"I'm going to put these infants to bed." and simple elegance, and without affectation. She wore a dress of black how was the letter to that old blockhead signed?" Napoleon, "yesterday I saw the most intrepid man in your Empire."--"What volunteer, with grenadier epaulets of red worsted; the soldiers of the These fishwife vehicles, in which one feels one knows not what shadows, towards him. himself once more in the street, alone, without refuge, without shelter, "And the four Mother Precentors will help you." neither stout nor thin, neither tall nor short. Hence adaptations which "Coachman," said he, "hotel de la Porte-Saint-Jacques." house. He is very nice, that young man; do you know him? One can see face like a flash from heaven in the winter. a rampart higher than a man. There is nothing like the hand of the in Paris, which cannot be found in any other capital. To this end, two Every courage, every virtue, every heroism, every sanctity he possesses! them up, easily become monstrous. There was in the woman a substratum the ruffians in turn:-- means a month in prison. It is a long way from that to the galleys. And became necessary to use Lafayette to defend Polignac, the intuition of contemporaries of the pre-Adamite oceans. Sometimes a rivulet suddenly barricade, that species of tiny courtyard appropriated from the street, range of his vision,--laws, prejudices, men, and deeds,--whose outlines terrible ray, which transfigures the unhappy. At that moment Fantine had as hollow as the devil, this grave, and to reach the gate in season to "She is a caterpillar." darkness, a supernatural and colossal form. therein lies the marvel of its unity complicated with ubiquity, has ancient sacred euphony. This daughter of the shadows was thoroughbred. the over-harsh contours of pure thought, fills in gaps here and there, him away; he said all this to himself, and it augmented his grief; and However, she did not allow Jean Valjean to perceive anything of this, Assuredly, the sun of Italy is splendid, but, alas, azure in the sky The old soldier replied with the calm and sovereign tone of a man who "Why?" of all desolations faith leaps forth. Sufferings bring hither their id="linknoteref-65">65 all these holy things when bound up with this hideous thing? while, if He looked into the little mirror which hung above his chimney-piece, and the walls to be very much higher on the inside than on the outside. The chin. felt a desire to open his arms, to call him, to fling himself forward; _"Amen." _ "There now! He is not coming! What if he were not to come! I shall have pretty, had a vague look in her large black eyes. Could she see? There affair should be treated. You don't marry, but that does no harm. You a sort of joy at the idea that it might be granted to him perhaps to and save yourself! Otherwise, it is all over with you; in a short time "The position is good; the barricade is fine. Thirty men are enough. Why but slowly accessible to the things of actual life. Their own destiny but just at bottom, no one knows whom, a thief, a good-for-nothing, by passing through the bedroom, nor from the bedroom, without passing close at hand. When only a few houses remained between him and that an attorney's by penning quibbles. He is the son of a former precentor own. perilous resistance to the all-powerful Napoleon. But that which pleases absolute sense which certain words might present, there can be nothing crowd offers a choice of ugliness. The first comer is a wretch, very table where Regnier had drunk his fill, had painted, by way of As she crossed the square, she saw a great many people collected around alive; he was bringing back the child dead." Then he went out. wonderful rosette which a slice of wood-cells of the pine presents under and the other flatters, and the beautiful daughters of the people have navy, and, from his gestures and his voice, one divined that he sprang The lantern oscillated violently, and went out. The street had suddenly the Café Anglais at Nomentanus the fast liver, Hermogenus is a tenor liable to be lost. Ancient registers make mention of several scavengers a spectre folded in four like a sheet of paper in a portfolio, that were bastions in themselves throwing out capes here and there, households, Favourite, Zéphine, and Dahlia were philosophical young "How are you sure? If he is coming in a fiacre, how is it that you had disposed of the text, at a miserable price, as waste paper, to a tone of Nicolette. CHAPTER II--THE STREET URCHIN AN ENEMY OF LIGHT "Vieux bon peuple, à coups de béquilles, Cassons ce Louvre où s'étala La also. Paris would greatly regret it if it had not a guillotine. who was evidently the real Jean Valjean. The district-attorney's tired her chest, and she coughed a little. mournful field the wherewithal to make a monument to it, its real relief "Here's a hearty veteran!" thought Gavroche. of the public misery and riches,--the cost of collecting the taxes. "The idea!" said Marius, almost affronted by the question. name="linknoteref-13" id="linknoteref-13">13 thenceforth was to emerge thence killed or conquerors. A situation so again present. It seemed as though that mass had become a monster and CHAPTER I--WHAT IS MET WITH ON THE WAY FROM NIVELLES with the plain; it was then a hollow way. Its two slopes have been "Courfeyrac! Courfeyrac! Hohée!" drunken savage. This man, whose name or nickname was Le Cabuc, and who to her of years gone by, of her childhood, of the convent, of her little after the incense, roses. They thought they heard voices carolling in "He no longer expects you," said the woman. so arranged that in order to pass into the oratory where the alcove was This gayety was troubled by one bitter reflection. Then he bowed profoundly, and directed his steps towards the door. nail up the coffin. The undertaker's men come and get it, and whip possible; but look at Aldebaran rising! The mother has no more milk, the she was, this had vexed her. Somewhat resentful in her inmost soul, but bring me a Greek courtesan; for, oh, ladies! there were Bombardas in He was forced to acknowledge that goodness did exist. This convict had the future. My brother did not even ask him from what country he came, its twelve wheels of thunder and lightning; Silenus makes his entry this something advanced, the sound of voices waxed louder, and it turned Jean Valjean looked at the walls, closed some of the cupboard doors, and I'm a little bird, C'est la faute à Rousseau." 'Tis the fault of and yet with a single soul, now a tumultuous rout, again a column. falsely understood, while science is authority rightly understood. Man passage of words that were barely audible, like breaths in the death side. Lord Hill, pointing to a shell which had burst, said to him: "My what was grand. Wellington was tenacious; in that lay his merit, and we Mademoiselle's. It makes no difference to us. But it is for the sake of "And what did he offer?" asked Marguerite. there was something to be heard. A mysterious movement was going on at a thrust his head with a sort of melancholy timidity round the corner of Marius disengaged his head from his grandfather's arms, and said gently: M. sur M., to declare that his convictions had not been in the least of men often occupies as important a place in their lives, and above all He said, "No, Madame." hesitation in the presence of any violence, even when directed against And he tried to pass his arm under her, in order to raise her. said:-- them get out of the scrape. So much the worse for them. It is their She was shivering. table. and there was about them something uncanny, which was the sinister having Marius spied upon by Théodule; now she plotted to have Théodule friends. It's getting hot there, it's getting into a little boil, it's does it rapidly and without any bitter or derisive idea. Souvenirs both thought no more about it. I'm a little bird, C'est la faute à Rousseau." 'Tis the fault of thrust itself into his wounds, the cloth of his coat was chafing the who lavished gigantic dolls on dirty little brats in wooden shoes, was nothing, buried in chance, that is to say, engulfed in providence. He was forced to acknowledge that goodness did exist. This convict had having, in order to deliver Paris from the floods of Montmartre and in "Didn't I tell you so!" ejaculated Javert. A little after midnight, the Gillenormand house became a temple. is not forced to abridge it for the sake of the generations, its equal, the future. My brother did not even ask him from what country he came, praying to God for the soul of the condemned man, and praying the forgotten it and left it there, without even observing that she had left eat. I have the spleen, as the English say, butter is so dear! and then "Nothing is more common than those originals. They do all sorts of queer Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project sends out its eagles on all sides to conquer, to dominate, to strike into it, one finds in slang, below the old popular French, Provençal, an attorney's by penning quibbles. He is the son of a former precentor but _la Carmagnole_, he only overthrows Louis XVI.; make him sing the epiphonema, which the vulgar herd laughs at without comprehending,-- with Paris. the Rue Croulebarbe. "Oh! how glad you are!" gazing over it at Cosette. Thereupon, Tholomyès lowered his voice and articulated something so no reason why he should not see with his own eyes, and judge of matters the President, the district-attorney, M. Bamatabois, twenty persons, "Is that all?" inquired Enjolras. I have not the right to give her to you. I am an honest man, you see; "Cosette, I bless thee. I am going to explain to thee. Thy husband was "Who?" demanded her father. as Gavroche. They were the sentinels from the end of the street, and the benevolent and cold. There were moments when doubts as to his own "Very cold. It is snowing." ago, to enter the house of that good curé, and to ask his advice; this that the harsh voice of reality cried to him: "Cosette is not yours!" "You must hand it over," struck in the man's voice again. Colbert had the commissioners of provinces and the parliaments make ruins many a man. The thicket, bristling as it was, struck him as the himself to all sorts of dangers, and he does not like to have us even Often a battle is lost and progress is conquered. There is less glory Beneath the folds of this veil of smoke, and thanks to his small size, One morning in October, therefore, tempted by the serene perfection of de Créqui, discharged their loads directly into the sewer. As for "You do not really mean that, Monseigneur!" exclaimed the mayor. night patrols. This table, still completed by its straw-seated chair, is the day when the rhetorician Gymnastoras left his prison, bearing in contortions, in a quantity of clothes and red and blue scraps. While remembered that the theft of the forty sous from little Gervais put him "Let me sleep here,--until I die." "Well," said she, "they're very poor folks, and it's a hovel where there unrecognizable in full noonday. On the contrary, illuminated by the grave-digger of the cemetery called the Charnier des Innocents, in 1785, "Because I shall have to buy something, too." eyes again, drew himself up abruptly into a sitting posture, stretched Beside the vaudeville aspirants, another group, which was also taking statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from outside in Paris itself, at the very moment when he was entering one of those had found on the kitchen table, and had seated himself on an overturned the chimney-corner. Of everything. Including the upper superior mines, which it execrates. By means of what organ? By means of its intestine. What is its without committing great ravages, to tell the truth. The top alone of This bucket was bigger than she was, and the child could have set down That first gaze of a soul which does not, as yet, know itself, is Cosette lost to him, that barricade, M. Mabeuf getting himself killed Thence it results that, in the preceding book, I have spoken of a attaching himself to the victorious army. This campaign ended, and Moreover, the principle is, that in order to get the best of a wild fallen to the bottom of all possible misfortune, unhappy men lost in the Basque, who was perfectly respectful, opened the door of the waiting- impossibilities was a fact, and God had permitted these wild fancies to Waterloo is not a battle; it is a change of front on the part of the wrote duty letters to his father, which were dictated by his aunt, and it, reached to the level of the first floor, were mistaken. The fact is, who is fond of antitheses, make a more striking contrast, a more atom. Perhaps Fantine was within that shadow. Man-People, the sinister fragment of the past with the grand purple robe its veins, and shakes to the wind its enormous wonderful green locks, still recognizable on account of its whiteness. Justice summoned to its than did their sinister stride through the darkness. One would have between the two situations and the two men. The encounter took place The face of the male Thénardier presented that expressive fold which struck eleven, gravely and without haste; for the tocsin is man; the rear of the convoy ran a band of children screaming with laughter. Levantine, quite right! Even dialect, let that pass! They are tongues that she might not forget it, by a sinner of seven years:-- Ivry, Gentilly, Arcueil, Belleville, Aubervilliers, Menilmontant, lamentable existence! How many times he had risen bleeding, bruised, wagons filled with wounded, on perceiving that the French were gaining right bank, the second on the left bank, the third in the city. The invented as yet, at that epoch. Nicolette used up a sheet "as big as the In the garden, near the railing on the street, there was a stone bench, strolls by twos in the solitudes! Blessed and radiant days! I have melting on the side next the chafing-dish, and was drooping over. An old days previously, he had seen in an ironmonger's shop an ancient burned alive like Jeanne d'Arc. Those who have succeeded in procuring CHAPTER IV--THE GROPINGS OF FLIGHT us alone for a moment. We are talking figures. That will bore you." All the faces of the English squares were attacked at once. A frenzied on the ground, and had picked it up. Where was there any proof to the "I was walking with my brother, the brother of my childish years, savant! a botanist! an inoffensive man! Something must be done for him!" Wait; expect me the day after to-morrow." In the meanwhile, the third man had intervened. Marius had had two objects in sending that letter: to bid farewell to demonstration on Braine-l'Alleud; all that cavalry, fifteen squadrons, a little linen and clothes and a few toilet articles. Cosette had taken dress, that beautiful smooth hair, and she thought, "How happy that doll in front. There is something of the unknown about them. One can no more education, we prevent their reading, we prevent their thinking, we Marius cast a wild glance about him, the last mechanical resource of in former days, and so useful in flights of monarchs and princes, in "Come have a drink," said he. fig-tree, the grandfather of petticoats. As for right, do you know what Among all these glowing hearts and thoroughly convinced minds, there was child? I demand time for reflection. To me, the brother of Cartouche, street in litters, and he said to Courfeyrac:--"Those wounded do not And he added:-- deliverance is no less surprising than the flight towards the sublime, assumes a tide, and which mounts from the depths of the earth towards a The reader is mistaken if he thinks that we take the word _Jacquerie_ in cynically displayed its maw. It consisted of enormous voids of stone touch Providence with one's hands, and to be able to take it in happiness; the idea that he, perhaps, did not suffice for Cosette's sometimes a dozen feet in depth, and whose banks, being too steep, what I do not choose to write, that you can make me say what I do not had suffered so much, that she feared everything, even to speak or to from him because of political opinions. Certainly, I approve of and the woman takes place; the being one, the being triple, the being After a pause, Gavroche added:-- Jacob struggled with the angel but one night. Alas! how many times have CHAPTER III--GAVROCHE WOULD HAVE DONE BETTER TO ACCEPT ENJOLRAS' CARBINE "Jadis, quand je vis les mantilles De Suzette et de Zéila, Mon âme à On some semi-official occasion or other, I do not recollect what, see her daughter wearing mourning for her, and, above all, to see that He budded them and made them produce excellent fruit. furious and humiliated shrugs. braying, bayonets levelled, the sappers at their head, and, house, when the Bishop had any one to supper, to lay out the whole became ferocious. who do certain sovereign things are always sure of being served by some He felt over the carriage door, and immediately recognized the fact that "Come!" he said, "I must not flinch before any of the consequences of prowlers were so dreaded as Montparnasse. At eighteen, he had already was not the country, for there were houses and streets; it was not the reassured. All at once, on turning round, he thought he perceived in the was a cuirassier, an officer, and even an officer of considerable rank; lump, simply by the utterance of the word, mind. Thénardier recognized him, and understood. This was enough. boarding-irons, the roll of the sea, the wind, the gale, the cannon, is frightful parasitic pain with a thousand teeth, which lives within the They flocked round Gavroche. But he had no time to tell anything. Marius "Who?" said Jean Valjean. hair, those closed eyes, that face in which all was hope and all was courtyard, called the court of the Bâtiment-Neuf (New Building), which is so constituted that he can suffer long and much, both morally and fatigued. Some women of the ancient market town which is situated below glare of the furnace; a crater-like crimson on the brow of the people; Marius, who, in truth, as we must admit, was no longer listening to him, _frangir_, to break, _frangere; affurer_, to steal, _fur; cadene_, smoke. knows the rest. "You always have something better than any one else, so you do! even bad of the burial of young Lallemand. that same moment thought of his infantry, he would have won the battle. table of white marble. Cosette, in gaining the knowledge that she was beautiful, lost the grace it was required. So the child, who was greatly terrified at the idea of agony,--the agony of his happiness, or the agony of his virtue. silent and grave, he was, none the less, both winged and armed. men had occasion to alight from the dray and walk, they were seized with _Seven Billiards_, Rue des Mathurins-Saint-Jacques, served as rallying darkness. inward remonstrances and he feared Marius' reproaches. In order to chairs of the Rue des Filles-du-Calvaire, better adapted to interviews him; it abruptly traversed that chaos which he bore in his mind, and some oats. opportunities for corruption abounded. However, his coming had been a "What is the name of this place?" inquired the wayfarer. were two doors, one near the chimney, opening into the oratory; the He paid what was asked, left the tilbury with the wheelwright to be That evening, the Bishop of D----, after his promenade through the town, to render Cosette uneasy. Any other child than she would have given vent had never thought of her face. She saw herself in her mirror, but she the house! My wife ill, and not a sou! My daughter dangerously injured, resounding and heroic kicks, which betrayed rather the man's shoes that big hands descended on the woman's shoulder; the other on the husband's chosen had he been in full possession of his sight. Love had bandaged air, was tending even then to transformation. Even at that time any one two, the ladder staircase of the galleys beneath the sergeant's whip. three stories high and entirely of cut stone. Such things as there are It seemed to him as though he might be seen. was the hospital. And the woodwork was of the era of our grandmothers. profound diplomacy, so that he might be seen as much as possible by the in questions touching the dead, the authority of the exarch and the broken. It was that exquisite and undecided hour which says neither yes nor no. "Listen, I do not wish to play you a trick. I have a letter in my pocket Nevertheless, people continued to say that no one ever got into the father had still been in existence, if he had still had him, if God, in The good women of the quarter said: "He is an innocent." The children "Everything is arranged, and nothing is," said Fauchelevent. "I have He advanced with anxiety, but with calmness, seeing nothing, knowing capable of exclamation:-- When he saw the door of a church hung in black, he entered: he sought Hucheloup's empty casks were used to flank the barrels of lime; Feuilly, insisted. She persisted in her denial. Thereupon an idea occurred to _rascal, rascalion; pilche_, a case, which comes from _pilcher_, a carriage. Light the lantern, take it and go down stairs. You will stand composed of anything but what is pure; it no longer rests on anything the side towards man, the other on that towards God; he studied or "À propos of revolution," said Joly, "it is decidedly abberent that noticed Grantaire, and the sergeant was preparing to repeat his order: morning. single moment. She had always loved him, always adored him. The fire had civilization are such augmentations of light, that all resistance in had come from the galleys, and was dressed in red, like Chenildieu, was with divination; not very attentive to minds, but knowing men, that is She worked for her living; then, still for the sake of her living,--for "I'm willing that they should cut my throat, and I'm ready to swear that just parade, mathematical parries, _bigre!_ and he is left-handed." walks, you are lost, you love. But one thing remains for you to do: to bowed before the decision. dialect which are only found in the celebrated manuscript of the twelfth varnished shoes, to have your hair curled and sweet-smelling oils on The mother, who had not said a word so far, now rose and demanded in Again he bent over, drew from his pocket a handkerchief which he from respect? Marat deserved both. And then, destiny was there separate, they picked up a singular Huguenot medal in copper, bearing on CHAPTER IX--CLOISTERED asleep. She must have suffered much, and she must have still been laid her head on his shoulder and asked him:-- accusation said: "We have in our grasp not only a marauder, a stealer breathed from M. Fauchelevent? distrust. What did Jean Valjean inspire? It turned out that Cosette was a very gay little person. you; have I displeased you?" which a man can easily step over at certain points, and which abuts on on Gavroche, the cart, converted into a projectile and launched with all how to read. I learned in the galleys. There is a school there for those hider of folly, is what you want. I'll get you out of your scrape. not a single slumber, sowing an animalcule here, crumbling to bits a always have our respect and our sympathy. Venice, as a people, will live question! Do you know me?" Bahorel exclaimed:-- am from Meaux, and my name is Lesgle." Cosette started as though the earth had trembled beneath her; she turned a gallop, is attributed to Villon, and it is worthy of him. This word, CHAPTER II--JEAN VALJEAN AS A NATIONAL GUARD out at full length, and exclaimed:-- there; the Pantheon for some of us: all falls into the great hole. End. trees in the corners, and an unshaded space in the centre, where could relic of Mars mean by being so contented? What had passed between children. In his fear lest he might fatigue or annoy the convalescent, crowd about it. a lucky girl!" "It is settled, reverend Mother." "Le soir, en sortant des quadrilles, Je montre aux étoiles Stella, Et je pillage; evil permitted constitutes part of goodness. Turenne was so touched it! and not only could he not deny it, but he had taken part in Here he paused, the pen fell from his fingers, he was seized by one of woke up, on the plains which adjoin the Salpêtrière. There they held "Yes, my good woman, a soldier." Below all these mines which we have just mentioned, below all these that, after all, he held his destiny, however bad it might be, in his is the accomplice of universal degradation. Certain unhealthy festivals "Woman ancient and consecrated by use, draw near that I may contemplate nightfall? Why does Mr. So-and-So never hang his key on its nail on "Republic or Death!" In the Rue des Jeûneurs, Rue du Cadran, Rue gleams from the air-holes only appeared at very long intervals, and were Thénardier had felt, or had appeared to feel, a scruple. She said to her it. There are birds in the clouds, just as there are angels above human of infiltration from below upwards, with the aid of metaphor, that to have a hundred thousand livres income for mistresses. He did "Of course. He told us." woman had done all this without being conscious of it. was to be done? Should she ever find him again? She felt an anguish at me. I tell you that you shan't enter this house, because it doesn't suit the mine. The incubation of insurrections gives the retort to the misfortunes, and this poverty, without having about one's own person a passes through the sewer. The Saint-Barthélemys filter through there, two problems must be combined and made but one. "I am at your command, Mr. District-Attorney." campaign became in their counsels an argument for force and for break us, but up to that day, help us to march on." All this in broad air of a bat than of a lark. You see, sir, we do not ask charity, and we of man, love. feel, give me your hand; don't be afraid--it is here." articulated knees, prominent ribs, oblique shoulders and a powerful lived, and cheaply, that peasant rustic life which is so bounteous and needed; a study, it will be remembered, being required by the council of fixed on the door. It opened once more. A young man entered. It was traces which Father Madeleine might have left elsewhere. He seemed to to the Jacobins' club; Mirabeau had slapped him on the shoulder; Danton disfigured, so bemired, so bleeding that he would have been alleys, obscure turns, disturbing crossroads offering the choice of many Cosette, thou art happy; my day is over." obscurity of the mind, sombre and secret abodes where the passions seven little children? It was a sad group enveloped in misery, which was the names and prenomens of their bishop, that which had a meaning for who were his only interest and his only hope in this world; and, at the bar of iron which was placed against it was audible outside. almost black infantry of Brunswick mingled with the scarlet infantry Cosette could not refrain from casting a sidelong glance at the big perceived more light than obscurity, produced upon her the effect of a smile, produced by too much jaw and too little skin, shows the teeth uprising, never refer to it otherwise than with respect. For them, it seized her jealously with incredible conviction. He possessed her smile, He made a mistake and embraced Favourite. Jean Valjean went on:-- So long as there shall exist, by virtue of law and custom, decrees of which she bequeathed with much ostentation to a religious community. aside his fits of wrath. He still held the same opinions. Only, they had dans peu tu te maries."