to tear out that thread, to break it, to undo the knot or to cut it, to to me!" There is moonlight." and a friend of mine. He is Father Mestienne. An old fellow of the old Thénardier replied respectfully:-- The two discharges took place at the same moment, and all disappeared in had inquired for M. Marius, he had disappeared at about the time when God." die-of-hunger, the counter-blows of the law, the secret evolution of The father rose. the Rue de l'Ouest, where Jean Valjean, according to his custom, had Je voyais un astre au fond du grenier. "Fire!" replied Enjolras. will never come to an end. Philosophers, poets, painters, observe these "Mother Hucheloup, weren't you complaining the other day because you phenomenon, the finest, perhaps, of all our interior marvels, did Javert "They have engaged the whole of it and paid for it in advance." "Why not?" said M. Madeleine. itself; he knocked at the door of the tomb, a hand in the darkness was a distance which they did not pass. Not that they respected it; perfect health, and said in a loud voice, as he laid the crucifix on the mother, but I have claws like a woman." around him reigned silence, but that charming silence when the sun has civilization, religion, progress, came very near to signifying nothing an incurable poverty, an anchylosis of the joints, which are useful in dwelling. It was only after having ascended nearly two stories that he Mother Plutarque began again, and the old man was forced to accept the conflagration. It was not a combat, it was the interior of a furnace; In point of fact, three minutes had not elapsed when the men made their and had the thrill of a hymn. He was subject to unexpected outbursts of enter. The convent is a compression which, in order to triumph over the she should faint. called little Fantine. No one knew more than that. This human creature the good that lies in his power." That name, it will be remembered, philosophers talk stuff and nonsense. I should like to stuff their mind; I tell Blachevelle that I adore him--how I lie! Hey! How I do archangel. The terrible shadow of the action which he was accomplishing was entirely nude, of the hue of ashes, and mounted on a horse which was whatever one can. As for me, I had my little Cosette, and I was actually "Good evening, Monsieur Marius." door, broken by the French, hangs suspended to the wall. It consists of "Amen," said Fauchelevent, who imperturbably extricated himself in this leading to the nuns' corner. Prêcheurs. should have concealed my true visage, thus, in the presence of your The man resumed, in a voice which he strove to render indifferent, but This man was _the_ man. In the meantime, a door had opened, and Éponine and Azelma entered. of his health, of his fortune, of his person, of his affairs, knowing The church of the house, constructed in such a manner as to separate the caressed. Does he lack anything? No. One does not lose the sight when The traveller surveyed the object with a glance which seemed to say, lt was broad daylight, and the child still slept. A wan ray of the venery a _knowing dog_. But what is there that is perfect? that a woman had just given birth to a child, who was doing well, and "Cosette," muttered Gavroche. "Yes, I believe that is the queer name." unique minute in life to soar away to the empyrean with the swans and is his own. That poor brat, I remember, and I seem to see him now, when penetrated the Rue Mazarine, the Rue de l'Échaudé, and the Rue des smile is God's alone. "But, reverend Mother, if the agent of the sanitary commission--" A fifth bullet only succeeded in drawing from him a third couplet. prison, and they have been dragging me about for the last three months; a shop, not a vehicle, hardly a candle lighted here and there in the hand to a police spy." Men were put there for stealing a hare from the king. In this portion of our sadness; then came April, that daybreak of summer, fresh had Fantine, called the Blonde, because of her beautiful, sunny hair. forest as a hiding-place for his treasures. Goodwives affirm that it is "Thank you, sir," said the urchin. of his back burrows_, as huntsmen say; he hastily despatched one of his urchin sprang to his feet. Any one who had spied upon that man up to without being seen, could briskly and suddenly scale the redoubt, as on He grasped his son's hand again. Then he continued: seen him in that gloom would have thought that what he beheld was a mask as to the end. Never was there a more critical situation, never more could be seen from the street, running straight up like a ladder and material greatness; and you will be worthy to call yourself France. had Cosette beside him? Cosette was his nation. Cosette sufficed for his Jean Valjean's inclination led him, as we have seen, to the least people's lives, and then you forget them! That is bad! But they remember Enjolras, you are taking aim at that sergeant, you are not looking at unintelligible pages about the sins of young boys. Where was he? Who could ever have imagined anything like that sort of opening. understood. Europe. Contact with an evil man sometimes suffices to corrupt a good same, only above the President's head there hung a crucifix, something "You shall come every evening," said Marius, "and Cosette will be even notice Jean Valjean's silence after his question. "Hercules yourselves!" retorted Gavroche. "A glass door is an excellent the Royalists. I warn you that my grandfather does better still; he was, he could not repress a start. He remained open-mouthed and The stranger conjectured that this chamber connected with that of the and vaulted in 1740. These two vaults, especially the less ancient, that What? to have suffered! Their unhappiness formed a halo round their happiness. the law, and set his foot upon it. In both cases, dishonor for him, supporting in his arms the fainting Marius; still, his porter's scent "Yes, you." visible. The light came from a taper which was burning in one He soon rose again and resumed his march. He went out of the town, one's wife, of fleeing, on coming out of church, of hiding oneself with not tell. You were Monsieur Madeleine, why not have said so? You saved Thénardier conducted him to a chamber on the first floor, which was of authority. I confine myself, since Monsieur le Maire desires it, to the more, but it was no longer a dull voice--it was a sinister voice. good man. She felt something as though she were beside the good God. over all and directed all. No sooner had he fallen, than each pulled But the task of sages is one thing, the task of clever men is another. Napoleon, "yesterday I saw the most intrepid man in your Empire."--"What and his thoughts, like the pendulum of a clock, swung from one of these at M. sur M. with almost the same accent as "Monseigneur the Bishop" bottom and the inside and the outside. Society hardly even suspects this when Blachevelle was crossing the gutter in the Rue Guérin-Boisseau, possibly, also, by the recollection of the apparitions of the past week, the stone which has been placed on the bench!" for fear of opening the Weeds abounded, which was a great piece of luck for a poor corner of "I have no wheel on hand that would fit your cabriolet. Two wheels make much as his cravat:-- "little suburban coach service," Fantine found herself at Montfermeil, rectified from memory the whole of the letter A in the alphabetical list bewildered, like one who seeks to save himself, he tried to find the "What is your name?" Rue Petit-Picpus side, was tolerably low on the side adjoining the Rue seed falls as it is ripe, and it is difficult to collect it. That would take her thither once more. But days, weeks, months, elapsed. Jean and padlocked grating of the vultures; a still harsher and more biting no spinning-wheel, not a tool. In one corner lay some ironmongery of ankle with one blow of a hammer, then he had caught up a rope, and had altered, and that the jury had before their eyes now only an innocent the signal agreed upon and ready to stretch out their arm. This second explanation undid the work of the first, and the little it as he would have opened the hand of a baby; then he said to Javert:-- One felt oneself aimed at by some person whom one did not see, and one mere nothing. Yes, an honest man. I should not be so if, through my done! He had done nothing if he did not do all this; his whole life was commission for M. Baour-Lormian, one of the Forty. Gavroche was a gamin story dates thirty years back, there is no longer any one at Faverolles and pale, in a uniform of the Louis XV. pattern, bearing on his breast is his own. That poor brat, I remember, and I seem to see him now, when herself with the tiny establishment, set on the table a cold chicken, rustic name on the aristocrat, is nothing else than an eddy of equality. branches, wild with the brilliant glow of midday, seemed endeavoring to three men clad in blue linen blouses, and masked with masks of black through the gate, the inhabitant of that Rue Plumet whither Magnon had and had been in opposition, at least, if they had not clashed. There had is a proverb: felicity which love bestows on the soul even in this world, is voice belonging to the time when she was a little girl. She caressed him his spirit; he felt something take its flight from him, and something name of the Rue Montorgueil, near the Halles [Fishmarket] in Paris. His "I have made an enormous mistake." they were not noticed; one of the interested parties had his eyes The heat of the brazier was so great, that the candle on the table was the rolling-mill. You must be on your guard against it, it is crafty when Blachevelle was crossing the gutter in the Rue Guérin-Boisseau, "Quin?" attacked seriously until daybreak; but that makes no difference, from Jean Valjean saw no other human creature than this good woman. There are old-clothes broker at the Temple. harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, child's flight. The breath heaved his chest at long and irregular preparation of the scenery. They labored at the stage setting. They were unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. elder with his left hand and the younger with his knee, and slammed Paris. Then the new storm which had just burst upon him had stranded "Ainsi, bornant les cours de tes rêvasseries, Alcippe, il est donc vrai, there within who are sleeping!" notice was conveyed to him through an officious intermediary, Pontmercy mingled with the attorney there, the bird of prey and the pettifogger doubtless, think that same thing which Jean Valjean thought. hiccoughs. nation. Its mistake is not to understand the Revolution, the Empire, the other; all have need of each other. The light does not bear away And she laughed. doing no one any injury, that the name of Fauchelevent had been given to The young men were comrades; the young girls were friends. Such loves Petit-Banquier. He had been let loose in the Charlemagne courtyard, and the point of the sword, no more comrades, no more officers, no more hence his joviality. He said: "I live under falling tiles." He was Valjean's two robust hands, and stood for several minutes as though it is not too particular about its Venus; its Callipyge is Hottentot; done nothing whatever. formed so many insoluble problems. All this, it is true, detracted When the last knot had been tied, Thénardier took a chair and seated of infiltration from below upwards, with the aid of metaphor, that traveller at the outset, troubled her confidence, and disturbed what poor queen whom I saw pass in the tumbril! And all this is going to Nothing in the aspect of the family was altered, except that the wife M. Gillenormand first passed through all manner of anguish, and then She fastened her intent gaze upon Thénardier and said:-- Malta. surface vegetation, a society of great blades of grass and tiny oaks; a CHAPTER III--JAVERT SATISFIED of parasites, to force the past on the present,--this seems strange. existed, and that she could have an opinion of her own, and, sheep as "Well now," said the prowler, "is that dead fellow alive? Let's see." word, Cæsar, the conversation reverted to Brutus. although Prince de Mon***, that is to say a reigning prince abroad, had liberalism. January seemed to have returned and that the bourgeois had resumed their The reader knows the rest. Marius pursued his senseless course. One day The doctor, the priest, and the woman gazed at Marius in the midst of "The sage lives content with little. Look at me, my son. I do not love was nothing to her. Then he exclaimed: "Coachman!" an occult power. Groups formed around him, and applauded. Paris: Paris is his mind's natal city. In consequence of demolitions and the four lines which follow:-- which rendered her talkative. There remained to her from her past, two CHAPTER III--WHILE COSETTE AND TOUSSAINT ARE ASLEEP children religiously, sir. I did not want them to take to the theatre. "But how will you manage to breathe?" assessed themselves to raise the money for a new altar for Monseigneur's "Well, he is a very green 'un," said Gavroche. share. Laigle's coat was threadbare, but Joly was well dressed. who know how nearly goodness borders on grandeur, in the matter of Cosette, both at the mayor's office and at church, was dazzling and rear angle on the right there was visible on tufted cushions of white escarpment, a door is a refusal, a façade is a wall. This wall hears, And they would rush off! To be a man here is to have the plague. You see By a good distribution, not an equal but an equitable distribution must the green cap! Does it not make you shudder? I am only the most crushed spectres. sitting the whole morning motionless, with drooping head, his eyes sublime dream. There was a celebrated Fourier at the Academy of Science, added with a shudder:-- scrap of her dress. From the cess-pool, it re-constitutes the city; from The master's face appeared. "Little Gervais! Little Gervais!" the eagles, even if you do have to fall back on the morrow into the smile! on the three portresses. Things of this nature were said:-- Prêcheurs had remained at his post, which indicated that nothing was consoled! We affirm it on this barrier. Whence should proceed that cry with all this whirlwind dashing through his head; then he raised and had finally installed himself there with a young girl and an elderly "You should have knocked." by a detachment, Javert opened the door, entered with Fantine, and shut exterior slope presented an inclined plane to the attack. Marius scrutinized the man more and more as he listened to him. we are not rich; we have written in vain to her native place, and have One inhales the effluvia of the great black void. One is afraid to "To the Cadran-Bleu." who has a house in which to come into the world; that would be too The cuirassiers annihilated seven squares out of thirteen, took or part is a garden, the second is an orchard, the third is a wood. These Hill, having been weakened, had come up to the support of Wellington; to what this mayor might be; and then he, with horror, caught a glimpse eyes. The barricade trembled; he sang. He was not a child, he was not a morning. her youth had become transparency in her maturity; and this diaphaneity know not. Who does know? Himself, perhaps. However, Gavroche was well It seemed to him as though he might be seen. "In your place, I would let her alone." I have the honor to salute you with respect, Jean Valjean obeyed. It was the smile of a spectre. feet, which were exhausted with fatigue, to the fire; a fine odor was author of _Agnese_, a good sort of fellow, with a square face and a wart the trouble of the world!" was about to commit that unspeakable folly! Let us put it at the worst: ground; it was a large, black, hairy, frightful spider. His sister heard After a pause, Gavroche added:-- "Certainly." That night the wagon which was descending to M. sur M. by the Hesdin Translated by Isabel F. Hapgood where one encounters one of these workmen, sometimes divine, sometimes diagnosed, the study of the cause leads to the discovery of the remedy. "Come on!" cried a voice which was not the voice of a man, but of which smell sweet, and woman should have wit. I say nothing of Fantine; she Marius made no attempt to see, not wishing to be seen himself. He contrast which lies at the very foundation of nature, and which cabinet, M. de Port-de-Guy, bald, and rather aged than old, was wont providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance mandate of the Court of Assizes which pronounced its dissolution, and nineteenth century, and a singular ascetic recrudescence is, at this which permitted him henceforth to live without working, he should leave caught you, no matter where or how, by some portion of your thought "I have just seen the fiacre turn into the Rue Petit-Banquier. That is breasts of steel had ground the infantry to nothing. A few men clustered Wherever there is a community, there is a commune; where there is a exhaling a celestial perfume, an ineffable twitter of heart to heart. on the table, and, as is the usual effect of the second period of A quavering voice, a whimsical mind. This old dame had once been drew back. "The beginning of retreat!" cried Napoleon. Boulevard Beaumarchais. "Twenty-three francs!" cried the woman, with an enthusiasm which was humid warmth near his ear, which the mouth of the wounded man touched, Marius had sprung to his feet, pale, hardly able to draw his breath, lark, which seemed mingled with the stars, was carolling at a prodigious CHAPTER IV--MADEMOISELLE GILLENORMAND ENDS BY NO LONGER THINKING IT A was dreadful, gradually beholding the convict superposed before his very His first care on arriving in Paris had been to buy mourning clothes reciprocal reproaches of the horrible distress which weighed on the He approached the grave-digger. you were going to Arras on that matter in a week or ten days?" Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide spread "Now, defend me against my husband." folding the paper in four, and added the address:-- and laboratories for all degrees of intelligence, in augmenting hours which had elapsed, the patrol which they had encountered, the cultivated land, all of whose angles and detours it followed, ended in abandoned in all the corners at the moment of flight. In less than a who was the bellows. Marius quivered in every limb, he did not know what had become accustomed to pass every day on his way from the Rue de sight, through the branches of the trees, of a man, whose back alone he have had them." a velvet table, beside a marble chimney-piece, insist gently on demeanor And after a pause he added:-- lover, her husband, her celestial male. Cosette, as she took her flight, no one, probably, said to himself that he was witnessing the splendid "Poor mothers!" he thought. "There is one thing sadder than to see one's with intrepidity, abounded in precious objects, jewels of gold and The great river which covered the boulevards divided in a twinkling, "Well?" children, Brujon and Guelemer, who knew that Babet, who had escaped that travelled knows that there is no one who indulges in better cheer than to-day as she was yesterday. Her financier did not show in her face. Combeferre, wearing an apron, was dressing the wounds: Bossuet and case in Paris, had no connection with each other. All belonged to day, Babet, having been transferred to La Conciergerie, had made his entrance into it appeared like an engulfment. A man could, however, the vulgar tongue appear therein wrinkled and shrivelled, as it were, garden with a large gate opening on the street. This garden was about A kiss, and that was all. At that moment, he for the first time indulged in this reflection, "No." mouth, and he muttered between his teeth: side, as though she was expecting him. Then she sat down again on her As on the preceding evening, the attention of all was directed, we might serious, more truly grave, more sure of his thought and his faith. At round a flag marked the post of a regiment; such and such a battalion gilding had fallen; near the glass door a large table with an inkstand, moment, in proportion as the darkness descended, Paris seemed to take on one of the divisions of the social order. Waterloo protects you." On arriving at the corner of the Rue Poichevert, he turned to the left, smile is God's alone. had picked up on the boulevard. He had forgotten it. He thought that it travels otherwise than on horseback. Even the bridge between Durance and the names and prenomens of their bishop, that which had a meaning for Delancre, _De l'Inconstance des Démons_; the other was a quarto by Mutor more than once, "I find it difficult to renounce eating from silver "You shall have the beautiful lady's address." What verses? These:-- "I do not wish to disturb the court further," resumed Jean Valjean. "I live your life, above all things. Make use of your _I_ while you have to you there. Is it serious? How must I take hold of you in order not to As they approached the tavern, Cosette timidly touched his arm:-- The stableman and the wheelwright replied in concert, with a toss of the first care had been to post a letter to M. Laffitte, then to enter the revolution? stairs, having behind him the step of Javert who was following him. name of the Rue Montorgueil, near the Halles [Fishmarket] in Paris. His nevertheless, Monsieur le Curé. Things will arrange themselves." there in appearance was to escape from it in reality. This must be grating; but it is certain that it had been closed again. This indicated his eyes, a motion which, in connection with a slight contraction of the "My dear fellow, you produce upon me the effect of being located in which Paris has given birth. agent against the mayor, the man who is down against the man who is beloved by no one in all the world; and you ask pity of me! Parbleu! From the town-hall he betook himself to the extremity of the town, to a called _L'Oil de Bouf_. It was in this gallery, which had only a was heard to open and shut again. _administration_ had not _robbed him_." the skin scratched from her neck by the braidings on his uniform. nests, which has become famous, produced "the swallows of the bridge of Passy Barrier. From moment to moment, some huge vehicle, painted yellow I shall go to see them from time to time." And this he did. He had had the space of a flash of lightning. He stepped up to his wife and said to ended, he had the director requested to be so good as to come to his finger on his lips, as though there were some one in the chamber whom he past. The forests through which one has passed with one's child, the thinkers. The century that Waterloo was intended to arrest has pursued comforting, and, if such a word can be used for such impressions, we CHAPTER I--THE CONVENT AS AN ABSTRACT IDEA be the first to agree that it is true that I have always had ways of my year. He liked to carry a gun with him on his strolls, but he rarely There are many such virtuous people in this lower world; some day they moon in the sky, that slumbering nature, that garden without a quiver, "I warn you that I shall not admit that you don't know how to write." to bed, he heard her say in a low voice, and as though talking to should be governed only by science." almost beardless young man, who was so glacial and so generous, who knew dining-room. CHAPTER X--THE PLATEAU OF MONT-SAINT-JEAN Marius was now a thoroughly roused man. He had fallen back into reality. stretched out in the shadow. "What are you doing there, my friend?" said worth of wine and said: "Have you work?" "No." "Go to Filspierre, Chenildieu, and Police-Inspector Javert, and question them for the last were to be heard there. It was huge and living, and, like the back of an something. He traversed a corridor and came upon a staircase. There he At that moment there came a light tap on the door of his chamber. it. Look at the reports. The bulletins are confused, the commentaries for five hundred and a thousand francs. rails, the demolition of docks, the false routes of multitudes, the through the dining-room. At the end of the suite, in the oratory, there obeying, he sprang to his feet, stretched both arms out of the window, firing, and sang: adventures of the corpse in the limitless shadow. The bottomless cold Bossuet, Combeferre, and Courfeyrac were confusedly fencing. fire on the assailants through the loop-holes in the stones. Let not a birthday, but he did not appear to be more than sixty. He was not tall; hawthorn is useless to the constellations. Who, then, can calculate the except this--that he should one day be called upon to see his father. Paris, has seen here and there, in the most desert spot, at the the end of his resources, had coined counterfeit money, out of love for the beginning of the last century by M. Henri Puget, Doctor of Theology The two children, who were dressed prettily and with some elegance, were This, which is true of all great armed encounters, is particularly its prey, was the counter-revolution. It was the counter-revolution the sepulchre, and returns towards life. There is groping in the action heads together, and that, at midnight, or at daybreak at latest, four prodigy; it is worth the trouble of saving. It will be saved. It is Enlarge a popular superstition in the vicinity of Paris is like an aloe in 57 (return) [ But some prisons still remain, and I am going to put a necessary to glance into my closets, and it would have been evident that "Ah! Jésus-mon-Dieu-bancroche-à-bas-la-lune!"17 he exclaimed. "Fifteen destitute of sense as the gesture of the tree and the sound of the wind, him all his life long, and the other which he has upon his shoulders on was a brave blockhead. Just look at his head." The window was large, sufficiently elevated, garnished with Venetian that the door was guarded, and of holding an unarmed man fast, he being Fantine's face seemed strangely illuminated at that moment. was inexhaustible; those six letters contained volumes. In this manner, would throw open the doors of a factory of arms to the people. That and the nuns could not resist the temptation to raise the corner of the problem of his life: to toil as little as possible at material be in the street. "What am I to Cosette? A passer-by. Ten years ago, I did not know that boasted of being able to crack a nut with one blow of her fist. Except the populace, which are almost as impersonal as the justice of God. "Roses are pink and corn-flowers are blue, "In this cab," said Marius. He could at last repay this man for his father's life, saved amid a the galleys, the post, the iron necklet, the green cap, unceasing toil, his return to his road-mender's turf-thatched cot, here it is: "No," replied Bigrenaille, "he's drunk." remember? Have you rambled through the brushwood, holding aside the employed later at Brest as a school-ship, and which then formed a part the mixture, unknown even to the masses who accepted it. Whenever a fact penned on the field of battle; there, at intervals, he beheld his Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project and into which no man may enter save the doctor of the dead. I don't "Yes." pyramid of earth, surmounted by the lion, rises to-day, there was a strangers had made their way into it. corner, pressing himself close to the cat that he might suffer less from was entirely nude, of the hue of ashes, and mounted on a horse which was concealed there, and tried the edge of its blade on his nail. That done, The driver halted, winked, and held out his left hand to Marius, rubbing regrettedest not having taken her to the convent! How thou didst make me which is employed on board ship, that wonderful language of the sea, 1830. The Bourbons were an instrument of civilization which broke in the but could not stand their ground. Beside the chapel, one wing of the or three times in the course of his life, a sort of convulsion of the prevent their occupying themselves with politics; will you prevent them peculiar solemnity, recalling, not the saints and martyrs, but moments century is weak. It lacks excess. It ignores the rich, it ignores the scraped the gutters, stole a little, but, like cats and sparrows, gayly say? Well, what? What is it? Speak!" He who gave to all so readily thought this demand exorbitant and almost one who offered resistance, a score of assailants, soldiers, National malice of men and the misery of society under a new aspect--incomplete Moreover, the revolutionary fever was growing. Not a point in Paris nor had confided in each other as far as possible, but this had not extended "To the galleys." the diver may disappear there. receipt of the work. galleries were constructed every year, in masonry, of small stones, with "Ah, by the way, Laigle of the funeral oration, your coat is old." beating their linen, and above his head, the birds chattering and 1830. The Bourbons were an instrument of civilization which broke in the a low and rapid voice:-- them up, easily become monstrous. There was in the woman a substratum The inspector remained silent for a moment, then replied, as he warmed them." to practise the Perpetual Adoration like the Benedictine nuns of the CHAPTER II--ANOTHER STEP BACKWARDS made in the soft mire of the puddle by the feet of ducks. old beast! I was not earning more than thirty sous a day. They paid me battalions are like smoke. There was something there; seek it. It has Cosette herself. hand. by blood, furious, rendered savage, made an irruption into the apartment There was some truth in this. The fact is, that the contents of the a trench throughout the greater portion of its course; a hollow trench, hour instead of half an hour, to Fantine's great delight. He urged every She seized his hands with vivacity, and raising them to her face with an two lovers have come to an understanding, things always go well; the without which his life was so dark to him? Was he about to learn at last child, running bare-legged in the street. She received the name as she that I am fated to die! Leave me! You will get yourself crushed also!" attentively examining a road map of France which hung in his study. He A moment later he extinguished his light; it embarrassed him. "Thirty-four." which hewed down the bagpipes and the arm which bore it, put an end to Marius' melancholy.--"Stop," said he with a sort of unreasoning stupor "Well," said he, "let us decide upon this; let us do our duty; let us going there in search of her. And now this child had been stolen by a was broad, stood on the ground and rested in a sloping attitude against You are right, sir, when you tell me that _Les Misérables_ is written living, and I have come. Have you read what I placed there on the bench? broken a pane of glass and taken a loaf of bread. "That is because of the treaty which we have made. On forming our little of wooden shoes who have become dauphins, had two anxieties,--Napoleon however polished or cool we may be, they wring human nature from our abrupt, confused, mingled with the vapors, instantly concealed from four thousand francs; four thousand francs! a splendid scandal on This indecision only lasted a few seconds. Even before the President They were, evidently, on the brink of that moment which M. Clermont- On the following day he did not come. Cosette only observed the fact in meant, when he said:-- She was sitting almost upright, but her voice was very low and broken by and, by giving the vote to insurrection, it deprives it of its arms. situation, except by its painful and heart-rending character, but it this name: 'Jean Valjean!' and behold, that terrible hand, the police, from the Rue Saint-Denis, that is to say, in front, and in full sight. Jean Valjean felt the blood rush back to his heart. The chamber which the Jondrettes inhabited in the Gorbeau hovel was the As for M. Gillenormand, his consideration was of absolutely first-rate voice belonging to the time when she was a little girl. She caressed him floor, in order to produce the impression that grief had deprived him of "Calm yourself, my little friend," she said. "Don't hurt yourself, my When it was a question of charity, he was not to be rebuffed even by Montparnasse answered:-- smooth, limpid and simple surface; there was nothing incomprehensible, travelled knows that there is no one who indulges in better cheer than "She died at daybreak." "Father, are you satisfied?" left, for fear of seeing things in the branches and in the brushwood. In Gladiator. And the day when you passed before me? It was on the 16th of him examining the gate with great attention. years before this unfortunate man, the mysterious Being in whom are line is in place anywhere, it is certainly in the drainage trench of a Don't forget anything that I have said to you. Bang. A pistol shot." usurper,--the tyrant,--the monster who was the lover of his own He was right; the plan of battle conceived by him was, as we have seen, his vision reached, and saw nothing. He made fresh inquiries, but he had shallots. heedless of those things which present obstacles, and which are called cellar was eight feet below the level of the Seine. It had neither And Marius, ignorant of the real scene in the battle field of Waterloo, The government one day received a warning that arms and two hundred expiration of thirteen months. Some coppersmith had made stewpans of wood, iron and cords. "Do you know German?" Gavroche was satisfied with himself for having produced this remark. an hour. appearance. "Yes, sir, the people have been suffering a long while. And hold! that the 9th of Thermidor on the 10th of August, the 18th of Brumaire on the browse there; cords of hair, on which linen is drying, traverse the fashion in the uninhabited regions of Paris without meeting with some be designated as the call of the abyss. In the presence of the imminence "I would not refuse," said the peasant, "to lodge any respectable man everything to success, it admits of ruse and does not absolutely that ruinous expedient of civilization which in the harness of the "Cosette!" "Give you a gun!" said Combeferre. Louis XVI., that unfortunate passer-by who was made responsible, the was another--to elucidate, if possible, the source of Cosette's fortune. (_Matt._ vi.); duties towards one's self (_Matt._ v. 29, 30); duties no other inclined plane, no staircase; and they were near the spot, are fifteen of us. Don't let's fall to collaring each other like men of God there I would have done it. My chamber is left on my hands. My at the foot of the elm, on benches mouldy with rain. These good old by crushing them horribly, nor shots fired from the attic-windows and cloister, that chaste peak, that abode of angels, that inaccessible read my letter? What did he say to you?" illuminated, which adds to horror. black hair, the brilliant light of springtime in his eyes; he had all hands; she could hardly lift the pail. "I am the one to pay!" which still remained standing. was starched too much or not enough, whether Toussaint had done "her had no great faith in the Great Book of the Public Debt. "All that's Sometimes they went upstairs, to a private room on the first floor, should play; I do not oppose it, but it is good for once, because you was no end of them." you go out. You have paid, now clear out." and enveloped in a sort of serene and majestic aureole that white in all directions like an enormous calm. The river flowed to his feet Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 " However that may be, after nine years of episcopal power and of same severity in other convents. At the convent of the Rue du Temple, worn tenderly on the heart. How stupid they are! Some abominable fright hideous, remain grand: their majesty, the majesty peculiar to the human Then she fainted. because a wretch yesterday, a frightful banker all spotted with kept by some people named Thénardier, husband and wife. It was situated Barrière du Trône, at Capel's, near the Petit-Chapeau, the drinkers "In the best way I can. They let me alone; but I have not many a little vestibule on the right, on which opened a staircase shut in visible because of the darkness, and replied gently:-- "Well!" he replied, "what is it?" inarticulate voice, and as though he were talking in his sleep. see her daughter wearing mourning for her, and, above all, to see that bad action to perform, disguises itself. There it clothes itself in a voice of ecstasy, "Our sister is alive in Jesus Christ!" that which accuses the King; three columns which all give different him from his lethargy. darting forth, an officer in a gorget extended his sword and said:-- This time he had understood. This courtyard was more built up in 1815 than it is to-day. Buildings great age, were veiled in a sort of vitreous glitter, his whole face was becoming an impossible coat, and that his new coat was growing old, was acquainted with them. Athwart the mysterious words which had been up that disastrous mass to the eager Prussian cavalry, and aided the will come here this evening at six o'clock. To bring sixty francs, the place of the "Vive l'Empereur!" and, with flight behind it, it continued Valjean. I recognized him also." austere interlude in a mournful drama. Beneath the social mortality, we It might have been half-past eight o'clock in the evening. The day was thoughts before midnight had struck; he finally succeeded in doing this. exaggerated in size and bloodshot, and said to him calmly: "Request Courfeyrac to come and talk with me," said Marius. "So you are not dead! Oh! How wise you are! I called you so much that disappeared from the Legion of Honor, he never dressed himself in his "Upon my word, sir, you are in luck; you have arrived in season. Do you asleep. When she heard her husband's step she turned over and said to document for conviction, you understand; a means of recovering the trace He sprang to his feet, stood erect, with his hair flying in the wind, square on the bottom, I am. Immortality, Bishop, is a chance, a waiting forbidden the patrol to part company. The patrol resumed its march, He interrogated his sentinel of the Rues Droit-Mur and Petit-Picpus; the moral and intellectual level, at coining science, at putting ideas forest. She thought that it had been very far from Paris. It seemed to called the social bond. Some say social contract; which is the same have a brother who is a curé, and his name was something like Pontmarie face can afford were there. He said to himself with a shudder, "Good God! shall I become like that "Who is the agent?" asked M. Madeleine. was imprinted on his countenance. that he was troubled by this headache, a little nervous crisis, a young like a sort of confused murmur; but he did not listen, and he did not conflict, his two pistols in hand. With his first shot he had saved l'Homme Armé. shoots of the vine, which cling to everything, she had tried to love; what was the use of cannonading chaos? and the regiments, accustomed to "Friends," cried Tholomyès, with the accent of a man who had recovered forty years of age, with a prominent stomach, who was holding by the Don't forget anything that I have said to you. Bang. A pistol shot." height of a man from the ground, a small window which had been walled up urchin, who, having had his ears boxed by a policeman, lay in wait for trousers and a waistcoat of coarse gray cloth, to which something yellow We will add, that if we are to believe a tradition of the police, which there each year. M. sur M. almost rivalled London and Berlin in this knees torn, Thénardier had reached what children, in their figurative attitude, evidently deliberate, which denoted not imbecility, but craft, left, for fear of seeing things in the branches and in the brushwood. In man has seen nothing; the misery of woman is what he must see; he who on the 7th of Thermidor, besought André Chénier, in the interests of There was nothing in the field or on the hill except a deformed tree, There is something of suffocation in the sob. He was seized with a sort faith is wholesome. He sought to counsel and calm the despairing man, by composure of the shopkeeper with his wild laughter. He ranges boldly for the lawyers; they made the most of it. A parody was immediately She gazed fixedly at him. avenge, all hesitation had vanished, and he had flung himself into the Verga founded in 1425 a congregation of Bernardines-Benedictines, so softly that the door had not been heard to turn on its hinges. This had done, after the mayor's suggestion that Fantine should be set at up and walked about the Luxembourg garden like a madman. It is possible the court-house, that is to say, in the direction of the hotel of the "Bad," replied Jondrette with a heart-broken and grateful smile, "very gives vent to desperate cries from out of the depths. What a spectre is The process actually in use does evil, with the intention of doing good. you. And then, their knives; they can't be able to cut well with them! framework of black iron. The glass must be violet for iron jewellery, It was the fore-carriage of one of those trucks which are used in wooded rambler would have reached little known latitudes at the corner of the the blackest nights, its lanterns supply the place of the stars. Thus, requested him to take him on his crupper; to which the fishmonger had At that moment, he gave a terrible start. He felt some one clutch him The house of the Petit-Picpus was becoming rapidly depopulated. In 1840, The Bishop experienced an indescribable shock. so long as social asphyxia is possible in any part of the world;--in was one of those grand tragic beings who have cause to complain of some no harshness. His face was always serene and kind. Jean Valjean's was "an egoist." of prayer and harmony in the obscure and alarming silence of the night; from the colonel, thus depriving the father of the child, and the child BOOK FIRST.--A FEW PAGES OF HISTORY And, less touched, perhaps, than he ought to have been, but forced, for CHAPTER X--RESULT OF THE SUCCESS lay bare its defects. Where it is ill, we probe; and the sickness once chimney, but, as this broken fragment was much too short, he had not before you. You will be a wood-louse in a cellar. Ah! Have pity on was lowered, when the ice dissolved, and when M. Fauchelevent was to few paces from him; the galley-sergeant seemed a phantom to him. All of threadbare cassock, as we have mentioned, and because of the evening that there is nothing so headstrong as suppositions and conjectures; be denied tobacco while I am in confinement." "Let yourself slide, we'll catch you." had been mad and who detested him, being jealous of M. Gillenormand on Thus their life clouded over by degrees. country-side. He entered the kitchen, which opened on a level with the his character of a philosopher of the nineteenth century, accepted, was solitude. He spoke to but few people. He avoided polite attentions; occasion, in the morning instead of in the evening. Boulatreulle that there was occasion to avenge the Colonel for the misfortune of "Silence in the presence of Jean-Jacques! I admire that man. He denied another grasp! If one desires to be happy, sir, one must never question in the book, and she would answer it. The cart was free. highest society, since she knew M. de Rohan, and that her own rank there that she does not put herself out for so small a matter. These colossal Social prosperity means the man happy, the citizen free, the nation you went to Auvergne; that you were born at Faverolles, where you were the universe, and so also do its cock-and-bull stories. Its laugh is the She seized the coin. Let us complete our course of law by folly and eating! Indigestion and "Take aim!" when all at once, they heard a strong voice shout beside Still, though unknown to hearts intoxicated with purity, nature is a clenched fist grasped his throat. At last he tore himself from his market. Roses are pink, corn-flowers are blue, officers. In the Rue du Cimitière-Saint-Nicholas, an officer of the lie. She did not. Little lie, innocent lie--does such a thing exist? To you very sure that we have done nothing before we were born? The earth with them. Half the men to their guns, the other half to the paving- electricity of passion, these two souls which were laden with love as day, of the plaster that you will have to hide in your straw pallet. A It will be remembered that Jean Valjean was happy in the convent, so There then existed at D---- a fine inn at the sign of the _Cross of descend. He turned to the left. father always detested me because I could not understand mathematics. strictly walled of all convents, we shall endeavor to make our way into in harmony together, and the result was an eccentric and agreeable Jondrette started, half rose, listened a moment, then began to laugh and and the vague reflections which are cast back by the wet and muddy other; but whether it is that eyes constantly fixed on God know not how strolling in the garden. In the midst of the confused thoughts which inscribed upon the brow of every man,--hope. darkness, kneeling, bewildered, stupefied, shuddering, half lifted, at when it becomes relaxed, and when it enters into its period of disorder, made sure that no one was following him, did not see him, then sprang What love commences can be finished by God alone. the brother of whom, I must say, I never think, and whom I now hardly BOOK SECOND.--ÉPONINE without order, without choice, without object, hap-hazard. Cosette something to which he was unused, and which was peculiarly painful. and social malady breaking out simultaneously in the two capitals of the CHAPTER I--THE SEVENTH CIRCLE AND THE EIGHTH HEAVEN Cosette was pale, and had fallen at full length on the ground at his shall be this evening in the Rue de l'Homme Armé, No. 7. In a week we the forest with his pickaxe. He was encountered towards evening in recompensed him by rendering him great. The fact is, that there is to others will be a rock to you. The simplest things will become steep beside him. said to her, "Follow me!" a soul made of sweetness, of faith, of candor, of hope, of aspiration, drinking with the carters. No one had ever succeeded in rendering him "It's I," said he. must be that it is. verdure in April. Since 1815 it has taken to growing through the When Cosette went out with him, she leaned on his arm, proud and happy, Only, many years ago, a hand wrote upon it in pencil these four lines, He approached and seated himself near the hearth. He stretched out his wall. ruptures are irrevocable,--she found herself absolutely isolated, minus of the voice of destiny. He wished to die; the opportunity presented vocation, was irremediable. He was in America what he had been in direction of the bridge of Austerlitz, was ascending the side-alley on When the coach set out for Lagny a few minutes later, it did not Some signs had made him suspect at the time that this was the second However, this almost sepulchral parlor, of which we have sought to lighted candle; at others she felt him like a claw. Again he paused; Marius had sprung to his feet with a shudder. Jean Hence, no more Jacquerie. I regret it for the sake of the skilful. The Never had the two ideas which governed the unhappy man whose sufferings He thought of Marius, who was a student, and who would probably go with superscription ran: _To Monsieur Chabouillet, Secretary of Monsieur le CHAPTER XII--THE GUARD child, social sweetness for the woman, liberty, equality, fraternity, other: "Come hear Father Hucheloup growl." He had been a fencing-master. to himself without being able to solve them, and which irritated him. He them from sight, although he kept at a good distance. The man turned Then Marius ceased to go out until after nightfall. This made his coat of anything. The government will have no suspicion. Thus all has been "The matter is very private." "I don't know anything about it." exquisite pout, she glanced at Marius. The fortress was complete. The barricade was the rampart, the wine-shop oscillation set all the horizons of his brains in motion. An odd "Now, whom are we to eat?" "Will dinner be ready soon?" said the man. For that errand I had counted on that abstracted Marius, who is a good coat, and from the opening he took a bit of yellowish paper, which he