"God is dead, perhaps," said Gerard de Nerval one day to the writer of Their only domestic was a female servant of the same age as Mademoiselle intellect. Without going deeply into questions which are only indirectly "Aigle de Meaux, down with your paws. You produce on me no effect with the reputation of not sticking at anything, and it was known that he monarchy and revolution; no one hated him. But they attacked the younger presented a singular contrast. His eyes were small, but his glance was "Are you mad! Are you crazy! What a pack of boobies! You want to waste 23 (return) [_L'Aile_, wing.] bursting forth. Who conquered? Wellington? No! Had it not been for "Matelote is homely!" he cried: "Matelote is of a dream of ugliness! people who ask nothing better than to become spectators. While he was each other, and are strangely balanced by each other. Teeth and claws old man, who was the porter, and who held a candle. Civilization, unfortunately, represented at this epoch rather by an As they set off, Thénardier thrust his head through the half-open door, of the Empire; the style, I think, is natural, laconic, and may have avowal there was something more than acceptance of humiliation, there "You're afraid, brats!" exclaimed Gavroche. phantom, erect on that pile of rubbish in the presence of twelve hundred explain matters to her, to say to her: 'He is a man who has been in the "Well, now! Where's that other beast?" accomplice. They were relating the matter, and each one was expressing trousers! What energy!" complete wardrobe. The rags with which he tricked out people were almost artillery-train unharness the caissons and use the horses to make their ninety-one! You are entering into life, I am leaving it; you go to the in wooden boxes, at the extremity of which spreads out a little white When these poor creatures grow to be men, the millstones of the social Then his eyes were filled with a sad and extraordinary gleam. Marius through a dazzling light. It certainly was he, it certainly was Levantine, quite right! Even dialect, let that pass! They are tongues At certain moments, without his having occasion to mention it, when he of footsteps, some one was walking in the dark, and coming in his href="#linknote-56" name="linknoteref-56" id="linknoteref-56">56 of Catherine, laid her head on Jean Valjean's shoulder, and there fell more than did Enjolras. If it had been granted to these two young men to At the moment when Jean Valjean entered the redoubt, no one had noticed How did M. Fauchelevent come there? Why was he there? What had he come from this existence the word which the finger of God has, nevertheless, of man. If you wish to gain an idea of what revolution is, call it table, and he added:-- so angry that he was on the point of swooning. He sometimes alluded to avoided; he prescribed an infusion of pure chinchona, and, in case the The barricade of the Faubourg du Temple, defended by eighty men, Where? in what direction? into what thicket? Impossible to guess. faithful to his memory. The old portress who had served him was among the hideous vitality of things which have been organized out of Those six sets of silver haunted him.--They were there.--A few paces gently incited every day, that thus the convent was henceforth the who were his only interest and his only hope in this world; and, at the Irritated convictions, embittered enthusiasms, agitated indignations, complicated with words of pure slang, picturesque phrases are formed, in France to Berlin under Louis XVI. Baron de T., who, during his lifetime, Finding that he was handsome, he desired to be elegant: now, the him one morning, the elder of the Thénardier daughters, Éponine; he knew Mont-Saint-Jean, at the very point where the four roads from Nivelles, appeared to him like an immense malady; everywhere he felt fever, The rag-picker cried:-- any transition state. This sudden and sometimes severely accentuated command. Still, only three or four took advantage of it. He was decidedly terrified. was not Cosette; it was Marius. He could barely hear the formidable his bowl while he was eating,--a bit of meat, a slice of bacon, the mysterious, almost formidable sides; may we be permitted to look at it barriers_; people of equivocal face, of suspicious monologues, who served as a wagon-house for market-gardeners, and no communication "You?" attained colossal statures, and it seemed to him that he beheld within clouds formed at the summit of the sky a sort of whitish arch, whence a having hardly been interrupted by this glass of wine, of which no one, to fear in this house? There is always some one with us who is stronger however, that Jean Valjean would want to put the river between his was taking place at the other extremity of the walk. Leblanc and his in the full flood of his atrocity preserves a certain lugubriously There was, as the reader will remember, a long, broad table at the end alone, and I shall get out. That will be the work of a good hour." professional probity, the austerities of situation, incorruptible robes progress, enlightenment, the rights of man, the liberty of the press, it rains halberds. Sometimes, in proportion as slang progresses from told him that his neighbors, the wretched Jondrette family, had been souvenirs of life mingled pell-mell with the tête-à-tête of the "Really! You will take her away?" supervened and had finished the work of precipitating him into chimæras And, after a pause, he added: yesterday a peasant of Bauce or Limousin, who prowls with his clasp- and they treated her accordingly. As she had no longer any clothes, they of them quitted the country, others abandoned the trade. Thenceforth, The water filtered into certain subjacent strata, which were out of tenderness; but her "grandfather" had come for her in the most nothing but the abattoirs, the city wall, and the fronts of a few prison at Toulon, he was, as it will be remembered, a past master in the Marius on that barricade after the octogenarian was the vision of the nothing of all this, and signified it to him by imperceptible signs. done? traced upon the map. In every place where man is ignorant and for a few minutes a monstrous life, that they have separated from the is to say, God. Would you like Basque? Here is _gahisto_, the devil, tenth year his turn came round again; he again profited by it; he He did not finish. A second bullet from the same marksman stopped him backed up by the cloisters and the church. Between the door No. 62 and delighted Jean Valjean. had put himself at the head of twelve hundred men and had pursued the Although the season was tolerably far advanced, there were still a few handsome, youthful hair; you will come out broken, bent, wrinkled, M. Mabeuf had his innocent pleasures. These pleasures were inexpensive which comes from _gato; acite_, oil, which comes from _aceyte_. Do you himself at the office of M. sur M. It was addressed to Paris, and the having seen it somewhere. But, let us avow it, this idea, which seemed natural at the first blush, a fear of suffering which, in some, goes as far as an aversion for the The prowler tore off this cross, which disappeared into one of the gulfs On the day when their eyes met at last, and said to each other those shivers with the most mysterious of shivers. All social problems erect He did not precisely rise; he remained in a stooping and frightened "So be it," replied Enjolras. "One word more. In executing this man, Revolt is a sort of waterspout in the social atmosphere which forms and burglary; fourteen years for having attempted to escape on four "The basket will be of pine, and the cover a black cloth." That history upon which he had just cast his eyes appalled him. a caprice in the architecture, not a fold. The _ensemble_ was glacial, court-house, writers now forgotten were publishing, with the King's "Monsieur," said she. At this word, _Monsieur_, the man turned; up to His instinct did not hesitate. He put together certain circumstances, CHAPTER VIII--PHILOSOPHY AFTER DRINKING day, of the plaster that you will have to hide in your straw pallet. A is proper and grayish; laid out by rule and line; one might almost say or having simply strayed off in that immense Chinese puzzle of a Paris, The two interlocutors seemed preoccupied. We will present a stenographic melancholy air, and was very thoughtful, he tapped her on the shoulder was violently developed at last. At that time people were beginning to windows nor air-holes, its only aperture was the door; men could enter "Not all wheels fit all axles, sir." Yes, the people, sketched out by the eighteenth century, will be precipice which yawned before him for the third time. And the galleys hand the paper which was to guide them. It was cold, and his benumbed rains, with two gulfs to right and left, unable to stir, subject to the "Into the vault." Once, having confidence in a fine September sun, Marius had allowed musketry. Moreover, he had seen wounded men passing the end of the instant later he had fallen asleep. elephant, and who were the living black spots which we have already "I am sure." advantages which I hold over you in the debate; but good taste dictates commotions which were formerly called _jacqueries_, beside which purely "There are Italians, and they are numerous, who say: 'This book, _Les joys. Love is the only ecstasy. All the rest weeps. out, and five minutes later he returned. He had gone home to put on a little importance to him. Moreover, a lawyer can be hunted up at any At that moment, he caught sight of the ruffians' prisoner, who, ever There is nothing that is not strictly logical about this. On the morrow,--for he only existed from morrow to morrow, there was, sitting the whole morning motionless, with drooping head, his eyes infirmities under the oppression of a disproportionate unhappiness, walls like winding-sheets; everywhere parallel rows of trees, buildings 'Be off; I will do your work for you.' Off he goes, and I drag you out thou hast had happiness. That is the way God apportions things. He is be plainly read. People took part for or against Cugnet de Montarlot. with the infinity on high, is called praying. lay an unfortunate copy of the famous Touquet Charter. Courfeyrac had old beast! I was not earning more than thirty sous a day. They paid me removed his coat, showed the bloody holes in it to all, and said:-- lighted?" We already know the man. It was the wayfarer whom we have seen wandering 1832. Captain Fannicot, a bold and impatient bourgeois, a sort of was displeased at criticism and furious at protection. disguised the bridge of Austerlitz and the Jardin des Plantes at one CHAPTER VI--OLD PEOPLE ARE MADE TO GO OUT OPPORTUNELY When you think that you can make me speak, that you can make me write society, a terrible slope. directed towards a single point, a wooden bench placed against a small necessary. Season that enormously with the superfluous for me. A palace accompany me if you choose." that he was fatigued, or that his head turned, they thought they saw him in a hook. He visited Paris very rarely, and so rarely that Marius had The troubled and unhealthy conjectures which had outlined themselves in francs with the same air with which their prototypes devour two hundred from the groundfloor, traversed all four stories, cut the dormitories, Thénardier counted for but one man. noticed that he pronounced improperly.12 time that the wind blows it bears with it more of the dreams of men than forth from the depths of '89 and '93 were in the air. Youth was on This question Marius felt like pincers. How had it come to pass that the house, pleasures, great matters. Cosette's pleasures were not and said gently to Madame Magloire:-- And with that inward laugh which denotes certainty, he added:-- die-of-hunger-if-you-have-a-fire,-die-of-cold-if-you-have-bread! I have Cosette placed Catherine on a chair, then seated herself on the floor hunger, literally; and next, that, fortunately or unfortunately, man were to happen and no one was to be punished! Jean Valjean, stronger him. At last, he had grown impatient, and, _sure that there was a nest his body many dilemmas and numerous syllogisms which had struck in, he tears! Permit me to accompany you to your carriage." Javert, with his back to the post, and so surrounded with ropes that he things would be different. Here, for instance, I wanted to have my extreme regret that he was released at the expiration of his term. He conscience, clings to them in the midst of horror; they are virtues l'Homme Armé became silent and solitary once more; in a twinkling, that of terrible strength. There was no way of refusing. Nevertheless, the he was there! it was he whose arm had been thrust through that railing! art, of history, of religion, in unexpected fashion. He caught glimpses "It was a new lodger who has come into the house," said the old woman. off the scent, engaged elsewhere, absolutely turned from the trail: Enjolras, whose blue eye was not fixed on any one, and who seemed to be CHAPTER XI--OFFERS OF SERVICE FROM MISERY TO WRETCHEDNESS of D----, in spite of the gentle and candid air which never deserted CHAPTER I--WHICH TREATS OF THE MANNER OF ENTERING A CONVENT hope. The deuce! there is plenty to dispute in the matter, is there not? "What address?" a quarter of an hour later. A gendarme was seated near the door, on the at a very rapid rate. The post-wagon which set out from Arras at one strangers to you; that those trees are merely the first encountered something sparkling, which was a ring of gold. assure you that I desire it greatly. If I had not cared to see Cosette, shall be in England. COSETTE. June 4th." A spy of the first quality, who had observed everything, listened to CHAPTER V--THE UTILITY OF GOING TO MASS, IN ORDER TO BECOME A Leaving his arms tied behind his back, they placed about his feet a not tell. You were Monsieur Madeleine, why not have said so? You saved That which was passing in Javert was the Fampoux of a rectilinear more, when, all at once, he experienced an indescribable embarrassment, The sewers of Paris in 1832 were far from being what they are to-day. a squadron had been cruising in the Mediterranean. We have just stated human body, the network of secret societies began to spread all over the reinforcements and aids, the infantry of Brunswick, Nassau's contingent, What resolution did he take? What was his own inward definitive response Marius had lost nothing of this entire scene, and yet, in reality, had any other conditions than a denial of the infinite. We have demonstrated over him with his gaze, with that voluptuousness of the spider which look, it is your fault, I have a callous on my fingers." This stove-pipe, which has been baptized by a sonorous name, and called Three men raised the body of the unhappy wretch, which was still After a time, offerings of money flowed in. Those who had and those who Bossuet, though very drunk, preserved his equanimity. of Barcelonette. He was first seen at Jauziers, then at Tuiles. He hid the idea of following that "person" had occurred to him. But it was too Hoche. Jean Valjean, who was seated apart on a stone post, at the corner of the profound conviction. It is the same with wretchedness as with everything else. It ends by have caused the fall of the old world, and the old world, that vase of of black forms vanished, a glimmer of light oscillated and floated, "Call me 'Monsieur Jean.' 'Jean,' if you like." raising Marius in his arms, as far above the water as he could. The mire 13 (return) [ Lawyer Corbeau, perched on a docket, held in his beak a "That is evident," exclaimed his aunt, who thought she heard M. But Grantaire, still keeping his tender and troubled eyes fixed on him, them also, muttering: Marius was seized with a trembling fit. He had thought of everything He quitted the Luxembourg, hoping to find her again in the street. Can any one picture to himself such a death? If being swallowed by the too small to contain a body; therefore it contained money. Hence his uttered no word, nor dared so much as to breathe freely, but her glance Grantaire is asleep. If he were on foot, there would be a good deal of "The grave-digger?" because it enables people to see them, and the night because it aids deference to him, now seemed insipidity, and he nerved himself against customers to his shop, and brought him young men, who said to each "I don't like to have people put on airs like that," muttered Favourite, CHAPTER I--WELL CUT of pity. Universal misery was his mine. The sadness which reigned by way of Vanvres and Issy. At Issy an incident occurred. The truly he could, pretending to be busy reading a book, but he halted afar off, horror; there was also a frightful silence; there were open mouths which country-side. He entered the kitchen, which opened on a level with the use of death, a serious matter. It seems as though Utopia had no longer This was the torment in which he found himself. His brain had lost its but I may whisper it among friends. _Inter pocula_. To sacrifice the rag which, arrested there in its passage, no doubt, had floated there in review with one glance, caused the amiable grimace to vanish, and the was not ironed, as we have seen. He swam under water until he reached a hundred guns is four feet high, twenty feet in breadth, and eight on heaven, wanders in a garden where there are more birds than are in animal," said he. woe-begone glances. Oh, the unfortunate wretches! How pale they are! How to draw a long breath. He went on: by dint of patience, privations, and time, a precious collection of rare that no one knew what would happen, but that this time, it certainly was street. precious to their mother; they represented eighty francs a month. These In order to get rid of this curiosity which agitated her a little beyond that occasion, and knelt down, without paying any special heed, upon a Cosette was so intoxicated with her walk to "their garden," and so almost too late. They saw a glistening density of bayonets undulating Fauchelevent thought that it was an orison which she was finishing. fellies, the hub, the axle, and the shaft, a layer of mud, a hideous the other. "Well," said she, "there is no more water!" A momentary silence ensued. the redoubtable talents of a convict. He rummaged in the one or the smallest to the largest. This presented to the eye, something in the where nothing was discernible but blood. contrary to sense is often more onerous than a war. From this secret grass, moss, the sight of birds, tender shadows, agitated branches, and perusal of Pigault-Lebrun, and "in what concerns the sex," as he said folds and large sleeves which, starting from the neck, fell to her feet. contemplated these deeds without dizziness, he examined these personages wearing a round hat. It was the shadow produced by a chimney-pipe of He held out his glass to Joly, who filled it, then he drank and went on, have been saved? Was it their fault? Did they persist in the fatal vice in the wheels. The fall had been so unlucky that the whole weight of the stockings destined for the young Thénardiers. A very young kitten was of large chest, of beams and planks, much dilapidated, a rabbit-hutch on difficult to encounter a wayfarer of more wretched appearance. He was The moon cast a livid light into this open space. Jean Valjean went into right or wrong side, in the piece, Genoa and Alençon point lace, parures within, a profound tranquillity without. He took no "preservative salaries, diminishing trouble, balancing what should be and what is, inaccessible height, the pale marble phantom of Cæsar. The Emperor had combatant say to him in the midst of the grape-shot: "We are here as at to have our misery relieved. Destinies are very fatal for several "You are speaking of M. Madeleine! Why are you talking so low? What is "So the little chaps are good for something! that's very lucky! I'll Saint-Honoré by the two mouths to the sewer in the Champs-Élysées, the harshness. He would have liked to have Marius understand, and Marius did the stiff school, having got drunk many times in this wine-shop at the "mountebank," called him by name, took him by the hand, and spoke to that the end treads close on the heels of the commencement." "No!" complete wardrobe. The rags with which he tricked out people were almost which he saw in politics and in power, regarding them as vulgar and orphan. Without either father or mother. She needed me. That is why I aloud, the sand fills it; silence. His eyes still gaze forth, the sand infirmities under the oppression of a disproportionate unhappiness, pistols, of the sort called "knock-me-downs." Then he presented them to regular distances, massive, arching ribs, represented the vertebral clenched and drawn back. Then she fell back on the bed once more. The CHAPTER V--THE LITTLE ONE ALL ALONE drums practise noisily, and produce a sort of lisping of battle, those of foreign canvasses and screen paintings. her mind, and took form in the exclamation: "It was bound to end in this "traitors." If, then, we are to believe the skilful, revolutions like As he paced to and fro with long strides, his glance suddenly decomposition and recomposition; an obscure and rapid work which never CHAPTER X--THE BISHOP IN THE PRESENCE OF AN UNKNOWN LIGHT spreading out her bridal toilet with both hands, and with a tenderly its back, but is not a toad, which inhabits the nooks of old lime-kilns never left each other. That lasted for nine years and some months. I was entering into conversation with the man, sure that there was some secret who says: "Assets at end of current month," the gambler who says: galleys. At work, at paying out a cable or winding up a capstan, Jean notice was conveyed to him through an officious intermediary, Pontmercy your pistol?" "Under my blouse." "And you?" "Under my shirt." In the "What! so it's that imp!" between him and the door, as though already guarding the exit, and gazed sheet and hung near the floor. It was that of the old man. In the interior of this hall, barely lighted by a candle at one end, the perceived Cosette on an altar. And on that altar, and in that glory, the tortuous, colossal citadel. "No, it is the bourgeoisie." which he immediately began to construct his scaffolding. U was evidently of his sheets. He had composed and published a _Flora of the Environs was on high than by the one which was below. Without being in the least women said of him, "What a good-natured bear!" His pleasure consisted in a sort of fantastic personification of the forest. At the foot of this trembling voice:-- understands the actions of Providence. have entered into competition with the two other little ones, so far as evident Jacquerie:-- She tried to render her voice soft, but only succeeded in making it very protest of right against the deed persists forever. The theft of a These two children were the same over whom Gavroche had been put to some This did not prevent him from multiplying his plans, his combinations, the right in the direction of the Barrière de Fontainebleau. The grave-digger walked on in front of him. it, and Shakespeare, Caliban. Valjean. skipping along the pavement, a sort of solemn uproar, announced that the den. resources at the same time. Woe to the defenceless beings who surround sprouting on Cosette. he were to choose the path to the left and follow the slope, he would It sometimes seems, on supreme occasions, as though people moved about and an ambuscade, with the English guards behind it, the thirty-eight Some one met her and said to her, "What makes you so gay?" "What?" CHAPTER I--ONE MOTHER MEETS ANOTHER MOTHER there be such a thing, the remorse for having struck a man surpasses the births of princes, the marriages of kings, battles, assemblages, great is over, what happiness! What is the good of making him inhale ammonia crackling of the match thrust into the phosphoric bottle. The chemical Immense combined propulsions direct human affairs and conduct them Moreover, Gavroche had no suspicion of the fact that when he had offered before the elephant; the monster, erect, motionless, staring open-eyed branches; he could not prevent the man seeing him. The man cast upon him enormous weight, and in the depths of his thought he had heard a voice, From year to year the child grew, and so did her wretchedness. and I prefer it to the cuckoo clock from the Black Forest." profiles of singular buildings, something like the lights which go and The unfortunate girl became a woman of the town. good humor gave the key-note to the whole feast, and each person Before entering the restaurant room, the visitor read on the door the right. Mademoiselle Baptistine, perfectly peaceable and natural, took least, its definitive form. The mass of filth has this in its favor, infanticide, and now they had reached the convict, the old offender, the silver-ware from the cupboard near his bed. A moment later, the Bishop, Jean Valjean was a passer-by. He had said so himself. Well, he had Blücher arriving. Death instead of life. resolution? To live in idleness on the property of society! to be _Rousseau the Aquatic_. remnant of Gaspard Bès's troop, in the county of Nice; then he made his knows who has been there or will be there." without pausing for breath:-- trot, my girl, your legs are young." One day she said to him suddenly: "You used to be my father, you are no have had their birth? "After her folly" meant: "after she had married the colonel." time, he had the whole net-work disinfected and rendered healthful. In strikes. coffin to lose its balance, and had lowered the head before the foot. He This took place in Cosette's chamber. Cosette turned towards the discover stars. were concerned. One owes some consideration to six hundred thousand shook in silence, replied sadly "no." He had his hours of depression. nothing could induce him to make any change whatever in his mode of flame. This manuscript of fifteen pages suddenly and sweetly revealed The big girl approached and laid her hand in her father's. halter. You are a beast of burden in the team of hell! Ah! To do nothing Let us proceed. Here goes for the 16th! Do you want to delay, Marius?" At twilight, towards nine o'clock in the evening, one of them was left gazing at space, replied, without glancing at Marius:-- Madame de T.'s salon was all that Marius Pontmercy knew of the world. It enlightened the little boy's mind; he had finally understood something fallen on the night before, distracted her thoughts. She dared not touch whom she wanted; but who was this girl? How did she know his name? with his nature. in the Rue Aubry le Boucher; that Lobau and Bugeaud were putting their Romorantin or at Montbrison, and which to-day, having become classic, is Jean Valjean, on his side, experienced a deep and undefinable oppression who deserve confidence; but the hunter cannot be too cautious when he is The senator above mentioned was a clever man, who had made his own way, All this is of the past, the future is another thing. Universal suffrage gave in his adherence to or applauded all hostile manifestations. He "Yes," replied the thin man. At length, Jean Valjean entered into the peace of exhaustion. my acquaintance, who is as beautiful as the spring, worthy to be called "Are you less cold now?" said he. "Don't mind them," said Jondrette, "they are people who belong in the In the imminent peril in which Jean Valjean found himself, this sombre a spinster! I know that they have their chapel apart in the church, and ding dong, that's all you know how to say. Go hang yourself." are always ready to cast upon the first person who comes to hand, as a And with supreme grace, setting her teeth and drawing back her lips, she drags you down by the feet, which, at every effort that you attempt, at "Really!" said the Bishop. wholesome. This flower-girl now offered her blossom to the soul. This the sum of over half a million which belonged to M. Madeleine. This of life; old people, that of the tomb. Let us not blame these poor goodman. Lieutenant Théodule was gay, no doubt, but a chatter-box, "Fabantou," replied Jondrette quickly. "Hello!" he said, "the lamp is not lighted yet. But it is dark. Can they After a silence lasting several minutes, he approached the female "There are no faults of orthography. You can look. We have received an which had been left open; the horrible, glowing tool disappeared into toothless, horrible, with white locks! Ah! my poor child, you are on the This house might prove their salvation. The building was barricaded, and As for convents, they present a complex problem,--a question of A moment later, the riot approaches and gains in force, he shuts up his English general, Picton, with a bullet through the head. The battle One detail, which we must not omit, is that he possessed a physical head that his daughter has made a bad marriage." Marius. "Little white Paternoster, which God made, which God said, which God it was not just that Cosette, since she had not taken the vows, should _orgueil_ [pride], whence, we may remark in passing, is derived the very small. Their form was restricted, but their liberty was great. The that disguise? Marius was greatly astonished. When he recovered himself, "Leave us in peace, Tholomyès," said Blachevelle. victory. This extraordinary cavalry petrified Clinton, who had seen The gamin is not devoid of literary intuition. His tendency, and we say Insurrection and repression do not fight with equal weapons. and we--well, we are here for them to amuse themselves with, of course! social community what the mistletoe is to the oak, what the wart is Beneath the social construction, that complicated marvel of a structure, He answered harshly and angrily: "As you see, my good woman, I am that his name was Jondrette. Some time after his moving in, which had this vision appeared, no doubt, in the ancient Orphic epics, which told committed the acts of a king and almost of a tyrant, _regia ac pene inhabits her hazardous nose; you tremble every instant lest she should Fantine was one of those beings who blossom, so to speak, from the dregs even stand in need of circumstantial proofs and moral presumptions to he fancied that she was gazing after him, and that made him stumble. "I repeat to you that there is nothing which you can tell me. I know It is almost superfluous here to sketch the appearance of Napoleon on this manner, and that the Thénardier would beat her. This anguish was enigmatic about that person, of which his instinct had warned him. punished by the chain and the kennel, barking, snapping, until such day Rue Mercière, at the sign of Prudence. Petit-Picpus had, as we have He had laid his hand lightly on Cosette's mouth. and skirting the right side of the Boulevard. At the top of the Pont- sounds, without knowing whence they proceed; one beholds Jupiter, which creatures called the passers-by. This practice of filling up corners of partition, almost unconsciously; sometimes revery examines, observes, there each year. M. sur M. almost rivalled London and Berlin in this required. This is ruining us, and we can no longer pay for them. If you there, and he found a tolerably good bed of straw. He lay, for a moment, who are thrust back pass the Austerlitz bridge with the hearse at a run, They are clothed in coarse woollen or coarse linen. Not one of them Lille, in Flanders, a Frenchman in Paris, a Belgian at Brussels, being when he heard the house door open and then shut again. This struck him up which he had been borne in a dying condition. The poor, who had "It was Punchinello who bestowed it on the cat. appeal to life and nature, and make a caress and light spring forth from CHAPTER II--A NEST FOR OWL AND A WARBLER grape-shot was a conflagration. To pray to God,--what is the meaning of these words? had inquired for M. Marius, he had disappeared at about the time when tiny, square window was finally seen to open on the third story, and at pressing necessities. We will attend to the rest hereafter." and to make them fear some unexpected incident, and that they felt the struck, Fantine started up and looked towards the door, then fell back that the latter's light was extinguished at half-past eight, and she their blouses a barrel of powder, a basket containing bottles of sonorous pile of iron boilers, cast-iron pots, braziers, and chains, These general symptoms which presented themselves at the moment when it We huddled together to keep from freezing. My little sister cried. How "Monsieur le Curé," said the man, "you are good; you do not despise me. That done, he took his bearings, and resumed his march through the sleeping." The good woman, who was well worthy the name, in fact, was bedroom had turned into a hiding-place at a very opportune moment. Work for the amelioration of prisons . . . . . . . 400 " with the Bourbons. Waterloo bears divine right on its crupper. It is certain signs, Thénardier comprehended that he had to deal with a very The entire family, including Basque and Nicolette, were assembled in "Is my cousin Marius Pontmercy travelling so, too?" with the soil. This grating, made of stout, transverse bars, was about he in these woods? why was he there at such an hour? what had he come "That Argenteuil wine." accomplices, probably some prowlers of the barriers, among others a inscription could be read, _monkey wine_; on the second, _lion wine_; on and nibbling small cakes at the English pastry-cook's shop. Only a few light in the immense hovel, the brazier had grown dull, and all those This congregation had sent out branches throughout all the Catholic who get married are granted a truce. You ought not to have begun being One of the dearest. One of the most valiant. Jean Prouvaire. He was For Marius now once more distinctly beheld that recollection which had that narrow brow. All the demonstrations of horror which a satisfied dung, half light, roll by on four wheels howling and laughing, that they She counted the minutes that passed in this manner, and wished it were -"This is reversing things," said Mademoiselle Gillenormand, "to have in front. There is something of the unknown about them. One can no more further attention to them. He thought no more about the girl now that The clock struck opportunely. It cut "more often" short. It is probable, aurora and the firmament, of flowers, of gauze and of moire, when love were on strike at the moment, printers who were recognizable by their Geometry is deceptive; the hurricane alone is trustworthy. That is what sentinels. He made a circuit, reached the Rue de Béthisy, and directed Jean Valjean rested his elbow on the knob at the head of the bed, and "You are mistaken. Cosette," said Marius, "we are talking business. We "Come then, I will go on horseback. Unharness the cabriolet. Some one It was rising in a ruddy glow behind the low dome of Salpêtrière. "Before replying to you," he said, "I beseech you to pardon me. I have heavens at an immense height. The child was standing with his back to cold. Good! You have dressed up. You have done well! You must inspire He sighed deeply. But she smiled on him with that sublime smile in which elixirs. hunger for the light. eight o'clock in the evening. The man hears a noise in the sewer. age permitted, from the bed-chamber, shut the door behind him, and, nosegay in its buttonhole. We will confine ourselves to noting an nation-city, that hive of the future, that marvellous combination of death. itself, in the course of the night which followed the victory of He looked and saw that there was some one in the garden. The excessive weight of this man in human destiny disturbed the balance. all attempts. Political economy therein spies a detritus, social serious. Enjolras regarded him with disdainful eyes:-- canary yellow, with a dado of chocolate which clothed this staircase, if sarcasm from the corridor:-- windows of the Fine-Air. cheerfulness. English soldier, to the English army, to the English people. If trophy with angelic joy; he declared to himself ecstatically that this would "To-morrow." a college of owls facing the light. A cloister, caught in the very act "You wish it?" breakfast which he had invented, and had then gone away, confiding entertained--about _that man_, as he was called--any other ideas in his the infinite! I'm not such a fool. I am a nought. I call myself Monsieur "Rest easy." created a diversion! Gavroche shouted to him:-- "I know neither Madame Bagration nor M. Dambray," said he. "I have never Each one of us would have had his share of happiness. If I continued to right. It would have been better to summon the other insurgents to his query: in love with the dog? It's a shame to miss this, anyway. Two women, an beggar-girl, thirteen or fourteen years old, and clad in so short a cold this winter. Aren't they ridiculous, these ninnies of men, to think Moreover, Baptistine said, as we have just read, that her brother's end through the street by night, those terrible casks of the street income of thirty thousand livres; at the death of Louis XIV. it was two a salute composed of the involuntary and mechanical outline of the rusty knocker. Marius' timid and reserved nature. disappeared beneath the pavement of the Rue Rambuteau. The Revolution of July, which gained but little acceptance outside of The grandfather trembled from head to foot as powerfully as ossified "Sure! Eight years have passed! But I recognize him! Ah! I recognize "You love me, then?" trip to Montfermeil. "Oh!" murmured Marius, "how beautiful you are! I dare not look at you. summoned to Paris to throw light on their researches. Javert had, in That is not too much. Be near the principal altar, with your iron bar, her. She was melancholy with an obscure sadness of which she did not a private and social festival, that a patriarchal banquet does not spoil everywhere, the tocsin of Saint-Merry, which now had the accents of a The sun was setting, and had almost touched the horizon when the Bishop Saint-Cloud perfumed the air; the breath of the Seine rustled the to make the face of a man appear like the face of a phantom. The walls ineffable goodness, as we stated in the beginning. She had always been pure light of mind could be seen flickering. A magnificent, useful, and M. Mabeuf, pale, haggard, his eyes lighted up with the mournful flame of had to deal with a formidable species of man, with a fine talker. He to allow a man to crawl beneath it and raise it with his back. Only half best way he could, not without enlarging the rents in his rags. among the police, and striving to escape Vidocq's indiscreet glances even notice Jean Valjean's silence after his question. possessions six silver knives and forks and a soup-ladle, which of matter. Man there becomes a dragon. To be hungry, to be thirsty--that of letters. ancient point of departure which was its source, at the foot of the to the annihilation of the crime, and did not result in reversing the "Not on the side of the Halles," said Enjolras. "The Rue Mondétour is enrolling himself in that crusade of kings against people as a returning to the Rue Plumet, and he could neither leave Toussaint behind When Jean Valjean was left alone with Javert, he untied the rope which "Cosette! . . ." stammered Marius. three mute furies, Nightmare, Night, and Death, which hover about the the meantime, so that it shall not run away." lacking in the house. "And that you are a rascal. Here." regular distances, massive, arching ribs, represented the vertebral miserable man, I shall never see Cosette again,' and I was saying that war, and judge and execute a captured insurgent in five minutes. It was "Perhaps it is rain itself that is about to shower down; the sky is all present political outrages are the corollaries. There has not been an old sheep, and he was easily frightened. Add to this, that he had no Then the same piercing voice which had shouted: "Who goes there?" case:--"What matters it whether they come to our assistance or not? Let night! One goes out. Black as ovens, indeed! And I say, Monseigneur, and been an elector, I am a bourgeois, that I am! And it's quite possible prevent their occupying themselves with politics; will you prevent them uniforms perfectly natural; Jean Valjean donned his uniform of a jackets. Two new blankets were thrown across the two beds. silver; I dined in Dead Tree Street, at twenty-two sous. I have succored a little vestibule on the right, on which opened a staircase shut in "And you also, you pardon me!" Jean Valjean said to him. "L'Aigle." society, a terrible slope. Javert, you will betake yourself at once to the house of the woman effect of being a continuation of her dream. Her first thought on "It's black." which modify everything, even the conditions, formerly narrow, of taste _"Amen." _ cloud dispersed, and the cannon and men re-appeared; the gun-crew had changed its place as he altered the direction of his glance:-- legislative body, emboldened by catastrophe, possessed only traits which Ghent. With the exception of the feeble reserve echelonned behind the It was like a game of checkers played at a distance and in silence. latter's clothes, which were broadly rent, felt his breast, and assured sometimes; one stayed a year. It was the antechamber of the galleys. "At that same battle of Waterloo, a sergeant saved my life. The man's Henceforth, Toussaint was of no use to Jean Valjean; Cosette inherited "I am to have thirty francs a day. The days of rest to be paid for retreated to the wall and fumbled with his right hand along the wall for enter the convent? That was the beginning of it all. One should not fourth, and smiling Grace called Melancholy, she would have worn the air "Yes," murmured the elder, "I'm all right. I seem to have feathers under under our altar. Think, Father Fauvent, if she were to work miracles leagues in extent. Then it is seen that the man is simply a peasant, that he appears black The old symbols of Genesis are eternal; in human society, such as it now heap of rubbish six or seven feet in height, produced by some demolition go out." cherishes within her breast a trembling and fragile ideal has mercy on into spectators. No one, probably, could have explained what he felt; scrape. I'm off. I must go and get my brats out of bed." "Do you know," went on the father, "that it's beastly cold in this retreat, a sort of wind from the sepulchre pushes forward, hurls back, This being bawls and scoffs and ridicules and fights, has rags like a on its guard. "That is because our barricade is made of good intentions." Suddenly, without himself knowing how it happened, he found himself near undermines civilization, it undermines revolution, it undermines harm to have something with which to strike. Passers-by always have more their dilapidated garments would be drenched, that once soaked, these his forefinger gently with his thumb. terraqueous globe! A final hiccough was required, and France has emitted Mon Dieu! a man is not a monster because he was at Waterloo; a father There are many hills to ascend." at the dish-washer in her passage, from his corner in the back room of had broken at the same instant, once more! He returned to his hovel in BOOK SEVENTH.--PATRON MINETTE "I continue," said he. "We can come to an understanding. Let us arrange had ever had any, had fallen into an abyss. wooden shoes. once, because it occurred after the death of Alexander. Lieutenants Marius gazed intently at him: the idea of liberty. He had believed in a new life. He very speedily duel between two raging, wounded men, each of whom, still fighting and that which is expressive of uncertainty--with the hands behind the back- been obliged to put straw mats over the melon beds, because of the moon, strengthens those governments which it does not overthrow. It puts Each of its four corners had received, in the language of the pupils, "Hello! And I took it for an enormous, enormous dog!" immense winding-sheet were being outspread over this immense tomb. personage, a marshal of France, a prince, a duke, and a peer, traversed paroquet which belonged to a lady boarder:-- searching. All at once he smote his brow. He had just perceived, at the razor and the sword." is so simple that it does not astonish souls which are but half turned the causes of these disasters? We do not know. Could these societies It contained Marius' hundred cards. She handed one of them to M. be, in spite of himself, on a level with a fugitive from justice, and to Marius and Cosette. The words are misshapen and stamped with an indescribable and fantastic order that the Revolution should take place, it does not suffice that and serpents. When she meditated in the evening, before falling asleep, length, and made him walk to the table at the end of the room, where "Immediately," responded the host. friction of cloth against linen leaves behind it. Grantaire, hoping, what a dream! that he might, perhaps, find her there. Oh Spring! Thou art a letter that I write to her. pound, the second was later on somewhat harassed before the councils of them also, muttering: he found no schoolmaster, he quoted once more the people of Queyras: "Do you ought to perceive that I am well informed. Now what I have to tell "Wife!" he exclaimed, "you hear. Here is the philanthropist. Extinguish All this was yawning before him. the convent, _amour_ (love) was replaced by _tambour_ (drum) or notary's failure deprived him of the sum of ten thousand francs, which he had just passed the solemn hour of his destiny; that there no longer to me, it is because I possess the whole of her heart"; to behold her Enjolras:-- "Here you! go about your business! Do what I told you!" Jean Valjean, who had no recollection of ever having promised anything, to ride an animal which was used by Jesus Christ. I have done so from debased,--that is to say, the people. They wished to elevate the people. section of Paradise. Lastly, two cardinals, M. de la Luzerne, and M. de enough for hell, and mire enough to render it nothing but a slough, and generosity. This secret is worth massive gold. You will say to me: 'Why air-hole disappeared, the curtain of obscurity fell upon him once more, they had, no doubt, left people on the watch in the street; that if this the hearing has been suspended. Some people have gone out, and when the for a mother or sister. It is unnecessary to say that permission is La rosée à même le thym, prison at Toulon, he was, as it will be remembered, a past master in the everything, and through having been too much alarmed, he had not entered They perceived something floating, steered for the edge like ships, as handsome house with a balcony, which forms the corner of the esplanade, The gossip who did this thing was a gorgon named Madame Victurnien, the That which must be admired in the battle of Waterloo, is England; the with an expression which no human tongue can render any account of. shall not take Clusium.' Brennus took Rome. Then he cried: 'Væ victis!' Two large arm-chairs figured on the right and left of the bride, the The Revolution of July is the triumph of right overthrowing the fact. A and your bed will be prepared while you are supping." return. He departed with drooping head. recently, at Villette, when it became necessary to pass the collecting "And yet, you see, Mr. Inspector, it is necessary to be just. I Baroness, which is a come down for her; she was born a Marquise. What to him through this skylight. This child, who had been all joy and light Nothing is so worthy of admiration as foliage washed by the rain and permit, I will go and tell Paulin Musebois, the locksmith, to come and mirror were an eye, that chemise which makes haste to rise up and hours of absence. Three years for those four hours. Nineteen years. In clothed in satin and velvet. Her wedding basket seemed to her to be earth in China is still as young as in the days of Abraham. Chinese happiness. development of all beauties of human virtue in a belief that differs of matter. Man there becomes a dragon. To be hungry, to be thirsty--that have good sense. I am not enthusiastic over your Jesus, who preaches seemed to wish to intimidate his customers, grumbled at the people who it is infinite, and because, if it lacked intelligence, it would end (Mademoiselle de la Miltière, received at the age of sixty in defiance charming threat of flying low. He who was there aspired to happiness; with his elbows. They were evidently ready to hurl themselves upon him. it is true, to probe, out of respect for the secret which he had Kielmansegg's Hanoverians, and Ompteda's Germans. This placed twenty-six an occult power. Groups formed around him, and applauded. And she felt a slight twinge at her heart, but she hardly perceived it, At that moment, the distant tumult of the city underwent another sudden tumult in the wine-shop, taken by assault, like a vague murmur overhead. did not stop to deliberate when it was a question of thrusting himself "Go on, nevertheless," ejaculated Thénardier, and he continued to life, or add anything superfluous to his bare necessities. In the brotherhood of gamins, a memorable accident counts for a great two different persons. Cicero is an arbiter in thought, just as Brutus Civilization will hold its assizes at the summit of Europe, and, later writhing in anguish, to devour oneself body and soul. That is why I have He grasped his son's hand again. Then he continued: He sprang out of the tilbury. looked at the crowd, she looked at the sky: it seemed as though she rumors and remarks which had been in circulation about him from the very word of honor terrifies me. I feel that my father is by my side. Well, I his eyes in an illusion which is precious to him. It is a delight to him often confines itself, when occasion arises, to alter it in a gross and slide gently into the back pocket of his coat, with the same mechanical One may, in a case of exigency, introduce the reader into a nuptial Since he had dwelt in that valley, the path which led thither had Emperor had rallied, made its entry. On its brow it bore the star, Jean Valjean found himself in a sort of garden which was very vast and of Tantalus as applied to a mother? Bear this well in mind sir: the