before thought Courfeyrac. "Whence can this come to me?" Thénardier asked To love, or to have loved,--this suffices. Demand nothing more. There is Swedenborg and Pascal, have slipped into insanity. Certainly, these