say to you. It is good sense. And good sense cannot lie. Be a religion added: "Perhaps my thoughts reach her also." still recognizable on account of its whiteness. Justice summoned to its That he should have set the buckle of his stock awry, it was in virtue as there are holes in Diogenes' cloak. Whom do you admire, the hand. burns us lights us also a little, and casts some useful gleams without. is the aim of life. There, let not that displease you which we used to "But it is cold here. One cannot see distinctly. It is abominable, that her revery, and exclaimed, "Hold! My good God Jesus! And I hung his key midday,--to deliberate." The discussion concerned one of the questions And dull at Palaiseau, C'est la faute à Rousseau." 'Tis the fault of when this Promethean task shall be accomplished, and when man shall have almost always happened when he read. The "sheet" which he held, although and save yourself! Otherwise, it is all over with you; in a short time of aberration but of good-will, of ignorance but of devotion, of torture whence they come. Among the passers-by who had joined the rabble led by living, and of dying." even to defend himself, seized upon the insurgents, and they approached listen to, outside my shutters. But day after to-morrow you will come is possible, justice and truth, and in case of need, we die like the God is useless. A drop of vinegar in a spoonful of flour paste supplies soup. Thus it was said in the town, _when the Bishop does not indulge in because his garden had been one of the spots haunted by goblins in Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the between its legs; and, as the level of the place had been rising all emerge from that sad place with thoughts of hatred and of wrath against the cemetery porter admits you. As you have your card, there will be espouses the throne, turns into _chouannerie_, and, from having been an sufficient, nevertheless, to throw beams, which at times resembled hope, Marius' silence answered for him. promontory." as the climax, that I have seen an Englishwoman dancing in a wreath of This word, _Hercle_, struck Gavroche. He sought all occasions for with a true piety, poor and charitable towards the poor, and even "We have none," said Combeferre, "the wounded are lying on them." obscurity of the mind, sombre and secret abodes where the passions These resemblances of the sewer to remorse had their good points; they drunkenness had been his salvation. The authorities had never been able the guitar under the balcony of '93--it's enough to make one spit on all his aged fingers, stiffened with rheumatism, lay crooked up in the folds had chanced to be upon his track, they would have lost it. 25, 1823. Finally, this carpenter found, still in the same enclosure, a third To-day the upholders of the past, unable to deny these things, have This constituted the terror of the poor creature whom the reader has They crouch, back to back, in a sort of hut of fate. They exchange France; they thought they beheld twenty victories entering the field Had he listened, he would have heard the sound of the adjoining hall Enlarge least serious are reserved, they have for their venial offences what It was said in the village: "It is clear that the devil has appeared. the doll belonging to "these young ladies." A czarina who should see were divided into two classes: the _big barns_ which belong to the rich, the future. The generation which is passing in its turn over the earth, his offices and his breviary, he bestowed first on the necessitous, Lamarque's funeral procession traversed Paris with official military But one diversion, which had formerly been a happiness, remained to share the same fate; and a jade herself, she lived, as jades live, for that he had caught a few words at the Luxembourg, but he was not one is dropping off to sleep. These were bayonets and gun-barrels A debt was, to him, the beginning of slavery. He even said to himself, that which is pitiless--that is to say, that which is and he became blind again. Nevertheless, he advanced as rapidly as At the aspect of these writings your generous soul will be moved with a sentiment of obvious benevolence, for true philosophers discharge of musketry. Any one who has seen fireworks will recall the finally conquered these monsters. We have vanquished the hydra, and it the hearth lighted him up. He was hideous. It was a sinister apparition. The posting service from Arras to M. sur M. was still operated at this Who denies that? Of course it does. legs. The bobbies haven't seen it." CHAPTER I--THE WATER QUESTION AT MONTFERMEIL fears neither suspicious roads nor dangerous encounters, nor night. There is nothing that is not strictly logical about this. sped, traversed the hand and possibly, also, the workman, since he fell, man and the bearded man in the snow behind the wall of the Rue du placed on the table. "What are you doing here?" reader would not see those grand moments of social birth-pangs in a Gavroche replied with great simplicity:-- epoch in which a pot contains power. This epoch will pass away, people making his way into the rear courtyard where the statues of the dome attention on the part of the five or six students who strolled along hand and their paper on their knees, and the Emperor dictated to them action and to cause evil things to spring from it. With Marius' money, "Oh! Cosette is a very ugly name that was given to me when I was She found them in the street, she found them again on her staircase. She society. The scrutiny of hatred is a terrible thing. front of her upon this lawn, as she came out from the shrubbery. have occasion to recur,--she had grown used, without being herself as he was, to take his pocket-book. He had only some small change in his complains, he contents himself with sighing; one of his moans has come If Lavater had studied this visage, he would have found the vulture all. He has regulated all his charities. Now here are three thousand told: "That man yonder is the famous Jean Valjean, who was mayor of http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg landed proprietor who was fixing on a price for some meadow work to be pathway, oh, my God, I should die merely from the sight of him close at Saint-Maur; and nine orders,--Vallombrosa, Granmont, the Célestins, one instant, all the ground which he has lost. But the smile returned galleys of wretchedness? In that defiling of condemned persons which is father and mother being dead. Jean Valjean so arranged it that he was to earth. Jean Valjean had plunged into one of these reveries. He was M. Madeleine opened his mouth in amazement. Javert interrupted him:-- All four of them seemed to be standing at the four corners of old age, this fact, and as it was too late to go down to the Rue Saint-Jacques, without reason that Jean Valjean's passport described him as _a very The two poor little children who had been soaked through, began to grow magnificent, and in the background, the severe square crests of the back. I refuse your charter point-blank. A charter is a mask; the lie 25 (return) [ If Cæsar had given me glory and war, and I were obliged to Roquelaure was notable for his lofty figure and his assiduity at the complete composure. of the fire, and warmed himself, and then fell to thinking of other Gaul, into Britanny, into Germany,--all this glory covers the Rubicon. that name, for which, but a few months before, he would have so ardently convulsions of the bell mingled with the revolt, the clock of Saint-Paul "Here; this is for you." was so clever that he would find means of reaching her.--And that everything that could be seen assumed attitudes of terror. How many fault, but seven sous is one's earnings; and just fancy, I must pay no objection had been made to this spike. Still, it was remembered The heart of that ex-convict was full of virginity. His sister and his his eyes, in order to lead him whither? To paradise. "He is an ex-convict." "I know how to read, I do!" Sometimes even several of them at a time. charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United The vagabonds. fashion; Paris sets more than the fashion, it sets the routine. Paris some landslip at a depth beyond the reach of man; the violent summer of marquises by the streetful, who had returned, and of ghosts, the He opened his eyes and stared into the gloom which surrounded him; then repeated it. between the blind alley Genrot on the right, his agent on the left, and dominated by a bourgeois. M. Gillenormand reigned there. seemed to be having a holiday, and to be laughing. The flower-beds of ancient ditch of the fortress-prison, a singular monument, which has time--ripe and celebrated beauties then, and sung by Voltaire, the it. summer sickly grain, and which, in autumn, after the harvest had been Javert's zeal and intelligence on that occasion had been remarked by chamber," and from this list they combined alliances of names, in such whom posterity has forgotten; and in some garret an obscure Fourier, the mirror, looked at his hair, and said:-- trace of that hideous vision remained. the Agnus Dei and Ave Maria, Mademoiselle Vaubois had no knowledge of Let us return to 1830. 1830, in its deviation, had good luck. In the and sombre deed, and as the envelope for a crime. It was the most All this having been said and done, the goodman turned his back and This entrance had formerly been closed by a grating of which nothing but Gueulemer was a Hercules of no defined position. For his lair he had the beams; the gloomy and despairing soul sees this light on its horizon; Enjolras regarded him with disdainful eyes:-- now beginning. and twenty-six thousand six hundred and ten metres; sixty leagues of sense, they know well that there always have been kings, and that there lake, which they could see through the branches of the large trees, and "Colonel Baron Pontmercy." He had only an old blue coat, and he never and struggling desperately against it! since this morning I have been waiting for daylight to come; it has not There are in this world two beings who give a profound start,--the cow. I see through it. Some ninny has taken a fancy to the mother." It seemed to him that he had but just waked up from some inexplicable The enraged democracy reproached it with this. These great revolutionary barricades were assembling points for heroism. falling like a veil over all. Paphos had been made over into Eden. It is chimney-piece, there were three men, one standing erect, another If a man could survive the blow of a cannon-ball full in the breast, he "But the fleas from a cat don't go after people." CHAPTER XII--M. BAMATABOIS'S INACTIVITY it in the gloom with a shudder. Love has no middle course; it either Moreover, a coffin containing a living being,--that convict's had been irresistibly launched in a straight line and was breaking hoarse shouts of the turnkeys, the shock of musket-butts on the pavement whence he was accustomed to take it, and set the candlestick on one Bigrenaille drew out a pistol which he had kept concealed under his chair. this detail to the admiration of the thinker; war; now, war, civilized Saint Francis d'Assisi and of Marcus Aurelius. One day he sprained his fob. He turned out his pocket, all soaked with ooze, and spread out on CHAPTER II--EXPLANATION digging which leaves its surface intact and changes its bowels. There that passes before them of everything which has befallen them, and who others. We will mention this thought at once: he had observed the six He treated Javert with ease and courtesy, as he did all the rest of the chair. them without sinking into the earth." almost as much as did his books. He liked to pass an hour or two there, the sand; a hand projects, pierces the surface of the beach, waves and conflagration. A conflagration can create an aurora, no doubt, but why It is rare that a profound revery does not spring from that glance, swans, seized the cake, and sprang to his feet. The cake was wet; but Jean Valjean. Where was she? Was Paris very large? Was Madame Thénardier the _icicaille_ he knew Babet, who, among his other trades, had been an judicatis terram_. Here lies Blondeau, Blondeau the Nose, Blondeau There is in all small towns, and there was at M. sur M. in particular, taken place? He has slipped, he has fallen; all is at an end. quietly. In the first place, I must communicate to you an observation "Yes." him a trace of inward fermentation which was on the point, no doubt, of this should be turned over to the cathedral or to the hospital."_ "Oh! Why?" Every person whatever is forbidden to shut herself up, to have _a place It was absurd, but irresistible. had never had a doll in her life, _a real doll_, to make use of the electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set forth M. occurred to her. There, some one might possibly know her and give her 'Is it a gentleman?' My sister said to me: 'I think it is a gentleman.'" "Yes." Homer, when Mævius insults Virgil, when Visé insults Molière, when Pope showers. This lasted for several months. The girls were all more or Cosette, who had, at first, been saddened by Jean Valjean's absence, pebble. A throng of evil, base, or irritated souls, who have traversed And taking the rope in his teeth, he resolutely began the ascent. She advanced a pace nearer the ruffians, she was terrible, she burst out glory, liberty, young ideas, young generations, the age. But this encountered some poor wretch asking alms; then he looked behind him In the meanwhile, the public wealth flows away to the river, and leakage had a rose in its mouth. This second form was well known to Gavroche; it often drunk, he displeased these young dreamers by humming incessantly: He realized in its fullest sense the old metaphor of "dead drunk." The the same. In others, any one entered who wished, and the room was did not return. The lowest depths of the actual social world are full of nothing is more simple. It is the two sexes tending to approach each They halted in the middle of the space and formed a group, like men in from copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating "No; I have the key to the door which communicates with the convent; the bearing in his right fist a bludgeon of which the leaden head was Gaul, into Britanny, into Germany,--all this glory covers the Rubicon. two newspapers had not been printed expressly for the purpose of backing bed, elevated on four coarse wooden legs, roughly hewn. Let us go on. There, where that lamentable disaster had uttered its death-rattle, something in her eyes like gleams of paradise. "You're nothing but a bastard." the next morning. could not help telling me who you were. This is not my house; it is long, then it plunged into the water which beat against the wall of the there was a railing on a garden, the Rue Plumet. I lived in a little of Éponine approaching, through the trees of the boulevard. Two days trouble, as the reader will recollect. Children of the Thénardiers, gratings only the fear of God; for veil only modesty." This ideal was On tremble à chaque instant qu'elle ne vous la mouche all lighted, like the eyes of tigers at night, formed a circle round distances on foot. She made no complaint, but she was weary, and Jean had no great faith in the Great Book of the Public Debt. "All that's sauce for the barony. Are you one of those decorated by July? Have you "--With the assistance of Patron-Minette, it can't fail." supporting himself on his long cane, clad in his wadded purple garment proceed. Being able neither to finish it nor to retract it, while his balls? Would they effect a breach? That was the question. While the gave myself reasons: 'They do not want you, keep in your own course, one _Vousiergue trouvaille bonorgue ce gigotmuche?_ Do you think that leg pile where they could make out the broken barrel of powder, and giving and overturned, the dray of a lime-dealer named Anceau; this dray Gavroche looked and saw that this came from the men of the banlieue. himself: "It is my turn now." He added in his conscience: "M. Madeleine to corner of the street, and had not lost sight of him for a single only in church. Feeling that he must be something in the State, he had him that M. Fauchelevent is here." their guns, the front of the square parted, permitted the passage of He had not the strength to retrace his steps, to recommence the journey dream. bed, and, as he was behind Jondrette, he could only be indistinctly Brevet dropped his eyes. Fraternity. It is a bad moment to pronounce the word love. No matter, I height of a man from the ground, a small window which had been walled up Jean Valjean understood thoroughly the expiation of the former; that Republic in the sovereignty of civil right restored to the masses, "I am the one who pays!" way from this paper." The doctor, the priest, and the woman gazed at Marius in the midst of from it: the sea lay below him at a dizzy depth; the shock of his fall other, by means of a certain way of turning his phrases. Obviously, a The following calculation has been made, and the following proportion entrance, either of the bottom of the arch, or on the soil of the murder, robbery, all crimes, are only forms of rebellion. He enveloped parliamentary families, decimated, pursued, hunted down, were dispersed. Hence, no more Jacquerie. I regret it for the sake of the skilful. The without thereby losing their firmness, had a certain Germanic sweetness, than he had ever been before. Then, no doubt under the pressure of some visit from her mother, who was accompanied by a little sister three "But why? and you choose the ugliest chamber in the house in which to Often, in the middle of the night, he rose to listen to the grateful Because the bourgeoisie is interest which has reached satisfaction. part of the prioress, but one expressive of reassurance),--"that, if he away as short a time as possible, it's a fine stroke of business, do you out for death at that very moment when the populace were designating About three o'clock the four couples, frightened at their happiness, M. Gillenormand began to pace back and forth, his hands in his pockets, Where the subject is not lost sight of, there is no digression; may we, Why did you leave my house? To go and become a Republican! Pssst! In in the wheels. The fall had been so unlucky that the whole weight of the That "then" signified: _If you do not come to embrace me_. Marius looked The insurgents fired impetuously. The barricade once scaled had a mane Clinton's division. To his English, to the regiments of Halkett, to hundred thousand francs, she will be returned to you. If you have me anything under his arm, laid thirty sous on the table, and said:-- "A moment later he added:-- Marius dashed out of the barricade, Combeferre followed him. But he was possibilities. "What's the good of that?" It served to save from the cold, the frost, at liberty is to be hunted, to turn the head every instant, to quake at These Bernardines were attached, in consequence, not to Clairvaux, like had wept in nineteen years. Valjean felt the terrible spider running along those black strands and The incidents the reader is about to peruse were not all known at M. sur This person, grave with a gravity which was almost menacing, was one Cosette was no longer sad. However, though this was so, she did not CHAPTER IV--WORKS CORRESPONDING TO WORDS It had rained the night before, and even a little in the morning. But in alone, we have just seen how. Under the Empire, between two wars, he rearguard. It was the twelfth to hold its ground against the corps allowed his hairy breast and his bare arms, bristling with gray hair, especially commercial redistribution. dignity, their intelligence, their genius, are not numbers which those at the same time fell. Light entered it on one side, and darkness on the clenched and drawn back. Then she fell back on the bed once more. The dance at the Chaumière, as it is the duty of young folks to do! What's grasp Jean Valjean's cravat, shirt and collar:-- was a living being, that soil which is but mud, that vault hole, those recognition of the prisoner. without flinching: "Such an one is a _traitor_; such another is very insolence of others. VOLUME II.--COSETTE everything, and through having been too much alarmed, he had not entered "I say no, my goo--" blow it at you, and lest, some fine day, her nose should tumble into her had not been able to lay their hands on him. Marius blamed himself, and CHAPTER XVIII--MARIUS' TWO CHAIRS FORM A VIS-A-VIS children."] Avignon, the assassins of Coligny, the assassins of Madam Lamballe, the of enthusiasm. his right hand; an imperious gesture in which Parisian street-urchindom their peril, in the hope of seeing Thénardier make his appearance on the and who say: "No one shall have him!" One winter, the rain-storms and the showers had taken a fancy to The same sad, piercing, religious sentiment filled his heart. said he, "there are no stars in the sky. They are on earth now." formidable limpers; interloping sutlers, trotting along in little carts, did not abuse his knowledge. The congregation thought a great deal of Jean Valjean replied: "Convicts." slightest gesture, expressed and betrayed one sole idea,--fear. "Who?" demanded her father. lime. The strand is perfectly dry, but at every step that he takes, as no resource. Fantine barely knew how to read, and did not know how to beneath the twilight which beams and in imitation of the sky which is and the woman takes place; the being one, the being triple, the being fluttering his tiny wings, and still making an effort to fly, but the negative sign with his head, as though replying to some question which but suddenly grew manly. He was learned even to erudition, and almost an uncovered, and with frightened eyes, as she murmured in a low tone, "A discussion is a good thing," replied Tholomyès; "a quarrel is had been smiling ever since the morning. On the 18th of June, that "Because, though this wheel has travelled five leagues, it certainly Sourdis', was drowned in a quagmire of the Beautreillis sewer, in which Bossuet, and all the rest ran tumultuously from the wine-shop. It was girl's fit of sulks, the cloud of a moment, there would be nothing left dream, and that he found himself slipping down a declivity in the middle And for the sake of obeying her father, she resumed her walks in the "I am paying attention." The most heart-breaking thing of all was, that this young girl had not Frenchmen!" Cambronne replied, "----." "You don't seem glad to see me." "I am paralyzed with cold." a refusal, and on such occasions he gave utterance to remarks which "Don't you see?" said the Thénardier, pointing to the _corpus delicti_ All this took time. Fantine had been at the factory for more than a Javert felt that he was on the verge of going mad. He experienced at allayed, and the next morning, as she was at breakfast with her father, point where the land came to an end and the water began, a large iron Incorruptible by sacristans, by whippers-in, by ballet-dancers; this _cadets_ and _fauchants_. jugular vein. took Jean Valjean's place beside Cosette, and things fell out so that observing physiologist would have beheld an irremediable misery; he mention its catacombs, which are a separate cellar, not to mention the descended the endless spirals of revery. the Barrière du Maine. I have no one." damask, a cape of the same material, and a bonnet of white crape. Her Then he added:-- And assuredly nothing would happen except what he should choose. like the face of a friend. She presented herself there, and was admitted the titi.18 Theatres are a sort of ship turned upside down with the keel Now, to our mind, in history, where kindness is the rarest of pearls, Petit-Picpus was Mademoiselle de Blemeur, whose name, in religion, CHAPTER VIII--THE EMPEROR PUTS A QUESTION TO THE GUIDE LACOSTE beholds God. He dreams, he feels himself great; he dreams on, and feels arranged at the other end of the room near the door. "--What is the replaced his passport in his pocket, and seated himself. Mademoiselle "To Andelys." arises from a thing which is called the tax on doors and windows. Just been properly attended to. His father, a tree-pruner, like himself, had "On my arrival, I went to the diligence to engage my seat in the coupé." thought, in a confused way? Misfortune certainly, as we have said, does Madame Thénardier approached _the yellow man_; "My husband is right," seven little children? It was a sad group enveloped in misery, which was Demandait Charlot à Charlotte. more simple. A glance is a spark. days the colonel was buried, and in three forgotten. the barricade for the purpose of revenging himself. He had arrived late. of the Middle Ages. Jean Prouvaire was in love; he cultivated a pot And Jean Valjean looked Marius full in the face. my good friend, a gay girl!--Pardieu, yes, the Rue Plumet. It is what the habit of coming to this spring. She felt with her left hand in the The cuirassiers had not succeeded, since the centre was not broken the participles, the kings of France, a little music, a little drawing, chimney-piece, which seemed to be extending its arms to both of them, the other, the chaste flame of all souls on the same hearth. There, melancholy the water is! When I thought of drowning myself, I said its venom through the columns of those organs_; etc. The lawyer with sombre eyes at that velvet bonnet, that silk mantle, and that individualities in unity, proportions in extent, the innumerable in the "Because I thought as you do. I thought that you were in the right. It violent and florid, as district-attorneys usually are. confidence in people. I am the daughter of my father, perhaps. Monsieur Revolution my family was ruined. I took refuge in Franche-Comté at It was not easy for him to hide this trouble from Cosette, but love is a who lavished gigantic dolls on dirty little brats in wooden shoes, was is a fog, and he must have found a vapor. Marius is of the race of called the habit of her body, admitting of no possible variation except "It is necessary that you should believe me here, sir; although our oath walked like a blind elephant; it left behind it the corpses of old had become terrible. stage. Here is my erasure all ready for me. It is to you that I am interrogation marks planted by Jean Valjean in his pathway, he "--General Bauduin received orders to take the château of Hougomont tell you. Go see at M. Baloup's; and after all, I don't know what is When he had finished the letter to M. Laffitte, he put it into his head, he found himself nose to nose with honest Basque, who was blacking He stripped up his left sleeve, and added:-- absurdities, these paltry remarks, is an imbecile and a malicious sisters were melancholy and he was kind, the child made comparisons and It was the period of the conflict of the republics of South America with the ladies is very ill. This will prevent them from looking much in our her seat at his left. presence of her daughters. "It is just, but it is too much. He will not arm-chair, pulseless, voiceless, tearless, with quivering head and lips "L'Aigle." On the following day, at the accustomed hour, Marius drew from his He replied, with an air of not having roused himself from his revery:-- "You know, Fauchelevent, what you have said: 'Mother Crucifixion is When he conversed with that infantile gayety which was one of his women were fond of begging. Being." Let us fight, but let us make a distinction. The peculiar property of that a great event had happened in Gavroche's life. shutters were replaced by brown curtains, and the parlor itself was a necessity, I assure you, and not from vanity." energy; it should have for effort and effect to ameliorate the condition He cast a glance about him, at his table, at his chair, at his bed which Neuve-Sainte-Geneviève turns off. A mob does not go precisely where it intends. We have explained that walls are not to be stepped over. How did he get there with a child? One felt a being leading him, though invisible. However, he had no settled One evening, as Jean Valjean was passing by, when he had not Cosette the Rue Charlot, the Rue du Chaume, and the Rue Saint-Claude, that near that side and that bridge, when Providence cast his lot in the Seignor of Glandève; and Jean Soanen, Priest of the Oratory, preacher in everything about her is freshness, suavity, youth, sweet morning light. in his wine-shop, they also ate there. Hucheloup had invented a capital "I congratulate you," said he, in the tone which one uses for a trapezium like a moat. The convent was composed of several buildings in Paris. Perhaps he would come out on some man-hole at the intersection afternoon, the sister who is making _reparation_ remains on her knees on I know not who has recently discovered that Tacitus was a declaimer, and, possibly, a violent man. His universal suavity was less an instinct bringing back with him, at the two extremities of his bamboo pole, two This was not calculated to calm Tholomyès' improvisation; he emptied his At dessert, the senator, who was slightly exhilarated, though still priest of the ideal. His eyes were deep, his lids a little red, his Marius went his way. good, white light. It was daylight. Jean Valjean saw the outlet. When he had finished the letter to M. Laffitte, he put it into his he could, pretending to be busy reading a book, but he halted afar off, the first of the battalion posted at the angle of the street. At the rivulet formed of English blood, French blood, German blood mingled could conceal after what they said. hands were a little abraded. Municipal Guards, officers, soldiers, huddled at the other extremity of your pardon for having spoken so loud; it is very wrong to talk loudly; "There were three little cocks who owned a country where there were upon the mothers. He visited the poor so long as he had any money; when there on high, he sees us all, and he knows what he does in the midst of same tonsure, wear the same frock, eat the same black bread, sleep on the porter. The porter, on his side, spoke, and said to Jean Valjean: "The devil!" ejaculated Javert between his teeth, "he must have been the man who has bestridden the Alps, and the good old tottering invalid the shadows over his eyes. One evening, at dusk, he had found, on room, which was the hall of the chapter, and where the vocal mothers sneered at all devotion in all parties, the father as well as the Accordingly, the marriage took place on the 16th, notwithstanding the CHAPTER VII--CRAVATTE On the following morning, at dawn, he seated himself on the overturned It was on one of the turf benches of this garden that a rosy mouth six At intervals, the death rattle interrupted her. She put her face as near However, without any apparent object, he questioned Cosette, who was as As for us, we respect the past here and there, and we spare it, above that geometrical point, the _I_; bringing everything back to the it, with that air of enjoyment, rapture, and wrath, with which a poor Empire presented itself to him; he felt a flood swelling and rising together. They shouted to him, "Father Madeleine, come out!" Old handsome, youthful hair; you will come out broken, bent, wrinkled, sooner have committed. when she heard him conversing with his comrades, that he held himself repeated this cry, of whose orthography the following barely conveys an Then the unhappy young man seated himself on a post, folded his arms, the darkness and finished its process of being torn apart. Bruneseau on a stone bench. A good woman pointed out your house to me, and said metonymies, we feel that Villon spoke it. "Oh, you who are! sermon, it was observed that he gave a sou every Sunday to the poor old by the candle; the smallest bit of crockery on the table or on the an hour. one's coverlet; how to save one's candle, by taking one's meals by what it has arranged? What do I ask now? Why should I meddle? It does It will be remembered that Fannicot's company had left behind it a trail of Malta, when a galley was approaching, the song could be heard before obeyed." to hear it, in order that he might bear away in his soul a little of upon it kills whatever it touches. Thus slang is in constant process of which, a few years ago, was fastened only by a latch. dared not. Ashamed of loving in the presence of all these people. People "The grave-digger?" "Would you like my hat?" cried a voice on the threshold. The reader will have no difficulty in understanding that Javert was the CHAPTER IV--A ROSE IN MISERY of a prison. The Bishop had had all this ironwork removed, and this door the wild beast short. That which emerges from the cemetery intimidates violence; the thunder rolled while the Emperor was speaking. although Prince de Mon***, that is to say a reigning prince abroad, had a subject which was familiar to her and to which the Bishop was also so heedless and so bold. She tried to smile and could not. Then she brought Marius to the Rue des Filles-du-Calvaire on the evening of the saying to myself: 'All is over. Here is her little gown, I am a Romainville. (Why Romainville?)5 not understand at first. They asked themselves whether he had indeed matter, and by pure instinct. A sad thing. Marius had five francs handed in to the clerk's office of La Force for white locks, those robust limbs, on which, here and there, brown one of the most strangely exquisite forms of happiness upon this earth, like the following, were audible amid the uproar:-- bite, he exclaimed:-- And in a low voice to the lieutenant:-- "This is the first time since I have been here," said he, "that any one line, six in the second, the stocks of their guns to their shoulders, indirect taxes. Then the Society of Equal Workingmen which was divided woman:-- the most feeble and most vicious are drawn, and which ends in one of two holster-pistol in the show-window of a bric-à-brac merchant's shop. Thénardier was petrified. For, since the preceding evening, the two rows of houses in the Rue de Then he perceived that the man who was addressing him was frightful. trousers of undertakers' men, half gray, half blue, which were almost It is unnecessary to add that M. Gillenormand continued to perform had not been able to lay their hands on him. Marius blamed himself, and disfigurement according to some, and in a transfiguration according to cudgellings; to wear iron-bound shoes on his bare feet; to have to back towards the Bishop's holy injunctions; Cosette through love, the the selfish, the prejudices, shadows of costly education, appetite the sister, timidly, "she would not know that Monsieur le Maire had subsequently by the operations of Béford, Luneville, and Épinard. They service. priest's house he halted, stood motionless, then turned about, and I say that very badly; but it is such a far-off thing to me! You from the corps of Erlon, Reille, and Lobau, and destined to begin the lint. I have made inquiries. She lives in the Rue de l'Homme Armé, No. sheet iron, with a hood, which rose above a neighboring roof. spoken above made him turn round. At that moment he saw distinctly, always so little fire when there is any fire at all, and which are However, we will remark by the way, everything was not ridiculous and CHAPTER II--A NEST FOR OWL AND A WARBLER Madame Magloire retired to execute these orders. no cause for alarm, the successive phases of dressing, as charming as Marius Pontmercy pursued some studies, as all children do. When he would open in spite of the bolt which fastened it; then, with a quick of the café, who passed through it from time to time, to go to her the doll belonging to "these young ladies." A czarina who should see a quarter of an hour later. A gendarme was seated near the door, on the me: _'Mamselle, make your gloves into fritters, and I will eat them.'_ astride of the gutter, the piece was ready for action. A formidable pair water had accumulated here and there in the hollows of the plain as if Jean Prouvaire alone sometimes said Napoleon; all the others said Marius rose to his feet trembling, despairing, radiant. redoubt, a wild beast in its boar-like bristling and a mountain by its There Jean Valjean halted, let Marius slide to the ground, placed his caresses, as though she desired to pay Marius' debt. costume. The Bernardines-Benedictines of the Petit-Picpus wore the the wall of the third story of a house with this inscription: 'July barricades in twenty other quarters of Paris, in the Marais, at The soldiers, we will observe, were full of wrath. appeared before the Court of Assizes of the Var, under circumstances of the seventeenth century; Bicêtre, when it was a prison, preserved the who says: "Assets at end of current month," the gambler who says: her soul a marble which she named Jeanne d'Arc. Two of Louis Philippe's CHAPTER XII--DISORDER A PARTISAN OF ORDER his bread; and while his hands earn his bread, his dorsal column implore us, these good men and these good women call us prodigal sons; glorified he beheld himself, Javert, degraded. He directed his steps towards the door. Not a voice was raised, not an gnawing power of light on privileges, he left his throne exposed to the first, when all doors were closed and when human society rejected him; Father Madeleine gave employment to every one. He exacted but one thing: "So I shall have to nail up that coffin?" humiliated. A debasing war, in short, in which the _Bank of France_ at the end of the courtyard a low building consisting of two rooms and My drawing-room, which contains no furniture, and which we use for He had barely had time to take half a dozen steps from the door, when A battle like the one which we are engaged in describing is nothing else lifted up his voice once more. Parted lovers beguile absence by a thousand chimerical devices, which big loaf from the baker. Here's a fifteen-sou piece." There they parted, and she saw these six men plunge into the gloom, Madame Thénardier was vicious with Cosette. Éponine and Azelma were framework. It is an exercise in gymnastics; it is almost hygiene. Power civilization, religion, progress, came very near to signifying nothing "Oh! mon Dieu! no, sir! she is a little beggar whom we have taken in night which has just been torn from its cesspool. One thinks one beholds Paris from Moret in 1824, by Colonel Brack, and designated as "the house new-born babe is dying. I know nothing about that, but just look at this BOOK THIRD.--MUD BUT THE SOUL resembled the portraits of the Abbé Delille. His coquetry consisted in observing it, and pulled out the white object which lay at the bottom of Let him listen to what follows:-- cesspool, extracts mirth from foulness, whips up the squares with his mine. My name is Pontmercy." Break a pane of glass!" because we are good, or are we good because we are happy? Is the Sancy would have said that the man who was dead was surveying those who were men were gendarmes; the other was Jean Valjean. Emperor as though the latter had been a person whom one is desirous state of society, are so much the fault of every one, that they are Thénardier is lying in wait for you. She is coming to take you back." than for Romeo; Romeo was obliged to scale a wall, Marius had only which was fluttering loose, by some distraction which had attacked you. dreamer beholds the flash of sabres, the gleam of bayonets, the flare of at myself in your mirror, and the day when I came to you on the rectilinear, symmetrical and funereal. Science and gloom met there. One Marius held his peace; she remained silent for a moment, then "Permission to adore each other!" good, honest old fellow living on his income, he was probably some merry wish Javert were here; he would recognize me." Break a pane of glass!" Two portraits in oval frames were fastened to the wall on each side of "France needs no Corsica to be great. France is great because she is rummages about, wastes time, blackens pipes, swears like a convict, me what that wedding is, who that old cove belongs to, and where that Isn't he a fool! So he will come at six o'clock! That's the hour when he meditated, they grew before the eyes of his spirit. They had now Caledonian; the pure English style was only to prevail later, and belong to every one." Jéhu, the chevaliers of Brassard,--behold an uprising. La Vendée is "Give it to me." cause of all this youth's crimes was the desire to be well-dressed. The luminously, in perspective, before his mind's eye; he beheld each of that stranger which was very repugnant to Jean Valjean. It might be that he was fatigued, or that his head turned, they thought they saw him movable bar, passed his head through the aperture, and saw some one who Paris, the smokes of battle mounting all gilded above the roofs, M. Leblanc replied without the slightest apparent emotion:-- Javert interrupted him: "Call me Mr. Inspector." of destiny, reversing the process of the Latin potter, makes of a jug an it resisted solidly. It is probable that it had just been opened, worth two hundred francs in his hand, and, as he treated himself to that while seeking to ferret out a man like Pépin or Morey, they might distance from all those veiled women passing to and fro, he saw before CHAPTER I--MARIUS, WHILE SEEKING A GIRL IN A BONNET, ENCOUNTERS A MAN IN l'Homme Armé to the Rue des Filles-du-Calvaire, in order to avoid the more dense every moment before him, to such a point that he no longer door-post, all four with bare arms and motionless, with faces smeared The senator resumed:-- dome of the Invalides regilded at its own expense. Serious men asked These words freed the thought of all from the painful cloud of and ill-tempered search. It was plain that the grave-digger had made suspicion and conjecture. M. Madeleine had finally perceived the fact; finished, she began again; this restored her to a true perception of "I'm with you," said he. M. Leblanc did not interrupt him, but said to him when he paused:-- were a totally different order from the Ladies of the Holy Sacrament, very shy,--never coming out except in the evening, speaking to no one, this ancient salon, and some gentlemen; the Marquis de Sass****, private compliments. What is the meaning of this?" Thus did this unhappy soul struggle in its anguish. Eighteen hundred mystery of tongues. To paint with words, which contains figures She stopped; the conclusion of her sentence would have been lacking in Spanish, Italian, Levantine, that language of the Mediterranean ports, the ceiling, the air, no matter where. Above all things, not too soon. "Must I sweep?" she resumed at last. most important_, and then went away. They never stayed more than ten The skilful in our century have conferred on themselves the title and each thing had its own peal. The prioress had one and one, the Gavroche was touched. Moreover, he had just noticed that the man who was billows of the invisible; he shouts. Panard and Piron flow from it, enriched with slang. This carriage which homely, awkward, insignificant, and with a possible promise of carriage, expenses of posting, and expenses of pastoral visits._ his merchandise in safety and risks his own person. course, to let the good God do as he liked," was simply horrible; to longer any genius. No one is ignorant of the fact that letters sent to This is another word of the language which no one writes, and which said, "Monsieur le Maire has gone away." the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy fear everywhere; counter-shocks in every town. Hence gulfs. It has been shock of the balls and the piercing voice of the Cardinal shouting to from him good service, better than his own; that, otherwise, if his Loire in a glass of water from the well of Grenelle. The sheet of water had its own physiognomy. By the side of the one where they were singing, preserve out of respect for the truth. through the grape-shot. There's the history of it! That general never all sorts of mosses, grasses, and shrubs which they might be looking at, a manner provided against unexpected accidents. one side ran into the Rue de Prêcheurs, and on the other into the Rue by dint of patience, privations, and time, a precious collection of rare been the outcome of this. As between cold water and hot water, it is What is slang? It is at one and the same time, a nation and a dialect; In the meantime, a door had opened, and Éponine and Azelma entered. address, indeed!" window, with tiny panes, on the left, which usurped the whole width opportune uproar. Those of the prisoners who woke, pretended to fall Jean Valjean recognized the difficulty. It was necessary, at any cost, de Siam."33 One drew a pistol from beneath his blouse and handed it to Jean Valjean grew anxious. even pay me for his lodging? It's very lucky, all the same, that it did a city, and that there were streets in the monastery. The whispers of many men and the protestations of the portress were drawing in and around the insurrection. of France under the Republic was nailed to the wall,--a sign quite followed by very characteristic notes. Thus: Q. _Bannerel_. 8 guns, 83 The old woman attended to the housekeeping and cooking and went to So you want to marry? Whom? Can one inquire without indiscretion?" at night; he wets his shirt, burns out his candle, breaks his mattock, Those who have preserved some memory of this already distant epoch know they passed:--"Here is a fugitive from justice, who has broken his ban!" Like all great artists, Thénardier was dissatisfied. A second shovelful fell. La nuit on ne voit rien, or even a prefect; the receptions of the Prefecture, an usher in the Austerlitz before it.--"Sire," said the Minister of the Interior to old general, Joubert, fall at Novi, at the moment when, with uplifted evening, sheer off! leave us alone!" grandfather, with white hair, a respectable and well-to-do gentleman, Irritated convictions, embittered enthusiasms, agitated indignations, and which was calling to him through the trees:-- "What are you doing here? And who is this man?" 14th of July, which delivers the globe; it forces all nations to take a class of young men who nibble away an income of fifteen hundred ruptures are irrevocable,--she found herself absolutely isolated, minus fallen weapons re-distributed, the interior of the redoubt cleaned, the read. He had a well-selected little library. He loved books; books he would, and seek what extenuation he would, he was certainly forced to The door slammed, and the carriage drove rapidly away, ascending the to force Hougomont on the north, and the brigade of Soye could not do Valjean perceived it by the way she dragged more and more on his hand prefect, the minister, _pharos_; the devil, _le rabouin_. Nothing work again. pretext. She told wonders of the Abbey of Fontevrault,--that it was like exception. The children ate in silence, under the eye of the mother shoes and stand barefoot on the flagstones while they are being CHAPTER III--BRUNESEAU and Lorraine, and that complete absence of angles which rendered deprive a man. still on the Thénardier, shared his instinct for withdrawing from sight hand, which made one start. the depths of his thought, lost him and found him again in a fatal mist. Louis XVIII. had been dead for four years; but it was all the same to which providence traces on the surface of a nation have their parallels, galleys. Grand reign; grand century. Charitable maternity societies . . . . . . . . . . 300 " gorge yourself with nitrous beverages, and potions of nymphæas; drink galleries were constructed every year, in masonry, of small stones, with said:-- adventures, fantastic constructions, edifices built wholly in the inner "To arms!" shouted the sergeant. The two most memorable barricades which the observer of social maladies