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Title  Les Misérables
       Complete in Five Volumes

Author  Victor Hugo

Translator  Isabel F  Hapgood

Release Date  June 22  2008  EBook  135 

Language  English

Character set encoding  ASCII

    START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LES MISÉRABLES    




Produced by Judith Boss





LES MISERABLES

By Victor Hugo


Translated by Isabel F  Hapgood

Thomas Y  Crowell   Co 
No  13  Astor Place
New York

Copyright 1887

 Illustration  Bookshelf  1spines 

 Illustration  Bookcover  1cover 

 Illustration  Frontpapers 1frontpapers 

 Illustration  Frontispiece 1frontispiece 

 Illustration  Titlepage Volume One 1titlepage 

 Illustration  Titlepage Verso  1verso 




CONTENTS


     VOLUME I

     BOOK FIRST   A JUST MAN

     CHAPTER
         I   M  Myriel
        II   M  Myriel becomes M  Welcome
       III   A Hard Bishopric for a Good Bishop
        IV   Works corresponding to Words
         V   Monseigneur Bienvenu made his Cassocks last too long
        VI   Who guarded his House for him
       VII   Cravatte
      VIII   Philosophy after Drinking
        IX   The Brother as depicted by the Sister
         X   The Bishop in the Presence of an Unknown Light
        XI   A Restriction
       XII   The Solitude of Monseigneur Welcome
      XIII   What he believed
       XIV   What he thought

     BOOK SECOND   THE FALL

         I   The Evening of a Day of Walking
        II   Prudence counselled to Wisdom
       III   The Heroism of Passive Obedience
        IV   Details concerning the Cheese Dairies of Pontarlier
         V   Tranquillity
        VI   Jean Valjean
       VII   The Interior of Despair
      VIII   Billows and Shadows
        IX   New Troubles
         X   The Man aroused
        XI   What he does
       XII   The Bishop works
      XIII   Little Gervais

     BOOK THIRD   IN THE YEAR 1817

         I   The Year 1817
        II   A Double Quartette
       III   Four and Four
        IV   Tholomyes is so Merry that he sings a Spanish Ditty
         V   At Bombardas
        VI   A Chapter in which they adore Each Other
       VII   The Wisdom of Tholomyes
      VIII   The Death of a Horse
        IX   A Merry End to Mirth

     BOOK FOURTH   TO CONFIDE IS SOMETIMES TO DELIVER INTO A PERSON S POWER

         I   One Mother meets Another Mother
        II   First Sketch of Two Unprepossessing Figures
       III   The Lark

     BOOK FIFTH   THE DESCENT

         I   The History of a Progress in Black Glass Trinkets
        II   Madeleine
       III   Sums deposited with Laffitte
        IV   M  Madeleine in Mourning
         V   Vague Flashes on the Horizon
        VI   Father Fauchelevent
       VII   Fauchelevent becomes a Gardener in Paris
      VIII   Madame Victurnien expends Thirty Francs on Morality
        IX   Madame Victurnien s Success
         X   Result of the Success
        XI   Christus nos Liberavit
       XII   M  Bamatabois s Inactivity
      XIII   The Solution of Some Questions connected with the
                 Municipal Police

     BOOK SIXTH   JAVERT

         I   The Beginning of Repose
        II   How Jean may become Champ

     BOOK SEVENTH   THE CHAMPMATHIEU AFFAIR

         I   Sister Simplice
        II   The Perspicacity of Master Scaufflaire
       III   A Tempest in a Skull
        IV   Forms assumed by Suffering during Sleep
         V   Hindrances
        VI   Sister Simplice put to the Proof
       VII   The Traveller on his Arrival takes Precautions
                 for Departure
      VIII   An Entrance by Favor
        IX   A Place where Convictions are in Process of Formation
         X   The System of Denials
        XI   Champmathieu more and more Astonished

     BOOK EIGHTH   A COUNTER BLOW

         I   In what Mirror M  Madeleine contemplates his Hair
        II   Fantine Happy
       III   Javert Satisfied
        IV   Authority reasserts its Rights
         V   A Suitable Tomb



     VOLUME II

     BOOK FIRST   WATERLOO

     CHAPTER
         I   What is met with on the Way from Nivelles
        II   Hougomont
       III   The Eighteenth of June  1815
        IV   A
         V   The Quid Obscurum of Battles
        VI   Four o clock in the Afternoon
       VII   Napoleon in a Good Humor
      VIII   The Emperor puts a Question to the Guide Lacoste
        IX   The Unexpected
         X   The Plateau of Mont Saint Jean
        XI   A Bad Guide to Napoleon  a Good Guide to Bulow
       XII   The Guard
      XIII   The Catastrophe
       XIV   The Last Square
        XV   Cambronne
       XVI   Quot Libras in Duce 
      XVII   Is Waterloo to be considered Good 
     XVIII   A Recrudescence of Divine Right
       XIX   The Battle Field at Night

     BOOK SECOND   THE SHIP ORION

         I   Number 24 601 becomes Number 9 430
        II   In which the reader will peruse Two Verses which are
               of the Devil s Composition possibly
       III   The Ankle Chain must have undergone a Certain Preparatory
             Manipulation to be thus broken with a Blow from a Hammer

     BOOK THIRD   ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THE PROMISE MADE TO THE DEAD WOMAN

         I   The Water Question at Montfermeil
        II   Two Complete Portraits
       III   Men must have Wine  and Horses must have Water
        IV   Entrance on the Scene of a Doll
         V   The Little One All Alone
        VI   Which possibly proves Boulatruelle s Intelligence
       VII   Cosette Side by Side with the Stranger in the Dark
      VIII   The Unpleasantness of receiving into One s House a Poor
               Man who may be a Rich Man
        IX   Thenardier at his Manoeuvres
         X   He who seeks to better himself may render his Situation Worse
        XI   Number 9 430 reappears  and Cosette wins it in the Lottery

     BOOK FOURTH   THE GORBEAU HOVEL

         I   Master Gorbeau
        II   A Nest for Owl and a Warbler
       III   Two Misfortunes make One Piece of Good Fortune
        IV   The Remarks of the Principal Tenant
         V   A Five Franc Piece falls on the Ground and produces a Tumult

     BOOK FIFTH   FOR A BLACK HUNT  A MUTE PACK

         I   The Zigzags of Strategy
        II   It is Lucky that the Pont d Austerlitz bears
               Carriages
       III   To Wit  the Plan of Paris in 1727
        IV   The Gropings of Flight
         V   Which would be Impossible with Gas Lanterns
        VI   The Beginning of an Enigma
       VII   Continuation of the Enigma
      VIII   The Enigma becomes Doubly Mysterious
        IX   The Man with the Bell
         X   Which explains how Javert got on the Scent

     BOOK SIXTH   LE PETIT PICPUS

         I   Number 62 Rue Petit Picpus
        II   The Obedience of Martin Verga
       III   Austerities
        IV   Gayeties
         V   Distractions
        VI   The Little Convent
       VII   Some Silhouettes of this Darkness
      VIII   Post Corda Lapides
        IX   A Century under a Guimpe
         X   Origin of the Perpetual Adoration
        XI   End of the Petit Picpus

     BOOK SEVENTH   PARENTHESIS

         I   The Convent as an Abstract Idea
        II   The Convent as an Historical Fact
       III   On What Conditions One can respect the Past
        IV   The Convent from the Point of View of Principles
         V   Prayer
        VI   The Absolute Goodness of Prayer
       VII   Precautions to be observed in Blame
      VIII   Faith  Law

     BOOK EIGHTH   CEMETERIES TAKE THAT WHICH IS COMMITTED THEM

         I   Which treats of the Manner of entering a Convent
        II   Fauchelevent in the Presence of a Difficulty
       III   Mother Innocente
        IV   In which Jean Valjean has quite the Air of having read
               Austin Castillejo
         V   It is not Necessary to be Drunk in order to be Immortal
        VI   Between Four Planks
       VII   In which will be found the Origin of the Saying  Don t
               lose the Card
      VIII   A Successful Interrogatory
        IX   Cloistered


     VOLUME III

     BOOK FIRST   PARIS STUDIED IN ITS ATOM

          I   Parvulus
         II   Some of his Particular Characteristics
        III   He is Agreeable
         IV   He may be of Use
          V   His Frontiers
         VI   A Bit of History
        VII   The Gamin should have his Place in the Classifications
                 of India
       VIII   In which the Reader will find a Charming Saying of the
                 Last King
         IX   The Old Soul of Gaul
          X   Ecce Paris  ecce Homo
         XI   To Scoff  to Reign
        XII   The Future Latent in the People
       XIII   Little Gavroche

     BOOK SECOND   THE GREAT BOURGEOIS

          I   Ninety Years and Thirty two Teeth
         II   Like Master  Like House
        III   Luc Esprit
         IV   A Centenarian Aspirant
          V   Basque and Nicolette
         VI   In which Magnon and her Two Children are seen
        VII   Rule  Receive No One except in the Evening
       VIII   Two do not make a Pair

     BOOK THIRD   THE  GRANDFATHER AND THE GRANDSON

          I   An Ancient Salon
         II   One of the Red Spectres of that Epoch
        III   Requiescant
         IV   End of the Brigand
          V   The Utility of going to Mass  in order to become a
                 Revolutionist
         VI   The Consequences of having met a Warden
        VII   Some Petticoat
       VIII   Marble against Granite

     BOOK FOURTH   THE FRIENDS OF THE ABC

          I   A Group which barely missed becoming Historic
         II   Blondeau s Funeral Oration by Bossuet
        III   Marius  Astonishments
         IV   The Back Room of the Cafe Musain
          V   Enlargement of Horizon
         VI   Res Angusta

     BOOK FIFTH   THE EXCELLENCE OF MISFORTUNE

          I   Marius Indigent
         II   Marius Poor
        III   Marius Grown Up
         IV   M  Mabeuf
          V   Poverty a Good Neighbor for Misery
         VI   The Substitute

     BOOK SIXTH   THE CONJUNCTION OF TWO STARS

          I   The Sobriquet  Mode of Formation of Family Names
         II   Lux Facta Est
        III   Effect of the Spring
         IV   Beginning of a Great Malady
          V   Divers Claps of Thunder fall on Ma am Bougon
         VI   Taken Prisoner
        VII   Adventures of the Letter U delivered over to Conjectures
       VIII   The Veterans themselves can be Happy
         IX   Eclipse

     BOOK SEVENTH   PATRON MINETTE

          I   Mines and Miners
         II   The Lowest Depths
        III   Babet  Gueulemer  Claquesous  and Montparnasse
         IV   Composition of the Troupe

     BOOK EIGHTH   THE WICKED POOR MAN

          I   Marius  while seeking a Girl in a Bonnet encounters a
                 Man in a Cap
         II   Treasure Trove
        III   Quadrifrons
         IV   A Rose in Misery
          V   A Providential Peep Hole
         VI   The Wild Man in his Lair
        VII   Strategy and Tactics
       VIII   The Ray of Light in the Hovel
         IX   Jondrette comes near Weeping
          X   Tariff of Licensed Cabs  Two Francs an Hour
         XI   Offers of Service from Misery to Wretchedness
        XII   The Use made of M  Leblanc s Five Franc Piece
       XIII   Solus cum Solo  in Loco Remoto  non cogitabuntur
                 orare Pater Noster
        XIV   In which a Police Agent bestows Two Fistfuls on a Lawyer
         XV   Jondrette makes his Purchases
        XVI   In which will be found the Words to an English Air
                  which was in Fashion in 1832
       XVII   The Use made of Marius  Five Franc Piece
      XVIII   Marius  Two Chairs form a Vis a Vis
        XIX   Occupying One s Self with Obscure Depths
         XX   The Trap
        XXI   One should always begin by arresting the Victims
       XXII   The Little One who was crying in Volume Two



     VOLUME IV

     BOOK FIRST   A FEW PAGES OF HISTORY

        I   Well Cut
       II   Badly Sewed
      III   Louis Philippe
       IV   Cracks beneath the Foundation
        V   Facts whence History springs and which History ignores
       VI   Enjolras and his Lieutenants

     BOOK SECOND   EPONINE

        I   The Lark s Meadow
       II   Embryonic Formation of Crimes in the Incubation of Prisons
      III   Apparition to Father Mabeuf
       IV   An Apparition to Marius

     BOOK THIRD   THE HOUSE IN THE RUE PLUMET

        I   The House with a Secret
       II   Jean Valjean as a National Guard
      III   Foliis ac Frondibus
       IV   Change of Gate
        V   The Rose perceives that it is an Engine of War
       VI   The Battle Begun
      VII   To One Sadness oppose a Sadness and a Half
     VIII   The Chain Gang

     BOOK FOURTH   SUCCOR FROM BELOW MAY TURN OUT TO BE SUCCOR FROM ON HIGH

        I   A Wound without  Healing within
       II   Mother Plutarque finds no Difficulty in explaining a Phenomenon

     BOOK FIFTH   THE END OF WHICH DOES NOT RESEMBLE THE BEGINNING

        I   Solitude and Barracks Combined
       II   Cosette s Apprehensions
      III   Enriched with Commentaries by Toussaint
       IV   A Heart beneath a Stone
        V   Cosette after the Letter
       VI   Old People are made to go out opportunely

     BOOK SIXTH   LITTLE GAVROCHE

        I   The Malicious Playfulness of the Wind
       II   In which Little Gavroche extracts Profit from Napoleon the Great
      III   The Vicissitudes of Flight

     BOOK SEVENTH   SLANG

        I   Origin
       II   Roots
      III   Slang which weeps and Slang which laughs
       IV   The Two Duties  To Watch and to Hope

     BOOK EIGHTH   ENCHANTMENTS AND DESOLATIONS

        I   Full Light
       II   The Bewilderment of Perfect Happiness
      III   The Beginning of Shadow
       IV   A Cab runs in English and barks in Slang
        V   Things of the Night
       VI   Marius becomes Practical once more to the Extent of
                Giving Cosette his Address
      VII  The Old Heart and the Young Heart in the Presence
                of Each Other

     BOOK NINTH   WHITHER ARE THEY GOING 

        I   Jean Valjean
       II   Marius
      III   M  Mabeuf

     BOOK TENTH   THE 5TH OF JUNE  1832

        I   The Surface of the Question
       II   The Root of the Matter
      III   A Burial  an Occasion to be born again
       IV   The Ebullitions of Former Days
        V   Originality of Paris

     BOOK ELEVENTH   THE ATOM FRATERNIZES WITH THE HURRICANE

        I   Some Explanations with Regard to the Origin of Gavroche s
                Poetry   The Influence of an Academician on this Poetry
       II   Gavroche on the March
      III   Just Indignation of a Hair dresser
       IV   The Child is amazed at the Old Man
        V   The Old Man
       VI   Recruits

     BOOK TWELFTH   CORINTHE

        I   History of Corinthe from its Foundation
       II   Preliminary Gayeties
      III   Night begins to descend upon Grantaire
       IV   An Attempt to console the Widow Hucheloup
        V   Preparations
       VI   Waiting
      VII   The Man recruited in the Rue des Billettes
     VIII   Many Interrogation Points with Regard to a Certain
                Le Cabuc  whose Name may not have been Le Cabuc

     BOOK THIRTEENTH   MARIUS ENTERS THE SHADOW

        I   From the Rue Plumet to the Quartier Saint Denis
       II   An Owl s View of Paris
      III   The Extreme Edge

     BOOK FOURTEENTH   THE GRANDEURS OF DESPAIR

        I   The Flag  Act First
       II   The Flag  Act Second
      III   Gavroche would have done better to accept Enjolras  Carbine
       IV   The Barrel of Powder
        V   End of the Verses of Jean Prouvaire
       VI   The Agony of Death after the Agony of Life
      VII   Gavroche as a Profound Calculator of Distances

     BOOK FIFTEENTH   THE RUE DE L HOMME ARME

        I   A Drinker is a Babbler
       II   The Street Urchin an Enemy of Light
      III   While Cosette and Toussaint are Asleep
       IV   Gavroche s Excess of Zeal



     VOLUME V

     BOOK FIRST   THE WAR BETWEEN FOUR WALLS

         I   The Charybdis of the Faubourg Saint Antoine and the
               Scylla of the Faubourg du Temple
        II   What Is to Be Done in the Abyss if One Does Not Converse
       III   Light and Shadow
        IV   Minus Five  Plus One
         V   The Horizon Which One Beholds from the Summit of a Barricade
        VI   Marius Haggard  Javert Laconic
       VII   The Situation Becomes Aggravated
      VIII   The Artillery men Compel People to Take Them Seriously
        IX   Employment of the Old Talents of a Poacher and That
               Infallible Marksmanship Which Influenced the
               Condemnation of 1796
         X   Dawn
        XI   The Shot Which Misses Nothing and Kills No One
       XII   Disorder a Partisan of Order
      XIII   Passing Gleams
       XIV   Wherein Will Appear the Name of Enjolras  Mistress
        XV   Gavroche Outside
       XVI   How from a Brother One Becomes a Father
      XVII   Mortuus Pater Filium Moriturum Expectat
     XVIII   The Vulture Becomes Prey
       XIX   Jean Valjean Takes His Revenge
        XX   The Dead Are in the Right and the Living Are Not in the Wrong
       XXI   The Heroes
      XXII   Foot to Foot
     XXIII   Orestes Fasting and Pylades Drunk
      XXIV   Prisoner

     BOOK SECOND   THE INTESTINE OF THE LEVIATHAN

         I   The Land Impoverished by the Sea
        II   Ancient History of the Sewer
       III   Bruneseau
        IV 
         V   Present Progress
        VI   Future Progress

     BOOK THIRD   MUD BUT THE SOUL

         I   The Sewer and Its Surprises
        II   Explanation
       III   The  Spun  Man
        IV   He Also Bears His Cross
         V   In the Case of Sand  as in That of Woman  There Is a
               Fineness Which Is Treacherous
        VI   The Fontis
       VII   One Sometimes Runs Aground When One Fancies That
               One Is Disembarking
      VIII   The Torn Coat Tail
        IX   Marius Produces on Some One Who Is a Judge of the
               Matter  the Effect of Being Dead
         X   Return of the Son Who Was Prodigal of His Life
        XI   Concussion in the Absolute
       XII   The Grandfather

     BOOK FOURTH   JAVERT DERAILED

         I 

     BOOK FIFTH   GRANDSON AND GRANDFATHER

         I   In Which the Tree with the Zinc Plaster Appears Again
        II   Marius  Emerging from Civil War  Makes Ready for
               Domestic War
       III   Marius Attacked
        IV   Mademoiselle Gillenormand Ends by No Longer Thinking
               It a Bad Thing That M  Fauchelevent Should Have
               Entered With Something Under His Arm
         V   Deposit Your Money in a Forest Rather than with a Notary
        VI   The Two Old Men Do Everything  Each One After His
               Own Fashion  to Render Cosette Happy
       VII   The Effects of Dreams Mingled with Happiness
      VIII   Two Men Impossible to Find

     BOOK SIXTH   THE SLEEPLESS NIGHT

         I   The 16th of February  1833
        II   Jean Valjean Still Wears His Arm in a Sling
       III   The Inseparable
        IV   The Immortal Liver

     BOOK SEVENTH   THE LAST DRAUGHT FROM THE CUP

         I   The Seventh Circle and the Eighth Heaven
        II   The Obscurities Which a Revelation Can Contain

     BOOK EIGHTH   FADING AWAY OF THE TWILIGHT

         I   The Lower Chamber
        II   Another Step Backwards
       III   They Recall the Garden of the Rue Plumet
        IV   Attraction and Extinction

     BOOK NINTH   SUPREME SHADOW  SUPREME DAWN

         I   Pity for the Unhappy  but Indulgence for the Happy
        II   Last Flickerings of a Lamp Without Oil
       III   A Pen Is Heavy to the Man Who Lifted the
               Fauchelevent s Cart
        IV   A Bottle of Ink Which Only Succeeded in Whitening
         V   A Night Behind Which There Is Day
        VI   The Grass Covers and the Rain Effaces





LES MISERABLES





VOLUME I   FANTINE 




PREFACE


So long as there shall exist  by virtue of law and custom  decrees of
damnation pronounced by society  artificially creating hells amid the
civilization of earth  and adding the element of human fate to divine
destiny  so long as the three great problems of the century  the
degradation of man through pauperism  the corruption of woman through
hunger  the crippling of children through lack of light  are unsolved 
so long as social asphyxia is possible in any part of the world   in
other words  and with a still wider significance  so long as ignorance
and poverty exist on earth  books of the nature of Les Miserables cannot
fail to be of use 

HAUTEVILLE HOUSE  1862 




FANTINE




BOOK FIRST  A JUST MAN




CHAPTER I  M  MYRIEL

In 1815  M  Charles Francois Bienvenu Myriel was Bishop of D     He was
an old man of about seventy five years of age  he had occupied the see
of D     since 1806 

Although this detail has no connection whatever with the real substance
of what we are about to relate  it will not be superfluous  if merely
for the sake of exactness in all points  to mention here the various
rumors and remarks which had been in circulation about him from the very
moment when he arrived in the diocese  True or false  that which is said
of men often occupies as important a place in their lives  and above all
in their destinies  as that which they do  M  Myriel was the son of a
councillor of the Parliament of Aix  hence he belonged to the nobility
of the bar  It was said that his father  destining him to be the heir of
his own post  had married him at a very early age  eighteen or twenty 
in accordance with a custom which is rather widely prevalent in
parliamentary families  In spite of this marriage  however  it was said
that Charles Myriel created a great deal of talk  He was well formed 
though rather short in stature  elegant  graceful  intelligent  the
whole of the first portion of his life had been devoted to the world and
to gallantry 

The Revolution came  events succeeded each other with precipitation  the
parliamentary families  decimated  pursued  hunted down  were dispersed 
M  Charles Myriel emigrated to Italy at the very beginning of the
Revolution  There his wife died of a malady of the chest  from which she
had long suffered  He had no children  What took place next in the fate
of M  Myriel  The ruin of the French society of the olden days  the fall
of his own family  the tragic spectacles of  93  which were  perhaps 
even more alarming to the emigrants who viewed them from a distance 
with the magnifying powers of terror   did these cause the ideas of
renunciation and solitude to germinate in him  Was he  in the midst of
these distractions  these affections which absorbed his life  suddenly
smitten with one of those mysterious and terrible blows which sometimes
overwhelm  by striking to his heart  a man whom public catastrophes
would not shake  by striking at his existence and his fortune  No one
could have told  all that was known was  that when he returned from
Italy he was a priest 

In 1804  M  Myriel was the Cure of B      Brignolles   He was already
advanced in years  and lived in a very retired manner 

About the epoch of the coronation  some petty affair connected with
his curacy  just what  is not precisely known  took him to Paris 
Among other powerful persons to whom he went to solicit aid for his
parishioners was M  le Cardinal Fesch  One day  when the Emperor
had come to visit his uncle  the worthy Cure  who was waiting in the
anteroom  found himself present when His Majesty passed  Napoleon 
on finding himself observed with a certain curiosity by this old man 
turned round and said abruptly   

 Who is this good man who is staring at me  

 Sire   said M  Myriel   you are looking at a good man  and I at a great
man  Each of us can profit by it  

That very evening  the Emperor asked the Cardinal the name of the Cure 
and some time afterwards M  Myriel was utterly astonished to learn that
he had been appointed Bishop of D    

What truth was there  after all  in the stories which were invented as
to the early portion of M  Myriel s life  No one knew  Very few families
had been acquainted with the Myriel family before the Revolution 

M  Myriel had to undergo the fate of every newcomer in a little town 
where there are many mouths which talk  and very few heads which think 
He was obliged to undergo it although he was a bishop  and because
he was a bishop  But after all  the rumors with which his name
was connected were rumors only   noise  sayings  words  less than
words  palabres  as the energetic language of the South expresses it 

However that may be  after nine years of episcopal power and of
residence in D      all the stories and subjects of conversation which
engross petty towns and petty people at the outset had fallen into
profound oblivion  No one would have dared to mention them  no one would
have dared to recall them 

M  Myriel had arrived at D     accompanied by an elderly spinster 
Mademoiselle Baptistine  who was his sister  and ten years his junior 

Their only domestic was a female servant of the same age as Mademoiselle
Baptistine  and named Madame Magloire  who  after having been the
servant of M  le Cure  now assumed the double title of maid to
Mademoiselle and housekeeper to Monseigneur 

Mademoiselle Baptistine was a long  pale  thin  gentle creature  she
realized the ideal expressed by the word  respectable   for it seems
that a woman must needs be a mother in order to be venerable  She
had never been pretty  her whole life  which had been nothing but a
succession of holy deeds  had finally conferred upon her a sort of
pallor and transparency  and as she advanced in years she had acquired
what may be called the beauty of goodness  What had been leanness in
her youth had become transparency in her maturity  and this diaphaneity
allowed the angel to be seen  She was a soul rather than a virgin  Her
person seemed made of a shadow  there was hardly sufficient body to
provide for sex  a little matter enclosing a light  large eyes forever
drooping   a mere pretext for a soul s remaining on the earth 

Madame Magloire was a little  fat  white old woman  corpulent and
bustling  always out of breath   in the first place  because of her
activity  and in the next  because of her asthma 

On his arrival  M  Myriel was installed in the episcopal palace with
the honors required by the Imperial decrees  which class a bishop
immediately after a major general  The mayor and the president paid the
first call on him  and he  in turn  paid the first call on the general
and the prefect 

The installation over  the town waited to see its bishop at work 




CHAPTER II  M  MYRIEL BECOMES M  WELCOME


The episcopal palace of D     adjoins the hospital 

The episcopal palace was a huge and beautiful house  built of stone at
the beginning of the last century by M  Henri Puget  Doctor of Theology
of the Faculty of Paris  Abbe of Simore  who had been Bishop of D     in
1712  This palace was a genuine seignorial residence  Everything about
it had a grand air   the apartments of the Bishop  the drawing rooms 
the chambers  the principal courtyard  which was very large  with walks
encircling it under arcades in the old Florentine fashion  and gardens
planted with magnificent trees  In the dining room  a long and superb
gallery which was situated on the ground floor and opened on the
gardens  M  Henri Puget had entertained in state  on July 29  1714  My
Lords Charles Brulart de Genlis  archbishop  Prince d Embrun  Antoine
de Mesgrigny  the capuchin  Bishop of Grasse  Philippe de Vendome  Grand
Prior of France  Abbe of Saint Honore de Lerins  Francois de Berton de
Crillon  bishop  Baron de Vence  Cesar de Sabran de Forcalquier  bishop 
Seignor of Glandeve  and Jean Soanen  Priest of the Oratory  preacher in
ordinary to the king  bishop  Seignor of Senez  The portraits of these
seven reverend personages decorated this apartment  and this memorable
date  the 29th of July  1714  was there engraved in letters of gold on a
table of white marble 

The hospital was a low and narrow building of a single story  with a
small garden 

Three days after his arrival  the Bishop visited the hospital  The visit
ended  he had the director requested to be so good as to come to his
house 

 Monsieur the director of the hospital   said he to him   how many sick
people have you at the present moment  

 Twenty six  Monseigneur  

 That was the number which I counted   said the Bishop 

 The beds   pursued the director   are very much crowded against each
other  

 That is what I observed  

 The halls are nothing but rooms  and it is with difficulty that the air
can be changed in them  

 So it seems to me  

 And then  when there is a ray of sun  the garden is very small for the
convalescents  

 That was what I said to myself  

 In case of epidemics   we have had the typhus fever this year  we
had the sweating sickness two years ago  and a hundred patients at
times   we know not what to do  

 That is the thought which occurred to me  

 What would you have  Monseigneur   said the director   One must resign
one s self  

This conversation took place in the gallery dining room on the
ground floor 

The Bishop remained silent for a moment  then he turned abruptly to the
director of the hospital 

 Monsieur   said he   how many beds do you think this hall alone would
hold  

 Monseigneur s dining room   exclaimed the stupefied director 

The Bishop cast a glance round the apartment  and seemed to be taking
measures and calculations with his eyes 

 It would hold full twenty beds   said he  as though speaking to
himself  Then  raising his voice   

 Hold  Monsieur the director of the hospital  I will tell you something 
There is evidently a mistake here  There are thirty six of you  in five
or six small rooms  There are three of us here  and we have room for
sixty  There is some mistake  I tell you  you have my house  and I have
yours  Give me back my house  you are at home here  

On the following day the thirty six patients were installed in the
Bishop s palace  and the Bishop was settled in the hospital 

M  Myriel had no property  his family having been ruined by the
Revolution  His sister was in receipt of a yearly income of five hundred
francs  which sufficed for her personal wants at the vicarage  M  Myriel
received from the State  in his quality of bishop  a salary of fifteen
thousand francs  On the very day when he took up his abode in the
hospital  M  Myriel settled on the disposition of this sum once for
all  in the following manner  We transcribe here a note made by his own
hand   


NOTE ON THE REGULATION OF MY HOUSEHOLD EXPENSES 

  For the little seminary                                1 500 livres
  Society of the  mission                                  100    
  For the Lazarists of Montdidier                          100    
  Seminary for foreign missions in Paris                   200    
  Congregation of the Holy Spirit                          150    
  Religious establishments of the Holy Land                100    
  Charitable maternity societies                           300    
  Extra  for that of Arles                                  50    
  Work for the amelioration of prisons                     400    
  Work for the relief and delivery of prisoners            500    
  To liberate fathers of families incarcerated for debt  1 000    
  Addition to the salary of the poor teachers of the
       diocese                                           2 000    
  Public granary of the Hautes Alpes                       100    
  Congregation of the ladies of D      of Manosque  and of
       Sisteron  for the gratuitous instruction of poor
       girls                                             1 500    
  For the poor                                           6 000    
  My personal expenses                                   1 000    
                                                              
       Total                                            15 000    


M  Myriel made no change in this arrangement during the entire period
that he occupied the see of D     As has been seen  he called it
regulating his household expenses 

This arrangement was accepted with absolute submission by Mademoiselle
Baptistine  This holy woman regarded Monseigneur of D     as at one and
the same time her brother and her bishop  her friend according to the
flesh and her superior according to the Church  She simply loved and
venerated him  When he spoke  she bowed  when he acted  she yielded her
adherence  Their only servant  Madame Magloire  grumbled a little  It
will be observed that Monsieur the Bishop had reserved for himself
only one thousand livres  which  added to the pension of Mademoiselle
Baptistine  made fifteen hundred francs a year  On these fifteen hundred
francs these two old women and the old man subsisted 

And when a village curate came to D      the Bishop still found means to
entertain him  thanks to the severe economy of Madame Magloire  and to
the intelligent administration of Mademoiselle Baptistine 

One day  after he had been in D     about three months  the Bishop
said   

 And still I am quite cramped with it all  

 I should think so   exclaimed Madame Magloire   Monseigneur has not
even claimed the allowance which the department owes him for the expense
of his carriage in town  and for his journeys about the diocese  It was
customary for bishops in former days  

 Hold   cried the Bishop   you are quite right  Madame Magloire  

And he made his demand 

Some time afterwards the General Council took this demand under
consideration  and voted him an annual sum of three thousand francs 
under this heading  Allowance to M  the Bishop for expenses of carriage 
expenses of posting  and expenses of pastoral visits 

This provoked a great outcry among the local burgesses  and a senator
of the Empire  a former member of the Council of the Five Hundred
which favored the 18 Brumaire  and who was provided with a magnificent
senatorial office in the vicinity of the town of D      wrote to M 
Bigot de Preameneu  the minister of public worship  a very angry and
confidential note on the subject  from which we extract these authentic
lines   

 Expenses of carriage  What can be done with it in a town of less than
four thousand inhabitants  Expenses of journeys  What is the use
of these trips  in the first place  Next  how can the posting be
accomplished in these mountainous parts  There are no roads  No one
travels otherwise than on horseback  Even the bridge between Durance and
Chateau Arnoux can barely support ox teams  These priests are all thus 
greedy and avaricious  This man played the good priest when he
first came  Now he does like the rest  he must have a carriage and a
posting chaise  he must have luxuries  like the bishops of the olden
days  Oh  all this priesthood  Things will not go well  M  le Comte 
until the Emperor has freed us from these black capped rascals  Down
with the Pope   Matters were getting embroiled with Rome   For my part 
I am for Caesar alone   Etc   etc 

On the other hand  this affair afforded great delight to Madame
Magloire   Good   said she to Mademoiselle Baptistine   Monseigneur
began with other people  but he has had to wind up with himself  after
all  He has regulated all his charities  Now here are three thousand
francs for us  At last  

That same evening the Bishop wrote out and handed to his sister a
memorandum conceived in the following terms   

EXPENSES OF CARRIAGE AND CIRCUIT 

  For furnishing meat soup to the patients in the hospital  1 500 livres
  For the maternity charitable society of Aix                 250    
  For the maternity charitable society of Draguignan          250    
  For foundlings                                              500    
  For orphans                                                 500    
                                                                 
       Total                                                3 000    

Such was M  Myriel s budget 

As for the chance episcopal perquisites  the fees for marriage bans 
dispensations  private baptisms  sermons  benedictions  of churches or
chapels  marriages  etc   the Bishop levied them on the wealthy with all
the more asperity  since he bestowed them on the needy 

After a time  offerings of money flowed in  Those who had and those who
lacked knocked at M  Myriel s door   the latter in search of the alms
which the former came to deposit  In less than a year the Bishop had
become the treasurer of all benevolence and the cashier of all those
in distress  Considerable sums of money passed through his hands  but
nothing could induce him to make any change whatever in his mode of
life  or add anything superfluous to his bare necessities 

Far from it  As there is always more wretchedness below than there
is brotherhood above  all was given away  so to speak  before it was
received  It was like water on dry soil  no matter how much money he
received  he never had any  Then he stripped himself 

The usage being that bishops shall announce their baptismal names at the
head of their charges and their pastoral letters  the poor people of the
country side had selected  with a sort of affectionate instinct  among
the names and prenomens of their bishop  that which had a meaning for
them  and they never called him anything except Monseigneur Bienvenu
 Welcome   We will follow their example  and will also call him thus
when we have occasion to name him  Moreover  this appellation pleased
him 

 I like that name   said he   Bienvenu makes up for the Monseigneur  

We do not claim that the portrait herewith presented is probable  we
confine ourselves to stating that it resembles the original 




CHAPTER III  A HARD BISHOPRIC FOR A GOOD BISHOP


The Bishop did not omit his pastoral visits because he had converted his
carriage into alms  The diocese of D     is a fatiguing one  There are
very few plains and a great many mountains  hardly any roads  as we have
just seen  thirty two curacies  forty one vicarships  and two hundred
and eighty five auxiliary chapels  To visit all these is quite a task 

The Bishop managed to do it  He went on foot when it was in the
neighborhood  in a tilted spring cart when it was on the plain  and on
a donkey in the mountains  The two old women accompanied him  When the
trip was too hard for them  he went alone 

One day he arrived at Senez  which is an ancient episcopal city  He was
mounted on an ass  His purse  which was very dry at that moment  did not
permit him any other equipage  The mayor of the town came to receive
him at the gate of the town  and watched him dismount from his ass 
with scandalized eyes  Some of the citizens were laughing around him 
 Monsieur the Mayor   said the Bishop   and Messieurs Citizens  I
perceive that I shock you  You think it very arrogant in a poor priest
to ride an animal which was used by Jesus Christ  I have done so from
necessity  I assure you  and not from vanity  

In the course of these trips he was kind and indulgent  and talked
rather than preached  He never went far in search of his arguments and
his examples  He quoted to the inhabitants of one district the example
of a neighboring district  In the cantons where they were harsh to the
poor  he said   Look at the people of Briancon  They have conferred on
the poor  on widows and orphans  the right to have their meadows mown
three days in advance of every one else  They rebuild their houses for
them gratuitously when they are ruined  Therefore it is a country which
is blessed by God  For a whole century  there has not been a single
murderer among them  

In villages which were greedy for profit and harvest  he said   Look at
the people of Embrun  If  at the harvest season  the father of a family
has his son away on service in the army  and his daughters at service in
the town  and if he is ill and incapacitated  the cure recommends him to
the prayers of the congregation  and on Sunday  after the mass  all the
inhabitants of the village  men  women  and children  go to the poor
man s field and do his harvesting for him  and carry his straw and his
grain to his granary   To families divided by questions of money and
inheritance he said   Look at the mountaineers of Devolny  a country so
wild that the nightingale is not heard there once in fifty years 
Well  when the father of a family dies  the boys go off to seek their
fortunes  leaving the property to the girls  so that they may find
husbands   To the cantons which had a taste for lawsuits  and where the
farmers ruined themselves in stamped paper  he said   Look at those good
peasants in the valley of Queyras  There are three thousand souls of
them  Mon Dieu  it is like a little republic  Neither judge nor bailiff
is known there  The mayor does everything  He allots the imposts 
taxes each person conscientiously  judges quarrels for nothing  divides
inheritances without charge  pronounces sentences gratuitously  and he
is obeyed  because he is a just man among simple men   To villages where
he found no schoolmaster  he quoted once more the people of Queyras   Do
you know how they manage   he said   Since a little country of a
dozen or fifteen hearths cannot always support a teacher  they have
school masters who are paid by the whole valley  who make the round
of the villages  spending a week in this one  ten days in that  and
instruct them  These teachers go to the fairs  I have seen them there 
They are to be recognized by the quill pens which they wear in the cord
of their hat  Those who teach reading only have one pen  those who teach
reading and reckoning have two pens  those who teach reading  reckoning 
and Latin have three pens  But what a disgrace to be ignorant  Do like
the people of Queyras  

Thus he discoursed gravely and paternally  in default of examples  he
invented parables  going directly to the point  with few phrases and
many images  which characteristic formed the real eloquence of Jesus
Christ  And being convinced himself  he was persuasive 




CHAPTER IV  WORKS CORRESPONDING TO WORDS

His conversation was gay and affable  He put himself on a level with the
two old women who had passed their lives beside him  When he laughed 
it was the laugh of a schoolboy  Madame Magloire liked to call him Your
Grace  Votre Grandeur   One day he rose from his arm chair  and went
to his library in search of a book  This book was on one of the upper
shelves  As the bishop was rather short of stature  he could not
reach it   Madame Magloire   said he   fetch me a chair  My greatness
 grandeur  does not reach as far as that shelf  

One of his distant relatives  Madame la Comtesse de Lo  rarely allowed
an opportunity to escape of enumerating  in his presence  what she
designated as  the expectations  of her three sons  She had numerous
relatives  who were very old and near to death  and of whom her sons
were the natural heirs  The youngest of the three was to receive from a
grand aunt a good hundred thousand livres of income  the second was the
heir by entail to the title of the Duke  his uncle  the eldest was to
succeed to the peerage of his grandfather  The Bishop was accustomed to
listen in silence to these innocent and pardonable maternal boasts  On
one occasion  however  he appeared to be more thoughtful than usual 
while Madame de Lo was relating once again the details of all these
inheritances and all these  expectations   She interrupted herself
impatiently   Mon Dieu  cousin  What are you thinking about    I am
thinking   replied the Bishop   of a singular remark  which is to be
found  I believe  in St  Augustine    Place your hopes in the man from
whom you do not inherit   

At another time  on receiving a notification of the decease of a
gentleman of the country side  wherein not only the dignities of the
dead man  but also the feudal and noble qualifications of all his
relatives  spread over an entire page   What a stout back Death has  
he exclaimed   What a strange burden of titles is cheerfully imposed
on him  and how much wit must men have  in order thus to press the tomb
into the service of vanity  

He was gifted  on occasion  with a gentle raillery  which almost always
concealed a serious meaning  In the course of one Lent  a youthful vicar
came to D      and preached in the cathedral  He was tolerably eloquent 
The subject of his sermon was charity  He urged the rich to give to the
poor  in order to avoid hell  which he depicted in the most frightful
manner of which he was capable  and to win paradise  which he
represented as charming and desirable  Among the audience there was
a wealthy retired merchant  who was somewhat of a usurer  named M 
Geborand  who had amassed two millions in the manufacture of coarse
cloth  serges  and woollen galloons  Never in his whole life had M 
Geborand bestowed alms on any poor wretch  After the delivery of that
sermon  it was observed that he gave a sou every Sunday to the poor old
beggar women at the door of the cathedral  There were six of them to
share it  One day the Bishop caught sight of him in the act of bestowing
this charity  and said to his sister  with a smile   There is M 
Geborand purchasing paradise for a sou  

When it was a question of charity  he was not to be rebuffed even by
a refusal  and on such occasions he gave utterance to remarks which
induced reflection  Once he was begging for the poor in a drawing room
of the town  there was present the Marquis de Champtercier  a wealthy
and avaricious old man  who contrived to be  at one and the same time 
an ultra royalist and an ultra Voltairian  This variety of man has
actually existed  When the Bishop came to him  he touched his arm   You
must give me something  M  le Marquis   The Marquis turned round and
answered dryly   I have poor people of my own  Monseigneur    Give them
to me   replied the Bishop 

One day he preached the following sermon in the cathedral   


 My very dear brethren  my good friends  there are thirteen hundred
and twenty thousand peasants  dwellings in France which have but three
openings  eighteen hundred and seventeen thousand hovels which have but
two openings  the door and one window  and three hundred and forty six
thousand cabins besides which have but one opening  the door  And this
arises from a thing which is called the tax on doors and windows  Just
put poor families  old women and little children  in those buildings 
and behold the fevers and maladies which result  Alas  God gives air to
men  the law sells it to them  I do not blame the law  but I bless God 
In the department of the Isere  in the Var  in the two departments
of the Alpes  the Hautes  and the Basses  the peasants have not even
wheelbarrows  they transport their manure on the backs of men  they have
no candles  and they burn resinous sticks  and bits of rope dipped in
pitch  That is the state of affairs throughout the whole of the hilly
country of Dauphine  They make bread for six months at one time  they
bake it with dried cow dung  In the winter they break this bread up with
an axe  and they soak it for twenty four hours  in order to render it
eatable  My brethren  have pity  behold the suffering on all sides of
you  

Born a Provencal  he easily familiarized himself with the dialect of the
south  He said   En be  moussu  ses sage   as in lower Languedoc   Onte
anaras passa   as in the Basses Alpes   Puerte un bouen moutu embe un
bouen fromage grase   as in upper Dauphine  This pleased the people
extremely  and contributed not a little to win him access to all
spirits  He was perfectly at home in the thatched cottage and in the
mountains  He understood how to say the grandest things in the most
vulgar of idioms  As he spoke all tongues  he entered into all hearts 

Moreover  he was the same towards people of the world and towards
the lower classes  He condemned nothing in haste and without taking
circumstances into account  He said   Examine the road over which the
fault has passed  

Being  as he described himself with a smile  an ex sinner  he had none
of the asperities of austerity  and he professed  with a good deal
of distinctness  and without the frown of the ferociously virtuous  a
doctrine which may be summed up as follows   

 Man has upon him his flesh  which is at once his burden and his
temptation  He drags it with him and yields to it  He must watch it 
cheek it  repress it  and obey it only at the last extremity  There may
be some fault even in this obedience  but the fault thus committed is
venial  it is a fall  but a fall on the knees which may terminate in
prayer 

 To be a saint is the exception  to be an upright man is the rule  Err 
fall  sin if you will  but be upright 

 The least possible sin is the law of man  No sin at all is the dream
of the angel  All which is terrestrial is subject to sin  Sin is a
gravitation  

When he saw everyone exclaiming very loudly  and growing angry very
quickly   Oh  oh   he said  with a smile   to all appearance  this is
a great crime which all the world commits  These are hypocrisies
which have taken fright  and are in haste to make protest and to put
themselves under shelter  

He was indulgent towards women and poor people  on whom the burden of
human society rest  He said   The faults of women  of children  of the
feeble  the indigent  and the ignorant  are the fault of the husbands 
the fathers  the masters  the strong  the rich  and the wise  

He said  moreover   Teach those who are ignorant as many things as
possible  society is culpable  in that it does not afford instruction
gratis  it is responsible for the night which it produces  This soul
is full of shadow  sin is therein committed  The guilty one is not the
person who has committed the sin  but the person who has created the
shadow  

It will be perceived that he had a peculiar manner of his own of judging
things  I suspect that he obtained it from the Gospel 

One day he heard a criminal case  which was in preparation and on the
point of trial  discussed in a drawing room  A wretched man  being at
the end of his resources  had coined counterfeit money  out of love for
a woman  and for the child which he had had by her  Counterfeiting was
still punishable with death at that epoch  The woman had been arrested
in the act of passing the first false piece made by the man  She was
held  but there were no proofs except against her  She alone could
accuse her lover  and destroy him by her confession  She denied  they
insisted  She persisted in her denial  Thereupon an idea occurred to
the attorney for the crown  He invented an infidelity on the part of
the lover  and succeeded  by means of fragments of letters cunningly
presented  in persuading the unfortunate woman that she had a rival  and
that the man was deceiving her  Thereupon  exasperated by jealousy  she
denounced her lover  confessed all  proved all 

The man was ruined  He was shortly to be tried at Aix with his
accomplice  They were relating the matter  and each one was expressing
enthusiasm over the cleverness of the magistrate  By bringing jealousy
into play  he had caused the truth to burst forth in wrath  he had
educed the justice of revenge  The Bishop listened to all this in
silence  When they had finished  he inquired   

 Where are this man and woman to be tried  

 At the Court of Assizes  

He went on   And where will the advocate of the crown be tried  

A tragic event occurred at D     A man was condemned to death for
murder  He was a wretched fellow  not exactly educated  not exactly
ignorant  who had been a mountebank at fairs  and a writer for the
public  The town took a great interest in the trial  On the eve of the
day fixed for the execution of the condemned man  the chaplain of the
prison fell ill  A priest was needed to attend the criminal in his
last moments  They sent for the cure  It seems that he refused to come 
saying   That is no affair of mine  I have nothing to do with that
unpleasant task  and with that mountebank  I  too  am ill  and besides 
it is not my place   This reply was reported to the Bishop  who said 
 Monsieur le Cure is right  it is not his place  it is mine  

He went instantly to the prison  descended to the cell of the
 mountebank   called him by name  took him by the hand  and spoke to
him  He passed the entire day with him  forgetful of food and sleep 
praying to God for the soul of the condemned man  and praying the
condemned man for his own  He told him the best truths  which are also
the most simple  He was father  brother  friend  he was bishop only to
bless  He taught him everything  encouraged and consoled him  The man
was on the point of dying in despair  Death was an abyss to him  As he
stood trembling on its mournful brink  he recoiled with horror  He
was not sufficiently ignorant to be absolutely indifferent  His
condemnation  which had been a profound shock  had  in a manner  broken
through  here and there  that wall which separates us from the mystery
of things  and which we call life  He gazed incessantly beyond this
world through these fatal breaches  and beheld only darkness  The Bishop
made him see light 

On the following day  when they came to fetch the unhappy wretch  the
Bishop was still there  He followed him  and exhibited himself to the
eyes of the crowd in his purple camail and with his episcopal cross upon
his neck  side by side with the criminal bound with cords 

He mounted the tumbril with him  he mounted the scaffold with him  The
sufferer  who had been so gloomy and cast down on the preceding day  was
radiant  He felt that his soul was reconciled  and he hoped in God  The
Bishop embraced him  and at the moment when the knife was about to fall 
he said to him   God raises from the dead him whom man slays  he whom
his brothers have rejected finds his Father once more  Pray  believe 
enter into life  the Father is there   When he descended from the
scaffold  there was something in his look which made the people draw
aside to let him pass  They did not know which was most worthy of
admiration  his pallor or his serenity  On his return to the humble
dwelling  which he designated  with a smile  as his palace  he said to
his sister   I have just officiated pontifically  

Since the most sublime things are often those which are the least
understood  there were people in the town who said  when commenting on
this conduct of the Bishop   It is affectation  

This  however  was a remark which was confined to the drawing rooms 
The populace  which perceives no jest in holy deeds  was touched  and
admired him 

As for the Bishop  it was a shock to him to have beheld the guillotine 
and it was a long time before he recovered from it 

In fact  when the scaffold is there  all erected and prepared  it has
something about it which produces hallucination  One may feel a certain
indifference to the death penalty  one may refrain from pronouncing upon
it  from saying yes or no  so long as one has not seen a guillotine with
one s own eyes  but if one encounters one of them  the shock is violent 
one is forced to decide  and to take part for or against  Some admire
it  like de Maistre  others execrate it  like Beccaria  The guillotine
is the concretion of the law  it is called vindicte  it is not neutral 
and it does not permit you to remain neutral  He who sees it shivers
with the most mysterious of shivers  All social problems erect their
interrogation point around this chopping knife  The scaffold is a
vision  The scaffold is not a piece of carpentry  the scaffold is not
a machine  the scaffold is not an inert bit of mechanism constructed of
wood  iron and cords 

It seems as though it were a being  possessed of I know not what sombre
initiative  one would say that this piece of carpenter s work saw  that
this machine heard  that this mechanism understood  that this wood 
this iron  and these cords were possessed of will  In the frightful
meditation into which its presence casts the soul the scaffold appears
in terrible guise  and as though taking part in what is going on  The
scaffold is the accomplice of the executioner  it devours  it eats
flesh  it drinks blood  the scaffold is a sort of monster fabricated
by the judge and the carpenter  a spectre which seems to live with a
horrible vitality composed of all the death which it has inflicted 

Therefore  the impression was terrible and profound  on the day
following the execution  and on many succeeding days  the Bishop
appeared to be crushed  The almost violent serenity of the funereal
moment had disappeared  the phantom of social justice tormented him  He 
who generally returned from all his deeds with a radiant satisfaction 
seemed to be reproaching himself  At times he talked to himself  and
stammered lugubrious monologues in a low voice  This is one which his
sister overheard one evening and preserved   I did not think that it was
so monstrous  It is wrong to become absorbed in the divine law to such a
degree as not to perceive human law  Death belongs to God alone  By what
right do men touch that unknown thing  

In course of time these impressions weakened and probably vanished 
Nevertheless  it was observed that the Bishop thenceforth avoided
passing the place of execution 

M  Myriel could be summoned at any hour to the bedside of the sick and
dying  He did not ignore the fact that therein lay his greatest duty and
his greatest labor  Widowed and orphaned families had no need to summon
him  he came of his own accord  He understood how to sit down and hold
his peace for long hours beside the man who had lost the wife of his
love  of the mother who had lost her child  As he knew the moment for
silence he knew also the moment for speech  Oh  admirable consoler  He
sought not to efface sorrow by forgetfulness  but to magnify and dignify
it by hope  He said   

 Have a care of the manner in which you turn towards the dead  Think
not of that which perishes  Gaze steadily  You will perceive the living
light of your well beloved dead in the depths of heaven   He knew that
faith is wholesome  He sought to counsel and calm the despairing man  by
pointing out to him the resigned man  and to transform the grief which
gazes upon a grave by showing him the grief which fixes its gaze upon a
star 




CHAPTER V  MONSEIGNEUR BIENVENU MADE HIS CASSOCKS LAST TOO LONG


The private life of M  Myriel was filled with the same thoughts as his
public life  The voluntary poverty in which the Bishop of D     lived 
would have been a solemn and charming sight for any one who could have
viewed it close at hand 

Like all old men  and like the majority of thinkers  he slept little 
This brief slumber was profound  In the morning he meditated for an
hour  then he said his mass  either at the cathedral or in his own
house  His mass said  he broke his fast on rye bread dipped in the milk
of his own cows  Then he set to work 

A Bishop is a very busy man  he must every day receive the secretary
of the bishopric  who is generally a canon  and nearly every day his
vicars general  He has congregations to reprove  privileges to grant 
a whole ecclesiastical library to examine   prayer books  diocesan
catechisms  books of hours  etc    charges to write  sermons to
authorize  cures and mayors to reconcile  a clerical correspondence  an
administrative correspondence  on one side the State  on the other the
Holy See  and a thousand matters of business 

What time was left to him  after these thousand details of business  and
his offices and his breviary  he bestowed first on the necessitous 
the sick  and the afflicted  the time which was left to him from the
afflicted  the sick  and the necessitous  he devoted to work  Sometimes
he dug in his garden  again  he read or wrote  He had but one word
for both these kinds of toil  he called them gardening   The mind is a
garden   said he 

Towards mid day  when the weather was fine  he went forth and took a
stroll in the country or in town  often entering lowly dwellings  He
was seen walking alone  buried in his own thoughts  his eyes cast down 
supporting himself on his long cane  clad in his wadded purple garment
of silk  which was very warm  wearing purple stockings inside his coarse
shoes  and surmounted by a flat hat which allowed three golden tassels
of large bullion to droop from its three points 

It was a perfect festival wherever he appeared  One would have said that
his presence had something warming and luminous about it  The children
and the old people came out to the doorsteps for the Bishop as for the
sun  He bestowed his blessing  and they blessed him  They pointed out
his house to any one who was in need of anything 

 Illustration  The Comfortor  1b1 5 comfortor 

Here and there he halted  accosted the little boys and girls  and smiled
upon the mothers  He visited the poor so long as he had any money  when
he no longer had any  he visited the rich 

As he made his cassocks last a long while  and did not wish to have it
noticed  he never went out in the town without his wadded purple cloak 
This inconvenienced him somewhat in summer 

On his return  he dined  The dinner resembled his breakfast 

At half past eight in the evening he supped with his sister  Madame
Magloire standing behind them and serving them at table  Nothing could
be more frugal than this repast  If  however  the Bishop had one of his
cures to supper  Madame Magloire took advantage of the opportunity to
serve Monseigneur with some excellent fish from the lake  or with some
fine game from the mountains  Every cure furnished the pretext for
a good meal  the Bishop did not interfere  With that exception  his
ordinary diet consisted only of vegetables boiled in water  and oil
soup  Thus it was said in the town  when the Bishop does not indulge in
the cheer of a cure  he indulges in the cheer of a trappist 

After supper he conversed for half an hour with Mademoiselle Baptistine
and Madame Magloire  then he retired to his own room and set to writing 
sometimes on loose sheets  and again on the margin of some folio  He was
a man of letters and rather learned  He left behind him five or six
very curious manuscripts  among others  a dissertation on this verse in
Genesis  In the beginning  the spirit of God floated upon the waters 
With this verse he compares three texts  the Arabic verse which says 
The winds of God blew  Flavius Josephus who says  A wind from above was
precipitated upon the earth  and finally  the Chaldaic paraphrase of
Onkelos  which renders it  A wind coming from God blew upon the face of
the waters  In another dissertation  he examines the theological works
of Hugo  Bishop of Ptolemais  great grand uncle to the writer of this
book  and establishes the fact  that to this bishop must be attributed
the divers little works published during the last century  under the
pseudonym of Barleycourt 

Sometimes  in the midst of his reading  no matter what the book might
be which he had in his hand  he would suddenly fall into a profound
meditation  whence he only emerged to write a few lines on the pages of
the volume itself  These lines have often no connection whatever with
the book which contains them  We now have under our eyes a note written
by him on the margin of a quarto entitled Correspondence of Lord Germain
with Generals Clinton  Cornwallis  and the Admirals on the American
station  Versailles  Poincot  book seller  and Paris  Pissot 
bookseller  Quai des Augustins 

Here is the note   

 Oh  you who are 

 Ecclesiastes calls you the All powerful  the Maccabees call you the
Creator  the Epistle to the Ephesians calls you liberty  Baruch calls
you Immensity  the Psalms call you Wisdom and Truth  John calls you
Light  the Books of Kings call you Lord  Exodus calls you Providence 
Leviticus  Sanctity  Esdras  Justice  the creation calls you God  man
calls you Father  but Solomon calls you Compassion  and that is the most
beautiful of all your names  

Toward nine o clock in the evening the two women retired and betook
themselves to their chambers on the first floor  leaving him alone until
morning on the ground floor 

It is necessary that we should  in this place  give an exact idea of the
dwelling of the Bishop of D    




CHAPTER VI  WHO GUARDED HIS HOUSE FOR HIM

The house in which he lived consisted  as we have said  of a ground
floor  and one story above  three rooms on the ground floor  three
chambers on the first  and an attic above  Behind the house was a
garden  a quarter of an acre in extent  The two women occupied the
first floor  the Bishop was lodged below  The first room  opening on the
street  served him as dining room  the second was his bedroom  and the
third his oratory  There was no exit possible from this oratory  except
by passing through the bedroom  nor from the bedroom  without passing
through the dining room  At the end of the suite  in the oratory  there
was a detached alcove with a bed  for use in cases of hospitality 
The Bishop offered this bed to country curates whom business or the
requirements of their parishes brought to D    

The pharmacy of the hospital  a small building which had been added
to the house  and abutted on the garden  had been transformed into
a kitchen and cellar  In addition to this  there was in the garden a
stable  which had formerly been the kitchen of the hospital  and in
which the Bishop kept two cows  No matter what the quantity of milk they
gave  he invariably sent half of it every morning to the sick people in
the hospital   I am paying my tithes   he said 

His bedroom was tolerably large  and rather difficult to warm in bad
weather  As wood is extremely dear at D      he hit upon the idea of
having a compartment of boards constructed in the cow shed  Here he
passed his evenings during seasons of severe cold  he called it his
winter salon 

In this winter salon  as in the dining room  there was no other
furniture than a square table in white wood  and four straw seated
chairs  In addition to this the dining room was ornamented with an
antique sideboard  painted pink  in water colors  Out of a similar
sideboard  properly draped with white napery and imitation lace  the
Bishop had constructed the altar which decorated his oratory 

His wealthy penitents and the sainted women of D     had more than once
assessed themselves to raise the money for a new altar for Monseigneur s
oratory  on each occasion he had taken the money and had given it to
the poor   The most beautiful of altars   he said   is the soul of an
unhappy creature consoled and thanking God  

In his oratory there were two straw prie Dieu  and there was an
arm chair  also in straw  in his bedroom  When  by chance  he received
seven or eight persons at one time  the prefect  or the general  or the
staff of the regiment in garrison  or several pupils from the little
seminary  the chairs had to be fetched from the winter salon in the
stable  the prie Dieu from the oratory  and the arm chair from the
bedroom  in this way as many as eleven chairs could be collected for the
visitors  A room was dismantled for each new guest 

It sometimes happened that there were twelve in the party  the Bishop
then relieved the embarrassment of the situation by standing in front
of the chimney if it was winter  or by strolling in the garden if it was
summer 

There was still another chair in the detached alcove  but the straw was
half gone from it  and it had but three legs  so that it was of service
only when propped against the wall  Mademoiselle Baptistine had also in
her own room a very large easy chair of wood  which had formerly been
gilded  and which was covered with flowered pekin  but they had been
obliged to hoist this bergere up to the first story through the window 
as the staircase was too narrow  it could not  therefore  be reckoned
among the possibilities in the way of furniture 

Mademoiselle Baptistine s ambition had been to be able to purchase a set
of drawing room furniture in yellow Utrecht velvet  stamped with a rose
pattern  and with mahogany in swan s neck style  with a sofa  But this
would have cost five hundred francs at least  and in view of the fact
that she had only been able to lay by forty two francs and ten sous for
this purpose in the course of five years  she had ended by renouncing
the idea  However  who is there who has attained his ideal 

Nothing is more easy to present to the imagination than the Bishop s
bedchamber  A glazed door opened on the garden  opposite this was the
bed   a hospital bed of iron  with a canopy of green serge  in the
shadow of the bed  behind a curtain  were the utensils of the toilet 
which still betrayed the elegant habits of the man of the world  there
were two doors  one near the chimney  opening into the oratory  the
other near the bookcase  opening into the dining room  The bookcase was
a large cupboard with glass doors filled with books  the chimney was of
wood painted to represent marble  and habitually without fire  In the
chimney stood a pair of firedogs of iron  ornamented above with two
garlanded vases  and flutings which had formerly been silvered
with silver leaf  which was a sort of episcopal luxury  above the
chimney piece hung a crucifix of copper  with the silver worn off  fixed
on a background of threadbare velvet in a wooden frame from which the
gilding had fallen  near the glass door a large table with an inkstand 
loaded with a confusion of papers and with huge volumes  before the
table an arm chair of straw  in front of the bed a prie Dieu  borrowed
from the oratory 

Two portraits in oval frames were fastened to the wall on each side of
the bed  Small gilt inscriptions on the plain surface of the cloth at
the side of these figures indicated that the portraits represented 
one the Abbe of Chaliot  bishop of Saint Claude  the other  the Abbe
Tourteau  vicar general of Agde  abbe of Grand Champ  order of Citeaux 
diocese of Chartres  When the Bishop succeeded to this apartment  after
the hospital patients  he had found these portraits there  and had left
them  They were priests  and probably donors  two reasons for respecting
them  All that he knew about these two persons was  that they had
been appointed by the king  the one to his bishopric  the other to his
benefice  on the same day  the 27th of April  1785  Madame Magloire
having taken the pictures down to dust  the Bishop had discovered these
particulars written in whitish ink on a little square of paper  yellowed
by time  and attached to the back of the portrait of the Abbe of
Grand Champ with four wafers 

At his window he had an antique curtain of a coarse woollen stuff  which
finally became so old  that  in order to avoid the expense of a new one 
Madame Magloire was forced to take a large seam in the very middle
of it  This seam took the form of a cross  The Bishop often called
attention to it   How delightful that is   he said 

All the rooms in the house  without exception  those on the ground
floor as well as those on the first floor  were white washed  which is a
fashion in barracks and hospitals 

However  in their latter years  Madame Magloire discovered beneath the
paper which had been washed over  paintings  ornamenting the apartment
of Mademoiselle Baptistine  as we shall see further on  Before becoming
a hospital  this house had been the ancient parliament house of the
Bourgeois  Hence this decoration  The chambers were paved in red bricks 
which were washed every week  with straw mats in front of all the beds 
Altogether  this dwelling  which was attended to by the two women  was
exquisitely clean from top to bottom  This was the sole luxury which the
Bishop permitted  He said   That takes nothing from the poor  

It must be confessed  however  that he still retained from his former
possessions six silver knives and forks and a soup ladle  which
Madame Magloire contemplated every day with delight  as they glistened
splendidly upon the coarse linen cloth  And since we are now painting
the Bishop of D     as he was in reality  we must add that he had said
more than once   I find it difficult to renounce eating from silver
dishes  

To this silverware must be added two large candlesticks of massive
silver  which he had inherited from a great aunt  These candlesticks
held two wax candles  and usually figured on the Bishop s chimney piece 
When he had any one to dinner  Madame Magloire lighted the two candles
and set the candlesticks on the table 

In the Bishop s own chamber  at the head of his bed  there was a small
cupboard  in which Madame Magloire locked up the six silver knives and
forks and the big spoon every night  But it is necessary to add  that
the key was never removed 

The garden  which had been rather spoiled by the ugly buildings which
we have mentioned  was composed of four alleys in cross form  radiating
from a tank  Another walk made the circuit of the garden  and skirted
the white wall which enclosed it  These alleys left behind them four
square plots rimmed with box  In three of these  Madame Magloire
cultivated vegetables  in the fourth  the Bishop had planted some
flowers  here and there stood a few fruit trees  Madame Magloire had
once remarked  with a sort of gentle malice   Monseigneur  you who turn
everything to account  have  nevertheless  one useless plot  It would be
better to grow salads there than bouquets    Madame Magloire   retorted
the Bishop   you are mistaken  The beautiful is as useful as the
useful   He added after a pause   More so  perhaps  

This plot  consisting of three or four beds  occupied the Bishop
almost as much as did his books  He liked to pass an hour or two there 
trimming  hoeing  and making holes here and there in the earth  into
which he dropped seeds  He was not as hostile to insects as a gardener
could have wished to see him  Moreover  he made no pretensions to
botany  he ignored groups and consistency  he made not the slightest
effort to decide between Tournefort and the natural method  he took part
neither with the buds against the cotyledons  nor with Jussieu against
Linnaeus  He did not study plants  he loved flowers  He respected
learned men greatly  he respected the ignorant still more  and  without
ever failing in these two respects  he watered his flower beds every
summer evening with a tin watering pot painted green 

The house had not a single door which could be locked  The door of the
dining room  which  as we have said  opened directly on the cathedral
square  had formerly been ornamented with locks and bolts like the door
of a prison  The Bishop had had all this ironwork removed  and this door
was never fastened  either by night or by day  with anything except the
latch  All that the first passerby had to do at any hour  was to give it
a push  At first  the two women had been very much tried by this door 
which was never fastened  but Monsieur de D     had said to them   Have
bolts put on your rooms  if that will please you   They had ended by
sharing his confidence  or by at least acting as though they shared it 
Madame Magloire alone had frights from time to time  As for the Bishop 
his thought can be found explained  or at least indicated  in the three
lines which he wrote on the margin of a Bible   This is the shade of
difference  the door of the physician should never be shut  the door of
the priest should always be open  

On another book  entitled Philosophy of the Medical Science  he had
written this other note   Am not I a physician like them  I also have my
patients  and then  too  I have some whom I call my unfortunates  

Again he wrote   Do not inquire the name of him who asks a shelter of
you  The very man who is embarrassed by his name is the one who needs
shelter  

It chanced that a worthy cure  I know not whether it was the cure of
Couloubroux or the cure of Pompierry  took it into his head to ask
him one day  probably at the instigation of Madame Magloire  whether
Monsieur was sure that he was not committing an indiscretion  to a
certain extent  in leaving his door unfastened day and night  at the
mercy of any one who should choose to enter  and whether  in short 
he did not fear lest some misfortune might occur in a house so little
guarded  The Bishop touched his shoulder  with gentle gravity  and
said to him   Nisi Dominus custodierit domum  in vanum vigilant qui
custodiunt eam   Unless the Lord guard the house  in vain do they watch
who guard it 

Then he spoke of something else 

He was fond of saying   There is a bravery of the priest as well as
the bravery of a colonel of dragoons   only   he added   ours must be
tranquil  




CHAPTER VII  CRAVATTE

It is here that a fact falls naturally into place  which we must not
omit  because it is one of the sort which show us best what sort of a
man the Bishop of D     was 

After the destruction of the band of Gaspard Bes  who had infested the
gorges of Ollioules  one of his lieutenants  Cravatte  took refuge in
the mountains  He concealed himself for some time with his bandits  the
remnant of Gaspard Bes s troop  in the county of Nice  then he made his
way to Piedmont  and suddenly reappeared in France  in the vicinity
of Barcelonette  He was first seen at Jauziers  then at Tuiles  He hid
himself in the caverns of the Joug de l Aigle  and thence he descended
towards the hamlets and villages through the ravines of Ubaye and
Ubayette 

He even pushed as far as Embrun  entered the cathedral one night 
and despoiled the sacristy  His highway robberies laid waste the
country side  The gendarmes were set on his track  but in vain  He
always escaped  sometimes he resisted by main force  He was a bold
wretch  In the midst of all this terror the Bishop arrived  He was
making his circuit to Chastelar  The mayor came to meet him  and urged
him to retrace his steps  Cravatte was in possession of the mountains
as far as Arche  and beyond  there was danger even with an escort  it
merely exposed three or four unfortunate gendarmes to no purpose 

 Therefore   said the Bishop   I intend to go without escort  

 You do not really mean that  Monseigneur   exclaimed the mayor 

 I do mean it so thoroughly that I absolutely refuse any gendarmes  and
shall set out in an hour  

 Set out  

 Set out  

 Alone  

 Alone  

 Monseigneur  you will not do that  

 There exists yonder in the mountains   said the Bishop   a tiny
community no bigger than that  which I have not seen for three years 
They are my good friends  those gentle and honest shepherds  They own
one goat out of every thirty that they tend  They make very pretty
woollen cords of various colors  and they play the mountain airs on
little flutes with six holes  They need to be told of the good God now
and then  What would they say to a bishop who was afraid  What would
they say if I did not go  

 But the brigands  Monseigneur  

 Hold   said the Bishop   I must think of that  You are right  I may
meet them  They  too  need to be told of the good God  

 But  Monseigneur  there is a band of them  A flock of wolves  

 Monsieur le maire  it may be that it is of this very flock of wolves
that Jesus has constituted me the shepherd  Who knows the ways of
Providence  

 They will rob you  Monseigneur  

 I have nothing  

 They will kill you  

 An old goodman of a priest  who passes along mumbling his prayers  Bah 
To what purpose  

 Oh  mon Dieu  what if you should meet them  

 I should beg alms of them for my poor  

 Do not go  Monseigneur  In the name of Heaven  You are risking your
life  

 Monsieur le maire   said the Bishop   is that really all  I am not in
the world to guard my own life  but to guard souls  

They had to allow him to do as he pleased  He set out  accompanied only
by a child who offered to serve as a guide  His obstinacy was bruited
about the country side  and caused great consternation 

He would take neither his sister nor Madame Magloire  He traversed the
mountain on mule back  encountered no one  and arrived safe and sound
at the residence of his  good friends   the shepherds  He remained
there for a fortnight  preaching  administering the sacrament  teaching 
exhorting  When the time of his departure approached  he resolved to
chant a Te Deum pontifically  He mentioned it to the cure  But what was
to be done  There were no episcopal ornaments  They could only place at
his disposal a wretched village sacristy  with a few ancient chasubles
of threadbare damask adorned with imitation lace 

 Bah   said the Bishop   Let us announce our Te Deum from the pulpit 
nevertheless  Monsieur le Cure  Things will arrange themselves  

They instituted a search in the churches of the neighborhood  All the
magnificence of these humble parishes combined would not have sufficed
to clothe the chorister of a cathedral properly 

While they were thus embarrassed  a large chest was brought and
deposited in the presbytery for the Bishop  by two unknown horsemen  who
departed on the instant  The chest was opened  it contained a cope of
cloth of gold  a mitre ornamented with diamonds  an archbishop s cross 
a magnificent crosier   all the pontifical vestments which had been
stolen a month previously from the treasury of Notre Dame d Embrun  In
the chest was a paper  on which these words were written   From Cravatte
to Monseigneur Bienvenu  

 Did not I say that things would come right of themselves   said the
Bishop  Then he added  with a smile   To him who contents himself with
the surplice of a curate  God sends the cope of an archbishop  

 Monseigneur   murmured the cure  throwing back his head with a smile 
 God  or the Devil  

The Bishop looked steadily at the cure  and repeated with authority 
 God  

When he returned to Chastelar  the people came out to stare at him as at
a curiosity  all along the road  At the priest s house in Chastelar he
rejoined Mademoiselle Baptistine and Madame Magloire  who were waiting
for him  and he said to his sister   Well  was I in the right  The poor
priest went to his poor mountaineers with empty hands  and he returns
from them with his hands full  I set out bearing only my faith in God  I
have brought back the treasure of a cathedral  

That evening  before he went to bed  he said again   Let us never fear
robbers nor murderers  Those are dangers from without  petty dangers 
Let us fear ourselves  Prejudices are the real robbers  vices are the
real murderers  The great dangers lie within ourselves  What matters it
what threatens our head or our purse  Let us think only of that which
threatens our soul  

Then  turning to his sister   Sister  never a precaution on the part
of the priest  against his fellow man  That which his fellow does  God
permits  Let us confine ourselves to prayer  when we think that a danger
is approaching us  Let us pray  not for ourselves  but that our brother
may not fall into sin on our account  

However  such incidents were rare in his life  We relate those of which
we know  but generally he passed his life in doing the same things at
the same moment  One month of his year resembled one hour of his day 

As to what became of  the treasure  of the cathedral of Embrun  we
should be embarrassed by any inquiry in that direction  It consisted of
very handsome things  very tempting things  and things which were very
well adapted to be stolen for the benefit of the unfortunate  Stolen
they had already been elsewhere  Half of the adventure was completed  it
only remained to impart a new direction to the theft  and to cause it
to take a short trip in the direction of the poor  However  we make no
assertions on this point  Only  a rather obscure note was found among
the Bishop s papers  which may bear some relation to this matter  and
which is couched in these terms   The question is  to decide whether
this should be turned over to the cathedral or to the hospital  




CHAPTER VIII  PHILOSOPHY AFTER DRINKING

The senator above mentioned was a clever man  who had made his own way 
heedless of those things which present obstacles  and which are called
conscience  sworn faith  justice  duty  he had marched straight to his
goal  without once flinching in the line of his advancement and his
interest  He was an old attorney  softened by success  not a bad man by
any means  who rendered all the small services in his power to his sons 
his sons in law  his relations  and even to his friends  having wisely
seized upon  in life  good sides  good opportunities  good windfalls 
Everything else seemed to him very stupid  He was intelligent  and just
sufficiently educated to think himself a disciple of Epicurus  while he
was  in reality  only a product of Pigault Lebrun  He laughed willingly
and pleasantly over infinite and eternal things  and at the  Crotchets
of that good old fellow the Bishop   He even sometimes laughed at him
with an amiable authority in the presence of M  Myriel himself  who
listened to him 

On some semi official occasion or other  I do not recollect what 
Count     this senator  and M  Myriel were to dine with the prefect 
At dessert  the senator  who was slightly exhilarated  though still
perfectly dignified  exclaimed   

 Egad  Bishop  let s have a discussion  It is hard for a senator and a
bishop to look at each other without winking  We are two augurs  I am
going to make a confession to you  I have a philosophy of my own  

 And you are right   replied the Bishop   As one makes one s philosophy 
so one lies on it  You are on the bed of purple  senator  

The senator was encouraged  and went on   

 Let us be good fellows  

 Good devils even   said the Bishop 

 I declare to you   continued the senator   that the Marquis d Argens 
Pyrrhon  Hobbes  and M  Naigeon are no rascals  I have all the
philosophers in my library gilded on the edges  

 Like yourself  Count   interposed the Bishop 

The senator resumed   

 I hate Diderot  he is an ideologist  a declaimer  and a revolutionist 
a believer in God at bottom  and more bigoted than Voltaire  Voltaire
made sport of Needham  and he was wrong  for Needham s eels prove that
God is useless  A drop of vinegar in a spoonful of flour paste supplies
the fiat lux  Suppose the drop to be larger and the spoonful bigger 
you have the world  Man is the eel  Then what is the good of the Eternal
Father  The Jehovah hypothesis tires me  Bishop  It is good for nothing
but to produce shallow people  whose reasoning is hollow  Down with that
great All  which torments me  Hurrah for Zero which leaves me in peace 
Between you and me  and in order to empty my sack  and make confession
to my pastor  as it behooves me to do  I will admit to you that I
have good sense  I am not enthusiastic over your Jesus  who preaches
renunciation and sacrifice to the last extremity   Tis the counsel of an
avaricious man to beggars  Renunciation  why  Sacrifice  to what end 
I do not see one wolf immolating himself for the happiness of another
wolf  Let us stick to nature  then  We are at the top  let us have a
superior philosophy  What is the advantage of being at the top  if
one sees no further than the end of other people s noses  Let us live
merrily  Life is all  That man has another future elsewhere  on high 
below  anywhere  I don t believe  not one single word of it  Ah 
sacrifice and renunciation are recommended to me  I must take heed to
everything I do  I must cudgel my brains over good and evil  over the
just and the unjust  over the fas and the nefas  Why  Because I shall
have to render an account of my actions  When  After death  What a fine
dream  After my death it will be a very clever person who can catch me 
Have a handful of dust seized by a shadow hand  if you can  Let us tell
the truth  we who are initiated  and who have raised the veil of Isis 
there is no such thing as either good or evil  there is vegetation 
Let us seek the real  Let us get to the bottom of it  Let us go into it
thoroughly  What the deuce  let us go to the bottom of it  We must scent
out the truth  dig in the earth for it  and seize it  Then it gives you
exquisite joys  Then you grow strong  and you laugh  I am square on the
bottom  I am  Immortality  Bishop  is a chance  a waiting for dead men s
shoes  Ah  what a charming promise  trust to it  if you like  What a
fine lot Adam has  We are souls  and we shall be angels  with blue wings
on our shoulder blades  Do come to my assistance  is it not Tertullian
who says that the blessed shall travel from star to star  Very well  We
shall be the grasshoppers of the stars  And then  besides  we shall
see God  Ta  ta  ta  What twaddle all these paradises are  God is a
nonsensical monster  I would not say that in the Moniteur  egad  but I
may whisper it among friends  Inter pocula  To sacrifice the world to
paradise is to let slip the prey for the shadow  Be the dupe of the
infinite  I m not such a fool  I am a nought  I call myself Monsieur le
Comte Nought  senator  Did I exist before my birth  No  Shall I exist
after death  No  What am I  A little dust collected in an organism  What
am I to do on this earth  The choice rests with me  suffer or enjoy 
Whither will suffering lead me  To nothingness  but I shall have
suffered  Whither will enjoyment lead me  To nothingness  but I shall
have enjoyed myself  My choice is made  One must eat or be eaten  I
shall eat  It is better to be the tooth than the grass  Such is my
wisdom  After which  go whither I push thee  the grave digger is there 
the Pantheon for some of us  all falls into the great hole  End  Finis 
Total liquidation  This is the vanishing point  Death is death  believe
me  I laugh at the idea of there being any one who has anything to tell
me on that subject  Fables of nurses  bugaboo for children  Jehovah for
men  No  our to morrow is the night  Beyond the tomb there is nothing
but equal nothingness  You have been Sardanapalus  you have been Vincent
de Paul  it makes no difference  That is the truth  Then live your life 
above all things  Make use of your  I  while you have it  In truth 
Bishop  I tell you that I have a philosophy of my own  and I have my
philosophers  I don t let myself be taken in with that nonsense 
Of course  there must be something for those who are down   for the
barefooted beggars  knife grinders  and miserable wretches  Legends 
chimeras  the soul  immortality  paradise  the stars  are provided for
them to swallow  They gobble it down  They spread it on their dry bread 
He who has nothing else has the good  God  That is the least he can
have  I oppose no objection to that  but I reserve Monsieur Naigeon for
myself  The good God is good for the populace  

The Bishop clapped his hands 

 That s talking   he exclaimed   What an excellent and really marvellous
thing is this materialism  Not every one who wants it can have it  Ah 
when one does have it  one is no longer a dupe  one does not stupidly
allow one s self to be exiled like Cato  nor stoned like Stephen  nor
burned alive like Jeanne d Arc  Those who have succeeded in procuring
this admirable materialism have the joy of feeling themselves
irresponsible  and of thinking that they can devour everything without
uneasiness   places  sinecures  dignities  power  whether well or
ill acquired  lucrative recantations  useful treacheries  savory
capitulations of conscience   and that they shall enter the tomb with
their digestion accomplished  How agreeable that is  I do not say that
with reference to you  senator  Nevertheless  it is impossible for me
to refrain from congratulating you  You great lords have  so you say  a
philosophy of your own  and for yourselves  which is exquisite  refined 
accessible to the rich alone  good for all sauces  and which seasons
the voluptuousness of life admirably  This philosophy has been
extracted from the depths  and unearthed by special seekers  But you are
good natured princes  and you do not think it a bad thing that belief in
the good God should constitute the philosophy of the people  very much
as the goose stuffed with chestnuts is the truffled turkey of the poor  




CHAPTER IX  THE BROTHER AS DEPICTED BY THE SISTER

In order to furnish an idea of the private establishment of the
Bishop of D      and of the manner in which those two sainted women
subordinated their actions  their thoughts  their feminine instincts
even  which are easily alarmed  to the habits and purposes of the
Bishop  without his even taking the trouble of speaking in order to
explain them  we cannot do better than transcribe in this place a letter
from Mademoiselle Baptistine to Madame the Vicomtess de Boischevron  the
friend of her childhood  This letter is in our possession 


                                        D      Dec  16  18   
MY GOOD MADAM  Not a day passes without our speaking of you  It is our
established custom  but there is another reason besides  Just imagine 
while washing and dusting the ceilings and walls  Madam Magloire has
made some discoveries  now our two chambers hung with antique paper
whitewashed over  would not discredit a chateau in the style of yours 
Madam Magloire has pulled off all the paper  There were things beneath 
My drawing room  which contains no furniture  and which we use for
spreading out the linen after washing  is fifteen feet in height 
eighteen square  with a ceiling which was formerly painted and gilded 
and with beams  as in yours  This was covered with a cloth while this
was the hospital  And the woodwork was of the era of our grandmothers 
But my room is the one you ought to see  Madam Magloire has discovered 
under at least ten thicknesses of paper pasted on top  some paintings 
which without being good are very tolerable  The subject is Telemachus
being knighted by Minerva in some gardens  the name of which escapes
me  In short  where the Roman ladies repaired on one single night  What
shall I say to you  I have Romans  and Roman ladies  here occurs an
illegible word   and the whole train  Madam Magloire has cleaned it all
off  this summer she is going to have some small injuries repaired  and
the whole revarnished  and my chamber will be a regular museum  She has
also found in a corner of the attic two wooden pier tables of ancient
fashion  They asked us two crowns of six francs each to regild them  but
it is much better to give the money to the poor  and they are very ugly
besides  and I should much prefer a round table of mahogany 

I am always very happy  My brother is so good  He gives all he has to
the poor and sick  We are very much cramped  The country is trying in
the winter  and we really must do something for those who are in need 
We are almost comfortably lighted and warmed  You see that these are
great treats 

My brother has ways of his own  When he talks  he says that a bishop
ought to be so  Just imagine  the door of our house is never fastened 
Whoever chooses to enter finds himself at once in my brother s room  He
fears nothing  even at night  That is his sort of bravery  he says 

He does not wish me or Madame Magloire feel any fear for him  He exposes
himself to all sorts of dangers  and he does not like to have us even
seem to notice it  One must know how to understand him 

He goes out in the rain  he walks in the water  he travels in winter  He
fears neither suspicious roads nor dangerous encounters  nor night 

Last year he went quite alone into a country of robbers  He would
not take us  He was absent for a fortnight  On his return nothing had
happened to him  he was thought to be dead  but was perfectly well  and
said   This is the way I have been robbed   And then he opened a trunk
full of jewels  all the jewels of the cathedral of Embrun  which the
thieves had given him 

When he returned on that occasion  I could not refrain from scolding him
a little  taking care  however  not to speak except when the carriage
was making a noise  so that no one might hear me 

At first I used to say to myself   There are no dangers which will stop
him  he is terrible   Now I have ended by getting used to it  I make a
sign to Madam Magloire that she is not to oppose him  He risks himself
as he sees fit  I carry off Madam Magloire  I enter my chamber  I pray
for him and fall asleep  I am at ease  because I know that if anything
were to happen to him  it would be the end of me  I should go to the
good God with my brother and my bishop  It has cost Madam Magloire
more trouble than it did me to accustom herself to what she terms his
imprudences  But now the habit has been acquired  We pray together  we
tremble together  and we fall asleep  If the devil were to enter this
house  he would be allowed to do so  After all  what is there for us
to fear in this house  There is always some one with us who is stronger
than we  The devil may pass through it  but the good God dwells here 

This suffices me  My brother has no longer any need of saying a word to
me  I understand him without his speaking  and we abandon ourselves to
the care of Providence  That is the way one has to do with a man who
possesses grandeur of soul 

I have interrogated my brother with regard to the information which you
desire on the subject of the Faux family  You are aware that he knows
everything  and that he has memories  because he is still a very
good royalist  They really are a very ancient Norman family of the
generalship of Caen  Five hundred years ago there was a Raoul de Faux  a
Jean de Faux  and a Thomas de Faux  who were gentlemen  and one of whom
was a seigneur de Rochefort  The last was Guy Etienne Alexandre  and was
commander of a regiment  and something in the light horse of Bretagne 
His daughter  Marie Louise  married Adrien Charles de Gramont  son of
the Duke Louis de Gramont  peer of France  colonel of the French guards 
and lieutenant general of the army  It is written Faux  Fauq  and
Faoucq 

Good Madame  recommend us to the prayers of your sainted relative 
Monsieur the Cardinal  As for your dear Sylvanie  she has done well in
not wasting the few moments which she passes with you in writing to me 
She is well  works as you would wish  and loves me 

That is all that I desire  The souvenir which she sent through you
reached me safely  and it makes me very happy  My health is not so very
bad  and yet I grow thinner every day  Farewell  my paper is at an end 
and this forces me to leave you  A thousand good wishes 

BAPTISTINE 

P S  Your grand nephew is charming  Do you know that he will soon be
five years old  Yesterday he saw some one riding by on horseback who
had on knee caps  and he said   What has he got on his knees   He is a
charming child  His little brother is dragging an old broom about the
room  like a carriage  and saying   Hu  


As will be perceived from this letter  these two women understood how to
mould themselves to the Bishop s ways with that special feminine genius
which comprehends the man better than he comprehends himself  The Bishop
of D      in spite of the gentle and candid air which never deserted
him  sometimes did things that were grand  bold  and magnificent 
without seeming to have even a suspicion of the fact  They trembled  but
they let him alone  Sometimes Madame Magloire essayed a remonstrance in
advance  but never at the time  nor afterwards  They never interfered
with him by so much as a word or sign  in any action once entered upon 
At certain moments  without his having occasion to mention it  when he
was not even conscious of it himself in all probability  so perfect was
his simplicity  they vaguely felt that he was acting as a bishop  then
they were nothing more than two shadows in the house  They served him
passively  and if obedience consisted in disappearing  they disappeared 
They understood  with an admirable delicacy of instinct  that certain
cares may be put under constraint  Thus  even when believing him to be
in peril  they understood  I will not say his thought  but his nature 
to such a degree that they no longer watched over him  They confided him
to God 

Moreover  Baptistine said  as we have just read  that her brother s end
would prove her own  Madame Magloire did not say this  but she knew it 




CHAPTER X  THE BISHOP IN THE PRESENCE OF AN UNKNOWN LIGHT

At an epoch a little later than the date of the letter cited in the
preceding pages  he did a thing which  if the whole town was to be
believed  was even more hazardous than his trip across the mountains
infested with bandits 

In the country near D     a man lived quite alone  This man  we will
state at once  was a former member of the Convention  His name was G    

Member of the Convention  G     was mentioned with a sort of horror in
the little world of D     A member of the Convention  can you imagine
such a thing  That existed from the time when people called each other
thou  and when they said  citizen   This man was almost a monster 
He had not voted for the death of the king  but almost  He was a
quasi regicide  He had been a terrible man  How did it happen that such
a man had not been brought before a provost s court  on the return of
the legitimate princes  They need not have cut off his head  if you
please  clemency must be exercised  agreed  but a good banishment for
life  An example  in short  etc  Besides  he was an atheist  like all
the rest of those people  Gossip of the geese about the vulture 

Was G     a vulture after all  Yes  if he were to be judged by the
element of ferocity in this solitude of his  As he had not voted for the
death of the king  he had not been included in the decrees of exile  and
had been able to remain in France 

He dwelt at a distance of three quarters of an hour from the city  far
from any hamlet  far from any road  in some hidden turn of a very wild
valley  no one knew exactly where  He had there  it was said  a sort
of field  a hole  a lair  There were no neighbors  not even passers by 
Since he had dwelt in that valley  the path which led thither had
disappeared under a growth of grass  The locality was spoken of as
though it had been the dwelling of a hangman 

Nevertheless  the Bishop meditated on the subject  and from time to time
he gazed at the horizon at a point where a clump of trees marked the
valley of the former member of the Convention  and he said   There is a
soul yonder which is lonely  

And he added  deep in his own mind   I owe him a visit  

But  let us avow it  this idea  which seemed natural at the first blush 
appeared to him after a moment s reflection  as strange  impossible  and
almost repulsive  For  at bottom  he shared the general impression  and
the old member of the Convention inspired him  without his being clearly
conscious of the fact himself  with that sentiment which borders on
hate  and which is so well expressed by the word estrangement 

Still  should the scab of the sheep cause the shepherd to recoil  No 
But what a sheep 

The good Bishop was perplexed  Sometimes he set out in that direction 
then he returned 

Finally  the rumor one day spread through the town that a sort of young
shepherd  who served the member of the Convention in his hovel  had come
in quest of a doctor  that the old wretch was dying  that paralysis was
gaining on him  and that he would not live over night    Thank God  
some added 

The Bishop took his staff  put on his cloak  on account of his too
threadbare cassock  as we have mentioned  and because of the evening
breeze which was sure to rise soon  and set out 

The sun was setting  and had almost touched the horizon when the Bishop
arrived at the excommunicated spot  With a certain beating of the heart 
he recognized the fact that he was near the lair  He strode over a
ditch  leaped a hedge  made his way through a fence of dead boughs 
entered a neglected paddock  took a few steps with a good deal of
boldness  and suddenly  at the extremity of the waste land  and behind
lofty brambles  he caught sight of the cavern 

It was a very low hut  poor  small  and clean  with a vine nailed
against the outside 

Near the door  in an old wheel chair  the arm chair of the peasants 
there was a white haired man  smiling at the sun 

Near the seated man stood a young boy  the shepherd lad  He was offering
the old man a jar of milk 

While the Bishop was watching him  the old man spoke   Thank you   he
said   I need nothing   And his smile quitted the sun to rest upon the
child 

The Bishop stepped forward  At the sound which he made in walking  the
old man turned his head  and his face expressed the sum total of the
surprise which a man can still feel after a long life 

 This is the first time since I have been here   said he   that any one
has entered here  Who are you  sir  

The Bishop answered   

 My name is Bienvenu Myriel  

 Bienvenu Myriel  I have heard that name  Are you the man whom the
people call Monseigneur Welcome  

 I am  

The old man resumed with a half smile

 In that case  you are my bishop  

 Something of that sort  

 Enter  sir  

The member of the Convention extended his hand to the Bishop  but the
Bishop did not take it  The Bishop confined himself to the remark   

 I am pleased to see that I have been misinformed  You certainly do not
seem to me to be ill  

 Monsieur   replied the old man   I am going to recover  

He paused  and then said   

 I shall die three hours hence  

Then he continued   

 I am something of a doctor  I know in what fashion the last hour draws
on  Yesterday  only my feet were cold  to day  the chill has ascended to
my knees  now I feel it mounting to my waist  when it reaches the heart 
I shall stop  The sun is beautiful  is it not  I had myself wheeled
out here to take a last look at things  You can talk to me  it does not
fatigue me  You have done well to come and look at a man who is on
the point of death  It is well that there should be witnesses at that
moment  One has one s caprices  I should have liked to last until the
dawn  but I know that I shall hardly live three hours  It will be night
then  What does it matter  after all  Dying is a simple affair  One has
no need of the light for that  So be it  I shall die by starlight  

The old man turned to the shepherd lad   

 Go to thy bed  thou wert awake all last night  thou art tired  

The child entered the hut 

The old man followed him with his eyes  and added  as though speaking to
himself   

 I shall die while he sleeps  The two slumbers may be good neighbors  

The Bishop was not touched as it seems that he should have been  He
did not think he discerned God in this manner of dying  let us say the
whole  for these petty contradictions of great hearts must be indicated
like the rest  he  who on occasion  was so fond of laughing at  His
Grace   was rather shocked at not being addressed as Monseigneur  and he
was almost tempted to retort  citizen   He was assailed by a fancy for
peevish familiarity  common enough to doctors and priests  but which
was not habitual with him  This man  after all  this member of the
Convention  this representative of the people  had been one of the
powerful ones of the earth  for the first time in his life  probably 
the Bishop felt in a mood to be severe 

Meanwhile  the member of the Convention had been surveying him with a
modest cordiality  in which one could have distinguished  possibly  that
humility which is so fitting when one is on the verge of returning to
dust 

The Bishop  on his side  although he generally restrained his curiosity 
which  in his opinion  bordered on a fault  could not refrain from
examining the member of the Convention with an attention which  as it
did not have its course in sympathy  would have served his conscience as
a matter of reproach  in connection with any other man  A member of the
Convention produced on him somewhat the effect of being outside the pale
of the law  even of the law of charity  G      calm  his body almost
upright  his voice vibrating  was one of those octogenarians who form
the subject of astonishment to the physiologist  The Revolution had
many of these men  proportioned to the epoch  In this old man one was
conscious of a man put to the proof  Though so near to his end  he
preserved all the gestures of health  In his clear glance  in his firm
tone  in the robust movement of his shoulders  there was something
calculated to disconcert death  Azrael  the Mohammedan angel of the
sepulchre  would have turned back  and thought that he had mistaken
the door  G     seemed to be dying because he willed it so  There was
freedom in his agony  His legs alone were motionless  It was there that
the shadows held him fast  His feet were cold and dead  but his head
survived with all the power of life  and seemed full of light  G     
at this solemn moment  resembled the king in that tale of the Orient who
was flesh above and marble below 

There was a stone there  The Bishop sat down  The exordium was abrupt 

 I congratulate you   said he  in the tone which one uses for a
reprimand   You did not vote for the death of the king  after all  

The old member of the Convention did not appear to notice the bitter
meaning underlying the words  after all   He replied  The smile had
quite disappeared from his face 

 Do not congratulate me too much  sir  I did vote for the death of the
tyrant  

It was the tone of austerity answering the tone of severity 

 What do you mean to say   resumed the Bishop 

 I mean to say that man has a tyrant   ignorance  I voted for the death
of that tyrant  That tyrant engendered royalty  which is authority
falsely understood  while science is authority rightly understood  Man
should be governed only by science  

 And conscience   added the Bishop 

 It is the same thing  Conscience is the quantity of innate science
which we have within us  

Monseigneur Bienvenu listened in some astonishment to this language 
which was very new to him 

The member of the Convention resumed   

 So far as Louis XVI  was concerned  I said  no   I did not think that I
had the right to kill a man  but I felt it my duty to exterminate evil 
I voted the end of the tyrant  that is to say  the end of prostitution
for woman  the end of slavery for man  the end of night for the child 
In voting for the Republic  I voted for that  I voted for fraternity 
concord  the dawn  I have aided in the overthrow of prejudices and
errors  The crumbling away of prejudices and errors causes light  We
have caused the fall of the old world  and the old world  that vase of
miseries  has become  through its upsetting upon the human race  an urn
of joy  

 Mixed joy   said the Bishop 

 You may say troubled joy  and to day  after that fatal return of the
past  which is called 1814  joy which has disappeared  Alas  The work
was incomplete  I admit  we demolished the ancient regime in deeds  we
were not able to suppress it entirely in ideas  To destroy abuses is not
sufficient  customs must be modified  The mill is there no longer  the
wind is still there  

 You have demolished  It may be of use to demolish  but I distrust a
demolition complicated with wrath  

 Right has its wrath  Bishop  and the wrath of right is an element of
progress  In any case  and in spite of whatever may be said  the French
Revolution is the most important step of the human race since the advent
of Christ  Incomplete  it may be  but sublime  It set free all the
unknown social quantities  it softened spirits  it calmed  appeased 
enlightened  it caused the waves of civilization to flow over the
earth  It was a good thing  The French Revolution is the consecration of
humanity  

The Bishop could not refrain from murmuring   

 Yes   93  

The member of the Convention straightened himself up in his chair with
an almost lugubrious solemnity  and exclaimed  so far as a dying man is
capable of exclamation   

 Ah  there you go   93  I was expecting that word  A cloud had been
forming for the space of fifteen hundred years  at the end of fifteen
hundred years it burst  You are putting the thunderbolt on its trial  

The Bishop felt  without  perhaps  confessing it  that something within
him had suffered extinction  Nevertheless  he put a good face on the
matter  He replied   

 The judge speaks in the name of justice  the priest speaks in the name
of pity  which is nothing but a more lofty justice  A thunderbolt should
commit no error   And he added  regarding the member of the Convention
steadily the while   Louis XVII   

The conventionary stretched forth his hand and grasped the Bishop s arm 

 Louis XVII   let us see  For whom do you mourn  is it for the innocent
child  very good  in that case I mourn with you  Is it for the royal
child  I demand time for reflection  To me  the brother of Cartouche 
an innocent child who was hung up by the armpits in the Place de Greve 
until death ensued  for the sole crime of having been the brother
of Cartouche  is no less painful than the grandson of Louis XV   an
innocent child  martyred in the tower of the Temple  for the sole crime
of having been grandson of Louis XV  

 Monsieur   said the Bishop   I like not this conjunction of names  

 Cartouche  Louis XV   To which of the two do you object  

A momentary silence ensued  The Bishop almost regretted having come  and
yet he felt vaguely and strangely shaken 

The conventionary resumed   

 Ah  Monsieur Priest  you love not the crudities of the true  Christ
loved them  He seized a rod and cleared out the Temple  His scourge 
full of lightnings  was a harsh speaker of truths  When he cried 
 Sinite parvulos   he made no distinction between the little children 
It would not have embarrassed him to bring together the Dauphin of
Barabbas and the Dauphin of Herod  Innocence  Monsieur  is its own
crown  Innocence has no need to be a highness  It is as august in rags
as in fleurs de lys  

 That is true   said the Bishop in a low voice 

 I persist   continued the conventionary G      You have mentioned Louis
XVII  to me  Let us come to an understanding  Shall we weep for all the
innocent  all martyrs  all children  the lowly as well as the exalted 
I agree to that  But in that case  as I have told you  we must go back
further than  93  and our tears must begin before Louis XVII  I will
weep with you over the children of kings  provided that you will weep
with me over the children of the people  

 I weep for all   said the Bishop 

 Equally   exclaimed conventionary G       and if the balance must
incline  let it be on the side of the people  They have been suffering
longer  

Another silence ensued  The conventionary was the first to break it  He
raised himself on one elbow  took a bit of his cheek between his thumb
and his forefinger  as one does mechanically when one interrogates and
judges  and appealed to the Bishop with a gaze full of all the forces of
the death agony  It was almost an explosion 

 Yes  sir  the people have been suffering a long while  And hold  that
is not all  either  why have you just questioned me and talked to me
about Louis XVII   I know you not  Ever since I have been in these parts
I have dwelt in this enclosure alone  never setting foot outside  and
seeing no one but that child who helps me  Your name has reached me in
a confused manner  it is true  and very badly pronounced  I must admit 
but that signifies nothing  clever men have so many ways of imposing on
that honest goodman  the people  By the way  I did not hear the sound of
your carriage  you have left it yonder  behind the coppice at the fork
of the roads  no doubt  I do not know you  I tell you  You have told me
that you are the Bishop  but that affords me no information as to your
moral personality  In short  I repeat my question  Who are you  You are
a bishop  that is to say  a prince of the church  one of those gilded
men with heraldic bearings and revenues  who have vast prebends   the
bishopric of D     fifteen thousand francs settled income  ten thousand
in perquisites  total  twenty five thousand francs   who have kitchens 
who have liveries  who make good cheer  who eat moor hens on Friday  who
strut about  a lackey before  a lackey behind  in a gala coach  and
who have palaces  and who roll in their carriages in the name of Jesus
Christ who went barefoot  You are a prelate   revenues  palace  horses 
servants  good table  all the sensualities of life  you have this like
the rest  and like the rest  you enjoy it  it is well  but this says
either too much or too little  this does not enlighten me upon the
intrinsic and essential value of the man who comes with the probable
intention of bringing wisdom to me  To whom do I speak  Who are you  

The Bishop hung his head and replied   Vermis sum  I am a worm  

 A worm of the earth in a carriage   growled the conventionary 

It was the conventionary s turn to be arrogant  and the Bishop s to be
humble 

The Bishop resumed mildly   

 So be it  sir  But explain to me how my carriage  which is a few paces
off behind the trees yonder  how my good table and the moor hens which I
eat on Friday  how my twenty five thousand francs income  how my palace
and my lackeys prove that clemency is not a duty  and that  93 was not
inexorable  

The conventionary passed his hand across his brow  as though to sweep
away a cloud 

 Before replying to you   he said   I beseech you to pardon me  I have
just committed a wrong  sir  You are at my house  you are my guest  I
owe you courtesy  You discuss my ideas  and it becomes me to confine
myself to combating your arguments  Your riches and your pleasures are
advantages which I hold over you in the debate  but good taste dictates
that I shall not make use of them  I promise you to make no use of them
in the future  

 I thank you   said the Bishop 

G     resumed 

 Let us return to the explanation which you have asked of me  Where were
we  What were you saying to me  That  93 was inexorable  

 Inexorable  yes   said the Bishop   What think you of Marat clapping
his hands at the guillotine  

 What think you of Bossuet chanting the Te Deum over the dragonnades  

The retort was a harsh one  but it attained its mark with the directness
of a point of steel  The Bishop quivered under it  no reply occurred to
him  but he was offended by this mode of alluding to Bossuet  The best
of minds will have their fetiches  and they sometimes feel vaguely
wounded by the want of respect of logic 

The conventionary began to pant  the asthma of the agony which is
mingled with the last breaths interrupted his voice  still  there was a
perfect lucidity of soul in his eyes  He went on   

 Let me say a few words more in this and that direction  I am willing 
Apart from the Revolution  which  taken as a whole  is an immense human
affirmation   93 is  alas  a rejoinder  You think it inexorable  sir 
but what of the whole monarchy  sir  Carrier is a bandit  but what name
do you give to Montrevel  Fouquier Tainville is a rascal  but what
is your opinion as to Lamoignon Baville  Maillard is terrible  but
Saulx Tavannes  if you please  Duchene senior is ferocious  but what
epithet will you allow me for the elder Letellier  Jourdan Coupe Tete
is a monster  but not so great a one as M  the Marquis de Louvois  Sir 
sir  I am sorry for Marie Antoinette  archduchess and queen  but I am
also sorry for that poor Huguenot woman  who  in 1685  under Louis the
Great  sir  while with a nursing infant  was bound  naked to the waist 
to a stake  and the child kept at a distance  her breast swelled with
milk and her heart with anguish  the little one  hungry and pale  beheld
that breast and cried and agonized  the executioner said to the woman  a
mother and a nurse   Abjure   giving her her choice between the death of
her infant and the death of her conscience  What say you to that torture
of Tantalus as applied to a mother  Bear this well in mind sir  the
French Revolution had its reasons for existence  its wrath will be
absolved by the future  its result is the world made better  From its
most terrible blows there comes forth a caress for the human race  I
abridge  I stop  I have too much the advantage  moreover  I am dying  

And ceasing to gaze at the Bishop  the conventionary concluded his
thoughts in these tranquil words   

 Yes  the brutalities of progress are called revolutions  When they are
over  this fact is recognized   that the human race has been treated
harshly  but that it has progressed  

The conventionary doubted not that he had successively conquered all the
inmost intrenchments of the Bishop  One remained  however  and from this
intrenchment  the last resource of Monseigneur Bienvenu s resistance 
came forth this reply  wherein appeared nearly all the harshness of the
beginning   

 Progress should believe in God  Good cannot have an impious servitor 
He who is an atheist is but a bad leader for the human race  

The former representative of the people made no reply  He was seized
with a fit of trembling  He looked towards heaven  and in his glance a
tear gathered slowly  When the eyelid was full  the tear trickled down
his livid cheek  and he said  almost in a stammer  quite low  and to
himself  while his eyes were plunged in the depths   

 O thou  O ideal  Thou alone existest  

The Bishop experienced an indescribable shock 

After a pause  the old man raised a finger heavenward and said   

 The infinite is  He is there  If the infinite had no person  person
would be without limit  it would not be infinite  in other words  it
would not exist  There is  then  an  I   That  I  of the infinite is
God  

The dying man had pronounced these last words in a loud voice  and with
the shiver of ecstasy  as though he beheld some one  When he had spoken 
his eyes closed  The effort had exhausted him  It was evident that he
had just lived through in a moment the few hours which had been left to
him  That which he had said brought him nearer to him who is in death 
The supreme moment was approaching 

The Bishop understood this  time pressed  it was as a priest that he had
come  from extreme coldness he had passed by degrees to extreme emotion 
he gazed at those closed eyes  he took that wrinkled  aged and ice cold
hand in his  and bent over the dying man 

 This hour is the hour of God  Do you not think that it would be
regrettable if we had met in vain  

The conventionary opened his eyes again  A gravity mingled with gloom
was imprinted on his countenance 

 Bishop   said he  with a slowness which probably arose more from his
dignity of soul than from the failing of his strength   I have passed my
life in meditation  study  and contemplation  I was sixty years of age
when my country called me and commanded me to concern myself with its
affairs  I obeyed  Abuses existed  I combated them  tyrannies existed 
I destroyed them  rights and principles existed  I proclaimed and
confessed them  Our territory was invaded  I defended it  France was
menaced  I offered my breast  I was not rich  I am poor  I have been one
of the masters of the state  the vaults of the treasury were encumbered
with specie to such a degree that we were forced to shore up the walls 
which were on the point of bursting beneath the weight of gold and
silver  I dined in Dead Tree Street  at twenty two sous  I have succored
the oppressed  I have comforted the suffering  I tore the cloth from
the altar  it is true  but it was to bind up the wounds of my country  I
have always upheld the march forward of the human race  forward towards
the light  and I have sometimes resisted progress without pity  I have 
when the occasion offered  protected my own adversaries  men of your
profession  And there is at Peteghem  in Flanders  at the very spot
where the Merovingian kings had their summer palace  a convent of
Urbanists  the Abbey of Sainte Claire en Beaulieu  which I saved in
1793  I have done my duty according to my powers  and all the good
that I was able  After which  I was hunted down  pursued  persecuted 
blackened  jeered at  scorned  cursed  proscribed  For many years past 
I with my white hair have been conscious that many people think they
have the right to despise me  to the poor ignorant masses I present the
visage of one damned  And I accept this isolation of hatred  without
hating any one myself  Now I am eighty six years old  I am on the point
of death  What is it that you have come to ask of me  

 Your blessing   said the Bishop 

And he knelt down 

When the Bishop raised his head again  the face of the conventionary had
become august  He had just expired 

The Bishop returned home  deeply absorbed in thoughts which cannot
be known to us  He passed the whole night in prayer  On the following
morning some bold and curious persons attempted to speak to him about
member of the Convention G      he contented himself with pointing
heavenward 

From that moment he redoubled his tenderness and brotherly feeling
towards all children and sufferers 

Any allusion to  that old wretch of a G      caused him to fall into a
singular preoccupation  No one could say that the passage of that soul
before his  and the reflection of that grand conscience upon his  did
not count for something in his approach to perfection 

This  pastoral visit  naturally furnished an occasion for a murmur of
comment in all the little local coteries 

 Was the bedside of such a dying man as that the proper place for a
bishop  There was evidently no conversion to be expected  All those
revolutionists are backsliders  Then why go there  What was there to be
seen there  He must have been very curious indeed to see a soul carried
off by the devil  

One day a dowager of the impertinent variety who thinks herself
spiritual  addressed this sally to him   Monseigneur  people are
inquiring when Your Greatness will receive the red cap     Oh  oh 
that s a coarse color   replied the Bishop   It is lucky that those who
despise it in a cap revere it in a hat  




CHAPTER XI  A RESTRICTION

We should incur a great risk of deceiving ourselves  were we to conclude
from this that Monseigneur Welcome was  a philosophical bishop   or a
 patriotic cure   His meeting  which may almost be designated as his
union  with conventionary G      left behind it in his mind a sort of
astonishment  which rendered him still more gentle  That is all 

Although Monseigneur Bienvenu was far from being a politician  this is 
perhaps  the place to indicate very briefly what his attitude was in the
events of that epoch  supposing that Monseigneur Bienvenu ever dreamed
of having an attitude 

Let us  then  go back a few years 

Some time after the elevation of M  Myriel to the episcopate  the
Emperor had made him a baron of the Empire  in company with many other
bishops  The arrest of the Pope took place  as every one knows  on the
night of the 5th to the 6th of July  1809  on this occasion  M  Myriel
was summoned by Napoleon to the synod of the bishops of France and Italy
convened at Paris  This synod was held at Notre Dame  and assembled
for the first time on the 15th of June  1811  under the presidency
of Cardinal Fesch  M  Myriel was one of the ninety five bishops who
attended it  But he was present only at one sitting and at three or four
private conferences  Bishop of a mountain diocese  living so very close
to nature  in rusticity and deprivation  it appeared that he imported
among these eminent personages  ideas which altered the temperature of
the assembly  He very soon returned to D     He was interrogated as to
this speedy return  and he replied   I embarrassed them  The outside air
penetrated to them through me  I produced on them the effect of an open
door  

On another occasion he said   What would you have  Those gentlemen are
princes  I am only a poor peasant bishop  

The fact is that he displeased them  Among other strange things  it is
said that he chanced to remark one evening  when he found himself at
the house of one of his most notable colleagues   What beautiful clocks 
What beautiful carpets  What beautiful liveries  They must be a great
trouble  I would not have all those superfluities  crying incessantly
in my ears   There are people who are hungry  There are people who are
cold  There are poor people  There are poor people   

Let us remark  by the way  that the hatred of luxury is not an
intelligent hatred  This hatred would involve the hatred of the arts 
Nevertheless  in churchmen  luxury is wrong  except in connection with
representations and ceremonies  It seems to reveal habits which have
very little that is charitable about them  An opulent priest is a
contradiction  The priest must keep close to the poor  Now  can one come
in contact incessantly night and day with all this distress  all these
misfortunes  and this poverty  without having about one s own person a
little of that misery  like the dust of labor  Is it possible to imagine
a man near a brazier who is not warm  Can one imagine a workman who is
working near a furnace  and who has neither a singed hair  nor blackened
nails  nor a drop of sweat  nor a speck of ashes on his face  The first
proof of charity in the priest  in the bishop especially  is poverty 

This is  no doubt  what the Bishop of D     thought 

It must not be supposed  however  that he shared what we call the  ideas
of the century  on certain delicate points  He took very little part
in the theological quarrels of the moment  and maintained silence on
questions in which Church and State were implicated  but if he had
been strongly pressed  it seems that he would have been found to be an
ultramontane rather than a gallican  Since we are making a portrait  and
since we do not wish to conceal anything  we are forced to add that he
was glacial towards Napoleon in his decline  Beginning with 1813  he
gave in his adherence to or applauded all hostile manifestations  He
refused to see him  as he passed through on his return from the island
of Elba  and he abstained from ordering public prayers for the Emperor
in his diocese during the Hundred Days 

Besides his sister  Mademoiselle Baptistine  he had two brothers  one a
general  the other a prefect  He wrote to both with tolerable frequency 
He was harsh for a time towards the former  because  holding a command
in Provence at the epoch of the disembarkation at Cannes  the general
had put himself at the head of twelve hundred men and had pursued the
Emperor as though the latter had been a person whom one is desirous
of allowing to escape  His correspondence with the other brother  the
ex prefect  a fine  worthy man who lived in retirement at Paris  Rue
Cassette  remained more affectionate 

Thus Monseigneur Bienvenu also had his hour of party spirit  his hour
of bitterness  his cloud  The shadow of the passions of the moment
traversed this grand and gentle spirit occupied with eternal things 
Certainly  such a man would have done well not to entertain any
political opinions  Let there be no mistake as to our meaning  we are
not confounding what is called  political opinions  with the grand
aspiration for progress  with the sublime faith  patriotic  democratic 
humane  which in our day should be the very foundation of every generous
intellect  Without going deeply into questions which are only indirectly
connected with the subject of this book  we will simply say this  It
would have been well if Monseigneur Bienvenu had not been a Royalist 
and if his glance had never been  for a single instant  turned away from
that serene contemplation in which is distinctly discernible  above the
fictions and the hatreds of this world  above the stormy vicissitudes of
human things  the beaming of those three pure radiances  truth  justice 
and charity 

While admitting that it was not for a political office that God created
Monseigneur Welcome  we should have understood and admired his protest
in the name of right and liberty  his proud opposition  his just but
perilous resistance to the all powerful Napoleon  But that which pleases
us in people who are rising pleases us less in the case of people who
are falling  We only love the fray so long as there is danger  and in
any case  the combatants of the first hour have alone the right to be
the exterminators of the last  He who has not been a stubborn accuser in
prosperity should hold his peace in the face of ruin  The denunciator of
success is the only legitimate executioner of the fall  As for us  when
Providence intervenes and strikes  we let it work  1812 commenced to
disarm us  In 1813 the cowardly breach of silence of that taciturn
legislative body  emboldened by catastrophe  possessed only traits which
aroused indignation  And it was a crime to applaud  in 1814  in the
presence of those marshals who betrayed  in the presence of that senate
which passed from one dunghill to another  insulting after having
deified  in the presence of that idolatry which was loosing its footing
and spitting on its idol   it was a duty to turn aside the head  In
1815  when the supreme disasters filled the air  when France was seized
with a shiver at their sinister approach  when Waterloo could be dimly
discerned opening before Napoleon  the mournful acclamation of the army
and the people to the condemned of destiny had nothing laughable in it 
and  after making all allowance for the despot  a heart like that of
the Bishop of D      ought not perhaps to have failed to recognize the
august and touching features presented by the embrace of a great nation
and a great man on the brink of the abyss 

With this exception  he was in all things just  true  equitable 
intelligent  humble and dignified  beneficent and kindly  which is only
another sort of benevolence  He was a priest  a sage  and a man  It must
be admitted  that even in the political views with which we have just
reproached him  and which we are disposed to judge almost with severity 
he was tolerant and easy  more so  perhaps  than we who are speaking
here  The porter of the town hall had been placed there by the Emperor 
He was an old non commissioned officer of the old guard  a member of the
Legion of Honor at Austerlitz  as much of a Bonapartist as the eagle 
This poor fellow occasionally let slip inconsiderate remarks  which the
law then stigmatized as seditious speeches  After the imperial profile
disappeared from the Legion of Honor  he never dressed himself in his
regimentals  as he said  so that he should not be obliged to wear his
cross  He had himself devoutly removed the imperial effigy from the
cross which Napoleon had given him  this made a hole  and he would not
put anything in its place   I will die   he said   rather than wear the
three frogs upon my heart   He liked to scoff aloud at Louis XVIII   The
gouty old creature in English gaiters   he said   let him take himself
off to Prussia with that queue of his   He was happy to combine in the
same imprecation the two things which he most detested  Prussia and
England  He did it so often that he lost his place  There he was  turned
out of the house  with his wife and children  and without bread  The
Bishop sent for him  reproved him gently  and appointed him beadle in
the cathedral 

In the course of nine years Monseigneur Bienvenu had  by dint of holy
deeds and gentle manners  filled the town of D    with a sort of
tender and filial reverence  Even his conduct towards Napoleon had been
accepted and tacitly pardoned  as it were  by the people  the good and
weakly flock who adored their emperor  but loved their bishop 




CHAPTER XII  THE SOLITUDE OF MONSEIGNEUR WELCOME

A bishop is almost always surrounded by a full squadron of little abbes 
just as a general is by a covey of young officers  This is what
that charming Saint Francois de Sales calls somewhere  les pretres
blancs becs   callow priests  Every career has its aspirants  who form
a train for those who have attained eminence in it  There is no power
which has not its dependents  There is no fortune which has not its
court  The seekers of the future eddy around the splendid present  Every
metropolis has its staff of officials  Every bishop who possesses the
least influence has about him his patrol of cherubim from the seminary 
which goes the round  and maintains good order in the episcopal palace 
and mounts guard over monseigneur s smile  To please a bishop is
equivalent to getting one s foot in the stirrup for a sub diaconate 
It is necessary to walk one s path discreetly  the apostleship does not
disdain the canonship 

Just as there are bigwigs elsewhere  there are big mitres in the Church 
These are the bishops who stand well at Court  who are rich  well
endowed  skilful  accepted by the world  who know how to pray  no doubt 
but who know also how to beg  who feel little scruple at making a whole
diocese dance attendance in their person  who are connecting links
between the sacristy and diplomacy  who are abbes rather than priests 
prelates rather than bishops  Happy those who approach them  Being
persons of influence  they create a shower about them  upon the
assiduous and the favored  and upon all the young men who understand
the art of pleasing  of large parishes  prebends  archidiaconates 
chaplaincies  and cathedral posts  while awaiting episcopal honors  As
they advance themselves  they cause their satellites to progress also 
it is a whole solar system on the march  Their radiance casts a gleam
of purple over their suite  Their prosperity is crumbled up behind
the scenes  into nice little promotions  The larger the diocese of the
patron  the fatter the curacy for the favorite  And then  there is Rome 
A bishop who understands how to become an archbishop  an archbishop who
knows how to become a cardinal  carries you with him as conclavist 
you enter a court of papal jurisdiction  you receive the pallium  and
behold  you are an auditor  then a papal chamberlain  then monsignor 
and from a Grace to an Eminence is only a step  and between the Eminence
and the Holiness there is but the smoke of a ballot  Every skull cap may
dream of the tiara  The priest is nowadays the only man who can become a
king in a regular manner  and what a king  the supreme king  Then what a
nursery of aspirations is a seminary  How many blushing choristers 
how many youthful abbes bear on their heads Perrette s pot of milk 
Who knows how easy it is for ambition to call itself vocation  in good
faith  perchance  and deceiving itself  devotee that it is 

Monseigneur Bienvenu  poor  humble  retiring  was not accounted among
the big mitres  This was plain from the complete absence of young
priests about him  We have seen that he  did not take  in Paris  Not a
single future dreamed of engrafting itself on this solitary old man 
Not a single sprouting ambition committed the folly of putting forth its
foliage in his shadow  His canons and grand vicars were good old men 
rather vulgar like himself  walled up like him in this diocese  without
exit to a cardinalship  and who resembled their bishop  with this
difference  that they were finished and he was completed  The
impossibility of growing great under Monseigneur Bienvenu was so well
understood  that no sooner had the young men whom he ordained left the
seminary than they got themselves recommended to the archbishops of Aix
or of Auch  and went off in a great hurry  For  in short  we repeat it 
men wish to be pushed  A saint who dwells in a paroxysm of abnegation
is a dangerous neighbor  he might communicate to you  by contagion 
an incurable poverty  an anchylosis of the joints  which are useful in
advancement  and in short  more renunciation than you desire  and
this infectious virtue is avoided  Hence the isolation of Monseigneur
Bienvenu  We live in the midst of a gloomy society  Success  that is the
lesson which falls drop by drop from the slope of corruption 

Be it said in passing  that success is a very hideous thing  Its false
resemblance to merit deceives men  For the masses  success has almost
the same profile as supremacy  Success  that Menaechmus of talent  has
one dupe   history  Juvenal and Tacitus alone grumble at it  In our
day  a philosophy which is almost official has entered into its
service  wears the livery of success  and performs the service of its
antechamber  Succeed  theory  Prosperity argues capacity  Win in the
lottery  and behold  you are a clever man  He who triumphs is venerated 
Be born with a silver spoon in your mouth  everything lies in that  Be
lucky  and you will have all the rest  be happy  and people will think
you great  Outside of five or six immense exceptions  which compose
the splendor of a century  contemporary admiration is nothing but
short sightedness  Gilding is gold  It does no harm to be the first
arrival by pure chance  so long as you do arrive  The common herd is an
old Narcissus who adores himself  and who applauds the vulgar herd 
That enormous ability by virtue of which one is Moses  Aeschylus  Dante 
Michael Angelo  or Napoleon  the multitude awards on the spot  and by
acclamation  to whomsoever attains his object  in whatsoever it may
consist  Let a notary transfigure himself into a deputy  let a false
Corneille compose Tiridate  let a eunuch come to possess a harem  let a
military Prudhomme accidentally win the decisive battle of an epoch 
let an apothecary invent cardboard shoe soles for the army of the
Sambre and Meuse  and construct for himself  out of this cardboard  sold
as leather  four hundred thousand francs of income  let a pork packer
espouse usury  and cause it to bring forth seven or eight millions  of
which he is the father and of which it is the mother  let a preacher
become a bishop by force of his nasal drawl  let the steward of a fine
family be so rich on retiring from service that he is made minister
of finances   and men call that Genius  just as they call the face
of Mousqueton Beauty  and the mien of Claude Majesty  With the
constellations of space they confound the stars of the abyss which are
made in the soft mire of the puddle by the feet of ducks 




CHAPTER XIII  WHAT HE BELIEVED

We are not obliged to sound the Bishop of D     on the score of
orthodoxy  In the presence of such a soul we feel ourselves in no mood
but respect  The conscience of the just man should be accepted on his
word  Moreover  certain natures being given  we admit the possible
development of all beauties of human virtue in a belief that differs
from our own 

What did he think of this dogma  or of that mystery  These secrets of
the inner tribunal of the conscience are known only to the tomb  where
souls enter naked  The point on which we are certain is  that the
difficulties of faith never resolved themselves into hypocrisy in his
case  No decay is possible to the diamond  He believed to the extent
of his powers   Credo in Patrem   he often exclaimed  Moreover  he
drew from good works that amount of satisfaction which suffices to the
conscience  and which whispers to a man   Thou art with God  

The point which we consider it our duty to note is  that outside of and
beyond his faith  as it were  the Bishop possessed an excess of love  In
was in that quarter  quia multum amavit   because he loved much  that
he was regarded as vulnerable by  serious men    grave persons  and
 reasonable people   favorite locutions of our sad world where egotism
takes its word of command from pedantry  What was this excess of love 
It was a serene benevolence which overflowed men  as we have already
pointed out  and which  on occasion  extended even to things  He lived
without disdain  He was indulgent towards God s creation  Every man 
even the best  has within him a thoughtless harshness which he reserves
for animals  The Bishop of D     had none of that harshness  which is
peculiar to many priests  nevertheless  He did not go as far as the
Brahmin  but he seemed to have weighed this saying of Ecclesiastes   Who
knoweth whither the soul of the animal goeth   Hideousness of aspect 
deformity of instinct  troubled him not  and did not arouse his
indignation  He was touched  almost softened by them  It seemed as
though he went thoughtfully away to seek beyond the bounds of life which
is apparent  the cause  the explanation  or the excuse for them  He
seemed at times to be asking God to commute these penalties  He examined
without wrath  and with the eye of a linguist who is deciphering a
palimpsest  that portion of chaos which still exists in nature  This
revery sometimes caused him to utter odd sayings  One morning he was in
his garden  and thought himself alone  but his sister was walking behind
him  unseen by him  suddenly he paused and gazed at something on the
ground  it was a large  black  hairy  frightful spider  His sister heard
him say   

 Poor beast  It is not its fault  

Why not mention these almost divinely childish sayings of kindness 
Puerile they may be  but these sublime puerilities were peculiar to
Saint Francis d Assisi and of Marcus Aurelius  One day he sprained his
ankle in his effort to avoid stepping on an ant  Thus lived this just
man  Sometimes he fell asleep in his garden  and then there was nothing
more venerable possible 

Monseigneur Bienvenu had formerly been  if the stories anent his youth 
and even in regard to his manhood  were to be believed  a passionate 
and  possibly  a violent man  His universal suavity was less an instinct
of nature than the result of a grand conviction which had filtered into
his heart through the medium of life  and had trickled there slowly 
thought by thought  for  in a character  as in a rock  there may exist
apertures made by drops of water  These hollows are uneffaceable  these
formations are indestructible 

In 1815  as we think we have already said  he reached his seventy fifth
birthday  but he did not appear to be more than sixty  He was not tall 
he was rather plump  and  in order to combat this tendency  he was fond
of taking long strolls on foot  his step was firm  and his form was
but slightly bent  a detail from which we do not pretend to draw any
conclusion  Gregory XVI   at the age of eighty  held himself erect and
smiling  which did not prevent him from being a bad bishop  Monseigneur
Welcome had what the people term a  fine head   but so amiable was he
that they forgot that it was fine 

When he conversed with that infantile gayety which was one of his
charms  and of which we have already spoken  people felt at their ease
with him  and joy seemed to radiate from his whole person  His fresh and
ruddy complexion  his very white teeth  all of which he had preserved 
and which were displayed by his smile  gave him that open and easy air
which cause the remark to be made of a man   He s a good fellow   and
of an old man   He is a fine man   That  it will be recalled  was the
effect which he produced upon Napoleon  On the first encounter  and to
one who saw him for the first time  he was nothing  in fact  but a fine
man  But if one remained near him for a few hours  and beheld him in the
least degree pensive  the fine man became gradually transfigured  and
took on some imposing quality  I know not what  his broad and serious
brow  rendered august by his white locks  became august also by virtue
of meditation  majesty radiated from his goodness  though his goodness
ceased not to be radiant  one experienced something of the emotion which
one would feel on beholding a smiling angel slowly unfold his wings 
without ceasing to smile  Respect  an unutterable respect  penetrated
you by degrees and mounted to your heart  and one felt that one had
before him one of those strong  thoroughly tried  and indulgent souls
where thought is so grand that it can no longer be anything but gentle 

As we have seen  prayer  the celebration of the offices of religion 
alms giving  the consolation of the afflicted  the cultivation of a bit
of land  fraternity  frugality  hospitality  renunciation  confidence 
study  work  filled every day of his life  Filled is exactly the word 
certainly the Bishop s day was quite full to the brim  of good words and
good deeds  Nevertheless  it was not complete if cold or rainy weather
prevented his passing an hour or two in his garden before going to bed 
and after the two women had retired  It seemed to be a sort of rite with
him  to prepare himself for slumber by meditation in the presence of
the grand spectacles of the nocturnal heavens  Sometimes  if the two old
women were not asleep  they heard him pacing slowly along the walks at
a very advanced hour of the night  He was there alone  communing with
himself  peaceful  adoring  comparing the serenity of his heart with the
serenity of the ether  moved amid the darkness by the visible splendor
of the constellations and the invisible splendor of God  opening his
heart to the thoughts which fall from the Unknown  At such moments 
while he offered his heart at the hour when nocturnal flowers offer
their perfume  illuminated like a lamp amid the starry night  as he
poured himself out in ecstasy in the midst of the universal radiance of
creation  he could not have told himself  probably  what was passing in
his spirit  he felt something take its flight from him  and something
descend into him  Mysterious exchange of the abysses of the soul with
the abysses of the universe 

He thought of the grandeur and presence of God  of the future eternity 
that strange mystery  of the eternity past  a mystery still more
strange  of all the infinities  which pierced their way into all
his senses  beneath his eyes  and  without seeking to comprehend the
incomprehensible  he gazed upon it  He did not study God  he was dazzled
by him  He considered those magnificent conjunctions of atoms  which
communicate aspects to matter  reveal forces by verifying them  create
individualities in unity  proportions in extent  the innumerable in the
infinite  and  through light  produce beauty  These conjunctions are
formed and dissolved incessantly  hence life and death 

He seated himself on a wooden bench  with his back against a decrepit
vine  he gazed at the stars  past the puny and stunted silhouettes
of his fruit trees  This quarter of an acre  so poorly planted  so
encumbered with mean buildings and sheds  was dear to him  and satisfied
his wants 

What more was needed by this old man  who divided the leisure of his
life  where there was so little leisure  between gardening in the
daytime and contemplation at night  Was not this narrow enclosure  with
the heavens for a ceiling  sufficient to enable him to adore God in his
most divine works  in turn  Does not this comprehend all  in fact  and
what is there left to desire beyond it  A little garden in which to
walk  and immensity in which to dream  At one s feet that which can be
cultivated and plucked  over head that which one can study and meditate
upon  some flowers on earth  and all the stars in the sky 




CHAPTER XIV  WHAT HE THOUGHT


One last word 

Since this sort of details might  particularly at the present moment 
and to use an expression now in fashion  give to the Bishop of D     a
certain  pantheistical  physiognomy  and induce the belief  either
to his credit or discredit  that he entertained one of those personal
philosophies which are peculiar to our century  which sometimes spring
up in solitary spirits  and there take on a form and grow until they
usurp the place of religion  we insist upon it  that not one of
those persons who knew Monseigneur Welcome would have thought himself
authorized to think anything of the sort  That which enlightened this
man was his heart  His wisdom was made of the light which comes from
there 

No systems  many works  Abstruse speculations contain vertigo  no 
there is nothing to indicate that he risked his mind in apocalypses  The
apostle may be daring  but the bishop must be timid  He would probably
have felt a scruple at sounding too far in advance certain problems
which are  in a manner  reserved for terrible great minds  There is a
sacred horror beneath the porches of the enigma  those gloomy openings
stand yawning there  but something tells you  you  a passer by in life 
that you must not enter  Woe to him who penetrates thither 

Geniuses in the impenetrable depths of abstraction and pure speculation 
situated  so to speak  above all dogmas  propose their ideas to
God  Their prayer audaciously offers discussion  Their adoration
interrogates  This is direct religion  which is full of anxiety and
responsibility for him who attempts its steep cliffs 

Human meditation has no limits  At his own risk and peril  it analyzes
and digs deep into its own bedazzlement  One might almost say  that by
a sort of splendid reaction  it with it dazzles nature  the mysterious
world which surrounds us renders back what it has received  it is
probable that the contemplators are contemplated  However that may be 
there are on earth men who  are they men   perceive distinctly at the
verge of the horizons of revery the heights of the absolute  and who
have the terrible vision of the infinite mountain  Monseigneur Welcome
was one of these men  Monseigneur Welcome was not a genius  He would
have feared those sublimities whence some very great men even  like
Swedenborg and Pascal  have slipped into insanity  Certainly  these
powerful reveries have their moral utility  and by these arduous paths
one approaches to ideal perfection  As for him  he took the path which
shortens   the Gospel s 

He did not attempt to impart to his chasuble the folds of Elijah s
mantle  he projected no ray of future upon the dark groundswell of
events  he did not see to condense in flame the light of things  he
had nothing of the prophet and nothing of the magician about him  This
humble soul loved  and that was all 

That he carried prayer to the pitch of a superhuman aspiration is
probable  but one can no more pray too much than one can love too much 
and if it is a heresy to pray beyond the texts  Saint Theresa and Saint
Jerome would be heretics 

He inclined towards all that groans and all that expiates  The universe
appeared to him like an immense malady  everywhere he felt fever 
everywhere he heard the sound of suffering  and  without seeking to
solve the enigma  he strove to dress the wound  The terrible spectacle
of created things developed tenderness in him  he was occupied only
in finding for himself  and in inspiring others with the best way to
compassionate and relieve  That which exists was for this good and rare
priest a permanent subject of sadness which sought consolation 

There are men who toil at extracting gold  he toiled at the extraction
of pity  Universal misery was his mine  The sadness which reigned
everywhere was but an excuse for unfailing kindness  Love each other  he
declared this to be complete  desired nothing further  and that was the
whole of his doctrine  One day  that man who believed himself to be a
 philosopher   the senator who has already been alluded to  said to the
Bishop   Just survey the spectacle of the world  all war against
all  the strongest has the most wit  Your love each other is
nonsense     Well   replied Monseigneur Welcome  without contesting the
point   if it is nonsense  the soul should shut itself up in it  as the
pearl in the oyster   Thus he shut himself up  he lived there  he
was absolutely satisfied with it  leaving on one side the prodigious
questions which attract and terrify  the fathomless perspectives of
abstraction  the precipices of metaphysics  all those profundities
which converge  for the apostle in God  for the atheist in nothingness 
destiny  good and evil  the way of being against being  the conscience
of man  the thoughtful somnambulism of the animal  the transformation
in death  the recapitulation of existences which the tomb contains  the
incomprehensible grafting of successive loves on the persistent  I  
the essence  the substance  the Nile  and the Ens  the soul  nature 
liberty  necessity  perpendicular problems  sinister obscurities  where
lean the gigantic archangels of the human mind  formidable abysses 
which Lucretius  Manou  Saint Paul  Dante  contemplate with eyes
flashing lightning  which seems by its steady gaze on the infinite to
cause stars to blaze forth there 

Monseigneur Bienvenu was simply a man who took note of the exterior of
mysterious questions without scrutinizing them  and without troubling
his own mind with them  and who cherished in his own soul a grave
respect for darkness 




BOOK SECOND  THE FALL




CHAPTER I  THE EVENING OF A DAY OF WALKING

Early in the month of October  1815  about an hour before sunset  a
man who was travelling on foot entered the little town of D    The few
inhabitants who were at their windows or on their thresholds at the
moment stared at this traveller with a sort of uneasiness  It was
difficult to encounter a wayfarer of more wretched appearance  He was
a man of medium stature  thickset and robust  in the prime of life 
He might have been forty six or forty eight years old  A cap with a
drooping leather visor partly concealed his face  burned and tanned by
sun and wind  and dripping with perspiration  His shirt of coarse yellow
linen  fastened at the neck by a small silver anchor  permitted a view
of his hairy breast  he had a cravat twisted into a string  trousers of
blue drilling  worn and threadbare  white on one knee and torn on the
other  an old gray  tattered blouse  patched on one of the elbows with
a bit of green cloth sewed on with twine  a tightly packed soldier
knapsack  well buckled and perfectly new  on his back  an enormous 
knotty stick in his hand  iron shod shoes on his stockingless feet  a
shaved head and a long beard 

The sweat  the heat  the journey on foot  the dust  added I know not
what sordid quality to this dilapidated whole  His hair was closely cut 
yet bristling  for it had begun to grow a little  and did not seem to
have been cut for some time 

No one knew him  He was evidently only a chance passer by  Whence came
he  From the south  from the seashore  perhaps  for he made his entrance
into D     by the same street which  seven months previously  had
witnessed the passage of the Emperor Napoleon on his way from Cannes
to Paris  This man must have been walking all day  He seemed very much
fatigued  Some women of the ancient market town which is situated below
the city had seen him pause beneath the trees of the boulevard Gassendi 
and drink at the fountain which stands at the end of the promenade  He
must have been very thirsty  for the children who followed him saw him
stop again for a drink  two hundred paces further on  at the fountain in
the market place 

On arriving at the corner of the Rue Poichevert  he turned to the left 
and directed his steps toward the town hall  He entered  then came out
a quarter of an hour later  A gendarme was seated near the door  on the
stone bench which General Drouot had mounted on the 4th of March to read
to the frightened throng of the inhabitants of D    the proclamation
of the Gulf Juan  The man pulled off his cap and humbly saluted the
gendarme 

The gendarme  without replying to his salute  stared attentively at him 
followed him for a while with his eyes  and then entered the town hall 

There then existed at D     a fine inn at the sign of the Cross of
Colbas  This inn had for a landlord a certain Jacquin Labarre  a man
of consideration in the town on account of his relationship to another
Labarre  who kept the inn of the Three Dauphins in Grenoble  and had
served in the Guides  At the time of the Emperor s landing  many rumors
had circulated throughout the country with regard to this inn of the
Three Dauphins  It was said that General Bertrand  disguised as a
carter  had made frequent trips thither in the month of January  and
that he had distributed crosses of honor to the soldiers and handfuls
of gold to the citizens  The truth is  that when the Emperor entered
Grenoble he had refused to install himself at the hotel of the
prefecture  he had thanked the mayor  saying   I am going to the house
of a brave man of my acquaintance   and he had betaken himself to the
Three Dauphins  This glory of the Labarre of the Three Dauphins was
reflected upon the Labarre of the Cross of Colbas  at a distance of five
and twenty leagues  It was said of him in the town   That is the cousin
of the man of Grenoble  

The man bent his steps towards this inn  which was the best in the
country side  He entered the kitchen  which opened on a level with the
street  All the stoves were lighted  a huge fire blazed gayly in the
fireplace  The host  who was also the chief cook  was going from one
stew pan to another  very busily superintending an excellent dinner
designed for the wagoners  whose loud talking  conversation  and
laughter were audible from an adjoining apartment  Any one who has
travelled knows that there is no one who indulges in better cheer than
wagoners  A fat marmot  flanked by white partridges and heather cocks 
was turning on a long spit before the fire  on the stove  two huge carps
from Lake Lauzet and a trout from Lake Alloz were cooking 

The host  hearing the door open and seeing a newcomer enter  said 
without raising his eyes from his stoves   

 What do you wish  sir  

 Food and lodging   said the man 

 Nothing easier   replied the host  At that moment he turned his head 
took in the traveller s appearance with a single glance  and added   By
paying for it  

The man drew a large leather purse from the pocket of his blouse  and
answered   I have money  

 In that case  we are at your service   said the host 

The man put his purse back in his pocket  removed his knapsack from
his back  put it on the ground near the door  retained his stick in his
hand  and seated himself on a low stool close to the fire  D     is in
the mountains  The evenings are cold there in October 

But as the host went back and forth  he scrutinized the traveller 

 Will dinner be ready soon   said the man 

 Immediately   replied the landlord 

While the newcomer was warming himself before the fire  with his back
turned  the worthy host  Jacquin Labarre  drew a pencil from his pocket 
then tore off the corner of an old newspaper which was lying on a small
table near the window  On the white margin he wrote a line or two 
folded it without sealing  and then intrusted this scrap of paper to
a child who seemed to serve him in the capacity both of scullion and
lackey  The landlord whispered a word in the scullion s ear  and the
child set off on a run in the direction of the town hall 

The traveller saw nothing of all this 

Once more he inquired   Will dinner be ready soon  

 Immediately   responded the host 

The child returned  He brought back the paper  The host unfolded it
eagerly  like a person who is expecting a reply  He seemed to read it
attentively  then tossed his head  and remained thoughtful for a moment 
Then he took a step in the direction of the traveller  who appeared to
be immersed in reflections which were not very serene 

 I cannot receive you  sir   said he 

The man half rose 

 What  Are you afraid that I will not pay you  Do you want me to pay you
in advance  I have money  I tell you  

 It is not that  

 What then  

 You have money   

 Yes   said the man 

 And I   said the host   have no room  

The man resumed tranquilly   Put me in the stable  

 I cannot  

 Why  

 The horses take up all the space  

 Very well   retorted the man   a corner of the loft then  a truss of
straw  We will see about that after dinner  

 I cannot give you any dinner  

This declaration  made in a measured but firm tone  struck the stranger
as grave  He rose 

 Ah  bah  But I am dying of hunger  I have been walking since sunrise  I
have travelled twelve leagues  I pay  I wish to eat  

 I have nothing   said the landlord 

The man burst out laughing  and turned towards the fireplace and the
stoves   Nothing  and all that  

 All that is engaged  

 By whom  

 By messieurs the wagoners  

 How many are there of them  

 Twelve  

 There is enough food there for twenty  

 They have engaged the whole of it and paid for it in advance  

The man seated himself again  and said  without raising his voice   I am
at an inn  I am hungry  and I shall remain  

Then the host bent down to his ear  and said in a tone which made him
start   Go away  

At that moment the traveller was bending forward and thrusting some
brands into the fire with the iron shod tip of his staff  he turned
quickly round  and as he opened his mouth to reply  the host gazed
steadily at him and added  still in a low voice   Stop  there s enough
of that sort of talk  Do you want me to tell you your name  Your name is
Jean Valjean  Now do you want me to tell you who you are  When I saw you
come in I suspected something  I sent to the town hall  and this was the
reply that was sent to me  Can you read  

So saying  he held out to the stranger  fully unfolded  the paper which
had just travelled from the inn to the town hall  and from the town hall
to the inn  The man cast a glance upon it  The landlord resumed after a
pause 

 I am in the habit of being polite to every one  Go away  

The man dropped his head  picked up the knapsack which he had deposited
on the ground  and took his departure 

He chose the principal street  He walked straight on at a venture 
keeping close to the houses like a sad and humiliated man  He did not
turn round a single time  Had he done so  he would have seen the host
of the Cross of Colbas standing on his threshold  surrounded by all
the guests of his inn  and all the passers by in the street  talking
vivaciously  and pointing him out with his finger  and  from the glances
of terror and distrust cast by the group  he might have divined that his
arrival would speedily become an event for the whole town 

He saw nothing of all this  People who are crushed do not look behind
them  They know but too well the evil fate which follows them 

Thus he proceeded for some time  walking on without ceasing  traversing
at random streets of which he knew nothing  forgetful of his fatigue 
as is often the case when a man is sad  All at once he felt the pangs
of hunger sharply  Night was drawing near  He glanced about him  to see
whether he could not discover some shelter 

The fine hostelry was closed to him  he was seeking some very humble
public house  some hovel  however lowly 

Just then a light flashed up at the end of the streets  a pine branch
suspended from a cross beam of iron was outlined against the white sky
of the twilight  He proceeded thither 

It proved to be  in fact  a public house  The public house which is in
the Rue de Chaffaut 

The wayfarer halted for a moment  and peeped through the window into the
interior of the low studded room of the public house  illuminated by a
small lamp on a table and by a large fire on the hearth  Some men were
engaged in drinking there  The landlord was warming himself  An iron
pot  suspended from a crane  bubbled over the flame 

The entrance to this public house  which is also a sort of an inn  is by
two doors  One opens on the street  the other upon a small yard filled
with manure  The traveller dare not enter by the street door  He slipped
into the yard  halted again  then raised the latch timidly and opened
the door 

 Who goes there   said the master 

 Some one who wants supper and bed  

 Good  We furnish supper and bed here  

He entered  All the men who were drinking turned round  The lamp
illuminated him on one side  the firelight on the other  They examined
him for some time while he was taking off his knapsack 

The host said to him   There is the fire  The supper is cooking in the
pot  Come and warm yourself  comrade  

He approached and seated himself near the hearth  He stretched out his
feet  which were exhausted with fatigue  to the fire  a fine odor was
emitted by the pot  All that could be distinguished of his face  beneath
his cap  which was well pulled down  assumed a vague appearance
of comfort  mingled with that other poignant aspect which habitual
suffering bestows 

It was  moreover  a firm  energetic  and melancholy profile  This
physiognomy was strangely composed  it began by seeming humble  and
ended by seeming severe  The eye shone beneath its lashes like a fire
beneath brushwood 

One of the men seated at the table  however  was a fishmonger who 
before entering the public house of the Rue de Chaffaut  had been to
stable his horse at Labarre s  It chanced that he had that very morning
encountered this unprepossessing stranger on the road between Bras
d Asse and  I have forgotten the name  I think it was Escoublon  Now 
when he met him  the man  who then seemed already extremely weary  had
requested him to take him on his crupper  to which the fishmonger had
made no reply except by redoubling his gait  This fishmonger had been
a member half an hour previously of the group which surrounded Jacquin
Labarre  and had himself related his disagreeable encounter of the
morning to the people at the Cross of Colbas  From where he sat he made
an imperceptible sign to the tavern keeper  The tavern keeper went to
him  They exchanged a few words in a low tone  The man had again become
absorbed in his reflections 

The tavern keeper returned to the fireplace  laid his hand abruptly on
the shoulder of the man  and said to him   

 You are going to get out of here  

The stranger turned round and replied gently   Ah  You know    

 Yes  

 I was sent away from the other inn  

 And you are to be turned out of this one  

 Where would you have me go  

 Elsewhere  

The man took his stick and his knapsack and departed 

As he went out  some children who had followed him from the Cross of
Colbas  and who seemed to be lying in wait for him  threw stones at him 
He retraced his steps in anger  and threatened them with his stick  the
children dispersed like a flock of birds 

He passed before the prison  At the door hung an iron chain attached to
a bell  He rang 

The wicket opened 

 Turnkey   said he  removing his cap politely   will you have the
kindness to admit me  and give me a lodging for the night  

A voice replied   

 The prison is not an inn  Get yourself arrested  and you will be
admitted  

The wicket closed again 

He entered a little street in which there were many gardens  Some of
them are enclosed only by hedges  which lends a cheerful aspect to the
street  In the midst of these gardens and hedges he caught sight of a
small house of a single story  the window of which was lighted up  He
peered through the pane as he had done at the public house  Within was a
large whitewashed room  with a bed draped in printed cotton stuff  and
a cradle in one corner  a few wooden chairs  and a double barrelled gun
hanging on the wall  A table was spread in the centre of the room  A
copper lamp illuminated the tablecloth of coarse white linen  the pewter
jug shining like silver  and filled with wine  and the brown  smoking
soup tureen  At this table sat a man of about forty  with a merry and
open countenance  who was dandling a little child on his knees  Close by
a very young woman was nursing another child  The father was laughing 
the child was laughing  the mother was smiling 

The stranger paused a moment in revery before this tender and calming
spectacle  What was taking place within him  He alone could have
told  It is probable that he thought that this joyous house would be
hospitable  and that  in a place where he beheld so much happiness  he
would find perhaps a little pity 

He tapped on the pane with a very small and feeble knock 

They did not hear him 

He tapped again 

He heard the woman say   It seems to me  husband  that some one is
knocking  

 No   replied the husband 

He tapped a third time 

The husband rose  took the lamp  and went to the door  which he opened 

He was a man of lofty stature  half peasant  half artisan  He wore a
huge leather apron  which reached to his left shoulder  and which a
hammer  a red handkerchief  a powder horn  and all sorts of objects
which were upheld by the girdle  as in a pocket  caused to bulge out  He
carried his head thrown backwards  his shirt  widely opened and turned
back  displayed his bull neck  white and bare  He had thick eyelashes 
enormous black whiskers  prominent eyes  the lower part of his face
like a snout  and besides all this  that air of being on his own ground 
which is indescribable 

 Pardon me  sir   said the wayfarer   Could you  in consideration of
payment  give me a plate of soup and a corner of that shed yonder in the
garden  in which to sleep  Tell me  can you  For money  

 Who are you   demanded the master of the house 

The man replied   I have just come from Puy Moisson  I have walked all
day long  I have travelled twelve leagues  Can you   if I pay  

 I would not refuse   said the peasant   to lodge any respectable man
who would pay me  But why do you not go to the inn  

 There is no room  

 Bah  Impossible  This is neither a fair nor a market day  Have you been
to Labarre  

 Yes  

 Well  

The traveller replied with embarrassment   I do not know  He did not
receive me  

 Have you been to What s his name s  in the Rue Chaffaut  

The stranger s embarrassment increased  he stammered   He did not
receive me either  

The peasant s countenance assumed an expression of distrust  he surveyed
the newcomer from head to feet  and suddenly exclaimed  with a sort of
shudder   

 Are you the man    

He cast a fresh glance upon the stranger  took three steps backwards 
placed the lamp on the table  and took his gun down from the wall 

Meanwhile  at the words  Are you the man  the woman had risen  had
clasped her two children in her arms  and had taken refuge precipitately
behind her husband  staring in terror at the stranger  with her bosom
uncovered  and with frightened eyes  as she murmured in a low tone 
 Tso maraude   1 

All this took place in less time than it requires to picture it to
one s self  After having scrutinized the man for several moments  as one
scrutinizes a viper  the master of the house returned to the door and
said   

 Clear out  

 For pity s sake  a glass of water   said the man 

 A shot from my gun   said the peasant 

Then he closed the door violently  and the man heard him shoot two large
bolts  A moment later  the window shutter was closed  and the sound of a
bar of iron which was placed against it was audible outside 

Night continued to fall  A cold wind from the Alps was blowing  By the
light of the expiring day the stranger perceived  in one of the gardens
which bordered the street  a sort of hut  which seemed to him to be
built of sods  He climbed over the wooden fence resolutely  and found
himself in the garden  He approached the hut  its door consisted of a
very low and narrow aperture  and it resembled those buildings which
road laborers construct for themselves along the roads  He thought
without doubt  that it was  in fact  the dwelling of a road laborer  he
was suffering from cold and hunger  but this was  at least  a shelter
from the cold  This sort of dwelling is not usually occupied at night 
He threw himself flat on his face  and crawled into the hut  It was warm
there  and he found a tolerably good bed of straw  He lay  for a moment 
stretched out on this bed  without the power to make a movement  so
fatigued was he  Then  as the knapsack on his back was in his way  and
as it furnished  moreover  a pillow ready to his hand  he set about
unbuckling one of the straps  At that moment  a ferocious growl became
audible  He raised his eyes  The head of an enormous dog was outlined in
the darkness at the entrance of the hut 

It was a dog s kennel 

He was himself vigorous and formidable  he armed himself with his staff 
made a shield of his knapsack  and made his way out of the kennel in the
best way he could  not without enlarging the rents in his rags 

He left the garden in the same manner  but backwards  being obliged 
in order to keep the dog respectful  to have recourse to that manoeuvre
with his stick which masters in that sort of fencing designate as la
rose couverte 

When he had  not without difficulty  repassed the fence  and found
himself once more in the street  alone  without refuge  without shelter 
without a roof over his head  chased even from that bed of straw and
from that miserable kennel  he dropped rather than seated himself on a
stone  and it appears that a passer by heard him exclaim   I am not even
a dog  

He soon rose again and resumed his march  He went out of the town 
hoping to find some tree or haystack in the fields which would afford
him shelter 

He walked thus for some time  with his head still drooping  When he felt
himself far from every human habitation  he raised his eyes and gazed
searchingly about him  He was in a field  Before him was one of those
low hills covered with close cut stubble  which  after the harvest 
resemble shaved heads 

The horizon was perfectly black  This was not alone the obscurity of
night  it was caused by very low hanging clouds which seemed to rest
upon the hill itself  and which were mounting and filling the whole
sky  Meanwhile  as the moon was about to rise  and as there was still
floating in the zenith a remnant of the brightness of twilight  these
clouds formed at the summit of the sky a sort of whitish arch  whence a
gleam of light fell upon the earth 

The earth was thus better lighted than the sky  which produces a
particularly sinister effect  and the hill  whose contour was poor and
mean  was outlined vague and wan against the gloomy horizon  The whole
effect was hideous  petty  lugubrious  and narrow 

There was nothing in the field or on the hill except a deformed tree 
which writhed and shivered a few paces distant from the wayfarer 

This man was evidently very far from having those delicate habits of
intelligence and spirit which render one sensible to the mysterious
aspects of things  nevertheless  there was something in that sky 
in that hill  in that plain  in that tree  which was so profoundly
desolate  that after a moment of immobility and revery he turned back
abruptly  There are instants when nature seems hostile 

He retraced his steps  the gates of D     were closed  D      which had
sustained sieges during the wars of religion  was still surrounded
in 1815 by ancient walls flanked by square towers which have been
demolished since  He passed through a breach and entered the town again 

It might have been eight o clock in the evening  As he was not
acquainted with the streets  he recommenced his walk at random 

In this way he came to the prefecture  then to the seminary  As he
passed through the Cathedral Square  he shook his fist at the church 

At the corner of this square there is a printing establishment  It is
there that the proclamations of the Emperor and of the Imperial Guard
to the army  brought from the Island of Elba and dictated by Napoleon
himself  were printed for the first time 

Worn out with fatigue  and no longer entertaining any hope  he lay down
on a stone bench which stands at the doorway of this printing office 

At that moment an old woman came out of the church  She saw the man
stretched out in the shadow   What are you doing there  my friend   said
she 

He answered harshly and angrily   As you see  my good woman  I am
sleeping   The good woman  who was well worthy the name  in fact  was
the Marquise de R    

 On this bench   she went on 

 I have had a mattress of wood for nineteen years   said the man 
 to day I have a mattress of stone  

 You have been a soldier  

 Yes  my good woman  a soldier  

 Why do you not go to the inn  

 Because I have no money  

 Alas   said Madame de R       I have only four sous in my purse  

 Give it to me all the same  

The man took the four sous  Madame de R     continued   You cannot
obtain lodgings in an inn for so small a sum  But have you tried  It is
impossible for you to pass the night thus  You are cold and hungry  no
doubt  Some one might have given you a lodging out of charity  

 I have knocked at all doors  

 Well  

 I have been driven away everywhere  

The  good woman  touched the man s arm  and pointed out to him on the
other side of the street a small  low house  which stood beside the
Bishop s palace 

 You have knocked at all doors  

 Yes  

 Have you knocked at that one  

 No  

 Knock there  




CHAPTER II  PRUDENCE COUNSELLED TO WISDOM 

That evening  the Bishop of D      after his promenade through the town 
remained shut up rather late in his room  He was busy over a great work
on Duties  which was never completed  unfortunately  He was carefully
compiling everything that the Fathers and the doctors have said on this
important subject  His book was divided into two parts  firstly  the
duties of all  secondly  the duties of each individual  according to the
class to which he belongs  The duties of all are the great duties  There
are four of these  Saint Matthew points them out  duties towards God
 Matt  vi    duties towards one s self  Matt  v  29  30   duties towards
one s neighbor  Matt  vii  12   duties towards animals  Matt  vi  20 
25   As for the other duties the Bishop found them pointed out and
prescribed elsewhere  to sovereigns and subjects  in the Epistle to the
Romans  to magistrates  to wives  to mothers  to young men  by Saint
Peter  to husbands  fathers  children and servants  in the Epistle
to the Ephesians  to the faithful  in the Epistle to the Hebrews  to
virgins  in the Epistle to the Corinthians  Out of these precepts he was
laboriously constructing a harmonious whole  which he desired to present
to souls 

At eight o clock he was still at work  writing with a good deal of
inconvenience upon little squares of paper  with a big book open on his
knees  when Madame Magloire entered  according to her wont  to get the
silver ware from the cupboard near his bed  A moment later  the Bishop 
knowing that the table was set  and that his sister was probably
waiting for him  shut his book  rose from his table  and entered the
dining room 

The dining room was an oblong apartment  with a fireplace  which had a
door opening on the street  as we have said   and a window opening on
the garden 

Madame Magloire was  in fact  just putting the last touches to the
table 

As she performed this service  she was conversing with Mademoiselle
Baptistine 

A lamp stood on the table  the table was near the fireplace  A wood fire
was burning there 

One can easily picture to one s self these two women  both of whom
were over sixty years of age  Madame Magloire small  plump  vivacious 
Mademoiselle Baptistine gentle  slender  frail  somewhat taller than her
brother  dressed in a gown of puce colored silk  of the fashion of 1806 
which she had purchased at that date in Paris  and which had lasted
ever since  To borrow vulgar phrases  which possess the merit of giving
utterance in a single word to an idea which a whole page would hardly
suffice to express  Madame Magloire had the air of a peasant  and
Mademoiselle Baptistine that of a lady  Madame Magloire wore a white
quilted cap  a gold Jeannette cross on a velvet ribbon upon her neck 
the only bit of feminine jewelry that there was in the house  a very
white fichu puffing out from a gown of coarse black woollen stuff  with
large  short sleeves  an apron of cotton cloth in red and green checks 
knotted round the waist with a green ribbon  with a stomacher of the
same attached by two pins at the upper corners  coarse shoes on her
feet  and yellow stockings  like the women of Marseilles  Mademoiselle
Baptistine s gown was cut on the patterns of 1806  with a short waist 
a narrow  sheath like skirt  puffed sleeves  with flaps and buttons 
She concealed her gray hair under a frizzed wig known as the baby wig 
Madame Magloire had an intelligent  vivacious  and kindly air  the two
corners of her mouth unequally raised  and her upper lip  which was
larger than the lower  imparted to her a rather crabbed and imperious
look  So long as Monseigneur held his peace  she talked to him
resolutely with a mixture of respect and freedom  but as soon as
Monseigneur began to speak  as we have seen  she obeyed passively like
her mistress  Mademoiselle Baptistine did not even speak  She confined
herself to obeying and pleasing him  She had never been pretty  even
when she was young  she had large  blue  prominent eyes  and a long
arched nose  but her whole visage  her whole person  breathed forth an
ineffable goodness  as we stated in the beginning  She had always been
predestined to gentleness  but faith  charity  hope  those three virtues
which mildly warm the soul  had gradually elevated that gentleness to
sanctity  Nature had made her a lamb  religion had made her an angel 
Poor sainted virgin  Sweet memory which has vanished 

Mademoiselle Baptistine has so often narrated what passed at the
episcopal residence that evening  that there are many people now living
who still recall the most minute details 

At the moment when the Bishop entered  Madame Magloire was talking with
considerable vivacity  She was haranguing Mademoiselle Baptistine on
a subject which was familiar to her and to which the Bishop was also
accustomed  The question concerned the lock upon the entrance door 

It appears that while procuring some provisions for supper  Madame
Magloire had heard things in divers places  People had spoken of a
prowler of evil appearance  a suspicious vagabond had arrived who must
be somewhere about the town  and those who should take it into their
heads to return home late that night might be subjected to unpleasant
encounters  The police was very badly organized  moreover  because there
was no love lost between the Prefect and the Mayor  who sought to injure
each other by making things happen  It behooved wise people to play the
part of their own police  and to guard themselves well  and care must be
taken to duly close  bar and barricade their houses  and to fasten the
doors well 

Madame Magloire emphasized these last words  but the Bishop had just
come from his room  where it was rather cold  He seated himself in front
of the fire  and warmed himself  and then fell to thinking of other
things  He did not take up the remark dropped with design by Madame
Magloire  She repeated it  Then Mademoiselle Baptistine  desirous of
satisfying Madame Magloire without displeasing her brother  ventured to
say timidly   

 Did you hear what Madame Magloire is saying  brother  

 I have heard something of it in a vague way   replied the Bishop  Then
half turning in his chair  placing his hands on his knees  and raising
towards the old servant woman his cordial face  which so easily grew
joyous  and which was illuminated from below by the firelight    Come 
what is the matter  What is the matter  Are we in any great danger  

Then Madame Magloire began the whole story afresh  exaggerating it a
little without being aware of the fact  It appeared that a Bohemian  a
bare footed vagabond  a sort of dangerous mendicant  was at that moment
in the town  He had presented himself at Jacquin Labarre s to obtain
lodgings  but the latter had not been willing to take him in  He had
been seen to arrive by the way of the boulevard Gassendi and roam about
the streets in the gloaming  A gallows bird with a terrible face 

 Really   said the Bishop 

This willingness to interrogate encouraged Madame Magloire  it seemed
to her to indicate that the Bishop was on the point of becoming alarmed 
she pursued triumphantly   

 Yes  Monseigneur  That is how it is  There will be some sort of
catastrophe in this town to night  Every one says so  And withal  the
police is so badly regulated   a useful repetition    The idea of living
in a mountainous country  and not even having lights in the streets at
night  One goes out  Black as ovens  indeed  And I say  Monseigneur  and
Mademoiselle there says with me   

 I   interrupted his sister   say nothing  What my brother does is well
done  

Madame Magloire continued as though there had been no protest   

 We say that this house is not safe at all  that if Monseigneur will
permit  I will go and tell Paulin Musebois  the locksmith  to come and
replace the ancient locks on the doors  we have them  and it is only the
work of a moment  for I say that nothing is more terrible than a
door which can be opened from the outside with a latch by the first
passer by  and I say that we need bolts  Monseigneur  if only for this
night  moreover  Monseigneur has the habit of always saying  come in  
and besides  even in the middle of the night  O mon Dieu  there is no
need to ask permission  

At that moment there came a tolerably violent knock on the door 

 Come in   said the Bishop 




CHAPTER III  THE HEROISM OF PASSIVE OBEDIENCE 

The door opened 

It opened wide with a rapid movement  as though some one had given it an
energetic and resolute push 

A man entered 

We already know the man  It was the wayfarer whom we have seen wandering
about in search of shelter 

He entered  advanced a step  and halted  leaving the door open behind
him  He had his knapsack on his shoulders  his cudgel in his hand  a
rough  audacious  weary  and violent expression in his eyes  The fire on
the hearth lighted him up  He was hideous  It was a sinister apparition 

Madame Magloire had not even the strength to utter a cry  She trembled 
and stood with her mouth wide open 

Mademoiselle Baptistine turned round  beheld the man entering  and half
started up in terror  then  turning her head by degrees towards the
fireplace again  she began to observe her brother  and her face became
once more profoundly calm and serene 

The Bishop fixed a tranquil eye on the man 

As he opened his mouth  doubtless to ask the new comer what he desired 
the man rested both hands on his staff  directed his gaze at the old man
and the two women  and without waiting for the Bishop to speak  he said 
in a loud voice   

 See here  My name is Jean Valjean  I am a convict from the galleys 
I have passed nineteen years in the galleys  I was liberated four days
ago  and am on my way to Pontarlier  which is my destination  I have
been walking for four days since I left Toulon  I have travelled a dozen
leagues to day on foot  This evening  when I arrived in these parts  I
went to an inn  and they turned me out  because of my yellow passport 
which I had shown at the town hall  I had to do it  I went to an inn 
They said to me   Be off   at both places  No one would take me  I
went to the prison  the jailer would not admit me  I went into a dog s
kennel  the dog bit me and chased me off  as though he had been a man 
One would have said that he knew who I was  I went into the fields 
intending to sleep in the open air  beneath the stars  There were no
stars  I thought it was going to rain  and I re entered the town  to
seek the recess of a doorway  Yonder  in the square  I meant to sleep
on a stone bench  A good woman pointed out your house to me  and said
to me   Knock there   I have knocked  What is this place  Do you keep
an inn  I have money  savings  One hundred and nine francs fifteen sous 
which I earned in the galleys by my labor  in the course of nineteen
years  I will pay  What is that to me  I have money  I am very weary 
twelve leagues on foot  I am very hungry  Are you willing that I should
remain  

 Madame Magloire   said the Bishop   you will set another place  

The man advanced three paces  and approached the lamp which was on
the table   Stop   he resumed  as though he had not quite understood 
 that s not it  Did you hear  I am a galley slave  a convict  I come
from the galleys   He drew from his pocket a large sheet of yellow
paper  which he unfolded   Here s my passport  Yellow  as you see  This
serves to expel me from every place where I go  Will you read it  I know
how to read  I learned in the galleys  There is a school there for those
who choose to learn  Hold  this is what they put on this passport   Jean
Valjean  discharged convict  native of   that is nothing to you   has
been nineteen years in the galleys  five years for house breaking
and burglary  fourteen years for having attempted to escape on four
occasions  He is a very dangerous man   There  Every one has cast me
out  Are you willing to receive me  Is this an inn  Will you give me
something to eat and a bed  Have you a stable  

 Madame Magloire   said the Bishop   you will put white sheets on the
bed in the alcove   We have already explained the character of the two
women s obedience 

Madame Magloire retired to execute these orders 

The Bishop turned to the man 

 Sit down  sir  and warm yourself  We are going to sup in a few moments 
and your bed will be prepared while you are supping  

At this point the man suddenly comprehended  The expression of his face 
up to that time sombre and harsh  bore the imprint of stupefaction 
of doubt  of joy  and became extraordinary  He began stammering like a
crazy man   

 Really  What  You will keep me  You do not drive me forth  A convict 
You call me sir  You do not address me as thou   Get out of here  you
dog   is what people always say to me  I felt sure that you would expel
me  so I told you at once who I am  Oh  what a good woman that was who
directed me hither  I am going to sup  A bed with a mattress and sheets 
like the rest of the world  a bed  It is nineteen years since I have
slept in a bed  You actually do not want me to go  You are good
people  Besides  I have money  I will pay well  Pardon me  monsieur the
inn keeper  but what is your name  I will pay anything you ask  You are
a fine man  You are an inn keeper  are you not  

 I am   replied the Bishop   a priest who lives here  

 A priest   said the man   Oh  what a fine priest  Then you are not
going to demand any money of me  You are the cure  are you not  the cure
of this big church  Well  I am a fool  truly  I had not perceived your
skull cap  

As he spoke  he deposited his knapsack and his cudgel in a corner 
replaced his passport in his pocket  and seated himself  Mademoiselle
Baptistine gazed mildly at him  He continued 

 You are humane  Monsieur le Cure  you have not scorned me  A good
priest is a very good thing  Then you do not require me to pay  

 No   said the Bishop   keep your money  How much have you  Did you not
tell me one hundred and nine francs  

 And fifteen sous   added the man 

 One hundred and nine francs fifteen sous  And how long did it take you
to earn that  

 Nineteen years  

 Nineteen years  

The Bishop sighed deeply 

The man continued   I have still the whole of my money  In four days I
have spent only twenty five sous  which I earned by helping unload some
wagons at Grasse  Since you are an abbe  I will tell you that we had a
chaplain in the galleys  And one day I saw a bishop there  Monseigneur
is what they call him  He was the Bishop of Majore at Marseilles  He is
the cure who rules over the other cures  you understand  Pardon me 
I say that very badly  but it is such a far off thing to me  You
understand what we are  He said mass in the middle of the galleys  on an
altar  He had a pointed thing  made of gold  on his head  it glittered
in the bright light of midday  We were all ranged in lines on the three
sides  with cannons with lighted matches facing us  We could not see
very well  He spoke  but he was too far off  and we did not hear  That
is what a bishop is like  

While he was speaking  the Bishop had gone and shut the door  which had
remained wide open 

Madame Magloire returned  She brought a silver fork and spoon  which she
placed on the table 

 Madame Magloire   said the Bishop   place those things as near the fire
as possible   And turning to his guest   The night wind is harsh on the
Alps  You must be cold  sir  

Each time that he uttered the word sir  in his voice which was so gently
grave and polished  the man s face lighted up  Monsieur to a convict is
like a glass of water to one of the shipwrecked of the Medusa  Ignominy
thirsts for consideration 

 This lamp gives a very bad light   said the Bishop 

Madame Magloire understood him  and went to get the two silver
candlesticks from the chimney piece in Monseigneur s bed chamber  and
placed them  lighted  on the table 

 Monsieur le Cure   said the man   you are good  you do not despise me 
You receive me into your house  You light your candles for me  Yet I
have not concealed from you whence I come and that I am an unfortunate
man  

The Bishop  who was sitting close to him  gently touched his hand   You
could not help telling me who you were  This is not my house  it is
the house of Jesus Christ  This door does not demand of him who enters
whether he has a name  but whether he has a grief  You suffer  you are
hungry and thirsty  you are welcome  And do not thank me  do not say
that I receive you in my house  No one is at home here  except the man
who needs a refuge  I say to you  who are passing by  that you are much
more at home here than I am myself  Everything here is yours  What need
have I to know your name  Besides  before you told me you had one which
I knew  

The man opened his eyes in astonishment 

 Really  You knew what I was called  

 Yes   replied the Bishop   you are called my brother  

 Stop  Monsieur le Cure   exclaimed the man   I was very hungry when
I entered here  but you are so good  that I no longer know what has
happened to me  

The Bishop looked at him  and said   

 You have suffered much  

 Oh  the red coat  the ball on the ankle  a plank to sleep on  heat 
cold  toil  the convicts  the thrashings  the double chain for nothing 
the cell for one word  even sick and in bed  still the chain  Dogs  dogs
are happier  Nineteen years  I am forty six  Now there is the yellow
passport  That is what it is like  

 Yes   resumed the Bishop   you have come from a very sad place 
Listen  There will be more joy in heaven over the tear bathed face of a
repentant sinner than over the white robes of a hundred just men  If you
emerge from that sad place with thoughts of hatred and of wrath against
mankind  you are deserving of pity  if you emerge with thoughts of
good will and of peace  you are more worthy than any one of us  

In the meantime  Madame Magloire had served supper  soup  made with
water  oil  bread  and salt  a little bacon  a bit of mutton  figs  a
fresh cheese  and a large loaf of rye bread  She had  of her own accord 
added to the Bishop s ordinary fare a bottle of his old Mauves wine 

The Bishop s face at once assumed that expression of gayety which is
peculiar to hospitable natures   To table   he cried vivaciously  As was
his custom when a stranger supped with him  he made the man sit on his
right  Mademoiselle Baptistine  perfectly peaceable and natural  took
her seat at his left 

The Bishop asked a blessing  then helped the soup himself  according to
his custom  The man began to eat with avidity 

All at once the Bishop said   It strikes me there is something missing
on this table  

Madame Magloire had  in fact  only placed the three sets of forks and
spoons which were absolutely necessary  Now  it was the usage of the
house  when the Bishop had any one to supper  to lay out the whole
six sets of silver on the table cloth  an innocent ostentation  This
graceful semblance of luxury was a kind of child s play  which was full
of charm in that gentle and severe household  which raised poverty into
dignity 

Madame Magloire understood the remark  went out without saying a word 
and a moment later the three sets of silver forks and spoons demanded by
the Bishop were glittering upon the cloth  symmetrically arranged before
the three persons seated at the table 




CHAPTER IV  DETAILS CONCERNING THE CHEESE DAIRIES OF PONTARLIER 

Now  in order to convey an idea of what passed at that table  we cannot
do better than to transcribe here a passage from one of Mademoiselle
Baptistine s letters to Madame Boischevron  wherein the conversation
between the convict and the Bishop is described with ingenious
minuteness 


       This man paid no attention to any one  He ate with the voracity
of a starving man  However  after supper he said 

  Monsieur le Cure of the good God  all this is far too good for me  but
I must say that the carters who would not allow me to eat with them keep
a better table than you do  

 Between ourselves  the remark rather shocked me  My brother replied   

  They are more fatigued than I  

  No   returned the man   they have more money  You are poor  I see that
plainly  You cannot be even a curate  Are you really a cure  Ah  if the
good God were but just  you certainly ought to be a cure  

  The good God is more than just   said my brother 

 A moment later he added   

  Monsieur Jean Valjean  is it to Pontarlier that you are going  

  With my road marked out for me  

 I think that is what the man said  Then he went on   

  I must be on my way by daybreak to morrow  Travelling is hard  If the
nights are cold  the days are hot  

  You are going to a good country   said my brother   During the
Revolution my family was ruined  I took refuge in Franche Comte at
first  and there I lived for some time by the toil of my hands  My will
was good  I found plenty to occupy me  One has only to choose  There are
paper mills  tanneries  distilleries  oil factories  watch factories
on a large scale  steel mills  copper works  twenty iron foundries at
least  four of which  situated at Lods  at Chatillon  at Audincourt  and
at Beure  are tolerably large  

 I think I am not mistaken in saying that those are the names which my
brother mentioned  Then he interrupted himself and addressed me   

  Have we not some relatives in those parts  my dear sister  

 I replied   

  We did have some  among others  M  de Lucenet  who was captain of the
gates at Pontarlier under the old regime  

  Yes   resumed my brother   but in  93  one had no longer any
relatives  one had only one s arms  I worked  They have  in the
country of Pontarlier  whither you are going  Monsieur Valjean  a
truly patriarchal and truly charming industry  my sister  It is their
cheese dairies  which they call fruitieres  

 Then my brother  while urging the man to eat  explained to him  with
great minuteness  what these fruitieres of Pontarlier were  that they
were divided into two classes  the big barns which belong to the rich 
and where there are forty or fifty cows which produce from seven to
eight thousand cheeses each summer  and the associated fruitieres  which
belong to the poor  these are the peasants of mid mountain  who hold
their cows in common  and share the proceeds   They engage the services
of a cheese maker  whom they call the grurin  the grurin receives the
milk of the associates three times a day  and marks the quantity on
a double tally  It is towards the end of April that the work of the
cheese dairies begins  it is towards the middle of June that the
cheese makers drive their cows to the mountains  

 The man recovered his animation as he ate  My brother made him drink
that good Mauves wine  which he does not drink himself  because he says
that wine is expensive  My brother imparted all these details with that
easy gayety of his with which you are acquainted  interspersing his
words with graceful attentions to me  He recurred frequently to that
comfortable trade of grurin  as though he wished the man to understand 
without advising him directly and harshly  that this would afford him
a refuge  One thing struck me  This man was what I have told you  Well 
neither during supper  nor during the entire evening  did my brother
utter a single word  with the exception of a few words about Jesus when
he entered  which could remind the man of what he was  nor of what my
brother was  To all appearances  it was an occasion for preaching him
a little sermon  and of impressing the Bishop on the convict  so that a
mark of the passage might remain behind  This might have appeared to any
one else who had this  unfortunate man in his hands to afford a chance
to nourish his soul as well as his body  and to bestow upon him
some reproach  seasoned with moralizing and advice  or a little
commiseration  with an exhortation to conduct himself better in the
future  My brother did not even ask him from what country he came 
nor what was his history  For in his history there is a fault  and my
brother seemed to avoid everything which could remind him of it  To such
a point did he carry it  that at one time  when my brother was speaking
of the mountaineers of Pontarlier  who exercise a gentle labor near
heaven  and who  he added  are happy because they are innocent  he
stopped short  fearing lest in this remark there might have escaped him
something which might wound the man  By dint of reflection  I think
I have comprehended what was passing in my brother s heart  He was
thinking  no doubt  that this man  whose name is Jean Valjean  had his
misfortune only too vividly present in his mind  that the best thing
was to divert him from it  and to make him believe  if only momentarily 
that he was a person like any other  by treating him just in his
ordinary way  Is not this indeed  to understand charity well  Is there
not  dear Madame  something truly evangelical in this delicacy which
abstains from sermon  from moralizing  from allusions  and is not the
truest pity  when a man has a sore point  not to touch it at all  It has
seemed to me that this might have been my brother s private thought  In
any case  what I can say is that  if he entertained all these ideas  he
gave no sign of them  from beginning to end  even to me he was the same
as he is every evening  and he supped with this Jean Valjean with the
same air and in the same manner in which he would have supped with M 
Gedeon le Provost  or with the curate of the parish 

 Towards the end  when he had reached the figs  there came a knock at
the door  It was Mother Gerbaud  with her little one in her arms  My
brother kissed the child on the brow  and borrowed fifteen sous which I
had about me to give to Mother Gerbaud  The man was not paying much
heed to anything then  He was no longer talking  and he seemed very much
fatigued  After poor old Gerbaud had taken her departure  my brother
said grace  then he turned to the man and said to him   You must be
in great need of your bed   Madame Magloire cleared the table very
promptly  I understood that we must retire  in order to allow this
traveller to go to sleep  and we both went up stairs  Nevertheless  I
sent Madame Magloire down a moment later  to carry to the man s bed a
goat skin from the Black Forest  which was in my room  The nights are
frigid  and that keeps one warm  It is a pity that this skin is old  all
the hair is falling out  My brother bought it while he was in Germany 
at Tottlingen  near the sources of the Danube  as well as the little
ivory handled knife which I use at table 

 Madame Magloire returned immediately  We said our prayers in the
drawing room  where we hang up the linen  and then we each retired to
our own chambers  without saying a word to each other  




CHAPTER V  TRANQUILLITY

After bidding his sister good night  Monseigneur Bienvenu took one of
the two silver candlesticks from the table  handed the other to his
guest  and said to him   

 Monsieur  I will conduct you to your room  

The man followed him 

As might have been observed from what has been said above  the house was
so arranged that in order to pass into the oratory where the alcove was
situated  or to get out of it  it was necessary to traverse the Bishop s
bedroom 

At the moment when he was crossing this apartment  Madame Magloire was
putting away the silverware in the cupboard near the head of the bed 
This was her last care every evening before she went to bed 

The Bishop installed his guest in the alcove  A fresh white bed had been
prepared there  The man set the candle down on a small table 

 Well   said the Bishop   may you pass a good night  To morrow morning 
before you set out  you shall drink a cup of warm milk from our cows  

 Thanks  Monsieur l Abbe   said the man 

Hardly had he pronounced these words full of peace  when all of a
sudden  and without transition  he made a strange movement  which would
have frozen the two sainted women with horror  had they witnessed it 
Even at this day it is difficult for us to explain what inspired him at
that moment  Did he intend to convey a warning or to throw out a menace 
Was he simply obeying a sort of instinctive impulse which was obscure
even to himself  He turned abruptly to the old man  folded his arms  and
bending upon his host a savage gaze  he exclaimed in a hoarse voice   

 Ah  really  You lodge me in your house  close to yourself like this  

He broke off  and added with a laugh in which there lurked something
monstrous   

 Have you really reflected well  How do you know that I have not been an
assassin  

The Bishop replied   

 That is the concern of the good God  

Then gravely  and moving his lips like one who is praying or talking
to himself  he raised two fingers of his right hand and bestowed his
benediction on the man  who did not bow  and without turning his head or
looking behind him  he returned to his bedroom 

When the alcove was in use  a large serge curtain drawn from wall to
wall concealed the altar  The Bishop knelt before this curtain as he
passed and said a brief prayer  A moment later he was in his garden 
walking  meditating  contemplating  his heart and soul wholly absorbed
in those grand and mysterious things which God shows at night to the
eyes which remain open 

As for the man  he was actually so fatigued that he did not even profit
by the nice white sheets  Snuffing out his candle with his nostrils
after the manner of convicts  he dropped  all dressed as he was  upon
the bed  where he immediately fell into a profound sleep 

Midnight struck as the Bishop returned from his garden to his apartment 

A few minutes later all were asleep in the little house 




CHAPTER VI  JEAN VALJEAN

Towards the middle of the night Jean Valjean woke 

Jean Valjean came from a poor peasant family of Brie  He had not learned
to read in his childhood  When he reached man s estate  he became a
tree pruner at Faverolles  His mother was named Jeanne Mathieu  his
father was called Jean Valjean or Vlajean  probably a sobriquet  and a
contraction of viola Jean   here s Jean  

Jean Valjean was of that thoughtful but not gloomy disposition which
constitutes the peculiarity of affectionate natures  On the whole 
however  there was something decidedly sluggish and insignificant about
Jean Valjean in appearance  at least  He had lost his father and mother
at a very early age  His mother had died of a milk fever  which had not
been properly attended to  His father  a tree pruner  like himself  had
been killed by a fall from a tree  All that remained to Jean Valjean
was a sister older than himself   a widow with seven children  boys and
girls  This sister had brought up Jean Valjean  and so long as she had a
husband she lodged and fed her young brother 

The husband died  The eldest of the seven children was eight years old 
The youngest  one 

Jean Valjean had just attained his twenty fifth year  He took the
father s place  and  in his turn  supported the sister who had brought
him up  This was done simply as a duty and even a little churlishly
on the part of Jean Valjean  Thus his youth had been spent in rude and
ill paid toil  He had never known a  kind woman friend  in his native
parts  He had not had the time to fall in love 

He returned at night weary  and ate his broth without uttering a word 
His sister  mother Jeanne  often took the best part of his repast from
his bowl while he was eating   a bit of meat  a slice of bacon  the
heart of the cabbage   to give to one of her children  As he went on
eating  with his head bent over the table and almost into his soup  his
long hair falling about his bowl and concealing his eyes  he had the air
of perceiving nothing and allowing it  There was at Faverolles  not
far from the Valjean thatched cottage  on the other side of the lane 
a farmer s wife named Marie Claude  the Valjean children  habitually
famished  sometimes went to borrow from Marie Claude a pint of milk  in
their mother s name  which they drank behind a hedge or in some alley
corner  snatching the jug from each other so hastily that the little
girls spilled it on their aprons and down their necks  If their mother
had known of this marauding  she would have punished the delinquents
severely  Jean Valjean gruffly and grumblingly paid Marie Claude for
the pint of milk behind their mother s back  and the children were not
punished 

In pruning season he earned eighteen sous a day  then he hired out as
a hay maker  as laborer  as neat herd on a farm  as a drudge  He did
whatever he could  His sister worked also but what could she do with
seven little children  It was a sad group enveloped in misery  which was
being gradually annihilated  A very hard winter came  Jean had no work 
The family had no bread  No bread literally  Seven children 

One Sunday evening  Maubert Isabeau  the baker on the Church Square at
Faverolles  was preparing to go to bed  when he heard a violent blow on
the grated front of his shop  He arrived in time to see an arm passed
through a hole made by a blow from a fist  through the grating and the
glass  The arm seized a loaf of bread and carried it off  Isabeau ran
out in haste  the robber fled at the full speed of his legs  Isabeau ran
after him and stopped him  The thief had flung away the loaf  but his
arm was still bleeding  It was Jean Valjean 

This took place in 1795  Jean Valjean was taken before the tribunals
of the time for theft and breaking and entering an inhabited house at
night  He had a gun which he used better than any one else in the world 
he was a bit of a poacher  and this injured his case  There exists a
legitimate prejudice against poachers  The poacher  like the smuggler 
smacks too strongly of the brigand  Nevertheless  we will remark
cursorily  there is still an abyss between these races of men and the
hideous assassin of the towns  The poacher lives in the forest  the
smuggler lives in the mountains or on the sea  The cities make ferocious
men because they make corrupt men  The mountain  the sea  the forest 
make savage men  they develop the fierce side  but often without
destroying the humane side 

Jean Valjean was pronounced guilty  The terms of the Code were explicit 
There occur formidable hours in our civilization  there are moments when
the penal laws decree a shipwreck  What an ominous minute is that in
which society draws back and consummates the irreparable abandonment
of a sentient being  Jean Valjean was condemned to five years in the
galleys 

On the 22d of April  1796  the victory of Montenotte  won by the
general in chief of the army of Italy  whom the message of the Directory
to the Five Hundred  of the 2d of Floreal  year IV   calls Buona Parte 
was announced in Paris  on that same day a great gang of galley slaves
was put in chains at Bicetre  Jean Valjean formed a part of that gang 
An old turnkey of the prison  who is now nearly eighty years old  still
recalls perfectly that unfortunate wretch who was chained to the end of
the fourth line  in the north angle of the courtyard  He was seated on
the ground like the others  He did not seem to comprehend his position 
except that it was horrible  It is probable that he  also  was
disentangling from amid the vague ideas of a poor man  ignorant of
everything  something excessive  While the bolt of his iron collar was
being riveted behind his head with heavy blows from the hammer  he wept 
his tears stifled him  they impeded his speech  he only managed to
say from time to time   I was a tree pruner at Faverolles   Then still
sobbing  he raised his right hand and lowered it gradually seven times 
as though he were touching in succession seven heads of unequal heights 
and from this gesture it was divined that the thing which he had done 
whatever it was  he had done for the sake of clothing and nourishing
seven little children 

He set out for Toulon  He arrived there  after a journey of twenty seven
days  on a cart  with a chain on his neck  At Toulon he was clothed in
the red cassock  All that had constituted his life  even to his name 
was effaced  he was no longer even Jean Valjean  he was number 24 601 
What became of his sister  What became of the seven children  Who
troubled himself about that  What becomes of the handful of leaves from
the young tree which is sawed off at the root 

It is always the same story  These poor living beings  these creatures
of God  henceforth without support  without guide  without refuge 
wandered away at random   who even knows   each in his own direction
perhaps  and little by little buried themselves in that cold mist which
engulfs solitary destinies  gloomy shades  into which disappear in
succession so many unlucky heads  in the sombre march of the human race 
They quitted the country  The clock tower of what had been their village
forgot them  the boundary line of what had been their field forgot them 
after a few years  residence in the galleys  Jean Valjean himself forgot
them  In that heart  where there had been a wound  there was a scar 
That is all  Only once  during all the time which he spent at Toulon 
did he hear his sister mentioned  This happened  I think  towards
the end of the fourth year of his captivity  I know not through what
channels the news reached him  Some one who had known them in their
own country had seen his sister  She was in Paris  She lived in a poor
street Rear Saint Sulpice  in the Rue du Gindre  She had with her only
one child  a little boy  the youngest  Where were the other six  Perhaps
she did not know herself  Every morning she went to a printing office 
No  3 Rue du Sabot  where she was a folder and stitcher  She was obliged
to be there at six o clock in the morning  long before daylight in
winter  In the same building with the printing office there was a
school  and to this school she took her little boy  who was seven years
old  But as she entered the printing office at six  and the school only
opened at seven  the child had to wait in the courtyard  for the school
to open  for an hour  one hour of a winter night in the open air  They
would not allow the child to come into the printing office  because he
was in the way  they said  When the workmen passed in the morning  they
beheld this poor little being seated on the pavement  overcome with
drowsiness  and often fast asleep in the shadow  crouched down and
doubled up over his basket  When it rained  an old woman  the portress 
took pity on him  she took him into her den  where there was a pallet  a
spinning wheel  and two wooden chairs  and the little one slumbered in a
corner  pressing himself close to the cat that he might suffer less from
cold  At seven o clock the school opened  and he entered  That is what
was told to Jean Valjean 

They talked to him about it for one day  it was a moment  a flash 
as though a window had suddenly been opened upon the destiny of those
things whom he had loved  then all closed again  He heard nothing more
forever  Nothing from them ever reached him again  he never beheld
them  he never met them again  and in the continuation of this mournful
history they will not be met with any more 

Towards the end of this fourth year Jean Valjean s turn to escape
arrived  His comrades assisted him  as is the custom in that sad place 
He escaped  He wandered for two days in the fields at liberty  if being
at liberty is to be hunted  to turn the head every instant  to quake at
the slightest noise  to be afraid of everything   of a smoking roof 
of a passing man  of a barking dog  of a galloping horse  of a striking
clock  of the day because one can see  of the night because one cannot
see  of the highway  of the path  of a bush  of sleep  On the evening
of the second day he was captured  He had neither eaten nor slept for
thirty six hours  The maritime tribunal condemned him  for this crime 
to a prolongation of his term for three years  which made eight years 
In the sixth year his turn to escape occurred again  he availed himself
of it  but could not accomplish his flight fully  He was missing at
roll call  The cannon were fired  and at night the patrol found him
hidden under the keel of a vessel in process of construction  he
resisted the galley guards who seized him  Escape and rebellion  This
case  provided for by a special code  was punished by an addition of
five years  two of them in the double chain  Thirteen years  In the
tenth year his turn came round again  he again profited by it  he
succeeded no better  Three years for this fresh attempt  Sixteen years 
Finally  I think it was during his thirteenth year  he made a last
attempt  and only succeeded in getting retaken at the end of four
hours of absence  Three years for those four hours  Nineteen years  In
October  1815  he was released  he had entered there in 1796  for having
broken a pane of glass and taken a loaf of bread 

Room for a brief parenthesis  This is the second time  during his
studies on the penal question and damnation by law  that the author of
this book has come across the theft of a loaf of bread as the point of
departure for the disaster of a destiny  Claude Gaux had stolen a loaf 
Jean Valjean had stolen a loaf  English statistics prove the fact that
four thefts out of five in London have hunger for their immediate cause 

Jean Valjean had entered the galleys sobbing and shuddering  he emerged
impassive  He had entered in despair  he emerged gloomy 

What had taken place in that soul 




CHAPTER VII  THE INTERIOR OF DESPAIR


Let us try to say it 

It is necessary that society should look at these things  because it is
itself which creates them 

He was  as we have said  an ignorant man  but he was not a fool  The
light of nature was ignited in him  Unhappiness  which also possesses a
clearness of vision of its own  augmented the small amount of daylight
which existed in this mind  Beneath the cudgel  beneath the chain  in
the cell  in hardship  beneath the burning sun of the galleys  upon the
plank bed of the convict  he withdrew into his own consciousness and
meditated 

He constituted himself the tribunal 

He began by putting himself on trial 

He recognized the fact that he was not an innocent man unjustly
punished  He admitted that he had committed an extreme and blameworthy
act  that that loaf of bread would probably not have been refused to
him had he asked for it  that  in any case  it would have been better to
wait until he could get it through compassion or through work  that
it is not an unanswerable argument to say   Can one wait when one is
hungry   That  in the first place  it is very rare for any one to die of
hunger  literally  and next  that  fortunately or unfortunately  man
is so constituted that he can suffer long and much  both morally and
physically  without dying  that it is therefore necessary to have
patience  that that would even have been better for those poor little
children  that it had been an act of madness for him  a miserable 
unfortunate wretch  to take society at large violently by the collar 
and to imagine that one can escape from misery through theft  that that
is in any case a poor door through which to escape from misery through
which infamy enters  in short  that he was in the wrong 

Then he asked himself  

Whether he had been the only one in fault in his fatal history  Whether
it was not a serious thing  that he  a laborer  out of work  that he  an
industrious man  should have lacked bread  And whether  the fault once
committed and confessed  the chastisement had not been ferocious and
disproportioned  Whether there had not been more abuse on the part of
the law  in respect to the penalty  than there had been on the part
of the culprit in respect to his fault  Whether there had not been an
excess of weights in one balance of the scale  in the one which contains
expiation  Whether the over weight of the penalty was not equivalent
to the annihilation of the crime  and did not result in reversing the
situation  of replacing the fault of the delinquent by the fault of the
repression  of converting the guilty man into the victim  and the debtor
into the creditor  and of ranging the law definitely on the side of the
man who had violated it 

Whether this penalty  complicated by successive aggravations for
attempts at escape  had not ended in becoming a sort of outrage
perpetrated by the stronger upon the feebler  a crime of society against
the individual  a crime which was being committed afresh every day  a
crime which had lasted nineteen years 

He asked himself whether human society could have the right to force its
members to suffer equally in one case for its own unreasonable lack
of foresight  and in the other case for its pitiless foresight  and to
seize a poor man forever between a defect and an excess  a default of
work and an excess of punishment 

Whether it was not outrageous for society to treat thus precisely those
of its members who were the least well endowed in the division of goods
made by chance  and consequently the most deserving of consideration 

These questions put and answered  he judged society and condemned it 

He condemned it to his hatred 

He made it responsible for the fate which he was suffering  and he said
to himself that it might be that one day he should not hesitate to call
it to account  He declared to himself that there was no equilibrium
between the harm which he had caused and the harm which was being done
to him  he finally arrived at the conclusion that his punishment was
not  in truth  unjust  but that it most assuredly was iniquitous 

Anger may be both foolish and absurd  one can be irritated wrongfully 
one is exasperated only when there is some show of right on one s side
at bottom  Jean Valjean felt himself exasperated 

And besides  human society had done him nothing but harm  he had never
seen anything of it save that angry face which it calls Justice  and
which it shows to those whom it strikes  Men had only touched him to
bruise him  Every contact with them had been a blow  Never  since
his infancy  since the days of his mother  of his sister  had he ever
encountered a friendly word and a kindly glance  From suffering to
suffering  he had gradually arrived at the conviction that life is a
war  and that in this war he was the conquered  He had no other weapon
than his hate  He resolved to whet it in the galleys and to bear it away
with him when he departed 

There was at Toulon a school for the convicts  kept by the Ignorantin
friars  where the most necessary branches were taught to those of the
unfortunate men who had a mind for them  He was of the number who had
a mind  He went to school at the age of forty  and learned to read 
to write  to cipher  He felt that to fortify his intelligence was to
fortify his hate  In certain cases  education and enlightenment can
serve to eke out evil 

This is a sad thing to say  after having judged society  which had
caused his unhappiness  he judged Providence  which had made society 
and he condemned it also 

Thus during nineteen years of torture and slavery  this soul mounted and
at the same time fell  Light entered it on one side  and darkness on the
other 

Jean Valjean had not  as we have seen  an evil nature  He was still good
when he arrived at the galleys  He there condemned society  and felt
that he was becoming wicked  he there condemned Providence  and was
conscious that he was becoming impious 

It is difficult not to indulge in meditation at this point 

Does human nature thus change utterly and from top to bottom  Can the
man created good by God be rendered wicked by man  Can the soul be
completely made over by fate  and become evil  fate being evil  Can
the heart become misshapen and contract incurable deformities and
infirmities under the oppression of a disproportionate unhappiness 
as the vertebral column beneath too low a vault  Is there not in every
human soul  was there not in the soul of Jean Valjean in particular  a
first spark  a divine element  incorruptible in this world  immortal in
the other  which good can develop  fan  ignite  and make to glow with
splendor  and which evil can never wholly extinguish 

Grave and obscure questions  to the last of which every physiologist
would probably have responded no  and that without hesitation  had
he beheld at Toulon  during the hours of repose  which were for Jean
Valjean hours of revery  this gloomy galley slave  seated with folded
arms upon the bar of some capstan  with the end of his chain thrust into
his pocket to prevent its dragging  serious  silent  and thoughtful 
a pariah of the laws which regarded the man with wrath  condemned by
civilization  and regarding heaven with severity 

Certainly   and we make no attempt to dissimulate the fact   the
observing physiologist would have beheld an irremediable misery  he
would  perchance  have pitied this sick man  of the law s making  but
he would not have even essayed any treatment  he would have turned aside
his gaze from the caverns of which he would have caught a glimpse within
this soul  and  like Dante at the portals of hell  he would have effaced
from this existence the word which the finger of God has  nevertheless 
inscribed upon the brow of every man   hope 

Was this state of his soul  which we have attempted to analyze  as
perfectly clear to Jean Valjean as we have tried to render it for
those who read us  Did Jean Valjean distinctly perceive  after their
formation  and had he seen distinctly during the process of their
formation  all the elements of which his moral misery was composed  Had
this rough and unlettered man gathered a perfectly clear perception of
the succession of ideas through which he had  by degrees  mounted and
descended to the lugubrious aspects which had  for so many years  formed
the inner horizon of his spirit  Was he conscious of all that passed
within him  and of all that was working there  That is something
which we do not presume to state  it is something which we do not even
believe  There was too much ignorance in Jean Valjean  even after his
misfortune  to prevent much vagueness from still lingering there  At
times he did not rightly know himself what he felt  Jean Valjean was in
the shadows  he suffered in the shadows  he hated in the shadows  one
might have said that he hated in advance of himself  He dwelt habitually
in this shadow  feeling his way like a blind man and a dreamer  Only  at
intervals  there suddenly came to him  from without and from within  an
access of wrath  a surcharge of suffering  a livid and rapid flash which
illuminated his whole soul  and caused to appear abruptly all around
him  in front  behind  amid the gleams of a frightful light  the hideous
precipices and the sombre perspective of his destiny 

The flash passed  the night closed in again  and where was he  He no
longer knew  The peculiarity of pains of this nature  in which
that which is pitiless  that is to say  that which is
brutalizing  predominates  is to transform a man  little by little  by
a sort of stupid transfiguration  into a wild beast  sometimes into a
ferocious beast 

Jean Valjean s successive and obstinate attempts at escape would alone
suffice to prove this strange working of the law upon the human soul 
Jean Valjean would have renewed these attempts  utterly useless and
foolish as they were  as often as the opportunity had presented itself 
without reflecting for an instant on the result  nor on the experiences
which he had already gone through  He escaped impetuously  like the wolf
who finds his cage open  Instinct said to him   Flee   Reason would have
said   Remain   But in the presence of so violent a temptation  reason
vanished  nothing remained but instinct  The beast alone acted  When
he was recaptured  the fresh severities inflicted on him only served to
render him still more wild 

One detail  which we must not omit  is that he possessed a physical
strength which was not approached by a single one of the denizens of the
galleys  At work  at paying out a cable or winding up a capstan  Jean
Valjean was worth four men  He sometimes lifted and sustained enormous
weights on his back  and when the occasion demanded it  he replaced that
implement which is called a jack screw  and was formerly called orgueil
 pride   whence  we may remark in passing  is derived the name of the
Rue Montorgueil  near the Halles  Fishmarket  in Paris  His comrades had
nicknamed him Jean the Jack screw  Once  when they were repairing the
balcony of the town hall at Toulon  one of those admirable caryatids of
Puget  which support the balcony  became loosened  and was on the point
of falling  Jean Valjean  who was present  supported the caryatid with
his shoulder  and gave the workmen time to arrive 

His suppleness even exceeded his strength  Certain convicts who were
forever dreaming of escape  ended by making a veritable science of force
and skill combined  It is the science of muscles  An entire system of
mysterious statics is daily practised by prisoners  men who are forever
envious of the flies and birds  To climb a vertical surface  and to find
points of support where hardly a projection was visible  was play to
Jean Valjean  An angle of the wall being given  with the tension of his
back and legs  with his elbows and his heels fitted into the unevenness
of the stone  he raised himself as if by magic to the third story  He
sometimes mounted thus even to the roof of the galley prison 

He spoke but little  He laughed not at all  An excessive emotion was
required to wring from him  once or twice a year  that lugubrious laugh
of the convict  which is like the echo of the laugh of a demon  To all
appearance  he seemed to be occupied in the constant contemplation of
something terrible 

He was absorbed  in fact 

Athwart the unhealthy perceptions of an incomplete nature and a crushed
intelligence  he was confusedly conscious that some monstrous thing was
resting on him  In that obscure and wan shadow within which he crawled 
each time that he turned his neck and essayed to raise his glance 
he perceived with terror  mingled with rage  a sort of frightful
accumulation of things  collecting and mounting above him  beyond the
range of his vision   laws  prejudices  men  and deeds   whose outlines
escaped him  whose mass terrified him  and which was nothing else than
that prodigious pyramid which we call civilization  He distinguished 
here and there in that swarming and formless mass  now near him  now
afar off and on inaccessible table lands  some group  some detail 
vividly illuminated  here the galley sergeant and his cudgel  there the
gendarme and his sword  yonder the mitred archbishop  away at the top 
like a sort of sun  the Emperor  crowned and dazzling  It seemed to him
that these distant splendors  far from dissipating his night  rendered
it more funereal and more black  All this  laws  prejudices  deeds  men 
things  went and came above him  over his head  in accordance with the
complicated and mysterious movement which God imparts to civilization 
walking over him and crushing him with I know not what peacefulness
in its cruelty and inexorability in its indifference  Souls which have
fallen to the bottom of all possible misfortune  unhappy men lost in the
lowest of those limbos at which no one any longer looks  the reproved of
the law  feel the whole weight of this human society  so formidable for
him who is without  so frightful for him who is beneath  resting upon
their heads 

In this situation Jean Valjean meditated  and what could be the nature
of his meditation 

If the grain of millet beneath the millstone had thoughts  it would 
doubtless  think that same thing which Jean Valjean thought 

All these things  realities full of spectres  phantasmagories full of
realities  had eventually created for him a sort of interior state which
is almost indescribable 

At times  amid his convict toil  he paused  He fell to thinking  His
reason  at one and the same time riper and more troubled than of yore 
rose in revolt  Everything which had happened to him seemed to him
absurd  everything that surrounded him seemed to him impossible  He said
to himself   It is a dream   He gazed at the galley sergeant standing a
few paces from him  the galley sergeant seemed a phantom to him  All of
a sudden the phantom dealt him a blow with his cudgel 

Visible nature hardly existed for him  It would almost be true to say
that there existed for Jean Valjean neither sun  nor fine summer days 
nor radiant sky  nor fresh April dawns  I know not what vent hole
daylight habitually illumined his soul 

To sum up  in conclusion  that which can be summed up and translated
into positive results in all that we have just pointed out  we will
confine ourselves to the statement that  in the course of nineteen
years  Jean Valjean  the inoffensive tree pruner of Faverolles  the
formidable convict of Toulon  had become capable  thanks to the manner
in which the galleys had moulded him  of two sorts of evil action 
firstly  of evil action which was rapid  unpremeditated  dashing 
entirely instinctive  in the nature of reprisals for the evil which
he had undergone  secondly  of evil action which was serious  grave 
consciously argued out and premeditated  with the false ideas which
such a misfortune can furnish  His deliberate deeds passed through
three successive phases  which natures of a certain stamp can alone
traverse   reasoning  will  perseverance  He had for moving causes his
habitual wrath  bitterness of soul  a profound sense of indignities
suffered  the reaction even against the good  the innocent  and the
just  if there are any such  The point of departure  like the point
of arrival  for all his thoughts  was hatred of human law  that hatred
which  if it be not arrested in its development by some providential
incident  becomes  within a given time  the hatred of society  then
the hatred of the human race  then the hatred of creation  and which
manifests itself by a vague  incessant  and brutal desire to do harm to
some living being  no matter whom  It will be perceived that it was
not without reason that Jean Valjean s passport described him as a very
dangerous man 

From year to year this soul had dried away slowly  but with fatal
sureness  When the heart is dry  the eye is dry  On his departure from
the galleys it had been nineteen years since he had shed a tear 




CHAPTER VIII  BILLOWS AND SHADOWS


A man overboard 

What matters it  The vessel does not halt  The wind blows  That sombre
ship has a path which it is forced to pursue  It passes on 

The man disappears  then reappears  he plunges  he rises again to the
surface  he calls  he stretches out his arms  he is not heard  The
vessel  trembling under the hurricane  is wholly absorbed in its own
workings  the passengers and sailors do not even see the drowning man 
his miserable head is but a speck amid the immensity of the waves  He
gives vent to desperate cries from out of the depths  What a spectre is
that retreating sail  He gazes and gazes at it frantically  It retreats 
it grows dim  it diminishes in size  He was there but just now  he was
one of the crew  he went and came along the deck with the rest  he had
his part of breath and of sunlight  he was a living man  Now  what has
taken place  He has slipped  he has fallen  all is at an end 

He is in the tremendous sea  Under foot he has nothing but what flees
and crumbles  The billows  torn and lashed by the wind  encompass him
hideously  the tossings of the abyss bear him away  all the tongues of
water dash over his head  a populace of waves spits upon him  confused
openings half devour him  every time that he sinks  he catches glimpses
of precipices filled with night  frightful and unknown vegetations seize
him  knot about his feet  draw him to them  he is conscious that he is
becoming an abyss  that he forms part of the foam  the waves toss him
from one to another  he drinks in the bitterness  the cowardly ocean
attacks him furiously  to drown him  the enormity plays with his agony 
It seems as though all that water were hate 

Nevertheless  he struggles 

He tries to defend himself  he tries to sustain himself  he makes
an effort  he swims  He  his petty strength all exhausted instantly 
combats the inexhaustible 

Where  then  is the ship  Yonder  Barely visible in the pale shadows of
the horizon 

The wind blows in gusts  all the foam overwhelms him  He raises his eyes
and beholds only the lividness of the clouds  He witnesses  amid his
death pangs  the immense madness of the sea  He is tortured by this
madness  he hears noises strange to man  which seem to come from beyond
the limits of the earth  and from one knows not what frightful region
beyond 

There are birds in the clouds  just as there are angels above human
distresses  but what can they do for him  They sing and fly and float 
and he  he rattles in the death agony 

He feels himself buried in those two infinities  the ocean and the sky 
at one and the same time  the one is a tomb  the other is a shroud 

Night descends  he has been swimming for hours  his strength is
exhausted  that ship  that distant thing in which there were men  has
vanished  he is alone in the formidable twilight gulf  he sinks  he
stiffens himself  he twists himself  he feels under him the monstrous
billows of the invisible  he shouts 

There are no more men  Where is God 

He shouts  Help  Help  He still shouts on 

Nothing on the horizon  nothing in heaven 

He implores the expanse  the waves  the seaweed  the reef  they are
deaf  He beseeches the tempest  the imperturbable tempest obeys only the
infinite 

Around him darkness  fog  solitude  the stormy and nonsentient tumult 
the undefined curling of those wild waters  In him horror and fatigue 
Beneath him the depths  Not a point of support  He thinks of the gloomy
adventures of the corpse in the limitless shadow  The bottomless cold
paralyzes him  His hands contract convulsively  they close  and grasp
nothingness  Winds  clouds  whirlwinds  gusts  useless stars  What is
to be done  The desperate man gives up  he is weary  he chooses the
alternative of death  he resists not  he lets himself go  he abandons
his grip  and then he tosses forevermore in the lugubrious dreary depths
of engulfment 

Oh  implacable march of human societies  Oh  losses of men and of
souls on the way  Ocean into which falls all that the law lets slip 
Disastrous absence of help  Oh  moral death 

The sea is the inexorable social night into which the penal laws fling
their condemned  The sea is the immensity of wretchedness 

The soul  going down stream in this gulf  may become a corpse  Who shall
resuscitate it 




CHAPTER IX  NEW TROUBLES

When the hour came for him to take his departure from the galleys  when
Jean Valjean heard in his ear the strange words  Thou art free  the
moment seemed improbable and unprecedented  a ray of vivid light  a ray
of the true light of the living  suddenly penetrated within him  But it
was not long before this ray paled  Jean Valjean had been dazzled by
the idea of liberty  He had believed in a new life  He very speedily
perceived what sort of liberty it is to which a yellow passport is
provided 

And this was encompassed with much bitterness  He had calculated that
his earnings  during his sojourn in the galleys  ought to amount to
a hundred and seventy one francs  It is but just to add that he had
forgotten to include in his calculations the forced repose of Sundays
and festival days during nineteen years  which entailed a diminution
of about eighty francs  At all events  his hoard had been reduced by
various local levies to the sum of one hundred and nine francs fifteen
sous  which had been counted out to him on his departure  He had
understood nothing of this  and had thought himself wronged  Let us say
the word  robbed 

On the day following his liberation  he saw  at Grasse  in front of
an orange flower distillery  some men engaged in unloading bales  He
offered his services  Business was pressing  they were accepted  He set
to work  He was intelligent  robust  adroit  he did his best  the master
seemed pleased  While he was at work  a gendarme passed  observed
him  and demanded his papers  It was necessary to show him the yellow
passport  That done  Jean Valjean resumed his labor  A little while
before he had questioned one of the workmen as to the amount which they
earned each day at this occupation  he had been told thirty sous  When
evening arrived  as he was forced to set out again on the following day 
he presented himself to the owner of the distillery and requested to be
paid  The owner did not utter a word  but handed him fifteen sous  He
objected  He was told   That is enough for thee   He persisted  The
master looked him straight between the eyes  and said to him  Beware of
the prison  

There  again  he considered that he had been robbed 

Society  the State  by diminishing his hoard  had robbed him wholesale 
Now it was the individual who was robbing him at retail 

Liberation is not deliverance  One gets free from the galleys  but not
from the sentence 

That is what happened to him at Grasse  We have seen in what manner he
was received at D    




CHAPTER X  THE MAN AROUSED

As the Cathedral clock struck two in the morning  Jean Valjean awoke 

What woke him was that his bed was too good  It was nearly twenty years
since he had slept in a bed  and  although he had not undressed  the
sensation was too novel not to disturb his slumbers 

He had slept more than four hours  His fatigue had passed away  He was
accustomed not to devote many hours to repose 

He opened his eyes and stared into the gloom which surrounded him  then
he closed them again  with the intention of going to sleep once more 

When many varied sensations have agitated the day  when various matters
preoccupy the mind  one falls asleep once  but not a second time 
Sleep comes more easily than it returns  This is what happened to Jean
Valjean  He could not get to sleep again  and he fell to thinking 

He was at one of those moments when the thoughts which one has in one s
mind are troubled  There was a sort of dark confusion in his brain  His
memories of the olden time and of the immediate present floated there
pell mell and mingled confusedly  losing their proper forms  becoming
disproportionately large  then suddenly disappearing  as in a muddy and
perturbed pool  Many thoughts occurred to him  but there was one which
kept constantly presenting itself afresh  and which drove away all
others  We will mention this thought at once  he had observed the six
sets of silver forks and spoons and the ladle which Madame Magloire had
placed on the table 

Those six sets of silver haunted him   They were there   A few paces
distant   Just as he was traversing the adjoining room to reach the
one in which he then was  the old servant woman had been in the act
of placing them in a little cupboard near the head of the bed   He had
taken careful note of this cupboard   On the right  as you entered from
the dining room   They were solid   And old silver   From the ladle one
could get at least two hundred francs   Double what he had earned in
nineteen years   It is true that he would have earned more if  the
administration had not robbed him  

His mind wavered for a whole hour in fluctuations with which there was
certainly mingled some struggle  Three o clock struck  He opened his
eyes again  drew himself up abruptly into a sitting posture  stretched
out his arm and felt of his knapsack  which he had thrown down on a
corner of the alcove  then he hung his legs over the edge of the bed 
and placed his feet on the floor  and thus found himself  almost without
knowing it  seated on his bed 

He remained for a time thoughtfully in this attitude  which would have
been suggestive of something sinister for any one who had seen him
thus in the dark  the only person awake in that house where all were
sleeping  All of a sudden he stooped down  removed his shoes and placed
them softly on the mat beside the bed  then he resumed his thoughtful
attitude  and became motionless once more 

Throughout this hideous meditation  the thoughts which we have above
indicated moved incessantly through his brain  entered  withdrew 
re entered  and in a manner oppressed him  and then he thought  also 
without knowing why  and with the mechanical persistence of revery  of
a convict named Brevet  whom he had known in the galleys  and whose
trousers had been upheld by a single suspender of knitted cotton  The
checkered pattern of that suspender recurred incessantly to his mind 

He remained in this situation  and would have so remained indefinitely 
even until daybreak  had not the clock struck one  the half or quarter
hour  It seemed to him that that stroke said to him   Come on  

He rose to his feet  hesitated still another moment  and listened  all
was quiet in the house  then he walked straight ahead  with short steps 
to the window  of which he caught a glimpse  The night was not very
dark  there was a full moon  across which coursed large clouds driven by
the wind  This created  outdoors  alternate shadow and gleams of light 
eclipses  then bright openings of the clouds  and indoors a sort of
twilight  This twilight  sufficient to enable a person to see his way 
intermittent on account of the clouds  resembled the sort of livid light
which falls through an air hole in a cellar  before which the passersby
come and go  On arriving at the window  Jean Valjean examined it  It had
no grating  it opened in the garden and was fastened  according to the
fashion of the country  only by a small pin  He opened it  but as a
rush of cold and piercing air penetrated the room abruptly  he closed
it again immediately  He scrutinized the garden with that attentive gaze
which studies rather than looks  The garden was enclosed by a tolerably
low white wall  easy to climb  Far away  at the extremity  he perceived
tops of trees  spaced at regular intervals  which indicated that the
wall separated the garden from an avenue or lane planted with trees 

Having taken this survey  he executed a movement like that of a man who
has made up his mind  strode to his alcove  grasped his knapsack  opened
it  fumbled in it  pulled out of it something which he placed on the
bed  put his shoes into one of his pockets  shut the whole thing up
again  threw the knapsack on his shoulders  put on his cap  drew the
visor down over his eyes  felt for his cudgel  went and placed it in the
angle of the window  then returned to the bed  and resolutely seized the
object which he had deposited there  It resembled a short bar of
iron  pointed like a pike at one end  It would have been difficult to
distinguish in that darkness for what employment that bit of iron could
have been designed  Perhaps it was a lever  possibly it was a club 

In the daytime it would have been possible to recognize it as nothing
more than a miner s candlestick  Convicts were  at that period 
sometimes employed in quarrying stone from the lofty hills which environ
Toulon  and it was not rare for them to have miners  tools at their
command  These miners  candlesticks are of massive iron  terminated at
the lower extremity by a point  by means of which they are stuck into
the rock 

He took the candlestick in his right hand  holding his breath and trying
to deaden the sound of his tread  he directed his steps to the door of
the adjoining room  occupied by the Bishop  as we already know 

On arriving at this door  he found it ajar  The Bishop had not closed
it 




CHAPTER XI  WHAT HE DOES

Jean Valjean listened  Not a sound 

He gave the door a push 

He pushed it gently with the tip of his finger  lightly  with the
furtive and uneasy gentleness of a cat which is desirous of entering 

The door yielded to this pressure  and made an imperceptible and silent
movement  which enlarged the opening a little 

He waited a moment  then gave the door a second and a bolder push 

It continued to yield in silence  The opening was now large enough to
allow him to pass  But near the door there stood a little table  which
formed an embarrassing angle with it  and barred the entrance 

Jean Valjean recognized the difficulty  It was necessary  at any cost 
to enlarge the aperture still further 

He decided on his course of action  and gave the door a third push  more
energetic than the two preceding  This time a badly oiled hinge suddenly
emitted amid the silence a hoarse and prolonged cry 

Jean Valjean shuddered  The noise of the hinge rang in his ears with
something of the piercing and formidable sound of the trump of the Day
of Judgment 

In the fantastic exaggerations of the first moment he almost imagined
that that hinge had just become animated  and had suddenly assumed a
terrible life  and that it was barking like a dog to arouse every one 
and warn and to wake those who were asleep  He halted  shuddering 
bewildered  and fell back from the tips of his toes upon his heels  He
heard the arteries in his temples beating like two forge hammers  and
it seemed to him that his breath issued from his breast with the roar
of the wind issuing from a cavern  It seemed impossible to him that the
horrible clamor of that irritated hinge should not have disturbed the
entire household  like the shock of an earthquake  the door  pushed by
him  had taken the alarm  and had shouted  the old man would rise at
once  the two old women would shriek out  people would come to their
assistance  in less than a quarter of an hour the town would be in an
uproar  and the gendarmerie on hand  For a moment he thought himself
lost 

He remained where he was  petrified like the statue of salt  not daring
to make a movement  Several minutes elapsed  The door had fallen wide
open  He ventured to peep into the next room  Nothing had stirred there 
He lent an ear  Nothing was moving in the house  The noise made by the
rusty hinge had not awakened any one 

This first danger was past  but there still reigned a frightful tumult
within him  Nevertheless  he did not retreat  Even when he had thought
himself lost  he had not drawn back  His only thought now was to finish
as soon as possible  He took a step and entered the room 

This room was in a state of perfect calm  Here and there vague and
confused forms were distinguishable  which in the daylight were papers
scattered on a table  open folios  volumes piled upon a stool  an
arm chair heaped with clothing  a prie Dieu  and which at that hour
were only shadowy corners and whitish spots  Jean Valjean advanced with
precaution  taking care not to knock against the furniture  He could
hear  at the extremity of the room  the even and tranquil breathing of
the sleeping Bishop 

He suddenly came to a halt  He was near the bed  He had arrived there
sooner than he had thought for 

Nature sometimes mingles her effects and her spectacles with our actions
with sombre and intelligent appropriateness  as though she desired to
make us reflect  For the last half hour a large cloud had covered the
heavens  At the moment when Jean Valjean paused in front of the bed 
this cloud parted  as though on purpose  and a ray of light  traversing
the long window  suddenly illuminated the Bishop s pale face  He was
sleeping peacefully  He lay in his bed almost completely dressed  on
account of the cold of the Basses Alps  in a garment of brown wool 
which covered his arms to the wrists  His head was thrown back on the
pillow  in the careless attitude of repose  his hand  adorned with the
pastoral ring  and whence had fallen so many good deeds and so many
holy actions  was hanging over the edge of the bed  His whole face
was illumined with a vague expression of satisfaction  of hope  and of
felicity  It was more than a smile  and almost a radiance  He bore upon
his brow the indescribable reflection of a light which was invisible 
The soul of the just contemplates in sleep a mysterious heaven 

A reflection of that heaven rested on the Bishop 

It was  at the same time  a luminous transparency  for that heaven was
within him  That heaven was his conscience 

 Illustration  The Fall  1b2 10 the fall 

At the moment when the ray of moonlight superposed itself  so to speak 
upon that inward radiance  the sleeping Bishop seemed as in a glory  It
remained  however  gentle and veiled in an ineffable half light  That
moon in the sky  that slumbering nature  that garden without a quiver 
that house which was so calm  the hour  the moment  the silence  added
some solemn and unspeakable quality to the venerable repose of this man 
and enveloped in a sort of serene and majestic aureole that white
hair  those closed eyes  that face in which all was hope and all was
confidence  that head of an old man  and that slumber of an infant 

There was something almost divine in this man  who was thus august 
without being himself aware of it 

Jean Valjean was in the shadow  and stood motionless  with his iron
candlestick in his hand  frightened by this luminous old man  Never had
he beheld anything like this  This confidence terrified him  The
moral world has no grander spectacle than this  a troubled and
uneasy conscience  which has arrived on the brink of an evil action 
contemplating the slumber of the just 

That slumber in that isolation  and with a neighbor like himself  had
about it something sublime  of which he was vaguely but imperiously
conscious 

No one could have told what was passing within him  not even himself  In
order to attempt to form an idea of it  it is necessary to think of the
most violent of things in the presence of the most gentle  Even on
his visage it would have been impossible to distinguish anything with
certainty  It was a sort of haggard astonishment  He gazed at it  and
that was all  But what was his thought  It would have been impossible to
divine it  What was evident was  that he was touched and astounded  But
what was the nature of this emotion 

His eye never quitted the old man  The only thing which was clearly
to be inferred from his attitude and his physiognomy was a strange
indecision  One would have said that he was hesitating between the two
abysses   the one in which one loses one s self and that in which one
saves one s self  He seemed prepared to crush that skull or to kiss that
hand 

At the expiration of a few minutes his left arm rose slowly towards
his brow  and he took off his cap  then his arm fell back with the same
deliberation  and Jean Valjean fell to meditating once more  his cap in
his left hand  his club in his right hand  his hair bristling all over
his savage head 

The Bishop continued to sleep in profound peace beneath that terrifying
gaze 

The gleam of the moon rendered confusedly visible the crucifix over the
chimney piece  which seemed to be extending its arms to both of them 
with a benediction for one and pardon for the other 

Suddenly Jean Valjean replaced his cap on his brow  then stepped rapidly
past the bed  without glancing at the Bishop  straight to the cupboard 
which he saw near the head  he raised his iron candlestick as though to
force the lock  the key was there  he opened it  the first thing which
presented itself to him was the basket of silverware  he seized it 
traversed the chamber with long strides  without taking any precautions
and without troubling himself about the noise  gained the door 
re entered the oratory  opened the window  seized his cudgel  bestrode
the window sill of the ground floor  put the silver into his knapsack 
threw away the basket  crossed the garden  leaped over the wall like a
tiger  and fled 




CHAPTER XII  THE BISHOP WORKS

The next morning at sunrise Monseigneur Bienvenu was strolling in his
garden  Madame Magloire ran up to him in utter consternation 

 Monseigneur  Monseigneur   she exclaimed   does your Grace know where
the basket of silver is  

 Yes   replied the Bishop 

 Jesus the Lord be blessed   she resumed   I did not know what had
become of it  

The Bishop had just picked up the basket in a flower bed  He presented
it to Madame Magloire 

 Here it is  

 Well   said she   Nothing in it  And the silver  

 Ah   returned the Bishop   so it is the silver which troubles you  I
don t know where it is  

 Great  good God  It is stolen  That man who was here last night has
stolen it  

In a twinkling  with all the vivacity of an alert old woman  Madame
Magloire had rushed to the oratory  entered the alcove  and returned
to the Bishop  The Bishop had just bent down  and was sighing as he
examined a plant of cochlearia des Guillons  which the basket had broken
as it fell across the bed  He rose up at Madame Magloire s cry 

 Monseigneur  the man is gone  The silver has been stolen  

As she uttered this exclamation  her eyes fell upon a corner of the
garden  where traces of the wall having been scaled were visible  The
coping of the wall had been torn away 

 Stay  yonder is the way he went  He jumped over into Cochefilet Lane 
Ah  the abomination  He has stolen our silver  

The Bishop remained silent for a moment  then he raised his grave eyes 
and said gently to Madame Magloire   

 And  in the first place  was that silver ours  

Madame Magloire was speechless  Another silence ensued  then the Bishop
went on   

 Madame Magloire  I have for a long time detained that silver
wrongfully  It belonged to the poor  Who was that man  A poor man 
evidently  

 Alas  Jesus   returned Madame Magloire   It is not for my sake  nor for
Mademoiselle s  It makes no difference to us  But it is for the sake of
Monseigneur  What is Monseigneur to eat with now  

The Bishop gazed at her with an air of amazement 

 Ah  come  Are there no such things as pewter forks and spoons  

Madame Magloire shrugged her shoulders 

 Pewter has an odor  

 Iron forks and spoons  then  

Madame Magloire made an expressive grimace 

 Iron has a taste  

 Very well   said the Bishop   wooden ones then  

A few moments later he was breakfasting at the very table at which
Jean Valjean had sat on the previous evening  As he ate his breakfast 
Monseigneur Welcome remarked gayly to his sister  who said nothing  and
to Madame Magloire  who was grumbling under her breath  that one really
does not need either fork or spoon  even of wood  in order to dip a bit
of bread in a cup of milk 

 A pretty idea  truly   said Madame Magloire to herself  as she went and
came   to take in a man like that  and to lodge him close to one s self 
And how fortunate that he did nothing but steal  Ah  mon Dieu  it makes
one shudder to think of it  

As the brother and sister were about to rise from the table  there came
a knock at the door 

 Come in   said the Bishop 

The door opened  A singular and violent group made its appearance on the
threshold  Three men were holding a fourth man by the collar  The three
men were gendarmes  the other was Jean Valjean 

A brigadier of gendarmes  who seemed to be in command of the group  was
standing near the door  He entered and advanced to the Bishop  making a
military salute 

 Monseigneur    said he 

At this word  Jean Valjean  who was dejected and seemed overwhelmed 
raised his head with an air of stupefaction 

 Monseigneur   he murmured   So he is not the cure  

 Silence   said the gendarme   He is Monseigneur the Bishop  

In the meantime  Monseigneur Bienvenu had advanced as quickly as his
great age permitted 

 Ah  here you are   he exclaimed  looking at Jean Valjean   I am glad to
see you  Well  but how is this  I gave you the candlesticks too  which
are of silver like the rest  and for which you can certainly get two
hundred francs  Why did you not carry them away with your forks and
spoons  

Jean Valjean opened his eyes wide  and stared at the venerable Bishop
with an expression which no human tongue can render any account of 

 Monseigneur   said the brigadier of gendarmes   so what this man said
is true  then  We came across him  He was walking like a man who is
running away  We stopped him to look into the matter  He had this
silver   

 And he told you   interposed the Bishop with a smile   that it had been
given to him by a kind old fellow of a priest with whom he had passed
the night  I see how the matter stands  And you have brought him back
here  It is a mistake  

 In that case   replied the brigadier   we can let him go  

 Certainly   replied the Bishop 

The gendarmes released Jean Valjean  who recoiled 

 Is it true that I am to be released   he said  in an almost
inarticulate voice  and as though he were talking in his sleep 

 Yes  thou art released  dost thou not understand   said one of the
gendarmes 

 My friend   resumed the Bishop   before you go  here are your
candlesticks  Take them  

He stepped to the chimney piece  took the two silver candlesticks  and
brought them to Jean Valjean  The two women looked on without uttering
a word  without a gesture  without a look which could disconcert the
Bishop 

Jean Valjean was trembling in every limb  He took the two candlesticks
mechanically  and with a bewildered air 

 Now   said the Bishop   go in peace  By the way  when you return  my
friend  it is not necessary to pass through the garden  You can always
enter and depart through the street door  It is never fastened with
anything but a latch  either by day or by night  

Then  turning to the gendarmes   

 You may retire  gentlemen  

The gendarmes retired 

Jean Valjean was like a man on the point of fainting 

The Bishop drew near to him  and said in a low voice   

 Do not forget  never forget  that you have promised to use this money
in becoming an honest man  

Jean Valjean  who had no recollection of ever having promised anything 
remained speechless  The Bishop had emphasized the words when he uttered
them  He resumed with solemnity   

 Jean Valjean  my brother  you no longer belong to evil  but to good  It
is your soul that I buy from you  I withdraw it from black thoughts and
the spirit of perdition  and I give it to God  




CHAPTER XIII  LITTLE GERVAIS

Jean Valjean left the town as though he were fleeing from it  He set out
at a very hasty pace through the fields  taking whatever roads and paths
presented themselves to him  without perceiving that he was incessantly
retracing his steps  He wandered thus the whole morning  without having
eaten anything and without feeling hungry  He was the prey of a throng
of novel sensations  He was conscious of a sort of rage  he did not
know against whom it was directed  He could not have told whether he was
touched or humiliated  There came over him at moments a strange emotion
which he resisted and to which he opposed the hardness acquired during
the last twenty years of his life  This state of mind fatigued him 
He perceived with dismay that the sort of frightful calm which the
injustice of his misfortune had conferred upon him was giving way within
him  He asked himself what would replace this  At times he would have
actually preferred to be in prison with the gendarmes  and that things
should not have happened in this way  it would have agitated him less 
Although the season was tolerably far advanced  there were still a few
late flowers in the hedge rows here and there  whose odor as he passed
through them in his march recalled to him memories of his childhood 
These memories were almost intolerable to him  it was so long since they
had recurred to him 

Unutterable thoughts assembled within him in this manner all day long 

As the sun declined to its setting  casting long shadows athwart the
soil from every pebble  Jean Valjean sat down behind a bush upon a large
ruddy plain  which was absolutely deserted  There was nothing on the
horizon except the Alps  Not even the spire of a distant village  Jean
Valjean might have been three leagues distant from D     A path which
intersected the plain passed a few paces from the bush 

In the middle of this meditation  which would have contributed not
a little to render his rags terrifying to any one who might have
encountered him  a joyous sound became audible 

He turned his head and saw a little Savoyard  about ten years of age 
coming up the path and singing  his hurdy gurdy on his hip  and his
marmot box on his back 

One of those gay and gentle children  who go from land to land affording
a view of their knees through the holes in their trousers 

Without stopping his song  the lad halted in his march from time to
time  and played at knuckle bones with some coins which he had in his
hand  his whole fortune  probably 

Among this money there was one forty sou piece 

The child halted beside the bush  without perceiving Jean Valjean  and
tossed up his handful of sous  which  up to that time  he had caught
with a good deal of adroitness on the back of his hand 

This time the forty sou piece escaped him  and went rolling towards the
brushwood until it reached Jean Valjean 

Jean Valjean set his foot upon it 

In the meantime  the child had looked after his coin and had caught
sight of him 

He showed no astonishment  but walked straight up to the man 

The spot was absolutely solitary  As far as the eye could see there was
not a person on the plain or on the path  The only sound was the tiny 
feeble cries of a flock of birds of passage  which was traversing the
heavens at an immense height  The child was standing with his back to
the sun  which cast threads of gold in his hair and empurpled with its
blood red gleam the savage face of Jean Valjean 

 Sir   said the little Savoyard  with that childish confidence which is
composed of ignorance and innocence   my money  

 What is your name   said Jean Valjean 

 Little Gervais  sir  

 Go away   said Jean Valjean 

 Sir   resumed the child   give me back my money  

Jean Valjean dropped his head  and made no reply 

The child began again   My money  sir  

Jean Valjean s eyes remained fixed on the earth 

 My piece of money   cried the child   my white piece  my silver  

It seemed as though Jean Valjean did not hear him  The child grasped him
by the collar of his blouse and shook him  At the same time he made an
effort to displace the big iron shod shoe which rested on his treasure 

 I want my piece of money  my piece of forty sous  

The child wept  Jean Valjean raised his head  He still remained seated 
His eyes were troubled  He gazed at the child  in a sort of amazement 
then he stretched out his hand towards his cudgel and cried in a
terrible voice   Who s there  

 I  sir   replied the child   Little Gervais  I  Give me back my forty
sous  if you please  Take your foot away  sir  if you please  

Then irritated  though he was so small  and becoming almost menacing   

 Come now  will you take your foot away  Take your foot away  or we ll
see  

 Ah  It s still you   said Jean Valjean  and rising abruptly to his
feet  his foot still resting on the silver piece  he added   

 Will you take yourself off  

The frightened child looked at him  then began to tremble from head to
foot  and after a few moments of stupor he set out  running at the top
of his speed  without daring to turn his neck or to utter a cry 

Nevertheless  lack of breath forced him to halt after a certain
distance  and Jean Valjean heard him sobbing  in the midst of his own
revery 

At the end of a few moments the child had disappeared 

The sun had set 

The shadows were descending around Jean Valjean  He had eaten nothing
all day  it is probable that he was feverish 

He had remained standing and had not changed his attitude after the
child s flight  The breath heaved his chest at long and irregular
intervals  His gaze  fixed ten or twelve paces in front of him  seemed
to be scrutinizing with profound attention the shape of an ancient
fragment of blue earthenware which had fallen in the grass  All at once
he shivered  he had just begun to feel the chill of evening 

He settled his cap more firmly on his brow  sought mechanically to
cross and button his blouse  advanced a step and stopped to pick up his
cudgel 

At that moment he caught sight of the forty sou piece  which his foot
had half ground into the earth  and which was shining among the pebbles 
It was as though he had received a galvanic shock   What is this  
he muttered between his teeth  He recoiled three paces  then halted 
without being able to detach his gaze from the spot which his foot had
trodden but an instant before  as though the thing which lay glittering
there in the gloom had been an open eye riveted upon him 

At the expiration of a few moments he darted convulsively towards the
silver coin  seized it  and straightened himself up again and began to
gaze afar off over the plain  at the same time casting his eyes towards
all points of the horizon  as he stood there erect and shivering  like a
terrified wild animal which is seeking refuge 

He saw nothing  Night was falling  the plain was cold and vague  great
banks of violet haze were rising in the gleam of the twilight 

He said   Ah   and set out rapidly in the direction in which the child
had disappeared  After about thirty paces he paused  looked about him
and saw nothing 

Then he shouted with all his might   

 Little Gervais  Little Gervais  

He paused and waited 

There was no reply 

The landscape was gloomy and deserted  He was encompassed by space 
There was nothing around him but an obscurity in which his gaze was
lost  and a silence which engulfed his voice 

An icy north wind was blowing  and imparted to things around him a
sort of lugubrious life  The bushes shook their thin little arms with
incredible fury  One would have said that they were threatening and
pursuing some one 

He set out on his march again  then he began to run  and from time to
time he halted and shouted into that solitude  with a voice which was
the most formidable and the most disconsolate that it was possible to
hear   Little Gervais  Little Gervais  

Assuredly  if the child had heard him  he would have been alarmed and
would have taken good care not to show himself  But the child was no
doubt already far away 

He encountered a priest on horseback  He stepped up to him and said   

 Monsieur le Cure  have you seen a child pass  

 No   said the priest 

 One named Little Gervais  

 I have seen no one  

He drew two five franc pieces from his money bag and handed them to the
priest 

 Monsieur le Cure  this is for your poor people  Monsieur le Cure  he
was a little lad  about ten years old  with a marmot  I think  and a
hurdy gurdy  One of those Savoyards  you know  

 I have not seen him  

 Little Gervais  There are no villages here  Can you tell me  

 If he is like what you say  my friend  he is a little stranger  Such
persons pass through these parts  We know nothing of them  

Jean Valjean seized two more coins of five francs each with violence 
and gave them to the priest 

 For your poor   he said 

Then he added  wildly   

 Monsieur l Abbe  have me arrested  I am a thief  

The priest put spurs to his horse and fled in haste  much alarmed 

Jean Valjean set out on a run  in the direction which he had first
taken 

In this way he traversed a tolerably long distance  gazing  calling 
shouting  but he met no one  Two or three times he ran across the plain
towards something which conveyed to him the effect of a human being
reclining or crouching down  it turned out to be nothing but brushwood
or rocks nearly on a level with the earth  At length  at a spot where
three paths intersected each other  he stopped  The moon had risen  He
sent his gaze into the distance and shouted for the last time   Little
Gervais  Little Gervais  Little Gervais   His shout died away in the
mist  without even awakening an echo  He murmured yet once more   Little
Gervais   but in a feeble and almost inarticulate voice  It was his last
effort  his legs gave way abruptly under him  as though an invisible
power had suddenly overwhelmed him with the weight of his evil
conscience  he fell exhausted  on a large stone  his fists clenched in
his hair and his face on his knees  and he cried   I am a wretch  

Then his heart burst  and he began to cry  It was the first time that he
had wept in nineteen years 

When Jean Valjean left the Bishop s house  he was  as we have seen 
quite thrown out of everything that had been his thought hitherto  He
could not yield to the evidence of what was going on within him  He
hardened himself against the angelic action and the gentle words of the
old man   You have promised me to become an honest man  I buy your soul 
I take it away from the spirit of perversity  I give it to the good
God  

This recurred to his mind unceasingly  To this celestial kindness
he opposed pride  which is the fortress of evil within us  He was
indistinctly conscious that the pardon of this priest was the greatest
assault and the most formidable attack which had moved him yet  that his
obduracy was finally settled if he resisted this clemency  that if he
yielded  he should be obliged to renounce that hatred with which the
actions of other men had filled his soul through so many years  and
which pleased him  that this time it was necessary to conquer or to be
conquered  and that a struggle  a colossal and final struggle  had been
begun between his viciousness and the goodness of that man 

In the presence of these lights  he proceeded like a man who is
intoxicated  As he walked thus with haggard eyes  did he have a distinct
perception of what might result to him from his adventure at D      Did
he understand all those mysterious murmurs which warn or importune the
spirit at certain moments of life  Did a voice whisper in his ear that
he had just passed the solemn hour of his destiny  that there no longer
remained a middle course for him  that if he were not henceforth the
best of men  he would be the worst  that it behooved him now  so to
speak  to mount higher than the Bishop  or fall lower than the convict 
that if he wished to become good be must become an angel  that if he
wished to remain evil  he must become a monster 

Here  again  some questions must be put  which we have already put
to ourselves elsewhere  did he catch some shadow of all this in his
thought  in a confused way  Misfortune certainly  as we have said  does
form the education of the intelligence  nevertheless  it is doubtful
whether Jean Valjean was in a condition to disentangle all that we have
here indicated  If these ideas occurred to him  he but caught glimpses
of  rather than saw them  and they only succeeded in throwing him into
an unutterable and almost painful state of emotion  On emerging from
that black and deformed thing which is called the galleys  the Bishop
had hurt his soul  as too vivid a light would have hurt his eyes on
emerging from the dark  The future life  the possible life which offered
itself to him henceforth  all pure and radiant  filled him with tremors
and anxiety  He no longer knew where he really was  Like an owl  who
should suddenly see the sun rise  the convict had been dazzled and
blinded  as it were  by virtue 

That which was certain  that which he did not doubt  was that he was no
longer the same man  that everything about him was changed  that it was
no longer in his power to make it as though the Bishop had not spoken to
him and had not touched him 

In this state of mind he had encountered little Gervais  and had robbed
him of his forty sous  Why  He certainly could not have explained it 
was this the last effect and the supreme effort  as it were  of the
evil thoughts which he had brought away from the galleys   a remnant of
impulse  a result of what is called in statics  acquired force  It
was that  and it was also  perhaps  even less than that  Let us say it
simply  it was not he who stole  it was not the man  it was the beast 
who  by habit and instinct  had simply placed his foot upon that money 
while the intelligence was struggling amid so many novel and hitherto
unheard of thoughts besetting it 

When intelligence re awakened and beheld that action of the brute  Jean
Valjean recoiled with anguish and uttered a cry of terror 

 Illustration  Awakened  1b2 11 awakened 

It was because   strange phenomenon  and one which was possible only
in the situation in which he found himself   in stealing the money from
that child  he had done a thing of which he was no longer capable 

However that may be  this last evil action had a decisive effect on
him  it abruptly traversed that chaos which he bore in his mind  and
dispersed it  placed on one side the thick obscurity  and on the other
the light  and acted on his soul  in the state in which it then was  as
certain chemical reagents act upon a troubled mixture by precipitating
one element and clarifying the other 

First of all  even before examining himself and reflecting  all
bewildered  like one who seeks to save himself  he tried to find the
child in order to return his money to him  then  when he recognized the
fact that this was impossible  he halted in despair  At the moment when
he exclaimed  I am a wretch   he had just perceived what he was  and he
was already separated from himself to such a degree  that he seemed to
himself to be no longer anything more than a phantom  and as if he had 
there before him  in flesh and blood  the hideous galley convict  Jean
Valjean  cudgel in hand  his blouse on his hips  his knapsack filled
with stolen objects on his back  with his resolute and gloomy visage 
with his thoughts filled with abominable projects 

Excess of unhappiness had  as we have remarked  made him in some sort
a visionary  This  then  was in the nature of a vision  He actually saw
that Jean Valjean  that sinister face  before him  He had almost reached
the point of asking himself who that man was  and he was horrified by
him 

His brain was going through one of those violent and yet perfectly calm
moments in which revery is so profound that it absorbs reality  One no
longer beholds the object which one has before one  and one sees  as
though apart from one s self  the figures which one has in one s own
mind 

Thus he contemplated himself  so to speak  face to face  and at the same
time  athwart this hallucination  he perceived in a mysterious depth a
sort of light which he at first took for a torch  On scrutinizing
this light which appeared to his conscience with more attention  he
recognized the fact that it possessed a human form and that this torch
was the Bishop 

His conscience weighed in turn these two men thus placed before it   the
Bishop and Jean Valjean  Nothing less than the first was required to
soften the second  By one of those singular effects  which are peculiar
to this sort of ecstasies  in proportion as his revery continued  as the
Bishop grew great and resplendent in his eyes  so did Jean Valjean grow
less and vanish  After a certain time he was no longer anything more
than a shade  All at once he disappeared  The Bishop alone remained  he
filled the whole soul of this wretched man with a magnificent radiance 

Jean Valjean wept for a long time  He wept burning tears  he sobbed with
more weakness than a woman  with more fright than a child 

As he wept  daylight penetrated more and more clearly into his soul  an
extraordinary light  a light at once ravishing and terrible  His past
life  his first fault  his long expiation  his external brutishness  his
internal hardness  his dismissal to liberty  rejoicing in manifold plans
of vengeance  what had happened to him at the Bishop s  the last thing
that he had done  that theft of forty sous from a child  a crime all the
more cowardly  and all the more monstrous since it had come after the
Bishop s pardon   all this recurred to his mind and appeared clearly
to him  but with a clearness which he had never hitherto witnessed 
He examined his life  and it seemed horrible to him  his soul  and it
seemed frightful to him  In the meantime a gentle light rested over this
life and this soul  It seemed to him that he beheld Satan by the light
of Paradise 

How many hours did he weep thus  What did he do after he had wept 
Whither did he go  No one ever knew  The only thing which seems to be
authenticated is that that same night the carrier who served Grenoble at
that epoch  and who arrived at D     about three o clock in the morning 
saw  as he traversed the street in which the Bishop s residence was
situated  a man in the attitude of prayer  kneeling on the pavement in
the shadow  in front of the door of Monseigneur Welcome 




BOOK THIRD   IN THE YEAR 1817




CHAPTER I  THE YEAR 1817


1817 is the year which Louis XVIII   with a certain royal assurance
which was not wanting in pride  entitled the twenty second of his reign 
It is the year in which M  Bruguiere de Sorsum was celebrated  All the
hairdressers  shops  hoping for powder and the return of the royal bird 
were besmeared with azure and decked with fleurs de lys  It was the
candid time at which Count Lynch sat every Sunday as church warden in
the church warden s pew of Saint Germain des Pres  in his costume of a
peer of France  with his red ribbon and his long nose and the majesty
of profile peculiar to a man who has performed a brilliant action 
The brilliant action performed by M  Lynch was this  being mayor of
Bordeaux  on the 12th of March  1814  he had surrendered the city a
little too promptly to M  the Duke d Angouleme  Hence his peerage  In
1817 fashion swallowed up little boys of from four to six years of
age in vast caps of morocco leather with ear tabs resembling Esquimaux
mitres  The French army was dressed in white  after the mode of the
Austrian  the regiments were called legions  instead of numbers they
bore the names of departments  Napoleon was at St  Helena  and since
England refused him green cloth  he was having his old coats turned 
In 1817 Pelligrini sang  Mademoiselle Bigottini danced  Potier reigned 
Odry did not yet exist  Madame Saqui had succeeded to Forioso  There
were still Prussians in France  M  Delalot was a personage  Legitimacy
had just asserted itself by cutting off the hand  then the head  of
Pleignier  of Carbonneau  and of Tolleron  The Prince de Talleyrand 
grand chamberlain  and the Abbe Louis  appointed minister of finance 
laughed as they looked at each other  with the laugh of the two augurs 
both of them had celebrated  on the 14th of July  1790  the mass of
federation in the Champ de Mars  Talleyrand had said it as bishop  Louis
had served it in the capacity of deacon  In 1817  in the side alleys
of this same Champ de Mars  two great cylinders of wood might have
been seen lying in the rain  rotting amid the grass  painted blue  with
traces of eagles and bees  from which the gilding was falling  These
were the columns which two years before had upheld the Emperor s
platform in the Champ de Mai  They were blackened here and there with
the scorches of the bivouac of Austrians encamped near Gros Caillou  Two
or three of these columns had disappeared in these bivouac fires  and
had warmed the large hands of the Imperial troops  The Field of May had
this remarkable point  that it had been held in the month of June and in
the Field of March  Mars   In this year  1817  two things were popular 
the Voltaire Touquet and the snuff box a la Charter  The most recent
Parisian sensation was the crime of Dautun  who had thrown his brother s
head into the fountain of the Flower Market 

They had begun to feel anxious at the Naval Department  on account of
the lack of news from that fatal frigate  The Medusa  which was destined
to cover Chaumareix with infamy and Gericault with glory  Colonel Selves
was going to Egypt to become Soliman Pasha  The palace of Thermes  in
the Rue de La Harpe  served as a shop for a cooper  On the platform of
the octagonal tower of the Hotel de Cluny  the little shed of boards 
which had served as an observatory to Messier  the naval astronomer
under Louis XVI   was still to be seen  The Duchesse de Duras read to
three or four friends her unpublished Ourika  in her boudoir furnished
by X  in sky blue satin  The N s were scratched off the Louvre  The
bridge of Austerlitz had abdicated  and was entitled the bridge of the
King s Garden  du Jardin du Roi   a double enigma  which disguised the
bridge of Austerlitz and the Jardin des Plantes at one stroke  Louis
XVIII   much preoccupied while annotating Horace with the corner of his
finger nail  heroes who have become emperors  and makers of wooden shoes
who have become dauphins  had two anxieties   Napoleon and Mathurin
Bruneau  The French Academy had given for its prize subject  The
Happiness procured through Study  M  Bellart was officially eloquent 
In his shadow could be seen germinating that future advocate general of
Broe  dedicated to the sarcasms of Paul Louis Courier  There was a false
Chateaubriand  named Marchangy  in the interim  until there should be a
false Marchangy  named d Arlincourt  Claire d Albe and Malek Adel were
masterpieces  Madame Cottin was proclaimed the chief writer of the
epoch  The Institute had the academician  Napoleon Bonaparte  stricken
from its list of members  A royal ordinance erected Angouleme into a
naval school  for the Duc d Angouleme  being lord high admiral  it was
evident that the city of Angouleme had all the qualities of a seaport 
otherwise the monarchical principle would have received a wound  In
the Council of Ministers the question was agitated whether vignettes
representing slack rope performances  which adorned Franconi s
advertising posters  and which attracted throngs of street urchins 
should be tolerated  M  Paer  the author of Agnese  a good sort of
fellow  with a square face and a wart on his cheek  directed the little
private concerts of the Marquise de Sasenaye in the Rue Ville l Eveque 
All the young girls were singing the Hermit of Saint Avelle  with words
by Edmond Geraud  The Yellow Dwarf was transferred into Mirror  The Cafe
Lemblin stood up for the Emperor  against the Cafe Valois  which upheld
the Bourbons  The Duc de Berri  already surveyed from the shadow by
Louvel  had just been married to a princess of Sicily  Madame de Stael
had died a year previously  The body guard hissed Mademoiselle Mars 
The grand newspapers were all very small  Their form was restricted 
but their liberty was great  The Constitutionnel was constitutional 
La Minerve called Chateaubriand Chateaubriant  That t made the good
middle class people laugh heartily at the expense of the great writer 
In journals which sold themselves  prostituted journalists  insulted the
exiles of 1815  David had no longer any talent  Arnault had no longer
any wit  Carnot was no longer honest  Soult had won no battles  it is
true that Napoleon had no longer any genius  No one is ignorant of the
fact that letters sent to an exile by post very rarely reached him  as
the police made it their religious duty to intercept them  This is no
new fact  Descartes complained of it in his exile  Now David  having  in
a Belgian publication  shown some displeasure at not receiving letters
which had been written to him  it struck the royalist journals as
amusing  and they derided the prescribed man well on this occasion  What
separated two men more than an abyss was to say  the regicides  or
to say the voters  to say the enemies  or to say the allies  to say
Napoleon  or to say Buonaparte  All sensible people were agreed that the
era of revolution had been closed forever by King Louis XVIII   surnamed
 The Immortal Author of the Charter   On the platform of the Pont Neuf 
the word Redivivus was carved on the pedestal that awaited the statue of
Henry IV  M  Piet  in the Rue Therese  No  4  was making the rough draft
of his privy assembly to consolidate the monarchy  The leaders of the
Right said at grave conjunctures   We must write to Bacot   MM  Canuel 
O Mahoney  and De Chappedelaine were preparing the sketch  to some
extent with Monsieur s approval  of what was to become later on  The
Conspiracy of the Bord de l Eau   of the waterside  L Epingle Noire was
already plotting in his own quarter  Delaverderie was conferring with
Trogoff  M  Decazes  who was liberal to a degree  reigned  Chateaubriand
stood every morning at his window at No  27 Rue Saint Dominique  clad in
footed trousers  and slippers  with a madras kerchief knotted over his
gray hair  with his eyes fixed on a mirror  a complete set of dentist s
instruments spread out before him  cleaning his teeth  which were
charming  while he dictated The Monarchy according to the Charter to
M  Pilorge  his secretary  Criticism  assuming an authoritative tone 
preferred Lafon to Talma  M  de Feletez signed himself A   M  Hoffmann
signed himself Z  Charles Nodier wrote Therese Aubert  Divorce was
abolished  Lyceums called themselves colleges  The collegians  decorated
on the collar with a golden fleur de lys  fought each other apropos of
the King of Rome  The counter police of the chateau had denounced to her
Royal Highness Madame  the portrait  everywhere exhibited  of M  the
Duc d Orleans  who made a better appearance in his uniform of a
colonel general of hussars than M  the Duc de Berri  in his uniform of
colonel general of dragoons  a serious inconvenience  The city of
Paris was having the dome of the Invalides regilded at its own expense 
Serious men asked themselves what M  de Trinquelague would do on such or
such an occasion  M  Clausel de Montals differed on divers points
from M  Clausel de Coussergues  M  de Salaberry was not satisfied  The
comedian Picard  who belonged to the Academy  which the comedian Moliere
had not been able to do  had The Two Philiberts played at the Odeon 
upon whose pediment the removal of the letters still allowed THEATRE OF
THE EMPRESS to be plainly read  People took part for or against Cugnet
de Montarlot  Fabvier was factious  Bavoux was revolutionary  The
Liberal  Pelicier  published an edition of Voltaire  with the following
title  Works of Voltaire  of the French Academy   That will attract
purchasers   said the ingenious editor  The general opinion was that M 
Charles Loyson would be the genius of the century  envy was beginning to
gnaw at him  a sign of glory  and this verse was composed on him   

      Even when Loyson steals  one feels that he has paws  

As Cardinal Fesch refused to resign  M  de Pins  Archbishop of Amasie 
administered the diocese of Lyons  The quarrel over the valley of Dappes
was begun between Switzerland and France by a memoir from Captain 
afterwards General Dufour  Saint Simon  ignored  was erecting his
sublime dream  There was a celebrated Fourier at the Academy of Science 
whom posterity has forgotten  and in some garret an obscure Fourier 
whom the future will recall  Lord Byron was beginning to make his mark 
a note to a poem by Millevoye introduced him to France in these terms 
a certain Lord Baron  David d Angers was trying to work in marble  The
Abbe Caron was speaking  in terms of praise  to a private gathering of
seminarists in the blind alley of Feuillantines  of an unknown priest 
named Felicite Robert  who  at a latter date  became Lamennais  A thing
which smoked and clattered on the Seine with the noise of a swimming dog
went and came beneath the windows of the Tuileries  from the Pont Royal
to the Pont Louis XV   it was a piece of mechanism which was not
good for much  a sort of plaything  the idle dream of a dream ridden
inventor  an utopia  a steamboat  The Parisians stared indifferently at
this useless thing  M  de Vaublanc  the reformer of the Institute by
a coup d etat  the distinguished author of numerous academicians 
ordinances  and batches of members  after having created them  could
not succeed in becoming one himself  The Faubourg Saint Germain and the
pavilion de Marsan wished to have M  Delaveau for prefect of police  on
account of his piety  Dupuytren and Recamier entered into a quarrel in
the amphitheatre of the School of Medicine  and threatened each other
with their fists on the subject of the divinity of Jesus Christ  Cuvier 
with one eye on Genesis and the other on nature  tried to please bigoted
reaction by reconciling fossils with texts and by making mastodons
flatter Moses 

M  Francois de Neufchateau  the praiseworthy cultivator of the memory
of Parmentier  made a thousand efforts to have pomme de terre  potato 
pronounced parmentiere  and succeeded therein not at all  The Abbe
Gregoire  ex bishop  ex conventionary  ex senator  had passed  in the
royalist polemics  to the state of  Infamous Gregoire   The locution of
which we have made use  passed to the state of  has been condemned as a
neologism by M  Royer Collard  Under the third arch of the Pont de Jena 
the new stone with which  the two years previously  the mining aperture
made by Blucher to blow up the bridge had been stopped up  was still
recognizable on account of its whiteness  Justice summoned to its bar a
man who  on seeing the Comte d Artois enter Notre Dame  had said aloud 
 Sapristi  I regret the time when I saw Bonaparte and Talma enter the
Bel Sauvage  arm in arm   A seditious utterance  Six months in prison 
Traitors showed themselves unbuttoned  men who had gone over to the
enemy on the eve of battle made no secret of their recompense  and
strutted immodestly in the light of day  in the cynicism of riches and
dignities  deserters from Ligny and Quatre Bras  in the brazenness of
their well paid turpitude  exhibited their devotion to the monarchy in
the most barefaced manner 

This is what floats up confusedly  pell mell  for the year 1817  and is
now forgotten  History neglects nearly all these particulars  and cannot
do otherwise  the infinity would overwhelm it  Nevertheless  these
details  which are wrongly called trivial   there are no trivial facts
in humanity  nor little leaves in vegetation   are useful  It is of
the physiognomy of the years that the physiognomy of the centuries is
composed  In this year of 1817 four young Parisians arranged  a fine
farce  




CHAPTER II  A DOUBLE QUARTETTE


These Parisians came  one from Toulouse  another from Limoges  the third
from Cahors  and the fourth from Montauban  but they were students  and
when one says student  one says Parisian  to study in Paris is to be
born in Paris 

These young men were insignificant  every one has seen such faces  four
specimens of humanity taken at random  neither good nor bad  neither
wise nor ignorant  neither geniuses nor fools  handsome  with that
charming April which is called twenty years  They were four Oscars  for 
at that epoch  Arthurs did not yet exist  Burn for him the perfumes of
Araby  exclaimed romance  Oscar advances  Oscar  I shall behold him 
People had just emerged from Ossian  elegance was Scandinavian and
Caledonian  the pure English style was only to prevail later  and
the first of the Arthurs  Wellington  had but just won the battle of
Waterloo 

These Oscars bore the names  one of Felix Tholomyes  of Toulouse  the
second  Listolier  of Cahors  the next  Fameuil  of Limoges  the last 
Blachevelle  of Montauban  Naturally  each of them had his mistress 
Blachevelle loved Favourite  so named because she had been in England 
Listolier adored Dahlia  who had taken for her nickname the name of a
flower  Fameuil idolized Zephine  an abridgment of Josephine  Tholomyes
had Fantine  called the Blonde  because of her beautiful  sunny hair 

Favourite  Dahlia  Zephine  and Fantine were four ravishing young women 
perfumed and radiant  still a little like working women  and not yet
entirely divorced from their needles  somewhat disturbed by intrigues 
but still retaining on their faces something of the serenity of toil 
and in their souls that flower of honesty which survives the first fall
in woman  One of the four was called the young  because she was
the youngest of them  and one was called the old  the old one was
twenty three  Not to conceal anything  the three first were more
experienced  more heedless  and more emancipated into the tumult of life
than Fantine the Blonde  who was still in her first illusions 

Dahlia  Zephine  and especially Favourite  could not have said as much 
There had already been more than one episode in their romance  though
hardly begun  and the lover who had borne the name of Adolph in the
first chapter had turned out to be Alphonse in the second  and Gustave
in the third  Poverty and coquetry are two fatal counsellors  one scolds
and the other flatters  and the beautiful daughters of the people have
both of them whispering in their ear  each on its own side  These badly
guarded souls listen  Hence the falls which they accomplish  and the
stones which are thrown at them  They are overwhelmed with splendor of
all that is immaculate and inaccessible  Alas  what if the Jungfrau were
hungry 

Favourite having been in England  was admired by Dahlia and Zephine  She
had had an establishment of her own very early in life  Her father was
an old unmarried professor of mathematics  a brutal man and a braggart 
who went out to give lessons in spite of his age  This professor  when
he was a young man  had one day seen a chambermaid s gown catch on
a fender  he had fallen in love in consequence of this accident  The
result had been Favourite  She met her father from time to time  and he
bowed to her  One morning an old woman with the air of a devotee 
had entered her apartments  and had said to her   You do not know me 
Mamemoiselle    No    I am your mother   Then the old woman opened the
sideboard  and ate and drank  had a mattress which she owned brought in 
and installed herself  This cross and pious old mother never spoke to
Favourite  remained hours without uttering a word  breakfasted  dined 
and supped for four  and went down to the porter s quarters for company 
where she spoke ill of her daughter 

It was having rosy nails that were too pretty which had drawn Dahlia to
Listolier  to others perhaps  to idleness  How could she make such nails
work  She who wishes to remain virtuous must not have pity on her hands 
As for Zephine  she had conquered Fameuil by her roguish and caressing
little way of saying  Yes  sir  

The young men were comrades  the young girls were friends  Such loves
are always accompanied by such friendships 

Goodness and philosophy are two distinct things  the proof of this
is that  after making all due allowances for these little irregular
households  Favourite  Zephine  and Dahlia were philosophical young
women  while Fantine was a good girl 

Good  some one will exclaim  and Tholomyes  Solomon would reply that
love forms a part of wisdom  We will confine ourselves to saying that
the love of Fantine was a first love  a sole love  a faithful love 

She alone  of all the four  was not called  thou  by a single one of
them 

Fantine was one of those beings who blossom  so to speak  from the dregs
of the people  Though she had emerged from the most unfathomable depths
of social shadow  she bore on her brow the sign of the anonymous and the
unknown  She was born at M  sur M  Of what parents  Who can say  She had
never known father or mother  She was called Fantine  Why Fantine  She
had never borne any other name  At the epoch of her birth the Directory
still existed  She had no family name  she had no family  no baptismal
name  the Church no longer existed  She bore the name which pleased
the first random passer by  who had encountered her  when a very small
child  running bare legged in the street  She received the name as she
received the water from the clouds upon her brow when it rained  She was
called little Fantine  No one knew more than that  This human creature
had entered life in just this way  At the age of ten  Fantine quitted
the town and went to service with some farmers in the neighborhood  At
fifteen she came to Paris  to seek her fortune   Fantine was beautiful 
and remained pure as long as she could  She was a lovely blonde  with
fine teeth  She had gold and pearls for her dowry  but her gold was on
her head  and her pearls were in her mouth 

She worked for her living  then  still for the sake of her living   for
the heart  also  has its hunger   she loved 

She loved Tholomyes 

An amour for him  passion for her  The streets of the Latin quarter 
filled with throngs of students and grisettes  saw the beginning of
their dream  Fantine had long evaded Tholomyes in the mazes of the hill
of the Pantheon  where so many adventurers twine and untwine  but in
such a way as constantly to encounter him again  There is a way of
avoiding which resembles seeking  In short  the eclogue took place 

Blachevelle  Listolier  and Fameuil formed a sort of group of which
Tholomyes was the head  It was he who possessed the wit 

Tholomyes was the antique old student  he was rich  he had an income of
four thousand francs  four thousand francs  a splendid scandal on
Mount Sainte Genevieve  Tholomyes was a fast man of thirty  and badly
preserved  He was wrinkled and toothless  and he had the beginning of a
bald spot  of which he himself said with sadness  the skull at thirty 
the knee at forty  His digestion was mediocre  and he had been attacked
by a watering in one eye  But in proportion as his youth disappeared 
gayety was kindled  he replaced his teeth with buffooneries  his hair
with mirth  his health with irony  his weeping eye laughed incessantly 
He was dilapidated but still in flower  His youth  which was packing
up for departure long before its time  beat a retreat in good order 
bursting with laughter  and no one saw anything but fire  He had had a
piece rejected at the Vaudeville  He made a few verses now and then  In
addition to this he doubted everything to the last degree  which is a
vast force in the eyes of the weak  Being thus ironical and bald  he
was the leader  Iron is an English word  Is it possible that irony is
derived from it 

One day Tholomyes took the three others aside  with the gesture of an
oracle  and said to them   

 Fantine  Dahlia  Zephine  and Favourite have been teasing us for nearly
a year to give them a surprise  We have promised them solemnly that we
would  They are forever talking about it to us  to me in particular 
just as the old women in Naples cry to Saint Januarius   Faccia
gialluta  fa o miracolo  Yellow face  perform thy miracle   so our
beauties say to me incessantly   Tholomyes  when will you bring forth
your surprise   At the same time our parents keep writing to us 
Pressure on both sides  The moment has arrived  it seems to me  let us
discuss the question  

Thereupon  Tholomyes lowered his voice and articulated something so
mirthful  that a vast and enthusiastic grin broke out upon the four
mouths simultaneously  and Blachevelle exclaimed   That is an idea  

A smoky tap room presented itself  they entered  and the remainder of
their confidential colloquy was lost in shadow 

The result of these shades was a dazzling pleasure party which took
place on the following Sunday  the four young men inviting the four
young girls 




CHAPTER III  FOUR AND FOUR

It is hard nowadays to picture to one s self what a pleasure trip of
students and grisettes to the country was like  forty five years ago 
The suburbs of Paris are no longer the same  the physiognomy of what
may be called circumparisian life has changed completely in the last
half century  where there was the cuckoo  there is the railway car 
where there was a tender boat  there is now the steamboat  people speak
of Fecamp nowadays as they spoke of Saint Cloud in those days  The Paris
of 1862 is a city which has France for its outskirts 

The four couples conscientiously went through with all the country
follies possible at that time  The vacation was beginning  and it was a
warm  bright  summer day  On the preceding day  Favourite  the only one
who knew how to write  had written the following to Tholomyes in the
name of the four   It is a good hour to emerge from happiness   That
is why they rose at five o clock in the morning  Then they went to
Saint Cloud by the coach  looked at the dry cascade and exclaimed   This
must be very beautiful when there is water   They breakfasted at the
Tete Noir  where Castaing had not yet been  they treated themselves to a
game of ring throwing under the quincunx of trees of the grand fountain 
they ascended Diogenes  lantern  they gambled for macaroons at the
roulette establishment of the Pont de Sevres  picked bouquets at
Pateaux  bought reed pipes at Neuilly  ate apple tarts everywhere  and
were perfectly happy 

The young girls rustled and chatted like warblers escaped from their
cage  It was a perfect delirium  From time to time they bestowed little
taps on the young men  Matutinal intoxication of life  adorable years 
the wings of the dragonfly quiver  Oh  whoever you may be  do you not
remember  Have you rambled through the brushwood  holding aside the
branches  on account of the charming head which is coming on behind you 
Have you slid  laughing  down a slope all wet with rain  with a beloved
woman holding your hand  and crying   Ah  my new boots  what a state
they are in  

Let us say at once that that merry obstacle  a shower  was lacking in
the case of this good humored party  although Favourite had said as they
set out  with a magisterial and maternal tone   The slugs are crawling
in the paths   a sign of rain  children  

All four were madly pretty  A good old classic poet  then famous  a good
fellow who had an Eleonore  M  le Chevalier de Labouisse  as he strolled
that day beneath the chestnut trees of Saint Cloud  saw them pass about
ten o clock in the morning  and exclaimed   There is one too many of
them   as he thought of the Graces  Favourite  Blachevelle s friend  the
one aged three and twenty  the old one  ran on in front under the great
green boughs  jumped the ditches  stalked distractedly over bushes  and
presided over this merry making with the spirit of a young female faun 
Zephine and Dahlia  whom chance had made beautiful in such a way that
they set each off when they were together  and completed each other 
never left each other  more from an instinct of coquetry than from
friendship  and clinging to each other  they assumed English poses  the
first keepsakes had just made their appearance  melancholy was dawning
for women  as later on  Byronism dawned for men  and the hair of the
tender sex began to droop dolefully  Zephine and Dahlia had their hair
dressed in rolls  Listolier and Fameuil  who were engaged in discussing
their professors  explained to Fantine the difference that existed
between M  Delvincourt and M  Blondeau 

Blachevelle seemed to have been created expressly to carry Favourite s
single bordered  imitation India shawl of Ternaux s manufacture  on his
arm on Sundays 

Tholomyes followed  dominating the group  He was very gay  but one felt
the force of government in him  there was dictation in his joviality 
his principal ornament was a pair of trousers of elephant leg pattern of
nankeen  with straps of braided copper wire  he carried a stout rattan
worth two hundred francs in his hand  and  as he treated himself to
everything  a strange thing called a cigar in his mouth  Nothing was
sacred to him  he smoked 

 That Tholomyes is astounding   said the others  with veneration   What
trousers  What energy  

As for Fantine  she was a joy to behold  Her splendid teeth had
evidently received an office from God   laughter  She preferred to carry
her little hat of sewed straw  with its long white strings  in her hand
rather than on her head  Her thick blond hair  which was inclined to
wave  and which easily uncoiled  and which it was necessary to fasten
up incessantly  seemed made for the flight of Galatea under the
willows  Her rosy lips babbled enchantingly  The corners of her mouth
voluptuously turned up  as in the antique masks of Erigone  had an
air of encouraging the audacious  but her long  shadowy lashes drooped
discreetly over the jollity of the lower part of the face as though to
call a halt  There was something indescribably harmonious and striking
about her entire dress  She wore a gown of mauve barege  little reddish
brown buskins  whose ribbons traced an X on her fine  white  open worked
stockings  and that sort of muslin spencer  a Marseilles invention 
whose name  canezou  a corruption of the words quinze aout  pronounced
after the fashion of the Canebiere  signifies fine weather  heat  and
midday  The three others  less timid  as we have already said 
wore low necked dresses without disguise  which in summer  beneath
flower adorned hats  are very graceful and enticing  but by the side
of these audacious outfits  blond Fantine s canezou  with its
transparencies  its indiscretion  and its reticence  concealing and
displaying at one and the same time  seemed an alluring godsend of
decency  and the famous Court of Love  presided over by the Vicomtesse
de Cette  with the sea green eyes  would  perhaps  have awarded the
prize for coquetry to this canezou  in the contest for the prize of
modesty  The most ingenious is  at times  the wisest  This does happen 

Brilliant of face  delicate of profile  with eyes of a deep blue  heavy
lids  feet arched and small  wrists and ankles admirably formed  a white
skin which  here and there allowed the azure branching of the veins to
be seen  joy  a cheek that was young and fresh  the robust throat of the
Juno of AEgina  a strong and supple nape of the neck  shoulders modelled
as though by Coustou  with a voluptuous dimple in the middle  visible
through the muslin  a gayety cooled by dreaminess  sculptural and
exquisite  such was Fantine  and beneath these feminine adornments and
these ribbons one could divine a statue  and in that statue a soul 

Fantine was beautiful  without being too conscious of it  Those rare
dreamers  mysterious priests of the beautiful who silently confront
everything with perfection  would have caught a glimpse in this little
working woman  through the transparency of her Parisian grace  of the
ancient sacred euphony  This daughter of the shadows was thoroughbred 
She was beautiful in the two ways  style and rhythm  Style is the form
of the ideal  rhythm is its movement 

We have said that Fantine was joy  she was also modesty 

To an observer who studied her attentively  that which breathed from
her athwart all the intoxication of her age  the season  and her
love affair  was an invincible expression of reserve and modesty  She
remained a little astonished  This chaste astonishment is the shade
of difference which separates Psyche from Venus  Fantine had the long 
white  fine fingers of the vestal virgin who stirs the ashes of the
sacred fire with a golden pin  Although she would have refused nothing
to Tholomyes  as we shall have more than ample opportunity to see  her
face in repose was supremely virginal  a sort of serious and almost
austere dignity suddenly overwhelmed her at certain times  and there
was nothing more singular and disturbing than to see gayety become so
suddenly extinct there  and meditation succeed to cheerfulness without
any transition state  This sudden and sometimes severely accentuated
gravity resembled the disdain of a goddess  Her brow  her nose  her
chin  presented that equilibrium of outline which is quite distinct
from equilibrium of proportion  and from which harmony of countenance
results  in the very characteristic interval which separates the base
of the nose from the upper lip  she had that imperceptible and charming
fold  a mysterious sign of chastity  which makes Barberousse fall in
love with a Diana found in the treasures of Iconia 

Love is a fault  so be it  Fantine was innocence floating high over
fault 




CHAPTER IV  THOLOMYES IS SO MERRY THAT HE SINGS A SPANISH DITTY


That day was composed of dawn  from one end to the other  All nature
seemed to be having a holiday  and to be laughing  The flower beds of
Saint Cloud perfumed the air  the breath of the Seine rustled the
leaves vaguely  the branches gesticulated in the wind  bees pillaged the
jasmines  a whole bohemia of butterflies swooped down upon the yarrow 
the clover  and the sterile oats  in the august park of the King of
France there was a pack of vagabonds  the birds 

The four merry couples  mingled with the sun  the fields  the flowers 
the trees  were resplendent 

And in this community of Paradise  talking  singing  running  dancing 
chasing butterflies  plucking convolvulus  wetting their pink  open work
stockings in the tall grass  fresh  wild  without malice  all received 
to some extent  the kisses of all  with the exception of Fantine 
who was hedged about with that vague resistance of hers composed of
dreaminess and wildness  and who was in love   You always have a queer
look about you   said Favourite to her 

Such things are joys  These passages of happy couples are a profound
appeal to life and nature  and make a caress and light spring forth from
everything  There was once a fairy who created the fields and forests
expressly for those in love   in that eternal hedge school of lovers 
which is forever beginning anew  and which will last as long as there
are hedges and scholars  Hence the popularity of spring among thinkers 
The patrician and the knife grinder  the duke and the peer  the limb
of the law  the courtiers and townspeople  as they used to say in olden
times  all are subjects of this fairy  They laugh and hunt  and there
is in the air the brilliance of an apotheosis  what a transfiguration
effected by love  Notaries  clerks are gods  And the little cries 
the pursuits through the grass  the waists embraced on the fly  those
jargons which are melodies  those adorations which burst forth in the
manner of pronouncing a syllable  those cherries torn from one mouth by
another   all this blazes forth and takes its place among the celestial
glories  Beautiful women waste themselves sweetly  They think that this
will never come to an end  Philosophers  poets  painters  observe these
ecstasies and know not what to make of it  so greatly are they dazzled
by it  The departure for Cythera  exclaims Watteau  Lancret  the painter
of plebeians  contemplates his bourgeois  who have flitted away into the
azure sky  Diderot stretches out his arms to all these love idyls  and
d Urfe mingles druids with them 

After breakfast the four couples went to what was then called the King s
Square to see a newly arrived plant from India  whose name escapes our
memory at this moment  and which  at that epoch  was attracting all
Paris to Saint Cloud  It was an odd and charming shrub with a long stem 
whose numerous branches  bristling and leafless and as fine as threads 
were covered with a million tiny white rosettes  this gave the shrub the
air of a head of hair studded with flowers  There was always an admiring
crowd about it 

After viewing the shrub  Tholomyes exclaimed   I offer you asses   and
having agreed upon a price with the owner of the asses  they returned
by way of Vanvres and Issy  At Issy an incident occurred  The truly
national park  at that time owned by Bourguin the contractor  happened
to be wide open  They passed the gates  visited the manikin anchorite in
his grotto  tried the mysterious little effects of the famous cabinet
of mirrors  the wanton trap worthy of a satyr become a millionaire or of
Turcaret metamorphosed into a Priapus  They had stoutly shaken the swing
attached to the two chestnut trees celebrated by the Abbe de Bernis 
As he swung these beauties  one after the other  producing folds in the
fluttering skirts which Greuze would have found to his taste  amid peals
of laughter  the Toulousan Tholomyes  who was somewhat of a Spaniard 
Toulouse being the cousin of Tolosa  sang  to a melancholy chant  the
old ballad gallega  probably inspired by some lovely maid dashing in
full flight upon a rope between two trees   

       Soy de Badajoz          Badajoz is my home 
       Amor me llama           And Love is my name 
       Toda mi alma            To my eyes in flame 
       Es en mi ojos           All my soul doth come 
       Porque ensenas          For instruction meet
       A tuas piernas          I receive at thy feet 


Fantine alone refused to swing 

 I don t like to have people put on airs like that   muttered Favourite 
with a good deal of acrimony 

After leaving the asses there was a fresh delight  they crossed the
Seine in a boat  and proceeding from Passy on foot they reached the
barrier of l Etoile  They had been up since five o clock that morning 
as the reader will remember  but bah  there is no such thing as fatigue
on Sunday  said Favourite  on Sunday fatigue does not work 

About three o clock the four couples  frightened at their happiness 
were sliding down the Russian mountains  a singular edifice which then
occupied the heights of Beaujon  and whose undulating line was visible
above the trees of the Champs Elysees 

From time to time Favourite exclaimed   

 And the surprise  I claim the surprise  

 Patience   replied Tholomyes 




CHAPTER V  AT BOMBARDA S

The Russian mountains having been exhausted  they began to think about
dinner  and the radiant party of eight  somewhat weary at last  became
stranded in Bombarda s public house  a branch establishment which had
been set up in the Champs Elysees by that famous restaurant keeper 
Bombarda  whose sign could then be seen in the Rue de Rivoli  near
Delorme Alley 

A large but ugly room  with an alcove and a bed at the end  they had
been obliged to put up with this accommodation in view of the Sunday
crowd   two windows whence they could survey beyond the elms  the quay
and the river  a magnificent August sunlight lightly touching the panes 
two tables  upon one of them a triumphant mountain of bouquets  mingled
with the hats of men and women  at the other the four couples seated
round a merry confusion of platters  dishes  glasses  and bottles  jugs
of beer mingled with flasks of wine  very little order on the table 
some disorder beneath it 

                They made beneath the table
     A noise  a clatter of the feet that was abominable  

says Moliere 

This was the state which the shepherd idyl  begun at five o clock in
the morning  had reached at half past four in the afternoon  The sun was
setting  their appetites were satisfied 

The Champs Elysees  filled with sunshine and with people  were nothing
but light and dust  the two things of which glory is composed  The
horses of Marly  those neighing marbles  were prancing in a cloud
of gold  Carriages were going and coming  A squadron of magnificent
body guards  with their clarions at their head  were descending the
Avenue de Neuilly  the white flag  showing faintly rosy in the setting
sun  floated over the dome of the Tuileries  The Place de la Concorde 
which had become the Place Louis XV  once more  was choked with happy
promenaders  Many wore the silver fleur de lys suspended from the
white watered ribbon  which had not yet wholly disappeared from
button holes in the year 1817  Here and there choruses of little girls
threw to the winds  amid the passersby  who formed into circles and
applauded  the then celebrated Bourbon air  which was destined to strike
the Hundred Days with lightning  and which had for its refrain   

                Rendez nous notre pere de Gand 
                    Rendez nous notre pere  

                Give us back our father from Ghent 
                    Give us back our father  


Groups of dwellers in the suburbs  in Sunday array  sometimes even
decorated with the fleur de lys  like the bourgeois  scattered over the
large square and the Marigny square  were playing at rings and revolving
on the wooden horses  others were engaged in drinking  some journeyman
printers had on paper caps  their laughter was audible  Every thing
was radiant  It was a time of undisputed peace and profound royalist
security  it was the epoch when a special and private report of Chief
of Police Angeles to the King  on the subject of the suburbs of Paris 
terminated with these lines   

 Taking all things into consideration  Sire  there is nothing to be
feared from these people  They are as heedless and as indolent as cats 
The populace is restless in the provinces  it is not in Paris  These are
very pretty men  Sire  It would take all of two of them to make one
of your grenadiers  There is nothing to be feared on the part of the
populace of Paris the capital  It is remarkable that the stature of
this population should have diminished in the last fifty years  and
the populace of the suburbs is still more puny than at the time of the
Revolution  It is not dangerous  In short  it is an amiable rabble  

Prefects of the police do not deem it possible that a cat can transform
itself into a lion  that does happen  however  and in that lies the
miracle wrought by the populace of Paris  Moreover  the cat so despised
by Count Angles possessed the esteem of the republics of old  In their
eyes it was liberty incarnate  and as though to serve as pendant to
the Minerva Aptera of the Piraeus  there stood on the public square in
Corinth the colossal bronze figure of a cat  The ingenuous police of the
Restoration beheld the populace of Paris in too  rose colored  a light 
it is not so much of  an amiable rabble  as it is thought  The Parisian
is to the Frenchman what the Athenian was to the Greek  no one sleeps
more soundly than he  no one is more frankly frivolous and lazy than
he  no one can better assume the air of forgetfulness  let him not be
trusted nevertheless  he is ready for any sort of cool deed  but when
there is glory at the end of it  he is worthy of admiration in every
sort of fury  Give him a pike  he will produce the 10th of August  give
him a gun  you will have Austerlitz  He is Napoleon s stay and Danton s
resource  Is it a question of country  he enlists  is it a question of
liberty  he tears up the pavements  Beware  his hair filled with wrath 
is epic  his blouse drapes itself like the folds of a chlamys  Take
care  he will make of the first Rue Grenetat which comes to hand Caudine
Forks  When the hour strikes  this man of the faubourgs will grow in
stature  this little man will arise  and his gaze will be terrible  and
his breath will become a tempest  and there will issue forth from that
slender chest enough wind to disarrange the folds of the Alps  It is 
thanks to the suburban man of Paris  that the Revolution  mixed with
arms  conquers Europe  He sings  it is his delight  Proportion his song
to his nature  and you will see  As long as he has for refrain nothing
but la Carmagnole  he only overthrows Louis XVI   make him sing the
Marseillaise  and he will free the world 

This note jotted down on the margin of Angles  report  we will return to
our four couples  The dinner  as we have said  was drawing to its close 




CHAPTER VI  A CHAPTER IN WHICH THEY ADORE EACH OTHER

Chat at table  the chat of love  it is as impossible to reproduce one as
the other  the chat of love is a cloud  the chat at table is smoke 

Fameuil and Dahlia were humming  Tholomyes was drinking  Zephine was
laughing  Fantine smiling  Listolier blowing a wooden trumpet which he
had purchased at Saint Cloud 

Favourite gazed tenderly at Blachevelle and said   

 Blachevelle  I adore you  

This called forth a question from Blachevelle   

 What would you do  Favourite  if I were to cease to love you  

 I   cried Favourite   Ah  Do not say that even in jest  If you were
to cease to love me  I would spring after you  I would scratch you 
I should rend you  I would throw you into the water  I would have you
arrested  

Blachevelle smiled with the voluptuous self conceit of a man who is
tickled in his self love  Favourite resumed   

 Yes  I would scream to the police  Ah  I should not restrain myself 
not at all  Rabble  

Blachevelle threw himself back in his chair  in an ecstasy  and closed
both eyes proudly 

Dahlia  as she ate  said in a low voice to Favourite  amid the uproar   

 So you really idolize him deeply  that Blachevelle of yours  

 I  I detest him   replied Favourite in the same tone  seizing her fork
again   He is avaricious  I love the little fellow opposite me in my
house  He is very nice  that young man  do you know him  One can see
that he is an actor by profession  I love actors  As soon as he comes
in  his mother says to him   Ah  mon Dieu  my peace of mind is gone 
There he goes with his shouting  But  my dear  you are splitting my
head   So he goes up to rat ridden garrets  to black holes  as high as
he can mount  and there he sets to singing  declaiming  how do I know
what  so that he can be heard down stairs  He earns twenty sous a day at
an attorney s by penning quibbles  He is the son of a former precentor
of Saint Jacques du Haut Pas  Ah  he is very nice  He idolizes me so 
that one day when he saw me making batter for some pancakes  he said to
me   Mamselle  make your gloves into fritters  and I will eat them   It
is only artists who can say such things as that  Ah  he is very nice 
I am in a fair way to go out of my head over that little fellow  Never
mind  I tell Blachevelle that I adore him  how I lie  Hey  How I do
lie  

Favourite paused  and then went on   

 I am sad  you see  Dahlia  It has done nothing but rain all summer  the
wind irritates me  the wind does not abate  Blachevelle is very stingy 
there are hardly any green peas in the market  one does not know what to
eat  I have the spleen  as the English say  butter is so dear  and then
you see it is horrible  here we are dining in a room with a bed in it 
and that disgusts me with life  




CHAPTER VII  THE WISDOM OF THOLOMYES

In the meantime  while some sang  the rest talked together tumultuously
all at once  it was no longer anything but noise  Tholomyes intervened 

 Let us not talk at random nor too fast   he exclaimed   Let us reflect 
if we wish to be brilliant  Too much improvisation empties the mind in
a stupid way  Running beer gathers no froth  No haste  gentlemen  Let us
mingle majesty with the feast  Let us eat with meditation  let us make
haste slowly  Let us not hurry  Consider the springtime  if it makes
haste  it is done for  that is to say  it gets frozen  Excess of zeal
ruins peach trees and apricot trees  Excess of zeal kills the grace and
the mirth of good dinners  No zeal  gentlemen  Grimod de la Reyniere
agrees with Talleyrand  

A hollow sound of rebellion rumbled through the group 

 Leave us in peace  Tholomyes   said Blachevelle 

 Down with the tyrant   said Fameuil 

 Bombarda  Bombance  and Bambochel   cried Listolier 

 Sunday exists   resumed Fameuil 

 We are sober   added Listolier 

 Tholomyes   remarked Blachevelle   contemplate my calmness  mon
calme   

 You are the Marquis of that   retorted Tholomyes 

This mediocre play upon words produced the effect of a stone in a pool 
The Marquis de Montcalm was at that time a celebrated royalist  All the
frogs held their peace 

 Friends   cried Tholomyes  with the accent of a man who had recovered
his empire   Come to yourselves  This pun which has fallen from the
skies must not be received with too much stupor  Everything which falls
in that way is not necessarily worthy of enthusiasm and respect  The pun
is the dung of the mind which soars  The jest falls  no matter where 
and the mind after producing a piece of stupidity plunges into the azure
depths  A whitish speck flattened against the rock does not prevent the
condor from soaring aloft  Far be it from me to insult the pun  I honor
it in proportion to its merits  nothing more  All the most august  the
most sublime  the most charming of humanity  and perhaps outside of
humanity  have made puns  Jesus Christ made a pun on St  Peter  Moses on
Isaac  AEschylus on Polynices  Cleopatra on Octavius  And observe that
Cleopatra s pun preceded the battle of Actium  and that had it not been
for it  no one would have remembered the city of Toryne  a Greek name
which signifies a ladle  That once conceded  I return to my exhortation 
I repeat  brothers  I repeat  no zeal  no hubbub  no excess  even in
witticisms  gayety  jollities  or plays on words  Listen to me  I have
the prudence of Amphiaraus and the baldness of Caesar  There must be a
limit  even to rebuses  Est modus in rebus 

 There must be a limit  even to dinners  You are fond of apple
turnovers  ladies  do not indulge in them to excess  Even in the matter
of turnovers  good sense and art are requisite  Gluttony chastises the
glutton  Gula punit Gulax  Indigestion is charged by the good God with
preaching morality to stomachs  And remember this  each one of our
passions  even love  has a stomach which must not be filled too full  In
all things the word finis must be written in good season  self control
must be exercised when the matter becomes urgent  the bolt must be drawn
on appetite  one must set one s own fantasy to the violin  and carry
one s self to the post  The sage is the man who knows how  at a given
moment  to effect his own arrest  Have some confidence in me  for I
have succeeded to some extent in my study of the law  according to
the verdict of my examinations  for I know the difference between the
question put and the question pending  for I have sustained a thesis in
Latin upon the manner in which torture was administered at Rome at the
epoch when Munatius Demens was quaestor of the Parricide  because I
am going to be a doctor  apparently it does not follow that it is
absolutely necessary that I should be an imbecile  I recommend you to
moderation in your desires  It is true that my name is Felix Tholomyes 
I speak well  Happy is he who  when the hour strikes  takes a heroic
resolve  and abdicates like Sylla or Origenes  

Favourite listened with profound attention 

 Felix   said she   what a pretty word  I love that name  It is Latin 
it means prosper  

Tholomyes went on   

 Quirites  gentlemen  caballeros  my friends  Do you wish never to feel
the prick  to do without the nuptial bed  and to brave love  Nothing
more simple  Here is the receipt  lemonade  excessive exercise  hard
labor  work yourself to death  drag blocks  sleep not  hold vigil 
gorge yourself with nitrous beverages  and potions of nymphaeas  drink
emulsions of poppies and agnus castus  season this with a strict diet 
starve yourself  and add thereto cold baths  girdles of herbs  the
application of a plate of lead  lotions made with the subacetate of
lead  and fomentations of oxycrat  

 I prefer a woman   said Listolier 

 Woman   resumed Tholomyes   distrust her  Woe to him who yields himself
to the unstable heart of woman  Woman is perfidious and disingenuous 
She detests the serpent from professional jealousy  The serpent is the
shop over the way  

 Tholomyes   cried Blachevelle   you are drunk  

 Pardieu   said Tholomyes 

 Then be gay   resumed Blachevelle 

 I agree to that   responded Tholomyes 

And  refilling his glass  he rose 

 Glory to wine  Nunc te  Bacche  canam  Pardon me ladies  that is
Spanish  And the proof of it  senoras  is this  like people  like cask 
The arrobe of Castile contains sixteen litres  the cantaro of Alicante 
twelve  the almude of the Canaries  twenty five  the cuartin of the
Balearic Isles  twenty six  the boot of Tzar Peter  thirty  Long
live that Tzar who was great  and long live his boot  which was still
greater  Ladies  take the advice of a friend  make a mistake in your
neighbor if you see fit  The property of love is to err  A love
affair is not made to crouch down and brutalize itself like an English
serving maid who has callouses on her knees from scrubbing  It is not
made for that  it errs gayly  our gentle love  It has been said  error
is human  I say  error is love  Ladies  I idolize you all  O Zephine  O
Josephine  face more than irregular  you would be charming were you not
all askew  You have the air of a pretty face upon which some one has
sat down by mistake  As for Favourite  O nymphs and muses  one day
when Blachevelle was crossing the gutter in the Rue Guerin Boisseau 
he espied a beautiful girl with white stockings well drawn up  which
displayed her legs  This prologue pleased him  and Blachevelle fell
in love  The one he loved was Favourite  O Favourite  thou hast Ionian
lips  There was a Greek painter named Euphorion  who was surnamed the
painter of the lips  That Greek alone would have been worthy to paint
thy mouth  Listen  before thee  there was never a creature worthy of the
name  Thou wert made to receive the apple like Venus  or to eat it like
Eve  beauty begins with thee  I have just referred to Eve  it is thou
who hast created her  Thou deservest the letters patent of the beautiful
woman  O Favourite  I cease to address you as  thou   because I pass
from poetry to prose  You were speaking of my name a little while ago 
That touched me  but let us  whoever we may be  distrust names  They may
delude us  I am called Felix  and I am not happy  Words are liars  Let
us not blindly accept the indications which they afford us  It would be
a mistake to write to Liege  2  for corks  and to Pau for gloves  Miss
Dahlia  were I in your place  I would call myself Rosa  A flower should
smell sweet  and woman should have wit  I say nothing of Fantine  she
is a dreamer  a musing  thoughtful  pensive person  she is a phantom
possessed of the form of a nymph and the modesty of a nun  who has
strayed into the life of a grisette  but who takes refuge in illusions 
and who sings and prays and gazes into the azure without very well
knowing what she sees or what she is doing  and who  with her eyes fixed
on heaven  wanders in a garden where there are more birds than are in
existence  O Fantine  know this  I  Tholomyes  I am all illusion  but
she does not even hear me  that blond maid of Chimeras  as for the rest 
everything about her is freshness  suavity  youth  sweet morning light 
O Fantine  maid worthy of being called Marguerite or Pearl  you are a
woman from the beauteous Orient  Ladies  a second piece of advice  do
not marry  marriage is a graft  it takes well or ill  avoid that risk 
But bah  what am I saying  I am wasting my words  Girls are incurable
on the subject of marriage  and all that we wise men can say will not
prevent the waistcoat makers and the shoe stitchers from dreaming
of husbands studded with diamonds  Well  so be it  but  my beauties 
remember this  you eat too much sugar  You have but one fault  O woman 
and that is nibbling sugar  O nibbling sex  your pretty little white
teeth adore sugar  Now  heed me well  sugar is a salt  All salts are
withering  Sugar is the most desiccating of all salts  it sucks the
liquids of the blood through the veins  hence the coagulation  and then
the solidification of the blood  hence tubercles in the lungs  hence
death  That is why diabetes borders on consumption  Then  do not crunch
sugar  and you will live  I turn to the men  gentlemen  make conquest 
rob each other of your well beloved without remorse  Chassez across 
In love there are no friends  Everywhere where there is a pretty woman
hostility is open  No quarter  war to the death  a pretty woman is a
casus belli  a pretty woman is flagrant misdemeanor  All the invasions
of history have been determined by petticoats  Woman is man s right 
Romulus carried off the Sabines  William carried off the Saxon women 
Caesar carried off the Roman women  The man who is not loved soars like
a vulture over the mistresses of other men  and for my own part  to all
those unfortunate men who are widowers  I throw the sublime proclamation
of Bonaparte to the army of Italy   Soldiers  you are in need of
everything  the enemy has it  

Tholomyes paused 

 Take breath  Tholomyes   said Blachevelle 

At the same moment Blachevelle  supported by Listolier and Fameuil 
struck up to a plaintive air  one of those studio songs composed of
the first words which come to hand  rhymed richly and not at all  as
destitute of sense as the gesture of the tree and the sound of the wind 
which have their birth in the vapor of pipes  and are dissipated and
take their flight with them  This is the couplet by which the group
replied to Tholomyes  harangue   


            The father turkey cocks so grave
            Some money to an agent gave 
            That master good Clermont Tonnerre
            Might be made pope on Saint Johns  day fair 
            But this good Clermont could not be
            Made pope  because no priest was he 
            And then their agent  whose wrath burned 
            With all their money back returned  


This was not calculated to calm Tholomyes  improvisation  he emptied his
glass  filled  refilled it  and began again   

 Down with wisdom  Forget all that I have said  Let us be neither prudes
nor prudent men nor prudhommes  I propose a toast to mirth  be merry 
Let us complete our course of law by folly and eating  Indigestion and
the digest  Let Justinian be the male  and Feasting  the female  Joy in
the depths  Live  O creation  The world is a great diamond  I am happy 
The birds are astonishing  What a festival everywhere  The nightingale
is a gratuitous Elleviou  Summer  I salute thee  O Luxembourg  O
Georgics of the Rue Madame  and of the Allee de l Observatoire  O
pensive infantry soldiers  O all those charming nurses who  while they
guard the children  amuse themselves  The pampas of America would please
me if I had not the arcades of the Odeon  My soul flits away into the
virgin forests and to the savannas  All is beautiful  The flies buzz in
the sun  The sun has sneezed out the humming bird  Embrace me  Fantine  

He made a mistake and embraced Favourite 




CHAPTER VIII  THE DEATH OF A HORSE


 The dinners are better at Edon s than at Bombarda s   exclaimed
Zephine 

 I prefer Bombarda to Edon   declared Blachevelle   There is more
luxury  It is more Asiatic  Look at the room downstairs  there are
mirrors  glaces  on the walls  

 I prefer them  glaces  ices  on my plate   said Favourite 

Blachevelle persisted   

 Look at the knives  The handles are of silver at Bombarda s and of bone
at Edon s  Now  silver is more valuable than bone  

 Except for those who have a silver chin   observed Tholomyes 

He was looking at the dome of the Invalides  which was visible from
Bombarda s windows 

A pause ensued 

 Tholomyes   exclaimed Fameuil   Listolier and I were having a
discussion just now  

 A discussion is a good thing   replied Tholomyes   a quarrel is
better  

 We were disputing about philosophy  

 Well  

 Which do you prefer  Descartes or Spinoza  

 Desaugiers   said Tholomyes 

This decree pronounced  he took a drink  and went on   

 I consent to live  All is not at an end on earth since we can still
talk nonsense  For that I return thanks to the immortal gods  We lie 
One lies  but one laughs  One affirms  but one doubts  The unexpected
bursts forth from the syllogism  That is fine  There are still human
beings here below who know how to open and close the surprise box of the
paradox merrily  This  ladies  which you are drinking with so tranquil
an air is Madeira wine  you must know  from the vineyard of Coural das
Freiras  which is three hundred and seventeen fathoms above the level of
the sea  Attention while you drink  three hundred and seventeen fathoms 
and Monsieur Bombarda  the magnificent eating house keeper  gives you
those three hundred and seventeen fathoms for four francs and fifty
centimes  

Again Fameuil interrupted him   

 Tholomyes  your opinions fix the law  Who is your favorite author  

 Ber   

 Quin  

 No  Choux  

And Tholomyes continued   

 Honor to Bombarda  He would equal Munophis of Elephanta if he could but
get me an Indian dancing girl  and Thygelion of Chaeronea if he could
bring me a Greek courtesan  for  oh  ladies  there were Bombardas in
Greece and in Egypt  Apuleius tells us of them  Alas  always the same 
and nothing new  nothing more unpublished by the creator in creation 
Nil sub sole novum  says Solomon  amor omnibus idem  says Virgil  and
Carabine mounts with Carabin into the bark at Saint Cloud  as Aspasia
embarked with Pericles upon the fleet at Samos  One last word  Do you
know what Aspasia was  ladies  Although she lived at an epoch when women
had  as yet  no soul  she was a soul  a soul of a rosy and purple
hue  more ardent hued than fire  fresher than the dawn  Aspasia was
a creature in whom two extremes of womanhood met  she was the goddess
prostitute  Socrates plus Manon Lescaut  Aspasia was created in case a
mistress should be needed for Prometheus  

Tholomyes  once started  would have found some difficulty in stopping 
had not a horse fallen down upon the quay just at that moment  The
shock caused the cart and the orator to come to a dead halt  It was a
Beauceron mare  old and thin  and one fit for the knacker  which was
dragging a very heavy cart  On arriving in front of Bombarda s  the
worn out  exhausted beast had refused to proceed any further  This
incident attracted a crowd  Hardly had the cursing and indignant carter
had time to utter with proper energy the sacramental word  Matin  the
jade   backed up with a pitiless cut of the whip  when the jade fell 
never to rise again  On hearing the hubbub made by the passersby 
Tholomyes  merry auditors turned their heads  and Tholomyes took
advantage of the opportunity to bring his allocution to a close with
this melancholy strophe   

       Elle etait de ce monde ou coucous et carrosses  3 
          Ont le meme destin 
      Et  rosse  elle a vecu ce que vivant les rosses 
          L espace d un matin  


 Poor horse   sighed Fantine 

And Dahlia exclaimed   

 There is Fantine on the point of crying over horses  How can one be
such a pitiful fool as that  

At that moment Favourite  folding her arms and throwing her head back 
looked resolutely at Tholomyes and said   

 Come  now  the surprise  

 Exactly  The moment has arrived   replied Tholomyes   Gentlemen 
the hour for giving these ladies a surprise has struck  Wait for us a
moment  ladies  

 It begins with a kiss   said Blachevelle 

 On the brow   added Tholomyes 

Each gravely bestowed a kiss on his mistress s brow  then all four filed
out through the door  with their fingers on their lips 

Favourite clapped her hands on their departure 

 It is beginning to be amusing already   said she 

 Don t be too long   murmured Fantine   we are waiting for you  




CHAPTER IX  A MERRY END TO MIRTH

When the young girls were left alone  they leaned two by two on the
window sills  chatting  craning out their heads  and talking from one
window to the other 

They saw the young men emerge from the Cafe Bombarda arm in arm  The
latter turned round  made signs to them  smiled  and disappeared in
that dusty Sunday throng which makes a weekly invasion into the
Champs Elysees 

 Don t be long   cried Fantine 

 What are they going to bring us   said Zephine 

 It will certainly be something pretty   said Dahlia 

 For my part   said Favourite   I want it to be of gold  

Their attention was soon distracted by the movements on the shore of the
lake  which they could see through the branches of the large trees  and
which diverted them greatly 

It was the hour for the departure of the mail coaches and diligences 
Nearly all the stage coaches for the south and west passed through the
Champs Elysees  The majority followed the quay and went through the
Passy Barrier  From moment to moment  some huge vehicle  painted yellow
and black  heavily loaded  noisily harnessed  rendered shapeless
by trunks  tarpaulins  and valises  full of heads which immediately
disappeared  rushed through the crowd with all the sparks of a forge 
with dust for smoke  and an air of fury  grinding the pavements 
changing all the paving stones into steels  This uproar delighted the
young girls  Favourite exclaimed   

 What a row  One would say that it was a pile of chains flying away  

It chanced that one of these vehicles  which they could only see with
difficulty through the thick elms  halted for a moment  then set out
again at a gallop  This surprised Fantine 

 That s odd   said she   I thought the diligence never stopped  

Favourite shrugged her shoulders 

 This Fantine is surprising  I am coming to take a look at her out of
curiosity  She is dazzled by the simplest things  Suppose a case  I am
a traveller  I say to the diligence   I will go on in advance  you shall
pick me up on the quay as you pass   The diligence passes  sees me 
halts  and takes me  That is done every day  You do not know life  my
dear  

In this manner a certain time elapsed  All at once Favourite made a
movement  like a person who is just waking up 

 Well   said she   and the surprise  

 Yes  by the way   joined in Dahlia   the famous surprise  

 They are a very long time about it   said Fantine 

As Fantine concluded this sigh  the waiter who had served them at dinner
entered  He held in his hand something which resembled a letter 

 What is that   demanded Favourite 

The waiter replied   

 It is a paper that those gentlemen left for these ladies  

 Why did you not bring it at once  

 Because   said the waiter   the gentlemen ordered me not to deliver it
to the ladies for an hour  

Favourite snatched the paper from the waiter s hand  It was  in fact  a
letter 

 Stop   said she   there is no address  but this is what is written on
it   

                  THIS IS THE SURPRISE  

She tore the letter open hastily  opened it  and read  she knew how to
read    

 OUR BELOVED   

 You must know that we have parents  Parents  you do not know much about
such things  They are called fathers and mothers by the civil code 
which is puerile and honest  Now  these parents groan  these old folks
implore us  these good men and these good women call us prodigal sons 
they desire our return  and offer to kill calves for us  Being virtuous 
we obey them  At the hour when you read this  five fiery horses will
be bearing us to our papas and mammas  We are pulling up our stakes  as
Bossuet says  We are going  we are gone  We flee in the arms of Lafitte
and on the wings of Caillard  The Toulouse diligence tears us from
the abyss  and the abyss is you  O our little beauties  We return to
society  to duty  to respectability  at full trot  at the rate of three
leagues an hour  It is necessary for the good of the country that we
should be  like the rest of the world  prefects  fathers of families 
rural police  and councillors of state  Venerate us  We are sacrificing
ourselves  Mourn for us in haste  and replace us with speed  If this
letter lacerates you  do the same by it  Adieu 

 For the space of nearly two years we have made you happy  We bear you
no grudge for that                                   Signed 
                                            BLACHEVELLE 
                                            FAMUEIL 
                                            LISTOLIER 
                                            FELIX THOLOMYES 

 Postscriptum  The dinner is paid for  


The four young women looked at each other 

Favourite was the first to break the silence 

 Well   she exclaimed   it s a very pretty farce  all the same  

 It is very droll   said Zephine 

 That must have been Blachevelle s idea   resumed Favourite   It makes
me in love with him  No sooner is he gone than he is loved  This is an
adventure  indeed  

 No   said Dahlia   it was one of Tholomyes  ideas  That is evident 

 In that case   retorted Favourite   death to Blachevelle  and long live
Tholomyes  

 Long live Tholomyes   exclaimed Dahlia and Zephine 

And they burst out laughing 

Fantine laughed with the rest 

An hour later  when she had returned to her room  she wept  It was
her first love affair  as we have said  she had given herself to this
Tholomyes as to a husband  and the poor girl had a child 




BOOK FOURTH   TO CONFIDE IS SOMETIMES TO DELIVER INTO A PERSON S POWER




CHAPTER I  ONE MOTHER MEETS ANOTHER MOTHER

There was  at Montfermeil  near Paris  during the first quarter of this
century  a sort of cook shop which no longer exists  This cook shop was
kept by some people named Thenardier  husband and wife  It was situated
in Boulanger Lane  Over the door there was a board nailed flat against
the wall  Upon this board was painted something which resembled a
man carrying another man on his back  the latter wearing the big gilt
epaulettes of a general  with large silver stars  red spots represented
blood  the rest of the picture consisted of smoke  and probably
represented a battle  Below ran this inscription  AT THE SIGN OF
SERGEANT OF WATERLOO  Au Sargent de Waterloo  

Nothing is more common than a cart or a truck at the door of a hostelry 
Nevertheless  the vehicle  or  to speak more accurately  the fragment of
a vehicle  which encumbered the street in front of the cook shop of the
Sergeant of Waterloo  one evening in the spring of 1818  would certainly
have attracted  by its mass  the attention of any painter who had passed
that way 

It was the fore carriage of one of those trucks which are used in wooded
tracts of country  and which serve to transport thick planks and the
trunks of trees  This fore carriage was composed of a massive iron
axle tree with a pivot  into which was fitted a heavy shaft  and
which was supported by two huge wheels  The whole thing was compact 
overwhelming  and misshapen  It seemed like the gun carriage of an
enormous cannon  The ruts of the road had bestowed on the wheels  the
fellies  the hub  the axle  and the shaft  a layer of mud  a hideous
yellowish daubing hue  tolerably like that with which people are fond
of ornamenting cathedrals  The wood was disappearing under mud  and the
iron beneath rust  Under the axle tree hung  like drapery  a huge chain 
worthy of some Goliath of a convict  This chain suggested  not the
beams  which it was its office to transport  but the mastodons and
mammoths which it might have served to harness  it had the air of the
galleys  but of cyclopean and superhuman galleys  and it seemed to have
been detached from some monster  Homer would have bound Polyphemus with
it  and Shakespeare  Caliban 

Why was that fore carriage of a truck in that place in the street  In
the first place  to encumber the street  next  in order that it might
finish the process of rusting  There is a throng of institutions in the
old social order  which one comes across in this fashion as one walks
about outdoors  and which have no other reasons for existence than the
above 

The centre of the chain swung very near the ground in the middle  and in
the loop  as in the rope of a swing  there were seated and grouped  on
that particular evening  in exquisite interlacement  two little girls 
one about two years and a half old  the other  eighteen months  the
younger in the arms of the other  A handkerchief  cleverly knotted about
them  prevented their falling out  A mother had caught sight of that
frightful chain  and had said   Come  there s a plaything for my
children  

The two children  who were dressed prettily and with some elegance  were
radiant with pleasure  one would have said that they were two roses amid
old iron  their eyes were a triumph  their fresh cheeks were full of
laughter  One had chestnut hair  the other  brown  Their innocent faces
were two delighted surprises  a blossoming shrub which grew near wafted
to the passers by perfumes which seemed to emanate from them  the child
of eighteen months displayed her pretty little bare stomach with the
chaste indecency of childhood  Above and around these two delicate
heads  all made of happiness and steeped in light  the gigantic
fore carriage  black with rust  almost terrible  all entangled in curves
and wild angles  rose in a vault  like the entrance of a cavern  A few
paces apart  crouching down upon the threshold of the hostelry  the
mother  not a very prepossessing woman  by the way  though touching
at that moment  was swinging the two children by means of a long cord 
watching them carefully  for fear of accidents  with that animal and
celestial expression which is peculiar to maternity  At every backward
and forward swing the hideous links emitted a strident sound  which
resembled a cry of rage  the little girls were in ecstasies  the setting
sun mingled in this joy  and nothing could be more charming than this
caprice of chance which had made of a chain of Titans the swing of
cherubim 

As she rocked her little ones  the mother hummed in a discordant voice a
romance then celebrated   


                  It must be  said a warrior  


Her song  and the contemplation of her daughters  prevented her hearing
and seeing what was going on in the street 

In the meantime  some one had approached her  as she was beginning the
first couplet of the romance  and suddenly she heard a voice saying very
near her ear   

 You have two beautiful children there  Madame  


                  To the fair and tender Imogene   


replied the mother  continuing her romance  then she turned her head 

A woman stood before her  a few paces distant  This woman also had a
child  which she carried in her arms 

She was carrying  in addition  a large carpet bag  which seemed very
heavy 

This woman s child was one of the most divine creatures that it is
possible to behold  It was a girl  two or three years of age  She could
have entered into competition with the two other little ones  so far as
the coquetry of her dress was concerned  she wore a cap of fine linen 
ribbons on her bodice  and Valenciennes lace on her cap  The folds of
her skirt were raised so as to permit a view of her white  firm  and
dimpled leg  She was admirably rosy and healthy  The little beauty
inspired a desire to take a bite from the apples of her cheeks  Of her
eyes nothing could be known  except that they must be very large  and
that they had magnificent lashes  She was asleep 

She slept with that slumber of absolute confidence peculiar to her
age  The arms of mothers are made of tenderness  in them children sleep
profoundly 

As for the mother  her appearance was sad and poverty stricken  She
was dressed like a working woman who is inclined to turn into a peasant
again  She was young  Was she handsome  Perhaps  but in that attire it
was not apparent  Her hair  a golden lock of which had escaped  seemed
very thick  but was severely concealed beneath an ugly  tight  close 
nun like cap  tied under the chin  A smile displays beautiful teeth when
one has them  but she did not smile  Her eyes did not seem to have been
dry for a very long time  She was pale  she had a very weary and rather
sickly appearance  She gazed upon her daughter asleep in her arms with
the air peculiar to a mother who has nursed her own child  A large blue
handkerchief  such as the Invalides use  was folded into a fichu  and
concealed her figure clumsily  Her hands were sunburnt and all dotted
with freckles  her forefinger was hardened and lacerated with the
needle  she wore a cloak of coarse brown woollen stuff  a linen gown 
and coarse shoes  It was Fantine 

It was Fantine  but difficult to recognize  Nevertheless  on
scrutinizing her attentively  it was evident that she still retained
her beauty  A melancholy fold  which resembled the beginning of irony 
wrinkled her right cheek  As for her toilette  that aerial toilette of
muslin and ribbons  which seemed made of mirth  of folly  and of music 
full of bells  and perfumed with lilacs had vanished like that beautiful
and dazzling hoar frost which is mistaken for diamonds in the sunlight 
it melts and leaves the branch quite black 

Ten months had elapsed since the  pretty farce  

What had taken place during those ten months  It can be divined 

After abandonment  straightened circumstances  Fantine had immediately
lost sight of Favourite  Zephine and Dahlia  the bond once broken on the
side of the men  it was loosed between the women  they would have been
greatly astonished had any one told them a fortnight later  that they
had been friends  there no longer existed any reason for such a thing 
Fantine had remained alone  The father of her child gone   alas  such
ruptures are irrevocable   she found herself absolutely isolated  minus
the habit of work and plus the taste for pleasure  Drawn away by her
liaison with Tholomyes to disdain the pretty trade which she knew  she
had neglected to keep her market open  it was now closed to her  She had
no resource  Fantine barely knew how to read  and did not know how to
write  in her childhood she had only been taught to sign her name 
she had a public letter writer indite an epistle to Tholomyes  then a
second  then a third  Tholomyes replied to none of them  Fantine heard
the gossips say  as they looked at her child   Who takes those children
seriously  One only shrugs one s shoulders over such children   Then she
thought of Tholomyes  who had shrugged his shoulders over his child 
and who did not take that innocent being seriously  and her heart grew
gloomy toward that man  But what was she to do  She no longer knew to
whom to apply  She had committed a fault  but the foundation of her
nature  as will be remembered  was modesty and virtue  She was vaguely
conscious that she was on the verge of falling into distress  and of
gliding into a worse state  Courage was necessary  she possessed it  and
held herself firm  The idea of returning to her native town of M  sur
M  occurred to her  There  some one might possibly know her and give her
work  yes  but it would be necessary to conceal her fault  In a confused
way she perceived the necessity of a separation which would be more
painful than the first one  Her heart contracted  but she took her
resolution  Fantine  as we shall see  had the fierce bravery of life 
She had already valiantly renounced finery  had dressed herself in
linen  and had put all her silks  all her ornaments  all her ribbons 
and all her laces on her daughter  the only vanity which was left to
her  and a holy one it was  She sold all that she had  which produced
for her two hundred francs  her little debts paid  she had only about
eighty francs left  At the age of twenty two  on a beautiful spring
morning  she quitted Paris  bearing her child on her back  Any one who
had seen these two pass would have had pity on them  This woman had 
in all the world  nothing but her child  and the child had  in all the
world  no one but this woman  Fantine had nursed her child  and this had
tired her chest  and she coughed a little 

We shall have no further occasion to speak of M  Felix Tholomyes  Let us
confine ourselves to saying  that  twenty years later  under King Louis
Philippe  he was a great provincial lawyer  wealthy and influential  a
wise elector  and a very severe juryman  he was still a man of pleasure 

Towards the middle of the day  after having  from time to time  for the
sake of resting herself  travelled  for three or four sous a league  in
what was then known as the Petites Voitures des Environs de Paris  the
 little suburban coach service   Fantine found herself at Montfermeil 
in the alley Boulanger 

As she passed the Thenardier hostelry  the two little girls  blissful
in the monster swing  had dazzled her in a manner  and she had halted in
front of that vision of joy 

Charms exist  These two little girls were a charm to this mother 

She gazed at them in much emotion  The presence of angels is an
announcement of Paradise  She thought that  above this inn  she beheld
the mysterious HERE of Providence  These two little creatures were
evidently happy  She gazed at them  she admired them  in such emotion
that at the moment when their mother was recovering her breath between
two couplets of her song  she could not refrain from addressing to her
the remark which we have just read   

 You have two pretty children  Madame  

The most ferocious creatures are disarmed by caresses bestowed on their
young 

The mother raised her head and thanked her  and bade the wayfarer
sit down on the bench at the door  she herself being seated on the
threshold  The two women began to chat 

 My name is Madame Thenardier   said the mother of the two little girls 
 We keep this inn  

Then  her mind still running on her romance  she resumed humming between
her teeth   

                  It must be so  I am a knight 
                  And I am off to Palestine  


This Madame Thenardier was a sandy complexioned woman  thin and
angular  the type of the soldier s wife in all its unpleasantness  and
what was odd  with a languishing air  which she owed to her perusal
of romances  She was a simpering  but masculine creature  Old romances
produce that effect when rubbed against the imagination of cook shop
woman  She was still young  she was barely thirty  If this crouching
woman had stood upright  her lofty stature and her frame of a
perambulating colossus suitable for fairs  might have frightened the
traveller at the outset  troubled her confidence  and disturbed what
caused what we have to relate to vanish  A person who is seated instead
of standing erect  destinies hang upon such a thing as that 

The traveller told her story  with slight modifications 

That she was a working woman  that her husband was dead  that her
work in Paris had failed her  and that she was on her way to seek it
elsewhere  in her own native parts  that she had left Paris that morning
on foot  that  as she was carrying her child  and felt fatigued  she had
got into the Villemomble coach when she met it  that from Villemomble
she had come to Montfermeil on foot  that the little one had walked a
little  but not much  because she was so young  and that she had been
obliged to take her up  and the jewel had fallen asleep 

At this word she bestowed on her daughter a passionate kiss  which woke
her  The child opened her eyes  great blue eyes like her mother s  and
looked at  what  Nothing  with that serious and sometimes severe air of
little children  which is a mystery of their luminous innocence in
the presence of our twilight of virtue  One would say that they feel
themselves to be angels  and that they know us to be men  Then the child
began to laugh  and although the mother held fast to her  she slipped to
the ground with the unconquerable energy of a little being which wished
to run  All at once she caught sight of the two others in the swing 
stopped short  and put out her tongue  in sign of admiration 

Mother Thenardier released her daughters  made them descend from the
swing  and said   

 Now amuse yourselves  all three of you  

Children become acquainted quickly at that age  and at the expiration
of a minute the little Thenardiers were playing with the new comer at
making holes in the ground  which was an immense pleasure 

The new comer was very gay  the goodness of the mother is written in the
gayety of the child  she had seized a scrap of wood which served her
for a shovel  and energetically dug a cavity big enough for a fly  The
grave digger s business becomes a subject for laughter when performed by
a child 

The two women pursued their chat 

 What is your little one s name  

 Cosette  

For Cosette  read Euphrasie  The child s name was Euphrasie  But out
of Euphrasie the mother had made Cosette by that sweet and graceful
instinct of mothers and of the populace which changes Josepha into
Pepita  and Francoise into Sillette  It is a sort of derivative which
disarranges and disconcerts the whole science of etymologists  We have
known a grandmother who succeeded in turning Theodore into Gnon 

 How old is she  

 She is going on three  

 That is the age of my eldest  

In the meantime  the three little girls were grouped in an attitude of
profound anxiety and blissfulness  an event had happened  a big worm
had emerged from the ground  and they were afraid  and they were in
ecstasies over it 

Their radiant brows touched each other  one would have said that there
were three heads in one aureole 

 How easily children get acquainted at once   exclaimed Mother
Thenardier   one would swear that they were three sisters  

This remark was probably the spark which the other mother had been
waiting for  She seized the Thenardier s hand  looked at her fixedly 
and said   

 Will you keep my child for me  

The Thenardier made one of those movements of surprise which signify
neither assent nor refusal 

Cosette s mother continued   

 You see  I cannot take my daughter to the country  My work will not
permit it  With a child one can find no situation  People are ridiculous
in the country  It was the good God who caused me to pass your inn  When
I caught sight of your little ones  so pretty  so clean  and so happy 
it overwhelmed me  I said   Here is a good mother  That is just the
thing  that will make three sisters   And then  it will not be long
before I return  Will you keep my child for me  

 I must see about it   replied the Thenardier 

 I will give you six francs a month  

Here a man s voice called from the depths of the cook shop   

 Not for less than seven francs  And six months paid in advance  

 Six times seven makes forty two   said the Thenardier 

 I will give it   said the mother 

 And fifteen francs in addition for preliminary expenses   added the
man s voice 

 Total  fifty seven francs   said Madame Thenardier  And she hummed
vaguely  with these figures   

                  It must be  said a warrior  


 I will pay it   said the mother   I have eighty francs  I shall have
enough left to reach the country  by travelling on foot  I shall
earn money there  and as soon as I have a little I will return for my
darling  

The man s voice resumed   

 The little one has an outfit  

 That is my husband   said the Thenardier 

 Of course she has an outfit  the poor treasure   I understood perfectly
that it was your husband   And a beautiful outfit  too  a senseless
outfit  everything by the dozen  and silk gowns like a lady  It is here 
in my carpet bag  

 You must hand it over   struck in the man s voice again 

 Of course I shall give it to you   said the mother   It would be very
queer if I were to leave my daughter quite naked  

The master s face appeared 

 That s good   said he 

The bargain was concluded  The mother passed the night at the inn  gave
up her money and left her child  fastened her carpet bag once more  now
reduced in volume by the removal of the outfit  and light henceforth
and set out on the following morning  intending to return soon  People
arrange such departures tranquilly  but they are despairs 

A neighbor of the Thenardiers met this mother as she was setting out 
and came back with the remark   

 I have just seen a woman crying in the street so that it was enough to
rend your heart  

When Cosette s mother had taken her departure  the man said to the
woman   

 That will serve to pay my note for one hundred and ten francs which
falls due to morrow  I lacked fifty francs  Do you know that I should
have had a bailiff and a protest after me  You played the mouse trap
nicely with your young ones  

 Without suspecting it   said the woman 




CHAPTER II  FIRST SKETCH OF TWO UNPREPOSSESSING FIGURES

The mouse which had been caught was a pitiful specimen  but the cat
rejoices even over a lean mouse 

Who were these Thenardiers 

Let us say a word or two of them now  We will complete the sketch later
on 

These beings belonged to that bastard class composed of coarse people
who have been successful  and of intelligent people who have descended
in the scale  which is between the class called  middle  and the class
denominated as  inferior   and which combines some of the defects of the
second with nearly all the vices of the first  without possessing
the generous impulse of the workingman nor the honest order of the
bourgeois 

They were of those dwarfed natures which  if a dull fire chances to warm
them up  easily become monstrous  There was in the woman a substratum
of the brute  and in the man the material for a blackguard  Both were
susceptible  in the highest degree  of the sort of hideous progress
which is accomplished in the direction of evil  There exist crab like
souls which are continually retreating towards the darkness 
retrograding in life rather than advancing  employing experience to
augment their deformity  growing incessantly worse  and becoming more
and more impregnated with an ever augmenting blackness  This man and
woman possessed such souls 

Thenardier  in particular  was troublesome for a physiognomist  One can
only look at some men to distrust them  for one feels that they are
dark in both directions  They are uneasy in the rear and threatening
in front  There is something of the unknown about them  One can no more
answer for what they have done than for what they will do  The shadow
which they bear in their glance denounces them  From merely hearing them
utter a word or seeing them make a gesture  one obtains a glimpse of
sombre secrets in their past and of sombre mysteries in their future 

This Thenardier  if he himself was to be believed  had been a soldier  a
sergeant  he said  He had probably been through the campaign of 1815 
and had even conducted himself with tolerable valor  it would seem  We
shall see later on how much truth there was in this  The sign of his
hostelry was in allusion to one of his feats of arms  He had painted it
himself  for he knew how to do a little of everything  and badly 

It was at the epoch when the ancient classical romance which  after
having been Clelie  was no longer anything but Lodoiska  still noble 
but ever more and more vulgar  having fallen from Mademoiselle de
Scuderi to Madame Bournon Malarme  and from Madame de Lafayette to
Madame Barthelemy Hadot  was setting the loving hearts of the portresses
of Paris aflame  and even ravaging the suburbs to some extent  Madame
Thenardier was just intelligent enough to read this sort of books  She
lived on them  In them she drowned what brains she possessed  This had
given her  when very young  and even a little later  a sort of pensive
attitude towards her husband  a scamp of a certain depth  a ruffian
lettered to the extent of the grammar  coarse and fine at one and the
same time  but  so far as sentimentalism was concerned  given to the
perusal of Pigault Lebrun  and  in what concerns the sex   as he said
in his jargon  a downright  unmitigated lout  His wife was twelve or
fifteen years younger than he was  Later on  when her hair  arranged in
a romantically drooping fashion  began to grow gray  when the Magaera
began to be developed from the Pamela  the female Thenardier was nothing
but a coarse  vicious woman  who had dabbled in stupid romances  Now 
one cannot read nonsense with impunity  The result was that her eldest
daughter was named Eponine  as for the younger  the poor little thing
came near being called Gulnare  I know not to what diversion  effected
by a romance of Ducray Dumenil  she owed the fact that she merely bore
the name of Azelma 

However  we will remark by the way  everything was not ridiculous and
superficial in that curious epoch to which we are alluding  and which
may be designated as the anarchy of baptismal names  By the side of
this romantic element which we have just indicated there is the social
symptom  It is not rare for the neatherd s boy nowadays to bear the name
of Arthur  Alfred  or Alphonse  and for the vicomte  if there are
still any vicomtes  to be called Thomas  Pierre  or Jacques  This
displacement  which places the  elegant  name on the plebeian and the
rustic name on the aristocrat  is nothing else than an eddy of equality 
The irresistible penetration of the new inspiration is there as
everywhere else  Beneath this apparent discord there is a great and a
profound thing   the French Revolution 




CHAPTER III  THE LARK

It is not all in all sufficient to be wicked in order to prosper  The
cook shop was in a bad way 

Thanks to the traveller s fifty seven francs  Thenardier had been able
to avoid a protest and to honor his signature  On the following month
they were again in need of money  The woman took Cosette s outfit to
Paris  and pawned it at the pawnbroker s for sixty francs  As soon
as that sum was spent  the Thenardiers grew accustomed to look on the
little girl merely as a child whom they were caring for out of charity 
and they treated her accordingly  As she had no longer any clothes  they
dressed her in the cast off petticoats and chemises of the Thenardier
brats  that is to say  in rags  They fed her on what all the rest
had left  a little better than the dog  a little worse than the cat 
Moreover  the cat and the dog were her habitual table companions 
Cosette ate with them under the table  from a wooden bowl similar to
theirs 

The mother  who had established herself  as we shall see later on  at M 
sur M   wrote  or  more correctly  caused to be written  a letter every
month  that she might have news of her child  The Thenardiers replied
invariably   Cosette is doing wonderfully well  

At the expiration of the first six months the mother sent seven francs
for the seventh month  and continued her remittances with tolerable
regularity from month to month  The year was not completed when
Thenardier said   A fine favor she is doing us  in sooth  What does she
expect us to do with her seven francs   and he wrote to demand twelve
francs  The mother  whom they had persuaded into the belief that her
child was happy   and was coming on well   submitted  and forwarded the
twelve francs 

Certain natures cannot love on the one hand without hating on the other 
Mother Thenardier loved her two daughters passionately  which caused her
to hate the stranger 

It is sad to think that the love of a mother can possess villainous
aspects  Little as was the space occupied by Cosette  it seemed to
her as though it were taken from her own  and that that little child
diminished the air which her daughters breathed  This woman  like many
women of her sort  had a load of caresses and a burden of blows and
injuries to dispense each day  If she had not had Cosette  it is certain
that her daughters  idolized as they were  would have received the whole
of it  but the stranger did them the service to divert the blows to
herself  Her daughters received nothing but caresses  Cosette could not
make a motion which did not draw down upon her head a heavy shower of
violent blows and unmerited chastisement  The sweet  feeble being  who
should not have understood anything of this world or of God  incessantly
punished  scolded  ill used  beaten  and seeing beside her two little
creatures like herself  who lived in a ray of dawn 

Madame Thenardier was vicious with Cosette  Eponine and Azelma were
vicious  Children at that age are only copies of their mother  The size
is smaller  that is all 

A year passed  then another 

People in the village said   

 Those Thenardiers are good people  They are not rich  and yet they are
bringing up a poor child who was abandoned on their hands  

They thought that Cosette s mother had forgotten her 

In the meanwhile  Thenardier  having learned  it is impossible to say by
what obscure means  that the child was probably a bastard  and that the
mother could not acknowledge it  exacted fifteen francs a month  saying
that  the creature  was growing and  eating   and threatening to send
her away   Let her not bother me   he exclaimed   or I ll fire her brat
right into the middle of her secrets  I must have an increase   The
mother paid the fifteen francs 

From year to year the child grew  and so did her wretchedness 

As long as Cosette was little  she was the scape goat of the two other
children  as soon as she began to develop a little  that is to say 
before she was even five years old  she became the servant of the
household 

Five years old  the reader will say  that is not probable  Alas  it is
true  Social suffering begins at all ages  Have we not recently seen the
trial of a man named Dumollard  an orphan turned bandit  who  from the
age of five  as the official documents state  being alone in the world 
 worked for his living and stole  

Cosette was made to run on errands  to sweep the rooms  the courtyard 
the street  to wash the dishes  to even carry burdens  The Thenardiers
considered themselves all the more authorized to behave in this manner 
since the mother  who was still at M  sur M   had become irregular in
her payments  Some months she was in arrears 

If this mother had returned to Montfermeil at the end of these three
years  she would not have recognized her child  Cosette  so pretty and
rosy on her arrival in that house  was now thin and pale  She had an
indescribably uneasy look   The sly creature   said the Thenardiers 

Injustice had made her peevish  and misery had made her ugly  Nothing
remained to her except her beautiful eyes  which inspired pain  because 
large as they were  it seemed as though one beheld in them a still
larger amount of sadness 

It was a heart breaking thing to see this poor child  not yet six years
old  shivering in the winter in her old rags of linen  full of holes 
sweeping the street before daylight  with an enormous broom in her tiny
red hands  and a tear in her great eyes 

 Illustration  Cossette Sweeping  1b4 1 cossette sweeping 

She was called the Lark in the neighborhood  The populace  who are fond
of these figures of speech  had taken a fancy to bestow this name on
this trembling  frightened  and shivering little creature  no bigger
than a bird  who was awake every morning before any one else in the
house or the village  and was always in the street or the fields before
daybreak 

Only the little lark never sang 




BOOK FIFTH   THE DESCENT 




CHAPTER I  THE HISTORY OF A PROGRESS IN BLACK GLASS TRINKETS

And in the meantime  what had become of that mother who according to
the people at Montfermeil  seemed to have abandoned her child  Where was
she  What was she doing 

After leaving her little Cosette with the Thenardiers  she had continued
her journey  and had reached M  sur M 

This  it will be remembered  was in 1818 

Fantine had quitted her province ten years before  M  sur M  had changed
its aspect  While Fantine had been slowly descending from wretchedness
to wretchedness  her native town had prospered 

About two years previously one of those industrial facts which are the
grand events of small districts had taken place 

This detail is important  and we regard it as useful to develop it at
length  we should almost say  to underline it 

From time immemorial  M  sur M  had had for its special industry the
imitation of English jet and the black glass trinkets of Germany  This
industry had always vegetated  on account of the high price of the raw
material  which reacted on the manufacture  At the moment when Fantine
returned to M  sur M   an unheard of transformation had taken place
in the production of  black goods   Towards the close of 1815 a man 
a stranger  had established himself in the town  and had been inspired
with the idea of substituting  in this manufacture  gum lac for resin 
and  for bracelets in particular  slides of sheet iron simply laid
together  for slides of soldered sheet iron 

This very small change had effected a revolution 

This very small change had  in fact  prodigiously reduced the cost of
the raw material  which had rendered it possible in the first place  to
raise the price of manufacture  a benefit to the country  in the second
place  to improve the workmanship  an advantage to the consumer  in the
third place  to sell at a lower price  while trebling the profit  which
was a benefit to the manufacturer 

Thus three results ensued from one idea 

In less than three years the inventor of this process had become rich 
which is good  and had made every one about him rich  which is better 
He was a stranger in the Department  Of his origin  nothing was known 
of the beginning of his career  very little  It was rumored that he had
come to town with very little money  a few hundred francs at the most 

It was from this slender capital  enlisted in the service of an
ingenious idea  developed by method and thought  that he had drawn his
own fortune  and the fortune of the whole countryside 

On his arrival at M  sur M  he had only the garments  the appearance 
and the language of a workingman 

It appears that on the very day when he made his obscure entry into
the little town of M  sur M   just at nightfall  on a December evening 
knapsack on back and thorn club in hand  a large fire had broken out
in the town hall  This man had rushed into the flames and saved  at the
risk of his own life  two children who belonged to the captain of the
gendarmerie  this is why they had forgotten to ask him for his passport 
Afterwards they had learned his name  He was called Father Madeleine 




CHAPTER II  MADELEINE

He was a man about fifty years of age  who had a preoccupied air  and
who was good  That was all that could be said about him 

Thanks to the rapid progress of the industry which he had so admirably
re constructed  M  sur M  had become a rather important centre of trade 
Spain  which consumes a good deal of black jet  made enormous purchases
there each year  M  sur M  almost rivalled London and Berlin in this
branch of commerce  Father Madeleine s profits were such  that at the
end of the second year he was able to erect a large factory  in which
there were two vast workrooms  one for the men  and the other for women 
Any one who was hungry could present himself there  and was sure of
finding employment and bread  Father Madeleine required of the men good
will  of the women pure morals  and of all  probity  He had separated
the work rooms in order to separate the sexes  and so that the women and
girls might remain discreet  On this point he was inflexible  It was the
only thing in which he was in a manner intolerant  He was all the more
firmly set on this severity  since M  sur M   being a garrison town 
opportunities for corruption abounded  However  his coming had been a
boon  and his presence was a godsend  Before Father Madeleine s arrival 
everything had languished in the country  now everything lived with
a healthy life of toil  A strong circulation warmed everything and
penetrated everywhere  Slack seasons and wretchedness were unknown 
There was no pocket so obscure that it had not a little money in it  no
dwelling so lowly that there was not some little joy within it 

Father Madeleine gave employment to every one  He exacted but one thing 
Be an honest man  Be an honest woman 

As we have said  in the midst of this activity of which he was the cause
and the pivot  Father Madeleine made his fortune  but a singular thing
in a simple man of business  it did not seem as though that were his
chief care  He appeared to be thinking much of others  and little of
himself  In 1820 he was known to have a sum of six hundred and thirty
thousand francs lodged in his name with Laffitte  but before reserving
these six hundred and thirty thousand francs  he had spent more than a
million for the town and its poor 

The hospital was badly endowed  he founded six beds there  M  sur M  is
divided into the upper and the lower town  The lower town  in which he
lived  had but one school  a miserable hovel  which was falling to ruin 
he constructed two  one for girls  the other for boys  He allotted a
salary from his own funds to the two instructors  a salary twice as
large as their meagre official salary  and one day he said to some one
who expressed surprise   The two prime functionaries of the state are
the nurse and the schoolmaster   He created at his own expense an infant
school  a thing then almost unknown in France  and a fund for aiding old
and infirm workmen  As his factory was a centre  a new quarter  in which
there were a good many indigent families  rose rapidly around him  he
established there a free dispensary 

At first  when they watched his beginnings  the good souls said   He s
a jolly fellow who means to get rich   When they saw him enriching
the country before he enriched himself  the good souls said   He is
an ambitious man   This seemed all the more probable since the man was
religious  and even practised his religion to a certain degree  a thing
which was very favorably viewed at that epoch  He went regularly to
low mass every Sunday  The local deputy  who nosed out all rivalry
everywhere  soon began to grow uneasy over this religion  This deputy
had been a member of the legislative body of the Empire  and shared the
religious ideas of a father of the Oratoire  known under the name
of Fouche  Duc d Otrante  whose creature and friend he had been  He
indulged in gentle raillery at God with closed doors  But when he beheld
the wealthy manufacturer Madeleine going to low mass at seven o clock 
he perceived in him a possible candidate  and resolved to outdo him  he
took a Jesuit confessor  and went to high mass and to vespers  Ambition
was at that time  in the direct acceptation of the word  a race to the
steeple  The poor profited by this terror as well as the good God  for
the honorable deputy also founded two beds in the hospital  which made
twelve 

Nevertheless  in 1819 a rumor one morning circulated through the town
to the effect that  on the representations of the prefect and in
consideration of the services rendered by him to the country  Father
Madeleine was to be appointed by the King  mayor of M  sur M  Those who
had pronounced this new comer to be  an ambitious fellow   seized with
delight on this opportunity which all men desire  to exclaim   There 
what did we say   All M  sur M  was in an uproar  The rumor was well
founded  Several days later the appointment appeared in the Moniteur  On
the following day Father Madeleine refused 

In this same year of 1819 the products of the new process invented by
Madeleine figured in the industrial exhibition  when the jury made their
report  the King appointed the inventor a chevalier of the Legion of
Honor  A fresh excitement in the little town  Well  so it was the cross
that he wanted  Father Madeleine refused the cross 

Decidedly this man was an enigma  The good souls got out of their
predicament by saying   After all  he is some sort of an adventurer  

We have seen that the country owed much to him  the poor owed him
everything  he was so useful and he was so gentle that people had been
obliged to honor and respect him  His workmen  in particular  adored
him  and he endured this adoration with a sort of melancholy gravity 
When he was known to be rich   people in society  bowed to him  and
he received invitations in the town  he was called  in town  Monsieur
Madeleine  his workmen and the children continued to call him Father
Madeleine  and that was what was most adapted to make him smile  In
proportion as he mounted  throve  invitations rained down upon him 
 Society  claimed him for its own  The prim little drawing rooms on
M  sur M   which  of course  had at first been closed to the artisan 
opened both leaves of their folding doors to the millionnaire  They made
a thousand advances to him  He refused 

This time the good gossips had no trouble   He is an ignorant man  of
no education  No one knows where he came from  He would not know how to
behave in society  It has not been absolutely proved that he knows how
to read  

When they saw him making money  they said   He is a man of business  
When they saw him scattering his money about  they said   He is an
ambitious man   When he was seen to decline honors  they said   He is
an adventurer   When they saw him repulse society  they said   He is a
brute  

In 1820  five years after his arrival in M  sur M   the services which
he had rendered to the district were so dazzling  the opinion of
the whole country round about was so unanimous  that the King again
appointed him mayor of the town  He again declined  but the prefect
resisted his refusal  all the notabilities of the place came to implore
him  the people in the street besought him  the urging was so vigorous
that he ended by accepting  It was noticed that the thing which seemed
chiefly to bring him to a decision was the almost irritated apostrophe
addressed to him by an old woman of the people  who called to him from
her threshold  in an angry way   A good mayor is a useful thing  Is he
drawing back before the good which he can do  

This was the third phase of his ascent  Father Madeleine had become
Monsieur Madeleine  Monsieur Madeleine became Monsieur le Maire 




CHAPTER III  SUMS DEPOSITED WITH LAFFITTE

On the other hand  he remained as simple as on the first day  He had
gray hair  a serious eye  the sunburned complexion of a laborer  the
thoughtful visage of a philosopher  He habitually wore a hat with a
wide brim  and a long coat of coarse cloth  buttoned to the chin  He
fulfilled his duties as mayor  but  with that exception  he lived in
solitude  He spoke to but few people  He avoided polite attentions 
he escaped quickly  he smiled to relieve himself of the necessity of
talking  he gave  in order to get rid of the necessity for smiling  The
women said of him   What a good natured bear   His pleasure consisted in
strolling in the fields 

He always took his meals alone  with an open book before him  which he
read  He had a well selected little library  He loved books  books
are cold but safe friends  In proportion as leisure came to him with
fortune  he seemed to take advantage of it to cultivate his mind  It had
been observed that  ever since his arrival at M  sur M   his language
had grown more polished  more choice  and more gentle with every passing
year  He liked to carry a gun with him on his strolls  but he rarely
made use of it  When he did happen to do so  his shooting was something
so infallible as to inspire terror  He never killed an inoffensive
animal  He never shot at a little bird 

Although he was no longer young  it was thought that he was still
prodigiously strong  He offered his assistance to any one who was in
need of it  lifted a horse  released a wheel clogged in the mud  or
stopped a runaway bull by the horns  He always had his pockets full
of money when he went out  but they were empty on his return  When he
passed through a village  the ragged brats ran joyously after him  and
surrounded him like a swarm of gnats 

It was thought that he must  in the past  have lived a country life 
since he knew all sorts of useful secrets  which he taught to the
peasants  He taught them how to destroy scurf on wheat  by sprinkling it
and the granary and inundating the cracks in the floor with a solution
of common salt  and how to chase away weevils by hanging up orviot in
bloom everywhere  on the walls and the ceilings  among the grass and in
the houses 

He had  recipes  for exterminating from a field  blight  tares  foxtail 
and all parasitic growths which destroy the wheat  He defended a rabbit
warren against rats  simply by the odor of a guinea pig which he placed
in it 

One day he saw some country people busily engaged in pulling up nettles 
he examined the plants  which were uprooted and already dried  and said 
 They are dead  Nevertheless  it would be a good thing to know how to
make use of them  When the nettle is young  the leaf makes an excellent
vegetable  when it is older  it has filaments and fibres like hemp and
flax  Nettle cloth is as good as linen cloth  Chopped up  nettles are
good for poultry  pounded  they are good for horned cattle  The seed of
the nettle  mixed with fodder  gives gloss to the hair of animals  the
root  mixed with salt  produces a beautiful yellow coloring matter 
Moreover  it is an excellent hay  which can be cut twice  And what is
required for the nettle  A little soil  no care  no culture  Only the
seed falls as it is ripe  and it is difficult to collect it  That
is all  With the exercise of a little care  the nettle could be made
useful  it is neglected and it becomes hurtful  It is exterminated  How
many men resemble the nettle   He added  after a pause   Remember this 
my friends  there are no such things as bad plants or bad men  There are
only bad cultivators  

The children loved him because he knew how to make charming little
trifles of straw and cocoanuts 

When he saw the door of a church hung in black  he entered  he sought
out funerals as other men seek christenings  Widowhood and the grief of
others attracted him  because of his great gentleness  he mingled with
the friends clad in mourning  with families dressed in black  with
the priests groaning around a coffin  He seemed to like to give to his
thoughts for text these funereal psalmodies filled with the vision of
the other world  With his eyes fixed on heaven  he listened with a
sort of aspiration towards all the mysteries of the infinite  those sad
voices which sing on the verge of the obscure abyss of death 

He performed a multitude of good actions  concealing his agency in them
as a man conceals himself because of evil actions  He penetrated houses
privately  at night  he ascended staircases furtively  A poor wretch
on returning to his attic would find that his door had been opened 
sometimes even forced  during his absence  The poor man made a clamor
over it  some malefactor had been there  He entered  and the first
thing he beheld was a piece of gold lying forgotten on some piece of
furniture  The  malefactor  who had been there was Father Madeleine 

He was affable and sad  The people said   There is a rich man who has
not a haughty air  There is a happy man who has not a contented air  

Some people maintained that he was a mysterious person  and that no
one ever entered his chamber  which was a regular anchorite s cell 
furnished with winged hour glasses and enlivened by cross bones and
skulls of dead men  This was much talked of  so that one of the elegant
and malicious young women of M  sur M  came to him one day  and asked 
 Monsieur le Maire  pray show us your chamber  It is said to be a
grotto   He smiled  and introduced them instantly into this  grotto  
They were well punished for their curiosity  The room was very simply
furnished in mahogany  which was rather ugly  like all furniture of
that sort  and hung with paper worth twelve sous  They could see nothing
remarkable about it  except two candlesticks of antique pattern which
stood on the chimney piece and appeared to be silver   for they were
hall marked   an observation full of the type of wit of petty towns 

Nevertheless  people continued to say that no one ever got into the
room  and that it was a hermit s cave  a mysterious retreat  a hole  a
tomb 

It was also whispered about that he had  immense  sums deposited with
Laffitte  with this peculiar feature  that they were always at his
immediate disposal  so that  it was added  M  Madeleine could make his
appearance at Laffitte s any morning  sign a receipt  and carry off his
two or three millions in ten minutes  In reality   these two or three
millions  were reducible  as we have said  to six hundred and thirty or
forty thousand francs 




CHAPTER IV  M  MADELEINE IN MOURNING

At the beginning of 1820 the newspapers announced the death of M 
Myriel  Bishop of D      surnamed  Monseigneur Bienvenu   who had died
in the odor of sanctity at the age of eighty two 

The Bishop of D     to supply here a detail which the papers
omitted  had been blind for many years before his death  and content to
be blind  as his sister was beside him 

Let us remark by the way  that to be blind and to be loved  is  in fact 
one of the most strangely exquisite forms of happiness upon this earth 
where nothing is complete  To have continually at one s side a woman  a
daughter  a sister  a charming being  who is there because you need her
and because she cannot do without you  to know that we are indispensable
to a person who is necessary to us  to be able to incessantly measure
one s affection by the amount of her presence which she bestows on us 
and to say to ourselves   Since she consecrates the whole of her time
to me  it is because I possess the whole of her heart   to behold her
thought in lieu of her face  to be able to verify the fidelity of one
being amid the eclipse of the world  to regard the rustle of a gown
as the sound of wings  to hear her come and go  retire  speak  return 
sing  and to think that one is the centre of these steps  of this
speech  to manifest at each instant one s personal attraction  to feel
one s self all the more powerful because of one s infirmity  to become
in one s obscurity  and through one s obscurity  the star around which
this angel gravitates   few felicities equal this  The supreme happiness
of life consists in the conviction that one is loved  loved for
one s own sake  let us say rather  loved in spite of one s self  this
conviction the blind man possesses  To be served in distress is to be
caressed  Does he lack anything  No  One does not lose the sight when
one has love  And what love  A love wholly constituted of virtue  There
is no blindness where there is certainty  Soul seeks soul  gropingly 
and finds it  And this soul  found and tested  is a woman  A hand
sustains you  it is hers  a mouth lightly touches your brow  it is her
mouth  you hear a breath very near you  it is hers  To have everything
of her  from her worship to her pity  never to be left  to have that
sweet weakness aiding you  to lean upon that immovable reed  to
touch Providence with one s hands  and to be able to take it in
one s arms   God made tangible   what bliss  The heart  that obscure 
celestial flower  undergoes a mysterious blossoming  One would not
exchange that shadow for all brightness  The angel soul is there 
uninterruptedly there  if she departs  it is but to return again  she
vanishes like a dream  and reappears like reality  One feels warmth
approaching  and behold  she is there  One overflows with serenity  with
gayety  with ecstasy  one is a radiance amid the night  And there are
a thousand little cares  Nothings  which are enormous in that void  The
most ineffable accents of the feminine voice employed to lull you  and
supplying the vanished universe to you  One is caressed with the soul 
One sees nothing  but one feels that one is adored  It is a paradise of
shadows 

It was from this paradise that Monseigneur Welcome had passed to the
other 

The announcement of his death was reprinted by the local journal of M 
sur M  On the following day  M  Madeleine appeared clad wholly in black 
and with crape on his hat 

This mourning was noticed in the town  and commented on  It seemed
to throw a light on M  Madeleine s origin  It was concluded that some
relationship existed between him and the venerable Bishop   He has gone
into mourning for the Bishop of D      said the drawing rooms  this
raised M  Madeleine s credit greatly  and procured for him  instantly
and at one blow  a certain consideration in the noble world of M  sur
M  The microscopic Faubourg Saint Germain of the place meditated raising
the quarantine against M  Madeleine  the probable relative of a bishop 
M  Madeleine perceived the advancement which he had obtained  by the
more numerous courtesies of the old women and the more plentiful smiles
of the young ones  One evening  a ruler in that petty great world  who
was curious by right of seniority  ventured to ask him   M  le Maire is
doubtless a cousin of the late Bishop of D      

He said   No  Madame  

 But   resumed the dowager   you are wearing mourning for him  

He replied   It is because I was a servant in his family in my youth  

Another thing which was remarked  was  that every time that he
encountered in the town a young Savoyard who was roaming about the
country and seeking chimneys to sweep  the mayor had him summoned 
inquired his name  and gave him money  The little Savoyards told each
other about it  a great many of them passed that way 




CHAPTER V  VAGUE FLASHES ON THE HORIZON

Little by little  and in the course of time  all this opposition
subsided  There had at first been exercised against M  Madeleine 
in virtue of a sort of law which all those who rise must submit to 
blackening and calumnies  then they grew to be nothing more than
ill nature  then merely malicious remarks  then even this entirely
disappeared  respect became complete  unanimous  cordial  and towards
1821 the moment arrived when the word  Monsieur le Maire  was pronounced
at M  sur M  with almost the same accent as  Monseigneur the Bishop 
had been pronounced in D     in 1815  People came from a distance of ten
leagues around to consult M  Madeleine  He put an end to differences 
he prevented lawsuits  he reconciled enemies  Every one took him for the
judge  and with good reason  It seemed as though he had for a soul the
book of the natural law  It was like an epidemic of veneration  which in
the course of six or seven years gradually took possession of the whole
district 

One single man in the town  in the arrondissement  absolutely escaped
this contagion  and  whatever Father Madeleine did  remained his
opponent as though a sort of incorruptible and imperturbable instinct
kept him on the alert and uneasy  It seems  in fact  as though there
existed in certain men a veritable bestial instinct  though pure and
upright  like all instincts  which creates antipathies and sympathies 
which fatally separates one nature from another nature  which does not
hesitate  which feels no disquiet  which does not hold its peace 
and which never belies itself  clear in its obscurity  infallible 
imperious  intractable  stubborn to all counsels of the intelligence
and to all the dissolvents of reason  and which  in whatever manner
destinies are arranged  secretly warns the man dog of the presence of
the man cat  and the man fox of the presence of the man lion 

It frequently happened that when M  Madeleine was passing along a
street  calm  affectionate  surrounded by the blessings of all  a man of
lofty stature  clad in an iron gray frock coat  armed with a heavy
cane  and wearing a battered hat  turned round abruptly behind him  and
followed him with his eyes until he disappeared  with folded arms and
a slow shake of the head  and his upper lip raised in company with
his lower to his nose  a sort of significant grimace which might be
translated by   What is that man  after all  I certainly have seen him
somewhere  In any case  I am not his dupe  

This person  grave with a gravity which was almost menacing  was one
of those men who  even when only seen by a rapid glimpse  arrest the
spectator s attention 

His name was Javert  and he belonged to the police 

At M  sur M  he exercised the unpleasant but useful functions of an
inspector  He had not seen Madeleine s beginnings  Javert owed the post
which he occupied to the protection of M  Chabouillet  the secretary of
the Minister of State  Comte Angeles  then prefect of police at Paris 
When Javert arrived at M  sur M  the fortune of the great manufacturer
was already made  and Father Madeleine had become Monsieur Madeleine 

Certain police officers have a peculiar physiognomy  which is
complicated with an air of baseness mingled with an air of authority 
Javert possessed this physiognomy minus the baseness 

It is our conviction that if souls were visible to the eyes  we should
be able to see distinctly that strange thing that each one individual
of the human race corresponds to some one of the species of the animal
creation  and we could easily recognize this truth  hardly perceived
by the thinker  that from the oyster to the eagle  from the pig to the
tiger  all animals exist in man  and that each one of them is in a man 
Sometimes even several of them at a time 

Animals are nothing else than the figures of our virtues and our vices 
straying before our eyes  the visible phantoms of our souls  God shows
them to us in order to induce us to reflect  Only since animals are mere
shadows  God has not made them capable of education in the full sense
of the word  what is the use  On the contrary  our souls being realities
and having a goal which is appropriate to them  God has bestowed on
them intelligence  that is to say  the possibility of education  Social
education  when well done  can always draw from a soul  of whatever sort
it may be  the utility which it contains 

This  be it said  is of course from the restricted point of view of the
terrestrial life which is apparent  and without prejudging the profound
question of the anterior or ulterior personality of the beings which are
not man  The visible  I  in nowise authorizes the thinker to deny the
latent  I   Having made this reservation  let us pass on 

Now  if the reader will admit  for a moment  with us  that in every man
there is one of the animal species of creation  it will be easy for us
to say what there was in Police Officer Javert 

The peasants of Asturias are convinced that in every litter of wolves
there is one dog  which is killed by the mother because  otherwise  as
he grew up  he would devour the other little ones 

Give to this dog son of a wolf a human face  and the result will be
Javert 

Javert had been born in prison  of a fortune teller  whose husband was
in the galleys  As he grew up  he thought that he was outside the pale
of society  and he despaired of ever re entering it  He observed that
society unpardoningly excludes two classes of men   those who attack
it and those who guard it  he had no choice except between these
two classes  at the same time  he was conscious of an indescribable
foundation of rigidity  regularity  and probity  complicated with an
inexpressible hatred for the race of bohemians whence he was sprung  He
entered the police  he succeeded there  At forty years of age he was an
inspector 

During his youth he had been employed in the convict establishments of
the South 

Before proceeding further  let us come to an understanding as to the
words   human face   which we have just applied to Javert 

The human face of Javert consisted of a flat nose  with two deep
nostrils  towards which enormous whiskers ascended on his cheeks  One
felt ill at ease when he saw these two forests and these two caverns
for the first time  When Javert laughed   and his laugh was rare and
terrible   his thin lips parted and revealed to view not only his teeth 
but his gums  and around his nose there formed a flattened and savage
fold  as on the muzzle of a wild beast  Javert  serious  was a watchdog 
when he laughed  he was a tiger  As for the rest  he had very little
skull and a great deal of jaw  his hair concealed his forehead and
fell over his eyebrows  between his eyes there was a permanent  central
frown  like an imprint of wrath  his gaze was obscure  his mouth pursed
up and terrible  his air that of ferocious command 

This man was composed of two very simple and two very good sentiments 
comparatively  but he rendered them almost bad  by dint of exaggerating
them   respect for authority  hatred of rebellion  and in his eyes 
murder  robbery  all crimes  are only forms of rebellion  He enveloped
in a blind and profound faith every one who had a function in the state 
from the prime minister to the rural policeman  He covered with scorn 
aversion  and disgust every one who had once crossed the legal threshold
of evil  He was absolute  and admitted no exceptions  On the one hand 
he said   The functionary can make no mistake  the magistrate is never
the wrong   On the other hand  he said   These men are irremediably
lost  Nothing good can come from them   He fully shared the opinion of
those extreme minds which attribute to human law I know not what power
of making  or  if the reader will have it so  of authenticating  demons 
and who place a Styx at the base of society  He was stoical  serious 
austere  a melancholy dreamer  humble and haughty  like fanatics  His
glance was like a gimlet  cold and piercing  His whole life hung on
these two words  watchfulness and supervision  He had introduced a
straight line into what is the most crooked thing in the world 
he possessed the conscience of his usefulness  the religion of his
functions  and he was a spy as other men are priests  Woe to the man
who fell into his hands  He would have arrested his own father  if
the latter had escaped from the galleys  and would have denounced his
mother  if she had broken her ban  And he would have done it with that
sort of inward satisfaction which is conferred by virtue  And  withal 
a life of privation  isolation  abnegation  chastity  with never
a diversion  It was implacable duty  the police understood  as the
Spartans understood Sparta  a pitiless lying in wait  a ferocious
honesty  a marble informer  Brutus in Vidocq 

Javert s whole person was expressive of the man who spies and who
withdraws himself from observation  The mystical school of Joseph de
Maistre  which at that epoch seasoned with lofty cosmogony those things
which were called the ultra newspapers  would not have failed to declare
that Javert was a symbol  His brow was not visible  it disappeared
beneath his hat  his eyes were not visible  since they were lost under
his eyebrows  his chin was not visible  for it was plunged in his
cravat  his hands were not visible  they were drawn up in his sleeves 
and his cane was not visible  he carried it under his coat  But when the
occasion presented itself  there was suddenly seen to emerge from all
this shadow  as from an ambuscade  a narrow and angular forehead  a
baleful glance  a threatening chin  enormous hands  and a monstrous
cudgel 

In his leisure moments  which were far from frequent  he read  although
he hated books  this caused him to be not wholly illiterate  This could
be recognized by some emphasis in his speech 

As we have said  he had no vices  When he was pleased with himself 
he permitted himself a pinch of snuff  Therein lay his connection with
humanity 

The reader will have no difficulty in understanding that Javert was the
terror of that whole class which the annual statistics of the Ministry
of Justice designates under the rubric  Vagrants  The name of Javert
routed them by its mere utterance  the face of Javert petrified them at
sight 

Such was this formidable man 

Javert was like an eye constantly fixed on M  Madeleine  An eye full of
suspicion and conjecture  M  Madeleine had finally perceived the fact 
but it seemed to be of no importance to him  He did not even put a
question to Javert  he neither sought nor avoided him  he bore that
embarrassing and almost oppressive gaze without appearing to notice it 
He treated Javert with ease and courtesy  as he did all the rest of the
world 

It was divined  from some words which escaped Javert  that he had
secretly investigated  with that curiosity which belongs to the race 
and into which there enters as much instinct as will  all the anterior
traces which Father Madeleine might have left elsewhere  He seemed to
know  and he sometimes said in covert words  that some one had gleaned
certain information in a certain district about a family which had
disappeared  Once he chanced to say  as he was talking to himself   I
think I have him   Then he remained pensive for three days  and uttered
not a word  It seemed that the thread which he thought he held had
broken 

Moreover  and this furnishes the necessary corrective for the too
absolute sense which certain words might present  there can be nothing
really infallible in a human creature  and the peculiarity of instinct
is that it can become confused  thrown off the track  and defeated 
Otherwise  it would be superior to intelligence  and the beast would be
found to be provided with a better light than man 

Javert was evidently somewhat disconcerted by the perfect naturalness
and tranquillity of M  Madeleine 

One day  nevertheless  his strange manner appeared to produce an
impression on M  Madeleine  It was on the following occasion 




CHAPTER VI  FATHER FAUCHELEVENT

One morning M  Madeleine was passing through an unpaved alley of M  sur
M   he heard a noise  and saw a group some distance away  He approached 
An old man named Father Fauchelevent had just fallen beneath his cart 
his horse having tumbled down 

This Fauchelevent was one of the few enemies whom M  Madeleine had at
that time  When Madeleine arrived in the neighborhood  Fauchelevent  an
ex notary and a peasant who was almost educated  had a business which
was beginning to be in a bad way  Fauchelevent had seen this simple
workman grow rich  while he  a lawyer  was being ruined  This had filled
him with jealousy  and he had done all he could  on every occasion 
to injure Madeleine  Then bankruptcy had come  and as the old man had
nothing left but a cart and a horse  and neither family nor children  he
had turned carter 

The horse had two broken legs and could not rise  The old man was caught
in the wheels  The fall had been so unlucky that the whole weight of the
vehicle rested on his breast  The cart was quite heavily laden  Father
Fauchelevent was rattling in the throat in the most lamentable manner 
They had tried  but in vain  to drag him out  An unmethodical effort 
aid awkwardly given  a wrong shake  might kill him  It was impossible to
disengage him otherwise than by lifting the vehicle off of him 
Javert  who had come up at the moment of the accident  had sent for a
jack screw 

M  Madeleine arrived  People stood aside respectfully 

 Help   cried old Fauchelevent   Who will be good and save the old man  

M  Madeleine turned towards those present   

 Is there a jack screw to be had  

 One has been sent for   answered the peasant 

 How long will it take to get it  

 They have gone for the nearest  to Flachot s place  where there is a
farrier  but it makes no difference  it will take a good quarter of an
hour  

 A quarter of an hour   exclaimed Madeleine 

It had rained on the preceding night  the soil was soaked 

The cart was sinking deeper into the earth every moment  and crushing
the old carter s breast more and more  It was evident that his ribs
would be broken in five minutes more 

 It is impossible to wait another quarter of an hour   said Madeleine to
the peasants  who were staring at him 

 We must  

 But it will be too late then  Don t you see that the cart is sinking  

 Well  

 Listen   resumed Madeleine   there is still room enough under the cart
to allow a man to crawl beneath it and raise it with his back  Only half
a minute  and the poor man can be taken out  Is there any one here who
has stout loins and heart  There are five louis d or to be earned  

Not a man in the group stirred 

 Ten louis   said Madeleine 

The persons present dropped their eyes  One of them muttered   A man
would need to be devilish strong  And then he runs the risk of getting
crushed  

 Come   began Madeleine again   twenty louis  

The same silence 

 It is not the will which is lacking   said a voice 

M  Madeleine turned round  and recognized Javert  He had not noticed him
on his arrival 

Javert went on   

 It is strength  One would have to be a terrible man to do such a thing
as lift a cart like that on his back  

Then  gazing fixedly at M  Madeleine  he went on  emphasizing every word
that he uttered   

 Monsieur Madeleine  I have never known but one man capable of doing
what you ask  

Madeleine shuddered 

Javert added  with an air of indifference  but without removing his eyes
from Madeleine   

 He was a convict  

 Ah   said Madeleine 

 In the galleys at Toulon  

Madeleine turned pale 

Meanwhile  the cart continued to sink slowly  Father Fauchelevent
rattled in the throat  and shrieked   

 I am strangling  My ribs are breaking  a screw  something  Ah  

Madeleine glanced about him 

 Is there  then  no one who wishes to earn twenty louis and save the
life of this poor old man  

No one stirred  Javert resumed   

 I have never known but one man who could take the place of a screw  and
he was that convict  

 Ah  It is crushing me   cried the old man 

Madeleine raised his head  met Javert s falcon eye still fixed upon
him  looked at the motionless peasants  and smiled sadly  Then  without
saying a word  he fell on his knees  and before the crowd had even had
time to utter a cry  he was underneath the vehicle 

A terrible moment of expectation and silence ensued 

They beheld Madeleine  almost flat on his stomach beneath that terrible
weight  make two vain efforts to bring his knees and his elbows
together  They shouted to him   Father Madeleine  come out   Old
Fauchelevent himself said to him   Monsieur Madeleine  go away  You see
that I am fated to die  Leave me  You will get yourself crushed also  
Madeleine made no reply 

All the spectators were panting  The wheels had continued to sink  and
it had become almost impossible for Madeleine to make his way from under
the vehicle 

Suddenly the enormous mass was seen to quiver  the cart rose slowly  the
wheels half emerged from the ruts  They heard a stifled voice crying 
 Make haste  Help   It was Madeleine  who had just made a final effort 

They rushed forwards  The devotion of a single man had given force and
courage to all  The cart was raised by twenty arms  Old Fauchelevent was
saved 

Madeleine rose  He was pale  though dripping with perspiration  His
clothes were torn and covered with mud  All wept  The old man kissed
his knees and called him the good God  As for him  he bore upon
his countenance an indescribable expression of happy and celestial
suffering  and he fixed his tranquil eye on Javert  who was still
staring at him 




CHAPTER VII  FAUCHELEVENT BECOMES A GARDENER IN PARIS


Fauchelevent had dislocated his kneepan in his fall  Father Madeleine
had him conveyed to an infirmary which he had established for his
workmen in the factory building itself  and which was served by two
sisters of charity  On the following morning the old man found a
thousand franc bank note on his night stand  with these words in Father
Madeleine s writing   I purchase your horse and cart   The cart was
broken  and the horse was dead  Fauchelevent recovered  but his knee
remained stiff  M  Madeleine  on the recommendation of the sisters of
charity and of his priest  got the good man a place as gardener in a
female convent in the Rue Saint Antoine in Paris 

Some time afterwards  M  Madeleine was appointed mayor  The first time
that Javert beheld M  Madeleine clothed in the scarf which gave him
authority over the town  he felt the sort of shudder which a watch dog
might experience on smelling a wolf in his master s clothes  From
that time forth he avoided him as much as he possibly could  When the
requirements of the service imperatively demanded it  and he could
not do otherwise than meet the mayor  he addressed him with profound
respect 

This prosperity created at M  sur M  by Father Madeleine had  besides
the visible signs which we have mentioned  another symptom which was
none the less significant for not being visible  This never deceives 
When the population suffers  when work is lacking  when there is no
commerce  the tax payer resists imposts through penury  he exhausts and
oversteps his respite  and the state expends a great deal of money in
the charges for compelling and collection  When work is abundant  when
the country is rich and happy  the taxes are paid easily and cost the
state nothing  It may be said  that there is one infallible thermometer
of the public misery and riches   the cost of collecting the taxes 
In the course of seven years the expense of collecting the taxes had
diminished three fourths in the arrondissement of M  sur M   and this
led to this arrondissement being frequently cited from all the rest by
M  de Villele  then Minister of Finance 

Such was the condition of the country when Fantine returned thither  No
one remembered her  Fortunately  the door of M  Madeleine s factory was
like the face of a friend  She presented herself there  and was admitted
to the women s workroom  The trade was entirely new to Fantine  she
could not be very skilful at it  and she therefore earned but little by
her day s work  but it was sufficient  the problem was solved  she was
earning her living 




CHAPTER VIII  MADAME VICTURNIEN EXPENDS THIRTY FRANCS ON MORALITY

When Fantine saw that she was making her living  she felt joyful for a
moment  To live honestly by her own labor  what mercy from heaven  The
taste for work had really returned to her  She bought a looking glass 
took pleasure in surveying in it her youth  her beautiful hair  her fine
teeth  she forgot many things  she thought only of Cosette and of the
possible future  and was almost happy  She hired a little room and
furnished on credit on the strength of her future work  a lingering
trace of her improvident ways  As she was not able to say that she was
married she took good care  as we have seen  not to mention her little
girl 

At first  as the reader has seen  she paid the Thenardiers promptly  As
she only knew how to sign her name  she was obliged to write through a
public letter writer 

She wrote often  and this was noticed  It began to be said in an
undertone  in the women s workroom  that Fantine  wrote letters  and
that  she had ways about her  

There is no one for spying on people s actions like those who are
not concerned in them  Why does that gentleman never come except at
nightfall  Why does Mr  So and So never hang his key on its nail on
Tuesday  Why does he always take the narrow streets  Why does Madame
always descend from her hackney coach before reaching her house  Why
does she send out to purchase six sheets of note paper  when she has a
 whole stationer s shop full of it   etc  There exist beings who  for
the sake of obtaining the key to these enigmas  which are  moreover  of
no consequence whatever to them  spend more money  waste more time 
take more trouble  than would be required for ten good actions  and
that gratuitously  for their own pleasure  without receiving any other
payment for their curiosity than curiosity  They will follow up such and
such a man or woman for whole days  they will do sentry duty for hours
at a time on the corners of the streets  under alley way doors at night 
in cold and rain  they will bribe errand porters  they will make the
drivers of hackney coaches and lackeys tipsy  buy a waiting maid  suborn
a porter  Why  For no reason  A pure passion for seeing  knowing 
and penetrating into things  A pure itch for talking  And often
these secrets once known  these mysteries made public  these enigmas
illuminated by the light of day  bring on catastrophies  duels 
failures  the ruin of families  and broken lives  to the great joy
of those who have  found out everything   without any interest in the
matter  and by pure instinct  A sad thing 

Certain persons are malicious solely through a necessity for talking 
Their conversation  the chat of the drawing room  gossip of the
anteroom  is like those chimneys which consume wood rapidly  they need
a great amount of combustibles  and their combustibles are furnished by
their neighbors 

So Fantine was watched 

In addition  many a one was jealous of her golden hair and of her white
teeth 

It was remarked that in the workroom she often turned aside  in the
midst of the rest  to wipe away a tear  These were the moments when she
was thinking of her child  perhaps  also  of the man whom she had loved 

Breaking the gloomy bonds of the past is a mournful task 

It was observed that she wrote twice a month at least  and that she
paid the carriage on the letter  They managed to obtain the address 
Monsieur  Monsieur Thenardier  inn keeper at Montfermeil  The public
writer  a good old man who could not fill his stomach with red wine
without emptying his pocket of secrets  was made to talk in the
wine shop  In short  it was discovered that Fantine had a child   She
must be a pretty sort of a woman   An old gossip was found  who made the
trip to Montfermeil  talked to the Thenardiers  and said on her return 
 For my five and thirty francs I have freed my mind  I have seen the
child  

The gossip who did this thing was a gorgon named Madame Victurnien  the
guardian and door keeper of every one s virtue  Madame Victurnien was
fifty six  and re enforced the mask of ugliness with the mask of age 
A quavering voice  a whimsical mind  This old dame had once been
young  astonishing fact  In her youth  in  93  she had married a
monk who had fled from his cloister in a red cap  and passed from
the Bernardines to the Jacobins  She was dry  rough  peevish  sharp 
captious  almost venomous  all this in memory of her monk  whose widow
she was  and who had ruled over her masterfully and bent her to his
will  She was a nettle in which the rustle of the cassock was visible 
At the Restoration she had turned bigot  and that with so much energy
that the priests had forgiven her her monk  She had a small property 
which she bequeathed with much ostentation to a religious community 
She was in high favor at the episcopal palace of Arras  So this Madame
Victurnien went to Montfermeil  and returned with the remark   I have
seen the child  

All this took time  Fantine had been at the factory for more than a
year  when  one morning  the superintendent of the workroom handed her
fifty francs from the mayor  told her that she was no longer employed
in the shop  and requested her  in the mayor s name  to leave the
neighborhood 

This was the very month when the Thenardiers  after having demanded
twelve francs instead of six  had just exacted fifteen francs instead of
twelve 

Fantine was overwhelmed  She could not leave the neighborhood  she was
in debt for her rent and furniture  Fifty francs was not sufficient
to cancel this debt  She stammered a few supplicating words  The
superintendent ordered her to leave the shop on the instant  Besides 
Fantine was only a moderately good workwoman  Overcome with shame  even
more than with despair  she quitted the shop  and returned to her room 
So her fault was now known to every one 

She no longer felt strong enough to say a word  She was advised to
see the mayor  she did not dare  The mayor had given her fifty francs
because he was good  and had dismissed her because he was just  She
bowed before the decision 




CHAPTER IX  MADAME VICTURNIEN S SUCCESS

So the monk s widow was good for something 

But M  Madeleine had heard nothing of all this  Life is full of just
such combinations of events  M  Madeleine was in the habit of almost
never entering the women s workroom 

At the head of this room he had placed an elderly spinster  whom
the priest had provided for him  and he had full confidence in this
superintendent   a truly respectable person  firm  equitable  upright 
full of the charity which consists in giving  but not having in the same
degree that charity which consists in understanding and in forgiving 
M  Madeleine relied wholly on her  The best men are often obliged
to delegate their authority  It was with this full power  and the
conviction that she was doing right  that the superintendent had
instituted the suit  judged  condemned  and executed Fantine 

As regards the fifty francs  she had given them from a fund which M 
Madeleine had intrusted to her for charitable purposes  and for giving
assistance to the workwomen  and of which she rendered no account 

Fantine tried to obtain a situation as a servant in the neighborhood 
she went from house to house  No one would have her  She could not
leave town  The second hand dealer  to whom she was in debt for her
furniture  and what furniture   said to her   If you leave  I will have
you arrested as a thief   The householder  whom she owed for her rent 
said to her   You are young and pretty  you can pay   She divided the
fifty francs between the landlord and the furniture dealer  returned to
the latter three quarters of his goods  kept only necessaries  and found
herself without work  without a trade  with nothing but her bed  and
still about fifty francs in debt 

She began to make coarse shirts for soldiers of the garrison  and earned
twelve sous a day  Her daughter cost her ten  It was at this point that
she began to pay the Thenardiers irregularly 

However  the old woman who lighted her candle for her when she returned
at night  taught her the art of living in misery  Back of living on
little  there is the living on nothing  These are the two chambers  the
first is dark  the second is black 

Fantine learned how to live without fire entirely in the winter  how to
give up a bird which eats a half a farthing s worth of millet every
two days  how to make a coverlet of one s petticoat  and a petticoat of
one s coverlet  how to save one s candle  by taking one s meals by
the light of the opposite window  No one knows all that certain feeble
creatures  who have grown old in privation and honesty  can get out of
a sou  It ends by being a talent  Fantine acquired this sublime talent 
and regained a little courage 

At this epoch she said to a neighbor   Bah  I say to myself  by only
sleeping five hours  and working all the rest of the time at my sewing 
I shall always manage to nearly earn my bread  And  then  when one is
sad  one eats less  Well  sufferings  uneasiness  a little bread on one
hand  trouble on the other   all this will support me  

It would have been a great happiness to have her little girl with her in
this distress  She thought of having her come  But what then  Make her
share her own destitution  And then  she was in debt to the Thenardiers 
How could she pay them  And the journey  How pay for that 

The old woman who had given her lessons in what may be called the life
of indigence  was a sainted spinster named Marguerite  who was pious
with a true piety  poor and charitable towards the poor  and even
towards the rich  knowing how to write just sufficiently to sign herself
Marguerite  and believing in God  which is science 

There are many such virtuous people in this lower world  some day they
will be in the world above  This life has a morrow 

At first  Fantine had been so ashamed that she had not dared to go out 

When she was in the street  she divined that people turned round behind
her  and pointed at her  every one stared at her and no one greeted her 
the cold and bitter scorn of the passers by penetrated her very flesh
and soul like a north wind 

It seems as though an unfortunate woman were utterly bare beneath the
sarcasm and the curiosity of all in small towns  In Paris  at least  no
one knows you  and this obscurity is a garment  Oh  how she would have
liked to betake herself to Paris  Impossible 

She was obliged to accustom herself to disrepute  as she had accustomed
herself to indigence  Gradually she decided on her course  At the
expiration of two or three months she shook off her shame  and began to
go about as though there were nothing the matter   It is all the same to
me   she said 

She went and came  bearing her head well up  with a bitter smile  and
was conscious that she was becoming brazen faced 

Madame Victurnien sometimes saw her passing  from her window  noticed
the distress of  that creature  who   thanks to her   had been  put back
in her proper place   and congratulated herself  The happiness of the
evil minded is black 

Excess of toil wore out Fantine  and the little dry cough which troubled
her increased  She sometimes said to her neighbor  Marguerite   Just
feel how hot my hands are  

Nevertheless  when she combed her beautiful hair in the morning with
an old broken comb  and it flowed about her like floss silk  she
experienced a moment of happy coquetry 




CHAPTER X  RESULT OF THE SUCCESS

She had been dismissed towards the end of the winter  the summer passed 
but winter came again  Short days  less work  Winter  no warmth 
no light  no noonday  the evening joining on to the morning  fogs 
twilight  the window is gray  it is impossible to see clearly at it  The
sky is but a vent hole  The whole day is a cavern  The sun has the air
of a beggar  A frightful season  Winter changes the water of heaven and
the heart of man into a stone  Her creditors harrassed her 

Fantine earned too little  Her debts had increased  The Thenardiers  who
were not promptly paid  wrote to her constantly letters whose contents
drove her to despair  and whose carriage ruined her  One day they wrote
to her that her little Cosette was entirely naked in that cold weather 
that she needed a woollen skirt  and that her mother must send at least
ten francs for this  She received the letter  and crushed it in her
hands all day long  That evening she went into a barber s shop at the
corner of the street  and pulled out her comb  Her admirable golden hair
fell to her knees 

 What splendid hair   exclaimed the barber 

 How much will you give me for it   said she 

 Ten francs  

 Cut it off  

She purchased a knitted petticoat and sent it to the Thenardiers  This
petticoat made the Thenardiers furious  It was the money that they
wanted  They gave the petticoat to Eponine  The poor Lark continued to
shiver 

Fantine thought   My child is no longer cold  I have clothed her with my
hair   She put on little round caps which concealed her shorn head  and
in which she was still pretty 

Dark thoughts held possession of Fantine s heart 

When she saw that she could no longer dress her hair  she began to hate
every one about her  She had long shared the universal veneration for
Father Madeleine  yet  by dint of repeating to herself that it was he
who had discharged her  that he was the cause of her unhappiness  she
came to hate him also  and most of all  When she passed the factory in
working hours  when the workpeople were at the door  she affected to
laugh and sing 

An old workwoman who once saw her laughing and singing in this fashion
said   There s a girl who will come to a bad end  

She took a lover  the first who offered  a man whom she did not love 
out of bravado and with rage in her heart  He was a miserable scamp 
a sort of mendicant musician  a lazy beggar  who beat her  and who
abandoned her as she had taken him  in disgust 

She adored her child 

The lower she descended  the darker everything grew about her  the more
radiant shone that little angel at the bottom of her heart  She said 
 When I get rich  I will have my Cosette with me   and she laughed  Her
cough did not leave her  and she had sweats on her back 

One day she received from the Thenardiers a letter couched in the
following terms   Cosette is ill with a malady which is going the rounds
of the neighborhood  A miliary fever  they call it  Expensive drugs are
required  This is ruining us  and we can no longer pay for them  If you
do not send us forty francs before the week is out  the little one will
be dead  

She burst out laughing  and said to her old neighbor   Ah  they are
good  Forty francs  the idea  That makes two napoleons  Where do they
think I am to get them  These peasants are stupid  truly  

Nevertheless she went to a dormer window in the staircase and read the
letter once more  Then she descended the stairs and emerged  running and
leaping and still laughing 

Some one met her and said to her   What makes you so gay  

She replied   A fine piece of stupidity that some country people have
written to me  They demand forty francs of me  So much for you  you
peasants  

As she crossed the square  she saw a great many people collected around
a carriage of eccentric shape  upon the top of which stood a man dressed
in red  who was holding forth  He was a quack dentist on his rounds 
who was offering to the public full sets of teeth  opiates  powders and
elixirs 

Fantine mingled in the group  and began to laugh with the rest at
the harangue  which contained slang for the populace and jargon for
respectable people  The tooth puller espied the lovely  laughing girl 
and suddenly exclaimed   You have beautiful teeth  you girl there  who
are laughing  if you want to sell me your palettes  I will give you a
gold napoleon apiece for them  

 What are my palettes   asked Fantine 

 The palettes   replied the dental professor   are the front teeth  the
two upper ones  

 How horrible   exclaimed Fantine 

 Two napoleons   grumbled a toothless old woman who was present   Here s
a lucky girl  

Fantine fled and stopped her ears that she might not hear the hoarse
voice of the man shouting to her   Reflect  my beauty  two napoleons 
they may prove of service  If your heart bids you  come this evening to
the inn of the Tillac d Argent  you will find me there  

Fantine returned home  She was furious  and related the occurrence to
her good neighbor Marguerite   Can you understand such a thing  Is he
not an abominable man  How can they allow such people to go about the
country  Pull out my two front teeth  Why  I should be horrible  My hair
will grow again  but my teeth  Ah  what a monster of a man  I should
prefer to throw myself head first on the pavement from the fifth story 
He told me that he should be at the Tillac d Argent this evening  

 And what did he offer   asked Marguerite 

 Two napoleons  

 That makes forty francs  

 Yes   said Fantine   that makes forty francs  

She remained thoughtful  and began her work  At the expiration of a
quarter of an hour she left her sewing and went to read the Thenardiers 
letter once more on the staircase 

On her return  she said to Marguerite  who was at work beside her   

 What is a miliary fever  Do you know  

 Yes   answered the old spinster   it is a disease  

 Does it require many drugs  

 Oh  terrible drugs  

 How does one get it  

 It is a malady that one gets without knowing how  

 Then it attacks children  

 Children in particular  

 Do people die of it  

 They may   said Marguerite 

Fantine left the room and went to read her letter once more on the
staircase 

That evening she went out  and was seen to turn her steps in the
direction of the Rue de Paris  where the inns are situated 

The next morning  when Marguerite entered Fantine s room before
daylight   for they always worked together  and in this manner used only
one candle for the two   she found Fantine seated on her bed  pale and
frozen  She had not lain down  Her cap had fallen on her knees 
Her candle had burned all night  and was almost entirely consumed 
Marguerite halted on the threshold  petrified at this tremendous
wastefulness  and exclaimed   

 Lord  the candle is all burned out  Something has happened  

Then she looked at Fantine  who turned toward her her head bereft of its
hair 

Fantine had grown ten years older since the preceding night 

 Jesus   said Marguerite   what is the matter with you  Fantine  

 Nothing   replied Fantine   Quite the contrary  My child will not die
of that frightful malady  for lack of succor  I am content  

So saying  she pointed out to the spinster two napoleons which were
glittering on the table 

 Ah  Jesus God   cried Marguerite   Why  it is a fortune  Where did you
get those louis d or  

 I got them   replied Fantine 

At the same time she smiled  The candle illuminated her countenance  It
was a bloody smile  A reddish saliva soiled the corners of her lips  and
she had a black hole in her mouth 

The two teeth had been extracted 

She sent the forty francs to Montfermeil 

After all it was a ruse of the Thenardiers to obtain money  Cosette was
not ill 

Fantine threw her mirror out of the window  She had long since quitted
her cell on the second floor for an attic with only a latch to fasten
it  next the roof  one of those attics whose extremity forms an angle
with the floor  and knocks you on the head every instant  The poor
occupant can reach the end of his chamber as he can the end of his
destiny  only by bending over more and more 

She had no longer a bed  a rag which she called her coverlet  a mattress
on the floor  and a seatless chair still remained  A little rosebush
which she had  had dried up  forgotten  in one corner  In the other
corner was a butter pot to hold water  which froze in winter  and in
which the various levels of the water remained long marked by these
circles of ice  She had lost her shame  she lost her coquetry  A final
sign  She went out  with dirty caps  Whether from lack of time or from
indifference  she no longer mended her linen  As the heels wore out 
she dragged her stockings down into her shoes  This was evident from the
perpendicular wrinkles  She patched her bodice  which was old and worn
out  with scraps of calico which tore at the slightest movement  The
people to whom she was indebted made  scenes  and gave her no peace 
She found them in the street  she found them again on her staircase  She
passed many a night weeping and thinking  Her eyes were very bright 
and she felt a steady pain in her shoulder towards the top of the
left shoulder blade  She coughed a great deal  She deeply hated Father
Madeleine  but made no complaint  She sewed seventeen hours a day  but
a contractor for the work of prisons  who made the prisoners work at a
discount  suddenly made prices fall  which reduced the daily earnings
of working women to nine sous  Seventeen hours of toil  and nine sous a
day  Her creditors were more pitiless than ever  The second hand dealer 
who had taken back nearly all his furniture  said to her incessantly 
 When will you pay me  you hussy   What did they want of her  good God 
She felt that she was being hunted  and something of the wild beast
developed in her  About the same time  Thenardier wrote to her that he
had waited with decidedly too much amiability and that he must have a
hundred francs at once  otherwise he would turn little Cosette out of
doors  convalescent as she was from her heavy illness  into the cold and
the streets  and that she might do what she liked with herself  and die
if she chose   A hundred francs   thought Fantine   But in what trade
can one earn a hundred sous a day  

 Come   said she   let us sell what is left  

The unfortunate girl became a woman of the town 




CHAPTER XI  CHRISTUS NOS LIBERAVIT

What is this history of Fantine  It is society purchasing a slave 

From whom  From misery 

From hunger  cold  isolation  destitution  A dolorous bargain  A soul
for a morsel of bread  Misery offers  society accepts 

The sacred law of Jesus Christ governs our civilization  but it does
not  as yet  permeate it  it is said that slavery has disappeared from
European civilization  This is a mistake  It still exists  but it weighs
only upon the woman  and it is called prostitution 

It weighs upon the woman  that is to say  upon grace  weakness  beauty 
maternity  This is not one of the least of man s disgraces 

At the point in this melancholy drama which we have now reached  nothing
is left to Fantine of that which she had formerly been 

She has become marble in becoming mire  Whoever touches her feels cold 
She passes  she endures you  she ignores you  she is the severe and
dishonored figure  Life and the social order have said their last word
for her  All has happened to her that will happen to her  She has
felt everything  borne everything  experienced everything  suffered
everything  lost everything  mourned everything  She is resigned  with
that resignation which resembles indifference  as death resembles sleep 
She no longer avoids anything  Let all the clouds fall upon her  and all
the ocean sweep over her  What matters it to her  She is a sponge that
is soaked 

At least  she believes it to be so  but it is an error to imagine that
fate can be exhausted  and that one has reached the bottom of anything
whatever 

Alas  What are all these fates  driven on pell mell  Whither are they
going  Why are they thus 

He who knows that sees the whole of the shadow 

He is alone  His name is God 




CHAPTER XII  M  BAMATABOIS S INACTIVITY

There is in all small towns  and there was at M  sur M  in particular 
a class of young men who nibble away an income of fifteen hundred
francs with the same air with which their prototypes devour two hundred
thousand francs a year in Paris  These are beings of the great neuter
species  impotent men  parasites  cyphers  who have a little land  a
little folly  a little wit  who would be rustics in a drawing room  and
who think themselves gentlemen in the dram shop  who say   My fields 
my peasants  my woods   who hiss actresses at the theatre to prove that
they are persons of taste  quarrel with the officers of the garrison
to prove that they are men of war  hunt  smoke  yawn  drink  smell of
tobacco  play billiards  stare at travellers as they descend from the
diligence  live at the cafe  dine at the inn  have a dog which eats the
bones under the table  and a mistress who eats the dishes on the table 
who stick at a sou  exaggerate the fashions  admire tragedy  despise
women  wear out their old boots  copy London through Paris  and Paris
through the medium of Pont A Mousson  grow old as dullards  never work 
serve no use  and do no great harm 

M  Felix Tholomyes  had he remained in his own province and never beheld
Paris  would have been one of these men 

If they were richer  one would say   They are dandies   if they were
poorer  one would say   They are idlers   They are simply men without
employment  Among these unemployed there are bores  the bored  dreamers 
and some knaves 

At that period a dandy was composed of a tall collar  a big cravat  a
watch with trinkets  three vests of different colors  worn one on top of
the other  the red and blue inside  of a short waisted olive coat  with
a codfish tail  a double row of silver buttons set close to each other
and running up to the shoulder  and a pair of trousers of a lighter
shade of olive  ornamented on the two seams with an indefinite  but
always uneven  number of lines  varying from one to eleven  a limit
which was never exceeded  Add to this  high shoes with little irons
on the heels  a tall hat with a narrow brim  hair worn in a tuft  an
enormous cane  and conversation set off by puns of Potier  Over all 
spurs and a mustache  At that epoch mustaches indicated the bourgeois 
and spurs the pedestrian 

The provincial dandy wore the longest of spurs and the fiercest of
mustaches 

It was the period of the conflict of the republics of South America with
the King of Spain  of Bolivar against Morillo  Narrow brimmed hats were
royalist  and were called morillos  liberals wore hats with wide brims 
which were called bolivars 

Eight or ten months  then  after that which is related in the preceding
pages  towards the first of January  1823  on a snowy evening  one of
these dandies  one of these unemployed  a  right thinker   for he wore
a morillo  and was  moreover  warmly enveloped in one of those large
cloaks which completed the fashionable costume in cold weather  was
amusing himself by tormenting a creature who was prowling about in a
ball dress  with neck uncovered and flowers in her hair  in front of
the officers  cafe  This dandy was smoking  for he was decidedly
fashionable 

Each time that the woman passed in front of him  he bestowed on her 
together with a puff from his cigar  some apostrophe which he considered
witty and mirthful  such as   How ugly you are   Will you get out of my
sight   You have no teeth   etc   etc  This gentleman was known as M 
Bamatabois  The woman  a melancholy  decorated spectre which went and
came through the snow  made him no reply  did not even glance at him 
and nevertheless continued her promenade in silence  and with a sombre
regularity  which brought her every five minutes within reach of this
sarcasm  like the condemned soldier who returns under the rods  The
small effect which he produced no doubt piqued the lounger  and taking
advantage of a moment when her back was turned  he crept up behind her
with the gait of a wolf  and stifling his laugh  bent down  picked up a
handful of snow from the pavement  and thrust it abruptly into her back 
between her bare shoulders  The woman uttered a roar  whirled round 
gave a leap like a panther  and hurled herself upon the man  burying her
nails in his face  with the most frightful words which could fall from
the guard room into the gutter  These insults  poured forth in a voice
roughened by brandy  did  indeed  proceed in hideous wise from a mouth
which lacked its two front teeth  It was Fantine 

At the noise thus produced  the officers ran out in throngs from the
cafe  passers by collected  and a large and merry circle  hooting and
applauding  was formed around this whirlwind composed of two beings 
whom there was some difficulty in recognizing as a man and a woman  the
man struggling  his hat on the ground  the woman striking out with feet
and fists  bareheaded  howling  minus hair and teeth  livid with wrath 
horrible 

Suddenly a man of lofty stature emerged vivaciously from the crowd 
seized the woman by her satin bodice  which was covered with mud  and
said to her   Follow me  

The woman raised her head  her furious voice suddenly died away  Her
eyes were glassy  she turned pale instead of livid  and she trembled
with a quiver of terror  She had recognized Javert 

The dandy took advantage of the incident to make his escape 




CHAPTER XIII  THE SOLUTION OF SOME QUESTIONS CONNECTED WITH THE
MUNICIPAL POLICE

Javert thrust aside the spectators  broke the circle  and set out
with long strides towards the police station  which is situated at the
extremity of the square  dragging the wretched woman after him  She
yielded mechanically  Neither he nor she uttered a word  The cloud of
spectators followed  jesting  in a paroxysm of delight  Supreme misery
an occasion for obscenity 

On arriving at the police station  which was a low room  warmed by a
stove  with a glazed and grated door opening on the street  and guarded
by a detachment  Javert opened the door  entered with Fantine  and shut
the door behind him  to the great disappointment of the curious  who
raised themselves on tiptoe  and craned their necks in front of the
thick glass of the station house  in their effort to see  Curiosity is a
sort of gluttony  To see is to devour 

On entering  Fantine fell down in a corner  motionless and mute 
crouching down like a terrified dog 

The sergeant of the guard brought a lighted candle to the table  Javert
seated himself  drew a sheet of stamped paper from his pocket  and began
to write 

This class of women is consigned by our laws entirely to the discretion
of the police  The latter do what they please  punish them  as seems
good to them  and confiscate at their will those two sorry things which
they entitle their industry and their liberty  Javert was impassive  his
grave face betrayed no emotion whatever  Nevertheless  he was seriously
and deeply preoccupied  It was one of those moments when he was
exercising without control  but subject to all the scruples of a severe
conscience  his redoubtable discretionary power  At that moment he was
conscious that his police agent s stool was a tribunal  He was entering
judgment  He judged and condemned  He summoned all the ideas which could
possibly exist in his mind  around the great thing which he was doing 
The more he examined the deed of this woman  the more shocked he felt 
It was evident that he had just witnessed the commission of a crime 
He had just beheld  yonder  in the street  society  in the person of a
freeholder and an elector  insulted and attacked by a creature who was
outside all pales  A prostitute had made an attempt on the life of a
citizen  He had seen that  he  Javert  He wrote in silence 

When he had finished he signed the paper  folded it  and said to the
sergeant of the guard  as he handed it to him   Take three men and
conduct this creature to jail  

Then  turning to Fantine   You are to have six months of it   The
unhappy woman shuddered 

 Six months  six months of prison   she exclaimed   Six months in which
to earn seven sous a day  But what will become of Cosette  My daughter 
my daughter  But I still owe the Thenardiers over a hundred francs  do
you know that  Monsieur Inspector  

She dragged herself across the damp floor  among the muddy boots of all
those men  without rising  with clasped hands  and taking great strides
on her knees 

 Monsieur Javert   said she   I beseech your mercy  I assure you that
I was not in the wrong  If you had seen the beginning  you would have
seen  I swear to you by the good God that I was not to blame  That
gentleman  the bourgeois  whom I do not know  put snow in my back  Has
any one the right to put snow down our backs when we are walking along
peaceably  and doing no harm to any one  I am rather ill  as you see 
And then  he had been saying impertinent things to me for a long time 
 You are ugly  you have no teeth   I know well that I have no longer
those teeth  I did nothing  I said to myself   The gentleman is amusing
himself   I was honest with him  I did not speak to him  It was at that
moment that he put the snow down my back  Monsieur Javert  good Monsieur
Inspector  is there not some person here who saw it and can tell you
that this is quite true  Perhaps I did wrong to get angry  You know that
one is not master of one s self at the first moment  One gives way to
vivacity  and then  when some one puts something cold down your
back just when you are not expecting it  I did wrong to spoil that
gentleman s hat  Why did he go away  I would ask his pardon  Oh  my God 
It makes no difference to me whether I ask his pardon  Do me the favor
to day  for this once  Monsieur Javert  Hold  you do not know that in
prison one can earn only seven sous a day  it is not the government s
fault  but seven sous is one s earnings  and just fancy  I must pay
one hundred francs  or my little girl will be sent to me  Oh  my God 
I cannot have her with me  What I do is so vile  Oh  my Cosette  Oh  my
little angel of the Holy Virgin  what will become of her  poor creature 
I will tell you  it is the Thenardiers  inn keepers  peasants  and such
people are unreasonable  They want money  Don t put me in prison  You
see  there is a little girl who will be turned out into the street to
get along as best she may  in the very heart of the winter  and you must
have pity on such a being  my good Monsieur Javert  If she were older 
she might earn her living  but it cannot be done at that age  I am not a
bad woman at bottom  It is not cowardliness and gluttony that have made
me what I am  If I have drunk brandy  it was out of misery  I do not
love it  but it benumbs the senses  When I was happy  it was only
necessary to glance into my closets  and it would have been evident that
I was not a coquettish and untidy woman  I had linen  a great deal of
linen  Have pity on me  Monsieur Javert  

She spoke thus  rent in twain  shaken with sobs  blinded with tears 
her neck bare  wringing her hands  and coughing with a dry  short cough 
stammering softly with a voice of agony  Great sorrow is a divine and
terrible ray  which transfigures the unhappy  At that moment Fantine had
become beautiful once more  From time to time she paused  and tenderly
kissed the police agent s coat  She would have softened a heart of
granite  but a heart of wood cannot be softened 

 Come   said Javert   I have heard you out  Have you entirely finished 
You will get six months  Now march  The Eternal Father in person could
do nothing more  

At these solemn words   the Eternal Father in person could do nothing
more   she understood that her fate was sealed  She sank down 
murmuring   Mercy  

Javert turned his back 

The soldiers seized her by the arms 

A few moments earlier a man had entered  but no one had paid any heed
to him  He shut the door  leaned his back against it  and listened to
Fantine s despairing supplications 

At the instant when the soldiers laid their hands upon the unfortunate
woman  who would not rise  he emerged from the shadow  and said   

 One moment  if you please  

Javert raised his eyes and recognized M  Madeleine  He removed his hat 
and  saluting him with a sort of aggrieved awkwardness   

 Excuse me  Mr  Mayor   

The words  Mr  Mayor  produced a curious effect upon Fantine  She rose
to her feet with one bound  like a spectre springing from the earth 
thrust aside the soldiers with both arms  walked straight up to M 
Madeleine before any one could prevent her  and gazing intently at him 
with a bewildered air  she cried   

 Ah  so it is you who are M  le Maire  

Then she burst into a laugh  and spit in his face 

M  Madeleine wiped his face  and said   

 Inspector Javert  set this woman at liberty  

Javert felt that he was on the verge of going mad  He experienced at
that moment  blow upon blow and almost simultaneously  the most violent
emotions which he had ever undergone in all his life  To see a woman of
the town spit in the mayor s face was a thing so monstrous that  in his
most daring flights of fancy  he would have regarded it as a sacrilege
to believe it possible  On the other hand  at the very bottom of his
thought  he made a hideous comparison as to what this woman was  and as
to what this mayor might be  and then he  with horror  caught a glimpse
of I know not what simple explanation of this prodigious attack  But
when he beheld that mayor  that magistrate  calmly wipe his face and
say   Set this woman at liberty   he underwent a sort of intoxication
of amazement  thought and word failed him equally  the sum total of
possible astonishment had been exceeded in his case  He remained mute 

The words had produced no less strange an effect on Fantine  She raised
her bare arm  and clung to the damper of the stove  like a person who
is reeling  Nevertheless  she glanced about her  and began to speak in a
low voice  as though talking to herself   

 At liberty  I am to be allowed to go  I am not to go to prison for six
months  Who said that  It is not possible that any one could have said
that  I did not hear aright  It cannot have been that monster of a
mayor  Was it you  my good Monsieur Javert  who said that I was to be
set free  Oh  see here  I will tell you about it  and you will let me
go  That monster of a mayor  that old blackguard of a mayor  is the
cause of all  Just imagine  Monsieur Javert  he turned me out  all
because of a pack of rascally women  who gossip in the workroom  If that
is not a horror  what is  To dismiss a poor girl who is doing her
work honestly  Then I could no longer earn enough  and all this misery
followed  In the first place  there is one improvement which these
gentlemen of the police ought to make  and that is  to prevent prison
contractors from wronging poor people  I will explain it to you  you
see  you are earning twelve sous at shirt making  the price falls to
nine sous  and it is not enough to live on  Then one has to become
whatever one can  As for me  I had my little Cosette  and I was actually
forced to become a bad woman  Now you understand how it is that that
blackguard of a mayor caused all the mischief  After that I stamped on
that gentleman s hat in front of the officers  cafe  but he had spoiled
my whole dress with snow  We women have but one silk dress for evening
wear  You see that I did not do wrong deliberately  truly  Monsieur
Javert  and everywhere I behold women who are far more wicked than I 
and who are much happier  O Monsieur Javert  it was you who gave orders
that I am to be set free  was it not  Make inquiries  speak to my
landlord  I am paying my rent now  they will tell you that I am
perfectly honest  Ah  my God  I beg your pardon  I have unintentionally
touched the damper of the stove  and it has made it smoke  

M  Madeleine listened to her with profound attention  While she was
speaking  he fumbled in his waistcoat  drew out his purse and opened
it  It was empty  He put it back in his pocket  He said to Fantine   How
much did you say that you owed  

Fantine  who was looking at Javert only  turned towards him   

 Was I speaking to you  

Then  addressing the soldiers   

 Say  you fellows  did you see how I spit in his face  Ah  you old
wretch of a mayor  you came here to frighten me  but I m not afraid of
you  I am afraid of Monsieur Javert  I am afraid of my good Monsieur
Javert  

So saying  she turned to the inspector again   

 And yet  you see  Mr  Inspector  it is necessary to be just  I
understand that you are just  Mr  Inspector  in fact  it is perfectly
simple  a man amuses himself by putting snow down a woman s back  and
that makes the officers laugh  one must divert themselves in some way 
and we  well  we are here for them to amuse themselves with  of course 
And then  you  you come  you are certainly obliged to preserve order 
you lead off the woman who is in the wrong  but on reflection  since you
are a good man  you say that I am to be set at liberty  it is for
the sake of the little one  for six months in prison would prevent my
supporting my child   Only  don t do it again  you hussy   Oh  I won t
do it again  Monsieur Javert  They may do whatever they please to me
now  I will not stir  But to day  you see  I cried because it hurt me 
I was not expecting that snow from the gentleman at all  and then as I
told you  I am not well  I have a cough  I seem to have a burning ball
in my stomach  and the doctor tells me   Take care of yourself   Here 
feel  give me your hand  don t be afraid  it is here  

She no longer wept  her voice was caressing  she placed Javert s coarse
hand on her delicate  white throat and looked smilingly at him 

All at once she rapidly adjusted her disordered garments  dropped the
folds of her skirt  which had been pushed up as she dragged herself
along  almost to the height of her knee  and stepped towards the door 
saying to the soldiers in a low voice  and with a friendly nod   

 Children  Monsieur l Inspecteur has said that I am to be released  and
I am going  

She laid her hand on the latch of the door  One step more and she would
be in the street 

Javert up to that moment had remained erect  motionless  with his eyes
fixed on the ground  cast athwart this scene like some displaced statue 
which is waiting to be put away somewhere 

The sound of the latch roused him  He raised his head with an expression
of sovereign authority  an expression all the more alarming in
proportion as the authority rests on a low level  ferocious in the wild
beast  atrocious in the man of no estate 

 Sergeant   he cried   don t you see that that jade is walking off  Who
bade you let her go  

 I   said Madeleine 

Fantine trembled at the sound of Javert s voice  and let go of the latch
as a thief relinquishes the article which he has stolen  At the sound
of Madeleine s voice she turned around  and from that moment forth she
uttered no word  nor dared so much as to breathe freely  but her glance
strayed from Madeleine to Javert  and from Javert to Madeleine in turn 
according to which was speaking 

It was evident that Javert must have been exasperated beyond measure
before he would permit himself to apostrophize the sergeant as he
had done  after the mayor s suggestion that Fantine should be set at
liberty  Had he reached the point of forgetting the mayor s presence 
Had he finally declared to himself that it was impossible that any
 authority  should have given such an order  and that the mayor must
certainly have said one thing by mistake for another  without intending
it  Or  in view of the enormities of which he had been a witness for the
past two hours  did he say to himself  that it was necessary to recur to
supreme resolutions  that it was indispensable that the small should
be made great  that the police spy should transform himself into a
magistrate  that the policeman should become a dispenser of justice  and
that  in this prodigious extremity  order  law  morality  government 
society in its entirety  was personified in him  Javert 

However that may be  when M  Madeleine uttered that word   I   as we
have just heard  Police Inspector Javert was seen to turn toward the
mayor  pale  cold  with blue lips  and a look of despair  his whole body
agitated by an imperceptible quiver and an unprecedented occurrence  and
say to him  with downcast eyes but a firm voice   

 Mr  Mayor  that cannot be  

 Why not   said M  Madeleine 

 This miserable woman has insulted a citizen  

 Inspector Javert   replied the mayor  in a calm and conciliating tone 
 listen  You are an honest man  and I feel no hesitation in explaining
matters to you  Here is the true state of the case  I was passing
through the square just as you were leading this woman away  there were
still groups of people standing about  and I made inquiries and learned
everything  it was the townsman who was in the wrong and who should have
been arrested by properly conducted police  

Javert retorted   

 This wretch has just insulted Monsieur le Maire  

 That concerns me   said M  Madeleine   My own insult belongs to me  I
think  I can do what I please about it  

 I beg Monsieur le Maire s pardon  The insult is not to him but to the
law  

 Inspector Javert   replied M  Madeleine   the highest law is
conscience  I have heard this woman  I know what I am doing  

 And I  Mr  Mayor  do not know what I see  

 Then content yourself with obeying  

 I am obeying my duty  My duty demands that this woman shall serve six
months in prison  

M  Madeleine replied gently   

 Heed this well  she will not serve a single day  

At this decisive word  Javert ventured to fix a searching look on the
mayor and to say  but in a tone of voice that was still profoundly
respectful   

 I am sorry to oppose Monsieur le Maire  it is for the first time in my
life  but he will permit me to remark that I am within the bounds of my
authority  I confine myself  since Monsieur le Maire desires it  to the
question of the gentleman  I was present  This woman flung herself
on Monsieur Bamatabnois  who is an elector and the proprietor of that
handsome house with a balcony  which forms the corner of the esplanade 
three stories high and entirely of cut stone  Such things as there are
in the world  In any case  Monsieur le Maire  this is a question of
police regulations in the streets  and concerns me  and I shall detain
this woman Fantine  

Then M  Madeleine folded his arms  and said in a severe voice which no
one in the town had heard hitherto   

 The matter to which you refer is one connected with the municipal
police  According to the terms of articles nine  eleven  fifteen  and
sixty six of the code of criminal examination  I am the judge  I order
that this woman shall be set at liberty  

Javert ventured to make a final effort 

 But  Mr  Mayor   

 I refer you to article eighty one of the law of the 13th of December 
1799  in regard to arbitrary detention  

 Monsieur le Maire  permit me   

 Not another word  

 But   

 Leave the room   said M  Madeleine 

Javert received the blow erect  full in the face  in his breast  like
a Russian soldier  He bowed to the very earth before the mayor and left
the room 

Fantine stood aside from the door and stared at him in amazement as he
passed 

Nevertheless  she also was the prey to a strange confusion  She had just
seen herself a subject of dispute between two opposing powers  She had
seen two men who held in their hands her liberty  her life  her soul 
her child  in combat before her very eyes  one of these men was drawing
her towards darkness  the other was leading her back towards the light 
In this conflict  viewed through the exaggerations of terror  these two
men had appeared to her like two giants  the one spoke like her demon 
the other like her good angel  The angel had conquered the demon  and 
strange to say  that which made her shudder from head to foot was
the fact that this angel  this liberator  was the very man whom she
abhorred  that mayor whom she had so long regarded as the author of all
her woes  that Madeleine  And at the very moment when she had insulted
him in so hideous a fashion  he had saved her  Had she  then  been
mistaken  Must she change her whole soul  She did not know  she
trembled  She listened in bewilderment  she looked on in affright  and
at every word uttered by M  Madeleine she felt the frightful shades of
hatred crumble and melt within her  and something warm and ineffable 
indescribable  which was both joy  confidence and love  dawn in her
heart 

When Javert had taken his departure  M  Madeleine turned to her and said
to her in a deliberate voice  like a serious man who does not wish to
weep and who finds some difficulty in speaking   

 I have heard you  I knew nothing about what you have mentioned  I
believe that it is true  and I feel that it is true  I was even ignorant
of the fact that you had left my shop  Why did you not apply to me  But
here  I will pay your debts  I will send for your child  or you shall go
to her  You shall live here  in Paris  or where you please  I undertake
the care of your child and yourself  You shall not work any longer if
you do not like  I will give all the money you require  You shall be
honest and happy once more  And listen  I declare to you that if all
is as you say   and I do not doubt it   you have never ceased to be
virtuous and holy in the sight of God  Oh  poor woman  

This was more than Fantine could bear  To have Cosette  To leave this
life of infamy  To live free  rich  happy  respectable with Cosette  to
see all these realities of paradise blossom of a sudden in the midst of
her misery  She stared stupidly at this man who was talking to her  and
could only give vent to two or three sobs   Oh  Oh  Oh  

Her limbs gave way beneath her  she knelt in front of M  Madeleine  and
before he could prevent her he felt her grasp his hand and press her
lips to it 

Then she fainted 




BOOK SIXTH   JAVERT




CHAPTER I  THE BEGINNING OF REPOSE


M  Madeleine had Fantine removed to that infirmary which he had
established in his own house  He confided her to the sisters  who put
her to bed  A burning fever had come on  She passed a part of the night
in delirium and raving  At length  however  she fell asleep 

On the morrow  towards midday  Fantine awoke  She heard some one
breathing close to her bed  she drew aside the curtain and saw M 
Madeleine standing there and looking at something over her head  His
gaze was full of pity  anguish  and supplication  She followed its
direction  and saw that it was fixed on a crucifix which was nailed to
the wall 

Thenceforth  M  Madeleine was transfigured in Fantine s eyes  He seemed
to her to be clothed in light  He was absorbed in a sort of prayer  She
gazed at him for a long time without daring to interrupt him  At last
she said timidly   

 What are you doing  

M  Madeleine had been there for an hour  He had been waiting for Fantine
to awake  He took her hand  felt of her pulse  and replied   

 How do you feel  

 Well  I have slept   she replied   I think that I am better  It is
nothing  

He answered  responding to the first question which she had put to him
as though he had just heard it   

 I was praying to the martyr there on high  

And he added in his own mind   For the martyr here below  

M  Madeleine had passed the night and the morning in making inquiries 
He knew all now  He knew Fantine s history in all its heart rending
details  He went on   

 You have suffered much  poor mother  Oh  do not complain  you now have
the dowry of the elect  It is thus that men are transformed into angels 
It is not their fault they do not know how to go to work otherwise 
You see this hell from which you have just emerged is the first form of
heaven  It was necessary to begin there  

He sighed deeply  But she smiled on him with that sublime smile in which
two teeth were lacking 

That same night  Javert wrote a letter  The next morning be posted it
himself at the office of M  sur M  It was addressed to Paris  and the
superscription ran  To Monsieur Chabouillet  Secretary of Monsieur le
Prefet of Police  As the affair in the station house had been bruited
about  the post mistress and some other persons who saw the letter
before it was sent off  and who recognized Javert s handwriting on the
cover  thought that he was sending in his resignation 

M  Madeleine made haste to write to the Thenardiers  Fantine owed
them one hundred and twenty francs  He sent them three hundred francs 
telling them to pay themselves from that sum  and to fetch the child
instantly to M  sur M   where her sick mother required her presence 

This dazzled Thenardier   The devil   said the man to his wife   don t
let s allow the child to go  This lark is going to turn into a milch
cow  I see through it  Some ninny has taken a fancy to the mother  

He replied with a very well drawn up bill for five hundred and some odd
francs  In this memorandum two indisputable items figured up over three
hundred francs   one for the doctor  the other for the apothecary
who had attended and physicked Eponine and Azelma through two long
illnesses  Cosette  as we have already said  had not been ill  It was
only a question of a trifling substitution of names  At the foot of the
memorandum Thenardier wrote  Received on account  three hundred francs 

M  Madeleine immediately sent three hundred francs more  and wrote 
 Make haste to bring Cosette  

 Christi   said Thenardier   let s not give up the child  

In the meantime  Fantine did not recover  She still remained in the
infirmary 

The sisters had at first only received and nursed  that woman  with
repugnance  Those who have seen the bas reliefs of Rheims will recall
the inflation of the lower lip of the wise virgins as they survey the
foolish virgins  The ancient scorn of the vestals for the ambubajae is
one of the most profound instincts of feminine dignity  the sisters
felt it with the double force contributed by religion  But in a few days
Fantine disarmed them  She said all kinds of humble and gentle things 
and the mother in her provoked tenderness  One day the sisters heard
her say amid her fever   I have been a sinner  but when I have my child
beside me  it will be a sign that God has pardoned me  While I was
leading a bad life  I should not have liked to have my Cosette with me 
I could not have borne her sad  astonished eyes  It was for her sake
that I did evil  and that is why God pardons me  I shall feel the
benediction of the good God when Cosette is here  I shall gaze at her 
it will do me good to see that innocent creature  She knows nothing at
all  She is an angel  you see  my sisters  At that age the wings have
not fallen off  

M  Madeleine went to see her twice a day  and each time she asked him   

 Shall I see my Cosette soon  

He answered   

 To morrow  perhaps  She may arrive at any moment  I am expecting her  

And the mother s pale face grew radiant 

 Oh   she said   how happy I am going to be  

We have just said that she did not recover her health  On the contrary 
her condition seemed to become more grave from week to week  That
handful of snow applied to her bare skin between her shoulder blades had
brought about a sudden suppression of perspiration  as a consequence of
which the malady which had been smouldering within her for many years
was violently developed at last  At that time people were beginning to
follow the fine Laennec s fine suggestions in the study and treatment of
chest maladies  The doctor sounded Fantine s chest and shook his head 

M  Madeleine said to the doctor   

 Well  

 Has she not a child which she desires to see   said the doctor 

 Yes  

 Well  Make haste and get it here  

M  Madeleine shuddered 

Fantine inquired   

 What did the doctor say  

M  Madeleine forced himself to smile 

 He said that your child was to be brought speedily  That that would
restore your health  

 Oh   she rejoined   he is right  But what do those Thenardiers mean
by keeping my Cosette from me  Oh  she is coming  At last I behold
happiness close beside me  

In the meantime Thenardier did not  let go of the child   and gave a
hundred insufficient reasons for it  Cosette was not quite well enough
to take a journey in the winter  And then  there still remained some
petty but pressing debts in the neighborhood  and they were collecting
the bills for them  etc   etc 

 I shall send some one to fetch Cosette   said Father Madeleine   If
necessary  I will go myself  

He wrote the following letter to Fantine s dictation  and made her sign
it   

  MONSIEUR THENARDIER   
          You will deliver Cosette to this person 
          You will be paid for all the little things 
          I have the honor to salute you with respect 
                                                   FANTINE  


In the meantime a serious incident occurred  Carve as we will the
mysterious block of which our life is made  the black vein of destiny
constantly reappears in it 




CHAPTER II  HOW JEAN MAY BECOME CHAMP


One morning M  Madeleine was in his study  occupied in arranging in
advance some pressing matters connected with the mayor s office  in case
he should decide to take the trip to Montfermeil  when he was informed
that Police Inspector Javert was desirous of speaking with him 
Madeleine could not refrain from a disagreeable impression on hearing
this name  Javert had avoided him more than ever since the affair of the
police station  and M  Madeleine had not seen him 

 Admit him   he said 

Javert entered 

M  Madeleine had retained his seat near the fire  pen in hand  his eyes
fixed on the docket which he was turning over and annotating  and which
contained the trials of the commission on highways for the infraction of
police regulations  He did not disturb himself on Javert s account  He
could not help thinking of poor Fantine  and it suited him to be glacial
in his manner 

Javert bestowed a respectful salute on the mayor  whose back was turned
to him  The mayor did not look at him  but went on annotating this
docket 

Javert advanced two or three paces into the study  and halted  without
breaking the silence 

If any physiognomist who had been familiar with Javert  and who had
made a lengthy study of this savage in the service of civilization 
this singular composite of the Roman  the Spartan  the monk  and the
corporal  this spy who was incapable of a lie  this unspotted police
agent  if any physiognomist had known his secret and long cherished
aversion for M  Madeleine  his conflict with the mayor on the subject of
Fantine  and had examined Javert at that moment  he would have said to
himself   What has taken place   It was evident to any one acquainted
with that clear  upright  sincere  honest  austere  and ferocious
conscience  that Javert had but just gone through some great interior
struggle  Javert had nothing in his soul which he had not also in his
countenance  Like violent people in general  he was subject to abrupt
changes of opinion  His physiognomy had never been more peculiar and
startling  On entering he bowed to M  Madeleine with a look in which
there was neither rancor  anger  nor distrust  he halted a few paces in
the rear of the mayor s arm chair  and there he stood  perfectly erect 
in an attitude almost of discipline  with the cold  ingenuous roughness
of a man who has never been gentle and who has always been patient  he
waited without uttering a word  without making a movement  in genuine
humility and tranquil resignation  calm  serious  hat in hand  with
eyes cast down  and an expression which was half way between that of a
soldier in the presence of his officer and a criminal in the presence
of his judge  until it should please the mayor to turn round  All the
sentiments as well as all the memories which one might have attributed
to him had disappeared  That face  as impenetrable and simple as
granite  no longer bore any trace of anything but a melancholy
depression  His whole person breathed lowliness and firmness and an
indescribable courageous despondency 

At last the mayor laid down his pen and turned half round 

 Well  What is it  What is the matter  Javert  

Javert remained silent for an instant as though collecting his ideas 
then raised his voice with a sort of sad solemnity  which did not 
however  preclude simplicity 

 This is the matter  Mr  Mayor  a culpable act has been committed  

 What act  

 An inferior agent of the authorities has failed in respect  and in the
gravest manner  towards a magistrate  I have come to bring the fact to
your knowledge  as it is my duty to do  

 Who is the agent   asked M  Madeleine 

 I   said Javert 

 You  

 I  

 And who is the magistrate who has reason to complain of the agent  

 You  Mr  Mayor  

M  Madeleine sat erect in his arm chair  Javert went on  with a severe
air and his eyes still cast down 

 Mr  Mayor  I have come to request you to instigate the authorities to
dismiss me  

M  Madeleine opened his mouth in amazement  Javert interrupted him   

 You will say that I might have handed in my resignation  but that does
not suffice  Handing in one s resignation is honorable  I have failed in
my duty  I ought to be punished  I must be turned out  

And after a pause he added   

 Mr  Mayor  you were severe with me the other day  and unjustly  Be so
to day  with justice  

 Come  now  Why   exclaimed M  Madeleine   What nonsense is this 
What is the meaning of this  What culpable act have you been guilty of
towards me  What have you done to me  What are your wrongs with regard
to me  You accuse yourself  you wish to be superseded   

 Turned out   said Javert 

 Turned out  so it be  then  That is well  I do not understand  

 You shall understand  Mr  Mayor  

Javert sighed from the very bottom of his chest  and resumed  still
coldly and sadly   

 Mr  Mayor  six weeks ago  in consequence of the scene over that woman 
I was furious  and I informed against you  

 Informed against me  

 At the Prefecture of Police in Paris  

M  Madeleine  who was not in the habit of laughing much oftener than
Javert himself  burst out laughing now   

 As a mayor who had encroached on the province of the police  

 As an ex convict  

The mayor turned livid 

Javert  who had not raised his eyes  went on   

 I thought it was so  I had had an idea for a long time  a resemblance 
inquiries which you had caused to be made at Faverolles  the strength
of your loins  the adventure with old Fauchelevant  your skill in
marksmanship  your leg  which you drag a little   I hardly know what
all   absurdities  But  at all events  I took you for a certain Jean
Valjean  

 A certain  What did you say the name was  

 Jean Valjean  He was a convict whom I was in the habit of seeing twenty
years ago  when I was adjutant guard of convicts at Toulon  On leaving
the galleys  this Jean Valjean  as it appears  robbed a bishop  then he
committed another theft  accompanied with violence  on a public highway
on the person of a little Savoyard  He disappeared eight years ago  no
one knows how  and he has been sought  I fancied  In short  I did this
thing  Wrath impelled me  I denounced you at the Prefecture  

M  Madeleine  who had taken up the docket again several moments before
this  resumed with an air of perfect indifference   

 And what reply did you receive  

 That I was mad  

 Well  

 Well  they were right  

 It is lucky that you recognize the fact  

 I am forced to do so  since the real Jean Valjean has been found  

The sheet of paper which M  Madeleine was holding dropped from his
hand  he raised his head  gazed fixedly at Javert  and said with his
indescribable accent   

 Ah  

Javert continued   

 This is the way it is  Mr  Mayor  It seems that there was in the
neighborhood near Ailly le Haut Clocher an old fellow who was called
Father Champmathieu  He was a very wretched creature  No one paid any
attention to him  No one knows what such people subsist on  Lately  last
autumn  Father Champmathieu was arrested for the theft of some cider
apples from  Well  no matter  a theft had been committed  a wall scaled 
branches of trees broken  My Champmathieu was arrested  He still had
the branch of apple tree in his hand  The scamp is locked up  Up to
this point it was merely an affair of a misdemeanor  But here is where
Providence intervened 

 The jail being in a bad condition  the examining magistrate finds it
convenient to transfer Champmathieu to Arras  where the departmental
prison is situated  In this prison at Arras there is an ex convict named
Brevet  who is detained for I know not what  and who has been appointed
turnkey of the house  because of good behavior  Mr  Mayor  no sooner had
Champmathieu arrived than Brevet exclaims   Eh  Why  I know that man 
He is a fagot  4  Take a good look at me  my good man  You are Jean
Valjean    Jean Valjean  who s Jean Valjean   Champmathieu feigns
astonishment   Don t play the innocent dodge   says Brevet   You are
Jean Valjean  You have been in the galleys of Toulon  it was twenty
years ago  we were there together   Champmathieu denies it  Parbleu  You
understand  The case is investigated  The thing was well ventilated for
me  This is what they discovered  This Champmathieu had been  thirty
years ago  a pruner of trees in various localities  notably at
Faverolles  There all trace of him was lost  A long time afterwards he
was seen again in Auvergne  then in Paris  where he is said to have been
a wheelwright  and to have had a daughter  who was a laundress  but that
has not been proved  Now  before going to the galleys for theft  what
was Jean Valjean  A pruner of trees  Where  At Faverolles  Another fact 
This Valjean s Christian name was Jean  and his mother s surname was
Mathieu  What more natural to suppose than that  on emerging from the
galleys  he should have taken his mother s name for the purpose of
concealing himself  and have called himself Jean Mathieu  He goes to
Auvergne  The local pronunciation turns Jean into Chan  he is called
Chan Mathieu  Our man offers no opposition  and behold him transformed
into Champmathieu  You follow me  do you not  Inquiries were made at
Faverolles  The family of Jean Valjean is no longer there  It is not
known where they have gone  You know that among those classes a family
often disappears  Search was made  and nothing was found  When such
people are not mud  they are dust  And then  as the beginning of the
story dates thirty years back  there is no longer any one at Faverolles
who knew Jean Valjean  Inquiries were made at Toulon  Besides Brevet 
there are only two convicts in existence who have seen Jean Valjean 
they are Cochepaille and Chenildieu  and are sentenced for life 
They are taken from the galleys and confronted with the pretended
Champmathieu  They do not hesitate  he is Jean Valjean for them as well
as for Brevet  The same age   he is fifty four   the same height  the
same air  the same man  in short  it is he  It was precisely at this
moment that I forwarded my denunciation to the Prefecture in Paris  I
was told that I had lost my reason  and that Jean Valjean is at Arras 
in the power of the authorities  You can imagine whether this surprised
me  when I thought that I had that same Jean Valjean here  I write to
the examining judge  he sends for me  Champmathieu is conducted to me   

 Well   interposed M  Madeleine 

Javert replied  his face incorruptible  and as melancholy as ever   

 Mr  Mayor  the truth is the truth  I am sorry  but that man is Jean
Valjean  I recognized him also  

M  Madeleine resumed in  a very low voice   

 You are sure  

Javert began to laugh  with that mournful laugh which comes from
profound conviction 

 O  Sure  

He stood there thoughtfully for a moment  mechanically taking pinches of
powdered wood for blotting ink from the wooden bowl which stood on the
table  and he added   

 And even now that I have seen the real Jean Valjean  I do not see how I
could have thought otherwise  I beg your pardon  Mr  Mayor  

Javert  as he addressed these grave and supplicating words to the man 
who six weeks before had humiliated him in the presence of the whole
station house  and bade him  leave the room    Javert  that haughty man 
was unconsciously full of simplicity and dignity   M  Madeleine made no
other reply to his prayer than the abrupt question   

 And what does this man say  

 Ah  Indeed  Mr  Mayor  it s a bad business  If he is Jean Valjean  he
has his previous conviction against him  To climb a wall  to break a
branch  to purloin apples  is a mischievous trick in a child  for a
man it is a misdemeanor  for a convict it is a crime  Robbing
and housebreaking  it is all there  It is no longer a question of
correctional police  it is a matter for the Court of Assizes  It is no
longer a matter of a few days in prison  it is the galleys for life  And
then  there is the affair with the little Savoyard  who will return  I
hope  The deuce  there is plenty to dispute in the matter  is there not 
Yes  for any one but Jean Valjean  But Jean Valjean is a sly dog  That
is the way I recognized him  Any other man would have felt that things
were getting hot for him  he would struggle  he would cry out  the
kettle sings before the fire  he would not be Jean Valjean  et
cetera  But he has not the appearance of understanding  he says   I am
Champmathieu  and I won t depart from that   He has an astonished air 
he pretends to be stupid  it is far better  Oh  the rogue is clever  But
it makes no difference  The proofs are there  He has been recognized by
four persons  the old scamp will be condemned  The case has been taken
to the Assizes at Arras  I shall go there to give my testimony  I have
been summoned  

M  Madeleine had turned to his desk again  and taken up his docket  and
was turning over the leaves tranquilly  reading and writing by turns 
like a busy man  He turned to Javert   

 That will do  Javert  In truth  all these details interest me but
little  We are wasting our time  and we have pressing business on hand 
Javert  you will betake yourself at once to the house of the woman
Buseaupied  who sells herbs at the corner of the Rue Saint Saulve  You
will tell her that she must enter her complaint against carter Pierre
Chesnelong  The man is a brute  who came near crushing this woman and
her child  He must be punished  You will then go to M  Charcellay 
Rue Montre de Champigny  He complained that there is a gutter on the
adjoining house which discharges rain water on his premises  and is
undermining the foundations of his house  After that  you will verify
the infractions of police regulations which have been reported to me in
the Rue Guibourg  at Widow Doris s  and Rue du Garraud Blanc  at Madame
Renee le Bosse s  and you will prepare documents  But I am giving you a
great deal of work  Are you not to be absent  Did you not tell me that
you were going to Arras on that matter in a week or ten days  

 Sooner than that  Mr  Mayor  

 On what day  then  

 Why  I thought that I had said to Monsieur le Maire that the case was
to be tried to morrow  and that I am to set out by diligence to night  

M  Madeleine made an imperceptible movement 

 And how long will the case last  

 One day  at the most  The judgment will be pronounced to morrow evening
at latest  But I shall not wait for the sentence  which is certain  I
shall return here as soon as my deposition has been taken  

 That is well   said M  Madeleine 

And he dismissed Javert with a wave of the hand 

Javert did not withdraw 

 Excuse me  Mr  Mayor   said he 

 What is it now   demanded M  Madeleine 

 Mr  Mayor  there is still something of which I must remind you  

 What is it  

 That I must be dismissed  

M  Madeleine rose 

 Javert  you are a man of honor  and I esteem you  You exaggerate your
fault  Moreover  this is an offence which concerns me  Javert  you
deserve promotion instead of degradation  I wish you to retain your
post  

Javert gazed at M  Madeleine with his candid eyes  in whose depths his
not very enlightened but pure and rigid conscience seemed visible  and
said in a tranquil voice   

 Mr  Mayor  I cannot grant you that  

 I repeat   replied M  Madeleine   that the matter concerns me  

But Javert  heeding his own thought only  continued   

 So far as exaggeration is concerned  I am not exaggerating  This is the
way I reason  I have suspected you unjustly  That is nothing  It is our
right to cherish suspicion  although suspicion directed above ourselves
is an abuse  But without proofs  in a fit of rage  with the object
of wreaking my vengeance  I have denounced you as a convict  you  a
respectable man  a mayor  a magistrate  That is serious  very serious  I
have insulted authority in your person  I  an agent of the authorities 
If one of my subordinates had done what I have done  I should have
declared him unworthy of the service  and have expelled him  Well  Stop 
Mr  Mayor  one word more  I have often been severe in the course of my
life towards others  That is just  I have done well  Now  if I were not
severe towards myself  all the justice that I have done would become
injustice  Ought I to spare myself more than others  No  What  I should
be good for nothing but to chastise others  and not myself  Why  I
should be a blackguard  Those who say   That blackguard of a Javert  
would be in the right  Mr  Mayor  I do not desire that you should treat
me kindly  your kindness roused sufficient bad blood in me when it was
directed to others  I want none of it for myself  The kindness which
consists in upholding a woman of the town against a citizen  the police
agent against the mayor  the man who is down against the man who is
up in the world  is what I call false kindness  That is the sort of
kindness which disorganizes society  Good God  it is very easy to be
kind  the difficulty lies in being just  Come  if you had been what I
thought you  I should not have been kind to you  not I  You would have
seen  Mr  Mayor  I must treat myself as I would treat any other man 
When I have subdued malefactors  when I have proceeded with vigor
against rascals  I have often said to myself   If you flinch  if I ever
catch you in fault  you may rest at your ease   I have flinched  I
have caught myself in a fault  So much the worse  Come  discharged 
cashiered  expelled  That is well  I have arms  I will till the soil  it
makes no difference to me  Mr  Mayor  the good of the service demands an
example  I simply require the discharge of Inspector Javert  

All this was uttered in a proud  humble  despairing  yet convinced tone 
which lent indescribable grandeur to this singular  honest man 

 We shall see   said M  Madeleine 

And he offered him his hand 

Javert recoiled  and said in a wild voice   

 Excuse me  Mr  Mayor  but this must not be  A mayor does not offer his
hand to a police spy  

He added between his teeth   

 A police spy  yes  from the moment when I have misused the police  I am
no more than a police spy  

Then he bowed profoundly  and directed his steps towards the door 

There he wheeled round  and with eyes still downcast   

 Mr  Mayor   he said   I shall continue to serve until I am superseded  

He withdrew  M  Madeleine remained thoughtfully listening to the firm 
sure step  which died away on the pavement of the corridor 




BOOK SEVENTH   THE CHAMPMATHIEU AFFAIR




CHAPTER I  SISTER SIMPLICE

The incidents the reader is about to peruse were not all known at M  sur
M  But the small portion of them which became known left such a memory
in that town that a serious gap would exist in this book if we did
not narrate them in their most minute details  Among these details the
reader will encounter two or three improbable circumstances  which we
preserve out of respect for the truth 

On the afternoon following the visit of Javert  M  Madeleine went to see
Fantine according to his wont 

Before entering Fantine s room  he had Sister Simplice summoned 

The two nuns who performed the services of nurse in the infirmary 
Lazariste ladies  like all sisters of charity  bore the names of Sister
Perpetue and Sister Simplice 

Sister Perpetue was an ordinary villager  a sister of charity in a
coarse style  who had entered the service of God as one enters any other
service  She was a nun as other women are cooks  This type is not
so very rare  The monastic orders gladly accept this heavy peasant
earthenware  which is easily fashioned into a Capuchin or an Ursuline 
These rustics are utilized for the rough work of devotion  The
transition from a drover to a Carmelite is not in the least violent 
the one turns into the other without much effort  the fund of ignorance
common to the village and the cloister is a preparation ready at hand 
and places the boor at once on the same footing as the monk  a little
more amplitude in the smock  and it becomes a frock  Sister Perpetue
was a robust nun from Marines near Pontoise  who chattered her patois 
droned  grumbled  sugared the potion according to the bigotry or the
hypocrisy of the invalid  treated her patients abruptly  roughly  was
crabbed with the dying  almost flung God in their faces  stoned their
death agony with prayers mumbled in a rage  was bold  honest  and ruddy 

Sister Simplice was white  with a waxen pallor  Beside Sister Perpetue 
she was the taper beside the candle  Vincent de Paul has divinely traced
the features of the Sister of Charity in these admirable words  in which
he mingles as much freedom as servitude   They shall have for their
convent only the house of the sick  for cell only a hired room  for
chapel only their parish church  for cloister only the streets of the
town and the wards of the hospitals  for enclosure only obedience  for
gratings only the fear of God  for veil only modesty   This ideal was
realized in the living person of Sister Simplice  she had never been
young  and it seemed as though she would never grow old  No one could
have told Sister Simplice s age  She was a person  we dare not say a
woman  who was gentle  austere  well bred  cold  and who had never lied 
She was so gentle that she appeared fragile  but she was more solid than
granite  She touched the unhappy with fingers that were charmingly pure
and fine  There was  so to speak  silence in her speech  she said just
what was necessary  and she possessed a tone of voice which would
have equally edified a confessional or enchanted a drawing room  This
delicacy accommodated itself to the serge gown  finding in this harsh
contact a continual reminder of heaven and of God  Let us emphasize
one detail  Never to have lied  never to have said  for any interest
whatever  even in indifference  any single thing which was not the
truth  the sacred truth  was Sister Simplice s distinctive trait  it was
the accent of her virtue  She was almost renowned in the congregation
for this imperturbable veracity  The Abbe Sicard speaks of Sister
Simplice in a letter to the deaf mute Massieu  However pure and sincere
we may be  we all bear upon our candor the crack of the little  innocent
lie  She did not  Little lie  innocent lie  does such a thing exist  To
lie is the absolute form of evil  To lie a little is not possible  he
who lies  lies the whole lie  To lie is the very face of the demon 
Satan has two names  he is called Satan and Lying  That is what she
thought  and as she thought  so she did  The result was the whiteness
which we have mentioned  a whiteness which covered even her lips and her
eyes with radiance  Her smile was white  her glance was white  There was
not a single spider s web  not a grain of dust  on the glass window of
that conscience  On entering the order of Saint Vincent de Paul  she had
taken the name of Simplice by special choice  Simplice of Sicily  as we
know  is the saint who preferred to allow both her breasts to be torn
off rather than to say that she had been born at Segesta when she had
been born at Syracuse  a lie which would have saved her  This patron
saint suited this soul 

Sister Simplice  on her entrance into the order  had had two faults
which she had gradually corrected  she had a taste for dainties  and she
liked to receive letters  She never read anything but a book of prayers
printed in Latin  in coarse type  She did not understand Latin  but she
understood the book 

This pious woman had conceived an affection for Fantine  probably
feeling a latent virtue there  and she had devoted herself almost
exclusively to her care 

M  Madeleine took Sister Simplice apart and recommended Fantine to her
in a singular tone  which the sister recalled later on 

On leaving the sister  he approached Fantine 

Fantine awaited M  Madeleine s appearance every day as one awaits a ray
of warmth and joy  She said to the sisters   I only live when Monsieur
le Maire is here  

She had a great deal of fever that day  As soon as she saw M  Madeleine
she asked him   

 And Cosette  

He replied with a smile   

 Soon  

M  Madeleine was the same as usual with Fantine  Only he remained an
hour instead of half an hour  to Fantine s great delight  He urged every
one repeatedly not to allow the invalid to want for anything  It was
noticed that there was a moment when his countenance became very sombre 
But this was explained when it became known that the doctor had bent
down to his ear and said to him   She is losing ground fast  

Then he returned to the town hall  and the clerk observed him
attentively examining a road map of France which hung in his study  He
wrote a few figures on a bit of paper with a pencil 




CHAPTER II  THE PERSPICACITY OF MASTER SCAUFFLAIRE

From the town hall he betook himself to the extremity of the town  to a
Fleming named Master Scaufflaer  French Scaufflaire  who let out  horses
and cabriolets as desired  

In order to reach this Scaufflaire  the shortest way was to take the
little frequented street in which was situated the parsonage of the
parish in which M  Madeleine resided  The cure was  it was said  a
worthy  respectable  and sensible man  At the moment when M  Madeleine
arrived in front of the parsonage there was but one passer by in the
street  and this person noticed this  After the mayor had passed the
priest s house he halted  stood motionless  then turned about  and
retraced his steps to the door of the parsonage  which had an iron
knocker  He laid his hand quickly on the knocker and lifted it  then
he paused again and stopped short  as though in thought  and after
the lapse of a few seconds  instead of allowing the knocker to fall
abruptly  he placed it gently  and resumed his way with a sort of haste
which had not been apparent previously 

M  Madeleine found Master Scaufflaire at home  engaged in stitching a
harness over 

 Master Scaufflaire   he inquired   have you a good horse  

 Mr  Mayor   said the Fleming   all my horses are good  What do you mean
by a good horse  

 I mean a horse which can travel twenty leagues in a day  

 The deuce   said the Fleming   Twenty leagues  

 Yes  

 Hitched to a cabriolet  

 Yes  

 And how long can he rest at the end of his journey  

 He must be able to set out again on the next day if necessary  

 To traverse the same road  

 Yes  

 The deuce  the deuce  And it is twenty leagues  

M  Madeleine drew from his pocket the paper on which he had pencilled
some figures  He showed it to the Fleming  The figures were 5  6  8 1 2 

 You see   he said   total  nineteen and a half  as well say twenty
leagues  

 Mr  Mayor   returned the Fleming   I have just what you want  My little
white horse  you may have seen him pass occasionally  he is a small
beast from Lower Boulonnais  He is full of fire  They wanted to make
a saddle horse of him at first  Bah  He reared  he kicked  he laid
everybody flat on the ground  He was thought to be vicious  and no one
knew what to do with him  I bought him  I harnessed him to a carriage 
That is what he wanted  sir  he is as gentle as a girl  he goes like the
wind  Ah  indeed he must not be mounted  It does not suit his ideas to
be a saddle horse  Every one has his ambition   Draw  Yes  Carry  No  
We must suppose that is what he said to himself  

 And he will accomplish the trip  

 Your twenty leagues all at a full trot  and in less than eight hours 
But here are the conditions  

 State them  

 In the first place  you will give him half an hour s breathing spell
midway of the road  he will eat  and some one must be by while he is
eating to prevent the stable boy of the inn from stealing his oats  for
I have noticed that in inns the oats are more often drunk by the stable
men than eaten by the horses  

 Some one will be by  

 In the second place  is the cabriolet for Monsieur le Maire  

 Yes  

 Does Monsieur le Maire know how to drive  

 Yes  

 Well  Monsieur le Maire will travel alone and without baggage  in order
not to overload the horse  

 Agreed  

 But as Monsieur le Maire will have no one with him  he will be obliged
to take the trouble himself of seeing that the oats are not stolen  

 That is understood  

 I am to have thirty francs a day  The days of rest to be paid for
also  not a farthing less  and the beast s food to be at Monsieur le
Maire s expense  

M  Madeleine drew three napoleons from his purse and laid them on the
table 

 Here is the pay for two days in advance  

 Fourthly  for such a journey a cabriolet would be too heavy  and would
fatigue the horse  Monsieur le Maire must consent to travel in a little
tilbury that I own  

 I consent to that  

 It is light  but it has no cover  

 That makes no difference to me  

 Has Monsieur le Maire reflected that we are in the middle of winter  

M  Madeleine did not reply  The Fleming resumed   

 That it is very cold  

M  Madeleine preserved silence 

Master Scaufflaire continued   

 That it may rain  

M  Madeleine raised his head and said   

 The tilbury and the horse will be in front of my door to morrow morning
at half past four o clock  

 Of course  Monsieur le Maire   replied Scaufflaire  then  scratching a
speck in the wood of the table with his thumb nail  he resumed with that
careless air which the Flemings understand so well how to mingle with
their shrewdness   

 But this is what I am thinking of now  Monsieur le Maire has not told
me where he is going  Where is Monsieur le Maire going  

He had been thinking of nothing else since the beginning of the
conversation  but he did not know why he had not dared to put the
question 

 Are your horse s forelegs good   said M  Madeleine 

 Yes  Monsieur le Maire  You must hold him in a little when going down
hill  Are there many descends between here and the place whither you are
going  

 Do not forget to be at my door at precisely half past four o clock
to morrow morning   replied M  Madeleine  and he took his departure 

The Fleming remained  utterly stupid   as he himself said some time
afterwards 

The mayor had been gone two or three minutes when the door opened again 
it was the mayor once more 

He still wore the same impassive and preoccupied air 

 Monsieur Scaufflaire   said he   at what sum do you estimate the value
of the horse and tilbury which you are to let to me   the one bearing
the other  

 The one dragging the other  Monsieur le Maire   said the Fleming  with
a broad smile 

 So be it  Well  

 Does Monsieur le Maire wish to purchase them or me  

 No  but I wish to guarantee you in any case  You shall give me back
the sum at my return  At what value do you estimate your horse and
cabriolet  

 Five hundred francs  Monsieur le Maire  

 Here it is  

M  Madeleine laid a bank bill on the table  then left the room  and this
time he did not return 

Master Scaufflaire experienced a frightful regret that he had not said a
thousand francs  Besides the horse and tilbury together were worth but a
hundred crowns 

The Fleming called his wife  and related the affair to her   Where the
devil could Monsieur le Maire be going   They held counsel together 
 He is going to Paris   said the wife   I don t believe it   said the
husband 

M  Madeleine had forgotten the paper with the figures on it  and it lay
on the chimney piece  The Fleming picked it up and studied it   Five 
six  eight and a half  That must designate the posting relays   He
turned to his wife   

 I have found out  

 What  

 It is five leagues from here to Hesdin  six from Hesdin to Saint Pol 
eight and a half from Saint Pol to Arras  He is going to Arras  

Meanwhile  M  Madeleine had returned home  He had taken the longest way
to return from Master Scaufflaire s  as though the parsonage door had
been a temptation for him  and he had wished to avoid it  He ascended
to his room  and there he shut himself up  which was a very simple act 
since he liked to go to bed early  Nevertheless  the portress of the
factory  who was  at the same time  M  Madeleine s only servant  noticed
that the latter s light was extinguished at half past eight  and she
mentioned it to the cashier when he came home  adding   

 Is Monsieur le Maire ill  I thought he had a rather singular air  

This cashier occupied a room situated directly under M  Madeleine s
chamber  He paid no heed to the portress s words  but went to bed and
to sleep  Towards midnight he woke up with a start  in his sleep he had
heard a noise above his head  He listened  it was a footstep pacing back
and forth  as though some one were walking in the room above him  He
listened more attentively  and recognized M  Madeleine s step  This
struck him as strange  usually  there was no noise in M  Madeleine s
chamber until he rose in the morning  A moment later the cashier heard
a noise which resembled that of a cupboard being opened  and then shut
again  then a piece of furniture was disarranged  then a pause ensued 
then the step began again  The cashier sat up in bed  quite awake now 
and staring  and through his window panes he saw the reddish gleam of a
lighted window reflected on the opposite wall  from the direction of the
rays  it could only come from the window of M  Madeleine s chamber  The
reflection wavered  as though it came rather from a fire which had
been lighted than from a candle  The shadow of the window frame was not
shown  which indicated that the window was wide open  The fact that this
window was open in such cold weather was surprising  The cashier fell
asleep again  An hour or two later he waked again  The same step was
still passing slowly and regularly back and forth overhead 

The reflection was still visible on the wall  but now it was pale and
peaceful  like the reflection of a lamp or of a candle  The window was
still open 

This is what had taken place in M  Madeleine s room 




CHAPTER III  A TEMPEST IN A SKULL

The reader has  no doubt  already divined that M  Madeleine is no other
than Jean Valjean 

We have already gazed into the depths of this conscience  the moment has
now come when we must take another look into it  We do so not without
emotion and trepidation  There is nothing more terrible in existence
than this sort of contemplation  The eye of the spirit can nowhere find
more dazzling brilliance and more shadow than in man  it can fix itself
on no other thing which is more formidable  more complicated  more
mysterious  and more infinite  There is a spectacle more grand than the
sea  it is heaven  there is a spectacle more grand than heaven  it is
the inmost recesses of the soul 

To make the poem of the human conscience  were it only with reference to
a single man  were it only in connection with the basest of men  would
be to blend all epics into one superior and definitive epic  Conscience
is the chaos of chimeras  of lusts  and of temptations  the furnace of
dreams  the lair of ideas of which we are ashamed  it is the pandemonium
of sophisms  it is the battlefield of the passions  Penetrate  at
certain hours  past the livid face of a human being who is engaged
in reflection  and look behind  gaze into that soul  gaze into that
obscurity  There  beneath that external silence  battles of giants 
like those recorded in Homer  are in progress  skirmishes of dragons and
hydras and swarms of phantoms  as in Milton  visionary circles  as in
Dante  What a solemn thing is this infinity which every man bears within
him  and which he measures with despair against the caprices of his
brain and the actions of his life 

Alighieri one day met with a sinister looking door  before which he
hesitated  Here is one before us  upon whose threshold we hesitate  Let
us enter  nevertheless 

We have but little to add to what the reader already knows of what had
happened to Jean Valjean after the adventure with Little Gervais  From
that moment forth he was  as we have seen  a totally different man  What
the Bishop had wished to make of him  that he carried out  It was more
than a transformation  it was a transfiguration 

He succeeded in disappearing  sold the Bishop s silver  reserving only
the candlesticks as a souvenir  crept from town to town  traversed
France  came to M  sur M   conceived the idea which we have mentioned 
accomplished what we have related  succeeded in rendering himself safe
from seizure and inaccessible  and  thenceforth  established at M  sur
M   happy in feeling his conscience saddened by the past and the first
half of his existence belied by the last  he lived in peace  reassured
and hopeful  having henceforth only two thoughts   to conceal his name
and to sanctify his life  to escape men and to return to God 

These two thoughts were so closely intertwined in his mind that
they formed but a single one there  both were equally absorbing and
imperative and ruled his slightest actions  In general  they conspired
to regulate the conduct of his life  they turned him towards the gloom 
they rendered him kindly and simple  they counselled him to the same
things  Sometimes  however  they conflicted  In that case  as the reader
will remember  the man whom all the country of M  sur M  called M 
Madeleine did not hesitate to sacrifice the first to the second  his
security to his virtue  Thus  in spite of all his reserve and all his
prudence  he had preserved the Bishop s candlesticks  worn mourning for
him  summoned and interrogated all the little Savoyards who passed that
way  collected information regarding the families at Faverolles  and
saved old Fauchelevent s life  despite the disquieting insinuations of
Javert  It seemed  as we have already remarked  as though he thought 
following the example of all those who have been wise  holy  and just 
that his first duty was not towards himself 

At the same time  it must be confessed  nothing just like this had yet
presented itself 

Never had the two ideas which governed the unhappy man whose sufferings
we are narrating  engaged in so serious a struggle  He understood this
confusedly but profoundly at the very first words pronounced by Javert 
when the latter entered his study  At the moment when that name  which
he had buried beneath so many layers  was so strangely articulated 
he was struck with stupor  and as though intoxicated with the sinister
eccentricity of his destiny  and through this stupor he felt that
shudder which precedes great shocks  He bent like an oak at the approach
of a storm  like a soldier at the approach of an assault  He felt
shadows filled with thunders and lightnings descending upon his head 
As he listened to Javert  the first thought which occurred to him was to
go  to run and denounce himself  to take that Champmathieu out of prison
and place himself there  this was as painful and as poignant as an
incision in the living flesh  Then it passed away  and he said to
himself   We will see  We will see   He repressed this first  generous
instinct  and recoiled before heroism 

It would be beautiful  no doubt  after the Bishop s holy words  after
so many years of repentance and abnegation  in the midst of a penitence
admirably begun  if this man had not flinched for an instant  even in
the presence of so terrible a conjecture  but had continued to walk with
the same step towards this yawning precipice  at the bottom of which
lay heaven  that would have been beautiful  but it was not thus  We must
render an account of the things which went on in this soul  and we can
only tell what there was there  He was carried away  at first  by
the instinct of self preservation  he rallied all his ideas in haste 
stifled his emotions  took into consideration Javert s presence  that
great danger  postponed all decision with the firmness of terror  shook
off thought as to what he had to do  and resumed his calmness as a
warrior picks up his buckler 

He remained in this state during the rest of the day  a whirlwind
within  a profound tranquillity without  He took no  preservative
measures   as they may be called  Everything was still confused  and
jostling together in his brain  His trouble was so great that he could
not perceive the form of a single idea distinctly  and he could have
told nothing about himself  except that he had received a great blow 

He repaired to Fantine s bed of suffering  as usual  and prolonged his
visit  through a kindly instinct  telling himself that he must behave
thus  and recommend her well to the sisters  in case he should be
obliged to be absent himself  He had a vague feeling that he might be
obliged to go to Arras  and without having the least in the world made
up his mind to this trip  he said to himself that being  as he was 
beyond the shadow of any suspicion  there could be nothing out of the
way in being a witness to what was to take place  and he engaged the
tilbury from Scaufflaire in order to be prepared in any event 

He dined with a good deal of appetite 

On returning to his room  he communed with himself 

He examined the situation  and found it unprecedented  so unprecedented
that in the midst of his revery he rose from his chair  moved by some
inexplicable impulse of anxiety  and bolted his door  He feared
lest something more should enter  He was barricading himself against
possibilities 

A moment later he extinguished his light  it embarrassed him 

It seemed to him as though he might be seen 

By whom 

Alas  That on which he desired to close the door had already entered 
that which he desired to blind was staring him in the face   his
conscience 

His conscience  that is to say  God 

Nevertheless  he deluded himself at first  he had a feeling of security
and of solitude  the bolt once drawn  he thought himself impregnable 
the candle extinguished  he felt himself invisible  Then he took
possession of himself  he set his elbows on the table  leaned his head
on his hand  and began to meditate in the dark 

 Where do I stand  Am not I dreaming  What have I heard  Is it really
true that I have seen that Javert  and that he spoke to me in that
manner  Who can that Champmathieu be  So he resembles me  Is it
possible  When I reflect that yesterday I was so tranquil  and so far
from suspecting anything  What was I doing yesterday at this hour  What
is there in this incident  What will the end be  What is to be done  

This was the torment in which he found himself  His brain had lost its
power of retaining ideas  they passed like waves  and he clutched his
brow in both hands to arrest them 

Nothing but anguish extricated itself from this tumult which overwhelmed
his will and his reason  and from which he sought to draw proof and
resolution 

His head was burning  He went to the window and threw it wide open 
There were no stars in the sky  He returned and seated himself at the
table 

The first hour passed in this manner 

Gradually  however  vague outlines began to take form and to fix
themselves in his meditation  and he was able to catch a glimpse with
precision of the reality   not the whole situation  but some of
the details  He began by recognizing the fact that  critical and
extraordinary as was this situation  he was completely master of it 

This only caused an increase of his stupor 

Independently of the severe and religious aim which he had assigned to
his actions  all that he had made up to that day had been nothing but a
hole in which to bury his name  That which he had always feared most of
all in his hours of self communion  during his sleepless nights  was to
ever hear that name pronounced  he had said to himself  that that would
be the end of all things for him  that on the day when that name made
its reappearance it would cause his new life to vanish from about
him  and  who knows   perhaps even his new soul within him  also  He
shuddered at the very thought that this was possible  Assuredly  if any
one had said to him at such moments that the hour would come when that
name would ring in his ears  when the hideous words  Jean Valjean  would
suddenly emerge from the darkness and rise in front of him  when that
formidable light  capable of dissipating the mystery in which he had
enveloped himself  would suddenly blaze forth above his head  and that
that name would not menace him  that that light would but produce
an obscurity more dense  that this rent veil would but increase the
mystery  that this earthquake would solidify his edifice  that this
prodigious incident would have no other result  so far as he was
concerned  if so it seemed good to him  than that of rendering his
existence at once clearer and more impenetrable  and that  out of his
confrontation with the phantom of Jean Valjean  the good and worthy
citizen Monsieur Madeleine would emerge more honored  more peaceful  and
more respected than ever  if any one had told him that  he would have
tossed his head and regarded the words as those of a madman  Well  all
this was precisely what had just come to pass  all that accumulation of
impossibilities was a fact  and God had permitted these wild fancies to
become real things 

His revery continued to grow clearer  He came more and more to an
understanding of his position 

It seemed to him that he had but just waked up from some inexplicable
dream  and that he found himself slipping down a declivity in the middle
of the night  erect  shivering  holding back all in vain  on the very
brink of the abyss  He distinctly perceived in the darkness a stranger 
a man unknown to him  whom destiny had mistaken for him  and whom she
was thrusting into the gulf in his stead  in order that the gulf might
close once more  it was necessary that some one  himself or that other
man  should fall into it  he had only let things take their course 

The light became complete  and he acknowledged this to himself  That
his place was empty in the galleys  that do what he would  it was still
awaiting him  that the theft from little Gervais had led him back to it 
that this vacant place would await him  and draw him on until he filled
it  that this was inevitable and fatal  and then he said to himself 
 that  at this moment  he had a substitute  that it appeared that a
certain Champmathieu had that ill luck  and that  as regards himself 
being present in the galleys in the person of that Champmathieu  present
in society under the name of M  Madeleine  he had nothing more to fear 
provided that he did not prevent men from sealing over the head of
that Champmathieu this stone of infamy which  like the stone of the
sepulchre  falls once  never to rise again  

All this was so strange and so violent  that there suddenly took place
in him that indescribable movement  which no man feels more than two
or three times in the course of his life  a sort of convulsion of the
conscience which stirs up all that there is doubtful in the heart  which
is composed of irony  of joy  and of despair  and which may be called an
outburst of inward laughter 

He hastily relighted his candle 

 Well  what then   he said to himself   what am I afraid of  What is
there in all that for me to think about  I am safe  all is over  I had
but one partly open door through which my past might invade my life 
and behold that door is walled up forever  That Javert  who has been
annoying me so long  that terrible instinct which seemed to have divined
me  which had divined me  good God  and which followed me everywhere 
that frightful hunting dog  always making a point at me  is thrown
off the scent  engaged elsewhere  absolutely turned from the trail 
henceforth he is satisfied  he will leave me in peace  he has his Jean
Valjean  Who knows  it is even probable that he will wish to leave town 
And all this has been brought about without any aid from me  and I count
for nothing in it  Ah  but where is the misfortune in this  Upon my
honor  people would think  to see me  that some catastrophe had happened
to me  After all  if it does bring harm to some one  that is not my
fault in the least  it is Providence which has done it all  it is
because it wishes it so to be  evidently  Have I the right to disarrange
what it has arranged  What do I ask now  Why should I meddle  It does
not concern me  what  I am not satisfied  but what more do I want  The
goal to which I have aspired for so many years  the dream of my nights 
the object of my prayers to Heaven   security   I have now attained  it
is God who wills it  I can do nothing against the will of God  and why
does God will it  In order that I may continue what I have begun  that I
may do good  that I may one day be a grand and encouraging example  that
it may be said at last  that a little happiness has been attached to
the penance which I have undergone  and to that virtue to which I have
returned  Really  I do not understand why I was afraid  a little while
ago  to enter the house of that good cure  and to ask his advice  this
is evidently what he would have said to me  It is settled  let things
take their course  let the good God do as he likes  

Thus did he address himself in the depths of his own conscience  bending
over what may be called his own abyss  he rose from his chair  and began
to pace the room   Come   said he   let us think no more about it  my
resolve is taken   but he felt no joy 

Quite the reverse 

One can no more prevent thought from recurring to an idea than one can
the sea from returning to the shore  the sailor calls it the tide  the
guilty man calls it remorse  God upheaves the soul as he does the ocean 

After the expiration of a few moments  do what he would  he resumed the
gloomy dialogue in which it was he who spoke and he who listened  saying
that which he would have preferred to ignore  and listened to that which
he would have preferred not to hear  yielding to that mysterious power
which said to him   Think   as it said to another condemned man  two
thousand years ago   March on  

Before proceeding further  and in order to make ourselves fully
understood  let us insist upon one necessary observation 

It is certain that people do talk to themselves  there is no living
being who has not done it  It may even be said that the word is never
a more magnificent mystery than when it goes from thought to conscience
within a man  and when it returns from conscience to thought  it is in
this sense only that the words so often employed in this chapter  he
said  he exclaimed  must be understood  one speaks to one s self  talks
to one s self  exclaims to one s self without breaking the external
silence  there is a great tumult  everything about us talks except the
mouth  The realities of the soul are none the less realities because
they are not visible and palpable 

So he asked himself where he stood  He interrogated himself upon that
 settled resolve   He confessed to himself that all that he had just
arranged in his mind was monstrous  that  to let things take their
course  to let the good God do as he liked   was simply horrible  to
allow this error of fate and of men to be carried out  not to hinder it 
to lend himself to it through his silence  to do nothing  in short 
was to do everything  that this was hypocritical baseness in the last
degree  that it was a base  cowardly  sneaking  abject  hideous crime 

For the first time in eight years  the wretched man had just tasted the
bitter savor of an evil thought and of an evil action 

He spit it out with disgust 

He continued to question himself  He asked himself severely what he had
meant by this   My object is attained   He declared to himself that
his life really had an object  but what object  To conceal his name 
To deceive the police  Was it for so petty a thing that he had done all
that he had done  Had he not another and a grand object  which was the
true one  to save  not his person  but his soul  to become honest and
good once more  to be a just man  Was it not that above all  that alone 
which he had always desired  which the Bishop had enjoined upon him  to
shut the door on his past  But he was not shutting it  great God  he was
re opening it by committing an infamous action  He was becoming a thief
once more  and the most odious of thieves  He was robbing another of
his existence  his life  his peace  his place in the sunshine  He was
becoming an assassin  He was murdering  morally murdering  a wretched
man  He was inflicting on him that frightful living death  that death
beneath the open sky  which is called the galleys  On the other hand 
to surrender himself to save that man  struck down with so melancholy
an error  to resume his own name  to become once more  out of duty  the
convict Jean Valjean  that was  in truth  to achieve his resurrection 
and to close forever that hell whence he had just emerged  to fall back
there in appearance was to escape from it in reality  This must be
done  He had done nothing if he did not do all this  his whole life was
useless  all his penitence was wasted  There was no longer any need of
saying   What is the use   He felt that the Bishop was there  that the
Bishop was present all the more because he was dead  that the Bishop
was gazing fixedly at him  that henceforth Mayor Madeleine  with all his
virtues  would be abominable to him  and that the convict Jean Valjean
would be pure and admirable in his sight  that men beheld his mask  but
that the Bishop saw his face  that men saw his life  but that the Bishop
beheld his conscience  So he must go to Arras  deliver the false Jean
Valjean  and denounce the real one  Alas  that was the greatest of
sacrifices  the most poignant of victories  the last step to take  but
it must be done  Sad fate  he would enter into sanctity only in the eyes
of God when he returned to infamy in the eyes of men 

 Well   said he   let us decide upon this  let us do our duty  let us
save this man   He uttered these words aloud  without perceiving that he
was speaking aloud 

He took his books  verified them  and put them in order  He flung in
the fire a bundle of bills which he had against petty and embarrassed
tradesmen  He wrote and sealed a letter  and on the envelope it might
have been read  had there been any one in his chamber at the moment 
To Monsieur Laffitte  Banker  Rue d Artois  Paris  He drew from his
secretary a pocket book which contained several bank notes and the
passport of which he had made use that same year when he went to the
elections 

Any one who had seen him during the execution of these various acts 
into which there entered such grave thought  would have had no suspicion
of what was going on within him  Only occasionally did his lips move  at
other times he raised his head and fixed his gaze upon some point of the
wall  as though there existed at that point something which he wished to
elucidate or interrogate 

When he had finished the letter to M  Laffitte  he put it into his
pocket  together with the pocket book  and began his walk once more 

His revery had not swerved from its course  He continued to see his duty
clearly  written in luminous letters  which flamed before his eyes and
changed its place as he altered the direction of his glance   

 Go  Tell your name  Denounce yourself  

In the same way he beheld  as though they had passed before him in
visible forms  the two ideas which had  up to that time  formed
the double rule of his soul   the concealment of his name  the
sanctification of his life  For the first time they appeared to him as
absolutely distinct  and he perceived the distance which separated them 
He recognized the fact that one of these ideas was  necessarily  good 
while the other might become bad  that the first was self devotion  and
that the other was personality  that the one said  my neighbor  and that
the other said  myself  that one emanated from the light  and the other
from darkness 

They were antagonistic  He saw them in conflict  In proportion as
he meditated  they grew before the eyes of his spirit  They had now
attained colossal statures  and it seemed to him that he beheld within
himself  in that infinity of which we were recently speaking  in the
midst of the darkness and the lights  a goddess and a giant contending 

He was filled with terror  but it seemed to him that the good thought
was getting the upper hand 

He felt that he was on the brink of the second decisive crisis of his
conscience and of his destiny  that the Bishop had marked the first
phase of his new life  and that Champmathieu marked the second  After
the grand crisis  the grand test 

But the fever  allayed for an instant  gradually resumed possession
of him  A thousand thoughts traversed his mind  but they continued to
fortify him in his resolution 

One moment he said to himself that he was  perhaps  taking the matter
too keenly  that  after all  this Champmathieu was not interesting  and
that he had actually been guilty of theft 

He answered himself   If this man has  indeed  stolen a few apples  that
means a month in prison  It is a long way from that to the galleys  And
who knows  Did he steal  Has it been proved  The name of Jean Valjean
overwhelms him  and seems to dispense with proofs  Do not the attorneys
for the Crown always proceed in this manner  He is supposed to be a
thief because he is known to be a convict  

In another instant the thought had occurred to him that  when he
denounced himself  the heroism of his deed might  perhaps  be taken into
consideration  and his honest life for the last seven years  and what he
had done for the district  and that they would have mercy on him 

But this supposition vanished very quickly  and he smiled bitterly as he
remembered that the theft of the forty sous from little Gervais put him
in the position of a man guilty of a second offence after conviction 
that this affair would certainly come up  and  according to the precise
terms of the law  would render him liable to penal servitude for life 

He turned aside from all illusions  detached himself more and more from
earth  and sought strength and consolation elsewhere  He told himself
that he must do his duty  that perhaps he should not be more unhappy
after doing his duty than after having avoided it  that if he allowed
things to take their own course  if he remained at M  sur M   his
consideration  his good name  his good works  the deference and
veneration paid to him  his charity  his wealth  his popularity  his
virtue  would be seasoned with a crime  And what would be the taste of
all these holy things when bound up with this hideous thing  while  if
he accomplished his sacrifice  a celestial idea would be mingled with
the galleys  the post  the iron necklet  the green cap  unceasing toil 
and pitiless shame 

At length he told himself that it must be so  that his destiny was thus
allotted  that he had not authority to alter the arrangements made on
high  that  in any case  he must make his choice  virtue without and
abomination within  or holiness within and infamy without 

The stirring up of these lugubrious ideas did not cause his courage to
fail  but his brain grow weary  He began to think of other things  of
indifferent matters  in spite of himself 

The veins in his temples throbbed violently  he still paced to and fro 
midnight sounded first from the parish church  then from the town hall 
he counted the twelve strokes of the two clocks  and compared the sounds
of the two bells  he recalled in this connection the fact that  a few
days previously  he had seen in an ironmonger s shop an ancient clock
for sale  upon which was written the name  Antoine Albin de Romainville 

He was cold  he lighted a small fire  it did not occur to him to close
the window 

In the meantime he had relapsed into his stupor  he was obliged to make
a tolerably vigorous effort to recall what had been the subject of his
thoughts before midnight had struck  he finally succeeded in doing this 

 Ah  yes   he said to himself   I had resolved to inform against
myself  

And then  all of a sudden  he thought of Fantine 

 Hold   said he   and what about that poor woman  

Here a fresh crisis declared itself 

Fantine  by appearing thus abruptly in his revery  produced the effect
of an unexpected ray of light  it seemed to him as though everything
about him were undergoing a change of aspect  he exclaimed   

 Ah  but I have hitherto considered no one but myself  it is proper for
me to hold my tongue or to denounce myself  to conceal my person or
to save my soul  to be a despicable and respected magistrate  or an
infamous and venerable convict  it is I  it is always I and nothing
but I  but  good God  all this is egotism  these are diverse forms
of egotism  but it is egotism all the same  What if I were to think a
little about others  The highest holiness is to think of others  come 
let us examine the matter  The  I  excepted  the  I  effaced  the  I 
forgotten  what would be the result of all this  What if I denounce
myself  I am arrested  this Champmathieu is released  I am put back in
the galleys  that is well  and what then  What is going on here  Ah 
here is a country  a town  here are factories  an industry  workers 
both men and women  aged grandsires  children  poor people  All this I
have created  all these I provide with their living  everywhere where
there is a smoking chimney  it is I who have placed the brand on the
hearth and meat in the pot  I have created ease  circulation  credit 
before me there was nothing  I have elevated  vivified  informed with
life  fecundated  stimulated  enriched the whole country side  lacking
me  the soul is lacking  I take myself off  everything dies  and this
woman  who has suffered so much  who possesses so many merits in spite
of her fall  the cause of all whose misery I have unwittingly been  And
that child whom I meant to go in search of  whom I have promised to her
mother  do I not also owe something to this woman  in reparation for
the evil which I have done her  If I disappear  what happens  The mother
dies  the child becomes what it can  that is what will take place  if
I denounce myself  If I do not denounce myself  come  let us see how it
will be if I do not denounce myself  

After putting this question to himself  he paused  he seemed to undergo
a momentary hesitation and trepidation  but it did not last long  and he
answered himself calmly   

 Well  this man is going to the galleys  it is true  but what the deuce 
he has stolen  There is no use in my saying that he has not been guilty
of theft  for he has  I remain here  I go on  in ten years I shall have
made ten millions  I scatter them over the country  I have nothing of
my own  what is that to me  It is not for myself that I am doing it 
the prosperity of all goes on augmenting  industries are aroused and
animated  factories and shops are multiplied  families  a hundred
families  a thousand families  are happy  the district becomes
populated  villages spring up where there were only farms before 
farms rise where there was nothing  wretchedness disappears  and
with wretchedness debauchery  prostitution  theft  murder  all vices
disappear  all crimes  and this poor mother rears her child  and behold
a whole country rich and honest  Ah  I was a fool  I was absurd 
what was that I was saying about denouncing myself  I really must pay
attention and not be precipitate about anything  What  because it would
have pleased me to play the grand and generous  this is melodrama  after
all  because I should have thought of no one but myself  the idea  for
the sake of saving from a punishment  a trifle exaggerated  perhaps 
but just at bottom  no one knows whom  a thief  a good for nothing 
evidently  a whole country side must perish  a poor woman must die in
the hospital  a poor little girl must die in the street  like dogs  ah 
this is abominable  And without the mother even having seen her child
once more  almost without the child s having known her mother  and
all that for the sake of an old wretch of an apple thief who  most
assuredly  has deserved the galleys for something else  if not for
that  fine scruples  indeed  which save a guilty man and sacrifice the
innocent  which save an old vagabond who has only a few years to live at
most  and who will not be more unhappy in the galleys than in his hovel 
and which sacrifice a whole population  mothers  wives  children  This
poor little Cosette who has no one in the world but me  and who is  no
doubt  blue with cold at this moment in the den of those Thenardiers 
those peoples are rascals  and I was going to neglect my duty towards
all these poor creatures  and I was going off to denounce myself  and I
was about to commit that unspeakable folly  Let us put it at the worst 
suppose that there is a wrong action on my part in this  and that my
conscience will reproach me for it some day  to accept  for the good of
others  these reproaches which weigh only on myself  this evil action
which compromises my soul alone  in that lies self sacrifice  in that
alone there is virtue  

He rose and resumed his march  this time  he seemed to be content 

Diamonds are found only in the dark places of the earth  truths are
found only in the depths of thought  It seemed to him  that  after
having descended into these depths  after having long groped among the
darkest of these shadows  he had at last found one of these diamonds 
one of these truths  and that he now held it in his hand  and he was
dazzled as he gazed upon it 

 Yes   he thought   this is right  I am on the right road  I have the
solution  I must end by holding fast to something  my resolve is taken 
let things take their course  let us no longer vacillate  let us no
longer hang back  this is for the interest of all  not for my own  I am
Madeleine  and Madeleine I remain  Woe to the man who is Jean Valjean 
I am no longer he  I do not know that man  I no longer know anything  it
turns out that some one is Jean Valjean at the present moment  let him
look out for himself  that does not concern me  it is a fatal name which
was floating abroad in the night  if it halts and descends on a head  so
much the worse for that head  

He looked into the little mirror which hung above his chimney piece  and
said   

 Hold  it has relieved me to come to a decision  I am quite another man
now  

He proceeded a few paces further  then he stopped short 

 Come   he said   I must not flinch before any of the consequences of
the resolution which I have once adopted  there are still threads which
attach me to that Jean Valjean  they must be broken  in this very room
there are objects which would betray me  dumb things which would bear
witness against me  it is settled  all these things must disappear  

He fumbled in his pocket  drew out his purse  opened it  and took out a
small key  he inserted the key in a lock whose aperture could hardly
be seen  so hidden was it in the most sombre tones of the design which
covered the wall paper  a secret receptacle opened  a sort of
false cupboard constructed in the angle between the wall and the
chimney piece  in this hiding place there were some rags  a blue linen
blouse  an old pair of trousers  an old knapsack  and a huge thorn
cudgel shod with iron at both ends  Those who had seen Jean Valjean at
the epoch when he passed through D    in October  1815  could easily
have recognized all the pieces of this miserable outfit 

He had preserved them as he had preserved the silver candlesticks  in
order to remind himself continually of his starting point  but he
had concealed all that came from the galleys  and he had allowed the
candlesticks which came from the Bishop to be seen 

He cast a furtive glance towards the door  as though he feared that it
would open in spite of the bolt which fastened it  then  with a quick
and abrupt movement  he took the whole in his arms at once  without
bestowing so much as a glance on the things which he had so religiously
and so perilously preserved for so many years  and flung them all  rags 
cudgel  knapsack  into the fire 

 Illustration  Candlesticks Into the Fire  1b7 3 into the fire 

He closed the false cupboard again  and with redoubled precautions 
henceforth unnecessary  since it was now empty  he concealed the door
behind a heavy piece of furniture  which he pushed in front of it 

After the lapse of a few seconds  the room and the opposite wall were
lighted up with a fierce  red  tremulous glow  Everything was on fire 
the thorn cudgel snapped and threw out sparks to the middle of the
chamber 

As the knapsack was consumed  together with the hideous rags which it
contained  it revealed something which sparkled in the ashes  By bending
over  one could have readily recognized a coin   no doubt the forty sou
piece stolen from the little Savoyard 

He did not look at the fire  but paced back and forth with the same
step 

All at once his eye fell on the two silver candlesticks  which shone
vaguely on the chimney piece  through the glow 

 Hold   he thought   the whole of Jean Valjean is still in them  They
must be destroyed also  

He seized the two candlesticks 

There was still fire enough to allow of their being put out of shape 
and converted into a sort of unrecognizable bar of metal 

He bent over the hearth and warmed himself for a moment  He felt a sense
of real comfort   How good warmth is   said he 

He stirred the live coals with one of the candlesticks 

A minute more  and they were both in the fire 

At that moment it seemed to him that he heard a voice within him
shouting   Jean Valjean  Jean Valjean  

His hair rose upright  he became like a man who is listening to some
terrible thing 

 Yes  that s it  finish   said the voice   Complete what you are about 
Destroy these candlesticks  Annihilate this souvenir  Forget the Bishop 
Forget everything  Destroy this Champmathieu  do  That is right  Applaud
yourself  So it is settled  resolved  fixed  agreed  here is an old man
who does not know what is wanted of him  who has  perhaps  done nothing 
an innocent man  whose whole misfortune lies in your name  upon whom
your name weighs like a crime  who is about to be taken for you  who
will be condemned  who will finish his days in abjectness and horror 
That is good  Be an honest man yourself  remain Monsieur le Maire 
remain honorable and honored  enrich the town  nourish the indigent 
rear the orphan  live happy  virtuous  and admired  and  during this
time  while you are here in the midst of joy and light  there will be a
man who will wear your red blouse  who will bear your name in ignominy 
and who will drag your chain in the galleys  Yes  it is well arranged
thus  Ah  wretch  

The perspiration streamed from his brow  He fixed a haggard eye on the
candlesticks  But that within him which had spoken had not finished  The
voice continued   

 Jean Valjean  there will be around you many voices  which will make a
great noise  which will talk very loud  and which will bless you  and
only one which no one will hear  and which will curse you in the dark 
Well  listen  infamous man  All those benedictions will fall back before
they reach heaven  and only the malediction will ascend to God  

This voice  feeble at first  and which had proceeded from the most
obscure depths of his conscience  had gradually become startling and
formidable  and he now heard it in his very ear  It seemed to him that
it had detached itself from him  and that it was now speaking outside
of him  He thought that he heard the last words so distinctly  that he
glanced around the room in a sort of terror 

 Is there any one here   he demanded aloud  in utter bewilderment 

Then he resumed  with a laugh which resembled that of an idiot   

 How stupid I am  There can be no one  

There was some one  but the person who was there was of those whom the
human eye cannot see 

He placed the candlesticks on the chimney piece 

Then he resumed his monotonous and lugubrious tramp  which troubled the
dreams of the sleeping man beneath him  and awoke him with a start 

This tramping to and fro soothed and at the same time intoxicated him 
It sometimes seems  on supreme occasions  as though people moved about
for the purpose of asking advice of everything that they may encounter
by change of place  After the lapse of a few minutes he no longer knew
his position 

He now recoiled in equal terror before both the resolutions at which he
had arrived in turn  The two ideas which counselled him appeared to him
equally fatal  What a fatality  What conjunction that that Champmathieu
should have been taken for him  to be overwhelmed by precisely the means
which Providence seemed to have employed  at first  to strengthen his
position 

There was a moment when he reflected on the future  Denounce himself 
great God  Deliver himself up  With immense despair he faced all that
he should be obliged to leave  all that he should be obliged to take up
once more  He should have to bid farewell to that existence which was so
good  so pure  so radiant  to the respect of all  to honor  to liberty 
He should never more stroll in the fields  he should never more hear the
birds sing in the month of May  he should never more bestow alms on the
little children  he should never more experience the sweetness of having
glances of gratitude and love fixed upon him  he should quit that house
which he had built  that little chamber  Everything seemed charming to
him at that moment  Never again should he read those books  never more
should he write on that little table of white wood  his old portress 
the only servant whom he kept  would never more bring him his coffee
in the morning  Great God  instead of that  the convict gang  the iron
necklet  the red waistcoat  the chain on his ankle  fatigue  the cell 
the camp bed all those horrors which he knew so well  At his age 
after having been what he was  If he were only young again  but to
be addressed in his old age as  thou  by any one who pleased  to
be searched by the convict guard  to receive the galley sergeant s
cudgellings  to wear iron bound shoes on his bare feet  to have to
stretch out his leg night and morning to the hammer of the roundsman who
visits the gang  to submit to the curiosity of strangers  who would be
told   That man yonder is the famous Jean Valjean  who was mayor of
M  sur M    and at night  dripping with perspiration  overwhelmed with
lassitude  their green caps drawn over their eyes  to remount  two by
two  the ladder staircase of the galleys beneath the sergeant s whip 
Oh  what misery  Can destiny  then  be as malicious as an intelligent
being  and become as monstrous as the human heart 

And do what he would  he always fell back upon the heartrending dilemma
which lay at the foundation of his revery   Should he remain in paradise
and become a demon  Should he return to hell and become an angel  

What was to be done  Great God  what was to be done 

The torment from which he had escaped with so much difficulty was
unchained afresh within him  His ideas began to grow confused once
more  they assumed a kind of stupefied and mechanical quality which is
peculiar to despair  The name of Romainville recurred incessantly to his
mind  with the two verses of a song which he had heard in the past 
He thought that Romainville was a little grove near Paris  where young
lovers go to pluck lilacs in the month of April 

He wavered outwardly as well as inwardly  He walked like a little child
who is permitted to toddle alone 

At intervals  as he combated his lassitude  he made an effort to recover
the mastery of his mind  He tried to put to himself  for the last time 
and definitely  the problem over which he had  in a manner  fallen
prostrate with fatigue  Ought he to denounce himself  Ought he to hold
his peace  He could not manage to see anything distinctly  The vague
aspects of all the courses of reasoning which had been sketched out by
his meditations quivered and vanished  one after the other  into smoke 
He only felt that  to whatever course of action he made up his mind 
something in him must die  and that of necessity  and without his being
able to escape the fact  that he was entering a sepulchre on the
right hand as much as on the left  that he was passing through a death
agony   the agony of his happiness  or the agony of his virtue 

Alas  all his resolution had again taken possession of him  He was no
further advanced than at the beginning 

Thus did this unhappy soul struggle in its anguish  Eighteen hundred
years before this unfortunate man  the mysterious Being in whom are
summed up all the sanctities and all the sufferings of humanity had also
long thrust aside with his hand  while the olive trees quivered in
the wild wind of the infinite  the terrible cup which appeared to Him
dripping with darkness and overflowing with shadows in the depths all
studded with stars 




CHAPTER IV  FORMS ASSUMED BY SUFFERING DURING SLEEP

Three o clock in the morning had just struck  and he had been walking
thus for five hours  almost uninterruptedly  when he at length allowed
himself to drop into his chair 

There he fell asleep and had a dream 

This dream  like the majority of dreams  bore no relation to the
situation  except by its painful and heart rending character  but it
made an impression on him  This nightmare struck him so forcibly that he
wrote it down later on  It is one of the papers in his own handwriting
which he has bequeathed to us  We think that we have here reproduced the
thing in strict accordance with the text 

Of whatever nature this dream may be  the history of this night would
be incomplete if we were to omit it  it is the gloomy adventure of an
ailing soul 

Here it is  On the envelope we find this line inscribed   The Dream I
had that Night  

 I was in a plain  a vast  gloomy plain  where there was no grass  It
did not seem to me to be daylight nor yet night 

 I was walking with my brother  the brother of my childish years 
the brother of whom  I must say  I never think  and whom I now hardly
remember 

 We were conversing and we met some passers by  We were talking of a
neighbor of ours in former days  who had always worked with her window
open from the time when she came to live on the street  As we talked we
felt cold because of that open window 

 There were no trees in the plain  We saw a man passing close to us  He
was entirely nude  of the hue of ashes  and mounted on a horse which was
earth color  The man had no hair  we could see his skull and the veins
on it  In his hand he held a switch which was as supple as a vine shoot
and as heavy as iron  This horseman passed and said nothing to us 

 My brother said to me   Let us take to the hollow road  

 There existed a hollow way wherein one saw neither a single shrub nor
a spear of moss  Everything was dirt colored  even the sky  After
proceeding a few paces  I received no reply when I spoke  I perceived
that my brother was no longer with me 

 I entered a village which I espied  I reflected that it must be
Romainville   Why Romainville   5 

 The first street that I entered was deserted  I entered a second
street  Behind the angle formed by the two streets  a man was standing
erect against the wall  I said to this Man   

  What country is this  Where am I   The man made no reply  I saw the
door of a house open  and I entered 

 The first chamber was deserted  I entered the second  Behind the door
of this chamber a man was standing erect against the wall  I inquired of
this man   Whose house is this  Where am I   The man replied not 

 The house had a garden  I quitted the house and entered the garden 
The garden was deserted  Behind the first tree I found a man standing
upright  I said to this man   What garden is this  Where am I   The man
did not answer 

 I strolled into the village  and perceived that it was a town  All
the streets were deserted  all the doors were open  Not a single living
being was passing in the streets  walking through the chambers or
strolling in the gardens  But behind each angle of the walls  behind
each door  behind each tree  stood a silent man  Only one was to be seen
at a time  These men watched me pass 

 I left the town and began to ramble about the fields 

 After the lapse of some time I turned back and saw a great crowd coming
up behind me  I recognized all the men whom I had seen in that town 
They had strange heads  They did not seem to be in a hurry  yet they
walked faster than I did  They made no noise as they walked  In an
instant this crowd had overtaken and surrounded me  The faces of these
men were earthen in hue 

 Then the first one whom I had seen and questioned on entering the town
said to me   

  Whither are you going  Do you not know that you have been dead this
long time  

 I opened my mouth to reply  and I perceived that there was no one near
me  


He woke  He was icy cold  A wind which was chill like the breeze of dawn
was rattling the leaves of the window  which had been left open on their
hinges  The fire was out  The candle was nearing its end  It was still
black night 

He rose  he went to the window  There were no stars in the sky even yet 

From his window the yard of the house and the street were visible  A
sharp  harsh noise  which made him drop his eyes  resounded from the
earth 

Below him he perceived two red stars  whose rays lengthened and
shortened in a singular manner through the darkness 

As his thoughts were still half immersed in the mists of sleep   Hold  
said he   there are no stars in the sky  They are on earth now  

But this confusion vanished  a second sound similar to the first roused
him thoroughly  he looked and recognized the fact that these two stars
were the lanterns of a carriage  By the light which they cast he was
able to distinguish the form of this vehicle  It was a tilbury harnessed
to a small white horse  The noise which he had heard was the trampling
of the horse s hoofs on the pavement 

 What vehicle is this   he said to himself   Who is coming here so early
in the morning  

At that moment there came a light tap on the door of his chamber 

He shuddered from head to foot  and cried in a terrible voice   

 Who is there  

Some one said   

 I  Monsieur le Maire  

He recognized the voice of the old woman who was his portress 

 Well   he replied   what is it  

 Monsieur le Maire  it is just five o clock in the morning  

 What is that to me  

 The cabriolet is here  Monsieur le Maire  

 What cabriolet  

 The tilbury  

 What tilbury  

 Did not Monsieur le Maire order a tilbury  

 No   said he 

 The coachman says that he has come for Monsieur le Maire  

 What coachman  

 M  Scaufflaire s coachman  

 M  Scaufflaire  

That name sent a shudder over him  as though a flash of lightning had
passed in front of his face 

 Ah  yes   he resumed   M  Scaufflaire  

If the old woman could have seen him at that moment  she would have been
frightened 

A tolerably long silence ensued  He examined the flame of the candle
with a stupid air  and from around the wick he took some of the burning
wax  which he rolled between his fingers  The old woman waited for him 
She even ventured to uplift her voice once more   

 What am I to say  Monsieur le Maire  

 Say that it is well  and that I am coming down  




CHAPTER V  HINDRANCES

The posting service from Arras to M  sur M  was still operated at this
period by small mail wagons of the time of the Empire  These mail wagons
were two wheeled cabriolets  upholstered inside with fawn colored
leather  hung on springs  and having but two seats  one for the postboy 
the other for the traveller  The wheels were armed with those long 
offensive axles which keep other vehicles at a distance  and which
may still be seen on the road in Germany  The despatch box  an immense
oblong coffer  was placed behind the vehicle and formed a part of it 
This coffer was painted black  and the cabriolet yellow 

These vehicles  which have no counterparts nowadays  had something
distorted and hunchbacked about them  and when one saw them passing in
the distance  and climbing up some road to the horizon  they resembled
the insects which are called  I think  termites  and which  though with
but little corselet  drag a great train behind them  But they travelled
at a very rapid rate  The post wagon which set out from Arras at one
o clock every night  after the mail from Paris had passed  arrived at M 
sur M  a little before five o clock in the morning 

That night the wagon which was descending to M  sur M  by the Hesdin
road  collided at the corner of a street  just as it was entering the
town  with a little tilbury harnessed to a white horse  which was going
in the opposite direction  and in which there was but one person  a man
enveloped in a mantle  The wheel of the tilbury received quite a violent
shock  The postman shouted to the man to stop  but the traveller paid no
heed and pursued his road at full gallop 

 That man is in a devilish hurry   said the postman 

The man thus hastening on was the one whom we have just seen struggling
in convulsions which are certainly deserving of pity 

Whither was he going  He could not have told  Why was he hastening 
He did not know  He was driving at random  straight ahead  Whither 
To Arras  no doubt  but he might have been going elsewhere as well 
At times he was conscious of it  and he shuddered  He plunged into the
night as into a gulf  Something urged him forward  something drew him
on  No one could have told what was taking place within him  every one
will understand it  What man is there who has not entered  at least once
in his life  into that obscure cavern of the unknown 

However  he had resolved on nothing  decided nothing  formed no plan 
done nothing  None of the actions of his conscience had been decisive 
He was  more than ever  as he had been at the first moment 

Why was he going to Arras 

He repeated what he had already said to himself when he had hired
Scaufflaire s cabriolet  that  whatever the result was to be  there was
no reason why he should not see with his own eyes  and judge of matters
for himself  that this was even prudent  that he must know what took
place  that no decision could be arrived at without having observed and
scrutinized  that one made mountains out of everything from a distance 
that  at any rate  when he should have seen that Champmathieu  some
wretch  his conscience would probably be greatly relieved to allow him
to go to the galleys in his stead  that Javert would indeed be there 
and that Brevet  that Chenildieu  that Cochepaille  old convicts who
had known him  but they certainly would not recognize him   bah  what an
idea  that Javert was a hundred leagues from suspecting the truth  that
all conjectures and all suppositions were fixed on Champmathieu  and
that there is nothing so headstrong as suppositions and conjectures 
that accordingly there was no danger 

That it was  no doubt  a dark moment  but that he should emerge from it 
that  after all  he held his destiny  however bad it might be  in his
own hand  that he was master of it  He clung to this thought 

At bottom  to tell the whole truth  he would have preferred not to go to
Arras 

Nevertheless  he was going thither 

As he meditated  he whipped up his horse  which was proceeding at that
fine  regular  and even trot which accomplishes two leagues and a half
an hour 

In proportion as the cabriolet advanced  he felt something within him
draw back 

At daybreak he was in the open country  the town of M  sur M  lay far
behind him  He watched the horizon grow white  he stared at all the
chilly figures of a winter s dawn as they passed before his eyes 
but without seeing them  The morning has its spectres as well as the
evening  He did not see them  but without his being aware of it  and by
means of a sort of penetration which was almost physical  these black
silhouettes of trees and of hills added some gloomy and sinister quality
to the violent state of his soul 

Each time that he passed one of those isolated dwellings which sometimes
border on the highway  he said to himself   And yet there are people
there within who are sleeping  

The trot of the horse  the bells on the harness  the wheels on the road 
produced a gentle  monotonous noise  These things are charming when one
is joyous  and lugubrious when one is sad 

It was broad daylight when he arrived at Hesdin  He halted in front of
the inn  to allow the horse a breathing spell  and to have him given
some oats 

The horse belonged  as Scaufflaire had said  to that small race of the
Boulonnais  which has too much head  too much belly  and not enough neck
and shoulders  but which has a broad chest  a large crupper  thin  fine
legs  and solid hoofs  a homely  but a robust and healthy race  The
excellent beast had travelled five leagues in two hours  and had not a
drop of sweat on his loins 

He did not get out of the tilbury  The stableman who brought the oats
suddenly bent down and examined the left wheel 

 Are you going far in this condition   said the man 

He replied  with an air of not having roused himself from his revery   

 Why  

 Have you come from a great distance   went on the man 

 Five leagues  

 Ah  

 Why do you say   Ah   

The man bent down once more  was silent for a moment  with his eyes
fixed on the wheel  then he rose erect and said   

 Because  though this wheel has travelled five leagues  it certainly
will not travel another quarter of a league  

He sprang out of the tilbury 

 What is that you say  my friend  

 I say that it is a miracle that you should have travelled five leagues
without you and your horse rolling into some ditch on the highway  Just
see here  

The wheel really had suffered serious damage  The shock administered by
the mail wagon had split two spokes and strained the hub  so that the
nut no longer held firm 

 My friend   he said to the stableman   is there a wheelwright here  

 Certainly  sir  

 Do me the service to go and fetch him  

 He is only a step from here  Hey  Master Bourgaillard  

Master Bourgaillard  the wheelwright  was standing on his own threshold 
He came  examined the wheel and made a grimace like a surgeon when the
latter thinks a limb is broken 

 Can you repair this wheel immediately  

 Yes  sir  

 When can I set out again  

 To morrow  

 To morrow  

 There is a long day s work on it  Are you in a hurry  sir  

 In a very great hurry  I must set out again in an hour at the latest  

 Impossible  sir  

 I will pay whatever you ask  

 Impossible  

 Well  in two hours  then  

 Impossible to day  Two new spokes and a hub must be made  Monsieur will
not be able to start before to morrow morning  

 The matter cannot wait until to morrow  What if you were to replace
this wheel instead of repairing it  

 How so  

 You are a wheelwright  

 Certainly  sir  

 Have you not a wheel that you can sell me  Then I could start again at
once  

 A spare wheel  

 Yes  

 I have no wheel on hand that would fit your cabriolet  Two wheels make
a pair  Two wheels cannot be put together hap hazard  

 In that case  sell me a pair of wheels  

 Not all wheels fit all axles  sir  

 Try  nevertheless  

 It is useless  sir  I have nothing to sell but cart wheels  We are but
a poor country here  

 Have you a cabriolet that you can let me have  

The wheelwright had seen at the first glance that the tilbury was a
hired vehicle  He shrugged his shoulders 

 You treat the cabriolets that people let you so well  If I had one  I
would not let it to you  

 Well  sell it to me  then  

 I have none  

 What  not even a spring cart  I am not hard to please  as you see  

 We live in a poor country  There is  in truth   added the wheelwright 
 an old calash under the shed yonder  which belongs to a bourgeois of
the town  who gave it to me to take care of  and who only uses it on the
thirty sixth of the month  never  that is to say  I might let that
to you  for what matters it to me  But the bourgeois must not see it
pass  and then  it is a calash  it would require two horses  

 I will take two post horses  

 Where is Monsieur going  

 To Arras  

 And Monsieur wishes to reach there to day  

 Yes  of course  

 By taking two post horses  

 Why not  

 Does it make any difference whether Monsieur arrives at four o clock
to morrow morning  

 Certainly not  

 There is one thing to be said about that  you see  by taking
post horses  Monsieur has his passport  

 Yes  

 Well  by taking post horses  Monsieur cannot reach Arras before
to morrow  We are on a cross road  The relays are badly served  the
horses are in the fields  The season for ploughing is just beginning 
heavy teams are required  and horses are seized upon everywhere  from
the post as well as elsewhere  Monsieur will have to wait three or four
hours at the least at every relay  And  then  they drive at a walk 
There are many hills to ascend  

 Come then  I will go on horseback  Unharness the cabriolet  Some one
can surely sell me a saddle in the neighborhood  

 Without doubt  But will this horse bear the saddle  

 That is true  you remind me of that  he will not bear it  

 Then   

 But I can surely hire a horse in the village  

 A horse to travel to Arras at one stretch  

 Yes  

 That would require such a horse as does not exist in these parts  You
would have to buy it to begin with  because no one knows you  But you
will not find one for sale nor to let  for five hundred francs  or for a
thousand  

 What am I to do  

 The best thing is to let me repair the wheel like an honest man  and
set out on your journey to morrow  

 To morrow will be too late  

 The deuce  

 Is there not a mail wagon which runs to Arras  When will it pass  

 To night  Both the posts pass at night  the one going as well as the
one coming  

 What  It will take you a day to mend this wheel  

 A day  and a good long one  

 If you set two men to work  

 If I set ten men to work  

 What if the spokes were to be tied together with ropes  

 That could be done with the spokes  not with the hub  and the felly is
in a bad state  too  

 Is there any one in this village who lets out teams  

 No  

 Is there another wheelwright  

The stableman and the wheelwright replied in concert  with a toss of the
head 

 No  

He felt an immense joy 

It was evident that Providence was intervening  That it was it who had
broken the wheel of the tilbury and who was stopping him on the road 
He had not yielded to this sort of first summons  he had just made every
possible effort to continue the journey  he had loyally and scrupulously
exhausted all means  he had been deterred neither by the season  nor
fatigue  nor by the expense  he had nothing with which to reproach
himself  If he went no further  that was no fault of his  It did not
concern him further  It was no longer his fault  It was not the act of
his own conscience  but the act of Providence 

He breathed again  He breathed freely and to the full extent of his
lungs for the first time since Javert s visit  It seemed to him that the
hand of iron which had held his heart in its grasp for the last twenty
hours had just released him 

It seemed to him that God was for him now  and was manifesting Himself 

He said himself that he had done all he could  and that now he had
nothing to do but retrace his steps quietly 

If his conversation with the wheelwright had taken place in a chamber
of the inn  it would have had no witnesses  no one would have heard him 
things would have rested there  and it is probable that we should not
have had to relate any of the occurrences which the reader is about
to peruse  but this conversation had taken place in the street  Any
colloquy in the street inevitably attracts a crowd  There are always
people who ask nothing better than to become spectators  While he was
questioning the wheelwright  some people who were passing back and forth
halted around them  After listening for a few minutes  a young lad  to
whom no one had paid any heed  detached himself from the group and ran
off 

At the moment when the traveller  after the inward deliberation which we
have just described  resolved to retrace his steps  this child returned 
He was accompanied by an old woman 

 Monsieur   said the woman   my boy tells me that you wish to hire a
cabriolet  

These simple words uttered by an old woman led by a child made the
perspiration trickle down his limbs  He thought that he beheld the hand
which had relaxed its grasp reappear in the darkness behind him  ready
to seize him once more 

He answered   

 Yes  my good woman  I am in search of a cabriolet which I can hire  

And he hastened to add   

 But there is none in the place  

 Certainly there is   said the old woman 

 Where   interpolated the wheelwright 

 At my house   replied the old woman 

He shuddered  The fatal hand had grasped him again 

The old woman really had in her shed a sort of basket spring cart 
The wheelwright and the stable man  in despair at the prospect of the
traveller escaping their clutches  interfered 

 It was a frightful old trap  it rests flat on the axle  it is an actual
fact that the seats were suspended inside it by leather thongs  the rain
came into it  the wheels were rusted and eaten with moisture  it
would not go much further than the tilbury  a regular ramshackle old
stage wagon  the gentleman would make a great mistake if he trusted
himself to it   etc   etc 

All this was true  but this trap  this ramshackle old vehicle  this
thing  whatever it was  ran on its two wheels and could go to Arras 

He paid what was asked  left the tilbury with the wheelwright to be
repaired  intending to reclaim it on his return  had the white horse
put to the cart  climbed into it  and resumed the road which he had been
travelling since morning 

At the moment when the cart moved off  he admitted that he had felt  a
moment previously  a certain joy in the thought that he should not
go whither he was now proceeding  He examined this joy with a sort of
wrath  and found it absurd  Why should he feel joy at turning back 
After all  he was taking this trip of his own free will  No one was
forcing him to it 

And assuredly nothing would happen except what he should choose 

As he left Hesdin  he heard a voice shouting to him   Stop  Stop   He
halted the cart with a vigorous movement which contained a feverish and
convulsive element resembling hope 

It was the old woman s little boy 

 Monsieur   said the latter   it was I who got the cart for you  

 Well  

 You have not given me anything  

He who gave to all so readily thought this demand exorbitant and almost
odious 

 Ah  it s you  you scamp   said he   you shall have nothing  

He whipped up his horse and set off at full speed 

He had lost a great deal of time at Hesdin  He wanted to make it good 
The little horse was courageous  and pulled for two  but it was the
month of February  there had been rain  the roads were bad  And then 
it was no longer the tilbury  The cart was very heavy  and in addition 
there were many ascents 

He took nearly four hours to go from Hesdin to Saint Pol  four hours for
five leagues 

At Saint Pol he had the horse unharnessed at the first inn he came to
and led to the stable  as he had promised Scaufflaire  he stood beside
the manger while the horse was eating  he thought of sad and confusing
things 

The inn keeper s wife came to the stable 

 Does not Monsieur wish to breakfast  

 Come  that is true  I even have a good appetite  

He followed the woman  who had a rosy  cheerful face  she led him to the
public room where there were tables covered with waxed cloth 

 Make haste   said he   I must start again  I am in a hurry  

A big Flemish servant maid placed his knife and fork in all haste  he
looked at the girl with a sensation of comfort 

 That is what ailed me   he thought   I had not breakfasted  

His breakfast was served  he seized the bread  took a mouthful  and then
slowly replaced it on the table  and did not touch it again 

A carter was eating at another table  he said to this man   

 Why is their bread so bitter here  

The carter was a German and did not understand him 

He returned to the stable and remained near the horse 

An hour later he had quitted Saint Pol and was directing his course
towards Tinques  which is only five leagues from Arras 

What did he do during this journey  Of what was he thinking  As in the
morning  he watched the trees  the thatched roofs  the tilled fields
pass by  and the way in which the landscape  broken at every turn of the
road  vanished  this is a sort of contemplation which sometimes
suffices to the soul  and almost relieves it from thought  What is more
melancholy and more profound than to see a thousand objects for the
first and the last time  To travel is to be born and to die at every
instant  perhaps  in the vaguest region of his mind  he did make
comparisons between the shifting horizon and our human existence  all
the things of life are perpetually fleeing before us  the dark and
bright intervals are intermingled  after a dazzling moment  an eclipse 
we look  we hasten  we stretch out our hands to grasp what is passing 
each event is a turn in the road  and  all at once  we are old  we feel
a shock  all is black  we distinguish an obscure door  the gloomy
horse of life  which has been drawing us halts  and we see a veiled and
unknown person unharnessing amid the shadows 

Twilight was falling when the children who were coming out of school
beheld this traveller enter Tinques  it is true that the days were still
short  he did not halt at Tinques  as he emerged from the village  a
laborer  who was mending the road with stones  raised his head and said
to him   

 That horse is very much fatigued  

The poor beast was  in fact  going at a walk 

 Are you going to Arras   added the road mender 

 Yes  

 If you go on at that rate you will not arrive very early  

He stopped his horse  and asked the laborer   

 How far is it from here to Arras  

 Nearly seven good leagues  

 How is that  the posting guide only says five leagues and a quarter  

 Ah   returned the road mender   so you don t know that the road is
under repair  You will find it barred a quarter of an hour further on 
there is no way to proceed further  

 Really  

 You will take the road on the left  leading to Carency  you will cross
the river  when you reach Camblin  you will turn to the right  that is
the road to Mont Saint Eloy which leads to Arras  

 But it is night  and I shall lose my way  

 You do not belong in these parts  

 No  

 And  besides  it is all cross roads  stop  sir   resumed the
road mender   shall I give you a piece of advice  your horse is tired 
return to Tinques  there is a good inn there  sleep there  you can reach
Arras to morrow  

 I must be there this evening  

 That is different  but go to the inn all the same  and get an extra
horse  the stable boy will guide you through the cross roads  

He followed the road mender s advice  retraced his steps  and  half an
hour later  he passed the same spot again  but this time at full speed 
with a good horse to aid  a stable boy  who called himself a postilion 
was seated on the shaft of the cariole 

Still  he felt that he had lost time 

Night had fully come 

They turned into the cross road  the way became frightfully bad  the
cart lurched from one rut to the other  he said to the postilion   

 Keep at a trot  and you shall have a double fee  

In one of the jolts  the whiffle tree broke 

 There s the whiffle tree broken  sir   said the postilion   I don t
know how to harness my horse now  this road is very bad at night  if
you wish to return and sleep at Tinques  we could be in Arras early
to morrow morning  

He replied   Have you a bit of rope and a knife  

 Yes  sir  

He cut a branch from a tree and made a whiffle tree of it 

This caused another loss of twenty minutes  but they set out again at a
gallop 

The plain was gloomy  low hanging  black  crisp fogs crept over the
hills and wrenched themselves away like smoke  there were whitish gleams
in the clouds  a strong breeze which blew in from the sea produced a
sound in all quarters of the horizon  as of some one moving furniture 
everything that could be seen assumed attitudes of terror  How many
things shiver beneath these vast breaths of the night 

He was stiff with cold  he had eaten nothing since the night before 
he vaguely recalled his other nocturnal trip in the vast plain in
the neighborhood of D      eight years previously  and it seemed but
yesterday 

The hour struck from a distant tower  he asked the boy   

 What time is it  

 Seven o clock  sir  we shall reach Arras at eight  we have but three
leagues still to go  

At that moment  he for the first time indulged in this reflection 
thinking it odd the while that it had not occurred to him sooner  that
all this trouble which he was taking was  perhaps  useless  that he did
not know so much as the hour of the trial  that he should  at least 
have informed himself of that  that he was foolish to go thus straight
ahead without knowing whether he would be of any service or not  then
he sketched out some calculations in his mind  that  ordinarily  the
sittings of the Court of Assizes began at nine o clock in the morning 
that it could not be a long affair  that the theft of the apples would
be very brief  that there would then remain only a question of identity 
four or five depositions  and very little for the lawyers to say  that
he should arrive after all was over 

The postilion whipped up the horses  they had crossed the river and left
Mont Saint Eloy behind them 

The night grew more profound 




CHAPTER VI  SISTER SIMPLICE PUT TO THE PROOF

But at that moment Fantine was joyous 

She had passed a very bad night  her cough was frightful  her fever
had doubled in intensity  she had had dreams  in the morning  when the
doctor paid his visit  she was delirious  he assumed an alarmed look 
and ordered that he should be informed as soon as M  Madeleine arrived 

All the morning she was melancholy  said but little  and laid plaits
in her sheets  murmuring the while  in a low voice  calculations
which seemed to be calculations of distances  Her eyes were hollow and
staring  They seemed almost extinguished at intervals  then lighted up
again and shone like stars  It seems as though  at the approach of a
certain dark hour  the light of heaven fills those who are quitting the
light of earth 

Each time that Sister Simplice asked her how she felt  she replied
invariably   Well  I should like to see M  Madeleine  

Some months before this  at the moment when Fantine had just lost her
last modesty  her last shame  and her last joy  she was the shadow of
herself  now she was the spectre of herself  Physical suffering had
completed the work of moral suffering  This creature of five and twenty
had a wrinkled brow  flabby cheeks  pinched nostrils  teeth from which
the gums had receded  a leaden complexion  a bony neck  prominent
shoulder blades  frail limbs  a clayey skin  and her golden hair was
growing out sprinkled with gray  Alas  how illness improvises old age 

At mid day the physician returned  gave some directions  inquired
whether the mayor had made his appearance at the infirmary  and shook
his head 

M  Madeleine usually came to see the invalid at three o clock  As
exactness is kindness  he was exact 

About half past two  Fantine began to be restless  In the course of
twenty minutes  she asked the nun more than ten times   What time is it 
sister  

Three o clock struck  At the third stroke  Fantine sat up in bed  she
who could  in general  hardly turn over  joined her yellow  fleshless
hands in a sort of convulsive clasp  and the nun heard her utter one
of those profound sighs which seem to throw off dejection  Then Fantine
turned and looked at the door 

No one entered  the door did not open 

She remained thus for a quarter of an hour  her eyes riveted on the
door  motionless and apparently holding her breath  The sister dared not
speak to her  The clock struck a quarter past three  Fantine fell back
on her pillow 

She said nothing  but began to plait the sheets once more 

Half an hour passed  then an hour  no one came  every time the clock
struck  Fantine started up and looked towards the door  then fell back
again 

Her thought was clearly perceptible  but she uttered no name  she made
no complaint  she blamed no one  But she coughed in a melancholy way 
One would have said that something dark was descending upon her  She was
livid and her lips were blue  She smiled now and then 

Five o clock struck  Then the sister heard her say  very low and gently 
 He is wrong not to come to day  since I am going away to morrow  

Sister Simplice herself was surprised at M  Madeleine s delay 

In the meantime  Fantine was staring at the tester of her bed  She
seemed to be endeavoring to recall something  All at once she began to
sing in a voice as feeble as a breath  The nun listened  This is what
Fantine was singing   


           Lovely things we will buy
           As we stroll the faubourgs through 
           Roses are pink  corn flowers are blue 
           I love my love  corn flowers are blue 


 Yestere en the Virgin Mary came near my stove  in a broidered mantle
clad  and said to me   Here  hide  neath my veil the child whom you
one day begged from me  Haste to the city  buy linen  buy a needle  buy
thread  


           Lovely things we will buy
           As we stroll the faubourgs through 


 Dear Holy Virgin  beside my stove I have set a cradle with ribbons
decked  God may give me his loveliest star  I prefer the child thou hast
granted me   Madame  what shall I do with this linen fine     Make of it
clothes for thy new born babe  


           Roses are pink and corn flowers are blue 
           I love my love  and corn flowers are blue 


  Wash this linen     Where     In the stream  Make of it  soiling
not  spoiling not  a petticoat fair with its bodice fine  which I will
embroider and fill with flowers     Madame  the child is no longer here 
what is to be done     Then make of it a winding sheet in which to bury
me  


           Lovely things we will buy
           As we stroll the faubourgs through 
           Roses are pink  corn flowers are blue 
           I love my love  corn flowers are blue  


This song was an old cradle romance with which she had  in former days 
lulled her little Cosette to sleep  and which had never recurred to her
mind in all the five years during which she had been parted from her
child  She sang it in so sad a voice  and to so sweet an air  that it
was enough to make any one  even a nun  weep  The sister  accustomed as
she was to austerities  felt a tear spring to her eyes 

The clock struck six  Fantine did not seem to hear it  She no longer
seemed to pay attention to anything about her 

Sister Simplice sent a serving maid to inquire of the portress of the
factory  whether the mayor had returned  and if he would not come to the
infirmary soon  The girl returned in a few minutes 

Fantine was still motionless and seemed absorbed in her own thoughts 

The servant informed Sister Simplice in a very low tone  that the
mayor had set out that morning before six o clock  in a little tilbury
harnessed to a white horse  cold as the weather was  that he had gone
alone  without even a driver  that no one knew what road he had taken 
that people said he had been seen to turn into the road to Arras  that
others asserted that they had met him on the road to Paris  That when he
went away he had been very gentle  as usual  and that he had merely told
the portress not to expect him that night 

While the two women were whispering together  with their backs turned
to Fantine s bed  the sister interrogating  the servant conjecturing 
Fantine  with the feverish vivacity of certain organic maladies  which
unite the free movements of health with the frightful emaciation of
death  had raised herself to her knees in bed  with her shrivelled hands
resting on the bolster  and her head thrust through the opening of the
curtains  and was listening  All at once she cried   

 You are speaking of M  Madeleine  Why are you talking so low  What is
he doing  Why does he not come  

Her voice was so abrupt and hoarse that the two women thought they heard
the voice of a man  they wheeled round in affright 

 Answer me   cried Fantine 

The servant stammered   

 The portress told me that he could not come to day  

 Be calm  my child   said the sister   lie down again  

Fantine  without changing her attitude  continued in a loud voice  and
with an accent that was both imperious and heart rending   

 He cannot come  Why not  You know the reason  You are whispering it to
each other there  I want to know it  

The servant maid hastened to say in the nun s ear   Say that he is busy
with the city council  

Sister Simplice blushed faintly  for it was a lie that the maid had
proposed to her 

On the other hand  it seemed to her that the mere communication of the
truth to the invalid would  without doubt  deal her a terrible blow  and
that this was a serious matter in Fantine s present state  Her flush
did not last long  the sister raised her calm  sad eyes to Fantine  and
said   Monsieur le Maire has gone away  

Fantine raised herself and crouched on her heels in the bed  her eyes
sparkled  indescribable joy beamed from that melancholy face 

 Gone   she cried   he has gone to get Cosette  

Then she raised her arms to heaven  and her white face became ineffable 
her lips moved  she was praying in a low voice 

When her prayer was finished   Sister   she said   I am willing to lie
down again  I will do anything you wish  I was naughty just now  I beg
your pardon for having spoken so loud  it is very wrong to talk loudly 
I know that well  my good sister  but  you see  I am very happy  the
good God is good  M  Madeleine is good  just think  he has gone to
Montfermeil to get my little Cosette  

She lay down again  with the nun s assistance  helped the nun to arrange
her pillow  and kissed the little silver cross which she wore on her
neck  and which Sister Simplice had given her 

 My child   said the sister   try to rest now  and do not talk any
more  

Fantine took the sister s hand in her moist hands  and the latter was
pained to feel that perspiration 

 He set out this morning for Paris  in fact  he need not even go through
Paris  Montfermeil is a little to the left as you come thence  Do you
remember how he said to me yesterday  when I spoke to him of Cosette 
Soon  soon  He wants to give me a surprise  you know  he made me sign a
letter so that she could be taken from the Thenardiers  they cannot
say anything  can they  they will give back Cosette  for they have been
paid  the authorities will not allow them to keep the child since they
have received their pay  Do not make signs to me that I must not talk 
sister  I am extremely happy  I am doing well  I am not ill at all any
more  I am going to see Cosette again  I am even quite hungry  it is
nearly five years since I saw her last  you cannot imagine how much
attached one gets to children  and then  she will be so pretty  you will
see  If you only knew what pretty little rosy fingers she had  In the
first place  she will have very beautiful hands  she had ridiculous
hands when she was only a year old  like this  she must be a big girl
now  she is seven years old  she is quite a young lady  I call her
Cosette  but her name is really Euphrasie  Stop  this morning I was
looking at the dust on the chimney piece  and I had a sort of idea come
across me  like that  that I should see Cosette again soon  Mon Dieu 
how wrong it is not to see one s children for years  One ought to
reflect that life is not eternal  Oh  how good M  le Maire is to go  it
is very cold  it is true  he had on his cloak  at least  he will be
here to morrow  will he not  to morrow will be a festival day  to morrow
morning  sister  you must remind me to put on my little cap that has
lace on it  What a place that Montfermeil is  I took that journey on
foot once  it was very long for me  but the diligences go very quickly 
he will be here to morrow with Cosette  how far is it from here to
Montfermeil  

The sister  who had no idea of distances  replied   Oh  I think that he
will be here to morrow  

 To morrow  to morrow   said Fantine   I shall see Cosette to morrow 
you see  good sister of the good God  that I am no longer ill  I am mad 
I could dance if any one wished it  

A person who had seen her a quarter of an hour previously would not have
understood the change  she was all rosy now  she spoke in a lively and
natural voice  her whole face was one smile  now and then she talked 
she laughed softly  the joy of a mother is almost infantile 

 Well   resumed the nun   now that you are happy  mind me  and do not
talk any more  

Fantine laid her head on her pillow and said in a low voice   Yes 
lie down again  be good  for you are going to have your child  Sister
Simplice is right  every one here is right  

And then  without stirring  without even moving her head  she began to
stare all about her with wide open eyes and a joyous air  and she said
nothing more 

The sister drew the curtains together again  hoping that she would
fall into a doze  Between seven and eight o clock the doctor came  not
hearing any sound  he thought Fantine was asleep  entered softly  and
approached the bed on tiptoe  he opened the curtains a little  and  by
the light of the taper  he saw Fantine s big eyes gazing at him 

She said to him   She will be allowed to sleep beside me in a little
bed  will she not  sir  

The doctor thought that she was delirious  She added   

 See  there is just room  

The doctor took Sister Simplice aside  and she explained matters to him 
that M  Madeleine was absent for a day or two  and that in their doubt
they had not thought it well to undeceive the invalid  who believed that
the mayor had gone to Montfermeil  that it was possible  after all  that
her guess was correct  the doctor approved 

He returned to Fantine s bed  and she went on   

 You see  when she wakes up in the morning  I shall be able to say good
morning to her  poor kitten  and when I cannot sleep at night  I can
hear her asleep  her little gentle breathing will do me good  

 Give me your hand   said the doctor 

She stretched out her arm  and exclaimed with a laugh   

 Ah  hold  in truth  you did not know it  I am cured  Cosette will
arrive to morrow  

The doctor was surprised  she was better  the pressure on her chest
had decreased  her pulse had regained its strength  a sort of life had
suddenly supervened and reanimated this poor  worn out creature 

 Doctor   she went on   did the sister tell you that M  le Maire has
gone to get that mite of a child  

The doctor recommended silence  and that all painful emotions should be
avoided  he prescribed an infusion of pure chinchona  and  in case the
fever should increase again during the night  a calming potion  As he
took his departure  he said to the sister   

 She is doing better  if good luck willed that the mayor should
actually arrive to morrow with the child  who knows  there are crises
so astounding  great joy has been known to arrest maladies  I know well
that this is an organic disease  and in an advanced state  but all those
things are such mysteries  we may be able to save her  




CHAPTER VII  THE TRAVELLER ON HIS ARRIVAL TAKES PRECAUTIONS FOR
DEPARTURE

It was nearly eight o clock in the evening when the cart  which we
left on the road  entered the porte cochere of the Hotel de la Poste in
Arras  the man whom we have been following up to this moment alighted
from it  responded with an abstracted air to the attentions of the
people of the inn  sent back the extra horse  and with his own hands
led the little white horse to the stable  then he opened the door of a
billiard room which was situated on the ground floor  sat down there 
and leaned his elbows on a table  he had taken fourteen hours for
the journey which he had counted on making in six  he did himself the
justice to acknowledge that it was not his fault  but at bottom  he was
not sorry 

The landlady of the hotel entered 

 Does Monsieur wish a bed  Does Monsieur require supper  

He made a sign of the head in the negative 

 The stableman says that Monsieur s horse is extremely fatigued  

Here he broke his silence 

 Will not the horse be in a condition to set out again to morrow
morning  

 Oh  Monsieur  he must rest for two days at least  

He inquired   

 Is not the posting station located here  

 Yes  sir  

The hostess conducted him to the office  he showed his passport  and
inquired whether there was any way of returning that same night to M 
sur M  by the mail wagon  the seat beside the post boy chanced to be
vacant  he engaged it and paid for it   Monsieur   said the clerk 
 do not fail to be here ready to start at precisely one o clock in the
morning  

This done  he left the hotel and began to wander about the town 

He was not acquainted with Arras  the streets were dark  and he
walked on at random  but he seemed bent upon not asking the way of the
passers by  He crossed the little river Crinchon  and found himself in a
labyrinth of narrow alleys where he lost his way  A citizen was passing
along with a lantern  After some hesitation  he decided to apply to this
man  not without having first glanced behind and in front of him  as
though he feared lest some one should hear the question which he was
about to put 

 Monsieur   said he   where is the court house  if you please  

 You do not belong in town  sir   replied the bourgeois  who was an
oldish man   well  follow me  I happen to be going in the direction of
the court house  that is to say  in the direction of the hotel of the
prefecture  for the court house is undergoing repairs just at this
moment  and the courts are holding their sittings provisionally in the
prefecture  

 Is it there that the Assizes are held   he asked 

 Certainly  sir  you see  the prefecture of to day was the bishop s
palace before the Revolution  M  de Conzie  who was bishop in  82  built
a grand hall there  It is in this grand hall that the court is held  

On the way  the bourgeois said to him   

 If Monsieur desires to witness a case  it is rather late  The sittings
generally close at six o clock  

When they arrived on the grand square  however  the man pointed out to
him four long windows all lighted up  in the front of a vast and gloomy
building 

 Upon my word  sir  you are in luck  you have arrived in season  Do you
see those four windows  That is the Court of Assizes  There is light
there  so they are not through  The matter must have been greatly
protracted  and they are holding an evening session  Do you take an
interest in this affair  Is it a criminal case  Are you a witness  

He replied   

 I have not come on any business  I only wish to speak to one of the
lawyers  

 That is different   said the bourgeois   Stop  sir  here is the door
where the sentry stands  You have only to ascend the grand staircase  

He conformed to the bourgeois s directions  and a few minutes later he
was in a hall containing many people  and where groups  intermingled
with lawyers in their gowns  were whispering together here and there 

It is always a heart breaking thing to see these congregations of men
robed in black  murmuring together in low voices  on the threshold of
the halls of justice  It is rare that charity and pity are the outcome
of these words  Condemnations pronounced in advance are more likely
to be the result  All these groups seem to the passing and thoughtful
observer so many sombre hives where buzzing spirits construct in concert
all sorts of dark edifices 

This spacious hall  illuminated by a single lamp  was the old hall of
the episcopal palace  and served as the large hall of the palace
of justice  A double leaved door  which was closed at that moment 
separated it from the large apartment where the court was sitting 

The obscurity was such that he did not fear to accost the first lawyer
whom he met 

 What stage have they reached  sir   he asked 

 It is finished   said the lawyer 

 Finished  

This word was repeated in such accents that the lawyer turned round 

 Excuse me sir  perhaps you are a relative  

 No  I know no one here  Has judgment been pronounced  

 Of course  Nothing else was possible  

 To penal servitude  

 For life  

He continued  in a voice so weak that it was barely audible   

 Then his identity was established  

 What identity   replied the lawyer   There was no identity to be
established  The matter was very simple  The woman had murdered her
child  the infanticide was proved  the jury threw out the question of
premeditation  and she was condemned for life  

 So it was a woman   said he 

 Why  certainly  The Limosin woman  Of what are you speaking  

 Nothing  But since it is all over  how comes it that the hall is still
lighted  

 For another case  which was begun about two hours ago  

 What other case  

 Oh  this one is a clear case also  It is about a sort of blackguard 
a man arrested for a second offence  a convict who has been guilty of
theft  I don t know his name exactly  There s a bandit s phiz for you 
I d send him to the galleys on the strength of his face alone  

 Is there any way of getting into the court room  sir   said he 

 I really think that there is not  There is a great crowd  However 
the hearing has been suspended  Some people have gone out  and when the
hearing is resumed  you might make an effort  

 Where is the entrance  

 Through yonder large door  

The lawyer left him  In the course of a few moments he had experienced 
almost simultaneously  almost intermingled with each other  all possible
emotions  The words of this indifferent spectator had  in turn  pierced
his heart like needles of ice and like blades of fire  When he saw that
nothing was settled  he breathed freely once more  but he could not have
told whether what he felt was pain or pleasure 

He drew near to many groups and listened to what they were saying  The
docket of the session was very heavy  the president had appointed
for the same day two short and simple cases  They had begun with the
infanticide  and now they had reached the convict  the old offender  the
 return horse   This man had stolen apples  but that did not appear to
be entirely proved  what had been proved was  that he had already been
in the galleys at Toulon  It was that which lent a bad aspect to
his case  However  the man s examination and the depositions of the
witnesses had been completed  but the lawyer s plea  and the speech
of the public prosecutor were still to come  it could not be
finished before midnight  The man would probably be condemned  the
attorney general was very clever  and never missed his culprits  he was
a brilliant fellow who wrote verses 

An usher stood at the door communicating with the hall of the Assizes 
He inquired of this usher   

 Will the door be opened soon  sir  

 It will not be opened at all   replied the usher 

 What  It will not be opened when the hearing is resumed  Is not the
hearing suspended  

 The hearing has just been begun again   replied the usher   but the
door will not be opened again  

 Why  

 Because the hall is full  

 What  There is not room for one more  

 Not another one  The door is closed  No one can enter now  

The usher added after a pause   There are  to tell the truth  two
or three extra places behind Monsieur le President  but Monsieur le
President only admits public functionaries to them  

So saying  the usher turned his back 

He retired with bowed head  traversed the antechamber  and slowly
descended the stairs  as though hesitating at every step  It is probable
that he was holding counsel with himself  The violent conflict which had
been going on within him since the preceding evening was not yet ended 
and every moment he encountered some new phase of it  On reaching the
landing place  he leaned his back against the balusters and folded his
arms  All at once he opened his coat  drew out his pocket book  took
from it a pencil  tore out a leaf  and upon that leaf he wrote rapidly 
by the light of the street lantern  this line  M  Madeleine  Mayor of M 
sur M   then he ascended the stairs once more with great strides  made
his way through the crowd  walked straight up to the usher  handed him
the paper  and said in an authoritative manner   

 Take this to Monsieur le President  

The usher took the paper  cast a glance upon it  and obeyed 




CHAPTER VIII  AN ENTRANCE BY FAVOR


Although he did not suspect the fact  the mayor of M  sur M  enjoyed
a sort of celebrity  For the space of seven years his reputation for
virtue had filled the whole of Bas Boulonnais  it had eventually passed
the confines of a small district and had been spread abroad through
two or three neighboring departments  Besides the service which he had
rendered to the chief town by resuscitating the black jet industry 
there was not one out of the hundred and forty communes of the
arrondissement of M  sur M  which was not indebted to him for some
benefit  He had even at need contrived to aid and multiply the
industries of other arrondissements  It was thus that he had  when
occasion offered  supported with his credit and his funds the linen
factory at Boulogne  the flax spinning industry at Frevent  and the
hydraulic manufacture of cloth at Boubers sur Canche  Everywhere the
name of M  Madeleine was pronounced with veneration  Arras and Douai
envied the happy little town of M  sur M  its mayor 

The Councillor of the Royal Court of Douai  who was presiding over this
session of the Assizes at Arras  was acquainted  in common with the rest
of the world  with this name which was so profoundly and universally
honored  When the usher  discreetly opening the door which connected
the council chamber with the court room  bent over the back of the
President s arm chair and handed him the paper on which was inscribed
the line which we have just perused  adding   The gentleman desires to
be present at the trial   the President  with a quick and deferential
movement  seized a pen and wrote a few words at the bottom of the paper
and returned it to the usher  saying   Admit him  

The unhappy man whose history we are relating had remained near the door
of the hall  in the same place and the same attitude in which the usher
had left him  In the midst of his revery he heard some one saying to
him   Will Monsieur do me the honor to follow me   It was the same usher
who had turned his back upon him but a moment previously  and who was
now bowing to the earth before him  At the same time  the usher handed
him the paper  He unfolded it  and as he chanced to be near the light 
he could read it 

 The President of the Court of Assizes presents his respects to M 
Madeleine  

He crushed the paper in his hand as though those words contained for him
a strange and bitter aftertaste 

He followed the usher 

A few minutes later he found himself alone in a sort of wainscoted
cabinet of severe aspect  lighted by two wax candles  placed upon a
table with a green cloth  The last words of the usher who had just
quitted him still rang in his ears   Monsieur  you are now in the
council chamber  you have only to turn the copper handle of yonder door 
and you will find yourself in the court room  behind the President s
chair   These words were mingled in his thoughts with a vague memory of
narrow corridors and dark staircases which he had recently traversed 

The usher had left him alone  The supreme moment had arrived  He sought
to collect his faculties  but could not  It is chiefly at the moment
when there is the greatest need for attaching them to the painful
realities of life  that the threads of thought snap within the brain  He
was in the very place where the judges deliberated and condemned  With
stupid tranquillity he surveyed this peaceful and terrible apartment 
where so many lives had been broken  which was soon to ring with his
name  and which his fate was at that moment traversing  He stared at
the wall  then he looked at himself  wondering that it should be that
chamber and that it should be he 

He had eaten nothing for four and twenty hours  he was worn out by the
jolts of the cart  but he was not conscious of it  It seemed to him that
he felt nothing 

He approached a black frame which was suspended on the wall  and which
contained  under glass  an ancient autograph letter of Jean Nicolas
Pache  mayor of Paris and minister  and dated  through an error  no
doubt  the 9th of June  of the year II   and in which Pache forwarded to
the commune the list of ministers and deputies held in arrest by them 
Any spectator who had chanced to see him at that moment  and who had
watched him  would have imagined  doubtless  that this letter struck him
as very curious  for he did not take his eyes from it  and he read it
two or three times  He read it without paying any attention to it  and
unconsciously  He was thinking of Fantine and Cosette 

As he dreamed  he turned round  and his eyes fell upon the brass knob
of the door which separated him from the Court of Assizes  He had almost
forgotten that door  His glance  calm at first  paused there  remained
fixed on that brass handle  then grew terrified  and little by little
became impregnated with fear  Beads of perspiration burst forth among
his hair and trickled down upon his temples 

At a certain moment he made that indescribable gesture of a sort of
authority mingled with rebellion  which is intended to convey  and which
does so well convey   Pardieu  who compels me to this   Then he wheeled
briskly round  caught sight of the door through which he had entered in
front of him  went to it  opened it  and passed out  He was no longer
in that chamber  he was outside in a corridor  a long  narrow corridor 
broken by steps and gratings  making all sorts of angles  lighted
here and there by lanterns similar to the night taper of invalids  the
corridor through which he had approached  He breathed  he listened  not
a sound in front  not a sound behind him  and he fled as though pursued 

When he had turned many angles in this corridor  he still listened  The
same silence reigned  and there was the same darkness around him  He was
out of breath  he staggered  he leaned against the wall  The stone was
cold  the perspiration lay ice cold on his brow  he straightened himself
up with a shiver 

Then  there alone in the darkness  trembling with cold and with
something else  too  perchance  he meditated 

He had meditated all night long  he had meditated all the day  he heard
within him but one voice  which said   Alas  

A quarter of an hour passed thus  At length he bowed his head  sighed
with agony  dropped his arms  and retraced his steps  He walked slowly 
and as though crushed  It seemed as though some one had overtaken him in
his flight and was leading him back 

He re entered the council chamber  The first thing he caught sight of
was the knob of the door  This knob  which was round and of polished
brass  shone like a terrible star for him  He gazed at it as a lamb
might gaze into the eye of a tiger 

He could not take his eyes from it  From time to time he advanced a step
and approached the door 

Had he listened  he would have heard the sound of the adjoining hall
like a sort of confused murmur  but he did not listen  and he did not
hear 

Suddenly  without himself knowing how it happened  he found himself near
the door  he grasped the knob convulsively  the door opened 

He was in the court room 




CHAPTER IX  A PLACE WHERE CONVICTIONS ARE IN PROCESS OF FORMATION

He advanced a pace  closed the door mechanically behind him  and
remained standing  contemplating what he saw 

It was a vast and badly lighted apartment  now full of uproar  now full
of silence  where all the apparatus of a criminal case  with its petty
and mournful gravity in the midst of the throng  was in process of
development 

At the one end of the hall  the one where he was  were judges  with
abstracted air  in threadbare robes  who were gnawing their nails or
closing their eyelids  at the other end  a ragged crowd  lawyers in
all sorts of attitudes  soldiers with hard but honest faces  ancient 
spotted woodwork  a dirty ceiling  tables covered with serge that was
yellow rather than green  doors blackened by handmarks  tap room
lamps which emitted more smoke than light  suspended from nails in
the wainscot  on the tables candles in brass candlesticks  darkness 
ugliness  sadness  and from all this there was disengaged an austere and
august impression  for one there felt that grand human thing which is
called the law  and that grand divine thing which is called justice 

No one in all that throng paid any attention to him  all glances were
directed towards a single point  a wooden bench placed against a small
door  in the stretch of wall on the President s left  on this bench 
illuminated by several candles  sat a man between two gendarmes 

This man was the man 

He did not seek him  he saw him  his eyes went thither naturally  as
though they had known beforehand where that figure was 

He thought he was looking at himself  grown old  not absolutely the same
in face  of course  but exactly similar in attitude and aspect  with his
bristling hair  with that wild and uneasy eye  with that blouse  just as
it was on the day when he entered D      full of hatred  concealing
his soul in that hideous mass of frightful thoughts which he had spent
nineteen years in collecting on the floor of the prison 

He said to himself with a shudder   Good God  shall I become like that
again  

This creature seemed to be at least sixty  there was something
indescribably coarse  stupid  and frightened about him 

At the sound made by the opening door  people had drawn aside to make
way for him  the President had turned his head  and  understanding that
the personage who had just entered was the mayor of M  sur M   he had
bowed to him  the attorney general  who had seen M  Madeleine at M 
sur M   whither the duties of his office had called him more than once 
recognized him and saluted him also  he had hardly perceived it  he was
the victim of a sort of hallucination  he was watching 

Judges  clerks  gendarmes  a throng of cruelly curious heads  all these
he had already beheld once  in days gone by  twenty seven years before 
he had encountered those fatal things once more  there they were  they
moved  they existed  it was no longer an effort of his memory  a mirage
of his thought  they were real gendarmes and real judges  a real
crowd  and real men of flesh and blood  it was all over  he beheld the
monstrous aspects of his past reappear and live once more around him 
with all that there is formidable in reality 

All this was yawning before him 

He was horrified by it  he shut his eyes  and exclaimed in the deepest
recesses of his soul   Never  

And by a tragic play of destiny which made all his ideas tremble  and
rendered him nearly mad  it was another self of his that was there  all
called that man who was being tried Jean Valjean 

Under his very eyes  unheard of vision  he had a sort of representation
of the most horrible moment of his life  enacted by his spectre 

Everything was there  the apparatus was the same  the hour of the night 
the faces of the judges  of soldiers  and of spectators  all were the
same  only above the President s head there hung a crucifix  something
which the courts had lacked at the time of his condemnation  God had
been absent when he had been judged 

There was a chair behind him  he dropped into it  terrified at the
thought that he might be seen  when he was seated  he took advantage of
a pile of cardboard boxes  which stood on the judge s desk  to conceal
his face from the whole room  he could now see without being seen  he
had fully regained consciousness of the reality of things  gradually he
recovered  he attained that phase of composure where it is possible to
listen 

M  Bamatabois was one of the jurors 

He looked for Javert  but did not see him  the seat of the witnesses was
hidden from him by the clerk s table  and then  as we have just said 
the hall was sparely lighted 

At the moment of this entrance  the defendant s lawyer had just finished
his plea 

The attention of all was excited to the highest pitch  the affair had
lasted for three hours  for three hours that crowd had been watching a
strange man  a miserable specimen of humanity  either profoundly stupid
or profoundly subtle  gradually bending beneath the weight of a terrible
likeness  This man  as the reader already knows  was a vagabond who had
been found in a field carrying a branch laden with ripe apples  broken
in the orchard of a neighbor  called the Pierron orchard  Who was this
man  an examination had been made  witnesses had been heard  and they
were unanimous  light had abounded throughout the entire debate  the
accusation said   We have in our grasp not only a marauder  a stealer
of fruit  we have here  in our hands  a bandit  an old offender who
has broken his ban  an ex convict  a miscreant of the most dangerous
description  a malefactor named Jean Valjean  whom justice has long been
in search of  and who  eight years ago  on emerging from the galleys
at Toulon  committed a highway robbery  accompanied by violence  on the
person of a child  a Savoyard named Little Gervais  a crime provided
for by article 383 of the Penal Code  the right to try him for which
we reserve hereafter  when his identity shall have been judicially
established  He has just committed a fresh theft  it is a case of a
second offence  condemn him for the fresh deed  later on he will be
judged for the old crime   In the face of this accusation  in the face
of the unanimity of the witnesses  the accused appeared to be astonished
more than anything else  he made signs and gestures which were meant to
convey No  or else he stared at the ceiling  he spoke with difficulty 
replied with embarrassment  but his whole person  from head to foot  was
a denial  he was an idiot in the presence of all these minds ranged in
order of battle around him  and like a stranger in the midst of this
society which was seizing fast upon him  nevertheless  it was a question
of the most menacing future for him  the likeness increased every
moment  and the entire crowd surveyed  with more anxiety than he did
himself  that sentence freighted with calamity  which descended
ever closer over his head  there was even a glimpse of a possibility
afforded  besides the galleys  a possible death penalty  in case his
identity were established  and the affair of Little Gervais were to end
thereafter in condemnation  Who was this man  what was the nature of his
apathy  was it imbecility or craft  Did he understand too well  or did
he not understand at all  these were questions which divided the crowd 
and seemed to divide the jury  there was something both terrible and
puzzling in this case  the drama was not only melancholy  it was also
obscure 

The counsel for the defence had spoken tolerably well  in that
provincial tongue which has long constituted the eloquence of the bar 
and which was formerly employed by all advocates  at Paris as well as at
Romorantin or at Montbrison  and which to day  having become classic  is
no longer spoken except by the official orators of magistracy  to whom
it is suited on account of its grave sonorousness and its majestic
stride  a tongue in which a husband is called a consort  and a woman
a spouse  Paris  the centre of art and civilization  the king 
the monarch  Monseigneur the Bishop  a sainted pontiff  the
district attorney  the eloquent interpreter of public prosecution  the
arguments  the accents which we have just listened to  the age of Louis
XIV   the grand age  a theatre  the temple of Melpomene  the reigning
family  the august blood of our kings  a concert  a musical solemnity 
the General Commandant of the province  the illustrious warrior  who 
etc   the pupils in the seminary  these tender levities  errors imputed
to newspapers  the imposture which distills its venom through the
columns of those organs  etc  The lawyer had  accordingly  begun with an
explanation as to the theft of the apples   an awkward matter couched
in fine style  but Benigne Bossuet himself was obliged to allude to a
chicken in the midst of a funeral oration  and he extricated himself
from the situation in stately fashion  The lawyer established the fact
that the theft of the apples had not been circumstantially proved 
His client  whom he  in his character of counsel  persisted in calling
Champmathieu  had not been seen scaling that wall nor breaking that
branch by any one  He had been taken with that branch  which the lawyer
preferred to call a bough  in his possession  but he said that he had
found it broken off and lying on the ground  and had picked it up 
Where was there any proof to the contrary  No doubt that branch had been
broken off and concealed after the scaling of the wall  then thrown away
by the alarmed marauder  there was no doubt that there had been a
thief in the case  But what proof was there that that thief had been
Champmathieu  One thing only  His character as an ex convict  The
lawyer did not deny that that character appeared to be  unhappily 
well attested  the accused had resided at Faverolles  the accused had
exercised the calling of a tree pruner there  the name of Champmathieu
might well have had its origin in Jean Mathieu  all that was true   in
short  four witnesses recognize Champmathieu  positively and without
hesitation  as that convict  Jean Valjean  to these signs  to this
testimony  the counsel could oppose nothing but the denial of his
client  the denial of an interested party  but supposing that he was
the convict Jean Valjean  did that prove that he was the thief of the
apples  that was a presumption at the most  not a proof  The prisoner 
it was true  and his counsel   in good faith   was obliged to admit it 
had adopted  a bad system of defence   He obstinately denied everything 
the theft and his character of convict  An admission upon this last
point would certainly have been better  and would have won for him the
indulgence of his judges  the counsel had advised him to do this  but
the accused had obstinately refused  thinking  no doubt  that he would
save everything by admitting nothing  It was an error  but ought not the
paucity of this intelligence to be taken into consideration  This man
was visibly stupid  Long continued wretchedness in the galleys  long
misery outside the galleys  had brutalized him  etc  He defended himself
badly  was that a reason for condemning him  As for the affair with
Little Gervais  the counsel need not discuss it  it did not enter into
the case  The lawyer wound up by beseeching the jury and the court  if
the identity of Jean Valjean appeared to them to be evident  to apply
to him the police penalties which are provided for a criminal who has
broken his ban  and not the frightful chastisement which descends upon
the convict guilty of a second offence 

The district attorney answered the counsel for the defence  He was
violent and florid  as district attorneys usually are 

He congratulated the counsel for the defence on his  loyalty   and
skilfully took advantage of this loyalty  He reached the accused through
all the concessions made by his lawyer  The advocate had seemed to admit
that the prisoner was Jean Valjean  He took note of this  So this man
was Jean Valjean  This point had been conceded to the accusation and
could no longer be disputed  Here  by means of a clever
autonomasia which went back to the sources and causes of crime  the
district attorney thundered against the immorality of the romantic
school  then dawning under the name of the Satanic school  which
had been bestowed upon it by the critics of the Quotidienne and the
Oriflamme  he attributed  not without some probability  to the influence
of this perverse literature the crime of Champmathieu  or rather 
to speak more correctly  of Jean Valjean  Having exhausted these
considerations  he passed on to Jean Valjean himself  Who was this Jean
Valjean  Description of Jean Valjean  a monster spewed forth  etc 
The model for this sort of description is contained in the tale of
Theramene  which is not useful to tragedy  but which every day renders
great services to judicial eloquence  The audience and the jury
 shuddered   The description finished  the district attorney resumed
with an oratorical turn calculated to raise the enthusiasm of the
journal of the prefecture to the highest pitch on the following day  And
it is such a man  etc   etc   etc   vagabond  beggar  without means of
existence  etc   etc   inured by his past life to culpable deeds  and
but little reformed by his sojourn in the galleys  as was proved by the
crime committed against Little Gervais  etc   etc   it is such a man 
caught upon the highway in the very act of theft  a few paces from a
wall that had been scaled  still holding in his hand the object
stolen  who denies the crime  the theft  the climbing the wall  denies
everything  denies even his own identity  In addition to a hundred
other proofs  to which we will not recur  four witnesses recognize
him  Javert  the upright inspector of police  Javert  and three of
his former companions in infamy  the convicts Brevet  Chenildieu  and
Cochepaille  What does he offer in opposition to this overwhelming
unanimity  His denial  What obduracy  You will do justice  gentlemen
of the jury  etc   etc  While the district attorney was speaking  the
accused listened to him open mouthed  with a sort of amazement in which
some admiration was assuredly blended  He was evidently surprised that
a man could talk like that  From time to time  at those  energetic 
moments of the prosecutor s speech  when eloquence which cannot contain
itself overflows in a flood of withering epithets and envelops the
accused like a storm  he moved his head slowly from right to left and
from left to right in the sort of mute and melancholy protest with which
he had contented himself since the beginning of the argument  Two or
three times the spectators who were nearest to him heard him say in
a low voice   That is what comes of not having asked M  Baloup   The
district attorney directed the attention of the jury to this stupid
attitude  evidently deliberate  which denoted not imbecility  but craft 
skill  a habit of deceiving justice  and which set forth in all its
nakedness the  profound perversity  of this man  He ended by making
his reserves on the affair of Little Gervais and demanding a severe
sentence 

At that time  as the reader will remember  it was penal servitude for
life 

The counsel for the defence rose  began by complimenting Monsieur
l Avocat General on his  admirable speech   then replied as best he
could  but he weakened  the ground was evidently slipping away from
under his feet 




CHAPTER X  THE SYSTEM OF DENIALS

The moment for closing the debate had arrived  The President had the
accused stand up  and addressed to him the customary question   Have you
anything to add to your defence  

The man did not appear to understand  as he stood there  twisting in his
hands a terrible cap which he had 

The President repeated the question 

This time the man heard it  He seemed to understand  He made a motion
like a man who is just waking up  cast his eyes about him  stared at
the audience  the gendarmes  his counsel  the jury  the court  laid
his monstrous fist on the rim of woodwork in front of his bench 
took another look  and all at once  fixing his glance upon the
district attorney  he began to speak  It was like an eruption 
It seemed  from the manner in which the words escaped from his
mouth   incoherent  impetuous  pell mell  tumbling over each other   as
though they were all pressing forward to issue forth at once  He said   

 This is what I have to say  That I have been a wheelwright in Paris 
and that it was with Monsieur Baloup  It is a hard trade  In the
wheelwright s trade one works always in the open air  in courtyards 
under sheds when the masters are good  never in closed workshops 
because space is required  you see  In winter one gets so cold that one
beats one s arms together to warm one s self  but the masters don t like
it  they say it wastes time  Handling iron when there is ice between
the paving stones is hard work  That wears a man out quickly One is old
while he is still quite young in that trade  At forty a man is done for 
I was fifty three  I was in a bad state  And then  workmen are so mean 
When a man is no longer young  they call him nothing but an old bird 
old beast  I was not earning more than thirty sous a day  They paid me
as little as possible  The masters took advantage of my age  and then I
had my daughter  who was a laundress at the river  She earned a little
also  It sufficed for us two  She had trouble  also  all day long up to
her waist in a tub  in rain  in snow  When the wind cuts your face  when
it freezes  it is all the same  you must still wash  There are people
who have not much linen  and wait until late  if you do not wash  you
lose your custom  The planks are badly joined  and water drops on you
from everywhere  you have your petticoats all damp above and below  That
penetrates  She has also worked at the laundry of the Enfants Rouges 
where the water comes through faucets  You are not in the tub there  you
wash at the faucet in front of you  and rinse in a basin behind you  As
it is enclosed  you are not so cold  but there is that hot steam  which
is terrible  and which ruins your eyes  She came home at seven o clock
in the evening  and went to bed at once  she was so tired  Her husband
beat her  She is dead  We have not been very happy  She was a good girl 
who did not go to the ball  and who was very peaceable  I remember
one Shrove Tuesday when she went to bed at eight o clock  There  I am
telling the truth  you have only to ask  Ah  yes  how stupid I am  Paris
is a gulf  Who knows Father Champmathieu there  But M  Baloup does  I
tell you  Go see at M  Baloup s  and after all  I don t know what is
wanted of me  

The man ceased speaking  and remained standing  He had said these things
in a loud  rapid  hoarse voice  with a sort of irritated and savage
ingenuousness  Once he paused to salute some one in the crowd  The sort
of affirmations which he seemed to fling out before him at random came
like hiccoughs  and to each he added the gesture of a wood cutter who is
splitting wood  When he had finished  the audience burst into a laugh 
He stared at the public  and  perceiving that they were laughing  and
not understanding why  he began to laugh himself 

It was inauspicious 

The President  an attentive and benevolent man  raised his voice 

He reminded  the gentlemen of the jury  that  the sieur Baloup  formerly
a master wheelwright  with whom the accused stated that he had served 
had been summoned in vain  He had become bankrupt  and was not to be
found   Then turning to the accused  he enjoined him to listen to what
he was about to say  and added   You are in a position where reflection
is necessary  The gravest presumptions rest upon you  and may induce
vital results  Prisoner  in your own interests  I summon you for the
last time to explain yourself clearly on two points  In the first place 
did you or did you not climb the wall of the Pierron orchard  break
the branch  and steal the apples  that is to say  commit the crime
of breaking in and theft  In the second place  are you the discharged
convict  Jean Valjean  yes or no  

The prisoner shook his head with a capable air  like a man who has
thoroughly understood  and who knows what answer he is going to make  He
opened his mouth  turned towards the President  and said   

 In the first place   

Then he stared at his cap  stared at the ceiling  and held his peace 

 Prisoner   said the district attorney  in a severe voice   pay
attention  You are not answering anything that has been asked of you 
Your embarrassment condemns you  It is evident that your name is not
Champmathieu  that you are the convict  Jean Valjean  concealed first
under the name of Jean Mathieu  which was the name of his mother  that
you went to Auvergne  that you were born at Faverolles  where you were
a pruner of trees  It is evident that you have been guilty of entering 
and of the theft of ripe apples from the Pierron orchard  The gentlemen
of the jury will form their own opinion  

 Illustration  Father Champmathieu on Trial 

The prisoner had finally resumed his seat  he arose abruptly when the
district attorney had finished  and exclaimed   

 You are very wicked  that you are  This what I wanted to say  I could
not find words for it at first  I have stolen nothing  I am a man who
does not have something to eat every day  I was coming from Ailly  I
was walking through the country after a shower  which had made the whole
country yellow  even the ponds were overflowed  and nothing sprang from
the sand any more but the little blades of grass at the wayside  I
found a broken branch with apples on the ground  I picked up the branch
without knowing that it would get me into trouble  I have been in
prison  and they have been dragging me about for the last three months 
more than that I cannot say  people talk against me  they tell me 
 Answer   The gendarme  who is a good fellow  nudges my elbow  and says
to me in a low voice   Come  answer   I don t know how to explain  I
have no education  I am a poor man  that is where they wrong me  because
they do not see this  I have not stolen  I picked up from the ground
things that were lying there  You say  Jean Valjean  Jean Mathieu  I
don t know those persons  they are villagers  I worked for M  Baloup 
Boulevard de l Hopital  my name is Champmathieu  You are very clever to
tell me where I was born  I don t know myself  it s not everybody
who has a house in which to come into the world  that would be too
convenient  I think that my father and mother were people who strolled
along the highways  I know nothing different  When I was a child 
they called me young fellow  now they call me old fellow  those are my
baptismal names  take that as you like  I have been in Auvergne  I have
been at Faverolles  Pardi  Well  can t a man have been in Auvergne  or
at Faverolles  without having been in the galleys  I tell you that I
have not stolen  and that I am Father Champmathieu  I have been with M 
Baloup  I have had a settled residence  You worry me with your nonsense 
there  Why is everybody pursuing me so furiously  

The district attorney had remained standing  he addressed the
President   

 Monsieur le President  in view of the confused but exceedingly clever
denials of the prisoner  who would like to pass himself off as an idiot 
but who will not succeed in so doing   we shall attend to that   we
demand that it shall please you and that it shall please the court to
summon once more into this place the convicts Brevet  Cochepaille  and
Chenildieu  and Police Inspector Javert  and question them for the last
time as to the identity of the prisoner with the convict Jean Valjean  

 I would remind the district attorney   said the President   that
Police Inspector Javert  recalled by his duties to the capital of a
neighboring arrondissement  left the court room and the town as soon as
he had made his deposition  we have accorded him permission  with the
consent of the district attorney and of the counsel for the prisoner  

 That is true  Mr  President   responded the district attorney   In the
absence of sieur Javert  I think it my duty to remind the gentlemen of
the jury of what he said here a few hours ago  Javert is an estimable
man  who does honor by his rigorous and strict probity to inferior but
important functions  These are the terms of his deposition   I do not
even stand in need of circumstantial proofs and moral presumptions to
give the lie to the prisoner s denial  I recognize him perfectly  The
name of this man is not Champmathieu  he is an ex convict named Jean
Valjean  and is very vicious and much to be feared  It is only with
extreme regret that he was released at the expiration of his term  He
underwent nineteen years of penal servitude for theft  He made five or
six attempts to escape  Besides the theft from Little Gervais  and from
the Pierron orchard  I suspect him of a theft committed in the house of
His Grace the late Bishop of D     I often saw him at the time when I
was adjutant of the galley guard at the prison in Toulon  I repeat that
I recognize him perfectly   

This extremely precise statement appeared to produce a vivid impression
on the public and on the jury  The district attorney concluded by
insisting  that in default of Javert  the three witnesses Brevet 
Chenildieu  and Cochepaille should be heard once more and solemnly
interrogated 

The President transmitted the order to an usher  and  a moment later 
the door of the witnesses  room opened  The usher  accompanied by a
gendarme ready to lend him armed assistance  introduced the convict
Brevet  The audience was in suspense  and all breasts heaved as though
they had contained but one soul 

The ex convict Brevet wore the black and gray waistcoat of the central
prisons  Brevet was a person sixty years of age  who had a sort of
business man s face  and the air of a rascal  The two sometimes go
together  In prison  whither fresh misdeeds had led him  he had become
something in the nature of a turnkey  He was a man of whom his superiors
said   He tries to make himself of use   The chaplains bore good
testimony as to his religious habits  It must not be forgotten that this
passed under the Restoration 

 Brevet   said the President   you have undergone an ignominious
sentence  and you cannot take an oath  

Brevet dropped his eyes 

 Nevertheless   continued the President   even in the man whom the law
has degraded  there may remain  when the divine mercy permits it  a
sentiment of honor and of equity  It is to this sentiment that I
appeal at this decisive hour  If it still exists in you   and I hope
it does   reflect before replying to me  consider on the one hand  this
man  whom a word from you may ruin  on the other hand  justice  which a
word from you may enlighten  The instant is solemn  there is still time
to retract if you think you have been mistaken  Rise  prisoner  Brevet 
take a good look at the accused  recall your souvenirs  and tell us on
your soul and conscience  if you persist in recognizing this man as your
former companion in the galleys  Jean Valjean  

Brevet looked at the prisoner  then turned towards the court 

 Yes  Mr  President  I was the first to recognize him  and I stick to
it  that man is Jean Valjean  who entered at Toulon in 1796  and left in
1815  I left a year later  He has the air of a brute now  but it must be
because age has brutalized him  he was sly at the galleys  I recognize
him positively  

 Take your seat   said the President   Prisoner  remain standing  

Chenildieu was brought in  a prisoner for life  as was indicated by his
red cassock and his green cap  He was serving out his sentence at the
galleys of Toulon  whence he had been brought for this case  He was a
small man of about fifty  brisk  wrinkled  frail  yellow  brazen faced 
feverish  who had a sort of sickly feebleness about all his limbs and
his whole person  and an immense force in his glance  His companions in
the galleys had nicknamed him I deny God  Je nie Dieu  Chenildieu  

The President addressed him in nearly the same words which he had
used to Brevet  At the moment when he reminded him of his infamy which
deprived him of the right to take an oath  Chenildieu raised his
head and looked the crowd in the face  The President invited him to
reflection  and asked him as he had asked Brevet  if he persisted in
recognition of the prisoner 

Chenildieu burst out laughing 

 Pardieu  as if I didn t recognize him  We were attached to the same
chain for five years  So you are sulking  old fellow  

 Go take your seat   said the President 

The usher brought in Cochepaille  He was another convict for life  who
had come from the galleys  and was dressed in red  like Chenildieu  was
a peasant from Lourdes  and a half bear of the Pyrenees  He had guarded
the flocks among the mountains  and from a shepherd he had slipped into
a brigand  Cochepaille was no less savage and seemed even more stupid
than the prisoner  He was one of those wretched men whom nature has
sketched out for wild beasts  and on whom society puts the finishing
touches as convicts in the galleys 

The President tried to touch him with some grave and pathetic words 
and asked him  as he had asked the other two  if he persisted  without
hesitation or trouble  in recognizing the man who was standing before
him 

 He is Jean Valjean   said Cochepaille   He was even called
Jean the Screw  because he was so strong  

Each of these affirmations from these three men  evidently sincere and
in good faith  had raised in the audience a murmur of bad augury for the
prisoner   a murmur which increased and lasted longer each time that a
fresh declaration was added to the proceeding 

The prisoner had listened to them  with that astounded face which was 
according to the accusation  his principal means of defence  at the
first  the gendarmes  his neighbors  had heard him mutter between his
teeth   Ah  well  he s a nice one   after the second  he said  a little
louder  with an air that was almost that of satisfaction   Good   at the
third  he cried   Famous  

The President addressed him   

 Have you heard  prisoner  What have you to say  

He replied   

 I say   Famous   

An uproar broke out among the audience  and was communicated to the
jury  it was evident that the man was lost 

 Ushers   said the President   enforce silence  I am going to sum up the
arguments  

At that moment there was a movement just beside the President  a voice
was heard crying   

 Brevet  Chenildieu  Cochepaille  look here  

All who heard that voice were chilled  so lamentable and terrible was
it  all eyes were turned to the point whence it had proceeded  A man 
placed among the privileged spectators who were seated behind the
court  had just risen  had pushed open the half door which separated the
tribunal from the audience  and was standing in the middle of the hall 
the President  the district attorney  M  Bamatabois  twenty persons 
recognized him  and exclaimed in concert   

 M  Madeleine  




CHAPTER XI  CHAMPMATHIEU MORE AND MORE ASTONISHED

It was he  in fact  The clerk s lamp illumined his countenance  He held
his hat in his hand  there was no disorder in his clothing  his coat
was carefully buttoned  he was very pale  and he trembled slightly 
his hair  which had still been gray on his arrival in Arras  was now
entirely white  it had turned white during the hour he had sat there 

All heads were raised  the sensation was indescribable  there was
a momentary hesitation in the audience  the voice had been so
heart rending  the man who stood there appeared so calm that they did
not understand at first  They asked themselves whether he had indeed
uttered that cry  they could not believe that that tranquil man had been
the one to give that terrible outcry 

This indecision only lasted a few seconds  Even before the President
and the district attorney could utter a word  before the ushers and the
gendarmes could make a gesture  the man whom all still called  at that
moment  M  Madeleine  had advanced towards the witnesses Cochepaille 
Brevet  and Chenildieu 

 Do you not recognize me   said he 

All three remained speechless  and indicated by a sign of the head that
they did not know him  Cochepaille  who was intimidated  made a military
salute  M  Madeleine turned towards the jury and the court  and said in
a gentle voice   

 Gentlemen of the jury  order the prisoner to be released  Mr 
President  have me arrested  He is not the man whom you are in search
of  it is I  I am Jean Valjean  

Not a mouth breathed  the first commotion of astonishment had been
followed by a silence like that of the grave  those within the hall
experienced that sort of religious terror which seizes the masses when
something grand has been done 

In the meantime  the face of the President was stamped with sympathy and
sadness  he had exchanged a rapid sign with the district attorney and a
few low toned words with the assistant judges  he addressed the public 
and asked in accents which all understood   

 Is there a physician present  

The district attorney took the word   

 Gentlemen of the jury  the very strange and unexpected incident
which disturbs the audience inspires us  like yourselves  only with a
sentiment which it is unnecessary for us to express  You all know  by
reputation at least  the honorable M  Madeleine  mayor of M  sur M  
if there is a physician in the audience  we join the President in
requesting him to attend to M  Madeleine  and to conduct him to his
home  

M  Madeleine did not allow the district attorney to finish  he
interrupted him in accents full of suavity and authority  These are the
words which he uttered  here they are literally  as they were written
down  immediately after the trial by one of the witnesses to this scene 
and as they now ring in the ears of those who heard them nearly forty
years ago   

 I thank you  Mr  District Attorney  but I am not mad  you shall see 
you were on the point of committing a great error  release this man  I
am fulfilling a duty  I am that miserable criminal  I am the only one
here who sees the matter clearly  and I am telling you the truth  God 
who is on high  looks down on what I am doing at this moment  and that
suffices  You can take me  for here I am  but I have done my best  I
concealed myself under another name  I have become rich  I have become
a mayor  I have tried to re enter the ranks of the honest  It seems that
that is not to be done  In short  there are many things which I cannot
tell  I will not narrate the story of my life to you  you will hear it
one of these days  I robbed Monseigneur the Bishop  it is true  it is
true that I robbed Little Gervais  they were right in telling you that
Jean Valjean was a very vicious wretch  Perhaps it was not altogether
his fault  Listen  honorable judges  a man who has been so greatly
humbled as I have has neither any remonstrances to make to Providence 
nor any advice to give to society  but  you see  the infamy from which I
have tried to escape is an injurious thing  the galleys make the convict
what he is  reflect upon that  if you please  Before going to the
galleys  I was a poor peasant  with very little intelligence  a sort
of idiot  the galleys wrought a change in me  I was stupid  I became
vicious  I was a block of wood  I became a firebrand  Later on 
indulgence and kindness saved me  as severity had ruined me  But  pardon
me  you cannot understand what I am saying  You will find at my house 
among the ashes in the fireplace  the forty sou piece which I stole 
seven years ago  from little Gervais  I have nothing farther to add 
take me  Good God  the district attorney shakes his head  you say   M 
Madeleine has gone mad   you do not believe me  that is distressing  Do
not  at least  condemn this man  What  these men do not recognize me  I
wish Javert were here  he would recognize me  

Nothing can reproduce the sombre and kindly melancholy of tone which
accompanied these words 

He turned to the three convicts  and said   

 Well  I recognize you  do you remember  Brevet  

He paused  hesitated for an instant  and said   

 Do you remember the knitted suspenders with a checked pattern which you
wore in the galleys  

Brevet gave a start of surprise  and surveyed him from head to foot with
a frightened air  He continued   

 Chenildieu  you who conferred on yourself the name of  Jenie Dieu  
your whole right shoulder bears a deep burn  because you one day laid
your shoulder against the chafing dish full of coals  in order to efface
the three letters T  F  P   which are still visible  nevertheless 
answer  is this true  

 It is true   said Chenildieu 

He addressed himself to Cochepaille   

 Cochepaille  you have  near the bend in your left arm  a date stamped
in blue letters with burnt powder  the date is that of the landing of
the Emperor at Cannes  March 1  1815  pull up your sleeve  

Cochepaille pushed up his sleeve  all eyes were focused on him and on
his bare arm 

A gendarme held a light close to it  there was the date 

The unhappy man turned to the spectators and the judges with a smile
which still rends the hearts of all who saw it whenever they think of
it  It was a smile of triumph  it was also a smile of despair 

 You see plainly   he said   that I am Jean Valjean  

In that chamber there were no longer either judges  accusers  nor
gendarmes  there was nothing but staring eyes and sympathizing hearts 
No one recalled any longer the part that each might be called upon
to play  the district attorney forgot he was there for the purpose of
prosecuting  the President that he was there to preside  the counsel for
the defence that he was there to defend  It was a striking circumstance
that no question was put  that no authority intervened  The peculiarity
of sublime spectacles is  that they capture all souls and turn witnesses
into spectators  No one  probably  could have explained what he felt 
no one  probably  said to himself that he was witnessing the splendid
outburst of a grand light  all felt themselves inwardly dazzled 

It was evident that they had Jean Valjean before their eyes  That was
clear  The appearance of this man had sufficed to suffuse with light
that matter which had been so obscure but a moment previously  without
any further explanation  the whole crowd  as by a sort of electric
revelation  understood instantly and at a single glance the simple
and magnificent history of a man who was delivering himself up so
that another man might not be condemned in his stead  The details  the
hesitations  little possible oppositions  were swallowed up in that vast
and luminous fact 

It was an impression which vanished speedily  but which was irresistible
at the moment 

 I do not wish to disturb the court further   resumed Jean Valjean   I
shall withdraw  since you do not arrest me  I have many things to do 
The district attorney knows who I am  he knows whither I am going  he
can have me arrested when he likes  

He directed his steps towards the door  Not a voice was raised  not an
arm extended to hinder him  All stood aside  At that moment there was
about him that divine something which causes multitudes to stand aside
and make way for a man  He traversed the crowd slowly  It was never
known who opened the door  but it is certain that he found the door open
when he reached it  On arriving there he turned round and said   

 I am at your command  Mr  District Attorney  

Then he addressed the audience   

 All of you  all who are present  consider me worthy of pity  do you
not  Good God  When I think of what I was on the point of doing  I
consider that I am to be envied  Nevertheless  I should have preferred
not to have had this occur  

He withdrew  and the door closed behind him as it had opened  for those
who do certain sovereign things are always sure of being served by some
one in the crowd 

Less than an hour after this  the verdict of the jury freed the said
Champmathieu from all accusations  and Champmathieu  being at once
released  went off in a state of stupefaction  thinking that all men
were fools  and comprehending nothing of this vision 




BOOK EIGHTH   A COUNTER BLOW




CHAPTER I  IN WHAT MIRROR M  MADELEINE CONTEMPLATES HIS HAIR

The day had begun to dawn  Fantine had passed a sleepless and feverish
night  filled with happy visions  at daybreak she fell asleep  Sister
Simplice  who had been watching with her  availed herself of this
slumber to go and prepare a new potion of chinchona  The worthy sister
had been in the laboratory of the infirmary but a few moments  bending
over her drugs and phials  and scrutinizing things very closely  on
account of the dimness which the half light of dawn spreads over all
objects  Suddenly she raised her head and uttered a faint shriek  M 
Madeleine stood before her  he had just entered silently 

 Is it you  Mr  Mayor   she exclaimed 

He replied in a low voice   

 How is that poor woman  

 Not so bad just now  but we have been very uneasy  

She explained to him what had passed  that Fantine had been very ill the
day before  and that she was better now  because she thought that the
mayor had gone to Montfermeil to get her child  The sister dared not
question the mayor  but she perceived plainly from his air that he had
not come from there 

 All that is good   said he   you were right not to undeceive her  

 Yes   responded the sister   but now  Mr  Mayor  she will see you and
will not see her child  What shall we say to her  

He reflected for a moment 

 God will inspire us   said he 

 But we cannot tell a lie   murmured the sister  half aloud 

It was broad daylight in the room  The light fell full on M  Madeleine s
face  The sister chanced to raise her eyes to it 

 Good God  sir   she exclaimed   what has happened to you  Your hair is
perfectly white  

 White   said he 

Sister Simplice had no mirror  She rummaged in a drawer  and pulled out
the little glass which the doctor of the infirmary used to see whether
a patient was dead and whether he no longer breathed  M  Madeleine took
the mirror  looked at his hair  and said   

 Well  

He uttered the word indifferently  and as though his mind were on
something else 

The sister felt chilled by something strange of which she caught a
glimpse in all this 

He inquired   

 Can I see her  

 Is not Monsieur le Maire going to have her child brought back to her  
said the sister  hardly venturing to put the question 

 Of course  but it will take two or three days at least  

 If she were not to see Monsieur le Maire until that time   went on
the sister  timidly   she would not know that Monsieur le Maire had
returned  and it would be easy to inspire her with patience  and when
the child arrived  she would naturally think Monsieur le Maire had just
come with the child  We should not have to enact a lie  

M  Madeleine seemed to reflect for a few moments  then he said with his
calm gravity   

 No  sister  I must see her  I may  perhaps  be in haste  

The nun did not appear to notice this word  perhaps   which communicated
an obscure and singular sense to the words of the mayor s speech  She
replied  lowering her eyes and her voice respectfully   

 In that case  she is asleep  but Monsieur le Maire may enter  

He made some remarks about a door which shut badly  and the noise of
which might awaken the sick woman  then he entered Fantine s chamber 
approached the bed and drew aside the curtains  She was asleep  Her
breath issued from her breast with that tragic sound which is peculiar
to those maladies  and which breaks the hearts of mothers when they are
watching through the night beside their sleeping child who is condemned
to death  But this painful respiration hardly troubled a sort of
ineffable serenity which overspread her countenance  and which
transfigured her in her sleep  Her pallor had become whiteness  her
cheeks were crimson  her long golden lashes  the only beauty of her
youth and her virginity which remained to her  palpitated  though they
remained closed and drooping  Her whole person was trembling with an
indescribable unfolding of wings  all ready to open wide and bear her
away  which could be felt as they rustled  though they could not be
seen  To see her thus  one would never have dreamed that she was
an invalid whose life was almost despaired of  She resembled rather
something on the point of soaring away than something on the point of
dying 

The branch trembles when a hand approaches it to pluck a flower  and
seems to both withdraw and to offer itself at one and the same time 
The human body has something of this tremor when the instant arrives in
which the mysterious fingers of Death are about to pluck the soul 

M  Madeleine remained for some time motionless beside that bed  gazing
in turn upon the sick woman and the crucifix  as he had done two months
before  on the day when he had come for the first time to see her
in that asylum  They were both still there in the same attitude  she
sleeping  he praying  only now  after the lapse of two months  her hair
was gray and his was white 

The sister had not entered with him  He stood beside the bed  with his
finger on his lips  as though there were some one in the chamber whom he
must enjoin to silence 

She opened her eyes  saw him  and said quietly  with a smile   

 And Cosette  




CHAPTER II  FANTINE HAPPY

She made no movement of either surprise or of joy  she was joy itself 
That simple question   And Cosette   was put with so profound a faith 
with so much certainty  with such a complete absence of disquiet and of
doubt  that he found not a word of reply  She continued   

 I knew that you were there  I was asleep  but I saw you  I have seen
you for a long  long time  I have been following you with my eyes all
night long  You were in a glory  and you had around you all sorts of
celestial forms  

He raised his glance to the crucifix 

 But   she resumed   tell me where Cosette is  Why did not you place her
on my bed against the moment of my waking  

He made some mechanical reply which he was never afterwards able to
recall 

Fortunately  the doctor had been warned  and he now made his appearance 
He came to the aid of M  Madeleine 

 Calm yourself  my child   said the doctor   your child is here  

Fantine s eyes beamed and filled her whole face with light  She clasped
her hands with an expression which contained all that is possible to
prayer in the way of violence and tenderness 

 Oh   she exclaimed   bring her to me  

Touching illusion of a mother  Cosette was  for her  still the little
child who is carried 

 Not yet   said the doctor   not just now  You still have some fever 
The sight of your child would agitate you and do you harm  You must be
cured first  

She interrupted him impetuously   

 But I am cured  Oh  I tell you that I am cured  What an ass that doctor
is  The idea  I want to see my child  

 You see   said the doctor   how excited you become  So long as you are
in this state I shall oppose your having your child  It is not enough
to see her  it is necessary that you should live for her  When you are
reasonable  I will bring her to you myself  

The poor mother bowed her head 

 I beg your pardon  doctor  I really beg your pardon  Formerly I should
never have spoken as I have just done  so many misfortunes have happened
to me  that I sometimes do not know what I am saying  I understand you 
you fear the emotion  I will wait as long as you like  but I swear to
you that it would not have harmed me to see my daughter  I have been
seeing her  I have not taken my eyes from her since yesterday evening 
Do you know  If she were brought to me now  I should talk to her very
gently  That is all  Is it not quite natural that I should desire to see
my daughter  who has been brought to me expressly from Montfermeil  I
am not angry  I know well that I am about to be happy  All night long I
have seen white things  and persons who smiled at me  When Monsieur le
Docteur pleases  he shall bring me Cosette  I have no longer any fever 
I am well  I am perfectly conscious that there is nothing the matter
with me any more  but I am going to behave as though I were ill  and not
stir  to please these ladies here  When it is seen that I am very calm 
they will say   She must have her child   

M  Madeleine was sitting on a chair beside the bed  She turned towards
him  she was making a visible effort to be calm and  very good   as she
expressed it in the feebleness of illness which resembles infancy  in
order that  seeing her so peaceable  they might make no difficulty about
bringing Cosette to her  But while she controlled herself she could not
refrain from questioning M  Madeleine 

 Did you have a pleasant trip  Monsieur le Maire  Oh  how good you were
to go and get her for me  Only tell me how she is  Did she stand the
journey well  Alas  she will not recognize me  She must have forgotten
me by this time  poor darling  Children have no memories  They are like
birds  A child sees one thing to day and another thing to morrow  and
thinks of nothing any longer  And did she have white linen  Did those
Thenardiers keep her clean  How have they fed her  Oh  if you only knew
how I have suffered  putting such questions as that to myself during all
the time of my wretchedness  Now  it is all past  I am happy  Oh  how I
should like to see her  Do you think her pretty  Monsieur le Maire 
Is not my daughter beautiful  You must have been very cold in that
diligence  Could she not be brought for just one little instant  She
might be taken away directly afterwards  Tell me  you are the master  it
could be so if you chose  

He took her hand   Cosette is beautiful   he said   Cosette is well 
You shall see her soon  but calm yourself  you are talking with too much
vivacity  and you are throwing your arms out from under the clothes  and
that makes you cough  

In fact  fits of coughing interrupted Fantine at nearly every word 

Fantine did not murmur  she feared that she had injured by her too
passionate lamentations the confidence which she was desirous of
inspiring  and she began to talk of indifferent things 

 Montfermeil is quite pretty  is it not  People go there on pleasure
parties in summer  Are the Thenardiers prosperous  There are not many
travellers in their parts  That inn of theirs is a sort of a cook shop  

M  Madeleine was still holding her hand  and gazing at her with anxiety 
it was evident that he had come to tell her things before which his mind
now hesitated  The doctor  having finished his visit  retired  Sister
Simplice remained alone with them 

But in the midst of this pause Fantine exclaimed   

 I hear her  mon Dieu  I hear her  

She stretched out her arm to enjoin silence about her  held her breath 
and began to listen with rapture 

There was a child playing in the yard  the child of the portress or
of some work woman  It was one of those accidents which are always
occurring  and which seem to form a part of the mysterious stage setting
of mournful scenes  The child  a little girl  was going and coming 
running to warm herself  laughing  singing at the top of her voice 
Alas  in what are the plays of children not intermingled  It was this
little girl whom Fantine heard singing 

 Oh   she resumed   it is my Cosette  I recognize her voice  

The child retreated as it had come  the voice died away  Fantine
listened for a while longer  then her face clouded over  and M 
Madeleine heard her say  in a low voice   How wicked that doctor is not
to allow me to see my daughter  That man has an evil countenance  that
he has  

But the smiling background of her thoughts came to the front again  She
continued to talk to herself  with her head resting on the pillow   How
happy we are going to be  We shall have a little garden the very first
thing  M  Madeleine has promised it to me  My daughter will play in the
garden  She must know her letters by this time  I will make her spell 
She will run over the grass after butterflies  I will watch her  Then
she will take her first communion  Ah  when will she take her first
communion  

She began to reckon on her fingers 

 One  two  three  four  she is seven years old  In five years she will
have a white veil  and openwork stockings  she will look like a little
woman  O my good sister  you do not know how foolish I become when I
think of my daughter s first communion  

She began to laugh 

He had released Fantine s hand  He listened to her words as one listens
to the sighing of the breeze  with his eyes on the ground  his mind
absorbed in reflection which had no bottom  All at once she ceased
speaking  and this caused him to raise his head mechanically  Fantine
had become terrible 

She no longer spoke  she no longer breathed  she had raised herself to
a sitting posture  her thin shoulder emerged from her chemise  her face 
which had been radiant but a moment before  was ghastly  and she
seemed to have fixed her eyes  rendered large with terror  on something
alarming at the other extremity of the room 

 Good God   he exclaimed   what ails you  Fantine  

She made no reply  she did not remove her eyes from the object which
she seemed to see  She removed one hand from his arm  and with the other
made him a sign to look behind him 

He turned  and beheld Javert 




CHAPTER III  JAVERT SATISFIED

This is what had taken place 

The half hour after midnight had just struck when M  Madeleine quitted
the Hall of Assizes in Arras  He regained his inn just in time to set
out again by the mail wagon  in which he had engaged his place  A little
before six o clock in the morning he had arrived at M  sur M   and his
first care had been to post a letter to M  Laffitte  then to enter the
infirmary and see Fantine 

However  he had hardly quitted the audience hall of the Court of
Assizes  when the district attorney  recovering from his first shock 
had taken the word to deplore the mad deed of the honorable mayor of
M  sur M   to declare that his convictions had not been in the least
modified by that curious incident  which would be explained thereafter 
and to demand  in the meantime  the condemnation of that Champmathieu 
who was evidently the real Jean Valjean  The district attorney s
persistence was visibly at variance with the sentiments of every one  of
the public  of the court  and of the jury  The counsel for the defence
had some difficulty in refuting this harangue and in establishing that 
in consequence of the revelations of M  Madeleine  that is to say  of
the real Jean Valjean  the aspect of the matter had been thoroughly
altered  and that the jury had before their eyes now only an innocent
man  Thence the lawyer had drawn some epiphonemas  not very fresh 
unfortunately  upon judicial errors  etc   etc   the President  in his
summing up  had joined the counsel for the defence  and in a few minutes
the jury had thrown Champmathieu out of the case 

Nevertheless  the district attorney was bent on having a Jean Valjean 
and as he had no longer Champmathieu  he took Madeleine 

Immediately after Champmathieu had been set at liberty  the
district attorney shut himself up with the President  They conferred  as
to the necessity of seizing the person of M  le Maire of M  sur M  
This phrase  in which there was a great deal of of  is the
district attorney s  written with his own hand  on the minutes of his
report to the attorney general  His first emotion having passed off  the
President did not offer many objections  Justice must  after all  take
its course  And then  when all was said  although the President was
a kindly and a tolerably intelligent man  he was  at the same time  a
devoted and almost an ardent royalist  and he had been shocked to hear
the Mayor of M  sur M  say the Emperor  and not Bonaparte  when alluding
to the landing at Cannes 

The order for his arrest was accordingly despatched  The
district attorney forwarded it to M  sur M  by a special messenger  at
full speed  and entrusted its execution to Police Inspector Javert 

The reader knows that Javert had returned to M  sur M  immediately after
having given his deposition 

Javert was just getting out of bed when the messenger handed him the
order of arrest and the command to produce the prisoner 

The messenger himself was a very clever member of the police  who  in
two words  informed Javert of what had taken place at Arras  The order
of arrest  signed by the district attorney  was couched in these words 
 Inspector Javert will apprehend the body of the Sieur Madeleine  mayor
of M  sur M   who  in this day s session of the court  was recognized as
the liberated convict  Jean Valjean  

Any one who did not know Javert  and who had chanced to see him at the
moment when he penetrated the antechamber of the infirmary  could have
divined nothing of what had taken place  and would have thought his air
the most ordinary in the world  He was cool  calm  grave  his gray
hair was perfectly smooth upon his temples  and he had just mounted
the stairs with his habitual deliberation  Any one who was thoroughly
acquainted with him  and who had examined him attentively at the moment 
would have shuddered  The buckle of his leather stock was under his
left ear instead of at the nape of his neck  This betrayed unwonted
agitation 

Javert was a complete character  who never had a wrinkle in his duty or
in his uniform  methodical with malefactors  rigid with the buttons of
his coat 

That he should have set the buckle of his stock awry  it was
indispensable that there should have taken place in him one of those
emotions which may be designated as internal earthquakes 

He had come in a simple way  had made a requisition on the neighboring
post for a corporal and four soldiers  had left the soldiers in the
courtyard  had had Fantine s room pointed out to him by the portress 
who was utterly unsuspicious  accustomed as she was to seeing armed men
inquiring for the mayor 

On arriving at Fantine s chamber  Javert turned the handle  pushed
the door open with the gentleness of a sick nurse or a police spy  and
entered 

Properly speaking  he did not enter  He stood erect in the half open
door  his hat on his head and his left hand thrust into his coat  which
was buttoned up to the chin  In the bend of his elbow the leaden head of
his enormous cane  which was hidden behind him  could be seen 

Thus he remained for nearly a minute  without his presence being
perceived  All at once Fantine raised her eyes  saw him  and made M 
Madeleine turn round 

The instant that Madeleine s glance encountered Javert s glance  Javert 
without stirring  without moving from his post  without approaching him 
became terrible  No human sentiment can be as terrible as joy 

It was the visage of a demon who has just found his damned soul 

The satisfaction of at last getting hold of Jean Valjean caused all that
was in his soul to appear in his countenance  The depths having been
stirred up  mounted to the surface  The humiliation of having  in
some slight degree  lost the scent  and of having indulged  for a few
moments  in an error with regard to Champmathieu  was effaced by pride
at having so well and accurately divined in the first place  and of
having for so long cherished a just instinct  Javert s content shone
forth in his sovereign attitude  The deformity of triumph overspread
that narrow brow  All the demonstrations of horror which a satisfied
face can afford were there 

Javert was in heaven at that moment  Without putting the thing clearly
to himself  but with a confused intuition of the necessity of his
presence and of his success  he  Javert  personified justice  light  and
truth in their celestial function of crushing out evil  Behind him and
around him  at an infinite distance  he had authority  reason  the case
judged  the legal conscience  the public prosecution  all the stars  he
was protecting order  he was causing the law to yield up its thunders 
he was avenging society  he was lending a helping hand to the absolute 
he was standing erect in the midst of a glory  There existed in his
victory a remnant of defiance and of combat  Erect  haughty  brilliant 
he flaunted abroad in open day the superhuman bestiality of a ferocious
archangel  The terrible shadow of the action which he was accomplishing
caused the vague flash of the social sword to be visible in his clenched
fist  happy and indignant  he held his heel upon crime  vice  rebellion 
perdition  hell  he was radiant  he exterminated  he smiled  and there
was an incontestable grandeur in this monstrous Saint Michael 

Javert  though frightful  had nothing ignoble about him 

Probity  sincerity  candor  conviction  the sense of duty  are things
which may become hideous when wrongly directed  but which  even when
hideous  remain grand  their majesty  the majesty peculiar to the human
conscience  clings to them in the midst of horror  they are virtues
which have one vice   error  The honest  pitiless joy of a fanatic
in the full flood of his atrocity preserves a certain lugubriously
venerable radiance  Without himself suspecting the fact  Javert in his
formidable happiness was to be pitied  as is every ignorant man who
triumphs  Nothing could be so poignant and so terrible as this face 
wherein was displayed all that may be designated as the evil of the
good 




CHAPTER IV  AUTHORITY REASSERTS ITS RIGHTS

Fantine had not seen Javert since the day on which the mayor had torn
her from the man  Her ailing brain comprehended nothing  but the only
thing which she did not doubt was that he had come to get her  She could
not endure that terrible face  she felt her life quitting her  she hid
her face in both hands  and shrieked in her anguish   

 Monsieur Madeleine  save me  

Jean Valjean  we shall henceforth not speak of him otherwise  had risen 
He said to Fantine in the gentlest and calmest of voices   

 Be at ease  it is not for you that he is come  

Then he addressed Javert  and said   

 I know what you want  

Javert replied   

 Be quick about it  

There lay in the inflection of voice which accompanied these words
something indescribably fierce and frenzied  Javert did not say   Be
quick about it   he said  Bequiabouit  

No orthography can do justice to the accent with which it was uttered 
it was no longer a human word  it was a roar 

He did not proceed according to his custom  he did not enter into the
matter  he exhibited no warrant of arrest  In his eyes  Jean Valjean
was a sort of mysterious combatant  who was not to be laid hands upon 
a wrestler in the dark whom he had had in his grasp for the last five
years  without being able to throw him  This arrest was not a beginning 
but an end  He confined himself to saying   Be quick about it  

As he spoke thus  he did not advance a single step  he hurled at Jean
Valjean a glance which he threw out like a grappling hook  and with
which he was accustomed to draw wretches violently to him 

It was this glance which Fantine had felt penetrating to the very marrow
of her bones two months previously 

At Javert s exclamation  Fantine opened her eyes once more  But the
mayor was there  what had she to fear 

Javert advanced to the middle of the room  and cried   

 See here now  Art thou coming  

The unhappy woman glanced about her  No one was present excepting the
nun and the mayor  To whom could that abject use of  thou  be addressed 
To her only  She shuddered 

Then she beheld a most unprecedented thing  a thing so unprecedented
that nothing equal to it had appeared to her even in the blackest
deliriums of fever 

She beheld Javert  the police spy  seize the mayor by the collar  she
saw the mayor bow his head  It seemed to her that the world was coming
to an end 

Javert had  in fact  grasped Jean Valjean by the collar 

 Monsieur le Maire   shrieked Fantine 

Javert burst out laughing with that frightful laugh which displayed all
his gums 

 There is no longer any Monsieur le Maire here  

Jean Valjean made no attempt to disengage the hand which grasped the
collar of his coat  He said   

 Javert   

Javert interrupted him   Call me Mr  Inspector  

 Monsieur   said Jean Valjean   I should like to say a word to you in
private  

 Aloud  Say it aloud   replied Javert   people are in the habit of
talking aloud to me  

Jean Valjean went on in a lower tone   

 I have a request to make of you   

 I tell you to speak loud  

 But you alone should hear it   

 What difference does that make to me  I shall not listen  

Jean Valjean turned towards him and said very rapidly and in a very low
voice   

 Grant me three days  grace  three days in which to go and fetch the
child of this unhappy woman  I will pay whatever is necessary  You shall
accompany me if you choose  

 You are making sport of me   cried Javert   Come now  I did not think
you such a fool  You ask me to give you three days in which to run away 
You say that it is for the purpose of fetching that creature s child 
Ah  Ah  That s good  That s really capital  

Fantine was seized with a fit of trembling 

 My child   she cried   to go and fetch my child  She is not here 
then  Answer me  sister  where is Cosette  I want my child  Monsieur
Madeleine  Monsieur le Maire  

Javert stamped his foot 

 And now there s the other one  Will you hold your tongue  you hussy 
It s a pretty sort of a place where convicts are magistrates  and where
women of the town are cared for like countesses  Ah  But we are going to
change all that  it is high time  

He stared intently at Fantine  and added  once more taking into his
grasp Jean Valjean s cravat  shirt and collar   

 I tell you that there is no Monsieur Madeleine and that there is no
Monsieur le Maire  There is a thief  a brigand  a convict named Jean
Valjean  And I have him in my grasp  That s what there is  

Fantine raised herself in bed with a bound  supporting herself on her
stiffened arms and on both hands  she gazed at Jean Valjean  she gazed
at Javert  she gazed at the nun  she opened her mouth as though to
speak  a rattle proceeded from the depths of her throat  her teeth
chattered  she stretched out her arms in her agony  opening her hands
convulsively  and fumbling about her like a drowning person  then
suddenly fell back on her pillow 

Her head struck the head board of the bed and fell forwards on her
breast  with gaping mouth and staring  sightless eyes 

She was dead 

Jean Valjean laid his hand upon the detaining hand of Javert  and opened
it as he would have opened the hand of a baby  then he said to Javert   

 You have murdered that woman  

 Let s have an end of this   shouted Javert  in a fury   I am not here
to listen to argument  Let us economize all that  the guard is below 
march on instantly  or you ll get the thumb screws  

In the corner of the room stood an old iron bedstead  which was in a
decidedly decrepit state  and which served the sisters as a camp bed
when they were watching with the sick  Jean Valjean stepped up to this
bed  in a twinkling wrenched off the head piece  which was already in a
dilapidated condition  an easy matter to muscles like his  grasped the
principal rod like a bludgeon  and glanced at Javert  Javert retreated
towards the door  Jean Valjean  armed with his bar of iron  walked
slowly up to Fantine s couch  When he arrived there he turned and said
to Javert  in a voice that was barely audible   

 I advise you not to disturb me at this moment  

One thing is certain  and that is  that Javert trembled 

It did occur to him to summon the guard  but Jean Valjean might avail
himself of that moment to effect his escape  so he remained  grasped
his cane by the small end  and leaned against the door post  without
removing his eyes from Jean Valjean 

Jean Valjean rested his elbow on the knob at the head of the bed  and
his brow on his hand  and began to contemplate the motionless body of
Fantine  which lay extended there  He remained thus  mute  absorbed 
evidently with no further thought of anything connected with this life 
Upon his face and in his attitude there was nothing but inexpressible
pity  After a few moments of this meditation he bent towards Fantine 
and spoke to her in a low voice 

What did he say to her  What could this man  who was reproved  say to
that woman  who was dead  What words were those  No one on earth heard
them  Did the dead woman hear them  There are some touching illusions
which are  perhaps  sublime realities  The point as to which there
exists no doubt is  that Sister Simplice  the sole witness of the
incident  often said that at the moment that Jean Valjean whispered in
Fantine s ear  she distinctly beheld an ineffable smile dawn on those
pale lips  and in those dim eyes  filled with the amazement of the tomb 

Jean Valjean took Fantine s head in both his hands  and arranged it on
the pillow as a mother might have done for her child  then he tied the
string of her chemise  and smoothed her hair back under her cap  That
done  he closed her eyes 

Fantine s face seemed strangely illuminated at that moment 

Death  that signifies entrance into the great light 

Fantine s hand was hanging over the side of the bed  Jean Valjean knelt
down before that hand  lifted it gently  and kissed it 

Then he rose  and turned to Javert 

 Now   said he   I am at your disposal  




CHAPTER V  A SUITABLE TOMB

Javert deposited Jean Valjean in the city prison 

The arrest of M  Madeleine occasioned a sensation  or rather  an
extraordinary commotion in M  sur M  We are sorry that we cannot conceal
the fact  that at the single word   He was a convict   nearly every one
deserted him  In less than two hours all the good that he had done had
been forgotten  and he was nothing but a  convict from the galleys   It
is just to add that the details of what had taken place at Arras were
not yet known  All day long conversations like the following were to be
heard in all quarters of the town   

 You don t know  He was a liberated convict    Who    The mayor    Bah 
M  Madeleine    Yes    Really    His name was not Madeleine at all  he
had a frightful name  Bejean  Bojean  Boujean    Ah  Good God    He
has been arrested    Arrested    In prison  in the city prison  while
waiting to be transferred    Until he is transferred    He is to be
transferred    Where is he to be taken    He will be tried at the
Assizes for a highway robbery which he committed long ago    Well  I
suspected as much  That man was too good  too perfect  too affected 
He refused the cross  he bestowed sous on all the little scamps he came
across  I always thought there was some evil history back of all that  

The  drawing rooms  particularly abounded in remarks of this nature 

One old lady  a subscriber to the Drapeau Blanc  made the following
remark  the depth of which it is impossible to fathom   

 I am not sorry  It will be a lesson to the Bonapartists  

It was thus that the phantom which had been called M  Madeleine vanished
from M  sur M  Only three or four persons in all the town remained
faithful to his memory  The old portress who had served him was among
the number 

On the evening of that day the worthy old woman was sitting in her
lodge  still in a thorough fright  and absorbed in sad reflections 
The factory had been closed all day  the carriage gate was bolted  the
street was deserted  There was no one in the house but the two nuns 
Sister Perpetue and Sister Simplice  who were watching beside the body
of Fantine 

Towards the hour when M  Madeleine was accustomed to return home 
the good portress rose mechanically  took from a drawer the key of
M  Madeleine s chamber  and the flat candlestick which he used every
evening to go up to his quarters  then she hung the key on the nail
whence he was accustomed to take it  and set the candlestick on one
side  as though she was expecting him  Then she sat down again on her
chair  and became absorbed in thought once more  The poor  good old
woman bad done all this without being conscious of it 

It was only at the expiration of two hours that she roused herself from
her revery  and exclaimed   Hold  My good God Jesus  And I hung his key
on the nail  

At that moment the small window in the lodge opened  a hand passed
through  seized the key and the candlestick  and lighted the taper at
the candle which was burning there 

The portress raised her eyes  and stood there with gaping mouth  and a
shriek which she confined to her throat 

She knew that hand  that arm  the sleeve of that coat 

It was M  Madeleine 

It was several seconds before she could speak  she had a seizure  as she
said herself  when she related the adventure afterwards 

 Good God  Monsieur le Maire   she cried at last   I thought you were   

She stopped  the conclusion of her sentence would have been lacking in
respect towards the beginning  Jean Valjean was still Monsieur le Maire
to her 

He finished her thought 

 In prison   said he   I was there  I broke a bar of one of the windows 
I let myself drop from the top of a roof  and here I am  I am going up
to my room  go and find Sister Simplice for me  She is with that poor
woman  no doubt  

The old woman obeyed in all haste 

He gave her no orders  he was quite sure that she would guard him better
than he should guard himself 

No one ever found out how he had managed to get into the courtyard
without opening the big gates  He had  and always carried about him 
a pass key which opened a little side door  but he must have been
searched  and his latch key must have been taken from him  This point
was never explained 

He ascended the staircase leading to his chamber  On arriving at the
top  he left his candle on the top step of his stairs  opened his door
with very little noise  went and closed his window and his shutters by
feeling  then returned for his candle and re entered his room 

It was a useful precaution  it will be recollected that his window could
be seen from the street 

He cast a glance about him  at his table  at his chair  at his bed which
had not been disturbed for three days  No trace of the disorder of the
night before last remained  The portress had  done up  his room  only
she had picked out of the ashes and placed neatly on the table the two
iron ends of the cudgel and the forty sou piece which had been blackened
by the fire 

He took a sheet of paper  on which he wrote   These are the two tips of
my iron shod cudgel and the forty sou piece stolen from Little Gervais 
which I mentioned at the Court of Assizes   and he arranged this piece
of paper  the bits of iron  and the coin in such a way that they were
the first things to be seen on entering the room  From a cupboard he
pulled out one of his old shirts  which he tore in pieces  In the
strips of linen thus prepared he wrapped the two silver candlesticks  He
betrayed neither haste nor agitation  and while he was wrapping up the
Bishop s candlesticks  he nibbled at a piece of black bread  It was
probably the prison bread which he had carried with him in his flight 

This was proved by the crumbs which were found on the floor of the room
when the authorities made an examination later on 

There came two taps at the door 

 Come in   said he 

It was Sister Simplice 

She was pale  her eyes were red  the candle which she carried trembled
in her hand  The peculiar feature of the violences of destiny is  that
however polished or cool we may be  they wring human nature from our
very bowels  and force it to reappear on the surface  The emotions of
that day had turned the nun into a woman once more  She had wept  and
she was trembling 

Jean Valjean had just finished writing a few lines on a paper  which he
handed to the nun  saying   Sister  you will give this to Monsieur le
Cure  

The paper was not folded  She cast a glance upon it 

 You can read it   said he 

She read   

 I beg Monsieur le Cure to keep an eye on all that I leave behind me  He
will be so good as to pay out of it the expenses of my trial  and of the
funeral of the woman who died yesterday  The rest is for the poor  

The sister tried to speak  but she only managed to stammer a few
inarticulate sounds  She succeeded in saying  however   

 Does not Monsieur le Maire desire to take a last look at that poor 
unhappy woman  

 No   said he   I am pursued  it would only end in their arresting me in
that room  and that would disturb her  

He had hardly finished when a loud noise became audible on the
staircase  They heard a tumult of ascending footsteps  and the old
portress saying in her loudest and most piercing tones   

 My good sir  I swear to you by the good God  that not a soul has
entered this house all day  nor all the evening  and that I have not
even left the door  

A man responded   

 But there is a light in that room  nevertheless  

They recognized Javert s voice 

The chamber was so arranged that the door in opening masked the corner
of the wall on the right  Jean Valjean blew out the light and placed
himself in this angle  Sister Simplice fell on her knees near the table 

The door opened 

Javert entered 

The whispers of many men and the protestations of the portress were
audible in the corridor 

The nun did not raise her eyes  She was praying 

The candle was on the chimney piece  and gave but very little light 

Javert caught sight of the nun and halted in amazement 

It will be remembered that the fundamental point in Javert  his element 
the very air he breathed  was veneration for all authority  This was
impregnable  and admitted of neither objection nor restriction  In his
eyes  of course  the ecclesiastical authority was the chief of all  he
was religious  superficial and correct on this point as on all others 
In his eyes  a priest was a mind  who never makes a mistake  a nun was a
creature who never sins  they were souls walled in from this world 
with a single door which never opened except to allow the truth to pass
through 

On perceiving the sister  his first movement was to retire 

But there was also another duty which bound him and impelled him
imperiously in the opposite direction  His second movement was to remain
and to venture on at least one question 

This was Sister Simplice  who had never told a lie in her life  Javert
knew it  and held her in special veneration in consequence 

 Sister   said he   are you alone in this room  

A terrible moment ensued  during which the poor portress felt as though
she should faint 

The sister raised her eyes and answered   

 Yes  

 Then   resumed Javert   you will excuse me if I persist  it is my duty 
you have not seen a certain person  a man  this evening  He has escaped 
we are in search of him  that Jean Valjean  you have not seen him  

The sister replied   

 No  

She lied  She had lied twice in succession  one after the other  without
hesitation  promptly  as a person does when sacrificing herself 

 Pardon me   said Javert  and he retired with a deep bow 

O sainted maid  you left this world many years ago  you have rejoined
your sisters  the virgins  and your brothers  the angels  in the light 
may this lie be counted to your credit in paradise 

The sister s affirmation was for Javert so decisive a thing that he did
not even observe the singularity of that candle which had but just been
extinguished  and which was still smoking on the table 

An hour later  a man  marching amid trees and mists  was rapidly
departing from M  sur M  in the direction of Paris  That man was Jean
Valjean  It has been established by the testimony of two or three
carters who met him  that he was carrying a bundle  that he was dressed
in a blouse  Where had he obtained that blouse  No one ever found out 
But an aged workman had died in the infirmary of the factory a few days
before  leaving behind him nothing but his blouse  Perhaps that was the
one 

One last word about Fantine 

We all have a mother   the earth  Fantine was given back to that mother 

The cure thought that he was doing right  and perhaps he really was  in
reserving as much money as possible from what Jean Valjean had left for
the poor  Who was concerned  after all  A convict and a woman of the
town  That is why he had a very simple funeral for Fantine  and reduced
it to that strictly necessary form known as the pauper s grave 

So Fantine was buried in the free corner of the cemetery which belongs
to anybody and everybody  and where the poor are lost  Fortunately  God
knows where to find the soul again  Fantine was laid in the shade 
among the first bones that came to hand  she was subjected to the
promiscuousness of ashes  She was thrown into the public grave  Her
grave resembled her bed 


 THE END OF VOLUME I   FANTINE  


 Illustration  Frontispiece Volume Two  2frontispiece 

 Illustration  Titlepage Volume Two  2titlepage 





VOLUME II   COSETTE




BOOK FIRST   WATERLOO




CHAPTER I  WHAT IS MET WITH ON THE WAY FROM NIVELLES

Last year  1861   on a beautiful May morning  a traveller  the person
who is telling this story  was coming from Nivelles  and directing his
course towards La Hulpe  He was on foot  He was pursuing a broad paved
road  which undulated between two rows of trees  over the hills which
succeed each other  raise the road and let it fall again  and produce
something in the nature of enormous waves 

He had passed Lillois and Bois Seigneur Isaac  In the west he perceived
the slate roofed tower of Braine l Alleud  which has the form of a
reversed vase  He had just left behind a wood upon an eminence  and
at the angle of the cross road  by the side of a sort of mouldy gibbet
bearing the inscription Ancient Barrier No  4  a public house  bearing
on its front this sign  At the Four Winds  Aux Quatre Vents   Echabeau 
Private Cafe 

A quarter of a league further on  he arrived at the bottom of a little
valley  where there is water which passes beneath an arch made through
the embankment of the road  The clump of sparsely planted but very green
trees  which fills the valley on one side of the road  is dispersed over
the meadows on the other  and disappears gracefully and as in order in
the direction of Braine l Alleud 

On the right  close to the road  was an inn  with a four wheeled cart
at the door  a large bundle of hop poles  a plough  a heap of dried
brushwood near a flourishing hedge  lime smoking in a square hole  and
a ladder suspended along an old penthouse with straw partitions  A young
girl was weeding in a field  where a huge yellow poster  probably of
some outside spectacle  such as a parish festival  was fluttering in
the wind  At one corner of the inn  beside a pool in which a flotilla
of ducks was navigating  a badly paved path plunged into the bushes  The
wayfarer struck into this 

After traversing a hundred paces  skirting a wall of the fifteenth
century  surmounted by a pointed gable  with bricks set in contrast  he
found himself before a large door of arched stone  with a rectilinear
impost  in the sombre style of Louis XIV   flanked by two flat
medallions  A severe facade rose above this door  a wall  perpendicular
to the facade  almost touched the door  and flanked it with an abrupt
right angle  In the meadow before the door lay three harrows  through
which  in disorder  grew all the flowers of May  The door was closed 
The two decrepit leaves which barred it were ornamented with an old
rusty knocker 

The sun was charming  the branches had that soft shivering of May 
which seems to proceed rather from the nests than from the wind  A brave
little bird  probably a lover  was carolling in a distracted manner in a
large tree 

The wayfarer bent over and examined a rather large circular excavation 
resembling the hollow of a sphere  in the stone on the left  at the foot
of the pier of the door 

At this moment the leaves of the door parted  and a peasant woman
emerged 

She saw the wayfarer  and perceived what he was looking at 

 It was a French cannon ball which made that   she said to him  And she
added   

 That which you see there  higher up in the door  near a nail  is the
hole of a big iron bullet as large as an egg  The bullet did not pierce
the wood  

 What is the name of this place   inquired the wayfarer 

 Hougomont   said the peasant woman 

The traveller straightened himself up  He walked on a few paces  and
went off to look over the tops of the hedges  On the horizon through the
trees  he perceived a sort of little elevation  and on this elevation
something which at that distance resembled a lion 

He was on the battle field of Waterloo 




CHAPTER II  HOUGOMONT

Hougomont   this was a funereal spot  the beginning of the obstacle 
the first resistance  which that great wood cutter of Europe  called
Napoleon  encountered at Waterloo  the first knot under the blows of his
axe 

It was a chateau  it is no longer anything but a farm  For the
antiquary  Hougomont is Hugomons  This manor was built by Hugo  Sire
of Somerel  the same who endowed the sixth chaplaincy of the Abbey of
Villiers 

The traveller pushed open the door  elbowed an ancient calash under the
porch  and entered the courtyard 

The first thing which struck him in this paddock was a door of the
sixteenth century  which here simulates an arcade  everything else
having fallen prostrate around it  A monumental aspect often has its
birth in ruin  In a wall near the arcade opens another arched door  of
the time of Henry IV   permitting a glimpse of the trees of an orchard 
beside this door  a manure hole  some pickaxes  some shovels  some
carts  an old well  with its flagstone and its iron reel  a chicken
jumping  and a turkey spreading its tail  a chapel surmounted by a small
bell tower  a blossoming pear tree trained in espalier against the
wall of the chapel  behold the court  the conquest of which was one of
Napoleon s dreams  This corner of earth  could he but have seized
it  would  perhaps  have given him the world likewise  Chickens are
scattering its dust abroad with their beaks  A growl is audible  it is a
huge dog  who shows his teeth and replaces the English 

The English behaved admirably there  Cooke s four companies of guards
there held out for seven hours against the fury of an army 

Hougomont viewed on the map  as a geometrical plan  comprising buildings
and enclosures  presents a sort of irregular rectangle  one angle of
which is nicked out  It is this angle which contains the southern
door  guarded by this wall  which commands it only a gun s length away 
Hougomont has two doors   the southern door  that of the chateau  and
the northern door  belonging to the farm  Napoleon sent his brother
Jerome against Hougomont  the divisions of Foy  Guilleminot  and Bachelu
hurled themselves against it  nearly the entire corps of Reille was
employed against it  and miscarried  Kellermann s balls were exhausted
on this heroic section of wall  Bauduin s brigade was not strong enough
to force Hougomont on the north  and the brigade of Soye could not do
more than effect the beginning of a breach on the south  but without
taking it 

The farm buildings border the courtyard on the south  A bit of the north
door  broken by the French  hangs suspended to the wall  It consists of
four planks nailed to two cross beams  on which the scars of the attack
are visible 

The northern door  which was beaten in by the French  and which has had
a piece applied to it to replace the panel suspended on the wall  stands
half open at the bottom of the paddock  it is cut squarely in the wall 
built of stone below  of brick above which closes in the courtyard on
the north  It is a simple door for carts  such as exist in all farms 
with the two large leaves made of rustic planks  beyond lie the meadows 
The dispute over this entrance was furious  For a long time  all sorts
of imprints of bloody hands were visible on the door posts  It was there
that Bauduin was killed 

The storm of the combat still lingers in this courtyard  its horror is
visible there  the confusion of the fray was petrified there  it lives
and it dies there  it was only yesterday  The walls are in the death
agony  the stones fall  the breaches cry aloud  the holes are wounds 
the drooping  quivering trees seem to be making an effort to flee 

This courtyard was more built up in 1815 than it is to day  Buildings
which have since been pulled down then formed redans and angles 

The English barricaded themselves there  the French made their way in 
but could not stand their ground  Beside the chapel  one wing of the
chateau  the only ruin now remaining of the manor of Hougomont  rises in
a crumbling state   disembowelled  one might say  The chateau served
for a dungeon  the chapel for a block house  There men exterminated each
other  The French  fired on from every point   from behind the walls 
from the summits of the garrets  from the depths of the cellars  through
all the casements  through all the air holes  through every crack in the
stones   fetched fagots and set fire to walls and men  the reply to the
grape shot was a conflagration 

In the ruined wing  through windows garnished with bars of iron  the
dismantled chambers of the main building of brick are visible  the
English guards were in ambush in these rooms  the spiral of the
staircase  cracked from the ground floor to the very roof  appears
like the inside of a broken shell  The staircase has two stories  the
English  besieged on the staircase  and massed on its upper steps  had
cut off the lower steps  These consisted of large slabs of blue stone 
which form a heap among the nettles  Half a score of steps still
cling to the wall  on the first is cut the figure of a trident  These
inaccessible steps are solid in their niches  All the rest resembles a
jaw which has been denuded of its teeth  There are two old trees there 
one is dead  the other is wounded at its base  and is clothed with
verdure in April  Since 1815 it has taken to growing through the
staircase 

A massacre took place in the chapel  The interior  which has recovered
its calm  is singular  The mass has not been said there since the
carnage  Nevertheless  the altar has been left there  an altar of
unpolished wood  placed against a background of roughhewn stone  Four
whitewashed walls  a door opposite the altar  two small arched windows 
over the door a large wooden crucifix  below the crucifix a square
air hole stopped up with a bundle of hay  on the ground  in one corner 
an old window frame with the glass all broken to pieces  such is the
chapel  Near the altar there is nailed up a wooden statue of Saint Anne 
of the fifteenth century  the head of the infant Jesus has been carried
off by a large ball  The French  who were masters of the chapel for a
moment  and were then dislodged  set fire to it  The flames filled this
building  it was a perfect furnace  the door was burned  the floor was
burned  the wooden Christ was not burned  The fire preyed upon his
feet  of which only the blackened stumps are now to be seen  then it
stopped   a miracle  according to the assertion of the people of the
neighborhood  The infant Jesus  decapitated  was less fortunate than the
Christ 

The walls are covered with inscriptions  Near the feet of Christ this
name is to be read  Henquinez  Then these others  Conde de Rio Maior
Marques y Marquesa de Almagro  Habana   There are French names with
exclamation points   a sign of wrath  The wall was freshly whitewashed
in 1849  The nations insulted each other there 

It was at the door of this chapel that the corpse was picked up which
held an axe in its hand  this corpse was Sub Lieutenant Legros 

On emerging from the chapel  a well is visible on the left  There are
two in this courtyard  One inquires  Why is there no bucket and pulley
to this  It is because water is no longer drawn there  Why is water not
drawn there  Because it is full of skeletons 

The last person who drew water from the well was named Guillaume van
Kylsom  He was a peasant who lived at Hougomont  and was gardener there 
On the 18th of June  1815  his family fled and concealed themselves in
the woods 

The forest surrounding the Abbey of Villiers sheltered these unfortunate
people who had been scattered abroad  for many days and nights  There
are at this day certain traces recognizable  such as old boles of burned
trees  which mark the site of these poor bivouacs trembling in the
depths of the thickets 

Guillaume van Kylsom remained at Hougomont   to guard the chateau   and
concealed himself in the cellar  The English discovered him there 
They tore him from his hiding place  and the combatants forced this
frightened man to serve them  by administering blows with the flats of
their swords  They were thirsty  this Guillaume brought them water  It
was from this well that he drew it  Many drank there their last draught 
This well where drank so many of the dead was destined to die itself 

After the engagement  they were in haste to bury the dead bodies  Death
has a fashion of harassing victory  and she causes the pest to follow
glory  The typhus is a concomitant of triumph  This well was deep  and
it was turned into a sepulchre  Three hundred dead bodies were cast into
it  With too much haste perhaps  Were they all dead  Legend says they
were not  It seems that on the night succeeding the interment  feeble
voices were heard calling from the well 

This well is isolated in the middle of the courtyard  Three walls  part
stone  part brick  and simulating a small  square tower  and folded like
the leaves of a screen  surround it on all sides  The fourth side is
open  It is there that the water was drawn  The wall at the bottom has
a sort of shapeless loophole  possibly the hole made by a shell  This
little tower had a platform  of which only the beams remain  The iron
supports of the well on the right form a cross  On leaning over  the
eye is lost in a deep cylinder of brick which is filled with a heaped up
mass of shadows  The base of the walls all about the well is concealed
in a growth of nettles 

This well has not in front of it that large blue slab which forms the
table for all wells in Belgium  The slab has here been replaced by a
cross beam  against which lean five or six shapeless fragments of knotty
and petrified wood which resemble huge bones  There is no longer either
pail  chain  or pulley  but there is still the stone basin which served
the overflow  The rain water collects there  and from time to time a
bird of the neighboring forests comes thither to drink  and then flies
away  One house in this ruin  the farmhouse  is still inhabited  The
door of this house opens on the courtyard  Upon this door  beside a
pretty Gothic lock plate  there is an iron handle with trefoils placed
slanting  At the moment when the Hanoverian lieutenant  Wilda  grasped
this handle in order to take refuge in the farm  a French sapper hewed
off his hand with an axe 

The family who occupy the house had for their grandfather Guillaume van
Kylsom  the old gardener  dead long since  A woman with gray hair said
to us   I was there  I was three years old  My sister  who was older 
was terrified and wept  They carried us off to the woods  I went there
in my mother s arms  We glued our ears to the earth to hear  I imitated
the cannon  and went boum  boum  

A door opening from the courtyard on the left led into the orchard  so
we were told  The orchard is terrible 

It is in three parts  one might almost say  in three acts  The first
part is a garden  the second is an orchard  the third is a wood  These
three parts have a common enclosure  on the side of the entrance  the
buildings of the chateau and the farm  on the left  a hedge  on the
right  a wall  and at the end  a wall  The wall on the right is of
brick  the wall at the bottom is of stone  One enters the garden first 
It slopes downwards  is planted with gooseberry bushes  choked with a
wild growth of vegetation  and terminated by a monumental terrace of cut
stone  with balustrade with a double curve 

It was a seignorial garden in the first French style which preceded Le
Notre  to day it is ruins and briars  The pilasters are surmounted by
globes which resemble cannon balls of stone  Forty three balusters can
still be counted on their sockets  the rest lie prostrate in the grass 
Almost all bear scratches of bullets  One broken baluster is placed on
the pediment like a fractured leg 

It was in this garden  further down than the orchard  that six
light infantry men of the 1st  having made their way thither  and being
unable to escape  hunted down and caught like bears in their dens 
accepted the combat with two Hanoverian companies  one of which was
armed with carbines  The Hanoverians lined this balustrade and fired
from above  The infantry men  replying from below  six against two
hundred  intrepid and with no shelter save the currant bushes  took a
quarter of an hour to die 

One mounts a few steps and passes from the garden into the orchard 
properly speaking  There  within the limits of those few square fathoms 
fifteen hundred men fell in less than an hour  The wall seems ready
to renew the combat  Thirty eight loopholes  pierced by the English at
irregular heights  are there still  In front of the sixth are placed two
English tombs of granite  There are loopholes only in the south wall  as
the principal attack came from that quarter  The wall is hidden on the
outside by a tall hedge  the French came up  thinking that they had to
deal only with a hedge  crossed it  and found the wall both an obstacle
and an ambuscade  with the English guards behind it  the thirty eight
loopholes firing at once a shower of grape shot and balls  and Soye s
brigade was broken against it  Thus Waterloo began 

Nevertheless  the orchard was taken  As they had no ladders  the French
scaled it with their nails  They fought hand to hand amid the trees 
All this grass has been soaked in blood  A battalion of Nassau  seven
hundred strong  was overwhelmed there  The outside of the wall  against
which Kellermann s two batteries were trained  is gnawed by grape shot 

This orchard is sentient  like others  in the month of May  It has its
buttercups and its daisies  the grass is tall there  the cart horses
browse there  cords of hair  on which linen is drying  traverse the
spaces between the trees and force the passer by to bend his head  one
walks over this uncultivated land  and one s foot dives into mole holes 
In the middle of the grass one observes an uprooted tree bole which lies
there all verdant  Major Blackmann leaned against it to die  Beneath
a great tree in the neighborhood fell the German general  Duplat 
descended from a French family which fled on the revocation of the Edict
of Nantes  An aged and falling apple tree leans far over to one side 
its wound dressed with a bandage of straw and of clayey loam  Nearly all
the apple trees are falling with age  There is not one which has not
had its bullet or its biscayan  6  The skeletons of dead trees abound in
this orchard  Crows fly through their branches  and at the end of it is
a wood full of violets 

Bauduin  killed  Foy wounded  conflagration  massacre  carnage  a
rivulet formed of English blood  French blood  German blood mingled
in fury  a well crammed with corpses  the regiment of Nassau and the
regiment of Brunswick destroyed  Duplat killed  Blackmann killed  the
English Guards mutilated  twenty French battalions  besides the forty
from Reille s corps  decimated  three thousand men in that hovel of
Hougomont alone cut down  slashed to pieces  shot  burned  with their
throats cut   and all this so that a peasant can say to day to the
traveller  Monsieur  give me three francs  and if you like  I will
explain to you the affair of Waterloo 




CHAPTER III  THE EIGHTEENTH OF JUNE  1815

Let us turn back   that is one of the story teller s rights   and put
ourselves once more in the year 1815  and even a little earlier than
the epoch when the action narrated in the first part of this book took
place 

If it had not rained in the night between the 17th and the 18th of
June  1815  the fate of Europe would have been different  A few drops
of water  more or less  decided the downfall of Napoleon  All that
Providence required in order to make Waterloo the end of Austerlitz
was a little more rain  and a cloud traversing the sky out of season
sufficed to make a world crumble 

The battle of Waterloo could not be begun until half past eleven
o clock  and that gave Blucher time to come up  Why  Because the ground
was wet  The artillery had to wait until it became a little firmer
before they could manoeuvre 

Napoleon was an artillery officer  and felt the effects of this  The
foundation of this wonderful captain was the man who  in the report to
the Directory on Aboukir  said  Such a one of our balls killed six men 
All his plans of battle were arranged for projectiles  The key to his
victory was to make the artillery converge on one point  He treated the
strategy of the hostile general like a citadel  and made a breach in it 
He overwhelmed the weak point with grape shot  he joined and dissolved
battles with cannon  There was something of the sharpshooter in his
genius  To beat in squares  to pulverize regiments  to break lines  to
crush and disperse masses   for him everything lay in this  to
strike  strike  strike incessantly   and he intrusted this task to the
cannon ball  A redoubtable method  and one which  united with genius 
rendered this gloomy athlete of the pugilism of war invincible for the
space of fifteen years 

On the 18th of June  1815  he relied all the more on his artillery 
because he had numbers on his side  Wellington had only one hundred and
fifty nine mouths of fire  Napoleon had two hundred and forty 

Suppose the soil dry  and the artillery capable of moving  the action
would have begun at six o clock in the morning  The battle would have
been won and ended at two o clock  three hours before the change of
fortune in favor of the Prussians  What amount of blame attaches to
Napoleon for the loss of this battle  Is the shipwreck due to the pilot 

Was it the evident physical decline of Napoleon that complicated this
epoch by an inward diminution of force  Had the twenty years of war worn
out the blade as it had worn the scabbard  the soul as well as the body 
Did the veteran make himself disastrously felt in the leader  In a word 
was this genius  as many historians of note have thought  suffering from
an eclipse  Did he go into a frenzy in order to disguise his weakened
powers from himself  Did he begin to waver under the delusion of
a breath of adventure  Had he become  a grave matter in a
general  unconscious of peril  Is there an age  in this class of
material great men  who may be called the giants of action  when genius
grows short sighted  Old age has no hold on the geniuses of the ideal 
for the Dantes and Michael Angelos to grow old is to grow in greatness 
is it to grow less for the Hannibals and the Bonapartes  Had Napoleon
lost the direct sense of victory  Had he reached the point where he
could no longer recognize the reef  could no longer divine the snare  no
longer discern the crumbling brink of abysses  Had he lost his power of
scenting out catastrophes  He who had in former days known all the
roads to triumph  and who  from the summit of his chariot of lightning 
pointed them out with a sovereign finger  had he now reached that
state of sinister amazement when he could lead his tumultuous legions
harnessed to it  to the precipice  Was he seized at the age of forty six
with a supreme madness  Was that titanic charioteer of destiny no longer
anything more than an immense dare devil 

We do not think so 

His plan of battle was  by the confession of all  a masterpiece  To
go straight to the centre of the Allies  line  to make a breach in the
enemy  to cut them in two  to drive the British half back on Hal 
and the Prussian half on Tongres  to make two shattered fragments of
Wellington and Blucher  to carry Mont Saint Jean  to seize Brussels 
to hurl the German into the Rhine  and the Englishman into the sea  All
this was contained in that battle  according to Napoleon  Afterwards
people would see 

Of course  we do not here pretend to furnish a history of the battle of
Waterloo  one of the scenes of the foundation of the story which we
are relating is connected with this battle  but this history is not our
subject  this history  moreover  has been finished  and finished in a
masterly manner  from one point of view by Napoleon  and from another
point of view by a whole pleiad of historians  7 

As for us  we leave the historians at loggerheads  we are but a distant
witness  a passer by on the plain  a seeker bending over that soil all
made of human flesh  taking appearances for realities  perchance  we
have no right to oppose  in the name of science  a collection of facts
which contain illusions  no doubt  we possess neither military practice
nor strategic ability which authorize a system  in our opinion  a chain
of accidents dominated the two leaders at Waterloo  and when it becomes
a question of destiny  that mysterious culprit  we judge like that
ingenious judge  the populace 




CHAPTER IV  A

Those persons who wish to gain a clear idea of the battle of Waterloo
have only to place  mentally  on the ground  a capital A  The left limb
of the A is the road to Nivelles  the right limb is the road to Genappe 
the tie of the A is the hollow road to Ohain from Braine l Alleud  The
top of the A is Mont Saint Jean  where Wellington is  the lower left tip
is Hougomont  where Reille is stationed with Jerome Bonaparte  the right
tip is the Belle Alliance  where Napoleon was  At the centre of this
chord is the precise point where the final word of the battle was
pronounced  It was there that the lion has been placed  the involuntary
symbol of the supreme heroism of the Imperial Guard 

The triangle included in the top of the A  between the two limbs and the
tie  is the plateau of Mont Saint Jean  The dispute over this plateau
constituted the whole battle  The wings of the two armies extended to
the right and left of the two roads to Genappe and Nivelles  d Erlon
facing Picton  Reille facing Hill 

Behind the tip of the A  behind the plateau of Mont Saint Jean  is the
forest of Soignes 

As for the plain itself  let the reader picture to himself a vast
undulating sweep of ground  each rise commands the next rise  and all
the undulations mount towards Mont Saint Jean  and there end in the
forest 

Two hostile troops on a field of battle are two wrestlers  It is a
question of seizing the opponent round the waist  The one seeks to trip
up the other  They clutch at everything  a bush is a point of support 
an angle of the wall offers them a rest to the shoulder  for the lack
of a hovel under whose cover they can draw up  a regiment yields its
ground  an unevenness in the ground  a chance turn in the landscape  a
cross path encountered at the right moment  a grove  a ravine  can
stay the heel of that colossus which is called an army  and prevent its
retreat  He who quits the field is beaten  hence the necessity devolving
on the responsible leader  of examining the most insignificant clump of
trees  and of studying deeply the slightest relief in the ground 

The two generals had attentively studied the plain of Mont Saint Jean 
now called the plain of Waterloo  In the preceding year  Wellington 
with the sagacity of foresight  had examined it as the possible seat of
a great battle  Upon this spot  and for this duel  on the 18th of June 
Wellington had the good post  Napoleon the bad post  The English army
was stationed above  the French army below 

It is almost superfluous here to sketch the appearance of Napoleon on
horseback  glass in hand  upon the heights of Rossomme  at daybreak  on
June 18  1815  All the world has seen him before we can show him 
That calm profile under the little three cornered hat of the school of
Brienne  that green uniform  the white revers concealing the star of the
Legion of Honor  his great coat hiding his epaulets  the corner of red
ribbon peeping from beneath his vest  his leather trousers  the white
horse with the saddle cloth of purple velvet bearing on the corners
crowned N s and eagles  Hessian boots over silk stockings  silver spurs 
the sword of Marengo   that whole figure of the last of the Caesars is
present to all imaginations  saluted with acclamations by some  severely
regarded by others 

That figure stood for a long time wholly in the light  this arose from
a certain legendary dimness evolved by the majority of heroes  and which
always veils the truth for a longer or shorter time  but to day history
and daylight have arrived 

That light called history is pitiless  it possesses this peculiar and
divine quality  that  pure light as it is  and precisely because it
is wholly light  it often casts a shadow in places where people had
hitherto beheld rays  from the same man it constructs two different
phantoms  and the one attacks the other and executes justice on it  and
the shadows of the despot contend with the brilliancy of the leader 
Hence arises a truer measure in the definitive judgments of nations 
Babylon violated lessens Alexander  Rome enchained lessens Caesar 
Jerusalem murdered lessens Titus  tyranny follows the tyrant  It is a
misfortune for a man to leave behind him the night which bears his form 




CHAPTER V  THE QUID OBSCURUM OF BATTLES

Every one is acquainted with the first phase of this battle  a beginning
which was troubled  uncertain  hesitating  menacing to both armies  but
still more so for the English than for the French 

It had rained all night  the earth had been cut up by the downpour  the
water had accumulated here and there in the hollows of the plain as if
in casks  at some points the gear of the artillery carriages was buried
up to the axles  the circingles of the horses were dripping with liquid
mud  If the wheat and rye trampled down by this cohort of transports
on the march had not filled in the ruts and strewn a litter beneath the
wheels  all movement  particularly in the valleys  in the direction of
Papelotte would have been impossible 

The affair began late  Napoleon  as we have already explained  was in
the habit of keeping all his artillery well in hand  like a pistol 
aiming it now at one point  now at another  of the battle  and it had
been his wish to wait until the horse batteries could move and gallop
freely  In order to do that it was necessary that the sun should come
out and dry the soil  But the sun did not make its appearance  It was
no longer the rendezvous of Austerlitz  When the first cannon was fired 
the English general  Colville  looked at his watch  and noted that it
was thirty five minutes past eleven 

The action was begun furiously  with more fury  perhaps  than the
Emperor would have wished  by the left wing of the French resting on
Hougomont  At the same time Napoleon attacked the centre by hurling
Quiot s brigade on La Haie Sainte  and Ney pushed forward the right
wing of the French against the left wing of the English  which rested on
Papelotte 

The attack on Hougomont was something of a feint  the plan was to draw
Wellington thither  and to make him swerve to the left  This plan would
have succeeded if the four companies of the English guards and the brave
Belgians of Perponcher s division had not held the position solidly  and
Wellington  instead of massing his troops there  could confine himself
to despatching thither  as reinforcements  only four more companies of
guards and one battalion from Brunswick 

The attack of the right wing of the French on Papelotte was calculated 
in fact  to overthrow the English left  to cut off the road to Brussels 
to bar the passage against possible Prussians  to force Mont Saint Jean 
to turn Wellington back on Hougomont  thence on Braine l Alleud  thence
on Hal  nothing easier  With the exception of a few incidents this
attack succeeded Papelotte was taken  La Haie Sainte was carried 

A detail to be noted  There was in the English infantry  particularly
in Kempt s brigade  a great many raw recruits  These young soldiers were
valiant in the presence of our redoubtable infantry  their inexperience
extricated them intrepidly from the dilemma  they performed particularly
excellent service as skirmishers  the soldier skirmisher  left somewhat
to himself  becomes  so to speak  his own general  These recruits
displayed some of the French ingenuity and fury  This novice of an
infantry had dash  This displeased Wellington 

After the taking of La Haie Sainte the battle wavered 

There is in this day an obscure interval  from mid day to four o clock 
the middle portion of this battle is almost indistinct  and participates
in the sombreness of the hand to hand conflict  Twilight reigns over it 
We perceive vast fluctuations in that fog  a dizzy mirage  paraphernalia
of war almost unknown to day  pendant colbacks  floating sabre taches 
cross belts  cartridge boxes for grenades  hussar dolmans  red boots
with a thousand wrinkles  heavy shakos garlanded with torsades  the
almost black infantry of Brunswick mingled with the scarlet infantry
of England  the English soldiers with great  white circular pads on the
slopes of their shoulders for epaulets  the Hanoverian light horse with
their oblong casques of leather  with brass hands and red horse tails 
the Scotch with their bare knees and plaids  the great white gaiters
of our grenadiers  pictures  not strategic lines  what Salvator Rosa
requires  not what is suited to the needs of Gribeauval 

A certain amount of tempest is always mingled with a battle  Quid
obscurum  quid divinum  Each historian traces  to some extent  the
particular feature which pleases him amid this pell mell  Whatever may
be the combinations of the generals  the shock of armed masses has an
incalculable ebb  During the action the plans of the two leaders enter
into each other and become mutually thrown out of shape  Such a point of
the field of battle devours more combatants than such another  just as
more or less spongy soils soak up more or less quickly the water which
is poured on them  It becomes necessary to pour out more soldiers than
one would like  a series of expenditures which are the unforeseen  The
line of battle waves and undulates like a thread  the trails of blood
gush illogically  the fronts of the armies waver  the regiments
form capes and gulfs as they enter and withdraw  all these reefs are
continually moving in front of each other  Where the infantry stood the
artillery arrives  the cavalry rushes in where the artillery was  the
battalions are like smoke  There was something there  seek it  It has
disappeared  the open spots change place  the sombre folds advance and
retreat  a sort of wind from the sepulchre pushes forward  hurls back 
distends  and disperses these tragic multitudes  What is a fray  an
oscillation  The immobility of a mathematical plan expresses a minute 
not a day  In order to depict a battle  there is required one of those
powerful painters who have chaos in their brushes  Rembrandt is better
than Vandermeulen  Vandermeulen  exact at noon  lies at three o clock 
Geometry is deceptive  the hurricane alone is trustworthy  That is what
confers on Folard the right to contradict Polybius  Let us add  that
there is a certain instant when the battle degenerates into a combat 
becomes specialized  and disperses into innumerable detailed feats 
which  to borrow the expression of Napoleon himself   belong rather to
the biography of the regiments than to the history of the army   The
historian has  in this case  the evident right to sum up the whole  He
cannot do more than seize the principal outlines of the struggle  and
it is not given to any one narrator  however conscientious he may be 
to fix  absolutely  the form of that horrible cloud which is called a
battle 

This  which is true of all great armed encounters  is particularly
applicable to Waterloo 

Nevertheless  at a certain moment in the afternoon the battle came to a
point 




CHAPTER VI  FOUR O CLOCK IN THE AFTERNOON

Towards four o clock the condition of the English army was serious  The
Prince of Orange was in command of the centre  Hill of the right wing 
Picton of the left wing  The Prince of Orange  desperate and intrepid 
shouted to the Hollando Belgians   Nassau  Brunswick  Never retreat  
Hill  having been weakened  had come up to the support of Wellington 
Picton was dead  At the very moment when the English had captured from
the French the flag of the 105th of the line  the French had killed the
English general  Picton  with a bullet through the head  The battle
had  for Wellington  two bases of action  Hougomont and La Haie Sainte 
Hougomont still held out  but was on fire  La Haie Sainte was taken  Of
the German battalion which defended it  only forty two men survived  all
the officers  except five  were either dead or captured  Three thousand
combatants had been massacred in that barn  A sergeant of the English
Guards  the foremost boxer in England  reputed invulnerable by his
companions  had been killed there by a little French drummer boy  Baring
had been dislodged  Alten put to the sword  Many flags had been lost 
one from Alten s division  and one from the battalion of Lunenburg 
carried by a prince of the house of Deux Ponts  The Scotch Grays no
longer existed  Ponsonby s great dragoons had been hacked to pieces 
That valiant cavalry had bent beneath the lancers of Bro and beneath
the cuirassiers of Travers  out of twelve hundred horses  six
hundred remained  out of three lieutenant colonels  two lay on the
earth   Hamilton wounded  Mater slain  Ponsonby had fallen  riddled by
seven lance thrusts  Gordon was dead  Marsh was dead  Two divisions  the
fifth and the sixth  had been annihilated 

Hougomont injured  La Haie Sainte taken  there now existed but one
rallying point  the centre  That point still held firm  Wellington
reinforced it  He summoned thither Hill  who was at Merle Braine  he
summoned Chasse  who was at Braine l Alleud 

The centre of the English army  rather concave  very dense  and
very compact  was strongly posted  It occupied the plateau of
Mont Saint Jean  having behind it the village  and in front of it the
slope  which was tolerably steep then  It rested on that stout stone
dwelling which at that time belonged to the domain of Nivelles  and
which marks the intersection of the roads  a pile of the sixteenth
century  and so robust that the cannon balls rebounded from it without
injuring it  All about the plateau the English had cut the hedges here
and there  made embrasures in the hawthorn trees  thrust the throat of
a cannon between two branches  embattled the shrubs  There artillery was
ambushed in the brushwood  This punic labor  incontestably authorized
by war  which permits traps  was so well done  that Haxo  who had been
despatched by the Emperor at nine o clock in the morning to reconnoitre
the enemy s batteries  had discovered nothing of it  and had returned
and reported to Napoleon that there were no obstacles except the two
barricades which barred the road to Nivelles and to Genappe  It was
at the season when the grain is tall  on the edge of the plateau a
battalion of Kempt s brigade  the 95th  armed with carabines  was
concealed in the tall wheat 

Thus assured and buttressed  the centre of the Anglo Dutch army was well
posted  The peril of this position lay in the forest of Soignes 
then adjoining the field of battle  and intersected by the ponds of
Groenendael and Boitsfort  An army could not retreat thither without
dissolving  the regiments would have broken up immediately there 
The artillery would have been lost among the morasses  The retreat 
according to many a man versed in the art   though it is disputed by
others   would have been a disorganized flight 

To this centre  Wellington added one of Chasse s brigades taken from the
right wing  and one of Wincke s brigades taken from the left wing  plus
Clinton s division  To his English  to the regiments of Halkett  to
the brigades of Mitchell  to the guards of Maitland  he gave as
reinforcements and aids  the infantry of Brunswick  Nassau s contingent 
Kielmansegg s Hanoverians  and Ompteda s Germans  This placed twenty six
battalions under his hand  The right wing  as Charras says  was thrown
back on the centre  An enormous battery was masked by sacks of earth at
the spot where there now stands what is called the  Museum of Waterloo  
Besides this  Wellington had  behind a rise in the ground  Somerset s
Dragoon Guards  fourteen hundred horse strong  It was the remaining half
of the justly celebrated English cavalry  Ponsonby destroyed  Somerset
remained 

The battery  which  if completed  would have been almost a redoubt  was
ranged behind a very low garden wall  backed up with a coating of bags
of sand and a large slope of earth  This work was not finished  there
had been no time to make a palisade for it 

Wellington  uneasy but impassive  was on horseback  and there remained
the whole day in the same attitude  a little in advance of the old mill
of Mont Saint Jean  which is still in existence  beneath an elm  which
an Englishman  an enthusiastic vandal  purchased later on for two
hundred francs  cut down  and carried off  Wellington was coldly heroic 
The bullets rained about him  His aide de camp  Gordon  fell at his
side  Lord Hill  pointing to a shell which had burst  said to him   My
lord  what are your orders in case you are killed    To do like me  
replied Wellington  To Clinton he said laconically   To hold this spot
to the last man   The day was evidently turning out ill  Wellington
shouted to his old companions of Talavera  of Vittoria  of Salamanca 
 Boys  can retreat be thought of  Think of old England  

Towards four o clock  the English line drew back  Suddenly nothing
was visible on the crest of the plateau except the artillery and the
sharpshooters  the rest had disappeared  the regiments  dislodged by
the shells and the French bullets  retreated into the bottom  now
intersected by the back road of the farm of Mont Saint Jean  a
retrograde movement took place  the English front hid itself  Wellington
drew back   The beginning of retreat   cried Napoleon 




CHAPTER VII  NAPOLEON IN A GOOD HUMOR

The Emperor  though ill and discommoded on horseback by a local trouble 
had never been in a better humor than on that day  His impenetrability
had been smiling ever since the morning  On the 18th of June  that
profound soul masked by marble beamed blindly  The man who had been
gloomy at Austerlitz was gay at Waterloo  The greatest favorites of
destiny make mistakes  Our joys are composed of shadow  The supreme
smile is God s alone 

Ridet Caesar  Pompeius flebit  said the legionaries of the Fulminatrix
Legion  Pompey was not destined to weep on that occasion  but it is
certain that Caesar laughed  While exploring on horseback at one o clock
on the preceding night  in storm and rain  in company with Bertrand  the
communes in the neighborhood of Rossomme  satisfied at the sight of the
long line of the English camp fires illuminating the whole horizon from
Frischemont to Braine l Alleud  it had seemed to him that fate  to
whom he had assigned a day on the field of Waterloo  was exact to
the appointment  he stopped his horse  and remained for some time
motionless  gazing at the lightning and listening to the thunder 
and this fatalist was heard to cast into the darkness this mysterious
saying   We are in accord   Napoleon was mistaken  They were no longer
in accord 

He took not a moment for sleep  every instant of that night was marked
by a joy for him  He traversed the line of the principal outposts 
halting here and there to talk to the sentinels  At half past two  near
the wood of Hougomont  he heard the tread of a column on the march  he
thought at the moment that it was a retreat on the part of Wellington 
He said   It is the rear guard of the English getting under way for the
purpose of decamping  I will take prisoners the six thousand English who
have just arrived at Ostend   He conversed expansively  he regained the
animation which he had shown at his landing on the first of March  when
he pointed out to the Grand Marshal the enthusiastic peasant of the Gulf
Juan  and cried   Well  Bertrand  here is a reinforcement already   On
the night of the 17th to the 18th of June he rallied Wellington   That
little Englishman needs a lesson   said Napoleon  The rain redoubled in
violence  the thunder rolled while the Emperor was speaking 

At half past three o clock in the morning  he lost one illusion 
officers who had been despatched to reconnoitre announced to him that
the enemy was not making any movement  Nothing was stirring  not a
bivouac fire had been extinguished  the English army was asleep  The
silence on earth was profound  the only noise was in the heavens 
At four o clock  a peasant was brought in to him by the scouts  this
peasant had served as guide to a brigade of English cavalry  probably
Vivian s brigade  which was on its way to take up a position in the
village of Ohain  at the extreme left  At five o clock  two Belgian
deserters reported to him that they had just quitted their regiment 
and that the English army was ready for battle   So much the better  
exclaimed Napoleon   I prefer to overthrow them rather than to drive
them back  

In the morning he dismounted in the mud on the slope which forms an
angle with the Plancenoit road  had a kitchen table and a peasant s
chair brought to him from the farm of Rossomme  seated himself  with a
truss of straw for a carpet  and spread out on the table the chart
of the battle field  saying to Soult as he did so   A pretty
checker board  

In consequence of the rains during the night  the transports of
provisions  embedded in the soft roads  had not been able to arrive by
morning  the soldiers had had no sleep  they were wet and fasting  This
did not prevent Napoleon from exclaiming cheerfully to Ney   We have
ninety chances out of a hundred   At eight o clock the Emperor s
breakfast was brought to him  He invited many generals to it  During
breakfast  it was said that Wellington had been to a ball two nights
before  in Brussels  at the Duchess of Richmond s  and Soult  a rough
man of war  with a face of an archbishop  said   The ball takes place
to day   The Emperor jested with Ney  who said   Wellington will not be
so simple as to wait for Your Majesty   That was his way  however   He
was fond of jesting   says Fleury de Chaboulon   A merry humor was
at the foundation of his character   says Gourgaud   He abounded in
pleasantries  which were more peculiar than witty   says Benjamin
Constant  These gayeties of a giant are worthy of insistence  It was
he who called his grenadiers  his grumblers   he pinched their ears  he
pulled their mustaches   The Emperor did nothing but play pranks on us  
is the remark of one of them  During the mysterious trip from the island
of Elba to France  on the 27th of February  on the open sea  the French
brig of war  Le Zephyr  having encountered the brig L Inconstant  on
which Napoleon was concealed  and having asked the news of Napoleon
from L Inconstant  the Emperor  who still wore in his hat the white and
amaranthine cockade sown with bees  which he had adopted at the isle of
Elba  laughingly seized the speaking trumpet  and answered for himself 
 The Emperor is well   A man who laughs like that is on familiar terms
with events  Napoleon indulged in many fits of this laughter during the
breakfast at Waterloo  After breakfast he meditated for a quarter of an
hour  then two generals seated themselves on the truss of straw  pen in
hand and their paper on their knees  and the Emperor dictated to them
the order of battle 

At nine o clock  at the instant when the French army  ranged in echelons
and set in motion in five columns  had deployed  the divisions in two
lines  the artillery between the brigades  the music at their head  as
they beat the march  with rolls on the drums and the blasts of trumpets 
mighty  vast  joyous  a sea of casques  of sabres  and of bayonets on
the horizon  the Emperor was touched  and twice exclaimed   Magnificent 
Magnificent  

Between nine o clock and half past ten the whole army  incredible as it
may appear  had taken up its position and ranged itself in six lines 
forming  to repeat the Emperor s expression   the figure of six V s  
A few moments after the formation of the battle array  in the midst of
that profound silence  like that which heralds the beginning of a storm 
which precedes engagements  the Emperor tapped Haxo on the shoulder  as
he beheld the three batteries of twelve pounders  detached by his orders
from the corps of Erlon  Reille  and Lobau  and destined to begin the
action by taking Mont Saint Jean  which was situated at the intersection
of the Nivelles and the Genappe roads  and said to him   There are four
and twenty handsome maids  General  

Sure of the issue  he encouraged with a smile  as they passed before
him  the company of sappers of the first corps  which he had appointed
to barricade Mont Saint Jean as soon as the village should be carried 
All this serenity had been traversed by but a single word of haughty
pity  perceiving on his left  at a spot where there now stands a large
tomb  those admirable Scotch Grays  with their superb horses  massing
themselves  he said   It is a pity  

Then he mounted his horse  advanced beyond Rossomme  and selected for
his post of observation a contracted elevation of turf to the right of
the road from Genappe to Brussels  which was his second station during
the battle  The third station  the one adopted at seven o clock in the
evening  between La Belle Alliance and La Haie Sainte  is formidable 
it is a rather elevated knoll  which still exists  and behind which the
guard was massed on a slope of the plain  Around this knoll the balls
rebounded from the pavements of the road  up to Napoleon himself  As at
Brienne  he had over his head the shriek of the bullets and of the
heavy artillery  Mouldy cannon balls  old sword blades  and shapeless
projectiles  eaten up with rust  were picked up at the spot where his
horse  feet stood  Scabra rubigine  A few years ago  a shell of sixty
pounds  still charged  and with its fuse broken off level with the bomb 
was unearthed  It was at this last post that the Emperor said to his
guide  Lacoste  a hostile and terrified peasant  who was attached to the
saddle of a hussar  and who turned round at every discharge of canister
and tried to hide behind Napoleon   Fool  it is shameful  You ll get
yourself killed with a ball in the back   He who writes these lines has
himself found  in the friable soil of this knoll  on turning over
the sand  the remains of the neck of a bomb  disintegrated  by the
oxidization of six and forty years  and old fragments of iron which
parted like elder twigs between the fingers 

Every one is aware that the variously inclined undulations of the
plains  where the engagement between Napoleon and Wellington took place 
are no longer what they were on June 18  1815  By taking from this
mournful field the wherewithal to make a monument to it  its real relief
has been taken away  and history  disconcerted  no longer finds her
bearings there  It has been disfigured for the sake of glorifying
it  Wellington  when he beheld Waterloo once more  two years later 
exclaimed   They have altered my field of battle   Where the great
pyramid of earth  surmounted by the lion  rises to day  there was a
hillock which descended in an easy slope towards the Nivelles road  but
which was almost an escarpment on the side of the highway to Genappe 
The elevation of this escarpment can still be measured by the height of
the two knolls of the two great sepulchres which enclose the road from
Genappe to Brussels  one  the English tomb  is on the left  the other 
the German tomb  is on the right  There is no French tomb  The whole
of that plain is a sepulchre for France  Thanks to the thousands upon
thousands of cartloads of earth employed in the hillock one hundred and
fifty feet in height and half a mile in circumference  the plateau
of Mont Saint Jean is now accessible by an easy slope  On the day of
battle  particularly on the side of La Haie Sainte  it was abrupt and
difficult of approach  The slope there is so steep that the English
cannon could not see the farm  situated in the bottom of the valley 
which was the centre of the combat  On the 18th of June  1815  the rains
had still farther increased this acclivity  the mud complicated the
problem of the ascent  and the men not only slipped back  but stuck fast
in the mire  Along the crest of the plateau ran a sort of trench whose
presence it was impossible for the distant observer to divine 

What was this trench  Let us explain  Braine l Alleud is a Belgian
village  Ohain is another  These villages  both of them concealed in
curves of the landscape  are connected by a road about a league and a
half in length  which traverses the plain along its undulating level 
and often enters and buries itself in the hills like a furrow  which
makes a ravine of this road in some places  In 1815  as at the present
day  this road cut the crest of the plateau of Mont Saint Jean between
the two highways from Genappe and Nivelles  only  it is now on a level
with the plain  it was then a hollow way  Its two slopes have been
appropriated for the monumental hillock  This road was  and still is 
a trench throughout the greater portion of its course  a hollow trench 
sometimes a dozen feet in depth  and whose banks  being too steep 
crumbled away here and there  particularly in winter  under driving
rains  Accidents happened here  The road was so narrow at the
Braine l Alleud entrance that a passer by was crushed by a cart  as is
proved by a stone cross which stands near the cemetery  and which gives
the name of the dead  Monsieur Bernard Debrye  Merchant of Brussels 
and the date of the accident  February  1637  8  It was so deep on
the table land of Mont Saint Jean that a peasant  Mathieu Nicaise 
was crushed there  in 1783  by a slide from the slope  as is stated on
another stone cross  the top of which has disappeared in the process of
clearing the ground  but whose overturned pedestal is still visible on
the grassy slope to the left of the highway between La Haie Sainte and
the farm of Mont Saint Jean 

On the day of battle  this hollow road whose existence was in no way
indicated  bordering the crest of Mont Saint Jean  a trench at the
summit of the escarpment  a rut concealed in the soil  was invisible 
that is to say  terrible 




CHAPTER VIII  THE EMPEROR PUTS A QUESTION TO THE GUIDE LACOSTE

So  on the morning of Waterloo  Napoleon was content 

He was right  the plan of battle conceived by him was  as we have seen 
really admirable 

The battle once begun  its very various changes   the resistance of
Hougomont  the tenacity of La Haie Sainte  the killing of Bauduin  the
disabling of Foy  the unexpected wall against which Soye s brigade was
shattered  Guilleminot s fatal heedlessness when he had neither petard
nor powder sacks  the miring of the batteries  the fifteen unescorted
pieces overwhelmed in a hollow way by Uxbridge  the small effect of the
bombs falling in the English lines  and there embedding themselves in
the rain soaked soil  and only succeeding in producing volcanoes of mud 
so that the canister was turned into a splash  the uselessness of Pire s
demonstration on Braine l Alleud  all that cavalry  fifteen squadrons 
almost exterminated  the right wing of the English badly alarmed  the
left wing badly cut into  Ney s strange mistake in massing  instead of
echelonning the four divisions of the first corps  men delivered over to
grape shot  arranged in ranks twenty seven deep and with a frontage
of two hundred  the frightful holes made in these masses by the
cannon balls  attacking columns disorganized  the side battery suddenly
unmasked on their flank  Bourgeois  Donzelot  and Durutte compromised 
Quiot repulsed  Lieutenant Vieux  that Hercules graduated at the
Polytechnic School  wounded at the moment when he was beating in with an
axe the door of La Haie Sainte under the downright fire of the English
barricade which barred the angle of the road from Genappe to Brussels 
Marcognet s division caught between the infantry and the cavalry  shot
down at the very muzzle of the guns amid the grain by Best and Pack  put
to the sword by Ponsonby  his battery of seven pieces spiked  the Prince
of Saxe Weimar holding and guarding  in spite of the Comte d Erlon  both
Frischemont and Smohain  the flag of the 105th taken  the flag of the
45th captured  that black Prussian hussar stopped by runners of the
flying column of three hundred light cavalry on the scout between Wavre
and Plancenoit  the alarming things that had been said by prisoners 
Grouchy s delay  fifteen hundred men killed in the orchard of Hougomont
in less than an hour  eighteen hundred men overthrown in a still shorter
time about La Haie Sainte   all these stormy incidents passing like the
clouds of battle before Napoleon  had hardly troubled his gaze and
had not overshadowed that face of imperial certainty  Napoleon was
accustomed to gaze steadily at war  he never added up the heart rending
details  cipher by cipher  ciphers mattered little to him  provided that
they furnished the total  victory  he was not alarmed if the beginnings
did go astray  since he thought himself the master and the possessor
at the end  he knew how to wait  supposing himself to be out of the
question  and he treated destiny as his equal  he seemed to say to fate 
Thou wilt not dare 

Composed half of light and half of shadow  Napoleon thought himself
protected in good and tolerated in evil  He had  or thought that he had 
a connivance  one might almost say a complicity  of events in his favor 
which was equivalent to the invulnerability of antiquity 

Nevertheless  when one has Beresina  Leipzig  and Fontainebleau behind
one  it seems as though one might distrust Waterloo  A mysterious frown
becomes perceptible in the depths of the heavens 

At the moment when Wellington retreated  Napoleon shuddered  He suddenly
beheld the table land of Mont Saint Jean cleared  and the van of the
English army disappear  It was rallying  but hiding itself  The Emperor
half rose in his stirrups  The lightning of victory flashed from his
eyes 

Wellington  driven into a corner at the forest of Soignes and
destroyed  that was the definitive conquest of England by France  it was
Crecy  Poitiers  Malplaquet  and Ramillies avenged  The man of Marengo
was wiping out Agincourt 

So the Emperor  meditating on this terrible turn of fortune  swept his
glass for the last time over all the points of the field of battle  His
guard  standing behind him with grounded arms  watched him from below
with a sort of religion  He pondered  he examined the slopes  noted the
declivities  scrutinized the clumps of trees  the square of rye  the
path  he seemed to be counting each bush  He gazed with some intentness
at the English barricades of the two highways   two large abatis of
trees  that on the road to Genappe above La Haie Sainte  armed with two
cannon  the only ones out of all the English artillery which commanded
the extremity of the field of battle  and that on the road to Nivelles
where gleamed the Dutch bayonets of Chasse s brigade  Near this
barricade he observed the old chapel of Saint Nicholas  painted white 
which stands at the angle of the cross road near Braine l Alleud  he
bent down and spoke in a low voice to the guide Lacoste  The guide made
a negative sign with his head  which was probably perfidious 

The Emperor straightened himself up and fell to thinking 

Wellington had drawn back 

All that remained to do was to complete this retreat by crushing him 

Napoleon turning round abruptly  despatched an express at full speed to
Paris to announce that the battle was won 

Napoleon was one of those geniuses from whom thunder darts 

He had just found his clap of thunder 

He gave orders to Milhaud s cuirassiers to carry the table land of
Mont Saint Jean 




CHAPTER IX  THE UNEXPECTED

There were three thousand five hundred of them  They formed a front a
quarter of a league in extent  They were giant men  on colossal horses 
There were six and twenty squadrons of them  and they had behind them to
support them Lefebvre Desnouettes s division   the one hundred and six
picked gendarmes  the light cavalry of the Guard  eleven hundred and
ninety seven men  and the lancers of the guard of eight hundred and
eighty lances  They wore casques without horse tails  and cuirasses
of beaten iron  with horse pistols in their holsters  and long
sabre swords  That morning the whole army had admired them  when  at
nine o clock  with braying of trumpets and all the music playing  Let us
watch o er the Safety of the Empire   they had come in a solid column 
with one of their batteries on their flank  another in their centre  and
deployed in two ranks between the roads to Genappe and Frischemont 
and taken up their position for battle in that powerful second line 
so cleverly arranged by Napoleon  which  having on its extreme left
Kellermann s cuirassiers and on its extreme right Milhaud s cuirassiers 
had  so to speak  two wings of iron 

Aide de camp Bernard carried them the Emperor s orders  Ney drew his
sword and placed himself at their head  The enormous squadrons were set
in motion 

Then a formidable spectacle was seen 

All their cavalry  with upraised swords  standards and trumpets flung to
the breeze  formed in columns by divisions  descended  by a simultaneous
movement and like one man  with the precision of a brazen battering ram
which is effecting a breach  the hill of La Belle Alliance  plunged into
the terrible depths in which so many men had already fallen  disappeared
there in the smoke  then emerging from that shadow  reappeared on the
other side of the valley  still compact and in close ranks  mounting at
a full trot  through a storm of grape shot which burst upon them 
the terrible muddy slope of the table land of Mont Saint Jean  They
ascended  grave  threatening  imperturbable  in the intervals between
the musketry and the artillery  their colossal trampling was audible 
Being two divisions  there were two columns of them  Wathier s division
held the right  Delort s division was on the left  It seemed as though
two immense adders of steel were to be seen crawling towards the crest
of the table land  It traversed the battle like a prodigy 

Nothing like it had been seen since the taking of the great redoubt of
the Muskowa by the heavy cavalry  Murat was lacking here  but Ney was
again present  It seemed as though that mass had become a monster and
had but one soul  Each column undulated and swelled like the ring of a
polyp  They could be seen through a vast cloud of smoke which was rent
here and there  A confusion of helmets  of cries  of sabres  a stormy
heaving of the cruppers of horses amid the cannons and the flourish of
trumpets  a terrible and disciplined tumult  over all  the cuirasses
like the scales on the hydra 

These narrations seemed to belong to another age  Something parallel to
this vision appeared  no doubt  in the ancient Orphic epics  which told
of the centaurs  the old hippanthropes  those Titans with human
heads and equestrian chests who scaled Olympus at a gallop  horrible 
invulnerable  sublime  gods and beasts 

Odd numerical coincidence   twenty six battalions rode to meet
twenty six battalions  Behind the crest of the plateau  in the shadow of
the masked battery  the English infantry  formed into thirteen squares 
two battalions to the square  in two lines  with seven in the first
line  six in the second  the stocks of their guns to their shoulders 
taking aim at that which was on the point of appearing  waited  calm 
mute  motionless  They did not see the cuirassiers  and the cuirassiers
did not see them  They listened to the rise of this flood of men  They
heard the swelling noise of three thousand horse  the alternate and
symmetrical tramp of their hoofs at full trot  the jingling of the
cuirasses  the clang of the sabres and a sort of grand and savage
breathing  There ensued a most terrible silence  then  all at once 
a long file of uplifted arms  brandishing sabres  appeared above the
crest  and casques  trumpets  and standards  and three thousand heads
with gray mustaches  shouting   Vive l Empereur   All this cavalry
debouched on the plateau  and it was like the appearance of an
earthquake 

All at once  a tragic incident  on the English left  on our right  the
head of the column of cuirassiers reared up with a frightful clamor  On
arriving at the culminating point of the crest  ungovernable  utterly
given over to fury and their course of extermination of the squares and
cannon  the cuirassiers had just caught sight of a trench   a trench
between them and the English  It was the hollow road of Ohain 

It was a terrible moment  The ravine was there  unexpected  yawning 
directly under the horses  feet  two fathoms deep between its double
slopes  the second file pushed the first into it  and the third pushed
on the second  the horses reared and fell backward  landed on their
haunches  slid down  all four feet in the air  crushing and overwhelming
the riders  and there being no means of retreat   the whole column being
no longer anything more than a projectile   the force which had been
acquired to crush the English crushed the French  the inexorable ravine
could only yield when filled  horses and riders rolled there pell mell 
grinding each other  forming but one mass of flesh in this gulf  when
this trench was full of living men  the rest marched over them and
passed on  Almost a third of Dubois s brigade fell into that abyss 

This began the loss of the battle 

A local tradition  which evidently exaggerates matters  says that two
thousand horses and fifteen hundred men were buried in the hollow road
of Ohain  This figure probably comprises all the other corpses which
were flung into this ravine the day after the combat 

Let us note in passing that it was Dubois s sorely tried brigade which 
an hour previously  making a charge to one side  had captured the flag
of the Lunenburg battalion 

Napoleon  before giving the order for this charge of Milhaud s
cuirassiers  had scrutinized the ground  but had not been able to see
that hollow road  which did not even form a wrinkle on the surface of
the plateau  Warned  nevertheless  and put on the alert by the little
white chapel which marks its angle of junction with the Nivelles
highway  he had probably put a question as to the possibility of an
obstacle  to the guide Lacoste  The guide had answered No  We might
almost affirm that Napoleon s catastrophe originated in that sign of a
peasant s head 

Other fatalities were destined to arise 

Was it possible that Napoleon should have won that battle  We answer No 
Why  Because of Wellington  Because of Blucher  No  Because of God 

Bonaparte victor at Waterloo  that does not come within the law of the
nineteenth century  Another series of facts was in preparation  in which
there was no longer any room for Napoleon  The ill will of events had
declared itself long before 

It was time that this vast man should fall 

The excessive weight of this man in human destiny disturbed the balance 
This individual alone counted for more than a universal group  These
plethoras of all human vitality concentrated in a single head  the world
mounting to the brain of one man   this would be mortal to civilization
were it to last  The moment had arrived for the incorruptible and
supreme equity to alter its plan  Probably the principles and the
elements  on which the regular gravitations of the moral  as of the
material  world depend  had complained  Smoking blood  over filled
cemeteries  mothers in tears   these are formidable pleaders  When
the earth is suffering from too heavy a burden  there are mysterious
groanings of the shades  to which the abyss lends an ear 

Napoleon had been denounced in the infinite and his fall had been
decided on 

He embarrassed God 

Waterloo is not a battle  it is a change of front on the part of the
Universe 




CHAPTER X  THE PLATEAU OF MONT SAINT JEAN

The battery was unmasked at the same moment with the ravine 

Sixty cannons and the thirteen squares darted lightning point blank on
the cuirassiers  The intrepid General Delort made the military salute to
the English battery 

The whole of the flying artillery of the English had re entered the
squares at a gallop  The cuirassiers had not had even the time for a
halt  The disaster of the hollow road had decimated  but not discouraged
them  They belonged to that class of men who  when diminished in number 
increase in courage 

Wathier s column alone had suffered in the disaster  Delort s column 
which Ney had deflected to the left  as though he had a presentiment of
an ambush  had arrived whole 

The cuirassiers hurled themselves on the English squares 

At full speed  with bridles loose  swords in their teeth pistols in
fist   such was the attack 

There are moments in battles in which the soul hardens the man until
the soldier is changed into a statue  and when all this flesh turns into
granite  The English battalions  desperately assaulted  did not stir 

Then it was terrible 

All the faces of the English squares were attacked at once  A frenzied
whirl enveloped them  That cold infantry remained impassive  The first
rank knelt and received the cuirassiers on their bayonets  the second
ranks shot them down  behind the second rank the cannoneers charged
their guns  the front of the square parted  permitted the passage of
an eruption of grape shot  and closed again  The cuirassiers replied
by crushing them  Their great horses reared  strode across the ranks 
leaped over the bayonets and fell  gigantic  in the midst of these four
living wells  The cannon balls ploughed furrows in these cuirassiers 
the cuirassiers made breaches in the squares  Files of men disappeared 
ground to dust under the horses  The bayonets plunged into the bellies
of these centaurs  hence a hideousness of wounds which has probably
never been seen anywhere else  The squares  wasted by this mad cavalry 
closed up their ranks without flinching  Inexhaustible in the matter of
grape shot  they created explosions in their assailants  midst  The form
of this combat was monstrous  These squares were no longer battalions 
they were craters  those cuirassiers were no longer cavalry  they were
a tempest  Each square was a volcano attacked by a cloud  lava contended
with lightning 

The square on the extreme right  the most exposed of all  being in the
air  was almost annihilated at the very first shock  lt was formed
of the 75th regiment of Highlanders  The bagpipe player in the centre
dropped his melancholy eyes  filled with the reflections of the
forests and the lakes  in profound inattention  while men were being
exterminated around him  and seated on a drum  with his pibroch under
his arm  played the Highland airs  These Scotchmen died thinking of Ben
Lothian  as did the Greeks recalling Argos  The sword of a cuirassier 
which hewed down the bagpipes and the arm which bore it  put an end to
the song by killing the singer 

The cuirassiers  relatively few in number  and still further diminished
by the catastrophe of the ravine  had almost the whole English army
against them  but they multiplied themselves so that each man of them
was equal to ten  Nevertheless  some Hanoverian battalions yielded 
Wellington perceived it  and thought of his cavalry  Had Napoleon at
that same moment thought of his infantry  he would have won the battle 
This forgetfulness was his great and fatal mistake 

All at once  the cuirassiers  who had been the assailants  found
themselves assailed  The English cavalry was at their back  Before
them two squares  behind them Somerset  Somerset meant fourteen hundred
dragoons of the guard  On the right  Somerset had Dornberg with the
German light horse  and on his left  Trip with the Belgian carabineers 
the cuirassiers attacked on the flank and in front  before and in the
rear  by infantry and cavalry  had to face all sides  What mattered it
to them  They were a whirlwind  Their valor was something indescribable 

In addition to this  they had behind them the battery  which was still
thundering  It was necessary that it should be so  or they could never
have been wounded in the back  One of their cuirasses  pierced on the
shoulder by a ball from a biscayan  9  is in the collection of the
Waterloo Museum 

For such Frenchmen nothing less than such Englishmen was needed  It
was no longer a hand to hand conflict  it was a shadow  a fury  a dizzy
transport of souls and courage  a hurricane of lightning swords  In an
instant the fourteen hundred dragoon guards numbered only eight hundred 
Fuller  their lieutenant colonel  fell dead  Ney rushed up with
the lancers and Lefebvre Desnouettes s light horse  The plateau
of Mont Saint Jean was captured  recaptured  captured again  The
cuirassiers quitted the cavalry to return to the infantry  or  to put
it more exactly  the whole of that formidable rout collared each other
without releasing the other  The squares still held firm 

There were a dozen assaults  Ney had four horses killed under him  Half
the cuirassiers remained on the plateau  This conflict lasted two hours 

The English army was profoundly shaken  There is no doubt that  had they
not been enfeebled in their first shock by the disaster of the hollow
road the cuirassiers would have overwhelmed the centre and decided the
victory  This extraordinary cavalry petrified Clinton  who had seen
Talavera and Badajoz  Wellington  three quarters vanquished  admired
heroically  He said in an undertone   Sublime  

The cuirassiers annihilated seven squares out of thirteen  took or
spiked sixty pieces of ordnance  and captured from the English regiments
six flags  which three cuirassiers and three chasseurs of the Guard bore
to the Emperor  in front of the farm of La Belle Alliance 

Wellington s situation had grown worse  This strange battle was like a
duel between two raging  wounded men  each of whom  still fighting and
still resisting  is expending all his blood 

Which of the two will be the first to fall 

The conflict on the plateau continued 

What had become of the cuirassiers  No one could have told  One thing
is certain  that on the day after the battle  a cuirassier and his
horse were found dead among the woodwork of the scales for vehicles at
Mont Saint Jean  at the very point where the four roads from Nivelles 
Genappe  La Hulpe  and Brussels meet and intersect each other  This
horseman had pierced the English lines  One of the men who picked up the
body still lives at Mont Saint Jean  His name is Dehaze  He was eighteen
years old at that time 

Wellington felt that he was yielding  The crisis was at hand 

The cuirassiers had not succeeded  since the centre was not broken
through  As every one was in possession of the plateau  no one held it 
and in fact it remained  to a great extent  with the English  Wellington
held the village and the culminating plain  Ney had only the crest and
the slope  They seemed rooted in that fatal soil on both sides 

But the weakening of the English seemed irremediable  The bleeding
of that army was horrible  Kempt  on the left wing  demanded
reinforcements   There are none   replied Wellington   he must let
himself be killed   Almost at that same moment  a singular coincidence
which paints the exhaustion of the two armies  Ney demanded infantry
from Napoleon  and Napoleon exclaimed   Infantry  Where does he expect
me to get it  Does he think I can make it  

Nevertheless  the English army was in the worse case of the two  The
furious onsets of those great squadrons with cuirasses of iron and
breasts of steel had ground the infantry to nothing  A few men clustered
round a flag marked the post of a regiment  such and such a battalion
was commanded only by a captain or a lieutenant  Alten s division 
already so roughly handled at La Haie Sainte  was almost destroyed 
the intrepid Belgians of Van Kluze s brigade strewed the rye fields
all along the Nivelles road  hardly anything was left of those Dutch
grenadiers  who  intermingled with Spaniards in our ranks in 1811 
fought against Wellington  and who  in 1815  rallied to the
English standard  fought against Napoleon  The loss in officers was
considerable  Lord Uxbridge  who had his leg buried on the following
day  had his knee shattered  If  on the French side  in that tussle
of the cuirassiers  Delort  l Heritier  Colbert  Dnop  Travers  and
Blancard were disabled  on the side of the English there was Alten
wounded  Barne wounded  Delancey killed  Van Meeren killed  Ompteda
killed  the whole of Wellington s staff decimated  and England had the
worse of it in that bloody scale  The second regiment of foot guards
had lost five lieutenant colonels  four captains  and three ensigns 
the first battalion of the 30th infantry had lost 24 officers and 1 200
soldiers  the 79th Highlanders had lost 24 officers wounded  18 officers
killed  450 soldiers killed  The Hanoverian hussars of Cumberland  a
whole regiment  with Colonel Hacke at its head  who was destined to be
tried later on and cashiered  had turned bridle in the presence of the
fray  and had fled to the forest of Soignes  sowing defeat all the way
to Brussels  The transports  ammunition wagons  the baggage wagons  the
wagons filled with wounded  on perceiving that the French were gaining
ground and approaching the forest  rushed headlong thither  The Dutch 
mowed down by the French cavalry  cried   Alarm   From Vert Coucou to
Groentendael  for a distance of nearly two leagues in the direction
of Brussels  according to the testimony of eye witnesses who are still
alive  the roads were encumbered with fugitives  This panic was such
that it attacked the Prince de Conde at Mechlin  and Louis XVIII  at
Ghent  With the exception of the feeble reserve echelonned behind the
ambulance established at the farm of Mont Saint Jean  and of Vivian s
and Vandeleur s brigades  which flanked the left wing  Wellington had
no cavalry left  A number of batteries lay unhorsed  These facts are
attested by Siborne  and Pringle  exaggerating the disaster  goes so far
as to say that the Anglo Dutch army was reduced to thirty four thousand
men  The Iron Duke remained calm  but his lips blanched  Vincent  the
Austrian commissioner  Alava  the Spanish commissioner  who were present
at the battle in the English staff  thought the Duke lost  At five
o clock Wellington drew out his watch  and he was heard to murmur these
sinister words   Blucher  or night  

It was at about that moment that a distant line of bayonets gleamed on
the heights in the direction of Frischemont 

Here comes the change of face in this giant drama 




CHAPTER XI  A BAD GUIDE TO NAPOLEON  A GOOD GUIDE TO BULOW

The painful surprise of Napoleon is well known  Grouchy hoped for 
Blucher arriving  Death instead of life 

Fate has these turns  the throne of the world was expected  it was Saint
Helena that was seen 

If the little shepherd who served as guide to Bulow  Blucher s
lieutenant  had advised him to debouch from the forest above
Frischemont  instead of below Plancenoit  the form of the nineteenth
century might  perhaps  have been different  Napoleon would have won the
battle of Waterloo  By any other route than that below Plancenoit 
the Prussian army would have come out upon a ravine impassable for
artillery  and Bulow would not have arrived 

Now the Prussian general  Muffling  declares that one hour s delay  and
Blucher would not have found Wellington on his feet   The battle was
lost  

It was time that Bulow should arrive  as will be seen  He had  moreover 
been very much delayed  He had bivouacked at Dion le Mont  and had set
out at daybreak  but the roads were impassable  and his divisions stuck
fast in the mire  The ruts were up to the hubs of the cannons  Moreover 
he had been obliged to pass the Dyle on the narrow bridge of Wavre 
the street leading to the bridge had been fired by the French  so
the caissons and ammunition wagons could not pass between two rows of
burning houses  and had been obliged to wait until the conflagration was
extinguished  It was mid day before Bulow s vanguard had been able to
reach Chapelle Saint Lambert 

Had the action been begun two hours earlier  it would have been over
at four o clock  and Blucher would have fallen on the battle won by
Napoleon  Such are these immense risks proportioned to an infinite which
we cannot comprehend 

The Emperor had been the first  as early as mid day  to descry with his
field glass  on the extreme horizon  something which had attracted his
attention  He had said   I see yonder a cloud  which seems to me to be
troops   Then he asked the Duc de Dalmatie   Soult  what do you see in
the direction of Chapelle Saint Lambert   The marshal  levelling his
glass  answered   Four or five thousand men  Sire  evidently Grouchy  
But it remained motionless in the mist  All the glasses of the staff
had studied  the cloud  pointed out by the Emperor  Some said   It is
trees   The truth is  that the cloud did not move  The Emperor detached
Domon s division of light cavalry to reconnoitre in that quarter 

Bulow had not moved  in fact  His vanguard was very feeble  and could
accomplish nothing  He was obliged to wait for the body of the army
corps  and he had received orders to concentrate his forces before
entering into line  but at five o clock  perceiving Wellington s peril 
Blucher ordered Bulow to attack  and uttered these remarkable words   We
must give air to the English army  

A little later  the divisions of Losthin  Hiller  Hacke  and Ryssel
deployed before Lobau s corps  the cavalry of Prince William of Prussia
debouched from the forest of Paris  Plancenoit was in flames  and the
Prussian cannon balls began to rain even upon the ranks of the guard in
reserve behind Napoleon 




CHAPTER XII  THE GUARD

Every one knows the rest   the irruption of a third army  the battle
broken to pieces  eighty six mouths of fire thundering simultaneously 
Pirch the first coming up with Bulow  Zieten s cavalry led by Blucher
in person  the French driven back  Marcognet swept from the plateau of
Ohain  Durutte dislodged from Papelotte  Donzelot and Quiot retreating 
Lobau caught on the flank  a fresh battle precipitating itself on our
dismantled regiments at nightfall  the whole English line resuming the
offensive and thrust forward  the gigantic breach made in the French
army  the English grape shot and the Prussian grape shot aiding each
other  the extermination  disaster in front  disaster on the flank  the
Guard entering the line in the midst of this terrible crumbling of all
things 

Conscious that they were about to die  they shouted   Vive l Empereur  
History records nothing more touching than that agony bursting forth in
acclamations 

The sky had been overcast all day long  All of a sudden  at that very
moment   it was eight o clock in the evening  the clouds on the horizon
parted  and allowed the grand and sinister glow of the setting sun to
pass through  athwart the elms on the Nivelles road  They had seen it
rise at Austerlitz 

Each battalion of the Guard was commanded by a general for this final
catastrophe  Friant  Michel  Roguet  Harlet  Mallet  Poret de Morvan 
were there  When the tall caps of the grenadiers of the Guard  with
their large plaques bearing the eagle appeared  symmetrical  in line 
tranquil  in the midst of that combat  the enemy felt a respect for
France  they thought they beheld twenty victories entering the field
of battle  with wings outspread  and those who were the conquerors 
believing themselves to be vanquished  retreated  but Wellington
shouted   Up  Guards  and aim straight   The red regiment of English
guards  lying flat behind the hedges  sprang up  a cloud of grape shot
riddled the tricolored flag and whistled round our eagles  all hurled
themselves forwards  and the final carnage began  In the darkness  the
Imperial Guard felt the army losing ground around it  and in the vast
shock of the rout it heard the desperate flight which had taken the
place of the  Vive l Empereur   and  with flight behind it  it continued
to advance  more crushed  losing more men at every step that it took 
There were none who hesitated  no timid men in its ranks  The soldier in
that troop was as much of a hero as the general  Not a man was missing
in that suicide 

Ney  bewildered  great with all the grandeur of accepted death  offered
himself to all blows in that tempest  He had his fifth horse killed
under him there  Perspiring  his eyes aflame  foaming at the mouth  with
uniform unbuttoned  one of his epaulets half cut off by a sword stroke
from a horseguard  his plaque with the great eagle dented by a bullet 
bleeding  bemired  magnificent  a broken sword in his hand  he said 
 Come and see how a Marshal of France dies on the field of battle   But
in vain  he did not die  He was haggard and angry  At Drouet d Erlon he
hurled this question   Are you not going to get yourself killed   In
the midst of all that artillery engaged in crushing a handful of men 
he shouted   So there is nothing for me  Oh  I should like to have all
these English bullets enter my bowels   Unhappy man  thou wert reserved
for French bullets 




CHAPTER XIII  THE CATASTROPHE

The rout behind the Guard was melancholy 

The army yielded suddenly on all sides at once   Hougomont  La
Haie Sainte  Papelotte  Plancenoit  The cry  Treachery   was followed by
a cry of  Save yourselves who can   An army which is disbanding is
like a thaw  All yields  splits  cracks  floats  rolls  falls  jostles 
hastens  is precipitated  The disintegration is unprecedented  Ney
borrows a horse  leaps upon it  and without hat  cravat  or sword 
places himself across the Brussels road  stopping both English and
French  He strives to detain the army  he recalls it to its duty  he
insults it  he clings to the rout  He is overwhelmed  The soldiers fly
from him  shouting   Long live Marshal Ney   Two of Durutte s regiments
go and come in affright as though tossed back and forth between the
swords of the Uhlans and the fusillade of the brigades of Kempt  Best 
Pack  and Rylandt  the worst of hand to hand conflicts is the defeat 
friends kill each other in order to escape  squadrons and battalions
break and disperse against each other  like the tremendous foam of
battle  Lobau at one extremity  and Reille at the other  are drawn into
the tide  In vain does Napoleon erect walls from what is left to him of
his Guard  in vain does he expend in a last effort his last serviceable
squadrons  Quiot retreats before Vivian  Kellermann before Vandeleur 
Lobau before Bulow  Morand before Pirch  Domon and Subervic before
Prince William of Prussia  Guyot  who led the Emperor s squadrons to the
charge  falls beneath the feet of the English dragoons  Napoleon gallops
past the line of fugitives  harangues  urges  threatens  entreats
them  All the mouths which in the morning had shouted   Long live
the Emperor   remain gaping  they hardly recognize him  The Prussian
cavalry  newly arrived  dashes forwards  flies  hews  slashes  kills 
exterminates  Horses lash out  the cannons flee  the soldiers of the
artillery train unharness the caissons and use the horses to make their
escape  transports overturned  with all four wheels in the air  clog the
road and occasion massacres  Men are crushed  trampled down  others walk
over the dead and the living  Arms are lost  A dizzy multitude fills the
roads  the paths  the bridges  the plains  the hills  the valleys 
the woods  encumbered by this invasion of forty thousand men  Shouts
despair  knapsacks and guns flung among the rye  passages forced at
the point of the sword  no more comrades  no more officers  no more
generals  an inexpressible terror  Zieten putting France to the sword at
its leisure  Lions converted into goats  Such was the flight 

At Genappe  an effort was made to wheel about  to present a battle
front  to draw up in line  Lobau rallied three hundred men  The entrance
to the village was barricaded  but at the first volley of Prussian
canister  all took to flight again  and Lobau was taken  That volley of
grape shot can be seen to day imprinted on the ancient gable of a brick
building on the right of the road at a few minutes  distance before you
enter Genappe  The Prussians threw themselves into Genappe  furious  no
doubt  that they were not more entirely the conquerors  The pursuit was
stupendous  Blucher ordered extermination  Roguet had set the lugubrious
example of threatening with death any French grenadier who should bring
him a Prussian prisoner  Blucher outdid Roguet  Duhesme  the general
of the Young Guard  hemmed in at the doorway of an inn at Genappe 
surrendered his sword to a huzzar of death  who took the sword and slew
the prisoner  The victory was completed by the assassination of the
vanquished  Let us inflict punishment  since we are history  old
Blucher disgraced himself  This ferocity put the finishing touch to the
disaster  The desperate route traversed Genappe  traversed Quatre Bras 
traversed Gosselies  traversed Frasnes  traversed Charleroi  traversed
Thuin  and only halted at the frontier  Alas  and who  then  was fleeing
in that manner  The Grand Army 

This vertigo  this terror  this downfall into ruin of the loftiest
bravery which ever astounded history   is that causeless  No  The shadow
of an enormous right is projected athwart Waterloo  It is the day of
destiny  The force which is mightier than man produced that day  Hence
the terrified wrinkle of those brows  hence all those great souls
surrendering their swords  Those who had conquered Europe have fallen
prone on the earth  with nothing left to say nor to do  feeling the
present shadow of a terrible presence  Hoc erat in fatis  That day the
perspective of the human race underwent a change  Waterloo is the
hinge of the nineteenth century  The disappearance of the great man was
necessary to the advent of the great century  Some one  a person to whom
one replies not  took the responsibility on himself  The panic of heroes
can be explained  In the battle of Waterloo there is something more than
a cloud  there is something of the meteor  God has passed by 

At nightfall  in a meadow near Genappe  Bernard and Bertrand seized by
the skirt of his coat and detained a man  haggard  pensive  sinister 
gloomy  who  dragged to that point by the current of the rout  had just
dismounted  had passed the bridle of his horse over his arm  and with
wild eye was returning alone to Waterloo  It was Napoleon  the immense
somnambulist of this dream which had crumbled  essaying once more to
advance 




CHAPTER XIV  THE LAST SQUARE

Several squares of the Guard  motionless amid this stream of the defeat 
as rocks in running water  held their own until night  Night came 
death also  they awaited that double shadow  and  invincible  allowed
themselves to be enveloped therein  Each regiment  isolated from the
rest  and having no bond with the army  now shattered in every part 
died alone  They had taken up position for this final action  some on
the heights of Rossomme  others on the plain of Mont Saint Jean  There 
abandoned  vanquished  terrible  those gloomy squares endured their
death throes in formidable fashion  Ulm  Wagram  Jena  Friedland  died
with them 

At twilight  towards nine o clock in the evening  one of them was left
at the foot of the plateau of Mont Saint Jean  In that fatal valley 
at the foot of that declivity which the cuirassiers had ascended  now
inundated by the masses of the English  under the converging fires
of the victorious hostile cavalry  under a frightful density of
projectiles  this square fought on  It was commanded by an obscure
officer named Cambronne  At each discharge  the square diminished and
replied  It replied to the grape shot with a fusillade  continually
contracting its four walls  The fugitives pausing breathless for a
moment in the distance  listened in the darkness to that gloomy and
ever decreasing thunder 

When this legion had been reduced to a handful  when nothing was left
of their flag but a rag  when their guns  the bullets all gone  were no
longer anything but clubs  when the heap of corpses was larger than the
group of survivors  there reigned among the conquerors  around those men
dying so sublimely  a sort of sacred terror  and the English artillery 
taking breath  became silent  This furnished a sort of respite  These
combatants had around them something in the nature of a swarm of
spectres  silhouettes of men on horseback  the black profiles of cannon 
the white sky viewed through wheels and gun carriages  the colossal
death s head  which the heroes saw constantly through the smoke  in the
depths of the battle  advanced upon them and gazed at them  Through the
shades of twilight they could hear the pieces being loaded  the matches
all lighted  like the eyes of tigers at night  formed a circle round
their heads  all the lintstocks of the English batteries approached the
cannons  and then  with emotion  holding the supreme moment suspended
above these men  an English general  Colville according to some 
Maitland according to others  shouted to them   Surrender  brave
Frenchmen   Cambronne replied          

 EDITOR S COMMENTARY  Another edition of this book has the word  Merde  
in lieu of the       above  




CHAPTER XV  CAMBRONNE

If any French reader object to having his susceptibilities offended  one
would have to refrain from repeating in his presence what is perhaps
the finest reply that a Frenchman ever made  This would enjoin us from
consigning something sublime to History 

At our own risk and peril  let us violate this injunction 

Now  then  among those giants there was one Titan   Cambronne 

To make that reply and then perish  what could be grander  For being
willing to die is the same as to die  and it was not this man s fault if
he survived after he was shot 

The winner of the battle of Waterloo was not Napoleon  who was put to
flight  nor Wellington  giving way at four o clock  in despair at five 
nor Blucher  who took no part in the engagement  The winner of Waterloo
was Cambronne 

To thunder forth such a reply at the lightning flash that kills you is
to conquer 

Thus to answer the Catastrophe  thus to speak to Fate  to give this
pedestal to the future lion  to hurl such a challenge to the midnight
rainstorm  to the treacherous wall of Hougomont  to the sunken road of
Ohain  to Grouchy s delay  to Blucher s arrival  to be Irony itself in
the tomb  to act so as to stand upright though fallen  to drown in
two syllables the European coalition  to offer kings privies which
the Caesars once knew  to make the lowest of words the most lofty by
entwining with it the glory of France  insolently to end Waterloo with
Mardigras  to finish Leonidas with Rabellais  to set the crown on this
victory by a word impossible to speak  to lose the field and preserve
history  to have the laugh on your side after such a carnage   this is
immense 

It was an insult such as a thunder cloud might hurl  It reaches the
grandeur of AEschylus 

Cambronne s reply produces the effect of a violent break   Tis like the
breaking of a heart under a weight of scorn   Tis the overflow of agony
bursting forth  Who conquered  Wellington  No  Had it not been for
Blucher  he was lost  Was it Blucher  No  If Wellington had not begun 
Blucher could not have finished  This Cambronne  this man spending his
last hour  this unknown soldier  this infinitesimal of war  realizes
that here is a falsehood  a falsehood in a catastrophe  and so doubly
agonizing  and at the moment when his rage is bursting forth because of
it  he is offered this mockery   life  How could he restrain himself 
Yonder are all the kings of Europe  the general s flushed with victory 
the Jupiter s darting thunderbolts  they have a hundred thousand
victorious soldiers  and back of the hundred thousand a million  their
cannon stand with yawning mouths  the match is lighted  they grind down
under their heels the Imperial guards  and the grand army  they have
just crushed Napoleon  and only Cambronne remains   only this earthworm
is left to protest  He will protest  Then he seeks for the appropriate
word as one seeks for a sword  His mouth froths  and the froth is the
word  In face of this mean and mighty victory  in face of this victory
which counts none victorious  this desperate soldier stands erect  He
grants its overwhelming immensity  but he establishes its triviality 
and he does more than spit upon it  Borne down by numbers  by superior
force  by brute matter  he finds in his soul an expression   Excrement  
We repeat it   to use that word  to do thus  to invent such an
expression  is to be the conqueror 

The spirit of mighty days at that portentous moment made its descent
on that unknown man  Cambronne invents the word for Waterloo as Rouget
invents the  Marseillaise   under the visitation of a breath from on
high  An emanation from the divine whirlwind leaps forth and comes
sweeping over these men  and they shake  and one of them sings the song
supreme  and the other utters the frightful cry 

This challenge of titanic scorn Cambronne hurls not only at Europe in
the name of the Empire   that would be a trifle  he hurls it at the past
in the name of the Revolution  It is heard  and Cambronne is recognized
as possessed by the ancient spirit of the Titans  Danton seems to be
speaking  Kleber seems to be bellowing 

At that word from Cambronne  the English voice responded   Fire  
The batteries flamed  the hill trembled  from all those brazen mouths
belched a last terrible gush of grape shot  a vast volume of smoke 
vaguely white in the light of the rising moon  rolled out  and when the
smoke dispersed  there was no longer anything there  That formidable
remnant had been annihilated  the Guard was dead  The four walls of the
living redoubt lay prone  and hardly was there discernible  here and
there  even a quiver in the bodies  it was thus that the French legions 
greater than the Roman legions  expired on Mont Saint Jean  on the soil
watered with rain and blood  amid the gloomy grain  on the spot where
nowadays Joseph  who drives the post wagon from Nivelles  passes
whistling  and cheerfully whipping up his horse at four o clock in the
morning 




CHAPTER XVI  QUOT LIBRAS IN DUCE 

The battle of Waterloo is an enigma  It is as obscure to those who won
it as to those who lost it  For Napoleon it was a panic  10  Blucher
sees nothing in it but fire  Wellington understands nothing in regard
to it  Look at the reports  The bulletins are confused  the commentaries
involved  Some stammer  others lisp  Jomini divides the battle of
Waterloo into four moments  Muffling cuts it up into three changes 
Charras alone  though we hold another judgment than his on some points 
seized with his haughty glance the characteristic outlines of that
catastrophe of human genius in conflict with divine chance  All the
other historians suffer from being somewhat dazzled  and in this dazzled
state they fumble about  It was a day of lightning brilliancy  in fact 
a crumbling of the military monarchy which  to the vast stupefaction of
kings  drew all the kingdoms after it  the fall of force  the defeat of
war 

In this event  stamped with superhuman necessity  the part played by men
amounts to nothing 

If we take Waterloo from Wellington and Blucher  do we thereby deprive
England and Germany of anything  No  Neither that illustrious England
nor that august Germany enter into the problem of Waterloo  Thank
Heaven  nations are great  independently of the lugubrious feats of
the sword  Neither England  nor Germany  nor France is contained in
a scabbard  At this epoch when Waterloo is only a clashing of swords 
above Blucher  Germany has Schiller  above Wellington  England has
Byron  A vast dawn of ideas is the peculiarity of our century  and in
that aurora England and Germany have a magnificent radiance  They
are majestic because they think  The elevation of level which they
contribute to civilization is intrinsic with them  it proceeds from
themselves and not from an accident  The aggrandizement which they have
brought to the nineteenth century has not Waterloo as its source  It is
only barbarous peoples who undergo rapid growth after a victory  That is
the temporary vanity of torrents swelled by a storm  Civilized people 
especially in our day  are neither elevated nor abased by the good or
bad fortune of a captain  Their specific gravity in the human species
results from something more than a combat  Their honor  thank God  their
dignity  their intelligence  their genius  are not numbers which those
gamblers  heroes and conquerors  can put in the lottery of battles 
Often a battle is lost and progress is conquered  There is less glory
and more liberty  The drum holds its peace  reason takes the word  It is
a game in which he who loses wins  Let us  therefore  speak of Waterloo
coldly from both sides  Let us render to chance that which is due
to chance  and to God that which is due to God  What is Waterloo  A
victory  No  The winning number in the lottery 

The quine  11  won by Europe  paid by France 

It was not worth while to place a lion there 

Waterloo  moreover  is the strangest encounter in history  Napoleon and
Wellington  They are not enemies  they are opposites  Never did God 
who is fond of antitheses  make a more striking contrast  a more
extraordinary comparison  On one side  precision  foresight  geometry 
prudence  an assured retreat  reserves spared  with an obstinate
coolness  an imperturbable method  strategy  which takes advantage
of the ground  tactics  which preserve the equilibrium of battalions 
carnage  executed according to rule  war regulated  watch in hand 
nothing voluntarily left to chance  the ancient classic courage 
absolute regularity  on the other  intuition  divination  military
oddity  superhuman instinct  a flaming glance  an indescribable
something which gazes like an eagle  and which strikes like the
lightning  a prodigious art in disdainful impetuosity  all the mysteries
of a profound soul  associated with destiny  the stream  the plain  the
forest  the hill  summoned  and in a manner  forced to obey  the despot
going even so far as to tyrannize over the field of battle  faith in
a star mingled with strategic science  elevating but perturbing it 
Wellington was the Bareme of war  Napoleon was its Michael Angelo  and
on this occasion  genius was vanquished by calculation  On both sides
some one was awaited  It was the exact calculator who succeeded 
Napoleon was waiting for Grouchy  he did not come  Wellington expected
Blucher  he came 

Wellington is classic war taking its revenge  Bonaparte  at his dawning 
had encountered him in Italy  and beaten him superbly  The old owl had
fled before the young vulture  The old tactics had been not only struck
as by lightning  but disgraced  Who was that Corsican of six and twenty 
What signified that splendid ignoramus  who  with everything against
him  nothing in his favor  without provisions  without ammunition 
without cannon  without shoes  almost without an army  with a mere
handful of men against masses  hurled himself on Europe combined 
and absurdly won victories in the impossible  Whence had issued that
fulminating convict  who almost without taking breath  and with the same
set of combatants in hand  pulverized  one after the other  the five
armies of the emperor of Germany  upsetting Beaulieu on Alvinzi  Wurmser
on Beaulieu  Melas on Wurmser  Mack on Melas  Who was this novice in
war with the effrontery of a luminary  The academical military school
excommunicated him  and as it lost its footing  hence  the implacable
rancor of the old Caesarism against the new  of the regular sword
against the flaming sword  and of the exchequer against genius  On the
18th of June  1815  that rancor had the last word  and beneath Lodi 
Montebello  Montenotte  Mantua  Arcola  it wrote  Waterloo  A triumph of
the mediocres which is sweet to the majority  Destiny consented to this
irony  In his decline  Napoleon found Wurmser  the younger  again in
front of him 

In fact  to get Wurmser  it sufficed to blanch the hair of Wellington 

Waterloo is a battle of the first order  won by a captain of the second 

That which must be admired in the battle of Waterloo  is England  the
English firmness  the English resolution  the English blood  the superb
thing about England there  no offence to her  was herself  It was not
her captain  it was her army 

Wellington  oddly ungrateful  declares in a letter to Lord Bathurst 
that his army  the army which fought on the 18th of June  1815  was a
 detestable army   What does that sombre intermingling of bones buried
beneath the furrows of Waterloo think of that 

England has been too modest in the matter of Wellington  To make
Wellington so great is to belittle England  Wellington is nothing but
a hero like many another  Those Scotch Grays  those Horse Guards  those
regiments of Maitland and of Mitchell  that infantry of Pack and Kempt 
that cavalry of Ponsonby and Somerset  those Highlanders playing the
pibroch under the shower of grape shot  those battalions of Rylandt 
those utterly raw recruits  who hardly knew how to handle a musket
holding their own against Essling s and Rivoli s old troops   that is
what was grand  Wellington was tenacious  in that lay his merit  and we
are not seeking to lessen it  but the least of his foot soldiers and of
his cavalry would have been as solid as he  The iron soldier is worth
as much as the Iron Duke  As for us  all our glorification goes to the
English soldier  to the English army  to the English people  If trophy
there be  it is to England that the trophy is due  The column of
Waterloo would be more just  if  instead of the figure of a man  it bore
on high the statue of a people 

But this great England will be angry at what we are saying here  She
still cherishes  after her own 1688 and our 1789  the feudal illusion 
She believes in heredity and hierarchy  This people  surpassed by none
in power and glory  regards itself as a nation  and not as a people  And
as a people  it willingly subordinates itself and takes a lord for its
head  As a workman  it allows itself to be disdained  as a soldier  it
allows itself to be flogged 

It will be remembered  that at the battle of Inkermann a sergeant who
had  it appears  saved the army  could not be mentioned by Lord Paglan 
as the English military hierarchy does not permit any hero below the
grade of an officer to be mentioned in the reports 

That which we admire above all  in an encounter of the nature of
Waterloo  is the marvellous cleverness of chance  A nocturnal rain  the
wall of Hougomont  the hollow road of Ohain  Grouchy deaf to the cannon 
Napoleon s guide deceiving him  Bulow s guide enlightening him   the
whole of this cataclysm is wonderfully conducted 

On the whole  let us say it plainly  it was more of a massacre than of a
battle at Waterloo 

Of all pitched battles  Waterloo is the one which has the smallest front
for such a number of combatants  Napoleon three quarters of a league 
Wellington  half a league  seventy two thousand combatants on each side 
From this denseness the carnage arose 

The following calculation has been made  and the following proportion
established  Loss of men  at Austerlitz  French  fourteen per cent 
Russians  thirty per cent  Austrians  forty four per cent  At Wagram 
French  thirteen per cent  Austrians  fourteen  At the Moskowa  French 
thirty seven per cent  Russians  forty four  At Bautzen  French 
thirteen per cent  Russians and Prussians  fourteen  At Waterloo 
French  fifty six per cent  the Allies  thirty one  Total for Waterloo 
forty one per cent  one hundred and forty four thousand combatants 
sixty thousand dead 

To day the field of Waterloo has the calm which belongs to the earth 
the impassive support of man  and it resembles all plains 

At night  moreover  a sort of visionary mist arises from it  and if a
traveller strolls there  if he listens  if he watches  if he dreams
like Virgil in the fatal plains of Philippi  the hallucination of the
catastrophe takes possession of him  The frightful 18th of June lives
again  the false monumental hillock disappears  the lion vanishes in
air  the battle field resumes its reality  lines of infantry undulate
over the plain  furious gallops traverse the horizon  the frightened
dreamer beholds the flash of sabres  the gleam of bayonets  the flare of
bombs  the tremendous interchange of thunders  he hears  as it were 
the death rattle in the depths of a tomb  the vague clamor of the battle
phantom  those shadows are grenadiers  those lights are cuirassiers 
that skeleton Napoleon  that other skeleton is Wellington  all this no
longer exists  and yet it clashes together and combats still  and the
ravines are empurpled  and the trees quiver  and there is fury even in
the clouds and in the shadows  all those terrible heights  Hougomont 
Mont Saint Jean  Frischemont  Papelotte  Plancenoit  appear confusedly
crowned with whirlwinds of spectres engaged in exterminating each other 




CHAPTER XVII  IS WATERLOO TO BE CONSIDERED GOOD 

There exists a very respectable liberal school which does not hate
Waterloo  We do not belong to it  To us  Waterloo is but the stupefied
date of liberty  That such an eagle should emerge from such an egg is
certainly unexpected 

If one places one s self at the culminating point of view of the
question  Waterloo is intentionally a counter revolutionary victory  It
is Europe against France  it is Petersburg  Berlin  and Vienna against
Paris  it is the statu quo against the initiative  it is the 14th
of July  1789  attacked through the 20th of March  1815  it is the
monarchies clearing the decks in opposition to the indomitable French
rioting  The final extinction of that vast people which had been in
eruption for twenty six years  such was the dream  The solidarity of the
Brunswicks  the Nassaus  the Romanoffs  the Hohenzollerns  the Hapsburgs
with the Bourbons  Waterloo bears divine right on its crupper  It is
true  that the Empire having been despotic  the kingdom by the natural
reaction of things  was forced to be liberal  and that a constitutional
order was the unwilling result of Waterloo  to the great regret of the
conquerors  It is because revolution cannot be really conquered  and
that being providential and absolutely fatal  it is always cropping
up afresh  before Waterloo  in Bonaparte overthrowing the old thrones 
after Waterloo  in Louis XVIII  granting and conforming to the charter 
Bonaparte places a postilion on the throne of Naples  and a sergeant
on the throne of Sweden  employing inequality to demonstrate equality 
Louis XVIII  at Saint Ouen countersigns the declaration of the rights
of man  If you wish to gain an idea of what revolution is  call it
Progress  and if you wish to acquire an idea of the nature of progress 
call it To morrow  To morrow fulfils its work irresistibly  and it is
already fulfilling it to day  It always reaches its goal strangely  It
employs Wellington to make of Foy  who was only a soldier  an orator 
Foy falls at Hougomont and rises again in the tribune  Thus does
progress proceed  There is no such thing as a bad tool for that workman 
It does not become disconcerted  but adjusts to its divine work the
man who has bestridden the Alps  and the good old tottering invalid
of Father Elysee  It makes use of the gouty man as well as of the
conqueror  of the conqueror without  of the gouty man within  Waterloo 
by cutting short the demolition of European thrones by the sword  had
no other effect than to cause the revolutionary work to be continued in
another direction  The slashers have finished  it was the turn of the
thinkers  The century that Waterloo was intended to arrest has pursued
its march  That sinister victory was vanquished by liberty 

In short  and incontestably  that which triumphed at Waterloo  that
which smiled in Wellington s rear  that which brought him all the
marshals  staffs of Europe  including  it is said  the staff of a
marshal of France  that which joyously trundled the barrows full of
bones to erect the knoll of the lion  that which triumphantly inscribed
on that pedestal the date  June 18  1815   that which encouraged
Blucher  as he put the flying army to the sword  that which  from the
heights of the plateau of Mont Saint Jean  hovered over France as over
its prey  was the counter revolution  It was the counter revolution
which murmured that infamous word  dismemberment   On arriving in Paris 
it beheld the crater close at hand  it felt those ashes which scorched
its feet  and it changed its mind  it returned to the stammer of a
charter 

Let us behold in Waterloo only that which is in Waterloo  Of intentional
liberty there is none  The counter revolution was involuntarily liberal 
in the same manner as  by a corresponding phenomenon  Napoleon was
involuntarily revolutionary  On the 18th of June  1815  the mounted
Robespierre was hurled from his saddle 




CHAPTER XVIII  A RECRUDESCENCE OF DIVINE RIGHT

End of the dictatorship  A whole European system crumbled away 

The Empire sank into a gloom which resembled that of the Roman world as
it expired  Again we behold the abyss  as in the days of the barbarians 
only the barbarism of 1815  which must be called by its pet name of the
counter revolution  was not long breathed  soon fell to panting  and
halted short  The Empire was bewept   let us acknowledge the fact   and
bewept by heroic eyes  If glory lies in the sword converted into a
sceptre  the Empire had been glory in person  It had diffused over the
earth all the light which tyranny can give a sombre light  We will say
more  an obscure light  Compared to the true daylight  it is night  This
disappearance of night produces the effect of an eclipse 

Louis XVIII  re entered Paris  The circling dances of the 8th of July
effaced the enthusiasms of the 20th of March  The Corsican became the
antithesis of the Bearnese  The flag on the dome of the Tuileries was
white  The exile reigned  Hartwell s pine table took its place in front
of the fleur de lys strewn throne of Louis XIV  Bouvines and Fontenoy
were mentioned as though they had taken place on the preceding
day  Austerlitz having become antiquated  The altar and the throne
fraternized majestically  One of the most undisputed forms of the health
of society in the nineteenth century was established over France  and
over the continent  Europe adopted the white cockade  Trestaillon was
celebrated  The device non pluribus impar re appeared on the stone rays
representing a sun upon the front of the barracks on the Quai d Orsay 
Where there had been an Imperial Guard  there was now a red house  The
Arc du Carrousel  all laden with badly borne victories  thrown out
of its element among these novelties  a little ashamed  it may be  of
Marengo and Arcola  extricated itself from its predicament with the
statue of the Duc d Angouleme  The cemetery of the Madeleine  a terrible
pauper s grave in 1793  was covered with jasper and marble  since the
bones of Louis XVI  and Marie Antoinette lay in that dust 

In the moat of Vincennes a sepulchral shaft sprang from the earth 
recalling the fact that the Duc d Enghien had perished in the very
month when Napoleon was crowned  Pope Pius VII   who had performed the
coronation very near this death  tranquilly bestowed his blessing on the
fall as he had bestowed it on the elevation  At Schoenbrunn there was
a little shadow  aged four  whom it was seditious to call the King of
Rome  And these things took place  and the kings resumed their thrones 
and the master of Europe was put in a cage  and the old regime became
the new regime  and all the shadows and all the light of the earth
changed place  because  on the afternoon of a certain summer s day  a
shepherd said to a Prussian in the forest   Go this way  and not that  

This 1815 was a sort of lugubrious April  Ancient unhealthy and
poisonous realities were covered with new appearances  A lie wedded
1789  the right divine was masked under a charter  fictions became
constitutional  prejudices  superstitions and mental reservations  with
Article 14 in the heart  were varnished over with liberalism  It was the
serpent s change of skin 

Man had been rendered both greater and smaller by Napoleon  Under this
reign of splendid matter  the ideal had received the strange name of
ideology  It is a grave imprudence in a great man to turn the future
into derision  The populace  however  that food for cannon which is so
fond of the cannoneer  sought him with its glance  Where is he  What is
he doing   Napoleon is dead   said a passer by to a veteran of Marengo
and Waterloo   He dead   cried the soldier   you don t know him  
Imagination distrusted this man  even when overthrown  The depths of
Europe were full of darkness after Waterloo  Something enormous remained
long empty through Napoleon s disappearance 

The kings placed themselves in this void  Ancient Europe profited by
it to undertake reforms  There was a Holy Alliance  Belle Alliance 
Beautiful Alliance  the fatal field of Waterloo had said in advance 

In presence and in face of that antique Europe reconstructed  the
features of a new France were sketched out  The future  which the
Emperor had rallied  made its entry  On its brow it bore the star 
Liberty  The glowing eyes of all young generations were turned on it 
Singular fact  people were  at one and the same time  in love with
the future  Liberty  and the past  Napoleon  Defeat had rendered the
vanquished greater  Bonaparte fallen seemed more lofty than Napoleon
erect  Those who had triumphed were alarmed  England had him guarded by
Hudson Lowe  and France had him watched by Montchenu  His folded arms
became a source of uneasiness to thrones  Alexander called him  my
sleeplessness   This terror was the result of the quantity of
revolution which was contained in him  That is what explains and excuses
Bonapartist liberalism  This phantom caused the old world to tremble 
The kings reigned  but ill at their ease  with the rock of Saint Helena
on the horizon 

While Napoleon was passing through the death struggle at Longwood  the
sixty thousand men who had fallen on the field of Waterloo were quietly
rotting  and something of their peace was shed abroad over the world 
The Congress of Vienna made the treaties in 1815  and Europe called this
the Restoration 

This is what Waterloo was 

But what matters it to the Infinite  all that tempest  all that cloud 
that war  then that peace  All that darkness did not trouble for a
moment the light of that immense Eye before which a grub skipping from
one blade of grass to another equals the eagle soaring from belfry to
belfry on the towers of Notre Dame 




CHAPTER XIX  THE BATTLE FIELD AT NIGHT

Let us return  it is a necessity in this book  to that fatal
battle field 

On the 18th of June the moon was full  Its light favored Blucher s
ferocious pursuit  betrayed the traces of the fugitives  delivered
up that disastrous mass to the eager Prussian cavalry  and aided the
massacre  Such tragic favors of the night do occur sometimes during
catastrophes 

After the last cannon shot had been fired  the plain of Mont Saint Jean
remained deserted 

The English occupied the encampment of the French  it is the usual sign
of victory to sleep in the bed of the vanquished  They established their
bivouac beyond Rossomme  The Prussians  let loose on the retreating
rout  pushed forward  Wellington went to the village of Waterloo to draw
up his report to Lord Bathurst 

If ever the sic vos non vobis was applicable  it certainly is to that
village of Waterloo  Waterloo took no part  and lay half a league from
the scene of action  Mont Saint Jean was cannonaded  Hougomont was
burned  La Haie Sainte was taken by assault  Papelotte was burned 
Plancenoit was burned  La Belle Alliance beheld the embrace of the two
conquerors  these names are hardly known  and Waterloo  which worked not
in the battle  bears off all the honor 

We are not of the number of those who flatter war  when the occasion
presents itself  we tell the truth about it  War has frightful beauties
which we have not concealed  it has also  we acknowledge  some hideous
features  One of the most surprising is the prompt stripping of the
bodies of the dead after the victory  The dawn which follows a battle
always rises on naked corpses 

Who does this  Who thus soils the triumph  What hideous  furtive hand is
that which is slipped into the pocket of victory  What pickpockets
are they who ply their trade in the rear of glory  Some
philosophers  Voltaire among the number  affirm that it is precisely
those persons have made the glory  It is the same men  they say  there
is no relief corps  those who are erect pillage those who are prone
on the earth  The hero of the day is the vampire of the night  One has
assuredly the right  after all  to strip a corpse a bit when one is the
author of that corpse  For our own part  we do not think so  it seems
to us impossible that the same hand should pluck laurels and purloin the
shoes from a dead man 

One thing is certain  which is  that generally after conquerors follow
thieves  But let us leave the soldier  especially the contemporary
soldier  out of the question 

Every army has a rear guard  and it is that which must be blamed 
Bat like creatures  half brigands and lackeys  all the sorts of
vespertillos that that twilight called war engenders  wearers of
uniforms  who take no part in the fighting  pretended invalids 
formidable limpers  interloping sutlers  trotting along in little carts 
sometimes accompanied by their wives  and stealing things which they
sell again  beggars offering themselves as guides to officers  soldiers 
servants  marauders  armies on the march in days gone by   we are not
speaking of the present   dragged all this behind them  so that in the
special language they are called  stragglers   No army  no nation 
was responsible for those beings  they spoke Italian and followed the
Germans  then spoke French and followed the English  It was by one of
these wretches  a Spanish straggler who spoke French  that the Marquis
of Fervacques  deceived by his Picard jargon  and taking him for one
of our own men  was traitorously slain and robbed on the battle field
itself  in the course of the night which followed the victory of
Cerisoles  The rascal sprang from this marauding  The detestable maxim 
Live on the enemy  produced this leprosy  which a strict discipline
alone could heal  There are reputations which are deceptive  one does
not always know why certain generals  great in other directions  have
been so popular  Turenne was adored by his soldiers because he tolerated
pillage  evil permitted constitutes part of goodness  Turenne was so
good that he allowed the Palatinate to be delivered over to fire and
blood  The marauders in the train of an army were more or less in
number  according as the chief was more or less severe  Hoche and
Marceau had no stragglers  Wellington had few  and we do him the justice
to mention it 

Nevertheless  on the night from the 18th to the 19th of June  the dead
were robbed  Wellington was rigid  he gave orders that any one caught in
the act should be shot  but rapine is tenacious  The marauders stole in
one corner of the battlefield while others were being shot in another 

The moon was sinister over this plain 

Towards midnight  a man was prowling about  or rather  climbing in the
direction of the hollow road of Ohain  To all appearance he was one of
those whom we have just described   neither English nor French  neither
peasant nor soldier  less a man than a ghoul attracted by the scent
of the dead bodies having theft for his victory  and come to rifle
Waterloo  He was clad in a blouse that was something like a great coat 
he was uneasy and audacious  he walked forwards and gazed behind him 
Who was this man  The night probably knew more of him than the day  He
had no sack  but evidently he had large pockets under his coat  From
time to time he halted  scrutinized the plain around him as though to
see whether he were observed  bent over abruptly  disturbed something
silent and motionless on the ground  then rose and fled  His sliding
motion  his attitudes  his mysterious and rapid gestures  caused him
to resemble those twilight larvae which haunt ruins  and which ancient
Norman legends call the Alleurs 

Certain nocturnal wading birds produce these silhouettes among the
marshes 

A glance capable of piercing all that mist deeply would have perceived
at some distance a sort of little sutler s wagon with a fluted wicker
hood  harnessed to a famished nag which was cropping the grass across
its bit as it halted  hidden  as it were  behind the hovel which adjoins
the highway to Nivelles  at the angle of the road from Mont Saint Jean
to Braine l Alleud  and in the wagon  a sort of woman seated on coffers
and packages  Perhaps there was some connection between that wagon and
that prowler 

The darkness was serene  Not a cloud in the zenith  What matters it if
the earth be red  the moon remains white  these are the indifferences of
the sky  In the fields  branches of trees broken by grape shot  but not
fallen  upheld by their bark  swayed gently in the breeze of night 
A breath  almost a respiration  moved the shrubbery  Quivers which
resembled the departure of souls ran through the grass 

In the distance the coming and going of patrols and the general rounds
of the English camp were audible 

Hougomont and La Haie Sainte continued to burn  forming  one in the
west  the other in the east  two great flames which were joined by the
cordon of bivouac fires of the English  like a necklace of rubies
with two carbuncles at the extremities  as they extended in an immense
semicircle over the hills along the horizon 

We have described the catastrophe of the road of Ohain  The heart is
terrified at the thought of what that death must have been to so many
brave men 

If there is anything terrible  if there exists a reality which surpasses
dreams  it is this  to live  to see the sun  to be in full possession
of virile force  to possess health and joy  to laugh valiantly  to rush
towards a glory which one sees dazzling in front of one  to feel in
one s breast lungs which breathe  a heart which beats  a will which
reasons  to speak  think  hope  love  to have a mother  to have a wife 
to have children  to have the light  and all at once  in the space of a
shout  in less than a minute  to sink into an abyss  to fall  to
roll  to crush  to be crushed  to see ears of wheat  flowers  leaves 
branches  not to be able to catch hold of anything  to feel one s sword
useless  men beneath one  horses on top of one  to struggle in vain 
since one s bones have been broken by some kick in the darkness  to feel
a heel which makes one s eyes start from their sockets  to bite horses 
shoes in one s rage  to stifle  to yell  to writhe  to be beneath  and
to say to one s self   But just a little while ago I was a living man  

There  where that lamentable disaster had uttered its death rattle 
all was silence now  The edges of the hollow road were encumbered with
horses and riders  inextricably heaped up  Terrible entanglement  There
was no longer any slope  for the corpses had levelled the road with the
plain  and reached the brim like a well filled bushel of barley  A
heap of dead bodies in the upper part  a river of blood in the lower
part  such was that road on the evening of the 18th of June  1815  The
blood ran even to the Nivelles highway  and there overflowed in a large
pool in front of the abatis of trees which barred the way  at a spot
which is still pointed out 

It will be remembered that it was at the opposite point  in the
direction of the Genappe road  that the destruction of the cuirassiers
had taken place  The thickness of the layer of bodies was proportioned
to the depth of the hollow road  Towards the middle  at the point
where it became level  where Delort s division had passed  the layer of
corpses was thinner 

The nocturnal prowler whom we have just shown to the reader was going
in that direction  He was searching that vast tomb  He gazed about  He
passed the dead in some sort of hideous review  He walked with his feet
in the blood 

All at once he paused 

A few paces in front of him  in the hollow road  at the point where
the pile of dead came to an end  an open hand  illumined by the moon 
projected from beneath that heap of men  That hand had on its finger
something sparkling  which was a ring of gold 

The man bent over  remained in a crouching attitude for a moment  and
when he rose there was no longer a ring on the hand 

He did not precisely rise  he remained in a stooping and frightened
attitude  with his back turned to the heap of dead  scanning the horizon
on his knees  with the whole upper portion of his body supported on his
two forefingers  which rested on the earth  and his head peering above
the edge of the hollow road  The jackal s four paws suit some actions 

Then coming to a decision  he rose to his feet 

At that moment  he gave a terrible start  He felt some one clutch him
from behind 

He wheeled round  it was the open hand  which had closed  and had seized
the skirt of his coat 

An honest man would have been terrified  this man burst into a laugh 

 Come   said he   it s only a dead body  I prefer a spook to a
gendarme  

But the hand weakened and released him  Effort is quickly exhausted in
the grave 

 Well now   said the prowler   is that dead fellow alive  Let s see  

He bent down again  fumbled among the heap  pushed aside everything that
was in his way  seized the hand  grasped the arm  freed the head  pulled
out the body  and a few moments later he was dragging the lifeless  or
at least the unconscious  man  through the shadows of hollow road  He
was a cuirassier  an officer  and even an officer of considerable rank 
a large gold epaulette peeped from beneath the cuirass  this officer
no longer possessed a helmet  A furious sword cut had scarred his face 
where nothing was discernible but blood 

However  he did not appear to have any broken limbs  and  by some happy
chance  if that word is permissible here  the dead had been vaulted
above him in such a manner as to preserve him from being crushed  His
eyes were still closed 

On his cuirass he wore the silver cross of the Legion of Honor 

The prowler tore off this cross  which disappeared into one of the gulfs
which he had beneath his great coat 

Then he felt of the officer s fob  discovered a watch there  and took
possession of it  Next he searched his waistcoat  found a purse and
pocketed it 

When he had arrived at this stage of succor which he was administering
to this dying man  the officer opened his eyes 

 Thanks   he said feebly 

The abruptness of the movements of the man who was manipulating him  the
freshness of the night  the air which he could inhale freely  had roused
him from his lethargy 

The prowler made no reply  He raised his head  A sound of footsteps was
audible in the plain  some patrol was probably approaching 

The officer murmured  for the death agony was still in his voice   

 Who won the battle  

 The English   answered the prowler 

The officer went on   

 Look in my pockets  you will find a watch and a purse  Take them  

It was already done 

The prowler executed the required feint  and said   

 There is nothing there  

 I have been robbed   said the officer   I am sorry for that  You should
have had them  

The steps of the patrol became more and more distinct 

 Some one is coming   said the prowler  with the movement of a man who
is taking his departure 

The officer raised his arm feebly  and detained him 

 You have saved my life  Who are you  

The prowler answered rapidly  and in a low voice   

 Like yourself  I belonged to the French army  I must leave you  If they
were to catch me  they would shoot me  I have saved your life  Now get
out of the scrape yourself  

 What is your rank  

 Sergeant  

 What is your name  

 Thenardier  

 I shall not forget that name   said the officer   and do you remember
mine  My name is Pontmercy  




BOOK SECOND   THE SHIP ORION




CHAPTER I  NUMBER 24 601 BECOMES NUMBER 9 430

Jean Valjean had been recaptured 

The reader will be grateful to us if we pass rapidly over the sad
details  We will confine ourselves to transcribing two paragraphs
published by the journals of that day  a few months after the surprising
events which had taken place at M  sur M 

These articles are rather summary  It must be remembered  that at that
epoch the Gazette des Tribunaux was not yet in existence 

We borrow the first from the Drapeau Blanc  It bears the date of July
25  1823 


An arrondissement of the Pas de Calais has just been the theatre of an
event quite out of the ordinary course  A man  who was a stranger in the
Department  and who bore the name of M  Madeleine  had  thanks to the
new methods  resuscitated some years ago an ancient local industry  the
manufacture of jet and of black glass trinkets  He had made his fortune
in the business  and that of the arrondissement as well  we will admit 
He had been appointed mayor  in recognition of his services  The police
discovered that M  Madeleine was no other than an ex convict who had
broken his ban  condemned in 1796 for theft  and named Jean Valjean 
Jean Valjean has been recommitted to prison  It appears that previous
to his arrest he had succeeded in withdrawing from the hands of M 
Laffitte  a sum of over half a million which he had lodged there  and
which he had  moreover  and by perfectly legitimate means  acquired in
his business  No one has been able to discover where Jean Valjean has
concealed this money since his return to prison at Toulon 


The second article  which enters a little more into detail  is an
extract from the Journal de Paris  of the same date  A former convict 
who had been liberated  named Jean Valjean  has just appeared before the
Court of Assizes of the Var  under circumstances calculated to attract
attention  This wretch had succeeded in escaping the vigilance of the
police  he had changed his name  and had succeeded in getting himself
appointed mayor of one of our small northern towns  in this town he had
established a considerable commerce  He has at last been unmasked and
arrested  thanks to the indefatigable zeal of the public prosecutor  He
had for his concubine a woman of the town  who died of a shock at the
moment of his arrest  This scoundrel  who is endowed with Herculean
strength  found means to escape  but three or four days after his flight
the police laid their hands on him once more  in Paris itself  at the
very moment when he was entering one of those little vehicles which run
between the capital and the village of Montfermeil  Seine et Oise  
He is said to have profited by this interval of three or four days of
liberty  to withdraw a considerable sum deposited by him with one of
our leading bankers  This sum has been estimated at six or seven hundred
thousand francs  If the indictment is to be trusted  he has hidden it in
some place known to himself alone  and it has not been possible to lay
hands on it  However that may be  the said Jean Valjean has just been
brought before the Assizes of the Department of the Var as accused of
highway robbery accompanied with violence  about eight years ago  on the
person of one of those honest children who  as the patriarch of Ferney
has said  in immortal verse 


                 Arrive from Savoy every year 
           And who  with gentle hands  do clear
           Those long canals choked up with soot  


This bandit refused to defend himself  It was proved by the skilful and
eloquent representative of the public prosecutor  that the theft was
committed in complicity with others  and that Jean Valjean was a member
of a band of robbers in the south  Jean Valjean was pronounced guilty
and was condemned to the death penalty in consequence  This criminal
refused to lodge an appeal  The king  in his inexhaustible clemency  has
deigned to commute his penalty to that of penal servitude for life  Jean
Valjean was immediately taken to the prison at Toulon 


The reader has not forgotten that Jean Valjean had religious habits at
M  sur M  Some papers  among others the Constitutional  presented this
commutation as a triumph of the priestly party 

Jean Valjean changed his number in the galleys  He was called 9 430 

However  and we will mention it at once in order that we may not be
obliged to recur to the subject  the prosperity of M  sur M  vanished
with M  Madeleine  all that he had foreseen during his night of fever
and hesitation was realized  lacking him  there actually was a soul
lacking  After this fall  there took place at M  sur M  that egotistical
division of great existences which have fallen  that fatal dismemberment
of flourishing things which is accomplished every day  obscurely  in
the human community  and which history has noted only once  because it
occurred after the death of Alexander  Lieutenants are crowned kings 
superintendents improvise manufacturers out of themselves  Envious
rivalries arose  M  Madeleine s vast workshops were shut  his buildings
fell to ruin  his workmen were scattered  Some of them quitted the
country  others abandoned the trade  Thenceforth  everything was done
on a small scale  instead of on a grand scale  for lucre instead of
the general good  There was no longer a centre  everywhere there
was competition and animosity  M  Madeleine had reigned over all and
directed all  No sooner had he fallen  than each pulled things to
himself  the spirit of combat succeeded to the spirit of organization 
bitterness to cordiality  hatred of one another to the benevolence of
the founder towards all  the threads which M  Madeleine had set were
tangled and broken  the methods were adulterated  the products were
debased  confidence was killed  the market diminished  for lack of
orders  salaries were reduced  the workshops stood still  bankruptcy
arrived  And then there was nothing more for the poor  All had vanished 

The state itself perceived that some one had been crushed somewhere 
Less than four years after the judgment of the Court of Assizes
establishing the identity of Jean Valjean and M  Madeleine  for the
benefit of the galleys  the cost of collecting taxes had doubled in the
arrondissement of M  sur M   and M  de Villele called attention to the
fact in the rostrum  in the month of February  1827 




CHAPTER II  IN WHICH THE READER WILL PERUSE TWO VERSES  WHICH ARE OF THE
DEVIL S COMPOSITION  POSSIBLY

Before proceeding further  it will be to the purpose to narrate in some
detail  a singular occurrence which took place at about the same epoch 
in Montfermeil  and which is not lacking in coincidence with certain
conjectures of the indictment 

There exists in the region of Montfermeil a very ancient superstition 
which is all the more curious and all the more precious  because
a popular superstition in the vicinity of Paris is like an aloe in
Siberia  We are among those who respect everything which is in the
nature of a rare plant  Here  then  is the superstition of Montfermeil 
it is thought that the devil  from time immemorial  has selected the
forest as a hiding place for his treasures  Goodwives affirm that it is
no rarity to encounter at nightfall  in secluded nooks of the forest 
a black man with the air of a carter or a wood chopper  wearing wooden
shoes  clad in trousers and a blouse of linen  and recognizable by the
fact  that  instead of a cap or hat  he has two immense horns on his
head  This ought  in fact  to render him recognizable  This man is
habitually engaged in digging a hole  There are three ways of profiting
by such an encounter  The first is to approach the man and speak to him 
Then it is seen that the man is simply a peasant  that he appears black
because it is nightfall  that he is not digging any hole whatever  but
is cutting grass for his cows  and that what had been taken for horns
is nothing but a dung fork which he is carrying on his back  and whose
teeth  thanks to the perspective of evening  seemed to spring from his
head  The man returns home and dies within the week  The second way is
to watch him  to wait until he has dug his hole  until he has filled it
and has gone away  then to run with great speed to the trench  to
open it once more and to seize the  treasure  which the black man
has necessarily placed there  In this case one dies within the month 
Finally  the last method is not to speak to the black man  not to look
at him  and to flee at the best speed of one s legs  One then dies
within the year 

As all three methods are attended with their special inconveniences  the
second  which at all events  presents some advantages  among others that
of possessing a treasure  if only for a month  is the one most generally
adopted  So bold men  who are tempted by every chance  have quite
frequently  as we are assured  opened the holes excavated by the black
man  and tried to rob the devil  The success of the operation appears
to be but moderate  At least  if the tradition is to be believed  and in
particular the two enigmatical lines in barbarous Latin  which an
evil Norman monk  a bit of a sorcerer  named Tryphon has left on
this subject  This Tryphon is buried at the Abbey of Saint Georges de
Bocherville  near Rouen  and toads spawn on his grave 

Accordingly  enormous efforts are made  Such trenches are ordinarily
extremely deep  a man sweats  digs  toils all night  for it must be done
at night  he wets his shirt  burns out his candle  breaks his mattock 
and when he arrives at the bottom of the hole  when he lays his hand on
the  treasure   what does he find  What is the devil s treasure  A sou 
sometimes a crown piece  a stone  a skeleton  a bleeding body  sometimes
a spectre folded in four like a sheet of paper in a portfolio 
sometimes nothing  This is what Tryphon s verses seem to announce to the
indiscreet and curious   

           Fodit  et in fossa thesauros condit opaca 
           As  nummas  lapides  cadaver  simulacra  nihilque  


It seems that in our day there is sometimes found a powder horn with
bullets  sometimes an old pack of cards greasy and worn  which has
evidently served the devil  Tryphon does not record these two finds 
since Tryphon lived in the twelfth century  and since the devil does not
appear to have had the wit to invent powder before Roger Bacon s time 
and cards before the time of Charles VI 

Moreover  if one plays at cards  one is sure to lose all that one
possesses  and as for the powder in the horn  it possesses the property
of making your gun burst in your face 

Now  a very short time after the epoch when it seemed to the prosecuting
attorney that the liberated convict Jean Valjean during his flight of
several days had been prowling around Montfermeil  it was remarked in
that village that a certain old road laborer  named Boulatruelle  had
 peculiar ways  in the forest  People thereabouts thought they knew that
this Boulatruelle had been in the galleys  He was subjected to
certain police supervision  and  as he could find work nowhere  the
administration employed him at reduced rates as a road mender on the
cross road from Gagny to Lagny 

This Boulatruelle was a man who was viewed with disfavor by the
inhabitants of the district as too respectful  too humble  too prompt in
removing his cap to every one  and trembling and smiling in the presence
of the gendarmes   probably affiliated to robber bands  they said 
suspected of lying in ambush at verge of copses at nightfall  The only
thing in his favor was that he was a drunkard 

This is what people thought they had noticed   

Of late  Boulatruelle had taken to quitting his task of stone breaking
and care of the road at a very early hour  and to betaking himself to
the forest with his pickaxe  He was encountered towards evening in
the most deserted clearings  in the wildest thickets  and he had the
appearance of being in search of something  and sometimes he was digging
holes  The goodwives who passed took him at first for Beelzebub  then
they recognized Boulatruelle  and were not in the least reassured
thereby  These encounters seemed to cause Boulatruelle a lively
displeasure  It was evident that he sought to hide  and that there was
some mystery in what he was doing 

It was said in the village   It is clear that the devil has appeared 
Boulatruelle has seen him  and is on the search  In sooth  he is cunning
enough to pocket Lucifer s hoard  

The Voltairians added   Will Boulatruelle catch the devil  or will the
devil catch Boulatruelle   The old women made a great many signs of the
cross 

In the meantime  Boulatruelle s manoeuvres in the forest ceased  and he
resumed his regular occupation of roadmending  and people gossiped of
something else 

Some persons  however  were still curious  surmising that in all this
there was probably no fabulous treasure of the legends  but some
fine windfall of a more serious and palpable sort than the devil s
bank bills  and that the road mender had half discovered the secret  The
most  puzzled  were the school master and Thenardier  the proprietor of
the tavern  who was everybody s friend  and had not disdained to ally
himself with Boulatruelle 

 He has been in the galleys   said Thenardier   Eh  Good God  no one
knows who has been there or will be there  

One evening the schoolmaster affirmed that in former times the law would
have instituted an inquiry as to what Boulatruelle did in the forest 
and that the latter would have been forced to speak  and that he would
have been put to the torture in case of need  and that Boulatruelle
would not have resisted the water test  for example   Let us put him to
the wine test   said Thenardier 

They made an effort  and got the old road mender to drinking 
Boulatruelle drank an enormous amount  but said very little  He combined
with admirable art  and in masterly proportions  the thirst of a
gormandizer with the discretion of a judge  Nevertheless  by dint of
returning to the charge and of comparing and putting together the few
obscure words which he did allow to escape him  this is what Thenardier
and the schoolmaster imagined that they had made out   

One morning  when Boulatruelle was on his way to his work  at daybreak 
he had been surprised to see  at a nook of the forest in the underbrush 
a shovel and a pickaxe  concealed  as one might say 

However  he might have supposed that they were probably the shovel and
pick of Father Six Fours  the water carrier  and would have thought no
more about it  But  on the evening of that day  he saw  without being
seen himself  as he was hidden by a large tree   a person who did not
belong in those parts  and whom he  Boulatruelle  knew well   directing
his steps towards the densest part of the wood  Translation by
Thenardier  A comrade of the galleys  Boulatruelle obstinately refused
to reveal his name  This person carried a package  something square 
like a large box or a small trunk  Surprise on the part of Boulatruelle 
However  it was only after the expiration of seven or eight minutes that
the idea of following that  person  had occurred to him  But it was too
late  the person was already in the thicket  night had descended  and
Boulatruelle had not been able to catch up with him  Then he had
adopted the course of watching for him at the edge of the woods   It was
moonlight   Two or three hours later  Boulatruelle had seen this person
emerge from the brushwood  carrying no longer the coffer  but a shovel
and pick  Boulatruelle had allowed the person to pass  and had not
dreamed of accosting him  because he said to himself that the other man
was three times as strong as he was  and armed with a pickaxe  and that
he would probably knock him over the head on recognizing him  and on
perceiving that he was recognized  Touching effusion of two old comrades
on meeting again  But the shovel and pick had served as a ray of light
to Boulatruelle  he had hastened to the thicket in the morning  and had
found neither shovel nor pick  From this he had drawn the inference that
this person  once in the forest  had dug a hole with his pick  buried
the coffer  and reclosed the hole with his shovel  Now  the coffer was
too small to contain a body  therefore it contained money  Hence his
researches  Boulatruelle had explored  sounded  searched the entire
forest and the thicket  and had dug wherever the earth appeared to him
to have been recently turned up  In vain 

He had  ferreted out  nothing  No one in Montfermeil thought any more
about it  There were only a few brave gossips  who said   You may be
certain that the mender on the Gagny road did not take all that trouble
for nothing  he was sure that the devil had come  




CHAPTER III  THE ANKLE CHAIN MUST HAVE UNDERGONE A CERTAIN PREPARATORY
MANIPULATION TO BE THUS BROKEN WITH A BLOW FROM A HAMMER

Towards the end of October  in that same year  1823  the inhabitants of
Toulon beheld the entry into their port  after heavy weather  and for
the purpose of repairing some damages  of the ship Orion  which was
employed later at Brest as a school ship  and which then formed a part
of the Mediterranean squadron 

This vessel  battered as it was   for the sea had handled it
roughly   produced a fine effect as it entered the roads  It flew some
colors which procured for it the regulation salute of eleven guns  which
it returned  shot for shot  total  twenty two  It has been calculated
that what with salvos  royal and military politenesses  courteous
exchanges of uproar  signals of etiquette  formalities of roadsteads and
citadels  sunrises and sunsets  saluted every day by all fortresses and
all ships of war  openings and closings of ports  etc   the civilized
world  discharged all over the earth  in the course of four and twenty
hours  one hundred and fifty thousand useless shots  At six francs the
shot  that comes to nine hundred thousand francs a day  three hundred
millions a year  which vanish in smoke  This is a mere detail  All this
time the poor were dying of hunger 

The year 1823 was what the Restoration called  the epoch of the Spanish
war  

This war contained many events in one  and a quantity of peculiarities 
A grand family affair for the house of Bourbon  the branch of France
succoring and protecting the branch of Madrid  that is to say 
performing an act devolving on the elder  an apparent return to our
national traditions  complicated by servitude and by subjection to the
cabinets of the North  M  le Duc d Angouleme  surnamed by the liberal
sheets the hero of Andujar  compressing in a triumphal attitude that
was somewhat contradicted by his peaceable air  the ancient and very
powerful terrorism of the Holy Office at variance with the chimerical
terrorism of the liberals  the sansculottes resuscitated  to the great
terror of dowagers  under the name of descamisados  monarchy opposing an
obstacle to progress described as anarchy  the theories of  89 roughly
interrupted in the sap  a European halt  called to the French idea 
which was making the tour of the world  beside the son of France as
generalissimo  the Prince de Carignan  afterwards Charles Albert 
enrolling himself in that crusade of kings against people as a
volunteer  with grenadier epaulets of red worsted  the soldiers of the
Empire setting out on a fresh campaign  but aged  saddened  after eight
years of repose  and under the white cockade  the tricolored standard
waved abroad by a heroic handful of Frenchmen  as the white standard had
been thirty years earlier at Coblentz  monks mingled with our troops 
the spirit of liberty and of novelty brought to its senses by bayonets 
principles slaughtered by cannonades  France undoing by her arms that
which she had done by her mind  in addition to this  hostile leaders
sold  soldiers hesitating  cities besieged by millions  no military
perils  and yet possible explosions  as in every mine which is surprised
and invaded  but little bloodshed  little honor won  shame for some 
glory for no one  Such was this war  made by the princes descended from
Louis XIV   and conducted by generals who had been under Napoleon  Its
sad fate was to recall neither the grand war nor grand politics 

Some feats of arms were serious  the taking of the Trocadero  among
others  was a fine military action  but after all  we repeat  the
trumpets of this war give back a cracked sound  the whole effect was
suspicious  history approves of France for making a difficulty about
accepting this false triumph  It seemed evident that certain Spanish
officers charged with resistance yielded too easily  the idea of
corruption was connected with the victory  it appears as though generals
and not battles had been won  and the conquering soldier returned
humiliated  A debasing war  in short  in which the Bank of France could
be read in the folds of the flag 

Soldiers of the war of 1808  on whom Saragossa had fallen in formidable
ruin  frowned in 1823 at the easy surrender of citadels  and began to
regret Palafox  It is the nature of France to prefer to have Rostopchine
rather than Ballesteros in front of her 

From a still more serious point of view  and one which it is also proper
to insist upon here  this war  which wounded the military spirit
of France  enraged the democratic spirit  It was an enterprise of
inthralment  In that campaign  the object of the French soldier  the
son of democracy  was the conquest of a yoke for others  A hideous
contradiction  France is made to arouse the soul of nations  not to
stifle it  All the revolutions of Europe since 1792 are the French
Revolution  liberty darts rays from France  That is a solar fact  Blind
is he who will not see  It was Bonaparte who said it 

The war of 1823  an outrage on the generous Spanish nation  was then 
at the same time  an outrage on the French Revolution  It was France
who committed this monstrous violence  by foul means  for  with the
exception of wars of liberation  everything that armies do is by foul
means  The words passive obedience indicate this  An army is a strange
masterpiece of combination where force results from an enormous sum
of impotence  Thus is war  made by humanity against humanity  despite
humanity  explained 

As for the Bourbons  the war of 1823 was fatal to them  They took it for
a success  They did not perceive the danger that lies in having an idea
slain to order  They went astray  in their innocence  to such a degree
that they introduced the immense enfeeblement of a crime into their
establishment as an element of strength  The spirit of the ambush
entered into their politics  1830 had its germ in 1823  The Spanish
campaign became in their counsels an argument for force and for
adventures by right Divine  France  having re established elrey netto
in Spain  might well have re established the absolute king at home  They
fell into the alarming error of taking the obedience of the soldier for
the consent of the nation  Such confidence is the ruin of thrones  It is
not permitted to fall asleep  either in the shadow of a machineel tree 
nor in the shadow of an army 

Let us return to the ship Orion 

During the operations of the army commanded by the prince generalissimo 
a squadron had been cruising in the Mediterranean  We have just stated
that the Orion belonged to this fleet  and that accidents of the sea had
brought it into port at Toulon 

The presence of a vessel of war in a port has something about it which
attracts and engages a crowd  It is because it is great  and the crowd
loves what is great 

A ship of the line is one of the most magnificent combinations of the
genius of man with the powers of nature 

A ship of the line is composed  at the same time  of the heaviest and
the lightest of possible matter  for it deals at one and the same time
with three forms of substance   solid  liquid  and fluid   and it must
do battle with all three  It has eleven claws of iron with which to
seize the granite on the bottom of the sea  and more wings and more
antennae than winged insects  to catch the wind in the clouds  Its
breath pours out through its hundred and twenty cannons as through
enormous trumpets  and replies proudly to the thunder  The ocean seeks
to lead it astray in the alarming sameness of its billows  but the
vessel has its soul  its compass  which counsels it and always shows it
the north  In the blackest nights  its lanterns supply the place of
the stars  Thus  against the wind  it has its cordage and its canvas 
against the water  wood  against the rocks  its iron  brass  and lead 
against the shadows  its light  against immensity  a needle 

If one wishes to form an idea of all those gigantic proportions which 
taken as a whole  constitute the ship of the line  one has only to enter
one of the six story covered construction stocks  in the ports of Brest
or Toulon  The vessels in process of construction are under a bell glass
there  as it were  This colossal beam is a yard  that great column of
wood which stretches out on the earth as far as the eye can reach is
the main mast  Taking it from its root in the stocks to its tip in the
clouds  it is sixty fathoms long  and its diameter at its base is
three feet  The English main mast rises to a height of two hundred and
seventeen feet above the water line  The navy of our fathers employed
cables  ours employs chains  The simple pile of chains on a ship of a
hundred guns is four feet high  twenty feet in breadth  and eight
feet in depth  And how much wood is required to make this ship  Three
thousand cubic metres  It is a floating forest 

And moreover  let this be borne in mind  it is only a question here of
the military vessel of forty years ago  of the simple sailing vessel 
steam  then in its infancy  has since added new miracles to that prodigy
which is called a war vessel  At the present time  for example  the
mixed vessel with a screw is a surprising machine  propelled by three
thousand square metres of canvas and by an engine of two thousand five
hundred horse power 

Not to mention these new marvels  the ancient vessel of Christopher
Columbus and of De Ruyter is one of the masterpieces of man  It is as
inexhaustible in force as is the Infinite in gales  it stores up
the wind in its sails  it is precise in the immense vagueness of the
billows  it floats  and it reigns 

There comes an hour  nevertheless  when the gale breaks that sixty foot
yard like a straw  when the wind bends that mast four hundred feet tall 
when that anchor  which weighs tens of thousands  is twisted in the jaws
of the waves like a fisherman s hook in the jaws of a pike  when those
monstrous cannons utter plaintive and futile roars  which the hurricane
bears forth into the void and into night  when all that power and all
that majesty are engulfed in a power and majesty which are superior 

Every time that immense force is displayed to culminate in an immense
feebleness it affords men food for thought  Hence in the ports curious
people abound around these marvellous machines of war and of navigation 
without being able to explain perfectly to themselves why  Every day 
accordingly  from morning until night  the quays  sluices  and the
jetties of the port of Toulon were covered with a multitude of idlers
and loungers  as they say in Paris  whose business consisted in staring
at the Orion 

The Orion was a ship that had been ailing for a long time  in the course
of its previous cruises thick layers of barnacles had collected on its
keel to such a degree as to deprive it of half its speed  it had gone
into the dry dock the year before this  in order to have the barnacles
scraped off  then it had put to sea again  but this cleaning had
affected the bolts of the keel  in the neighborhood of the Balearic
Isles the sides had been strained and had opened  and  as the plating
in those days was not of sheet iron  the vessel had sprung a leak 
A violent equinoctial gale had come up  which had first staved in
a grating and a porthole on the larboard side  and damaged the
foretop gallant shrouds  in consequence of these injuries  the Orion had
run back to Toulon 

It anchored near the Arsenal  it was fully equipped  and repairs were
begun  The hull had received no damage on the starboard  but some of the
planks had been unnailed here and there  according to custom  to permit
of air entering the hold 

One morning the crowd which was gazing at it witnessed an accident 

 Illustration  The Ship Orion  An Accident 2b2 1 the ship orion 

The crew was busy bending the sails  the topman  who had to take the
upper corner of the main top sail on the starboard  lost his balance 
he was seen to waver  the multitude thronging the Arsenal quay uttered a
cry  the man s head overbalanced his body  the man fell around the yard 
with his hands outstretched towards the abyss  on his way he seized the
footrope  first with one hand  then with the other  and remained hanging
from it  the sea lay below him at a dizzy depth  the shock of his fall
had imparted to the foot rope a violent swinging motion  the man swayed
back and forth at the end of that rope  like a stone in a sling 

It was incurring a frightful risk to go to his assistance  not one
of the sailors  all fishermen of the coast  recently levied for the
service  dared to attempt it  In the meantime  the unfortunate topman
was losing his strength  his anguish could not be discerned on his face 
but his exhaustion was visible in every limb  his arms were contracted
in horrible twitchings  every effort which he made to re ascend served
but to augment the oscillations of the foot rope  he did not shout  for
fear of exhausting his strength  All were awaiting the minute when he
should release his hold on the rope  and  from instant to instant  heads
were turned aside that his fall might not be seen  There are moments
when a bit of rope  a pole  the branch of a tree  is life itself  and
it is a terrible thing to see a living being detach himself from it and
fall like a ripe fruit 

All at once a man was seen climbing into the rigging with the agility
of a tiger cat  this man was dressed in red  he was a convict  he wore a
green cap  he was a life convict  On arriving on a level with the top  a
gust of wind carried away his cap  and allowed a perfectly white head to
be seen  he was not a young man 

A convict employed on board with a detachment from the galleys had  in
fact  at the very first instant  hastened to the officer of the watch 
and  in the midst of the consternation and the hesitation of the crew 
while all the sailors were trembling and drawing back  he had asked
the officer s permission to risk his life to save the topman  at an
affirmative sign from the officer he had broken the chain riveted to his
ankle with one blow of a hammer  then he had caught up a rope  and had
dashed into the rigging  no one noticed  at the instant  with what ease
that chain had been broken  it was only later on that the incident was
recalled 

In a twinkling he was on the yard  he paused for a few seconds and
appeared to be measuring it with his eye  these seconds  during which
the breeze swayed the topman at the extremity of a thread  seemed
centuries to those who were looking on  At last  the convict raised his
eyes to heaven and advanced a step  the crowd drew a long breath  He was
seen to run out along the yard  on arriving at the point  he fastened
the rope which he had brought to it  and allowed the other end to hang
down  then he began to descend the rope  hand over hand  and then   and
the anguish was indescribable   instead of one man suspended over the
gulf  there were two 

One would have said it was a spider coming to seize a fly  only here the
spider brought life  not death  Ten thousand glances were fastened on
this group  not a cry  not a word  the same tremor contracted every
brow  all mouths held their breath as though they feared to add the
slightest puff to the wind which was swaying the two unfortunate men 

In the meantime  the convict had succeeded in lowering himself to a
position near the sailor  It was high time  one minute more  and the
exhausted and despairing man would have allowed himself to fall into
the abyss  The convict had moored him securely with the cord to which
he clung with one hand  while he was working with the other  At last  he
was seen to climb back on the yard  and to drag the sailor up after him 
he held him there a moment to allow him to recover his strength  then he
grasped him in his arms and carried him  walking on the yard himself to
the cap  and from there to the main top  where he left him in the hands
of his comrades 

At that moment the crowd broke into applause  old convict sergeants
among them wept  and women embraced each other on the quay  and all
voices were heard to cry with a sort of tender rage   Pardon for that
man  

He  in the meantime  had immediately begun to make his descent to rejoin
his detachment  In order to reach them the more speedily  he dropped
into the rigging  and ran along one of the lower yards  all eyes were
following him  At a certain moment fear assailed them  whether it was
that he was fatigued  or that his head turned  they thought they saw him
hesitate and stagger  All at once the crowd uttered a loud shout  the
convict had fallen into the sea 

The fall was perilous  The frigate Algesiras was anchored alongside the
Orion  and the poor convict had fallen between the two vessels  it was
to be feared that he would slip under one or the other of them  Four men
flung themselves hastily into a boat  the crowd cheered them on 
anxiety again took possession of all souls  the man had not risen to
the surface  he had disappeared in the sea without leaving a ripple  as
though he had fallen into a cask of oil  they sounded  they dived  In
vain  The search was continued until the evening  they did not even find
the body 

On the following day the Toulon newspaper printed these lines   

 Nov  17  1823  Yesterday  a convict belonging to the detachment on
board of the Orion  on his return from rendering assistance to a sailor 
fell into the sea and was drowned  The body has not yet been found  it
is supposed that it is entangled among the piles of the Arsenal point 
this man was committed under the number 9 430  and his name was Jean
Valjean  





BOOK THIRD   ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THE PROMISE MADE TO THE DEAD WOMAN




CHAPTER I  THE WATER QUESTION AT MONTFERMEIL

Montfermeil is situated between Livry and Chelles  on the southern edge
of that lofty table land which separates the Ourcq from the Marne  At
the present day it is a tolerably large town  ornamented all the year
through with plaster villas  and on Sundays with beaming bourgeois  In
1823 there were at Montfermeil neither so many white houses nor so
many well satisfied citizens  it was only a village in the forest  Some
pleasure houses of the last century were to be met with there  to be
sure  which were recognizable by their grand air  their balconies in
twisted iron  and their long windows  whose tiny panes cast all sorts
of varying shades of green on the white of the closed shutters  but
Montfermeil was none the less a village  Retired cloth merchants and
rusticating attorneys had not discovered it as yet  it was a peaceful
and charming place  which was not on the road to anywhere  there people
lived  and cheaply  that peasant rustic life which is so bounteous and
so easy  only  water was rare there  on account of the elevation of the
plateau 

It was necessary to fetch it from a considerable distance  the end of
the village towards Gagny drew its water from the magnificent ponds
which exist in the woods there  The other end  which surrounds the
church and which lies in the direction of Chelles  found drinking water
only at a little spring half way down the slope  near the road to
Chelles  about a quarter of an hour from Montfermeil 

Thus each household found it hard work to keep supplied with water  The
large houses  the aristocracy  of which the Thenardier tavern formed a
part  paid half a farthing a bucketful to a man who made a business of
it  and who earned about eight sous a day in his enterprise of supplying
Montfermeil with water  but this good man only worked until seven
o clock in the evening in summer  and five in winter  and night once
come and the shutters on the ground floor once closed  he who had no
water to drink went to fetch it for himself or did without it 

This constituted the terror of the poor creature whom the reader has
probably not forgotten   little Cosette  It will be remembered that
Cosette was useful to the Thenardiers in two ways  they made the mother
pay them  and they made the child serve them  So when the mother ceased
to pay altogether  the reason for which we have read in preceding
chapters  the Thenardiers kept Cosette  She took the place of a servant
in their house  In this capacity she it was who ran to fetch water when
it was required  So the child  who was greatly terrified at the idea of
going to the spring at night  took great care that water should never be
lacking in the house 

Christmas of the year 1823 was particularly brilliant at Montfermeil 
The beginning of the winter had been mild  there had been neither snow
nor frost up to that time  Some mountebanks from Paris had obtained
permission of the mayor to erect their booths in the principal street of
the village  and a band of itinerant merchants  under protection of the
same tolerance  had constructed their stalls on the Church Square 
and even extended them into Boulanger Alley  where  as the reader will
perhaps remember  the Thenardiers  hostelry was situated  These people
filled the inns and drinking shops  and communicated to that tranquil
little district a noisy and joyous life  In order to play the part of
a faithful historian  we ought even to add that  among the curiosities
displayed in the square  there was a menagerie  in which frightful
clowns  clad in rags and coming no one knew whence  exhibited to
the peasants of Montfermeil in 1823 one of those horrible Brazilian
vultures  such as our Royal Museum did not possess until 1845  and which
have a tricolored cockade for an eye  I believe that naturalists call
this bird Caracara Polyborus  it belongs to the order of the Apicides 
and to the family of the vultures  Some good old Bonapartist soldiers 
who had retired to the village  went to see this creature with great
devotion  The mountebanks gave out that the tricolored cockade was a
unique phenomenon made by God expressly for their menagerie 

On Christmas eve itself  a number of men  carters  and peddlers  were
seated at table  drinking and smoking around four or five candles in
the public room of Thenardier s hostelry  This room resembled all
drinking shop rooms   tables  pewter jugs  bottles  drinkers  smokers 
but little light and a great deal of noise  The date of the year 1823
was indicated  nevertheless  by two objects which were then fashionable
in the bourgeois class  to wit  a kaleidoscope and a lamp of ribbed tin 
The female Thenardier was attending to the supper  which was roasting in
front of a clear fire  her husband was drinking with his customers and
talking politics 

Besides political conversations which had for their principal subjects
the Spanish war and M  le Duc d Angouleme  strictly local parentheses 
like the following  were audible amid the uproar   

 About Nanterre and Suresnes the vines have flourished greatly  When
ten pieces were reckoned on there have been twelve  They have yielded a
great deal of juice under the press    But the grapes cannot be ripe  
 In those parts the grapes should not be ripe  the wine turns oily as
soon as spring comes    Then it is very thin wine    There are wines
poorer even than these  The grapes must be gathered while green   Etc 

Or a miller would call out   

 Are we responsible for what is in the sacks  We find in them a quantity
of small seed which we cannot sift out  and which we are obliged to send
through the mill stones  there are tares  fennel  vetches  hempseed 
fox tail  and a host of other weeds  not to mention pebbles  which
abound in certain wheat  especially in Breton wheat  I am not fond of
grinding Breton wheat  any more than long sawyers like to saw beams with
nails in them  You can judge of the bad dust that makes in grinding  And
then people complain of the flour  They are in the wrong  The flour is
no fault of ours  

In a space between two windows a mower  who was seated at table with a
landed proprietor who was fixing on a price for some meadow work to be
performed in the spring  was saying   

 It does no harm to have the grass wet  It cuts better  Dew is a good
thing  sir  It makes no difference with that grass  Your grass is young
and very hard to cut still  It s terribly tender  It yields before the
iron   Etc 

Cosette was in her usual place  seated on the cross bar of the kitchen
table near the chimney  She was in rags  her bare feet were thrust into
wooden shoes  and by the firelight she was engaged in knitting woollen
stockings destined for the young Thenardiers  A very young kitten was
playing about among the chairs  Laughter and chatter were audible in
the adjoining room  from two fresh children s voices  it was Eponine and
Azelma 

In the chimney corner a cat o  nine tails was hanging on a nail 

At intervals the cry of a very young child  which was somewhere in the
house  rang through the noise of the dram shop  It was a little boy
who had been born to the Thenardiers during one of the preceding
winters    she did not know why   she said   the result of the
cold    and who was a little more than three years old  The mother had
nursed him  but she did not love him  When the persistent clamor of the
brat became too annoying   Your son is squalling   Thenardier would
say   do go and see what he wants    Bah   the mother would reply   he
bothers me   And the neglected child continued to shriek in the dark 




CHAPTER II  TWO COMPLETE PORTRAITS

So far in this book the Thenardiers have been viewed only in profile 
the moment has arrived for making the circuit of this couple  and
considering it under all its aspects 

Thenardier had just passed his fiftieth birthday  Madame Thenardier was
approaching her forties  which is equivalent to fifty in a woman  so
that there existed a balance of age between husband and wife 

Our readers have possibly preserved some recollection of this Thenardier
woman  ever since her first appearance   tall  blond  red  fat  angular 
square  enormous  and agile  she belonged  as we have said  to the
race of those colossal wild women  who contort themselves at fairs with
paving stones hanging from their hair  She did everything about the
house   made the beds  did the washing  the cooking  and everything
else  Cosette was her only servant  a mouse in the service of an
elephant  Everything trembled at the sound of her voice   window panes 
furniture  and people  Her big face  dotted with red blotches 
presented the appearance of a skimmer  She had a beard  She was an ideal
market porter dressed in woman s clothes  She swore splendidly  she
boasted of being able to crack a nut with one blow of her fist  Except
for the romances which she had read  and which made the affected lady
peep through the ogress at times  in a very queer way  the idea would
never have occurred to any one to say of her   That is a woman  
This Thenardier female was like the product of a wench engrafted on a
fishwife  When one heard her speak  one said   That is a gendarme   when
one saw her drink  one said   That is a carter   when one saw her handle
Cosette  one said   That is the hangman   One of her teeth projected
when her face was in repose 

Thenardier was a small  thin  pale  angular  bony  feeble man  who had
a sickly air and who was wonderfully healthy  His cunning began here 
he smiled habitually  by way of precaution  and was almost polite to
everybody  even to the beggar to whom he refused half a farthing  He had
the glance of a pole cat and the bearing of a man of letters  He greatly
resembled the portraits of the Abbe Delille  His coquetry consisted in
drinking with the carters  No one had ever succeeded in rendering him
drunk  He smoked a big pipe  He wore a blouse  and under his blouse an
old black coat  He made pretensions to literature and to materialism 
There were certain names which he often pronounced to support whatever
things he might be saying   Voltaire  Raynal  Parny  and  singularly
enough  Saint Augustine  He declared that he had  a system   In
addition  he was a great swindler  A filousophe  philosophe   a
scientific thief  The species does exist  It will be remembered that he
pretended to have served in the army  he was in the habit of relating
with exuberance  how  being a sergeant in the 6th or the 9th light
something or other  at Waterloo  he had alone  and in the presence of a
squadron of death dealing hussars  covered with his body and saved
from death  in the midst of the grape shot   a general  who had been
dangerously wounded   Thence arose for his wall the flaring sign  and
for his inn the name which it bore in the neighborhood  of  the cabaret
of the Sergeant of Waterloo   He was a liberal  a classic  and a
Bonapartist  He had subscribed for the Champ d Asile  It was said in the
village that he had studied for the priesthood 

We believe that he had simply studied in Holland for an inn keeper  This
rascal of composite order was  in all probability  some Fleming from
Lille  in Flanders  a Frenchman in Paris  a Belgian at Brussels  being
comfortably astride of both frontiers  As for his prowess at Waterloo 
the reader is already acquainted with that  It will be perceived that
he exaggerated it a trifle  Ebb and flow  wandering  adventure  was
the leven of his existence  a tattered conscience entails a fragmentary
life  and  apparently at the stormy epoch of June 18  1815  Thenardier
belonged to that variety of marauding sutlers of which we have spoken 
beating about the country  selling to some  stealing from others  and
travelling like a family man  with wife and children  in a rickety
cart  in the rear of troops on the march  with an instinct for always
attaching himself to the victorious army  This campaign ended  and
having  as he said   some quibus   he had come to Montfermeil and set up
an inn there 

This quibus  composed of purses and watches  of gold rings and silver
crosses  gathered in harvest time in furrows sown with corpses  did
not amount to a large total  and did not carry this sutler turned
eating house keeper very far 

Thenardier had that peculiar rectilinear something about his gestures
which  accompanied by an oath  recalls the barracks  and by a sign
of the cross  the seminary  He was a fine talker  He allowed it to be
thought that he was an educated man  Nevertheless  the schoolmaster had
noticed that he pronounced improperly  12 

He composed the travellers  tariff card in a superior manner  but
practised eyes sometimes spied out orthographical errors in it 
Thenardier was cunning  greedy  slothful  and clever  He did not disdain
his servants  which caused his wife to dispense with them  This giantess
was jealous  It seemed to her that that thin and yellow little man must
be an object coveted by all 

Thenardier  who was  above all  an astute and well balanced man  was a
scamp of a temperate sort  This is the worst species  hypocrisy enters
into it 

It is not that Thenardier was not  on occasion  capable of wrath to
quite the same degree as his wife  but this was very rare  and at such
times  since he was enraged with the human race in general  as he bore
within him a deep furnace of hatred  And since he was one of those
people who are continually avenging their wrongs  who accuse everything
that passes before them of everything which has befallen them  and who
are always ready to cast upon the first person who comes to hand  as a
legitimate grievance  the sum total of the deceptions  the bankruptcies 
and the calamities of their lives   when all this leaven was stirred up
in him and boiled forth from his mouth and eyes  he was terrible  Woe to
the person who came under his wrath at such a time 

In addition to his other qualities  Thenardier was attentive and
penetrating  silent or talkative  according to circumstances  and always
highly intelligent  He had something of the look of sailors  who are
accustomed to screw up their eyes to gaze through marine glasses 
Thenardier was a statesman 

Every new comer who entered the tavern said  on catching sight of Madame
Thenardier   There is the master of the house   A mistake  She was not
even the mistress  The husband was both master and mistress  She worked 
he created  He directed everything by a sort of invisible and constant
magnetic action  A word was sufficient for him  sometimes a sign  the
mastodon obeyed  Thenardier was a sort of special and sovereign being in
Madame Thenardier s eyes  though she did not thoroughly realize it 
She was possessed of virtues after her own kind  if she had ever had a
disagreement as to any detail with  Monsieur Thenardier    which was
an inadmissible hypothesis  by the way   she would not have blamed
her husband in public on any subject whatever  She would never have
committed  before strangers  that mistake so often committed by women 
and which is called in parliamentary language   exposing the crown  
Although their concord had only evil as its result  there was
contemplation in Madame Thenardier s submission to her husband  That
mountain of noise and of flesh moved under the little finger of that
frail despot  Viewed on its dwarfed and grotesque side  this was that
grand and universal thing  the adoration of mind by matter  for certain
ugly features have a cause in the very depths of eternal beauty  There
was an unknown quantity about Thenardier  hence the absolute empire
of the man over that woman  At certain moments she beheld him like a
lighted candle  at others she felt him like a claw 

This woman was a formidable creature who loved no one except her
children  and who did not fear any one except her husband  She was a
mother because she was mammiferous  But her maternity stopped short with
her daughters  and  as we shall see  did not extend to boys  The man had
but one thought   how to enrich himself 

He did not succeed in this  A theatre worthy of this great talent was
lacking  Thenardier was ruining himself at Montfermeil  if ruin is
possible to zero  in Switzerland or in the Pyrenees this penniless scamp
would have become a millionaire  but an inn keeper must browse where
fate has hitched him 

It will be understood that the word inn keeper is here employed in a
restricted sense  and does not extend to an entire class 

In this same year  1823  Thenardier was burdened with about fifteen
hundred francs  worth of petty debts  and this rendered him anxious 

Whatever may have been the obstinate injustice of destiny in this case 
Thenardier was one of those men who understand best  with the most
profundity and in the most modern fashion  that thing which is a virtue
among barbarous peoples and an object of merchandise among civilized
peoples   hospitality  Besides  he was an admirable poacher  and quoted
for his skill in shooting  He had a certain cold and tranquil laugh 
which was particularly dangerous 

His theories as a landlord sometimes burst forth in lightning flashes 
He had professional aphorisms  which he inserted into his wife s mind 
 The duty of the inn keeper   he said to her one day  violently  and in
a low voice   is to sell to the first comer  stews  repose  light  fire 
dirty sheets  a servant  lice  and a smile  to stop passers by  to empty
small purses  and to honestly lighten heavy ones  to shelter travelling
families respectfully  to shave the man  to pluck the woman  to pick
the child clean  to quote the window open  the window shut  the
chimney corner  the arm chair  the chair  the ottoman  the stool  the
feather bed  the mattress and the truss of straw  to know how much
the shadow uses up the mirror  and to put a price on it  and  by five
hundred thousand devils  to make the traveller pay for everything  even
for the flies which his dog eats  

This man and this woman were ruse and rage wedded  a hideous and
terrible team 

While the husband pondered and combined  Madame Thenardier thought not
of absent creditors  took no heed of yesterday nor of to morrow  and
lived in a fit of anger  all in a minute 

Such were these two beings  Cosette was between them  subjected to their
double pressure  like a creature who is at the same time being ground up
in a mill and pulled to pieces with pincers  The man and the woman each
had a different method  Cosette was overwhelmed with blows  this was the
woman s  she went barefooted in winter  that was the man s doing 

Cosette ran up stairs and down  washed  swept  rubbed  dusted  ran 
fluttered about  panted  moved heavy articles  and weak as she was 
did the coarse work  There was no mercy for her  a fierce mistress and
venomous master  The Thenardier hostelry was like a spider s web  in
which Cosette had been caught  and where she lay trembling  The ideal
of oppression was realized by this sinister household  It was something
like the fly serving the spiders 

The poor child passively held her peace 

What takes place within these souls when they have but just quitted God 
find themselves thus  at the very dawn of life  very small and in the
midst of men all naked 




CHAPTER III  MEN MUST HAVE WINE  AND HORSES MUST HAVE WATER

Four new travellers had arrived 

Cosette was meditating sadly  for  although she was only eight years
old  she had already suffered so much that she reflected with the
lugubrious air of an old woman  Her eye was black in consequence of a
blow from Madame Thenardier s fist  which caused the latter to remark
from time to time   How ugly she is with her fist blow on her eye  

Cosette was thinking that it was dark  very dark  that the pitchers and
caraffes in the chambers of the travellers who had arrived must have
been filled and that there was no more water in the cistern 

She was somewhat reassured because no one in the Thenardier
establishment drank much water  Thirsty people were never lacking there 
but their thirst was of the sort which applies to the jug rather than to
the pitcher  Any one who had asked for a glass of water among all those
glasses of wine would have appeared a savage to all these men  But there
came a moment when the child trembled  Madame Thenardier raised the
cover of a stew pan which was boiling on the stove  then seized a glass
and briskly approached the cistern  She turned the faucet  the child
had raised her head and was following all the woman s movements  A thin
stream of water trickled from the faucet  and half filled the glass 
 Well   said she   there is no more water   A momentary silence ensued 
The child did not breathe 

 Bah   resumed Madame Thenardier  examining the half filled glass   this
will be enough  

Cosette applied herself to her work once more  but for a quarter of an
hour she felt her heart leaping in her bosom like a big snow flake 

She counted the minutes that passed in this manner  and wished it were
the next morning 

From time to time one of the drinkers looked into the street  and
exclaimed   It s as black as an oven   or   One must needs be a cat
to go about the streets without a lantern at this hour   And Cosette
trembled 

All at once one of the pedlers who lodged in the hostelry entered  and
said in a harsh voice   

 My horse has not been watered  

 Yes  it has   said Madame Thenardier 

 I tell you that it has not   retorted the pedler 

Cosette had emerged from under the table 

 Oh  yes  sir   said she   the horse has had a drink  he drank out of a
bucket  a whole bucketful  and it was I who took the water to him  and I
spoke to him  

It was not true  Cosette lied 

 There s a brat as big as my fist who tells lies as big as the house  
exclaimed the pedler   I tell you that he has not been watered  you
little jade  He has a way of blowing when he has had no water  which I
know well  

Cosette persisted  and added in a voice rendered hoarse with anguish 
and which was hardly audible   

 And he drank heartily  

 Come   said the pedler  in a rage   this won t do at all  let my horse
be watered  and let that be the end of it  

Cosette crept under the table again 

 In truth  that is fair   said Madame Thenardier   if the beast has not
been watered  it must be  

Then glancing about her   

 Well  now  Where s that other beast  

She bent down and discovered Cosette cowering at the other end of the
table  almost under the drinkers  feet 

 Are you coming   shrieked Madame Thenardier 

Cosette crawled out of the sort of hole in which she had hidden herself 
The Thenardier resumed   

 Mademoiselle Dog lack name  go and water that horse  

 But  Madame   said Cosette  feebly   there is no water  

The Thenardier threw the street door wide open   

 Well  go and get some  then  

Cosette dropped her head  and went for an empty bucket which stood near
the chimney corner 

This bucket was bigger than she was  and the child could have set down
in it at her ease 

The Thenardier returned to her stove  and tasted what was in the
stewpan  with a wooden spoon  grumbling the while   

 There s plenty in the spring  There never was such a malicious creature
as that  I think I should have done better to strain my onions  

Then she rummaged in a drawer which contained sous  pepper  and
shallots 

 See here  Mam selle Toad   she added   on your way back  you will get a
big loaf from the baker  Here s a fifteen sou piece  

Cosette had a little pocket on one side of her apron  she took the coin
without saying a word  and put it in that pocket 

Then she stood motionless  bucket in hand  the open door before her  She
seemed to be waiting for some one to come to her rescue 

 Get along with you   screamed the Thenardier 

Cosette went out  The door closed behind her 




CHAPTER IV  ENTRANCE ON THE SCENE OF A DOLL

The line of open air booths starting at the church  extended  as the
reader will remember  as far as the hostelry of the Thenardiers  These
booths were all illuminated  because the citizens would soon pass on
their way to the midnight mass  with candles burning in paper funnels 
which  as the schoolmaster  then seated at the table at the Thenardiers 
observed  produced  a magical effect   In compensation  not a star was
visible in the sky 

The last of these stalls  established precisely opposite the
Thenardiers  door  was a toy shop all glittering with tinsel  glass 
and magnificent objects of tin  In the first row  and far forwards  the
merchant had placed on a background of white napkins  an immense doll 
nearly two feet high  who was dressed in a robe of pink crepe  with gold
wheat ears on her head  which had real hair and enamel eyes  All that
day  this marvel had been displayed to the wonderment of all passers by
under ten years of age  without a mother being found in Montfermeil
sufficiently rich or sufficiently extravagant to give it to her child 
Eponine and Azelma had passed hours in contemplating it  and Cosette
herself had ventured to cast a glance at it  on the sly  it is true 

At the moment when Cosette emerged  bucket in hand  melancholy and
overcome as she was  she could not refrain from lifting her eyes to
that wonderful doll  towards the lady  as she called it  The poor child
paused in amazement  She had not yet beheld that doll close to  The
whole shop seemed a palace to her  the doll was not a doll  it was a
vision  It was joy  splendor  riches  happiness  which appeared in
a sort of chimerical halo to that unhappy little being so profoundly
engulfed in gloomy and chilly misery  With the sad and innocent sagacity
of childhood  Cosette measured the abyss which separated her from
that doll  She said to herself that one must be a queen  or at least a
princess  to have a  thing  like that  She gazed at that beautiful pink
dress  that beautiful smooth hair  and she thought   How happy that doll
must be   She could not take her eyes from that fantastic stall  The
more she looked  the more dazzled she grew  She thought she was gazing
at paradise  There were other dolls behind the large one  which seemed
to her to be fairies and genii  The merchant  who was pacing back and
forth in front of his shop  produced on her somewhat the effect of being
the Eternal Father 

In this adoration she forgot everything  even the errand with which she
was charged 

All at once the Thenardier s coarse voice recalled her to reality 
 What  you silly jade  you have not gone  Wait  I ll give it to you  I
want to know what you are doing there  Get along  you little monster  

The Thenardier had cast a glance into the street  and had caught sight
of Cosette in her ecstasy 

Cosette fled  dragging her pail  and taking the longest strides of which
she was capable 




CHAPTER V  THE LITTLE ONE ALL ALONE

As the Thenardier hostelry was in that part of the village which is
near the church  it was to the spring in the forest in the direction of
Chelles that Cosette was obliged to go for her water 

She did not glance at the display of a single other merchant  So long
as she was in Boulanger Lane and in the neighborhood of the church  the
lighted stalls illuminated the road  but soon the last light from the
last stall vanished  The poor child found herself in the dark  She
plunged into it  Only  as a certain emotion overcame her  she made as
much motion as possible with the handle of the bucket as she walked
along  This made a noise which afforded her company 

The further she went  the denser the darkness became  There was no one
in the streets  However  she did encounter a woman  who turned around
on seeing her  and stood still  muttering between her teeth   Where can
that child be going  Is it a werewolf child   Then the woman recognized
Cosette   Well   said she   it s the Lark  

In this manner Cosette traversed the labyrinth of tortuous and deserted
streets which terminate in the village of Montfermeil on the side of
Chelles  So long as she had the houses or even the walls only on both
sides of her path  she proceeded with tolerable boldness  From time
to time she caught the flicker of a candle through the crack of a
shutter  this was light and life  there were people there  and it
reassured her  But in proportion as she advanced  her pace slackened
mechanically  as it were  When she had passed the corner of the last
house  Cosette paused  It had been hard to advance further than the last
stall  it became impossible to proceed further than the last house  She
set her bucket on the ground  thrust her hand into her hair  and
began slowly to scratch her head   a gesture peculiar to children when
terrified and undecided what to do  It was no longer Montfermeil  it
was the open fields  Black and desert space was before her  She gazed in
despair at that darkness  where there was no longer any one  where there
were beasts  where there were spectres  possibly  She took a good
look  and heard the beasts walking on the grass  and she distinctly saw
spectres moving in the trees  Then she seized her bucket again  fear had
lent her audacity   Bah   said she   I will tell him that there was no
more water   And she resolutely re entered Montfermeil 

Hardly had she gone a hundred paces when she paused and began to scratch
her head again  Now it was the Thenardier who appeared to her  with her
hideous  hyena mouth  and wrath flashing in her eyes  The child cast a
melancholy glance before her and behind her  What was she to do  What
was to become of her  Where was she to go  In front of her was the
spectre of the Thenardier  behind her all the phantoms of the night
and of the forest  It was before the Thenardier that she recoiled  She
resumed her path to the spring  and began to run  She emerged from
the village  she entered the forest at a run  no longer looking at or
listening to anything  She only paused in her course when her breath
failed her  but she did not halt in her advance  She went straight
before her in desperation 

As she ran she felt like crying 

The nocturnal quivering of the forest surrounded her completely 

She no longer thought  she no longer saw  The immensity of night was
facing this tiny creature  On the one hand  all shadow  on the other  an
atom 

It was only seven or eight minutes  walk from the edge of the woods to
the spring  Cosette knew the way  through having gone over it many times
in daylight  Strange to say  she did not get lost  A remnant of instinct
guided her vaguely  But she did not turn her eyes either to right or to
left  for fear of seeing things in the branches and in the brushwood  In
this manner she reached the spring 

It was a narrow  natural basin  hollowed out by the water in a clayey
soil  about two feet deep  surrounded with moss and with those tall 
crimped grasses which are called Henry IV  s frills  and paved with
several large stones  A brook ran out of it  with a tranquil little
noise 

Cosette did not take time to breathe  It was very dark  but she was in
the habit of coming to this spring  She felt with her left hand in the
dark for a young oak which leaned over the spring  and which usually
served to support her  found one of its branches  clung to it  bent
down  and plunged the bucket in the water  She was in a state of such
violent excitement that her strength was trebled  While thus bent over 
she did not notice that the pocket of her apron had emptied itself into
the spring  The fifteen sou piece fell into the water  Cosette neither
saw nor heard it fall  She drew out the bucket nearly full  and set it
on the grass 

That done  she perceived that she was worn out with fatigue  She would
have liked to set out again at once  but the effort required to fill the
bucket had been such that she found it impossible to take a step  She
was forced to sit down  She dropped on the grass  and remained crouching
there 

She shut her eyes  then she opened them again  without knowing why  but
because she could not do otherwise  The agitated water in the bucket
beside her was describing circles which resembled tin serpents 

Overhead the sky was covered with vast black clouds  which were like
masses of smoke  The tragic mask of shadow seemed to bend vaguely over
the child 

Jupiter was setting in the depths 

The child stared with bewildered eyes at this great star  with which she
was unfamiliar  and which terrified her  The planet was  in fact  very
near the horizon and was traversing a dense layer of mist which imparted
to it a horrible ruddy hue  The mist  gloomily empurpled  magnified the
star  One would have called it a luminous wound 

A cold wind was blowing from the plain  The forest was dark  not a leaf
was moving  there were none of the vague  fresh gleams of summertide 
Great boughs uplifted themselves in frightful wise  Slender and
misshapen bushes whistled in the clearings  The tall grasses undulated
like eels under the north wind  The nettles seemed to twist long arms
furnished with claws in search of prey  Some bits of dry heather  tossed
by the breeze  flew rapidly by  and had the air of fleeing in terror
before something which was coming after  On all sides there were
lugubrious stretches 

The darkness was bewildering  Man requires light  Whoever buries himself
in the opposite of day feels his heart contract  When the eye sees
black  the heart sees trouble  In an eclipse in the night  in the sooty
opacity  there is anxiety even for the stoutest of hearts  No one walks
alone in the forest at night without trembling  Shadows and trees  two
formidable densities  A chimerical reality appears in the indistinct
depths  The inconceivable is outlined a few paces distant from you with
a spectral clearness  One beholds floating  either in space or in one s
own brain  one knows not what vague and intangible thing  like the
dreams of sleeping flowers  There are fierce attitudes on the horizon 
One inhales the effluvia of the great black void  One is afraid to
glance behind him  yet desirous of doing so  The cavities of night 
things grown haggard  taciturn profiles which vanish when one advances 
obscure dishevelments  irritated tufts  livid pools  the lugubrious
reflected in the funereal  the sepulchral immensity of silence  unknown
but possible beings  bendings of mysterious branches  alarming torsos of
trees  long handfuls of quivering plants   against all this one has no
protection  There is no hardihood which does not shudder and which does
not feel the vicinity of anguish  One is conscious of something hideous 
as though one s soul were becoming amalgamated with the darkness  This
penetration of the shadows is indescribably sinister in the case of a
child 

Forests are apocalypses  and the beating of the wings of a tiny soul
produces a sound of agony beneath their monstrous vault 

Without understanding her sensations  Cosette was conscious that she was
seized upon by that black enormity of nature  it was no longer terror
alone which was gaining possession of her  it was something more
terrible even than terror  she shivered  There are no words to express
the strangeness of that shiver which chilled her to the very bottom of
her heart  her eye grew wild  she thought she felt that she should not
be able to refrain from returning there at the same hour on the morrow 

Then  by a sort of instinct  she began to count aloud  one  two  three 
four  and so on up to ten  in order to escape from that singular state
which she did not understand  but which terrified her  and  when she had
finished  she began again  this restored her to a true perception of
the things about her  Her hands  which she had wet in drawing the water 
felt cold  she rose  her terror  a natural and unconquerable terror  had
returned  she had but one thought now   to flee at full speed through
the forest  across the fields to the houses  to the windows  to the
lighted candles  Her glance fell upon the water which stood before her 
such was the fright which the Thenardier inspired in her  that she dared
not flee without that bucket of water  she seized the handle with both
hands  she could hardly lift the pail 

In this manner she advanced a dozen paces  but the bucket was full  it
was heavy  she was forced to set it on the ground once more  She took
breath for an instant  then lifted the handle of the bucket again  and
resumed her march  proceeding a little further this time  but again she
was obliged to pause  After some seconds of repose she set out again 
She walked bent forward  with drooping head  like an old woman  the
weight of the bucket strained and stiffened her thin arms  The iron
handle completed the benumbing and freezing of her wet and tiny hands 
she was forced to halt from time to time  and each time that she did so 
the cold water which splashed from the pail fell on her bare legs  This
took place in the depths of a forest  at night  in winter  far from all
human sight  she was a child of eight  no one but God saw that sad thing
at the moment 

And her mother  no doubt  alas 

For there are things that make the dead open their eyes in their graves 

She panted with a sort of painful rattle  sobs contracted her throat 
but she dared not weep  so afraid was she of the Thenardier  even at a
distance  it was her custom to imagine the Thenardier always present 

However  she could not make much headway in that manner  and she went
on very slowly  In spite of diminishing the length of her stops  and
of walking as long as possible between them  she reflected with anguish
that it would take her more than an hour to return to Montfermeil in
this manner  and that the Thenardier would beat her  This anguish was
mingled with her terror at being alone in the woods at night  she was
worn out with fatigue  and had not yet emerged from the forest  On
arriving near an old chestnut tree with which she was acquainted  made
a last halt  longer than the rest  in order that she might get well
rested  then she summoned up all her strength  picked up her bucket
again  and courageously resumed her march  but the poor little desperate
creature could not refrain from crying   O my God  my God  

At that moment she suddenly became conscious that her bucket no longer
weighed anything at all  a hand  which seemed to her enormous  had just
seized the handle  and lifted it vigorously  She raised her head  A
large black form  straight and erect  was walking beside her through the
darkness  it was a man who had come up behind her  and whose approach
she had not heard  This man  without uttering a word  had seized the
handle of the bucket which she was carrying 

There are instincts for all the encounters of life 

The child was not afraid 




CHAPTER VI  WHICH POSSIBLY PROVES BOULATRUELLE S INTELLIGENCE

On the afternoon of that same Christmas Day  1823  a man had walked
for rather a long time in the most deserted part of the Boulevard de
l Hopital in Paris  This man had the air of a person who is seeking
lodgings  and he seemed to halt  by preference  at the most modest
houses on that dilapidated border of the faubourg Saint Marceau 

We shall see further on that this man had  in fact  hired a chamber in
that isolated quarter 

This man  in his attire  as in all his person  realized the type of what
may be called the well bred mendicant   extreme wretchedness combined
with extreme cleanliness  This is a very rare mixture which inspires
intelligent hearts with that double respect which one feels for the man
who is very poor  and for the man who is very worthy  He wore a very
old and very well brushed round hat  a coarse coat  worn perfectly
threadbare  of an ochre yellow  a color that was not in the least
eccentric at that epoch  a large waistcoat with pockets of a venerable
cut  black breeches  worn gray at the knee  stockings of black worsted 
and thick shoes with copper buckles  He would have been pronounced a
preceptor in some good family  returned from the emigration  He would
have been taken for more than sixty years of age  from his perfectly
white hair  his wrinkled brow  his livid lips  and his countenance 
where everything breathed depression and weariness of life  Judging from
his firm tread  from the singular vigor which stamped all his movements 
he would have hardly been thought fifty  The wrinkles on his brow were
well placed  and would have disposed in his favor any one who observed
him attentively  His lip contracted with a strange fold which seemed
severe  and which was humble  There was in the depth of his glance an
indescribable melancholy serenity  In his left hand he carried a little
bundle tied up in a handkerchief  in his right he leaned on a sort of a
cudgel  cut from some hedge  This stick had been carefully trimmed  and
had an air that was not too threatening  the most had been made of its
knots  and it had received a coral like head  made from red wax  it was
a cudgel  and it seemed to be a cane 

There are but few passers by on that boulevard  particularly in the
winter  The man seemed to avoid them rather than to seek them  but this
without any affectation 

At that epoch  King Louis XVIII  went nearly every day to Choisy le Roi 
it was one of his favorite excursions  Towards two o clock  almost
invariably  the royal carriage and cavalcade was seen to pass at full
speed along the Boulevard de l Hopital 

This served in lieu of a watch or clock to the poor women of the quarter
who said   It is two o clock  there he is returning to the Tuileries  

And some rushed forward  and others drew up in line  for a passing king
always creates a tumult  besides  the appearance and disappearance of
Louis XVIII  produced a certain effect in the streets of Paris  It was
rapid but majestic  This impotent king had a taste for a fast gallop 
as he was not able to walk  he wished to run  that cripple would gladly
have had himself drawn by the lightning  He passed  pacific and severe 
in the midst of naked swords  His massive couch  all covered with
gilding  with great branches of lilies painted on the panels  thundered
noisily along  There was hardly time to cast a glance upon it  In the
rear angle on the right there was visible on tufted cushions of white
satin a large  firm  and ruddy face  a brow freshly powdered a l oiseau
royal  a proud  hard  crafty eye  the smile of an educated man  two
great epaulets with bullion fringe floating over a bourgeois coat  the
Golden Fleece  the cross of Saint Louis  the cross of the Legion of
Honor  the silver plaque of the Saint Esprit  a huge belly  and a wide
blue ribbon  it was the king  Outside of Paris  he held his hat decked
with white ostrich plumes on his knees enwrapped in high English
gaiters  when he re entered the city  he put on his hat and saluted
rarely  he stared coldly at the people  and they returned it in kind 
When he appeared for the first time in the Saint Marceau quarter 
the whole success which he produced is contained in this remark of an
inhabitant of the faubourg to his comrade   That big fellow yonder is
the government  

This infallible passage of the king at the same hour was  therefore  the
daily event of the Boulevard de l Hopital 

The promenader in the yellow coat evidently did not belong in the
quarter  and probably did not belong in Paris  for he was ignorant as to
this detail  When  at two o clock  the royal carriage  surrounded by a
squadron of the body guard all covered with silver lace  debouched
on the boulevard  after having made the turn of the Salpetriere  he
appeared surprised and almost alarmed  There was no one but himself in
this cross lane  He drew up hastily behind the corner of the wall of an
enclosure  though this did not prevent M  le Duc de Havre from spying
him out 

M  le Duc de Havre  as captain of the guard on duty that day  was seated
in the carriage  opposite the king  He said to his Majesty   Yonder
is an evil looking man   Members of the police  who were clearing the
king s route  took equal note of him  one of them received an order to
follow him  But the man plunged into the deserted little streets of the
faubourg  and as twilight was beginning to fall  the agent lost trace of
him  as is stated in a report addressed that same evening to M  le Comte
d Angles  Minister of State  Prefect of Police 

When the man in the yellow coat had thrown the agent off his track 
he redoubled his pace  not without turning round many a time to assure
himself that he was not being followed  At a quarter past four  that is
to say  when night was fully come  he passed in front of the theatre
of the Porte Saint Martin  where The Two Convicts was being played that
day  This poster  illuminated by the theatre lanterns  struck him  for 
although he was walking rapidly  he halted to read it  An instant later
he was in the blind alley of La Planchette  and he entered the Plat
d Etain  the Pewter Platter   where the office of the coach for Lagny
was then situated  This coach set out at half past four  The horses were
harnessed  and the travellers  summoned by the coachman  were hastily
climbing the lofty iron ladder of the vehicle 

The man inquired   

 Have you a place  

 Only one  beside me on the box   said the coachman 

 I will take it  

 Climb up  

Nevertheless  before setting out  the coachman cast a glance at the
traveller s shabby dress  at the diminutive size of his bundle  and made
him pay his fare 

 Are you going as far as Lagny   demanded the coachman 

 Yes   said the man 

The traveller paid to Lagny 

They started  When they had passed the barrier  the coachman tried
to enter into conversation  but the traveller only replied in
monosyllables  The coachman took to whistling and swearing at his
horses 

The coachman wrapped himself up in his cloak  It was cold  The man
did not appear to be thinking of that  Thus they passed Gournay and
Neuilly sur Marne 

Towards six o clock in the evening they reached Chelles  The coachman
drew up in front of the carters  inn installed in the ancient buildings
of the Royal Abbey  to give his horses a breathing spell 

 I get down here   said the man 

He took his bundle and his cudgel and jumped down from the vehicle 

An instant later he had disappeared 

He did not enter the inn 

When the coach set out for Lagny a few minutes later  it did not
encounter him in the principal street of Chelles 

The coachman turned to the inside travellers 

 There   said he   is a man who does not belong here  for I do not know
him  He had not the air of owning a sou  but he does not consider money 
he pays to Lagny  and he goes only as far as Chelles  It is night  all
the houses are shut  he does not enter the inn  and he is not to be
found  So he has dived through the earth  

The man had not plunged into the earth  but he had gone with great
strides through the dark  down the principal street of Chelles  then he
had turned to the right before reaching the church  into the cross road
leading to Montfermeil  like a person who was acquainted with the
country and had been there before 

He followed this road rapidly  At the spot where it is intersected by
the ancient tree bordered road which runs from Gagny to Lagny  he heard
people coming  He concealed himself precipitately in a ditch  and there
waited until the passers by were at a distance  The precaution was
nearly superfluous  however  for  as we have already said  it was a very
dark December night  Not more than two or three stars were visible in
the sky 

It is at this point that the ascent of the hill begins  The man did not
return to the road to Montfermeil  he struck across the fields to the
right  and entered the forest with long strides 

Once in the forest he slackened his pace  and began a careful
examination of all the trees  advancing  step by step  as though seeking
and following a mysterious road known to himself alone  There came a
moment when he appeared to lose himself  and he paused in indecision  At
last he arrived  by dint of feeling his way inch by inch  at a clearing
where there was a great heap of whitish stones  He stepped up briskly to
these stones  and examined them attentively through the mists of night 
as though he were passing them in review  A large tree  covered with
those excrescences which are the warts of vegetation  stood a few paces
distant from the pile of stones  He went up to this tree and passed
his hand over the bark of the trunk  as though seeking to recognize and
count all the warts 

Opposite this tree  which was an ash  there was a chestnut tree 
suffering from a peeling of the bark  to which a band of zinc had been
nailed by way of dressing  He raised himself on tiptoe and touched this
band of zinc 

Then he trod about for awhile on the ground comprised in the space
between the tree and the heap of stones  like a person who is trying to
assure himself that the soil has not recently been disturbed 

That done  he took his bearings  and resumed his march through the
forest 

It was the man who had just met Cosette 

As he walked through the thicket in the direction of Montfermeil  he had
espied that tiny shadow moving with a groan  depositing a burden on
the ground  then taking it up and setting out again  He drew near  and
perceived that it was a very young child  laden with an enormous bucket
of water  Then he approached the child  and silently grasped the handle
of the bucket 




CHAPTER VII  COSETTE SIDE BY SIDE WITH THE STRANGER IN THE DARK

Cosette  as we have said  was not frightened 

The man accosted her  He spoke in a voice that was grave and almost
bass 

 My child  what you are carrying is very heavy for you  

Cosette raised her head and replied   

 Yes  sir  

 Give it to me   said the man   I will carry it for you  

Cosette let go of the bucket handle  The man walked along beside her 

 It really is very heavy   he muttered between his teeth  Then he
added   

 How old are you  little one  

 Eight  sir  

 And have you come from far like this  

 From the spring in the forest  

 Are you going far  

 A good quarter of an hour s walk from here  

The man said nothing for a moment  then he remarked abruptly   

 So you have no mother  

 I don t know   answered the child 

Before the man had time to speak again  she added   

 I don t think so  Other people have mothers  I have none  

And after a silence she went on   

 I think that I never had any  

The man halted  he set the bucket on the ground  bent down and placed
both hands on the child s shoulders  making an effort to look at her and
to see her face in the dark 

Cosette s thin and sickly face was vaguely outlined by the livid light
in the sky 

 What is your name   said the man 

 Cosette  

The man seemed to have received an electric shock  He looked at her once
more  then he removed his hands from Cosette s shoulders  seized the
bucket  and set out again 

After a moment he inquired   

 Where do you live  little one  

 At Montfermeil  if you know where that is  

 That is where we are going  

 Yes  sir  

He paused  then began again   

 Who sent you at such an hour to get water in the forest  

 It was Madame Thenardier  

The man resumed  in a voice which he strove to render indifferent  but
in which there was  nevertheless  a singular tremor   

 What does your Madame Thenardier do  

 She is my mistress   said the child   She keeps the inn  

 The inn   said the man   Well  I am going to lodge there to night  Show
me the way  

 We are on the way there   said the child 

The man walked tolerably fast  Cosette followed him without difficulty 
She no longer felt any fatigue  From time to time she raised her eyes
towards the man  with a sort of tranquillity and an indescribable
confidence  She had never been taught to turn to Providence and to pray 
nevertheless  she felt within her something which resembled hope and
joy  and which mounted towards heaven 

Several minutes elapsed  The man resumed   

 Is there no servant in Madame Thenardier s house  

 No  sir  

 Are you alone there  

 Yes  sir  

Another pause ensued  Cosette lifted up her voice   

 That is to say  there are two little girls  

 What little girls  

 Ponine and Zelma  

This was the way the child simplified the romantic names so dear to the
female Thenardier 

 Who are Ponine and Zelma  

 They are Madame Thenardier s young ladies  her daughters  as you would
say  

 And what do those girls do  

 Oh   said the child   they have beautiful dolls  things with gold in
them  all full of affairs  They play  they amuse themselves  

 All day long  

 Yes  sir  

 And you  

 I  I work  

 All day long  

The child raised her great eyes  in which hung a tear  which was not
visible because of the darkness  and replied gently   

 Yes  sir  

After an interval of silence she went on   

 Sometimes  when I have finished my work and they let me  I amuse
myself  too  

 How do you amuse yourself  

 In the best way I can  They let me alone  but I have not many
playthings  Ponine and Zelma will not let me play with their dolls  I
have only a little lead sword  no longer than that  

The child held up her tiny finger 

 And it will not cut  

 Yes  sir   said the child   it cuts salad and the heads of flies  

They reached the village  Cosette guided the stranger through the
streets  They passed the bakeshop  but Cosette did not think of the
bread which she had been ordered to fetch  The man had ceased to ply her
with questions  and now preserved a gloomy silence 

When they had left the church behind them  the man  on perceiving all
the open air booths  asked Cosette   

 So there is a fair going on here  

 No  sir  it is Christmas  

As they approached the tavern  Cosette timidly touched his arm   

 Monsieur  

 What  my child  

 We are quite near the house  

 Well  

 Will you let me take my bucket now  

 Why  

 If Madame sees that some one has carried it for me  she will beat me  

The man handed her the bucket  An instant later they were at the tavern
door 




CHAPTER VIII  THE UNPLEASANTNESS OF RECEIVING INTO ONE S HOUSE A POOR
MAN WHO MAY BE A RICH MAN


Cosette could not refrain from casting a sidelong glance at the big
doll  which was still displayed at the toy merchant s  then she knocked 
The door opened  The Thenardier appeared with a candle in her hand 


 Ah  so it s you  you little wretch  good mercy  but you ve taken your
time  The hussy has been amusing herself  

 Madame   said Cosette  trembling all over   here s a gentleman who
wants a lodging  

The Thenardier speedily replaced her gruff air by her amiable grimace 
a change of aspect common to tavern keepers  and eagerly sought the
new comer with her eyes 

 This is the gentleman   said she 

 Yes  Madame   replied the man  raising his hand to his hat 

Wealthy travellers are not so polite  This gesture  and an inspection
of the stranger s costume and baggage  which the Thenardier passed in
review with one glance  caused the amiable grimace to vanish  and the
gruff mien to reappear  She resumed dryly   

 Enter  my good man  

The  good man  entered  The Thenardier cast a second glance at him  paid
particular attention to his frock coat  which was absolutely threadbare 
and to his hat  which was a little battered  and  tossing her head 
wrinkling her nose  and screwing up her eyes  she consulted her husband 
who was still drinking with the carters  The husband replied by that
imperceptible movement of the forefinger  which  backed up by an
inflation of the lips  signifies in such cases  A regular beggar 
Thereupon  the Thenardier exclaimed   

 Ah  see here  my good man  I am very sorry  but I have no room left  

 Put me where you like   said the man   in the attic  in the stable  I
will pay as though I occupied a room  

 Forty sous  

 Forty sous  agreed  

 Very well  then  

 Forty sous   said a carter  in a low tone  to the Thenardier woman 
 why  the charge is only twenty sous  

 It is forty in his case   retorted the Thenardier  in the same tone   I
don t lodge poor folks for less  

 That s true   added her husband  gently   it ruins a house to have such
people in it  

In the meantime  the man  laying his bundle and his cudgel on a bench 
had seated himself at a table  on which Cosette made haste to place a
bottle of wine and a glass  The merchant who had demanded the bucket of
water took it to his horse himself  Cosette resumed her place under the
kitchen table  and her knitting 

The man  who had barely moistened his lips in the wine which he had
poured out for himself  observed the child with peculiar attention 

Cosette was ugly  If she had been happy  she might have been pretty  We
have already given a sketch of that sombre little figure  Cosette was
thin and pale  she was nearly eight years old  but she seemed to be
hardly six  Her large eyes  sunken in a sort of shadow  were almost put
out with weeping  The corners of her mouth had that curve of habitual
anguish which is seen in condemned persons and desperately sick people 
Her hands were  as her mother had divined   ruined with chilblains   The
fire which illuminated her at that moment brought into relief all the
angles of her bones  and rendered her thinness frightfully apparent 
As she was always shivering  she had acquired the habit of pressing her
knees one against the other  Her entire clothing was but a rag which
would have inspired pity in summer  and which inspired horror in winter 
All she had on was hole ridden linen  not a scrap of woollen  Her skin
was visible here and there and everywhere black and blue spots could be
descried  which marked the places where the Thenardier woman had touched
her  Her naked legs were thin and red  The hollows in her neck were
enough to make one weep  This child s whole person  her mien  her
attitude  the sound of her voice  the intervals which she allowed to
elapse between one word and the next  her glance  her silence  her
slightest gesture  expressed and betrayed one sole idea   fear 

Fear was diffused all over her  she was covered with it  so to speak 
fear drew her elbows close to her hips  withdrew her heels under her
petticoat  made her occupy as little space as possible  allowed her only
the breath that was absolutely necessary  and had become what might be
called the habit of her body  admitting of no possible variation except
an increase  In the depths of her eyes there was an astonished nook
where terror lurked 

Her fear was such  that on her arrival  wet as she was  Cosette did not
dare to approach the fire and dry herself  but sat silently down to her
work again 

The expression in the glance of that child of eight years was habitually
so gloomy  and at times so tragic  that it seemed at certain moments as
though she were on the verge of becoming an idiot or a demon 

As we have stated  she had never known what it is to pray  she had never
set foot in a church   Have I the time   said the Thenardier 

The man in the yellow coat never took his eyes from Cosette 

All at once  the Thenardier exclaimed   

 By the way  where s that bread  

Cosette  according to her custom whenever the Thenardier uplifted her
voice  emerged with great haste from beneath the table 

She had completely forgotten the bread  She had recourse to the
expedient of children who live in a constant state of fear  She lied 

 Madame  the baker s shop was shut  

 You should have knocked  

 I did knock  Madame  

 Well  

 He did not open the door  

 I ll find out to morrow whether that is true   said the Thenardier 
 and if you are telling me a lie  I ll lead you a pretty dance  In the
meantime  give me back my fifteen sou piece  

Cosette plunged her hand into the pocket of her apron  and turned green 
The fifteen sou piece was not there 

 Ah  come now   said Madame Thenardier   did you hear me  

Cosette turned her pocket inside out  there was nothing in it  What
could have become of that money  The unhappy little creature could not
find a word to say  She was petrified 

 Have you lost that fifteen sou piece   screamed the Thenardier 
hoarsely   or do you want to rob me of it  

At the same time  she stretched out her arm towards the
cat o  nine tails which hung on a nail in the chimney corner 

This formidable gesture restored to Cosette sufficient strength to
shriek   

 Mercy  Madame  Madame  I will not do so any more  

The Thenardier took down the whip 

In the meantime  the man in the yellow coat had been fumbling in the fob
of his waistcoat  without any one having noticed his movements  Besides 
the other travellers were drinking or playing cards  and were not paying
attention to anything 

Cosette contracted herself into a ball  with anguish  within the angle
of the chimney  endeavoring to gather up and conceal her poor half nude
limbs  The Thenardier raised her arm 

 Pardon me  Madame   said the man   but just now I caught sight of
something which had fallen from this little one s apron pocket  and
rolled aside  Perhaps this is it  

At the same time he bent down and seemed to be searching on the floor
for a moment 

 Exactly  here it is   he went on  straightening himself up 

And he held out a silver coin to the Thenardier 

 Yes  that s it   said she 

It was not it  for it was a twenty sou piece  but the Thenardier found
it to her advantage  She put the coin in her pocket  and confined
herself to casting a fierce glance at the child  accompanied with the
remark   Don t let this ever happen again  

Cosette returned to what the Thenardier called  her kennel   and her
large eyes  which were riveted on the traveller  began to take on an
expression such as they had never worn before  Thus far it was only an
innocent amazement  but a sort of stupefied confidence was mingled with
it 

 By the way  would you like some supper   the Thenardier inquired of the
traveller 

He made no reply  He appeared to be absorbed in thought 

 What sort of a man is that   she muttered between her teeth   He s some
frightfully poor wretch  He hasn t a sou to pay for a supper  Will he
even pay me for his lodging  It s very lucky  all the same  that it did
not occur to him to steal the money that was on the floor  

In the meantime  a door had opened  and Eponine and Azelma entered 

They were two really pretty little girls  more bourgeois than peasant
in looks  and very charming  the one with shining chestnut tresses 
the other with long black braids hanging down her back  both vivacious 
neat  plump  rosy  and healthy  and a delight to the eye  They were
warmly clad  but with so much maternal art that the thickness of the
stuffs did not detract from the coquetry of arrangement  There was a
hint of winter  though the springtime was not wholly effaced  Light
emanated from these two little beings  Besides this  they were on the
throne  In their toilettes  in their gayety  in the noise which they
made  there was sovereignty  When they entered  the Thenardier said to
them in a grumbling tone which was full of adoration   Ah  there you
are  you children  

Then drawing them  one after the other to her knees  smoothing their
hair  tying their ribbons afresh  and then releasing them with
that gentle manner of shaking off which is peculiar to mothers  she
exclaimed   What frights they are  

They went and seated themselves in the chimney corner  They had a doll 
which they turned over and over on their knees with all sorts of joyous
chatter  From time to time Cosette raised her eyes from her knitting 
and watched their play with a melancholy air 

Eponine and Azelma did not look at Cosette  She was the same as a dog
to them  These three little girls did not yet reckon up four and twenty
years between them  but they already represented the whole society of
man  envy on the one side  disdain on the other 

The doll of the Thenardier sisters was very much faded  very old  and
much broken  but it seemed none the less admirable to Cosette  who had
never had a doll in her life  a real doll  to make use of the expression
which all children will understand 

All at once  the Thenardier  who had been going back and forth in the
room  perceived that Cosette s mind was distracted  and that  instead of
working  she was paying attention to the little ones at their play 

 Ah  I ve caught you at it   she cried   So that s the way you work 
I ll make you work to the tune of the whip  that I will  

The stranger turned to the Thenardier  without quitting his chair 

 Bah  Madame   he said  with an almost timid air   let her play  

Such a wish expressed by a traveller who had eaten a slice of mutton and
had drunk a couple of bottles of wine with his supper  and who had not
the air of being frightfully poor  would have been equivalent to an
order  But that a man with such a hat should permit himself such a
desire  and that a man with such a coat should permit himself to have a
will  was something which Madame Thenardier did not intend to tolerate 
She retorted with acrimony   

 She must work  since she eats  I don t feed her to do nothing  

 What is she making   went on the stranger  in a gentle voice which
contrasted strangely with his beggarly garments and his porter s
shoulders 

The Thenardier deigned to reply   

 Stockings  if you please  Stockings for my little girls  who have none 
so to speak  and who are absolutely barefoot just now  

The man looked at Cosette s poor little red feet  and continued   

 When will she have finished this pair of stockings  

 She has at least three or four good days  work on them still  the lazy
creature  

 And how much will that pair of stockings be worth when she has finished
them  

The Thenardier cast a glance of disdain on him 

 Thirty sous at least  

 Will you sell them for five francs   went on the man 

 Good heavens   exclaimed a carter who was listening  with a loud laugh 
 five francs  the deuce  I should think so  five balls  

Thenardier thought it time to strike in 

 Yes  sir  if such is your fancy  you will be allowed to have that pair
of stockings for five francs  We can refuse nothing to travellers  

 You must pay on the spot   said the Thenardier  in her curt and
peremptory fashion 

 I will buy that pair of stockings   replied the man   and   he added 
drawing a five franc piece from his pocket  and laying it on the table 
 I will pay for them  

Then he turned to Cosette 

 Now I own your work  play  my child  

The carter was so much touched by the five franc piece  that he
abandoned his glass and hastened up 

 But it s true   he cried  examining it   A real hind wheel  and not
counterfeit  

Thenardier approached and silently put the coin in his pocket 

The Thenardier had no reply to make  She bit her lips  and her face
assumed an expression of hatred 

In the meantime  Cosette was trembling  She ventured to ask   

 Is it true  Madame  May I play  

 Play   said the Thenardier  in a terrible voice 

 Thanks  Madame   said Cosette 

And while her mouth thanked the Thenardier  her whole little soul
thanked the traveller 

Thenardier had resumed his drinking  his wife whispered in his ear   

 Who can this yellow man be  

 I have seen millionaires with coats like that   replied Thenardier  in
a sovereign manner 

Cosette had dropped her knitting  but had not left her seat  Cosette
always moved as little as possible  She picked up some old rags and her
little lead sword from a box behind her 

Eponine and Azelma paid no attention to what was going on  They had just
executed a very important operation  they had just got hold of the
cat  They had thrown their doll on the ground  and Eponine  who was
the elder  was swathing the little cat  in spite of its mewing and its
contortions  in a quantity of clothes and red and blue scraps  While
performing this serious and difficult work she was saying to her sister
in that sweet and adorable language of children  whose grace  like the
splendor of the butterfly s wing  vanishes when one essays to fix it
fast 

 You see  sister  this doll is more amusing than the other  She twists 
she cries  she is warm  See  sister  let us play with her  She shall be
my little girl  I will be a lady  I will come to see you  and you shall
look at her  Gradually  you will perceive her whiskers  and that will
surprise you  And then you will see her ears  and then you will see her
tail and it will amaze you  And you will say to me   Ah  Mon Dieu   and
I will say to you   Yes  Madame  it is my little girl  Little girls are
made like that just at present   

Azelma listened admiringly to Eponine 

In the meantime  the drinkers had begun to sing an obscene song  and
to laugh at it until the ceiling shook  Thenardier accompanied and
encouraged them 

As birds make nests out of everything  so children make a doll out of
anything which comes to hand  While Eponine and Azelma were bundling up
the cat  Cosette  on her side  had dressed up her sword  That done  she
laid it in her arms  and sang to it softly  to lull it to sleep 

The doll is one of the most imperious needs and  at the same time  one
of the most charming instincts of feminine childhood  To care for  to
clothe  to deck  to dress  to undress  to redress  to teach  scold a
little  to rock  to dandle  to lull to sleep  to imagine that something
is some one   therein lies the whole woman s future  While dreaming and
chattering  making tiny outfits  and baby clothes  while sewing little
gowns  and corsages and bodices  the child grows into a young girl  the
young girl into a big girl  the big girl into a woman  The first child
is the continuation of the last doll 

A little girl without a doll is almost as unhappy  and quite as
impossible  as a woman without children 

So Cosette had made herself a doll out of the sword 

Madame Thenardier approached the yellow man   My husband is right   she
thought   perhaps it is M  Laffitte  there are such queer rich men  

She came and set her elbows on the table 

 Monsieur   said she  At this word  Monsieur  the man turned  up to that
time  the Thenardier had addressed him only as brave homme or bonhomme 

 You see  sir   she pursued  assuming a sweetish air that was even more
repulsive to behold than her fierce mien   I am willing that the child
should play  I do not oppose it  but it is good for once  because you
are generous  You see  she has nothing  she must needs work  

 Then this child is not yours   demanded the man 

 Oh  mon Dieu  no  sir  she is a little beggar whom we have taken in
through charity  a sort of imbecile child  She must have water on the
brain  she has a large head  as you see  We do what we can for her  for
we are not rich  we have written in vain to her native place  and have
received no reply these six months  It must be that her mother is dead  

 Ah   said the man  and fell into his revery once more 

 Her mother didn t amount to much   added the Thenardier   she abandoned
her child  

During the whole of this conversation Cosette  as though warned by some
instinct that she was under discussion  had not taken her eyes from the
Thenardier s face  she listened vaguely  she caught a few words here and
there 

Meanwhile  the drinkers  all three quarters intoxicated  were repeating
their unclean refrain with redoubled gayety  it was a highly spiced and
wanton song  in which the Virgin and the infant Jesus were introduced 
The Thenardier went off to take part in the shouts of laughter  Cosette 
from her post under the table  gazed at the fire  which was reflected
from her fixed eyes  She had begun to rock the sort of baby which she
had made  and  as she rocked it  she sang in a low voice   My mother is
dead  my mother is dead  my mother is dead  

On being urged afresh by the hostess  the yellow man   the millionaire  
consented at last to take supper 

 What does Monsieur wish  

 Bread and cheese   said the man 

 Decidedly  he is a beggar  thought Madame Thenardier 

The drunken men were still singing their song  and the child under the
table was singing hers 

All at once  Cosette paused  she had just turned round and caught sight
of the little Thenardiers  doll  which they had abandoned for the cat
and had left on the floor a few paces from the kitchen table 

Then she dropped the swaddled sword  which only half met her needs  and
cast her eyes slowly round the room  Madame Thenardier was whispering to
her husband and counting over some money  Ponine and Zelma were playing
with the cat  the travellers were eating or drinking or singing  not
a glance was fixed on her  She had not a moment to lose  she crept out
from under the table on her hands and knees  made sure once more that no
one was watching her  then she slipped quickly up to the doll and seized
it  An instant later she was in her place again  seated motionless  and
only turned so as to cast a shadow on the doll which she held in her
arms  The happiness of playing with a doll was so rare for her that it
contained all the violence of voluptuousness 

No one had seen her  except the traveller  who was slowly devouring his
meagre supper 

This joy lasted about a quarter of an hour 

But with all the precautions that Cosette had taken she did not perceive
that one of the doll s legs stuck out and that the fire on the hearth
lighted it up very vividly  That pink and shining foot  projecting from
the shadow  suddenly struck the eye of Azelma  who said to Eponine 
 Look  sister  

The two little girls paused in stupefaction  Cosette had dared to take
their doll 

Eponine rose  and  without releasing the cat  she ran to her mother  and
began to tug at her skirt 

 Let me alone   said her mother   what do you want  

 Mother   said the child   look there  

And she pointed to Cosette 

Cosette  absorbed in the ecstasies of possession  no longer saw or heard
anything 

Madame Thenardier s countenance assumed that peculiar expression which
is composed of the terrible mingled with the trifles of life  and which
has caused this style of woman to be named megaeras 

On this occasion  wounded pride exasperated her wrath still further 
Cosette had overstepped all bounds  Cosette had laid violent hands on
the doll belonging to  these young ladies   A czarina who should see
a muzhik trying on her imperial son s blue ribbon would wear no other
face 

She shrieked in a voice rendered hoarse with indignation   

 Cosette  

Cosette started as though the earth had trembled beneath her  she turned
round 

 Cosette   repeated the Thenardier 

Cosette took the doll and laid it gently on the floor with a sort of
veneration  mingled with despair  then  without taking her eyes from
it  she clasped her hands  and  what is terrible to relate of a child
of that age  she wrung them  then  not one of the emotions of the day 
neither the trip to the forest  nor the weight of the bucket of water 
nor the loss of the money  nor the sight of the whip  nor even the sad
words which she had heard Madame Thenardier utter had been able to wring
this from her  she wept  she burst out sobbing 

Meanwhile  the traveller had risen to his feet 

 What is the matter   he said to the Thenardier 

 Don t you see   said the Thenardier  pointing to the corpus delicti
which lay at Cosette s feet 

 Well  what of it   resumed the man 

 That beggar   replied the Thenardier   has permitted herself to touch
the children s doll  

 All this noise for that   said the man   well  what if she did play
with that doll  

 She touched it with her dirty hands   pursued the Thenardier   with her
frightful hands  

Here Cosette redoubled her sobs 

 Will you stop your noise   screamed the Thenardier 

The man went straight to the street door  opened it  and stepped out 

As soon as he had gone  the Thenardier profited by his absence to give
Cosette a hearty kick under the table  which made the child utter loud
cries 

The door opened again  the man re appeared  he carried in both hands the
fabulous doll which we have mentioned  and which all the village brats
had been staring at ever since the morning  and he set it upright in
front of Cosette  saying   

 Here  this is for you  

It must be supposed that in the course of the hour and more which he had
spent there he had taken confused notice through his revery of that
toy shop  lighted up by fire pots and candles so splendidly that it was
visible like an illumination through the window of the drinking shop 

Cosette raised her eyes  she gazed at the man approaching her with that
doll as she might have gazed at the sun  she heard the unprecedented
words   It is for you   she stared at him  she stared at the doll  then
she slowly retreated  and hid herself at the extreme end  under the
table in a corner of the wall 

She no longer cried  she no longer wept  she had the appearance of no
longer daring to breathe 

The Thenardier  Eponine  and Azelma were like statues also  the very
drinkers had paused  a solemn silence reigned through the whole room 

Madame Thenardier  petrified and mute  recommenced her conjectures   Who
is that old fellow  Is he a poor man  Is he a millionaire  Perhaps he is
both  that is to say  a thief  

The face of the male Thenardier presented that expressive fold which
accentuates the human countenance whenever the dominant instinct appears
there in all its bestial force  The tavern keeper stared alternately at
the doll and at the traveller  he seemed to be scenting out the man  as
he would have scented out a bag of money  This did not last longer than
the space of a flash of lightning  He stepped up to his wife and said to
her in a low voice   

 That machine costs at least thirty francs  No nonsense  Down on your
belly before that man  

Gross natures have this in common with naive natures  that they possess
no transition state 

 Well  Cosette   said the Thenardier  in a voice that strove to be
sweet  and which was composed of the bitter honey of malicious women 
 aren t you going to take your doll  

Cosette ventured to emerge from her hole 

 The gentleman has given you a doll  my little Cosette   said
Thenardier  with a caressing air   Take it  it is yours  

Cosette gazed at the marvellous doll in a sort of terror  Her face was
still flooded with tears  but her eyes began to fill  like the sky at
daybreak  with strange beams of joy  What she felt at that moment was
a little like what she would have felt if she had been abruptly told 
 Little one  you are the Queen of France  

It seemed to her that if she touched that doll  lightning would dart
from it 

This was true  up to a certain point  for she said to herself that the
Thenardier would scold and beat her 

Nevertheless  the attraction carried the day  She ended by drawing near
and murmuring timidly as she turned towards Madame Thenardier   

 May I  Madame  

No words can render that air  at once despairing  terrified  and
ecstatic 

 Pardi   cried the Thenardier   it is yours  The gentleman has given it
to you  

 Truly  sir   said Cosette   Is it true  Is the  lady  mine  

The stranger s eyes seemed to be full of tears  He appeared to have
reached that point of emotion where a man does not speak for fear lest
he should weep  He nodded to Cosette  and placed the  lady s  hand in
her tiny hand 

Cosette hastily withdrew her hand  as though that of the  lady  scorched
her  and began to stare at the floor  We are forced to add that at that
moment she stuck out her tongue immoderately  All at once she wheeled
round and seized the doll in a transport 

 I shall call her Catherine   she said 

It was an odd moment when Cosette s rags met and clasped the ribbons and
fresh pink muslins of the doll 

 Madame   she resumed   may I put her on a chair  

 Yes  my child   replied the Thenardier 

It was now the turn of Eponine and Azelma to gaze at Cosette with envy 

Cosette placed Catherine on a chair  then seated herself on the floor
in front of her  and remained motionless  without uttering a word  in an
attitude of contemplation 

 Play  Cosette   said the stranger 

 Oh  I am playing   returned the child 

This stranger  this unknown individual  who had the air of a visit which
Providence was making on Cosette  was the person whom the Thenardier
hated worse than any one in the world at that moment  However  it was
necessary to control herself  Habituated as she was to dissimulation
through endeavoring to copy her husband in all his actions  these
emotions were more than she could endure  She made haste to send her
daughters to bed  then she asked the man s permission to send Cosette
off also   for she has worked hard all day   she added with a maternal
air  Cosette went off to bed  carrying Catherine in her arms 

From time to time the Thenardier went to the other end of the room where
her husband was  to relieve her soul  as she said  She exchanged with
her husband words which were all the more furious because she dared not
utter them aloud 

 Old beast  What has he got in his belly  to come and upset us in this
manner  To want that little monster to play  to give away forty franc
dolls to a jade that I would sell for forty sous  so I would  A little
more and he will be saying Your Majesty to her  as though to the Duchess
de Berry  Is there any sense in it  Is he mad  then  that mysterious old
fellow  

 Why  it is perfectly simple   replied Thenardier   if that amuses him 
It amuses you to have the little one work  it amuses him to have her
play  He s all right  A traveller can do what he pleases when he pays
for it  If the old fellow is a philanthropist  what is that to you  If
he is an imbecile  it does not concern you  What are you worrying for 
so long as he has money  

The language of a master  and the reasoning of an innkeeper  neither of
which admitted of any reply 

The man had placed his elbows on the table  and resumed his thoughtful
attitude  All the other travellers  both pedlers and carters  had
withdrawn a little  and had ceased singing  They were staring at him
from a distance  with a sort of respectful awe  This poorly dressed
man  who drew  hind wheels  from his pocket with so much ease  and
who lavished gigantic dolls on dirty little brats in wooden shoes  was
certainly a magnificent fellow  and one to be feared 

Many hours passed  The midnight mass was over  the chimes had ceased 
the drinkers had taken their departure  the drinking shop was closed 
the public room was deserted  the fire extinct  the stranger still
remained in the same place and the same attitude  From time to time he
changed the elbow on which he leaned  That was all  but he had not said
a word since Cosette had left the room 

The Thenardiers alone  out of politeness and curiosity  had remained in
the room 

 Is he going to pass the night in that fashion   grumbled the
Thenardier  When two o clock in the morning struck  she declared herself
vanquished  and said to her husband   I m going to bed  Do as you like  
Her husband seated himself at a table in the corner  lighted a candle 
and began to read the Courrier Francais 

A good hour passed thus  The worthy inn keeper had perused the Courrier
Francais at least three times  from the date of the number to the
printer s name  The stranger did not stir 

Thenardier fidgeted  coughed  spit  blew his nose  and creaked his
chair  Not a movement on the man s part   Is he asleep   thought
Thenardier  The man was not asleep  but nothing could arouse him 

At last Thenardier took off his cap  stepped gently up to him  and
ventured to say   

 Is not Monsieur going to his repose  

Not going to bed would have seemed to him excessive and familiar  To
repose smacked of luxury and respect  These words possess the mysterious
and admirable property of swelling the bill on the following day  A
chamber where one sleeps costs twenty sous  a chamber in which one
reposes costs twenty francs 

 Well   said the stranger   you are right  Where is your stable  

 Sir   exclaimed Thenardier  with a smile   I will conduct you  sir  

He took the candle  the man picked up his bundle and cudgel  and
Thenardier conducted him to a chamber on the first floor  which was of
rare splendor  all furnished in mahogany  with a low bedstead  curtained
with red calico 

 What is this   said the traveller 

 It is really our bridal chamber   said the tavern keeper   My wife and
I occupy another  This is only entered three or four times a year  

 I should have liked the stable quite as well   said the man  abruptly 

Thenardier pretended not to hear this unamiable remark 

He lighted two perfectly fresh wax candles which figured on the
chimney piece  A very good fire was flickering on the hearth 

On the chimney piece  under a glass globe  stood a woman s head dress in
silver wire and orange flowers 

 And what is this   resumed the stranger 

 That  sir   said Thenardier   is my wife s wedding bonnet  

The traveller surveyed the object with a glance which seemed to say 
 There really was a time  then  when that monster was a maiden  

Thenardier lied  however  When he had leased this paltry building for
the purpose of converting it into a tavern  he had found this chamber
decorated in just this manner  and had purchased the furniture and
obtained the orange flowers at second hand  with the idea that this
would cast a graceful shadow on  his spouse   and would result in what
the English call respectability for his house 

When the traveller turned round  the host had disappeared  Thenardier
had withdrawn discreetly  without venturing to wish him a good night 
as he did not wish to treat with disrespectful cordiality a man whom he
proposed to fleece royally the following morning 

The inn keeper retired to his room  His wife was in bed  but she was not
asleep  When she heard her husband s step she turned over and said to
him   

 Do you know  I m going to turn Cosette out of doors to morrow  

Thenardier replied coldly   

 How you do go on  

They exchanged no further words  and a few moments later their candle
was extinguished 

As for the traveller  he had deposited his cudgel and his bundle in a
corner  The landlord once gone  he threw himself into an arm chair and
remained for some time buried in thought  Then he removed his shoes 
took one of the two candles  blew out the other  opened the door  and
quitted the room  gazing about him like a person who is in search of
something  He traversed a corridor and came upon a staircase  There he
heard a very faint and gentle sound like the breathing of a child  He
followed this sound  and came to a sort of triangular recess built under
the staircase  or rather formed by the staircase itself  This recess was
nothing else than the space under the steps  There  in the midst of all
sorts of old papers and potsherds  among dust and spiders  webs  was a
bed  if one can call by the name of bed a straw pallet so full of holes
as to display the straw  and a coverlet so tattered as to show the
pallet  No sheets  This was placed on the floor 

In this bed Cosette was sleeping 

The man approached and gazed down upon her 

Cosette was in a profound sleep  she was fully dressed  In the winter
she did not undress  in order that she might not be so cold 

Against her breast was pressed the doll  whose large eyes  wide open 
glittered in the dark  From time to time she gave vent to a deep sigh as
though she were on the point of waking  and she strained the doll almost
convulsively in her arms  Beside her bed there was only one of her
wooden shoes 

A door which stood open near Cosette s pallet permitted a view of a
rather large  dark room  The stranger stepped into it  At the further
extremity  through a glass door  he saw two small  very white beds 
They belonged to Eponine and Azelma  Behind these beds  and half hidden 
stood an uncurtained wicker cradle  in which the little boy who had
cried all the evening lay asleep 

The stranger conjectured that this chamber connected with that of the
Thenardier pair  He was on the point of retreating when his eye fell
upon the fireplace  one of those vast tavern chimneys where there is
always so little fire when there is any fire at all  and which are
so cold to look at  There was no fire in this one  there was not even
ashes  but there was something which attracted the stranger s gaze 
nevertheless  It was two tiny children s shoes  coquettish in shape
and unequal in size  The traveller recalled the graceful and immemorial
custom in accordance with which children place their shoes in the
chimney on Christmas eve  there to await in the darkness some sparkling
gift from their good fairy  Eponine and Azelma had taken care not to
omit this  and each of them had set one of her shoes on the hearth 

The traveller bent over them 

The fairy  that is to say  their mother  had already paid her visit  and
in each he saw a brand new and shining ten sou piece 

The man straightened himself up  and was on the point of withdrawing 
when far in  in the darkest corner of the hearth  he caught sight
of another object  He looked at it  and recognized a wooden shoe  a
frightful shoe of the coarsest description  half dilapidated and all
covered with ashes and dried mud  It was Cosette s sabot  Cosette  with
that touching trust of childhood  which can always be deceived yet never
discouraged  had placed her shoe on the hearth stone also 

Hope in a child who has never known anything but despair is a sweet and
touching thing 

There was nothing in this wooden shoe 

The stranger fumbled in his waistcoat  bent over and placed a louis d or
in Cosette s shoe 

Then he regained his own chamber with the stealthy tread of a wolf 




CHAPTER IX  THENARDIER AND HIS MANOEUVRES

On the following morning  two hours at least before day break 
Thenardier  seated beside a candle in the public room of the tavern  pen
in hand  was making out the bill for the traveller with the yellow coat 

His wife  standing beside him  and half bent over him  was following
him with her eyes  They exchanged not a word  On the one hand  there was
profound meditation  on the other  the religious admiration with which
one watches the birth and development of a marvel of the human mind  A
noise was audible in the house  it was the Lark sweeping the stairs 

After the lapse of a good quarter of an hour  and some erasures 
Thenardier produced the following masterpiece   

          BILL OF THE GENTLEMAN IN No  1 

  Supper                                   3 francs 
  Chamber                                 10    
  Candle                                   5    
  Fire                                     4    
  Service                                  1    
                                                    
                     Total                23 francs 


Service was written servisse 

 Twenty three francs   cried the woman  with an enthusiasm which was
mingled with some hesitation 

Like all great artists  Thenardier was dissatisfied 

 Peuh   he exclaimed 

It was the accent of Castlereagh auditing France s bill at the Congress
of Vienna 

 Monsieur Thenardier  you are right  he certainly owes that   murmured
the wife  who was thinking of the doll bestowed on Cosette in the
presence of her daughters   It is just  but it is too much  He will not
pay it  

Thenardier laughed coldly  as usual  and said   

 He will pay  

This laugh was the supreme assertion of certainty and authority  That
which was asserted in this manner must needs be so  His wife did not
insist 

She set about arranging the table  her husband paced the room  A moment
later he added   

 I owe full fifteen hundred francs  

He went and seated himself in the chimney corner  meditating  with his
feet among the warm ashes 

 Ah  by the way   resumed his wife   you don t forget that I m going to
turn Cosette out of doors to day  The monster  She breaks my heart with
that doll of hers  I d rather marry Louis XVIII  than keep her another
day in the house  

Thenardier lighted his pipe  and replied between two puffs   

 You will hand that bill to the man  

Then he went out 

Hardly had he left the room when the traveller entered 

Thenardier instantly reappeared behind him and remained motionless in
the half open door  visible only to his wife 

The yellow man carried his bundle and his cudgel in his hand 

 Up so early   said Madame Thenardier   is Monsieur leaving us already  

As she spoke thus  she was twisting the bill about in her hands with an
embarrassed air  and making creases in it with her nails  Her hard
face presented a shade which was not habitual with it   timidity and
scruples 

To present such a bill to a man who had so completely the air  of a poor
wretch  seemed difficult to her 

The traveller appeared to be preoccupied and absent minded  He
replied   

 Yes  Madame  I am going  

 So Monsieur has no business in Montfermeil  

 No  I was passing through  That is all  What do I owe you  Madame   he
added 

The Thenardier silently handed him the folded bill 

The man unfolded the paper and glanced at it  but his thoughts were
evidently elsewhere 

 Madame   he resumed   is business good here in Montfermeil  

 So so  Monsieur   replied the Thenardier  stupefied at not witnessing
another sort of explosion 

She continued  in a dreary and lamentable tone   

 Oh  Monsieur  times are so hard  and then  we have so few bourgeois in
the neighborhood  All the people are poor  you see  If we had not  now
and then  some rich and generous travellers like Monsieur  we should
not get along at all  We have so many expenses  Just see  that child is
costing us our very eyes  

 What child  

 Why  the little one  you know  Cosette  the Lark  as she is called
hereabouts  

 Ah   said the man 

She went on   

 How stupid these peasants are with their nicknames  She has more the
air of a bat than of a lark  You see  sir  we do not ask charity  and we
cannot bestow it  We earn nothing and we have to pay out a great deal 
The license  the imposts  the door and window tax  the hundredths 
Monsieur is aware that the government demands a terrible deal of money 
And then  I have my daughters  I have no need to bring up other people s
children  

The man resumed  in that voice which he strove to render indifferent 
and in which there lingered a tremor   

 What if one were to rid you of her  

 Who  Cosette  

 Yes  

The landlady s red and violent face brightened up hideously 

 Ah  sir  my dear sir  take her  keep her  lead her off  carry her
away  sugar her  stuff her with truffles  drink her  eat her  and the
blessings of the good holy Virgin and of all the saints of paradise be
upon you  

 Agreed  

 Really  You will take her away  

 I will take her away  

 Immediately  

 Immediately  Call the child  

 Cosette   screamed the Thenardier 

 In the meantime   pursued the man   I will pay you what I owe you  How
much is it  

He cast a glance on the bill  and could not restrain a start of
surprise   

 Twenty three francs  

He looked at the landlady  and repeated   

 Twenty three francs  

There was in the enunciation of these words  thus repeated  an accent
between an exclamation and an interrogation point 

The Thenardier had had time to prepare herself for the shock  She
replied  with assurance   

 Good gracious  yes  sir  it is twenty three francs  

The stranger laid five five franc pieces on the table 

 Go and get the child   said he 

At that moment Thenardier advanced to the middle of the room  and
said   

 Monsieur owes twenty six sous  

 Twenty six sous   exclaimed his wife 

 Twenty sous for the chamber   resumed Thenardier  coldly   and six sous
for his supper  As for the child  I must discuss that matter a little
with the gentleman  Leave us  wife  

Madame Thenardier was dazzled as with the shock caused by unexpected
lightning flashes of talent  She was conscious that a great actor was
making his entrance on the stage  uttered not a word in reply  and left
the room 

As soon as they were alone  Thenardier offered the traveller a chair 
The traveller seated himself  Thenardier remained standing  and his face
assumed a singular expression of good fellowship and simplicity 

 Sir   said he   what I have to say to you is this  that I adore that
child  

The stranger gazed intently at him 

 What child  

Thenardier continued   

 How strange it is  one grows attached  What money is that  Take back
your hundred sou piece  I adore the child  

 Whom do you mean   demanded the stranger 

 Eh  our little Cosette  Are you not intending to take her away from
us  Well  I speak frankly  as true as you are an honest man  I will not
consent to it  I shall miss that child  I saw her first when she was a
tiny thing  It is true that she costs us money  it is true that she has
her faults  it is true that we are not rich  it is true that I have paid
out over four hundred francs for drugs for just one of her illnesses 
But one must do something for the good God s sake  She has neither
father nor mother  I have brought her up  I have bread enough for
her and for myself  In truth  I think a great deal of that child  You
understand  one conceives an affection for a person  I am a good sort
of a beast  I am  I do not reason  I love that little girl  my wife is
quick tempered  but she loves her also  You see  she is just the same as
our own child  I want to keep her to babble about the house  

The stranger kept his eye intently fixed on Thenardier  The latter
continued   

 Excuse me  sir  but one does not give away one s child to a passer by 
like that  I am right  am I not  Still  I don t say  you are rich  you
have the air of a very good man   if it were for her happiness  But one
must find out that  You understand  suppose that I were to let her go
and to sacrifice myself  I should like to know what becomes of her  I
should not wish to lose sight of her  I should like to know with whom
she is living  so that I could go to see her from time to time  so that
she may know that her good foster father is alive  that he is watching
over her  In short  there are things which are not possible  I do not
even know your name  If you were to take her away  I should say   Well 
and the Lark  what has become of her   One must  at least  see some
petty scrap of paper  some trifle in the way of a passport  you know  

The stranger  still surveying him with that gaze which penetrates  as
the saying goes  to the very depths of the conscience  replied in a
grave  firm voice   

 Monsieur Thenardier  one does not require a passport to travel five
leagues from Paris  If I take Cosette away  I shall take her away  and
that is the end of the matter  You will not know my name  you will not
know my residence  you will not know where she is  and my intention is
that she shall never set eyes on you again so long as she lives  I break
the thread which binds her foot  and she departs  Does that suit you 
Yes or no  

Since geniuses  like demons  recognize the presence of a superior God by
certain signs  Thenardier comprehended that he had to deal with a very
strong person  It was like an intuition  he comprehended it with his
clear and sagacious promptitude  While drinking with the carters 
smoking  and singing coarse songs on the preceding evening  he had
devoted the whole of the time to observing the stranger  watching him
like a cat  and studying him like a mathematician  He had watched him 
both on his own account  for the pleasure of the thing  and through
instinct  and had spied upon him as though he had been paid for so
doing  Not a movement  not a gesture  on the part of the man in the
yellow great coat had escaped him  Even before the stranger had so
clearly manifested his interest in Cosette  Thenardier had divined his
purpose  He had caught the old man s deep glances returning constantly
to the child  Who was this man  Why this interest  Why this hideous
costume  when he had so much money in his purse  Questions which he put
to himself without being able to solve them  and which irritated him  He
had pondered it all night long  He could not be Cosette s father  Was he
her grandfather  Then why not make himself known at once  When one has
a right  one asserts it  This man evidently had no right over Cosette 
What was it  then  Thenardier lost himself in conjectures  He caught
glimpses of everything  but he saw nothing  Be that as it may  on
entering into conversation with the man  sure that there was some secret
in the case  that the latter had some interest in remaining in the
shadow  he felt himself strong  when he perceived from the stranger s
clear and firm retort  that this mysterious personage was mysterious in
so simple a way  he became conscious that he was weak  He had expected
nothing of the sort  His conjectures were put to the rout  He rallied
his ideas  He weighed everything in the space of a second  Thenardier
was one of those men who take in a situation at a glance  He decided
that the moment had arrived for proceeding straightforward  and quickly
at that  He did as great leaders do at the decisive moment  which they
know that they alone recognize  he abruptly unmasked his batteries 

 Sir   said he   I am in need of fifteen hundred francs  

The stranger took from his side pocket an old pocketbook of black
leather  opened it  drew out three bank bills  which he laid on the
table  Then he placed his large thumb on the notes and said to the
inn keeper   

 Go and fetch Cosette  

While this was taking place  what had Cosette been doing 

On waking up  Cosette had run to get her shoe  In it she had found the
gold piece  It was not a Napoleon  it was one of those perfectly new
twenty franc pieces of the Restoration  on whose effigy the little
Prussian queue had replaced the laurel wreath  Cosette was dazzled  Her
destiny began to intoxicate her  She did not know what a gold piece was 
she had never seen one  she hid it quickly in her pocket  as though
she had stolen it  Still  she felt that it really was hers  she guessed
whence her gift had come  but the joy which she experienced was full of
fear  She was happy  above all she was stupefied  Such magnificent and
beautiful things did not appear real  The doll frightened her  the
gold piece frightened her  She trembled vaguely in the presence of this
magnificence  The stranger alone did not frighten her  On the contrary 
he reassured her  Ever since the preceding evening  amid all her
amazement  even in her sleep  she had been thinking in her little
childish mind of that man who seemed to be so poor and so sad  and who
was so rich and so kind  Everything had changed for her since she had
met that good man in the forest  Cosette  less happy than the most
insignificant swallow of heaven  had never known what it was to take
refuge under a mother s shadow and under a wing  For the last five
years  that is to say  as far back as her memory ran  the poor child had
shivered and trembled  She had always been exposed completely naked
to the sharp wind of adversity  now it seemed to her she was clothed 
Formerly her soul had seemed cold  now it was warm  Cosette was no
longer afraid of the Thenardier  She was no longer alone  there was some
one there 

She hastily set about her regular morning duties  That louis  which she
had about her  in the very apron pocket whence the fifteen sou piece had
fallen on the night before  distracted her thoughts  She dared not touch
it  but she spent five minutes in gazing at it  with her tongue hanging
out  if the truth must be told  As she swept the staircase  she paused 
remained standing there motionless  forgetful of her broom and of the
entire universe  occupied in gazing at that star which was blazing at
the bottom of her pocket 

It was during one of these periods of contemplation that the Thenardier
joined her  She had gone in search of Cosette at her husband s orders 
What was quite unprecedented  she neither struck her nor said an
insulting word to her 

 Cosette   she said  almost gently   come immediately  

An instant later Cosette entered the public room 

The stranger took up the bundle which he had brought and untied it  This
bundle contained a little woollen gown  an apron  a fustian bodice  a
kerchief  a petticoat  woollen stockings  shoes  a complete outfit for a
girl of seven years  All was black 

 My child   said the man   take these  and go and dress yourself
quickly  

Daylight was appearing when those of the inhabitants of Montfermeil who
had begun to open their doors beheld a poorly clad old man leading a
little girl dressed in mourning  and carrying a pink doll in her arms 
pass along the road to Paris  They were going in the direction of Livry 

It was our man and Cosette 

No one knew the man  as Cosette was no longer in rags  many did not
recognize her  Cosette was going away  With whom  She did not know 
Whither  She knew not  All that she understood was that she was leaving
the Thenardier tavern behind her  No one had thought of bidding her
farewell  nor had she thought of taking leave of any one  She was
leaving that hated and hating house 

Poor  gentle creature  whose heart had been repressed up to that hour 

Cosette walked along gravely  with her large eyes wide open  and gazing
at the sky  She had put her louis in the pocket of her new apron  From
time to time  she bent down and glanced at it  then she looked at the
good man  She felt something as though she were beside the good God 




CHAPTER X  HE WHO SEEKS TO BETTER HIMSELF MAY RENDER HIS SITUATION WORSE

Madame Thenardier had allowed her husband to have his own way  as was
her wont  She had expected great results  When the man and Cosette had
taken their departure  Thenardier allowed a full quarter of an hour
to elapse  then he took her aside and showed her the fifteen hundred
francs 

 Is that all   said she 

It was the first time since they had set up housekeeping that she had
dared to criticise one of the master s acts 

The blow told 

 You are right  in sooth   said he   I am a fool  Give me my hat  

He folded up the three bank bills  thrust them into his pocket  and ran
out in all haste  but he made a mistake and turned to the right first 
Some neighbors  of whom he made inquiries  put him on the track again 
the Lark and the man had been seen going in the direction of Livry  He
followed these hints  walking with great strides  and talking to himself
the while   

 That man is evidently a million dressed in yellow  and I am an animal 
First he gave twenty sous  then five francs  then fifty francs  then
fifteen hundred francs  all with equal readiness  He would have given
fifteen thousand francs  But I shall overtake him  

And then  that bundle of clothes prepared beforehand for the child  all
that was singular  many mysteries lay concealed under it  One does not
let mysteries out of one s hand when one has once grasped them  The
secrets of the wealthy are sponges of gold  one must know how to subject
them to pressure  All these thoughts whirled through his brain   I am an
animal   said he 

When one leaves Montfermeil and reaches the turn which the road takes
that runs to Livry  it can be seen stretching out before one to a great
distance across the plateau  On arriving there  he calculated that he
ought to be able to see the old man and the child  He looked as far as
his vision reached  and saw nothing  He made fresh inquiries  but he had
wasted time  Some passers by informed him that the man and child of whom
he was in search had gone towards the forest in the direction of Gagny 
He hastened in that direction 

They were far in advance of him  but a child walks slowly  and he walked
fast  and then  he was well acquainted with the country 

All at once he paused and dealt himself a blow on his forehead like a
man who has forgotten some essential point and who is ready to retrace
his steps 

 I ought to have taken my gun   said he to himself 

Thenardier was one of those double natures which sometimes pass through
our midst without our being aware of the fact  and who disappear without
our finding them out  because destiny has only exhibited one side of
them  It is the fate of many men to live thus half submerged  In a
calm and even situation  Thenardier possessed all that is required to
make  we will not say to be  what people have agreed to call an honest
trader  a good bourgeois  At the same time certain circumstances being
given  certain shocks arriving to bring his under nature to the surface 
he had all the requisites for a blackguard  He was a shopkeeper in
whom there was some taint of the monster  Satan must have occasionally
crouched down in some corner of the hovel in which Thenardier dwelt  and
have fallen a dreaming in the presence of this hideous masterpiece 

After a momentary hesitation   

 Bah   he thought   they will have time to make their escape  

And he pursued his road  walking rapidly straight ahead  and with almost
an air of certainty  with the sagacity of a fox scenting a covey of
partridges 

In truth  when he had passed the ponds and had traversed in an oblique
direction the large clearing which lies on the right of the Avenue de
Bellevue  and reached that turf alley which nearly makes the circuit of
the hill  and covers the arch of the ancient aqueduct of the Abbey of
Chelles  he caught sight  over the top of the brushwood  of the hat on
which he had already erected so many conjectures  it was that man s hat 
The brushwood was not high  Thenardier recognized the fact that the man
and Cosette were sitting there  The child could not be seen on account
of her small size  but the head of her doll was visible 

Thenardier was not mistaken  The man was sitting there  and letting
Cosette get somewhat rested  The inn keeper walked round the brushwood
and presented himself abruptly to the eyes of those whom he was in
search of 

 Pardon  excuse me  sir   he said  quite breathless   but here are your
fifteen hundred francs  

So saying  he handed the stranger the three bank bills 

The man raised his eyes 

 What is the meaning of this  

Thenardier replied respectfully   

 It means  sir  that I shall take back Cosette  

Cosette shuddered  and pressed close to the old man 

He replied  gazing to the very bottom of Thenardier s eyes the while 
and enunciating every syllable distinctly   

 You are go ing to take back Co sette  

 Yes  sir  I am  I will tell you  I have considered the matter  In fact 
I have not the right to give her to you  I am an honest man  you see 
this child does not belong to me  she belongs to her mother  It was her
mother who confided her to me  I can only resign her to her mother  You
will say to me   But her mother is dead   Good  in that case I can only
give the child up to the person who shall bring me a writing  signed by
her mother  to the effect that I am to hand the child over to the person
therein mentioned  that is clear  

The man  without making any reply  fumbled in his pocket  and Thenardier
beheld the pocket book of bank bills make its appearance once more 

The tavern keeper shivered with joy 

 Good   thought he   let us hold firm  he is going to bribe me  

Before opening the pocket book  the traveller cast a glance about him 
the spot was absolutely deserted  there was not a soul either in the
woods or in the valley  The man opened his pocket book once more and
drew from it  not the handful of bills which Thenardier expected  but a
simple little paper  which he unfolded and presented fully open to the
inn keeper  saying   

 You are right  read  

Thenardier took the paper and read   

                               M  SUR M   March 25  1823 

  MONSIEUR THENARDIER   

               You will deliver Cosette to this person 
               You will be paid for all the little things 
               I have the honor to salute you with respect 
                                                  FANTINE  

 You know that signature   resumed the man 

It certainly was Fantine s signature  Thenardier recognized it 

There was no reply to make  he experienced two violent vexations  the
vexation of renouncing the bribery which he had hoped for  and the
vexation of being beaten  the man added   

 You may keep this paper as your receipt  

Thenardier retreated in tolerably good order 

 This signature is fairly well imitated   he growled between his teeth 
 however  let it go  

Then he essayed a desperate effort 

 It is well  sir   he said   since you are the person  but I must be
paid for all those little things  A great deal is owing to me  

The man rose to his feet  filliping the dust from his thread bare
sleeve   

 Monsieur Thenardier  in January last  the mother reckoned that she owed
you one hundred and twenty francs  In February  you sent her a bill of
five hundred francs  you received three hundred francs at the end of
February  and three hundred francs at the beginning of March  Since then
nine months have elapsed  at fifteen francs a month  the price agreed
upon  which makes one hundred and thirty five francs  You had received
one hundred francs too much  that makes thirty five still owing you  I
have just given you fifteen hundred francs  

Thenardier s sensations were those of the wolf at the moment when he
feels himself nipped and seized by the steel jaw of the trap 

 Who is this devil of a man   he thought 

He did what the wolf does  he shook himself  Audacity had succeeded with
him once 

 Monsieur I don t know your name   he said resolutely  and this time
casting aside all respectful ceremony   I shall take back Cosette if you
do not give me a thousand crowns  

The stranger said tranquilly   

 Come  Cosette  

He took Cosette by his left hand  and with his right he picked up his
cudgel  which was lying on the ground 

Thenardier noted the enormous size of the cudgel and the solitude of the
spot 

The man plunged into the forest with the child  leaving the inn keeper
motionless and speechless 

While they were walking away  Thenardier scrutinized his huge shoulders 
which were a little rounded  and his great fists 

Then  bringing his eyes back to his own person  they fell upon his
feeble arms and his thin hands   I really must have been exceedingly
stupid not to have thought to bring my gun   he said to himself   since
I was going hunting  

However  the inn keeper did not give up 

 I want to know where he is going   said he  and he set out to follow
them at a distance  Two things were left on his hands  an irony in
the shape of the paper signed Fantine  and a consolation  the fifteen
hundred francs 

The man led Cosette off in the direction of Livry and Bondy  He walked
slowly  with drooping head  in an attitude of reflection and sadness 
The winter had thinned out the forest  so that Thenardier did not lose
them from sight  although he kept at a good distance  The man turned
round from time to time  and looked to see if he was being followed 
All at once he caught sight of Thenardier  He plunged suddenly into
the brushwood with Cosette  where they could both hide themselves   The
deuce   said Thenardier  and he redoubled his pace 

The thickness of the undergrowth forced him to draw nearer to them  When
the man had reached the densest part of the thicket  he wheeled
round  It was in vain that Thenardier sought to conceal himself in the
branches  he could not prevent the man seeing him  The man cast upon him
an uneasy glance  then elevated his head and continued his course  The
inn keeper set out again in pursuit  Thus they continued for two or
three hundred paces  All at once the man turned round once more  he saw
the inn keeper  This time he gazed at him with so sombre an air that
Thenardier decided that it was  useless  to proceed further  Thenardier
retraced his steps 




CHAPTER XI  NUMBER 9 430 REAPPEARS  AND COSETTE WINS IT IN THE LOTTERY

Jean Valjean was not dead 

When he fell into the sea  or rather  when he threw himself into it  he
was not ironed  as we have seen  He swam under water until he reached a
vessel at anchor  to which a boat was moored  He found means of hiding
himself in this boat until night  At night he swam off again  and
reached the shore a little way from Cape Brun  There  as he did not lack
money  he procured clothing  A small country house in the neighborhood
of Balaguier was at that time the dressing room of escaped convicts   a
lucrative specialty  Then Jean Valjean  like all the sorry fugitives
who are seeking to evade the vigilance of the law and social fatality 
pursued an obscure and undulating itinerary  He found his first
refuge at Pradeaux  near Beausset  Then he directed his course towards
Grand Villard  near Briancon  in the Hautes Alpes  It was a fumbling and
uneasy flight   a mole s track  whose branchings are untraceable  Later
on  some trace of his passage into Ain  in the territory of Civrieux 
was discovered  in the Pyrenees  at Accons  at the spot called
Grange de Doumec  near the market of Chavailles  and in the environs of
Perigueux at Brunies  canton of La Chapelle Gonaguet  He reached Paris 
We have just seen him at Montfermeil 

His first care on arriving in Paris had been to buy mourning clothes
for a little girl of from seven to eight years of age  then to procure
a lodging  That done  he had betaken himself to Montfermeil  It will
be remembered that already  during his preceding escape  he had made a
mysterious trip thither  or somewhere in that neighborhood  of which the
law had gathered an inkling 

However  he was thought to be dead  and this still further increased the
obscurity which had gathered about him  At Paris  one of the journals
which chronicled the fact fell into his hands  He felt reassured and
almost at peace  as though he had really been dead 

On the evening of the day when Jean Valjean rescued Cosette from the
claws of the Thenardiers  he returned to Paris  He re entered it at
nightfall  with the child  by way of the Barrier Monceaux  There
he entered a cabriolet  which took him to the esplanade of the
Observatoire  There he got out  paid the coachman  took Cosette by
the hand  and together they directed their steps through the
darkness   through the deserted streets which adjoin the Ourcine and the
Glaciere  towards the Boulevard de l Hopital 

The day had been strange and filled with emotions for Cosette  They
had eaten some bread and cheese purchased in isolated taverns  behind
hedges  they had changed carriages frequently  they had travelled short
distances on foot  She made no complaint  but she was weary  and Jean
Valjean perceived it by the way she dragged more and more on his hand
as she walked  He took her on his back  Cosette  without letting go
of Catherine  laid her head on Jean Valjean s shoulder  and there fell
asleep 




BOOK FOURTH   THE GORBEAU HOVEL

 Illustration  The Gorbeau Hovel  2b3 10 gorbeau house 




CHAPTER I  MASTER GORBEAU

Forty years ago  a rambler who had ventured into that unknown country of
the Salpetriere  and who had mounted to the Barriere d Italie by way
of the boulevard  reached a point where it might be said that Paris
disappeared  It was no longer solitude  for there were passers by  it
was not the country  for there were houses and streets  it was not the
city  for the streets had ruts like highways  and the grass grew in
them  it was not a village  the houses were too lofty  What was it 
then  It was an inhabited spot where there was no one  it was a desert
place where there was some one  it was a boulevard of the great city  a
street of Paris  more wild at night than the forest  more gloomy by day
than a cemetery 

It was the old quarter of the Marche aux Chevaux 

The rambler  if he risked himself outside the four decrepit walls of
this Marche aux Chevaux  if he consented even to pass beyond the Rue du
Petit Banquier  after leaving on his right a garden protected by high
walls  then a field in which tan bark mills rose like gigantic beaver
huts  then an enclosure encumbered with timber  with a heap of stumps 
sawdust  and shavings  on which stood a large dog  barking  then a long 
low  utterly dilapidated wall  with a little black door in mourning 
laden with mosses  which were covered with flowers in the spring  then 
in the most deserted spot  a frightful and decrepit building  on which
ran the inscription in large letters  POST NO BILLS   this daring
rambler would have reached little known latitudes at the corner of the
Rue des Vignes Saint Marcel  There  near a factory  and between two
garden walls  there could be seen  at that epoch  a mean building 
which  at the first glance  seemed as small as a thatched hovel  and
which was  in reality  as large as a cathedral  It presented its side
and gable to the public road  hence its apparent diminutiveness  Nearly
the whole of the house was hidden  Only the door and one window could be
seen 

This hovel was only one story high 

The first detail that struck the observer was  that the door could never
have been anything but the door of a hovel  while the window  if it
had been carved out of dressed stone instead of being in rough masonry 
might have been the lattice of a lordly mansion 

The door was nothing but a collection of worm eaten planks roughly bound
together by cross beams which resembled roughly hewn logs  It
opened directly on a steep staircase of lofty steps  muddy  chalky 
plaster stained  dusty steps  of the same width as itself  which
could be seen from the street  running straight up like a ladder and
disappearing in the darkness between two walls  The top of the shapeless
bay into which this door shut was masked by a narrow scantling in the
centre of which a triangular hole had been sawed  which served both as
wicket and air hole when the door was closed  On the inside of the
door the figures 52 had been traced with a couple of strokes of a brush
dipped in ink  and above the scantling the same hand had daubed the
number 50  so that one hesitated  Where was one  Above the door it said 
 Number 50   the inside replied   no  Number 52   No one knows what
dust colored figures were suspended like draperies from the triangular
opening 

The window was large  sufficiently elevated  garnished with Venetian
blinds  and with a frame in large square panes  only these large panes
were suffering from various wounds  which were both concealed and
betrayed by an ingenious paper bandage  And the blinds  dislocated and
unpasted  threatened passers by rather than screened the occupants 
The horizontal slats were missing here and there and had been naively
replaced with boards nailed on perpendicularly  so that what began as
a blind ended as a shutter  This door with an unclean  and this window
with an honest though dilapidated air  thus beheld on the same house 
produced the effect of two incomplete beggars walking side by side 
with different miens beneath the same rags  the one having always been a
mendicant  and the other having once been a gentleman 

The staircase led to a very vast edifice which resembled a shed which
had been converted into a house  This edifice had  for its intestinal
tube  a long corridor  on which opened to right and left sorts of
compartments of varied dimensions which were inhabitable under stress
of circumstances  and rather more like stalls than cells  These chambers
received their light from the vague waste grounds in the neighborhood 

All this was dark  disagreeable  wan  melancholy  sepulchral  traversed
according as the crevices lay in the roof or in the door  by cold rays
or by icy winds  An interesting and picturesque peculiarity of this sort
of dwelling is the enormous size of the spiders 

To the left of the entrance door  on the boulevard side  at about the
height of a man from the ground  a small window which had been walled up
formed a square niche full of stones which the children had thrown there
as they passed by 

A portion of this building has recently been demolished  From what still
remains of it one can form a judgment as to what it was in former days 
As a whole  it was not over a hundred years old  A hundred years is
youth in a church and age in a house  It seems as though man s lodging
partook of his ephemeral character  and God s house of his eternity 

The postmen called the house Number 50 52  but it was known in the
neighborhood as the Gorbeau house 

Let us explain whence this appellation was derived 

Collectors of petty details  who become herbalists of anecdotes  and
prick slippery dates into their memories with a pin  know that there
was in Paris  during the last century  about 1770  two attorneys at the
Chatelet named  one Corbeau  Raven   the other Renard  Fox   The two
names had been forestalled by La Fontaine  The opportunity was too fine
for the lawyers  they made the most of it  A parody was immediately
put in circulation in the galleries of the court house  in verses that
limped a little   


          Maitre Corbeau  sur un dossier perche  13 
               Tenait dans son bee une saisie executoire 
          Maitre Renard  par l odeur alleche 
               Lui fit a peu pres cette histoire 
                    He  bonjour   Etc 


The two honest practitioners  embarrassed by the jests  and finding the
bearing of their heads interfered with by the shouts of laughter which
followed them  resolved to get rid of their names  and hit upon the
expedient of applying to the king 

Their petition was presented to Louis XV  on the same day when the
Papal Nuncio  on the one hand  and the Cardinal de la Roche Aymon on the
other  both devoutly kneeling  were each engaged in putting on  in his
Majesty s presence  a slipper on the bare feet of Madame du Barry  who
had just got out of bed  The king  who was laughing  continued to laugh 
passed gayly from the two bishops to the two lawyers  and bestowed on
these limbs of the law their former names  or nearly so  By the kings
command  Maitre Corbeau was permitted to add a tail to his initial
letter and to call himself Gorbeau  Maitre Renard was less lucky  all he
obtained was leave to place a P in front of his R  and to call himself
Prenard  so that the second name bore almost as much resemblance as the
first 

Now  according to local tradition  this Maitre Gorbeau had been the
proprietor of the building numbered 50 52 on the Boulevard de l Hopital 
He was even the author of the monumental window 

Hence the edifice bore the name of the Gorbeau house 

Opposite this house  among the trees of the boulevard  rose a great elm
which was three quarters dead  almost directly facing it opens the Rue
de la Barriere des Gobelins  a street then without houses  unpaved 
planted with unhealthy trees  which was green or muddy according to the
season  and which ended squarely in the exterior wall of Paris  An odor
of copperas issued in puffs from the roofs of the neighboring factory 

The barrier was close at hand  In 1823 the city wall was still in
existence 

This barrier itself evoked gloomy fancies in the mind  It was the
road to Bicetre  It was through it that  under the Empire and the
Restoration  prisoners condemned to death re entered Paris on the day
of their execution  It was there  that  about 1829  was committed that
mysterious assassination  called  The assassination of the Fontainebleau
barrier   whose authors justice was never able to discover  a melancholy
problem which has never been elucidated  a frightful enigma which has
never been unriddled  Take a few steps  and you come upon that fatal Rue
Croulebarbe  where Ulbach stabbed the goat girl of Ivry to the sound of
thunder  as in the melodramas  A few paces more  and you arrive at the
abominable pollarded elms of the Barriere Saint Jacques  that expedient
of the philanthropist to conceal the scaffold  that miserable and
shameful Place de Grove of a shop keeping and bourgeois society  which
recoiled before the death penalty  neither daring to abolish it with
grandeur  nor to uphold it with authority 

Leaving aside this Place Saint Jacques  which was  as it were 
predestined  and which has always been horrible  probably the most
mournful spot on that mournful boulevard  seven and thirty years ago 
was the spot which even to day is so unattractive  where stood the
building Number 50 52 

Bourgeois houses only began to spring up there twenty five years later 
The place was unpleasant  In addition to the gloomy thoughts which
assailed one there  one was conscious of being between the Salpetriere 
a glimpse of whose dome could be seen  and Bicetre  whose outskirts one
was fairly touching  that is to say  between the madness of women and
the madness of men  As far as the eye could see  one could perceive
nothing but the abattoirs  the city wall  and the fronts of a few
factories  resembling barracks or monasteries  everywhere about stood
hovels  rubbish  ancient walls blackened like cerecloths  new white
walls like winding sheets  everywhere parallel rows of trees  buildings
erected on a line  flat constructions  long  cold rows  and the
melancholy sadness of right angles  Not an unevenness of the ground 
not a caprice in the architecture  not a fold  The ensemble was glacial 
regular  hideous  Nothing oppresses the heart like symmetry  It is
because symmetry is ennui  and ennui is at the very foundation of grief 
Despair yawns  Something more terrible than a hell where one suffers
may be imagined  and that is a hell where one is bored  If such a hell
existed  that bit of the Boulevard de l Hopital might have formed the
entrance to it 

Nevertheless  at nightfall  at the moment when the daylight is
vanishing  especially in winter  at the hour when the twilight breeze
tears from the elms their last russet leaves  when the darkness is deep
and starless  or when the moon and the wind are making openings in the
clouds and losing themselves in the shadows  this boulevard suddenly
becomes frightful  The black lines sink inwards and are lost in the
shades  like morsels of the infinite  The passer by cannot refrain from
recalling the innumerable traditions of the place which are connected
with the gibbet  The solitude of this spot  where so many crimes have
been committed  had something terrible about it  One almost had a
presentiment of meeting with traps in that darkness  all the confused
forms of the darkness seemed suspicious  and the long  hollow square  of
which one caught a glimpse between each tree  seemed graves  by day it
was ugly  in the evening melancholy  by night it was sinister 

In summer  at twilight  one saw  here and there  a few old women seated
at the foot of the elm  on benches mouldy with rain  These good old
women were fond of begging 

However  this quarter  which had a superannuated rather than an antique
air  was tending even then to transformation  Even at that time any one
who was desirous of seeing it had to make haste  Each day some detail of
the whole effect was disappearing  For the last twenty years the station
of the Orleans railway has stood beside the old faubourg and distracted
it  as it does to day  Wherever it is placed on the borders of a
capital  a railway station is the death of a suburb and the birth of a
city  It seems as though  around these great centres of the movements of
a people  the earth  full of germs  trembled and yawned  to engulf the
ancient dwellings of men and to allow new ones to spring forth  at the
rattle of these powerful machines  at the breath of these monstrous
horses of civilization which devour coal and vomit fire  The old houses
crumble and new ones rise 

Since the Orleans railway has invaded the region of the Salpetriere 
the ancient  narrow streets which adjoin the moats Saint Victor and the
Jardin des Plantes tremble  as they are violently traversed three or
four times each day by those currents of coach fiacres and omnibuses
which  in a given time  crowd back the houses to the right and the left 
for there are things which are odd when said that are rigorously exact 
and just as it is true to say that in large cities the sun makes the
southern fronts of houses to vegetate and grow  it is certain that the
frequent passage of vehicles enlarges streets  The symptoms of a new
life are evident  In this old provincial quarter  in the wildest nooks 
the pavement shows itself  the sidewalks begin to crawl and to grow
longer  even where there are as yet no pedestrians  One morning   a
memorable morning in July  1845   black pots of bitumen were seen
smoking there  on that day it might be said that civilization had
arrived in the Rue de l Ourcine  and that Paris had entered the suburb
of Saint Marceau 




CHAPTER II  A NEST FOR OWL AND A WARBLER

It was in front of this Gorbeau house that Jean Valjean halted  Like
wild birds  he had chosen this desert place to construct his nest 

He fumbled in his waistcoat pocket  drew out a sort of a pass key 
opened the door  entered  closed it again carefully  and ascended the
staircase  still carrying Cosette 

At the top of the stairs he drew from his pocket another key  with
which he opened another door  The chamber which he entered  and which
he closed again instantly  was a kind of moderately spacious attic 
furnished with a mattress laid on the floor  a table  and several
chairs  a stove in which a fire was burning  and whose embers were
visible  stood in one corner  A lantern on the boulevard cast a vague
light into this poor room  At the extreme end there was a dressing room
with a folding bed  Jean Valjean carried the child to this bed and laid
her down there without waking her 

He struck a match and lighted a candle  All this was prepared beforehand
on the table  and  as he had done on the previous evening  he began
to scrutinize Cosette s face with a gaze full of ecstasy  in which the
expression of kindness and tenderness almost amounted to aberration  The
little girl  with that tranquil confidence which belongs only to extreme
strength and extreme weakness  had fallen asleep without knowing with
whom she was  and continued to sleep without knowing where she was 

Jean Valjean bent down and kissed that child s hand 

Nine months before he had kissed the hand of the mother  who had also
just fallen asleep 

The same sad  piercing  religious sentiment filled his heart 

He knelt beside Cosette s bed 

lt was broad daylight  and the child still slept  A wan ray of the
December sun penetrated the window of the attic and lay upon the
ceiling in long threads of light and shade  All at once a heavily laden
carrier s cart  which was passing along the boulevard  shook the frail
bed  like a clap of thunder  and made it quiver from top to bottom 

 Yes  madame   cried Cosette  waking with a start   here I am  here I
am  

And she sprang out of bed  her eyes still half shut with the heaviness
of sleep  extending her arms towards the corner of the wall 

 Ah  mon Dieu  my broom   said she 

She opened her eyes wide now  and beheld the smiling countenance of Jean
Valjean 

 Ah  so it is true   said the child   Good morning  Monsieur  

Children accept joy and happiness instantly and familiarly  being
themselves by nature joy and happiness 

Cosette caught sight of Catherine at the foot of her bed  and took
possession of her  and  as she played  she put a hundred questions to
Jean Valjean  Where was she  Was Paris very large  Was Madame Thenardier
very far away  Was she to go back  etc   etc  All at once she exclaimed 
 How pretty it is here  

It was a frightful hole  but she felt free 

 Must I sweep   she resumed at last 

 Play   said Jean Valjean 

The day passed thus  Cosette  without troubling herself to understand
anything  was inexpressibly happy with that doll and that kind man 




CHAPTER III  TWO MISFORTUNES MAKE ONE PIECE OF GOOD FORTUNE

On the following morning  at daybreak  Jean Valjean was still by
Cosette s bedside  he watched there motionless  waiting for her to wake 

Some new thing had come into his soul 

Jean Valjean had never loved anything  for twenty five years he had been
alone in the world  He had never been father  lover  husband  friend  In
the prison he had been vicious  gloomy  chaste  ignorant  and shy 
The heart of that ex convict was full of virginity  His sister and his
sister s children had left him only a vague and far off memory which
had finally almost completely vanished  he had made every effort to
find them  and not having been able to find them  he had forgotten them 
Human nature is made thus  the other tender emotions of his youth  if he
had ever had any  had fallen into an abyss 

When he saw Cosette  when he had taken possession of her  carried her
off  and delivered her  he felt his heart moved within him 

All the passion and affection within him awoke  and rushed towards that
child  He approached the bed  where she lay sleeping  and trembled with
joy  He suffered all the pangs of a mother  and he knew not what it
meant  for that great and singular movement of a heart which begins to
love is a very obscure and a very sweet thing 

Poor old man  with a perfectly new heart 

Only  as he was five and fifty  and Cosette eight years of age  all that
might have been love in the whole course of his life flowed together
into a sort of ineffable light 

It was the second white apparition which he had encountered  The Bishop
had caused the dawn of virtue to rise on his horizon  Cosette caused the
dawn of love to rise 

The early days passed in this dazzled state 

Cosette  on her side  had also  unknown to herself  become another
being  poor little thing  She was so little when her mother left her 
that she no longer remembered her  Like all children  who resemble young
shoots of the vine  which cling to everything  she had tried to love 
she had not succeeded  All had repulsed her   the Thenardiers  their
children  other children  She had loved the dog  and he had died  after
which nothing and nobody would have anything to do with her  It is a sad
thing to say  and we have already intimated it  that  at eight years of
age  her heart was cold  It was not her fault  it was not the faculty
of loving that she lacked  alas  it was the possibility  Thus  from the
very first day  all her sentient and thinking powers loved this kind
man  She felt that which she had never felt before  a sensation of
expansion 

The man no longer produced on her the effect of being old or poor  she
thought Jean Valjean handsome  just as she thought the hovel pretty 

These are the effects of the dawn  of childhood  of joy  The novelty of
the earth and of life counts for something here  Nothing is so charming
as the coloring reflection of happiness on a garret  We all have in our
past a delightful garret 

Nature  a difference of fifty years  had set a profound gulf between
Jean Valjean and Cosette  destiny filled in this gulf  Destiny suddenly
united and wedded with its irresistible power these two uprooted
existences  differing in age  alike in sorrow  One  in fact  completed
the other  Cosette s instinct sought a father  as Jean Valjean s
instinct sought a child  To meet was to find each other  At the
mysterious moment when their hands touched  they were welded together 
When these two souls perceived each other  they recognized each other as
necessary to each other  and embraced each other closely 

Taking the words in their most comprehensive and absolute sense  we
may say that  separated from every one by the walls of the tomb  Jean
Valjean was the widower  and Cosette was the orphan  this situation
caused Jean Valjean to become Cosette s father after a celestial
fashion 

And in truth  the mysterious impression produced on Cosette in the
depths of the forest of Chelles by the hand of Jean Valjean grasping
hers in the dark was not an illusion  but a reality  The entrance of
that man into the destiny of that child had been the advent of God 

Moreover  Jean Valjean had chosen his refuge well  There he seemed
perfectly secure 

The chamber with a dressing room  which he occupied with Cosette  was
the one whose window opened on the boulevard  This being the only window
in the house  no neighbors  glances were to be feared from across the
way or at the side 

The ground floor of Number 50 52  a sort of dilapidated penthouse 
served as a wagon house for market gardeners  and no communication
existed between it and the first story  It was separated by the
flooring  which had neither traps nor stairs  and which formed the
diaphragm of the building  as it were  The first story contained  as we
have said  numerous chambers and several attics  only one of which
was occupied by the old woman who took charge of Jean Valjean s
housekeeping  all the rest was uninhabited 

It was this old woman  ornamented with the name of the principal lodger 
and in reality intrusted with the functions of portress  who had let
him the lodging on Christmas eve  He had represented himself to her as a
gentleman of means who had been ruined by Spanish bonds  who was coming
there to live with his little daughter  He had paid her six months in
advance  and had commissioned the old woman to furnish the chamber and
dressing room  as we have seen  It was this good woman who had lighted
the fire in the stove  and prepared everything on the evening of their
arrival 

Week followed week  these two beings led a happy life in that hovel 

Cosette laughed  chattered  and sang from daybreak  Children have their
morning song as well as birds 

It sometimes happened that Jean Valjean clasped her tiny red hand  all
cracked with chilblains  and kissed it  The poor child  who was used
to being beaten  did not know the meaning of this  and ran away in
confusion 

At times she became serious and stared at her little black gown  Cosette
was no longer in rags  she was in mourning  She had emerged from misery 
and she was entering into life 

Jean Valjean had undertaken to teach her to read  Sometimes  as he made
the child spell  he remembered that it was with the idea of doing evil
that he had learned to read in prison  This idea had ended in teaching a
child to read  Then the ex convict smiled with the pensive smile of the
angels 

He felt in it a premeditation from on high  the will of some one who
was not man  and he became absorbed in revery  Good thoughts have their
abysses as well as evil ones 

To teach Cosette to read  and to let her play  this constituted nearly
the whole of Jean Valjean s existence  And then he talked of her mother 
and he made her pray 

She called him father  and knew no other name for him 

He passed hours in watching her dressing and undressing her doll  and in
listening to her prattle  Life  henceforth  appeared to him to be full
of interest  men seemed to him good and just  he no longer reproached
any one in thought  he saw no reason why he should not live to be a very
old man  now that this child loved him  He saw a whole future stretching
out before him  illuminated by Cosette as by a charming light  The best
of us are not exempt from egotistical thoughts  At times  he reflected
with a sort of joy that she would be ugly 

This is only a personal opinion  but  to utter our whole thought  at the
point where Jean Valjean had arrived when he began to love Cosette  it
is by no means clear to us that he did not need this encouragement in
order that he might persevere in well doing  He had just viewed the
malice of men and the misery of society under a new aspect  incomplete
aspects  which unfortunately only exhibited one side of the truth 
the fate of woman as summed up in Fantine  and public authority as
personified in Javert  He had returned to prison  this time for having
done right  he had quaffed fresh bitterness  disgust and lassitude were
overpowering him  even the memory of the Bishop probably suffered
a temporary eclipse  though sure to reappear later on luminous and
triumphant  but  after all  that sacred memory was growing dim 
Who knows whether Jean Valjean had not been on the eve of growing
discouraged and of falling once more  He loved and grew strong again 
Alas  he walked with no less indecision than Cosette  He protected her 
and she strengthened him  Thanks to him  she could walk through life 
thanks to her  he could continue in virtue  He was that child s stay 
and she was his prop  Oh  unfathomable and divine mystery of the
balances of destiny 




CHAPTER IV  THE REMARKS OF THE PRINCIPAL TENANT

Jean Valjean was prudent enough never to go out by day  Every evening 
at twilight  he walked for an hour or two  sometimes alone  often with
Cosette  seeking the most deserted side alleys of the boulevard  and
entering churches at nightfall  He liked to go to Saint Medard  which is
the nearest church  When he did not take Cosette with him  she remained
with the old woman  but the child s delight was to go out with the good
man  She preferred an hour with him to all her rapturous tete a tetes
with Catherine  He held her hand as they walked  and said sweet things
to her 

It turned out that Cosette was a very gay little person 

The old woman attended to the housekeeping and cooking and went to
market 

They lived soberly  always having a little fire  but like people in
very moderate circumstances  Jean Valjean had made no alterations in
the furniture as it was the first day  he had merely had the glass door
leading to Cosette s dressing room replaced by a solid door 

He still wore his yellow coat  his black breeches  and his old hat 
In the street  he was taken for a poor man  It sometimes happened that
kind hearted women turned back to bestow a sou on him  Jean Valjean
accepted the sou with a deep bow  It also happened occasionally that he
encountered some poor wretch asking alms  then he looked behind him
to make sure that no one was observing him  stealthily approached the
unfortunate man  put a piece of money into his hand  often a silver
coin  and walked rapidly away  This had its disadvantages  He began
to be known in the neighborhood under the name of the beggar who gives
alms 

The old principal lodger  a cross looking creature  who was
thoroughly permeated  so far as her neighbors were concerned  with the
inquisitiveness peculiar to envious persons  scrutinized Jean Valjean
a great deal  without his suspecting the fact  She was a little deaf 
which rendered her talkative  There remained to her from her past  two
teeth   one above  the other below   which she was continually knocking
against each other  She had questioned Cosette  who had not been able
to tell her anything  since she knew nothing herself except that she had
come from Montfermeil  One morning  this spy saw Jean Valjean  with
an air which struck the old gossip as peculiar  entering one of the
uninhabited compartments of the hovel  She followed him with the step
of an old cat  and was able to observe him without being seen  through a
crack in the door  which was directly opposite him  Jean Valjean had his
back turned towards this door  by way of greater security  no doubt  The
old woman saw him fumble in his pocket and draw thence a case  scissors 
and thread  then he began to rip the lining of one of the skirts of his
coat  and from the opening he took a bit of yellowish paper  which he
unfolded  The old woman recognized  with terror  the fact that it was
a bank bill for a thousand francs  It was the second or third only that
she had seen in the course of her existence  She fled in alarm 

A moment later  Jean Valjean accosted her  and asked her to go and
get this thousand franc bill changed for him  adding that it was his
quarterly income  which he had received the day before   Where   thought
the old woman   He did not go out until six o clock in the evening  and
the government bank certainly is not open at that hour   The old
woman went to get the bill changed  and mentioned her surmises  That
thousand franc note  commented on and multiplied  produced a vast
amount of terrified discussion among the gossips of the Rue des Vignes
Saint Marcel 

A few days later  it chanced that Jean Valjean was sawing some wood  in
his shirt sleeves  in the corridor  The old woman was in the chamber 
putting things in order  She was alone  Cosette was occupied in admiring
the wood as it was sawed  The old woman caught sight of the coat hanging
on a nail  and examined it  The lining had been sewed up again  The good
woman felt of it carefully  and thought she observed in the skirts and
revers thicknesses of paper  More thousand franc bank bills  no doubt 

She also noticed that there were all sorts of things in the pockets 
Not only the needles  thread  and scissors which she had seen  but a big
pocket book  a very large knife  and  a suspicious circumstance  several
wigs of various colors  Each pocket of this coat had the air of being in
a manner provided against unexpected accidents 

Thus the inhabitants of the house reached the last days of winter 




CHAPTER V  A FIVE FRANC PIECE FALLS ON THE GROUND AND PRODUCES A TUMULT

Near Saint Medard s church there was a poor man who was in the habit of
crouching on the brink of a public well which had been condemned  and
on whom Jean Valjean was fond of bestowing charity  He never passed this
man without giving him a few sous  Sometimes he spoke to him  Those who
envied this mendicant said that he belonged to the police  He was an
ex beadle of seventy five  who was constantly mumbling his prayers 

One evening  as Jean Valjean was passing by  when he had not Cosette
with him  he saw the beggar in his usual place  beneath the lantern
which had just been lighted  The man seemed engaged in prayer  according
to his custom  and was much bent over  Jean Valjean stepped up to him
and placed his customary alms in his hand  The mendicant raised his
eyes suddenly  stared intently at Jean Valjean  then dropped his head
quickly  This movement was like a flash of lightning  Jean Valjean was
seized with a shudder  It seemed to him that he had just caught sight 
by the light of the street lantern  not of the placid and beaming
visage of the old beadle  but of a well known and startling face  He
experienced the same impression that one would have on finding one s
self  all of a sudden  face to face  in the dark  with a tiger  He
recoiled  terrified  petrified  daring neither to breathe  to speak 
to remain  nor to flee  staring at the beggar who had dropped his head 
which was enveloped in a rag  and no longer appeared to know that he
was there  At this strange moment  an instinct  possibly the mysterious
instinct of self preservation   restrained Jean Valjean from uttering a
word  The beggar had the same figure  the same rags  the same appearance
as he had every day   Bah   said Jean Valjean   I am mad  I am dreaming 
Impossible   And he returned profoundly troubled 

He hardly dared to confess  even to himself  that the face which he
thought he had seen was the face of Javert 

That night  on thinking the matter over  he regretted not having
questioned the man  in order to force him to raise his head a second
time 

On the following day  at nightfall  he went back  The beggar was at his
post   Good day  my good man   said Jean Valjean  resolutely  handing
him a sou  The beggar raised his head  and replied in a whining voice 
 Thanks  my good sir   It was unmistakably the ex beadle 

Jean Valjean felt completely reassured  He began to laugh   How the
deuce could I have thought that I saw Javert there   he thought   Am I
going to lose my eyesight now   And he thought no more about it 

A few days afterwards   it might have been at eight o clock in the
evening   he was in his room  and engaged in making Cosette spell aloud 
when he heard the house door open and then shut again  This struck him
as singular  The old woman  who was the only inhabitant of the house
except himself  always went to bed at nightfall  so that she might not
burn out her candles  Jean Valjean made a sign to Cosette to be quiet 
He heard some one ascending the stairs  It might possibly be the old
woman  who might have fallen ill and have been out to the apothecary s 
Jean Valjean listened 

The step was heavy  and sounded like that of a man  but the old woman
wore stout shoes  and there is nothing which so strongly resembles the
step of a man as that of an old woman  Nevertheless  Jean Valjean blew
out his candle 

He had sent Cosette to bed  saying to her in a low voice   Get into bed
very softly   and as he kissed her brow  the steps paused 

Jean Valjean remained silent  motionless  with his back towards the
door  seated on the chair from which he had not stirred  and holding his
breath in the dark 

After the expiration of a rather long interval  he turned round  as he
heard nothing more  and  as he raised his eyes towards the door of his
chamber  he saw a light through the keyhole  This light formed a sort
of sinister star in the blackness of the door and the wall  There was
evidently some one there  who was holding a candle in his hand and
listening 

Several minutes elapsed thus  and the light retreated  But he heard no
sound of footsteps  which seemed to indicate that the person who had
been listening at the door had removed his shoes 

Jean Valjean threw himself  all dressed as he was  on his bed  and could
not close his eyes all night 

At daybreak  just as he was falling into a doze through fatigue  he was
awakened by the creaking of a door which opened on some attic at the
end of the corridor  then he heard the same masculine footstep which had
ascended the stairs on the preceding evening  The step was approaching 
He sprang off the bed and applied his eye to the keyhole  which was
tolerably large  hoping to see the person who had made his way by night
into the house and had listened at his door  as he passed  It was a
man  in fact  who passed  this time without pausing  in front of Jean
Valjean s chamber  The corridor was too dark to allow of the person s
face being distinguished  but when the man reached the staircase  a
ray of light from without made it stand out like a silhouette  and Jean
Valjean had a complete view of his back  The man was of lofty stature 
clad in a long frock coat  with a cudgel under his arm  The formidable
neck and shoulders belonged to Javert 

Jean Valjean might have attempted to catch another glimpse of him
through his window opening on the boulevard  but he would have been
obliged to open the window  he dared not 

It was evident that this man had entered with a key  and like himself 
Who had given him that key  What was the meaning of this 

When the old woman came to do the work  at seven o clock in the morning 
Jean Valjean cast a penetrating glance on her  but he did not question
her  The good woman appeared as usual 

As she swept up she remarked to him   

 Possibly Monsieur may have heard some one come in last night  

At that age  and on that boulevard  eight o clock in the evening was the
dead of the night 

 That is true  by the way   he replied  in the most natural tone
possible   Who was it  

 It was a new lodger who has come into the house   said the old woman 

 And what is his name  

 I don t know exactly  Dumont  or Daumont  or some name of that sort  

 And who is this Monsieur Dumont  

The old woman gazed at him with her little polecat eyes  and answered   

 A gentleman of property  like yourself  

Perhaps she had no ulterior meaning  Jean Valjean thought he perceived
one 

When the old woman had taken her departure  he did up a hundred francs
which he had in a cupboard  into a roll  and put it in his pocket  In
spite of all the precautions which he took in this operation so that he
might not be heard rattling silver  a hundred sou piece escaped from his
hands and rolled noisily on the floor 

When darkness came on  he descended and carefully scrutinized both sides
of the boulevard  He saw no one  The boulevard appeared to be absolutely
deserted  It is true that a person can conceal himself behind trees 

He went up stairs again 

 Come   he said to Cosette 

He took her by the hand  and they both went out 




BOOK FIFTH   FOR A BLACK HUNT  A MUTE PACK




CHAPTER I  THE ZIGZAGS OF STRATEGY

An observation here becomes necessary  in view of the pages which the
reader is about to peruse  and of others which will be met with further
on 

The author of this book  who regrets the necessity of mentioning
himself  has been absent from Paris for many years  Paris has been
transformed since he quitted it  A new city has arisen  which is  after
a fashion  unknown to him  There is no need for him to say that he loves
Paris  Paris is his mind s natal city  In consequence of demolitions and
reconstructions  the Paris of his youth  that Paris which he bore away
religiously in his memory  is now a Paris of days gone by  He must
be permitted to speak of that Paris as though it still existed  It is
possible that when the author conducts his readers to a spot and says 
 In such a street there stands such and such a house   neither street
nor house will any longer exist in that locality  Readers may verify
the facts if they care to take the trouble  For his own part  he is
unacquainted with the new Paris  and he writes with the old Paris before
his eyes in an illusion which is precious to him  It is a delight to him
to dream that there still lingers behind him something of that which he
beheld when he was in his own country  and that all has not vanished 
So long as you go and come in your native land  you imagine that those
streets are a matter of indifference to you  that those windows 
those roofs  and those doors are nothing to you  that those walls are
strangers to you  that those trees are merely the first encountered
haphazard  that those houses  which you do not enter  are useless to
you  that the pavements which you tread are merely stones  Later on 
when you are no longer there  you perceive that the streets are dear to
you  that you miss those roofs  those doors  and that those walls are
necessary to you  those trees are well beloved by you  that you entered
those houses which you never entered  every day  and that you have left
a part of your heart  of your blood  of your soul  in those pavements 
All those places which you no longer behold  which you may never
behold again  perchance  and whose memory you have cherished  take on
a melancholy charm  recur to your mind with the melancholy of an
apparition  make the holy land visible to you  and are  so to speak 
the very form of France  and you love them  and you call them up as they
are  as they were  and you persist in this  and you will submit to no
change  for you are attached to the figure of your fatherland as to the
face of your mother 

May we  then  be permitted to speak of the past in the present  That
said  we beg the reader to take note of it  and we continue 

Jean Valjean instantly quitted the boulevard and plunged into the
streets  taking the most intricate lines which he could devise 
returning on his track at times  to make sure that he was not being
followed 

 Illustration  The Black Hunt  2b5 1 black hunt 

This manoeuvre is peculiar to the hunted stag  On soil where an
imprint of the track may be left  this manoeuvre possesses  among other
advantages  that of deceiving the huntsmen and the dogs  by throwing
them on the wrong scent  In venery this is called false re imbushment 

The moon was full that night  Jean Valjean was not sorry for this  The
moon  still very close to the horizon  cast great masses of light and
shadow in the streets  Jean Valjean could glide along close to the
houses on the dark side  and yet keep watch on the light side  He did
not  perhaps  take sufficiently into consideration the fact that the
dark side escaped him  Still  in the deserted lanes which lie near the
Rue Poliveau  he thought he felt certain that no one was following him 

Cosette walked on without asking any questions  The sufferings of the
first six years of her life had instilled something passive into her
nature  Moreover   and this is a remark to which we shall frequently
have occasion to recur   she had grown used  without being herself
aware of it  to the peculiarities of this good man and to the freaks of
destiny  And then she was with him  and she felt safe 

Jean Valjean knew no more where he was going than did Cosette  He
trusted in God  as she trusted in him  It seemed as though he also were
clinging to the hand of some one greater than himself  he thought he
felt a being leading him  though invisible  However  he had no settled
idea  no plan  no project  He was not even absolutely sure that it was
Javert  and then it might have been Javert  without Javert knowing that
he was Jean Valjean  Was not he disguised  Was not he believed to be
dead  Still  queer things had been going on for several days  He wanted
no more of them  He was determined not to return to the Gorbeau house 
Like the wild animal chased from its lair  he was seeking a hole in
which he might hide until he could find one where he might dwell 

Jean Valjean described many and varied labyrinths in the Mouffetard
quarter  which was already asleep  as though the discipline of the
Middle Ages and the yoke of the curfew still existed  he combined in
various manners  with cunning strategy  the Rue Censier and the Rue
Copeau  the Rue du Battoir Saint Victor and the Rue du Puits l Ermite 
There are lodging houses in this locality  but he did not even enter
one  finding nothing which suited him  He had no doubt that if any one
had chanced to be upon his track  they would have lost it 

As eleven o clock struck from Saint Etienne du Mont  he was traversing
the Rue de Pontoise  in front of the office of the commissary of police 
situated at No  14  A few moments later  the instinct of which we have
spoken above made him turn round  At that moment he saw distinctly 
thanks to the commissary s lantern  which betrayed them  three men
who were following him closely  pass  one after the other  under that
lantern  on the dark side of the street  One of the three entered the
alley leading to the commissary s house  The one who marched at their
head struck him as decidedly suspicious 

 Come  child   he said to Cosette  and he made haste to quit the Rue
Pontoise 

He took a circuit  turned into the Passage des Patriarches  which was
closed on account of the hour  strode along the Rue de l Epee de Bois
and the Rue de l Arbalete  and plunged into the Rue des Postes 

At that time there was a square formed by the intersection of
streets  where the College Rollin stands to day  and where the Rue
Neuve Sainte Genevieve turns off 

It is understood  of course  that the Rue Neuve Sainte Genevieve is an
old street  and that a posting chaise does not pass through the Rue des
Postes once in ten years  In the thirteenth century this Rue des Postes
was inhabited by potters  and its real name is Rue des Pots 

The moon cast a livid light into this open space  Jean Valjean went into
ambush in a doorway  calculating that if the men were still following
him  he could not fail to get a good look at them  as they traversed
this illuminated space 

In point of fact  three minutes had not elapsed when the men made their
appearance  There were four of them now  All were tall  dressed in long 
brown coats  with round hats  and huge cudgels in their hands  Their
great stature and their vast fists rendered them no less alarming
than did their sinister stride through the darkness  One would have
pronounced them four spectres disguised as bourgeois 

They halted in the middle of the space and formed a group  like men in
consultation  They had an air of indecision  The one who appeared to be
their leader turned round and pointed hastily with his right hand in the
direction which Jean Valjean had taken  another seemed to indicate the
contrary direction with considerable obstinacy  At the moment when the
first man wheeled round  the moon fell full in his face  Jean Valjean
recognized Javert perfectly 




CHAPTER II  IT IS LUCKY THAT THE PONT D AUSTERLITZ BEARS CARRIAGES

Uncertainty was at an end for Jean Valjean  fortunately it still lasted
for the men  He took advantage of their hesitation  It was time lost for
them  but gained for him  He slipped from under the gate where he had
concealed himself  and went down the Rue des Postes  towards the region
of the Jardin des Plantes  Cosette was beginning to be tired  He took
her in his arms and carried her  There were no passers by  and the
street lanterns had not been lighted on account of there being a moon 

He redoubled his pace 

In a few strides he had reached the Goblet potteries  on the front
of which the moonlight rendered distinctly legible the ancient
inscription   

               De Goblet fils c est ici la fabrique  14 
               Venez choisir des cruches et des broos 
               Des pots a fleurs  des tuyaux  de la brique 
               A tout venant le Coeur vend des Carreaux 



He left behind him the Rue de la Clef  then the Fountain Saint Victor 
skirted the Jardin des Plantes by the lower streets  and reached the
quay  There he turned round  The quay was deserted  The streets were
deserted  There was no one behind him  He drew a long breath 

He gained the Pont d Austerlitz 

Tolls were still collected there at that epoch 

He presented himself at the toll office and handed over a sou 

 It is two sous   said the old soldier in charge of the bridge   You are
carrying a child who can walk  Pay for two  

He paid  vexed that his passage should have aroused remark  Every flight
should be an imperceptible slipping away 

A heavy cart was crossing the Seine at the same time as himself  and on
its way  like him  to the right bank  This was of use to him  He could
traverse the bridge in the shadow of the cart 

Towards the middle of the Bridge  Cosette  whose feet were benumbed 
wanted to walk  He set her on the ground and took her hand again 

The bridge once crossed  he perceived some timber yards on his right  He
directed his course thither  In order to reach them  it was necessary to
risk himself in a tolerably large unsheltered and illuminated space 
He did not hesitate  Those who were on his track had evidently lost the
scent  and Jean Valjean believed himself to be out of danger  Hunted 
yes  followed  no 

A little street  the Rue du Chemin Vert Saint Antoine  opened out
between two timber yards enclosed in walls  This street was dark and
narrow and seemed made expressly for him  Before entering it he cast a
glance behind him 

From the point where he stood he could see the whole extent of the Pont
d Austerlitz 

Four shadows were just entering on the bridge 

These shadows had their backs turned to the Jardin des Plantes and were
on their way to the right bank 

These four shadows were the four men 

Jean Valjean shuddered like the wild beast which is recaptured 

One hope remained to him  it was  that the men had not  perhaps  stepped
on the bridge  and had not caught sight of him while he was crossing the
large illuminated space  holding Cosette by the hand 

In that case  by plunging into the little street before him  he
might escape  if he could reach the timber yards  the marshes  the
market gardens  the uninhabited ground which was not built upon 

It seemed to him that he might commit himself to that silent little
street  He entered it 




CHAPTER III  TO WIT  THE PLAN OF PARIS IN 1727

Three hundred paces further on  he arrived at a point where the street
forked  It separated into two streets  which ran in a slanting line  one
to the right  and the other to the left 

Jean Valjean had before him what resembled the two branches of a Y 
Which should he choose  He did not hesitate  but took the one on the
right 

Why 

Because that to the left ran towards a suburb  that is to say  towards
inhabited regions  and the right branch towards the open country  that
is to say  towards deserted regions 

However  they no longer walked very fast  Cosette s pace retarded Jean
Valjean s 

He took her up and carried her again  Cosette laid her head on the
shoulder of the good man and said not a word 

He turned round from time to time and looked behind him  He took care to
keep always on the dark side of the street  The street was straight
in his rear  The first two or three times that he turned round he saw
nothing  the silence was profound  and he continued his march somewhat
reassured  All at once  on turning round  he thought he perceived in the
portion of the street which he had just passed through  far off in the
obscurity  something which was moving 

He rushed forward precipitately rather than walked  hoping to find some
side street  to make his escape through it  and thus to break his scent
once more 

He arrived at a wall 

This wall  however  did not absolutely prevent further progress  it was
a wall which bordered a transverse street  in which the one he had taken
ended 

Here again  he was obliged to come to a decision  should he go to the
right or to the left 

He glanced to the right  The fragmentary lane was prolonged between
buildings which were either sheds or barns  then ended at a blind alley 
The extremity of the cul de sac was distinctly visible   a lofty white
wall 

He glanced to the left  On that side the lane was open  and about
two hundred paces further on  ran into a street of which it was the
affluent  On that side lay safety 

At the moment when Jean Valjean was meditating a turn to the left  in
an effort to reach the street which he saw at the end of the lane  he
perceived a sort of motionless  black statue at the corner of the lane
and the street towards which he was on the point of directing his steps 

It was some one  a man  who had evidently just been posted there  and
who was barring the passage and waiting 

Jean Valjean recoiled 

The point of Paris where Jean Valjean found himself  situated between
the Faubourg Saint Antoine and la Rapee  is one of those which recent
improvements have transformed from top to bottom   resulting in
disfigurement according to some  and in a transfiguration according to
others  The market gardens  the timber yards  and the old buildings
have been effaced  To day  there are brand new  wide streets  arenas 
circuses  hippodromes  railway stations  and a prison  Mazas  there 
progress  as the reader sees  with its antidote 

Half a century ago  in that ordinary  popular tongue  which is all
compounded of traditions  which persists in calling the Institut les
Quatre Nations  and the Opera Comique Feydeau  the precise spot
whither Jean Valjean had arrived was called le Petit Picpus  The
Porte Saint Jacques  the Porte Paris  the Barriere des Sergents  the
Porcherons  la Galiote  les Celestins  les Capucins  le Mail  la Bourbe 
l Arbre de Cracovie  la Petite Pologne  these are the names of old Paris
which survive amid the new  The memory of the populace hovers over these
relics of the past 

Le Petit Picpus  which  moreover  hardly ever had any existence  and
never was more than the outline of a quarter  had nearly the monkish
aspect of a Spanish town  The roads were not much paved  the streets
were not much built up  With the exception of the two or three streets 
of which we shall presently speak  all was wall and solitude there  Not
a shop  not a vehicle  hardly a candle lighted here and there in the
windows  all lights extinguished after ten o clock  Gardens  convents 
timber yards  marshes  occasional lowly dwellings and great walls as
high as the houses 

Such was this quarter in the last century  The Revolution snubbed
it soundly  The republican government demolished and cut through it 
Rubbish shoots were established there  Thirty years ago  this quarter
was disappearing under the erasing process of new buildings  To day 
it has been utterly blotted out  The Petit Picpus  of which no existing
plan has preserved a trace  is indicated with sufficient clearness
in the plan of 1727  published at Paris by Denis Thierry  Rue
Saint Jacques  opposite the Rue du Platre  and at Lyons  by Jean Girin 
Rue Merciere  at the sign of Prudence  Petit Picpus had  as
we have just mentioned  a Y of streets  formed by the Rue du
Chemin Vert Saint Antoine  which spread out in two branches  taking on
the left the name of Little Picpus Street  and on the right the name of
the Rue Polonceau  The two limbs of the Y were connected at the apex
as by a bar  this bar was called Rue Droit Mur  The Rue Polonceau ended
there  Rue Petit Picpus passed on  and ascended towards the Lenoir
market  A person coming from the Seine reached the extremity of the Rue
Polonceau  and had on his right the Rue Droit Mur  turning abruptly at a
right angle  in front of him the wall of that street  and on his right a
truncated prolongation of the Rue Droit Mur  which had no issue and was
called the Cul de Sac Genrot 

It was here that Jean Valjean stood 

As we have just said  on catching sight of that black silhouette
standing on guard at the angle of the Rue Droit Mur and the Rue
Petit Picpus  he recoiled  There could be no doubt of it  That phantom
was lying in wait for him 

What was he to do 

The time for retreating was passed  That which he had perceived in
movement an instant before  in the distant darkness  was Javert and his
squad without a doubt  Javert was probably already at the commencement
of the street at whose end Jean Valjean stood  Javert  to all
appearances  was acquainted with this little labyrinth  and had taken
his precautions by sending one of his men to guard the exit  These
surmises  which so closely resembled proofs  whirled suddenly  like a
handful of dust caught up by an unexpected gust of wind  through Jean
Valjean s mournful brain  He examined the Cul de Sac Genrot  there he
was cut off  He examined the Rue Petit Picpus  there stood a sentinel 
He saw that black form standing out in relief against the white
pavement  illuminated by the moon  to advance was to fall into this
man s hands  to retreat was to fling himself into Javert s arms  Jean
Valjean felt himself caught  as in a net  which was slowly contracting 
he gazed heavenward in despair 




CHAPTER IV  THE GROPINGS OF FLIGHT

In order to understand what follows  it is requisite to form an exact
idea of the Droit Mur lane  and  in particular  of the angle which one
leaves on the left when one emerges from the Rue Polonceau into this
lane  Droit Mur lane was almost entirely bordered on the right  as far
as the Rue Petit Picpus  by houses of mean aspect  on the left by a
solitary building of severe outlines  composed of numerous parts which
grew gradually higher by a story or two as they approached the Rue
Petit Picpus side  so that this building  which was very lofty on the
Rue Petit Picpus side  was tolerably low on the side adjoining the Rue
Polonceau  There  at the angle of which we have spoken  it descended to
such a degree that it consisted of merely a wall  This wall did not abut
directly on the Street  it formed a deeply retreating niche  concealed
by its two corners from two observers who might have been  one in the
Rue Polonceau  the other in the Rue Droit Mur 

Beginning with these angles of the niche  the wall extended along the
Rue Polonceau as far as a house which bore the number 49  and along the
Rue Droit Mur  where the fragment was much shorter  as far as the gloomy
building which we have mentioned and whose gable it intersected  thus
forming another retreating angle in the street  This gable was sombre
of aspect  only one window was visible  or  to speak more correctly  two
shutters covered with a sheet of zinc and kept constantly closed 

The state of the places of which we are here giving a description is
rigorously exact  and will certainly awaken a very precise memory in the
mind of old inhabitants of the quarter 

The niche was entirely filled by a thing which resembled a colossal
and wretched door  it was a vast  formless assemblage of perpendicular
planks  the upper ones being broader than the lower  bound together by
long transverse strips of iron  At one side there was a carriage gate of
the ordinary dimensions  and which had evidently not been cut more than
fifty years previously 

A linden tree showed its crest above the niche  and the wall was covered
with ivy on the side of the Rue Polonceau 

In the imminent peril in which Jean Valjean found himself  this sombre
building had about it a solitary and uninhabited look which tempted him 
He ran his eyes rapidly over it  he said to himself  that if he could
contrive to get inside it  he might save himself  First he conceived an
idea  then a hope 

In the central portion of the front of this building  on the Rue
Droit Mur side  there were at all the windows of the different stories
ancient cistern pipes of lead  The various branches of the pipes which
led from one central pipe to all these little basins sketched out a sort
of tree on the front  These ramifications of pipes with their hundred
elbows imitated those old leafless vine stocks which writhe over the
fronts of old farm houses 

This odd espalier  with its branches of lead and iron  was the first
thing that struck Jean Valjean  He seated Cosette with her back against
a stone post  with an injunction to be silent  and ran to the spot where
the conduit touched the pavement  Perhaps there was some way of climbing
up by it and entering the house  But the pipe was dilapidated and past
service  and hardly hung to its fastenings  Moreover  all the windows
of this silent dwelling were grated with heavy iron bars  even the attic
windows in the roof  And then  the moon fell full upon that facade  and
the man who was watching at the corner of the street would have seen
Jean Valjean in the act of climbing  And finally  what was to be done
with Cosette  How was she to be drawn up to the top of a three story
house 

He gave up all idea of climbing by means of the drain pipe  and crawled
along the wall to get back into the Rue Polonceau 

When he reached the slant of the wall where he had left Cosette  he
noticed that no one could see him there  As we have just explained  he
was concealed from all eyes  no matter from which direction they were
approaching  besides this  he was in the shadow  Finally  there were
two doors  perhaps they might be forced  The wall above which he saw the
linden tree and the ivy evidently abutted on a garden where he could  at
least  hide himself  although there were as yet no leaves on the trees 
and spend the remainder of the night 

Time was passing  he must act quickly 

He felt over the carriage door  and immediately recognized the fact that
it was impracticable outside and in 

He approached the other door with more hope  it was frightfully
decrepit  its very immensity rendered it less solid  the planks were
rotten  the iron bands  there were only three of them  were rusted  It
seemed as though it might be possible to pierce this worm eaten barrier 

On examining it he found that the door was not a door  it had neither
hinges  cross bars  lock  nor fissure in the middle  the iron bands
traversed it from side to side without any break  Through the crevices
in the planks he caught a view of unhewn slabs and blocks of stone
roughly cemented together  which passers by might still have seen there
ten years ago  He was forced to acknowledge with consternation that this
apparent door was simply the wooden decoration of a building against
which it was placed  It was easy to tear off a plank  but then  one
found one s self face to face with a wall 




CHAPTER V  WHICH WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE WITH GAS LANTERNS

At that moment a heavy and measured sound began to be audible at some
distance  Jean Valjean risked a glance round the corner of the street 
Seven or eight soldiers  drawn up in a platoon  had just debouched
into the Rue Polonceau  He saw the gleam of their bayonets  They were
advancing towards him  these soldiers  at whose head he distinguished
Javert s tall figure  advanced slowly and cautiously  They halted
frequently  it was plain that they were searching all the nooks of the
walls and all the embrasures of the doors and alleys 

This was some patrol that Javert had encountered  there could be no
mistake as to this surmise  and whose aid he had demanded 

Javert s two acolytes were marching in their ranks 

At the rate at which they were marching  and in consideration of the
halts which they were making  it would take them about a quarter of
an hour to reach the spot where Jean Valjean stood  It was a frightful
moment  A few minutes only separated Jean Valjean from that terrible
precipice which yawned before him for the third time  And the galleys
now meant not only the galleys  but Cosette lost to him forever  that is
to say  a life resembling the interior of a tomb 

There was but one thing which was possible 

Jean Valjean had this peculiarity  that he carried  as one might say 
two beggar s pouches  in one he kept his saintly thoughts  in the other
the redoubtable talents of a convict  He rummaged in the one or the
other  according to circumstances 

Among his other resources  thanks to his numerous escapes from the
prison at Toulon  he was  as it will be remembered  a past master in the
incredible art of crawling up without ladder or climbing irons  by sheer
muscular force  by leaning on the nape of his neck  his shoulders  his
hips  and his knees  by helping himself on the rare projections of the
stone  in the right angle of a wall  as high as the sixth story  if need
be  an art which has rendered so celebrated and so alarming that corner
of the wall of the Conciergerie of Paris by which Battemolle  condemned
to death  made his escape twenty years ago 

Jean Valjean measured with his eyes the wall above which he espied the
linden  it was about eighteen feet in height  The angle which it formed
with the gable of the large building was filled  at its lower extremity 
by a mass of masonry of a triangular shape  probably intended to
preserve that too convenient corner from the rubbish of those dirty
creatures called the passers by  This practice of filling up corners of
the wall is much in use in Paris 

This mass was about five feet in height  the space above the summit of
this mass which it was necessary to climb was not more than fourteen
feet 

The wall was surmounted by a flat stone without a coping 

Cosette was the difficulty  for she did not know how to climb a wall 
Should he abandon her  Jean Valjean did not once think of that  It
was impossible to carry her  A man s whole strength is required to
successfully carry out these singular ascents  The least burden would
disturb his centre of gravity and pull him downwards 

A rope would have been required  Jean Valjean had none  Where was he to
get a rope at midnight  in the Rue Polonceau  Certainly  if Jean Valjean
had had a kingdom  he would have given it for a rope at that moment 

All extreme situations have their lightning flashes which sometimes
dazzle  sometimes illuminate us 

Jean Valjean s despairing glance fell on the street lantern post of the
blind alley Genrot 

At that epoch there were no gas jets in the streets of Paris  At
nightfall lanterns placed at regular distances were lighted  they were
ascended and descended by means of a rope  which traversed the street
from side to side  and was adjusted in a groove of the post  The pulley
over which this rope ran was fastened underneath the lantern in a little
iron box  the key to which was kept by the lamp lighter  and the rope
itself was protected by a metal case 

Jean Valjean  with the energy of a supreme struggle  crossed the street
at one bound  entered the blind alley  broke the latch of the little box
with the point of his knife  and an instant later he was beside Cosette
once more  He had a rope  These gloomy inventors of expedients work
rapidly when they are fighting against fatality 

We have already explained that the lanterns had not been lighted that
night  The lantern in the Cul de Sac Genrot was thus naturally extinct 
like the rest  and one could pass directly under it without even
noticing that it was no longer in its place 

Nevertheless  the hour  the place  the darkness  Jean Valjean s
absorption  his singular gestures  his goings and comings  all had begun
to render Cosette uneasy  Any other child than she would have given vent
to loud shrieks long before  She contented herself with plucking Jean
Valjean by the skirt of his coat  They could hear the sound of the
patrol s approach ever more and more distinctly 

 Father   said she  in a very low voice   I am afraid  Who is coming
yonder  

 Hush   replied the unhappy man   it is Madame Thenardier  

Cosette shuddered  He added   

 Say nothing  Don t interfere with me  If you cry out  if you weep  the
Thenardier is lying in wait for you  She is coming to take you back  

Then  without haste  but without making a useless movement  with firm
and curt precision  the more remarkable at a moment when the patrol and
Javert might come upon him at any moment  he undid his cravat  passed it
round Cosette s body under the armpits  taking care that it should not
hurt the child  fastened this cravat to one end of the rope  by means of
that knot which seafaring men call a  swallow knot   took the other end
of the rope in his teeth  pulled off his shoes and stockings  which
he threw over the wall  stepped upon the mass of masonry  and began
to raise himself in the angle of the wall and the gable with as much
solidity and certainty as though he had the rounds of a ladder under his
feet and elbows  Half a minute had not elapsed when he was resting on
his knees on the wall 

Cosette gazed at him in stupid amazement  without uttering a word  Jean
Valjean s injunction  and the name of Madame Thenardier  had chilled her
blood 

All at once she heard Jean Valjean s voice crying to her  though in a
very low tone   

 Put your back against the wall  

She obeyed 

 Don t say a word  and don t be alarmed   went on Jean Valjean 

And she felt herself lifted from the ground 

Before she had time to recover herself  she was on the top of the wall 

Jean Valjean grasped her  put her on his back  took her two tiny hands
in his large left hand  lay down flat on his stomach and crawled along
on top of the wall as far as the cant  As he had guessed  there stood
a building whose roof started from the top of the wooden barricade and
descended to within a very short distance of the ground  with a gentle
slope which grazed the linden tree  A lucky circumstance  for the wall
was much higher on this side than on the street side  Jean Valjean could
only see the ground at a great depth below him 

He had just reached the slope of the roof  and had not yet left the
crest of the wall  when a violent uproar announced the arrival of the
patrol  The thundering voice of Javert was audible   

 Search the blind alley  The Rue Droit Mur is guarded  so is the Rue
Petit Picpus  I ll answer for it that he is in the blind alley  

The soldiers rushed into the Genrot alley 

Jean Valjean allowed himself to slide down the roof  still holding fast
to Cosette  reached the linden tree  and leaped to the ground  Whether
from terror or courage  Cosette had not breathed a sound  though her
hands were a little abraded 




CHAPTER VI  THE BEGINNING OF AN ENIGMA

Jean Valjean found himself in a sort of garden which was very vast and
of singular aspect  one of those melancholy gardens which seem made to
be looked at in winter and at night  This garden was oblong in shape 
with an alley of large poplars at the further end  tolerably tall forest
trees in the corners  and an unshaded space in the centre  where could
be seen a very large  solitary tree  then several fruit trees  gnarled
and bristling like bushes  beds of vegetables  a melon patch  whose
glass frames sparkled in the moonlight  and an old well  Here and
there stood stone benches which seemed black with moss  The alleys were
bordered with gloomy and very erect little shrubs  The grass had half
taken possession of them  and a green mould covered the rest 

Jean Valjean had beside him the building whose roof had served him as
a means of descent  a pile of fagots  and  behind the fagots  directly
against the wall  a stone statue  whose mutilated face was no longer
anything more than a shapeless mask which loomed vaguely through the
gloom 

The building was a sort of ruin  where dismantled chambers were
distinguishable  one of which  much encumbered  seemed to serve as a
shed 

The large building of the Rue Droit Mur  which had a wing on the Rue
Petit Picpus  turned two facades  at right angles  towards this garden 
These interior facades were even more tragic than the exterior  All
the windows were grated  Not a gleam of light was visible at any one of
them  The upper story had scuttles like prisons  One of those facades
cast its shadow on the other  which fell over the garden like an immense
black pall 

No other house was visible  The bottom of the garden was lost in mist
and darkness  Nevertheless  walls could be confusedly made out  which
intersected as though there were more cultivated land beyond  and the
low roofs of the Rue Polonceau 

Nothing more wild and solitary than this garden could be imagined  There
was no one in it  which was quite natural in view of the hour  but it
did not seem as though this spot were made for any one to walk in  even
in broad daylight 

Jean Valjean s first care had been to get hold of his shoes and put them
on again  then to step under the shed with Cosette  A man who is fleeing
never thinks himself sufficiently hidden  The child  whose thoughts were
still on the Thenardier  shared his instinct for withdrawing from sight
as much as possible 

Cosette trembled and pressed close to him  They heard the tumultuous
noise of the patrol searching the blind alley and the streets  the blows
of their gun stocks against the stones  Javert s appeals to the police
spies whom he had posted  and his imprecations mingled with words which
could not be distinguished 

At the expiration of a quarter of an hour it seemed as though that
species of stormy roar were becoming more distant  Jean Valjean held his
breath 

He had laid his hand lightly on Cosette s mouth 

However  the solitude in which he stood was so strangely calm  that this
frightful uproar  close and furious as it was  did not disturb him by so
much as the shadow of a misgiving  It seemed as though those walls had
been built of the deaf stones of which the Scriptures speak 

All at once  in the midst of this profound calm  a fresh sound arose  a
sound as celestial  divine  ineffable  ravishing  as the other had been
horrible  It was a hymn which issued from the gloom  a dazzling burst
of prayer and harmony in the obscure and alarming silence of the night 
women s voices  but voices composed at one and the same time of the pure
accents of virgins and the innocent accents of children   voices which
are not of the earth  and which resemble those that the newborn infant
still hears  and which the dying man hears already  This song proceeded
from the gloomy edifice which towered above the garden  At the moment
when the hubbub of demons retreated  one would have said that a choir of
angels was approaching through the gloom 

Cosette and Jean Valjean fell on their knees 

They knew not what it was  they knew not where they were  but both of
them  the man and the child  the penitent and the innocent  felt that
they must kneel 

These voices had this strange characteristic  that they did not prevent
the building from seeming to be deserted  It was a supernatural chant in
an uninhabited house 

While these voices were singing  Jean Valjean thought of nothing  He no
longer beheld the night  he beheld a blue sky  It seemed to him that he
felt those wings which we all have within us  unfolding 

The song died away  It may have lasted a long time  Jean Valjean could
not have told  Hours of ecstasy are never more than a moment 

All fell silent again  There was no longer anything in the street 
there was nothing in the garden  That which had menaced  that which had
reassured him   all had vanished  The breeze swayed a few dry weeds
on the crest of the wall  and they gave out a faint  sweet  melancholy
sound 




CHAPTER VII  CONTINUATION OF THE ENIGMA

The night wind had risen  which indicated that it must be between one
and two o clock in the morning  Poor Cosette said nothing  As she had
seated herself beside him and leaned her head against him  Jean Valjean
had fancied that she was asleep  He bent down and looked at her 
Cosette s eyes were wide open  and her thoughtful air pained Jean
Valjean 

She was still trembling 

 Are you sleepy   said Jean Valjean 

 I am very cold   she replied 

A moment later she resumed   

 Is she still there  

 Who   said Jean Valjean 

 Madame Thenardier  

Jean Valjean had already forgotten the means which he had employed to
make Cosette keep silent 

 Ah   said he   she is gone  You need fear nothing further  

The child sighed as though a load had been lifted from her breast 

The ground was damp  the shed open on all sides  the breeze grew more
keen every instant  The goodman took off his coat and wrapped it round
Cosette 

 Are you less cold now   said he 

 Oh  yes  father  

 Well  wait for me a moment  I will soon be back  

He quitted the ruin and crept along the large building  seeking a better
shelter  He came across doors  but they were closed  There were bars at
all the windows of the ground floor 

Just after he had turned the inner angle of the edifice  he observed
that he was coming to some arched windows  where he perceived a light 
He stood on tiptoe and peeped through one of these windows  They all
opened on a tolerably vast hall  paved with large flagstones  cut up
by arcades and pillars  where only a tiny light and great shadows were
visible  The light came from a taper which was burning in one
corner  The apartment was deserted  and nothing was stirring in it 
Nevertheless  by dint of gazing intently he thought he perceived on the
ground something which appeared to be covered with a winding sheet  and
which resembled a human form  This form was lying face downward  flat
on the pavement  with the arms extended in the form of a cross  in the
immobility of death  One would have said  judging from a sort of serpent
which undulated over the floor  that this sinister form had a rope round
its neck 

The whole chamber was bathed in that mist of places which are sparely
illuminated  which adds to horror 

Jean Valjean often said afterwards  that  although many funereal
spectres had crossed his path in life  he had never beheld anything more
blood curdling and terrible than that enigmatical form accomplishing
some inexplicable mystery in that gloomy place  and beheld thus at
night  It was alarming to suppose that that thing was perhaps dead  and
still more alarming to think that it was perhaps alive 

He had the courage to plaster his face to the glass  and to watch
whether the thing would move  In spite of his remaining thus what seemed
to him a very long time  the outstretched form made no movement  All
at once he felt himself overpowered by an inexpressible terror  and he
fled  He began to run towards the shed  not daring to look behind him 
It seemed to him  that if he turned his head  he should see that form
following him with great strides and waving its arms 

He reached the ruin all out of breath  His knees were giving way beneath
him  the perspiration was pouring from him 

Where was he  Who could ever have imagined anything like that sort of
sepulchre in the midst of Paris  What was this strange house  An edifice
full of nocturnal mystery  calling to souls through the darkness with
the voice of angels  and when they came  offering them abruptly that
terrible vision  promising to open the radiant portals of heaven  and
then opening the horrible gates of the tomb  And it actually was an
edifice  a house  which bore a number on the street  It was not a dream 
He had to touch the stones to convince himself that such was the fact 

Cold  anxiety  uneasiness  the emotions of the night  had given him a
genuine fever  and all these ideas were clashing together in his brain 

He stepped up to Cosette  She was asleep 




CHAPTER VIII  THE ENIGMA BECOMES DOUBLY MYSTERIOUS

The child had laid her head on a stone and fallen asleep 

He sat down beside her and began to think  Little by little  as he gazed
at her  he grew calm and regained possession of his freedom of mind 

He clearly perceived this truth  the foundation of his life henceforth 
that so long as she was there  so long as he had her near him  he should
need nothing except for her  he should fear nothing except for her  He
was not even conscious that he was very cold  since he had taken off his
coat to cover her 

Nevertheless  athwart this revery into which he had fallen he had heard
for some time a peculiar noise  It was like the tinkling of a bell  This
sound proceeded from the garden  It could be heard distinctly though
faintly  It resembled the faint  vague music produced by the bells of
cattle at night in the pastures 

This noise made Valjean turn round 

He looked and saw that there was some one in the garden 

A being resembling a man was walking amid the bell glasses of the melon
beds  rising  stooping  halting  with regular movements  as though he
were dragging or spreading out something on the ground  This person
appeared to limp 

Jean Valjean shuddered with the continual tremor of the unhappy  For
them everything is hostile and suspicious  They distrust the day
because it enables people to see them  and the night because it aids
in surprising them  A little while before he had shivered because the
garden was deserted  and now he shivered because there was some one
there 

He fell back from chimerical terrors to real terrors  He said to himself
that Javert and the spies had  perhaps  not taken their departure  that
they had  no doubt  left people on the watch in the street  that if this
man should discover him in the garden  he would cry out for help against
thieves and deliver him up  He took the sleeping Cosette gently in his
arms and carried her behind a heap of old furniture  which was out of
use  in the most remote corner of the shed  Cosette did not stir 

From that point he scrutinized the appearance of the being in the
melon patch  The strange thing about it was  that the sound of the bell
followed each of this man s movements  When the man approached  the
sound approached  when the man retreated  the sound retreated  if he
made any hasty gesture  a tremolo accompanied the gesture  when he
halted  the sound ceased  It appeared evident that the bell was attached
to that man  but what could that signify  Who was this man who had a
bell suspended about him like a ram or an ox 

As he put these questions to himself  he touched Cosette s hands  They
were icy cold 

 Ah  good God   he cried 

He spoke to her in a low voice   

 Cosette  

She did not open her eyes 

He shook her vigorously 

She did not wake 

 Is she dead   he said to himself  and sprang to his feet  quivering
from head to foot 

The most frightful thoughts rushed pell mell through his mind  There
are moments when hideous surmises assail us like a cohort of furies  and
violently force the partitions of our brains  When those we love are in
question  our prudence invents every sort of madness  He remembered that
sleep in the open air on a cold night may be fatal 

Cosette was pale  and had fallen at full length on the ground at his
feet  without a movement 

He listened to her breathing  she still breathed  but with a respiration
which seemed to him weak and on the point of extinction 


How was he to warm her back to life  How was he to rouse her  All that
was not connected with this vanished from his thoughts  He rushed wildly
from the ruin 

It was absolutely necessary that Cosette should be in bed and beside a
fire in less than a quarter of an hour 




CHAPTER IX  THE MAN WITH THE BELL

He walked straight up to the man whom he saw in the garden  He had taken
in his hand the roll of silver which was in the pocket of his waistcoat 

The man s head was bent down  and he did not see him approaching  In a
few strides Jean Valjean stood beside him 

Jean Valjean accosted him with the cry   

 One hundred francs  

The man gave a start and raised his eyes 

 You can earn a hundred francs   went on Jean Valjean   if you will
grant me shelter for this night  

The moon shone full upon Jean Valjean s terrified countenance 

 What  so it is you  Father Madeleine   said the man 

That name  thus pronounced  at that obscure hour  in that unknown spot 
by that strange man  made Jean Valjean start back 

He had expected anything but that  The person who thus addressed him was
a bent and lame old man  dressed almost like a peasant  who wore on his
left knee a leather knee cap  whence hung a moderately large bell  His
face  which was in the shadow  was not distinguishable 

However  the goodman had removed his cap  and exclaimed  trembling all
over   

 Ah  good God  How come you here  Father Madeleine  Where did you enter 
Dieu Jesus  Did you fall from heaven  There is no trouble about that 
if ever you do fall  it will be from there  And what a state you are in 
You have no cravat  you have no hat  you have no coat  Do you know  you
would have frightened any one who did not know you  No coat  Lord God 
Are the saints going mad nowadays  But how did you get in here  

His words tumbled over each other  The goodman talked with a rustic
volubility  in which there was nothing alarming  All this was uttered
with a mixture of stupefaction and naive kindliness 

 Who are you  and what house is this   demanded Jean Valjean 

 Ah  pardieu  this is too much   exclaimed the old man   I am the person
for whom you got the place here  and this house is the one where you had
me placed  What  You don t recognize me  

 No   said Jean Valjean   and how happens it that you know me  

 You saved my life   said the man 

He turned  A ray of moonlight outlined his profile  and Jean Valjean
recognized old Fauchelevent 

 Ah   said Jean Valjean   so it is you  Yes  I recollect you  

 That is very lucky   said the old man  in a reproachful tone 

 And what are you doing here   resumed Jean Valjean 

 Why  I am covering my melons  of course  

In fact  at the moment when Jean Valjean accosted him  old Fauchelevent
held in his hand the end of a straw mat which he was occupied in
spreading over the melon bed  During the hour or thereabouts that he had
been in the garden he had already spread out a number of them  It was
this operation which had caused him to execute the peculiar movements
observed from the shed by Jean Valjean 

He continued   

 I said to myself   The moon is bright  it is going to freeze  What if I
were to put my melons into their greatcoats   And   he added  looking at
Jean Valjean with a broad smile    pardieu  you ought to have done the
same  But how do you come here  

Jean Valjean  finding himself known to this man  at least only under the
name of Madeleine  thenceforth advanced only with caution  He multiplied
his questions  Strange to say  their roles seemed to be reversed  It was
he  the intruder  who interrogated 

 And what is this bell which you wear on your knee  

 This   replied Fauchelevent   is so that I may be avoided  

 What  so that you may be avoided  

Old Fauchelevent winked with an indescribable air 

 Ah  goodness  there are only women in this house  many young girls  It
appears that I should be a dangerous person to meet  The bell gives them
warning  When I come  they go  

 What house is this  

 Come  you know well enough  

 But I do not  

 Not when you got me the place here as gardener  

 Answer me as though I knew nothing  

 Well  then  this is the Petit Picpus convent  

Memories recurred to Jean Valjean  Chance  that is to say  Providence 
had cast him into precisely that convent in the Quartier Saint Antoine
where old Fauchelevent  crippled by the fall from his cart  had been
admitted on his recommendation two years previously  He repeated  as
though talking to himself   

 The Petit Picpus convent  

 Exactly   returned old Fauchelevent   But to come to the point  how the
deuce did you manage to get in here  you  Father Madeleine  No matter if
you are a saint  you are a man as well  and no man enters here  

 You certainly are here  

 There is no one but me  

 Still   said Jean Valjean   I must stay here  

 Ah  good God   cried Fauchelevent 

Jean Valjean drew near to the old man  and said to him in a grave
voice   

 Father Fauchelevent  I saved your life  

 I was the first to recall it   returned Fauchelevent 

 Well  you can do to day for me that which I did for you in the olden
days  

Fauchelevent took in his aged  trembling  and wrinkled hands Jean
Valjean s two robust hands  and stood for several minutes as though
incapable of speaking  At length he exclaimed   

 Oh  that would be a blessing from the good God  if I could make you
some little return for that  Save your life  Monsieur le Maire  dispose
of the old man  

A wonderful joy had transfigured this old man  His countenance seemed to
emit a ray of light 

 What do you wish me to do   he resumed 

 That I will explain to you  You have a chamber  

 I have an isolated hovel yonder  behind the ruins of the old convent 
in a corner which no one ever looks into  There are three rooms in it  

The hut was  in fact  so well hidden behind the ruins  and so cleverly
arranged to prevent it being seen  that Jean Valjean had not perceived
it 

 Good   said Jean Valjean   Now I am going to ask two things of you  

 What are they  Mr  Mayor  

 In the first place  you are not to tell any one what you know about me 
In the second  you are not to try to find out anything more  

 As you please  I know that you can do nothing that is not honest 
that you have always been a man after the good God s heart  And then 
moreover  you it was who placed me here  That concerns you  I am at your
service  

 That is settled then  Now  come with me  We will go and get the child  

 Ah   said Fauchelevent   so there is a child  

He added not a word further  and followed Jean Valjean as a dog follows
his master 

Less than half an hour afterwards Cosette  who had grown rosy again
before the flame of a good fire  was lying asleep in the old gardener s
bed  Jean Valjean had put on his cravat and coat once more  his hat 
which he had flung over the wall  had been found and picked up  While
Jean Valjean was putting on his coat  Fauchelevent had removed the
bell and kneecap  which now hung on a nail beside a vintage basket that
adorned the wall  The two men were warming themselves with their elbows
resting on a table upon which Fauchelevent had placed a bit of cheese 
black bread  a bottle of wine  and two glasses  and the old man was
saying to Jean Valjean  as he laid his hand on the latter s knee 
 Ah  Father Madeleine  You did not recognize me immediately  you save
people s lives  and then you forget them  That is bad  But they remember
you  You are an ingrate  




CHAPTER X  WHICH EXPLAINS HOW JAVERT GOT ON THE SCENT

The events of which we have just beheld the reverse side  so to speak 
had come about in the simplest possible manner 

When Jean Valjean  on the evening of the very day when Javert had
arrested him beside Fantine s death bed  had escaped from the town jail
of M  sur M   the police had supposed that he had betaken himself to
Paris  Paris is a maelstrom where everything is lost  and everything
disappears in this belly of the world  as in the belly of the sea  No
forest hides a man as does that crowd  Fugitives of every sort know
this  They go to Paris as to an abyss  there are gulfs which save  The
police know it also  and it is in Paris that they seek what they
have lost elsewhere  They sought the ex mayor of M  sur M  Javert was
summoned to Paris to throw light on their researches  Javert had  in
fact  rendered powerful assistance in the recapture of Jean Valjean 
Javert s zeal and intelligence on that occasion had been remarked by
M  Chabouillet  secretary of the Prefecture under Comte Angles  M 
Chabouillet  who had  moreover  already been Javert s patron  had the
inspector of M  sur M  attached to the police force of Paris  There
Javert rendered himself useful in divers and  though the word may seem
strange for such services  honorable manners 

He no longer thought of Jean Valjean   the wolf of to day causes these
dogs who are always on the chase to forget the wolf of yesterday   when 
in December  1823  he read a newspaper  he who never read newspapers 
but Javert  a monarchical man  had a desire to know the particulars of
the triumphal entry of the  Prince Generalissimo  into Bayonne  Just as
he was finishing the article  which interested him  a name  the name of
Jean Valjean  attracted his attention at the bottom of a page  The paper
announced that the convict Jean Valjean was dead  and published the fact
in such formal terms that Javert did not doubt it  He confined himself
to the remark   That s a good entry   Then he threw aside the paper  and
thought no more about it 

Some time afterwards  it chanced that a police report was transmitted
from the prefecture of the Seine et Oise to the prefecture of police in
Paris  concerning the abduction of a child  which had taken place  under
peculiar circumstances  as it was said  in the commune of Montfermeil 
A little girl of seven or eight years of age  the report said  who had
been intrusted by her mother to an inn keeper of that neighborhood  had
been stolen by a stranger  this child answered to the name of Cosette 
and was the daughter of a girl named Fantine  who had died in the
hospital  it was not known where or when 

This report came under Javert s eye and set him to thinking 

The name of Fantine was well known to him  He remembered that Jean
Valjean had made him  Javert  burst into laughter  by asking him for a
respite of three days  for the purpose of going to fetch that creature s
child  He recalled the fact that Jean Valjean had been arrested in Paris
at the very moment when he was stepping into the coach for Montfermeil 
Some signs had made him suspect at the time that this was the second
occasion of his entering that coach  and that he had already  on the
previous day  made an excursion to the neighborhood of that village  for
he had not been seen in the village itself  What had he been intending
to do in that region of Montfermeil  It could not even be surmised 
Javert understood it now  Fantine s daughter was there  Jean Valjean was
going there in search of her  And now this child had been stolen by a
stranger  Who could that stranger be  Could it be Jean Valjean  But Jean
Valjean was dead  Javert  without saying anything to anybody  took the
coach from the Pewter Platter  Cul de Sac de la Planchette  and made a
trip to Montfermeil 

He expected to find a great deal of light on the subject there  he found
a great deal of obscurity 

For the first few days the Thenardiers had chattered in their rage  The
disappearance of the Lark had created a sensation in the village  He
immediately obtained numerous versions of the story  which ended in the
abduction of a child  Hence the police report  But their first vexation
having passed off  Thenardier  with his wonderful instinct  had
very quickly comprehended that it is never advisable to stir up the
prosecutor of the Crown  and that his complaints with regard to the
abduction of Cosette would have as their first result to fix upon
himself  and upon many dark affairs which he had on hand  the glittering
eye of justice  The last thing that owls desire is to have a candle
brought to them  And in the first place  how explain the fifteen hundred
francs which he had received  He turned squarely round  put a gag on
his wife s mouth  and feigned astonishment when the stolen child was
mentioned to him  He understood nothing about it  no doubt he had
grumbled for awhile at having that dear little creature  taken from him 
so hastily  he should have liked to keep her two or three days longer 
out of tenderness  but her  grandfather  had come for her in the most
natural way in the world  He added the  grandfather   which produced a
good effect  This was the story that Javert hit upon when he arrived at
Montfermeil  The grandfather caused Jean Valjean to vanish 

Nevertheless  Javert dropped a few questions  like plummets  into
Thenardier s history   Who was that grandfather  and what was his name  
Thenardier replied with simplicity   He is a wealthy farmer  I saw his
passport  I think his name was M  Guillaume Lambert  

Lambert is a respectable and extremely reassuring name  Thereupon Javert
returned to Paris 

 Jean Valjean is certainly dead   said he   and I am a ninny  

He had again begun to forget this history  when  in the course of
March  1824  he heard of a singular personage who dwelt in the parish of
Saint Medard and who had been surnamed  the mendicant who gives alms  
This person  the story ran  was a man of means  whose name no one knew
exactly  and who lived alone with a little girl of eight years  who
knew nothing about herself  save that she had come from Montfermeil 
Montfermeil  that name was always coming up  and it made Javert prick
up his ears  An old beggar police spy  an ex beadle  to whom this person
had given alms  added a few more details  This gentleman of property was
very shy   never coming out except in the evening  speaking to no one 
except  occasionally to the poor  and never allowing any one to approach
him  He wore a horrible old yellow frock coat  which was worth many
millions  being all wadded with bank bills  This piqued Javert s
curiosity in a decided manner  In order to get a close look at this
fantastic gentleman without alarming him  he borrowed the beadle s
outfit for a day  and the place where the old spy was in the habit of
crouching every evening  whining orisons through his nose  and playing
the spy under cover of prayer 

 The suspected individual  did indeed approach Javert thus disguised 
and bestow alms on him  At that moment Javert raised his head  and the
shock which Jean Valjean received on recognizing Javert was equal to the
one received by Javert when he thought he recognized Jean Valjean 

However  the darkness might have misled him  Jean Valjean s death was
official  Javert cherished very grave doubts  and when in doubt  Javert 
the man of scruples  never laid a finger on any one s collar 

He followed his man to the Gorbeau house  and got  the old woman  to
talking  which was no difficult matter  The old woman confirmed the fact
regarding the coat lined with millions  and narrated to him the episode
of the thousand franc bill  She had seen it  She had handled it  Javert
hired a room  that evening he installed himself in it  He came and
listened at the mysterious lodger s door  hoping to catch the sound of
his voice  but Jean Valjean saw his candle through the key hole  and
foiled the spy by keeping silent 

On the following day Jean Valjean decamped  but the noise made by the
fall of the five franc piece was noticed by the old woman  who  hearing
the rattling of coin  suspected that he might be intending to leave  and
made haste to warn Javert  At night  when Jean Valjean came out  Javert
was waiting for him behind the trees of the boulevard with two men 

Javert had demanded assistance at the Prefecture  but he had not
mentioned the name of the individual whom he hoped to seize  that was
his secret  and he had kept it for three reasons  in the first place 
because the slightest indiscretion might put Jean Valjean on the alert 
next  because  to lay hands on an ex convict who had made his escape
and was reputed dead  on a criminal whom justice had formerly classed
forever as among malefactors of the most dangerous sort  was a
magnificent success which the old members of the Parisian police would
assuredly not leave to a new comer like Javert  and he was afraid of
being deprived of his convict  and lastly  because Javert  being an
artist  had a taste for the unforeseen  He hated those well heralded
successes which are talked of long in advance and have had the bloom
brushed off  He preferred to elaborate his masterpieces in the dark and
to unveil them suddenly at the last 

Javert had followed Jean Valjean from tree to tree  then from corner
to corner of the street  and had not lost sight of him for a single
instant  even at the moments when Jean Valjean believed himself to
be the most secure Javert s eye had been on him  Why had not Javert
arrested Jean Valjean  Because he was still in doubt 

It must be remembered that at that epoch the police was not precisely
at its ease  the free press embarrassed it  several arbitrary arrests
denounced by the newspapers  had echoed even as far as the Chambers  and
had rendered the Prefecture timid  Interference with individual liberty
was a grave matter  The police agents were afraid of making a mistake 
the prefect laid the blame on them  a mistake meant dismissal  The
reader can imagine the effect which this brief paragraph  reproduced
by twenty newspapers  would have caused in Paris   Yesterday  an aged
grandfather  with white hair  a respectable and well to do gentleman 
who was walking with his grandchild  aged eight  was arrested and
conducted to the agency of the Prefecture as an escaped convict  

Let us repeat in addition that Javert had scruples of his own 
injunctions of his conscience were added to the injunctions of the
prefect  He was really in doubt 

Jean Valjean turned his back on him and walked in the dark 

Sadness  uneasiness  anxiety  depression  this fresh misfortune of being
forced to flee by night  to seek a chance refuge in Paris for Cosette
and himself  the necessity of regulating his pace to the pace of
the child  all this  without his being aware of it  had altered Jean
Valjean s walk  and impressed on his bearing such senility  that the
police themselves  incarnate in the person of Javert  might  and did in
fact  make a mistake  The impossibility of approaching too close  his
costume of an emigre preceptor  the declaration of Thenardier which made
a grandfather of him  and  finally  the belief in his death in prison 
added still further to the uncertainty which gathered thick in Javert s
mind 

For an instant it occurred to him to make an abrupt demand for his
papers  but if the man was not Jean Valjean  and if this man was not a
good  honest old fellow living on his income  he was probably some merry
blade deeply and cunningly implicated in the obscure web of Parisian
misdeeds  some chief of a dangerous band  who gave alms to conceal
his other talents  which was an old dodge  He had trusty fellows 
accomplices  retreats in case of emergencies  in which he would  no
doubt  take refuge  All these turns which he was making through the
streets seemed to indicate that he was not a simple and honest man  To
arrest him too hastily would be  to kill the hen that laid the golden
eggs   Where was the inconvenience in waiting  Javert was very sure that
he would not escape 

Thus he proceeded in a tolerably perplexed state of mind  putting to
himself a hundred questions about this enigmatical personage 

It was only quite late in the Rue de Pontoise  that  thanks to the
brilliant light thrown from a dram shop  he decidedly recognized Jean
Valjean 

There are in this world two beings who give a profound start   the
mother who recovers her child and the tiger who recovers his prey 
Javert gave that profound start 

As soon as he had positively recognized Jean Valjean  the formidable
convict  he perceived that there were only three of them  and he asked
for reinforcements at the police station of the Rue de Pontoise  One
puts on gloves before grasping a thorn cudgel 

This delay and the halt at the Carrefour Rollin to consult with his
agents came near causing him to lose the trail  He speedily divined 
however  that Jean Valjean would want to put the river between his
pursuers and himself  He bent his head and reflected like a blood hound
who puts his nose to the ground to make sure that he is on the right
scent  Javert  with his powerful rectitude of instinct  went straight to
the bridge of Austerlitz  A word with the toll keeper furnished him with
the information which he required   Have you seen a man with a little
girl    I made him pay two sous   replied the toll keeper  Javert
reached the bridge in season to see Jean Valjean traverse the small
illuminated spot on the other side of the water  leading Cosette by
the hand  He saw him enter the Rue du Chemin Vert Saint Antoine  he
remembered the Cul de Sac Genrot arranged there like a trap  and of the
sole exit of the Rue Droit Mur into the Rue Petit Picpus  He made sure
of his back burrows  as huntsmen say  he hastily despatched one of his
agents  by a roundabout way  to guard that issue  A patrol which was
returning to the Arsenal post having passed him  he made a requisition
on it  and caused it to accompany him  In such games soldiers are aces 
Moreover  the principle is  that in order to get the best of a wild
boar  one must employ the science of venery and plenty of dogs  These
combinations having been effected  feeling that Jean Valjean was caught
between the blind alley Genrot on the right  his agent on the left  and
himself  Javert  in the rear  he took a pinch of snuff 

Then he began the game  He experienced one ecstatic and infernal moment 
he allowed his man to go on ahead  knowing that he had him safe  but
desirous of postponing the moment of arrest as long as possible  happy
at the thought that he was taken and yet at seeing him free  gloating
over him with his gaze  with that voluptuousness of the spider which
allows the fly to flutter  and of the cat which lets the mouse run 
Claws and talons possess a monstrous sensuality   the obscure movements
of the creature imprisoned in their pincers  What a delight this
strangling is 

Javert was enjoying himself  The meshes of his net were stoutly knotted 
He was sure of success  all he had to do now was to close his hand 

Accompanied as he was  the very idea of resistance was impossible 
however vigorous  energetic  and desperate Jean Valjean might be 

 Illustration  Javert on the Hunt  2b5 10 javert on the hunt 

Javert advanced slowly  sounding  searching on his way all the nooks of
the street like so many pockets of thieves 

When he reached the centre of the web he found the fly no longer there 

His exasperation can be imagined 

He interrogated his sentinel of the Rues Droit Mur and Petit Picpus 
that agent  who had remained imperturbably at his post  had not seen the
man pass 

It sometimes happens that a stag is lost head and horns  that is to
say  he escapes although he has the pack on his very heels  and then the
oldest huntsmen know not what to say  Duvivier  Ligniville  and Desprez
halt short  In a discomfiture of this sort  Artonge exclaims   It was
not a stag  but a sorcerer   Javert would have liked to utter the same
cry 

His disappointment bordered for a moment on despair and rage 

It is certain that Napoleon made mistakes during the war with Russia 
that Alexander committed blunders in the war in India  that Caesar made
mistakes in the war in Africa  that Cyrus was at fault in the war
in Scythia  and that Javert blundered in this campaign against Jean
Valjean  He was wrong  perhaps  in hesitating in his recognition of the
exconvict  The first glance should have sufficed him  He was wrong in
not arresting him purely and simply in the old building  he was wrong
in not arresting him when he positively recognized him in the Rue de
Pontoise  He was wrong in taking counsel with his auxiliaries in the
full light of the moon in the Carrefour Rollin  Advice is certainly
useful  it is a good thing to know and to interrogate those of the dogs
who deserve confidence  but the hunter cannot be too cautious when he is
chasing uneasy animals like the wolf and the convict  Javert  by taking
too much thought as to how he should set the bloodhounds of the pack on
the trail  alarmed the beast by giving him wind of the dart  and so
made him run  Above all  he was wrong in that after he had picked up the
scent again on the bridge of Austerlitz  he played that formidable and
puerile game of keeping such a man at the end of a thread  He thought
himself stronger than he was  and believed that he could play at the
game of the mouse and the lion  At the same time  he reckoned himself
as too weak  when he judged it necessary to obtain reinforcement  Fatal
precaution  waste of precious time  Javert committed all these blunders 
and none the less was one of the cleverest and most correct spies that
ever existed  He was  in the full force of the term  what is called in
venery a knowing dog  But what is there that is perfect 

Great strategists have their eclipses 

The greatest follies are often composed  like the largest ropes  of
a multitude of strands  Take the cable thread by thread  take all the
petty determining motives separately  and you can break them one after
the other  and you say   That is all there is of it   Braid them  twist
them together  the result is enormous  it is Attila hesitating between
Marcian on the east and Valentinian on the west  it is Hannibal tarrying
at Capua  it is Danton falling asleep at Arcis sur Aube 

However that may be  even at the moment when he saw that Jean Valjean
had escaped him  Javert did not lose his head  Sure that the convict who
had broken his ban could not be far off  he established sentinels  he
organized traps and ambuscades  and beat the quarter all that night  The
first thing he saw was the disorder in the street lantern whose rope
had been cut  A precious sign which  however  led him astray  since it
caused him to turn all his researches in the direction of the Cul de Sac
Genrot  In this blind alley there were tolerably low walls which abutted
on gardens whose bounds adjoined the immense stretches of waste land 
Jean Valjean evidently must have fled in that direction  The fact is 
that had he penetrated a little further in the Cul de Sac Genrot  he
would probably have done so and have been lost  Javert explored these
gardens and these waste stretches as though he had been hunting for a
needle 

At daybreak he left two intelligent men on the outlook  and returned to
the Prefecture of Police  as much ashamed as a police spy who had been
captured by a robber might have been 




BOOK SIXTH   LE PETIT PICPUS




CHAPTER I  NUMBER 62 RUE PETIT PICPUS

Nothing  half a century ago  more resembled every other carriage gate
than the carriage gate of Number 62 Rue Petit Picpus  This entrance 
which usually stood ajar in the most inviting fashion  permitted a
view of two things  neither of which have anything very funereal about
them   a courtyard surrounded by walls hung with vines  and the face
of a lounging porter  Above the wall  at the bottom of the court  tall
trees were visible  When a ray of sunlight enlivened the courtyard  when
a glass of wine cheered up the porter  it was difficult to pass Number
62 Little Picpus Street without carrying away a smiling impression of
it  Nevertheless  it was a sombre place of which one had had a glimpse 

The threshold smiled  the house prayed and wept 

If one succeeded in passing the porter  which was not easy   which was
even nearly impossible for every one  for there was an open sesame 
which it was necessary to know   if  the porter once passed  one entered
a little vestibule on the right  on which opened a staircase shut in
between two walls and so narrow that only one person could ascend it at
a time  if one did not allow one s self to be alarmed by a daubing of
canary yellow  with a dado of chocolate which clothed this staircase  if
one ventured to ascend it  one crossed a first landing  then a second 
and arrived on the first story at a corridor where the yellow wash and
the chocolate hued plinth pursued one with a peaceable persistency 
Staircase and corridor were lighted by two beautiful windows  The
corridor took a turn and became dark  If one doubled this cape  one
arrived a few paces further on  in front of a door which was all the
more mysterious because it was not fastened  If one opened it  one
found one s self in a little chamber about six feet square  tiled 
well scrubbed  clean  cold  and hung with nankin paper with green
flowers  at fifteen sous the roll  A white  dull light fell from a large
window  with tiny panes  on the left  which usurped the whole width
of the room  One gazed about  but saw no one  one listened  one heard
neither a footstep nor a human murmur  The walls were bare  the chamber
was not furnished  there was not even a chair 

One looked again  and beheld on the wall facing the door a quadrangular
hole  about a foot square  with a grating of interlacing iron bars 
black  knotted  solid  which formed squares  I had almost said
meshes  of less than an inch and a half in diagonal length  The little
green flowers of the nankin paper ran in a calm and orderly manner to
those iron bars  without being startled or thrown into confusion by
their funereal contact  Supposing that a living being had been so
wonderfully thin as to essay an entrance or an exit through the square
hole  this grating would have prevented it  It did not allow the passage
of the body  but it did allow the passage of the eyes  that is to
say  of the mind  This seems to have occurred to them  for it had been
re enforced by a sheet of tin inserted in the wall a little in the rear 
and pierced with a thousand holes more microscopic than the holes of
a strainer  At the bottom of this plate  an aperture had been pierced
exactly similar to the orifice of a letter box  A bit of tape attached
to a bell wire hung at the right of the grated opening 

If the tape was pulled  a bell rang  and one heard a voice very near at
hand  which made one start 

 Who is there   the voice demanded 

It was a woman s voice  a gentle voice  so gentle that it was mournful 

Here  again  there was a magical word which it was necessary to know  If
one did not know it  the voice ceased  the wall became silent once more 
as though the terrified obscurity of the sepulchre had been on the other
side of it 

If one knew the password  the voice resumed   Enter on the right  

One then perceived on the right  facing the window  a glass door
surmounted by a frame glazed and painted gray  On raising the latch and
crossing the threshold  one experienced precisely the same impression
as when one enters at the theatre into a grated baignoire  before the
grating is lowered and the chandelier is lighted  One was  in fact  in
a sort of theatre box  narrow  furnished with two old chairs  and a
much frayed straw matting  sparely illuminated by the vague light from
the glass door  a regular box  with its front just of a height to lean
upon  bearing a tablet of black wood  This box was grated  only
the grating of it was not of gilded wood  as at the opera  it was a
monstrous lattice of iron bars  hideously interlaced and riveted to the
wall by enormous fastenings which resembled clenched fists 

The first minutes passed  when one s eyes began to grow used to this
cellar like half twilight  one tried to pass the grating  but got no
further than six inches beyond it  There he encountered a barrier of
black shutters  re enforced and fortified with transverse beams of wood
painted a gingerbread yellow  These shutters were divided into long 
narrow slats  and they masked the entire length of the grating  They
were always closed  At the expiration of a few moments one heard a voice
proceeding from behind these shutters  and saying   

 I am here  What do you wish with me  

It was a beloved  sometimes an adored  voice  No one was visible  Hardly
the sound of a breath was audible  It seemed as though it were a spirit
which had been evoked  that was speaking to you across the walls of the
tomb 

If one chanced to be within certain prescribed and very rare conditions 
the slat of one of the shutters opened opposite you  the evoked spirit
became an apparition  Behind the grating  behind the shutter  one
perceived so far as the grating permitted sight  a head  of which only
the mouth and the chin were visible  the rest was covered with a black
veil  One caught a glimpse of a black guimpe  and a form that was barely
defined  covered with a black shroud  That head spoke with you  but did
not look at you and never smiled at you 

The light which came from behind you was adjusted in such a manner that
you saw her in the white  and she saw you in the black  This light was
symbolical 

Nevertheless  your eyes plunged eagerly through that opening which
was made in that place shut off from all glances  A profound vagueness
enveloped that form clad in mourning  Your eyes searched that vagueness 
and sought to make out the surroundings of the apparition  At the
expiration of a very short time you discovered that you could see
nothing  What you beheld was night  emptiness  shadows  a wintry mist
mingled with a vapor from the tomb  a sort of terrible peace  a silence
from which you could gather nothing  not even sighs  a gloom in which
you could distinguish nothing  not even phantoms 

What you beheld was the interior of a cloister 

It was the interior of that severe and gloomy edifice which was called
the Convent of the Bernardines of the Perpetual Adoration  The box in
which you stood was the parlor  The first voice which had addressed you
was that of the portress who always sat motionless and silent  on the
other side of the wall  near the square opening  screened by the iron
grating and the plate with its thousand holes  as by a double visor 
The obscurity which bathed the grated box arose from the fact that the
parlor  which had a window on the side of the world  had none on the
side of the convent  Profane eyes must see nothing of that sacred place 

Nevertheless  there was something beyond that shadow  there was a light 
there was life in the midst of that death  Although this was the most
strictly walled of all convents  we shall endeavor to make our way into
it  and to take the reader in  and to say  without transgressing the
proper bounds  things which story tellers have never seen  and have 
therefore  never described 




CHAPTER II  THE OBEDIENCE OF MARTIN VERGA

This convent  which in 1824 had already existed for many a long year in
the Rue Petit Picpus  was a community of Bernardines of the obedience of
Martin Verga 

These Bernardines were attached  in consequence  not to Clairvaux  like
the Bernardine monks  but to Citeaux  like the Benedictine monks  In
other words  they were the subjects  not of Saint Bernard  but of Saint
Benoit 

Any one who has turned over old folios to any extent knows that Martin
Verga founded in 1425 a congregation of Bernardines Benedictines 
with Salamanca for the head of the order  and Alcala as the branch
establishment 

This congregation had sent out branches throughout all the Catholic
countries of Europe 

There is nothing unusual in the Latin Church in these grafts of one
order on another  To mention only a single order of Saint Benoit  which
is here in question  there are attached to this order  without counting
the obedience of Martin Verga  four congregations   two in Italy 
Mont Cassin and Sainte Justine of Padua  two in France  Cluny and
Saint Maur  and nine orders   Vallombrosa  Granmont  the Celestins 
the Camaldules  the Carthusians  the Humilies  the Olivateurs  the
Silvestrins  and lastly  Citeaux  for Citeaux itself  a trunk for other
orders  is only an offshoot of Saint Benoit  Citeaux dates from Saint
Robert  Abbe de Molesme  in the diocese of Langres  in 1098  Now it was
in 529 that the devil  having retired to the desert of Subiaco  he
was old  had he turned hermit   was chased from the ancient temple of
Apollo  where he dwelt  by Saint Benoit  then aged seventeen 

After the rule of the Carmelites  who go barefoot  wear a bit of willow
on their throats  and never sit down  the harshest rule is that of the
Bernardines Benedictines of Martin Verga  They are clothed in black 
with a guimpe  which  in accordance with the express command of
Saint Benoit  mounts to the chin  A robe of serge with large sleeves 
a large woollen veil  the guimpe which mounts to the chin cut square on
the breast  the band which descends over their brow to their eyes   this
is their dress  All is black except the band  which is white  The
novices wear the same habit  but all in white  The professed nuns also
wear a rosary at their side 

The Bernardines Benedictines of Martin Verga practise the Perpetual
Adoration  like the Benedictines called Ladies of the Holy Sacrament 
who  at the beginning of this century  had two houses in Paris   one at
the Temple  the other in the Rue Neuve Sainte Genevieve  However  the
Bernardines Benedictines of the Petit Picpus  of whom we are speaking 
were a totally different order from the Ladies of the Holy Sacrament 
cloistered in the Rue Neuve Sainte Genevieve and at the Temple  There
were numerous differences in their rule  there were some in their
costume  The Bernardines Benedictines of the Petit Picpus wore the
black guimpe  and the Benedictines of the Holy Sacrament and of the
Rue Neuve Sainte Genevieve wore a white one  and had  besides  on their
breasts  a Holy Sacrament about three inches long  in silver gilt or
gilded copper  The nuns of the Petit Picpus did not wear this Holy
Sacrament  The Perpetual Adoration  which was common to the house of
the Petit Picpus and to the house of the Temple  leaves those two orders
perfectly distinct  Their only resemblance lies in this practice of the
Ladies of the Holy Sacrament and the Bernardines of Martin Verga  just
as there existed a similarity in the study and the glorification of
all the mysteries relating to the infancy  the life  and death of Jesus
Christ and the Virgin  between the two orders  which were  nevertheless 
widely separated  and on occasion even hostile  The Oratory of Italy 
established at Florence by Philip de Neri  and the Oratory of France 
established by Pierre de Berulle  The Oratory of France claimed the
precedence  since Philip de Neri was only a saint  while Berulle was a
cardinal 

Let us return to the harsh Spanish rule of Martin Verga 

The Bernardines Benedictines of this obedience fast all the year
round  abstain from meat  fast in Lent and on many other days which are
peculiar to them  rise from their first sleep  from one to three o clock
in the morning  to read their breviary and chant matins  sleep in all
seasons between serge sheets and on straw  make no use of the bath 
never light a fire  scourge themselves every Friday  observe the rule of
silence  speak to each other only during the recreation hours  which are
very brief  and wear drugget chemises for six months in the year  from
September 14th  which is the Exaltation of the Holy Cross  until Easter 
These six months are a modification  the rule says all the year  but
this drugget chemise  intolerable in the heat of summer  produced fevers
and nervous spasms  The use of it had to be restricted  Even with this
palliation  when the nuns put on this chemise on the 14th of September 
they suffer from fever for three or four days  Obedience  poverty 
chastity  perseverance in their seclusion   these are their vows  which
the rule greatly aggravates 

The prioress is elected for three years by the mothers  who are called
meres vocales because they have a voice in the chapter  A prioress can
only be re elected twice  which fixes the longest possible reign of a
prioress at nine years 

They never see the officiating priest  who is always hidden from them
by a serge curtain nine feet in height  During the sermon  when the
preacher is in the chapel  they drop their veils over their faces  They
must always speak low  walk with their eyes on the ground and their
heads bowed  One man only is allowed to enter the convent   the
archbishop of the diocese 

There is really one other   the gardener  But he is always an old man 
and  in order that he may always be alone in the garden  and that the
nuns may be warned to avoid him  a bell is attached to his knee 

Their submission to the prioress is absolute and passive  It is the
canonical subjection in the full force of its abnegation  As at the
voice of Christ  ut voci Christi  at a gesture  at the first sign 
ad nutum  ad primum signum  immediately  with cheerfulness  with
perseverance  with a certain blind obedience  prompte  hilariter 
perseveranter et caeca quadam obedientia  as the file in the hand of the
workman  quasi limam in manibus fabri  without power to read or to write
without express permission  legere vel scribere non addiscerit sine
expressa superioris licentia 

Each one of them in turn makes what they call reparation  The reparation
is the prayer for all the sins  for all the faults  for all the
dissensions  for all the violations  for all the iniquities  for all the
crimes committed on earth  For the space of twelve consecutive hours 
from four o clock in the afternoon till four o clock in the morning  or
from four o clock in the morning until four o clock in the afternoon 
the sister who is making reparation remains on her knees on the stone
before the Holy Sacrament  with hands clasped  a rope around her neck 
When her fatigue becomes unendurable  she prostrates herself flat on
her face against the earth  with her arms outstretched in the form of a
cross  this is her only relief  In this attitude she prays for all the
guilty in the universe  This is great to sublimity 

As this act is performed in front of a post on which burns a candle  it
is called without distinction  to make reparation or to be at the post 
The nuns even prefer  out of humility  this last expression  which
contains an idea of torture and abasement 

To make reparation is a function in which the whole soul is absorbed 
The sister at the post would not turn round were a thunderbolt to fall
directly behind her 

Besides this  there is always a sister kneeling before the Holy
Sacrament  This station lasts an hour  They relieve each other like
soldiers on guard  This is the Perpetual Adoration 

The prioresses and the mothers almost always bear names stamped with
peculiar solemnity  recalling  not the saints and martyrs  but moments
in the life of Jesus Christ  as Mother Nativity  Mother Conception 
Mother Presentation  Mother Passion  But the names of saints are not
interdicted 

When one sees them  one never sees anything but their mouths 

All their teeth are yellow  No tooth brush ever entered that convent 
Brushing one s teeth is at the top of a ladder at whose bottom is the
loss of one s soul 

They never say my  They possess nothing of their own  and they must not
attach themselves to anything  They call everything our  thus  our veil 
our chaplet  if they were speaking of their chemise  they would say our
chemise  Sometimes they grow attached to some petty object   to a book
of hours  a relic  a medal that has been blessed  As soon as they become
aware that they are growing attached to this object  they must give it
up  They recall the words of Saint Therese  to whom a great lady said 
as she was on the point of entering her order   Permit me  mother  to
send for a Bible to which I am greatly attached    Ah  you are attached
to something  In that case  do not enter our order  

Every person whatever is forbidden to shut herself up  to have a place
of her own  a chamber  They live with their cells open  When they meet 
one says   Blessed and adored be the most Holy Sacrament of the altar  
The other responds   Forever   The same ceremony when one taps at the
other s door  Hardly has she touched the door when a soft voice on the
other side is heard to say hastily   Forever   Like all practices  this
becomes mechanical by force of habit  and one sometimes says forever
before the other has had time to say the rather long sentence   Praised
and adored be the most Holy Sacrament of the altar  

Among the Visitandines the one who enters says   Ave Maria   and the one
whose cell is entered says   Gratia plena   It is their way of saying
good day  which is in fact full of grace 

At each hour of the day three supplementary strokes sound from the
church bell of the convent  At this signal prioress  vocal mothers 
professed nuns  lay sisters  novices  postulants  interrupt what they
are saying  what they are doing  or what they are thinking  and all say
in unison if it is five o clock  for instance   At five o clock and at
all hours praised and adored be the most Holy Sacrament of the altar  
If it is eight o clock   At eight o clock and at all hours   and so on 
according to the hour 

This custom  the object of which is to break the thread of thought
and to lead it back constantly to God  exists in many communities  the
formula alone varies  Thus at The Infant Jesus they say   At this
hour and at every hour may the love of Jesus kindle my heart   The
Bernardines Benedictines of Martin Verga  cloistered fifty years ago at
Petit Picpus  chant the offices to a solemn psalmody  a pure Gregorian
chant  and always with full voice during the whole course of the office 
Everywhere in the missal where an asterisk occurs they pause  and say in
a low voice   Jesus Marie Joseph   For the office of the dead they adopt
a tone so low that the voices of women can hardly descend to such a
depth  The effect produced is striking and tragic 

The nuns of the Petit Picpus had made a vault under their grand altar
for the burial of their community  The Government  as they say  does not
permit this vault to receive coffins so they leave the convent when they
die  This is an affliction to them  and causes them consternation as an
infraction of the rules 

They had obtained a mediocre consolation at best   permission to be
interred at a special hour and in a special corner in the ancient
Vaugirard cemetery  which was made of land which had formerly belonged
to their community 

On Fridays the nuns hear high mass  vespers  and all the offices  as on
Sunday  They scrupulously observe in addition all the little festivals
unknown to people of the world  of which the Church of France was so
prodigal in the olden days  and of which it is still prodigal in Spain
and Italy  Their stations in the chapel are interminable  As for the
number and duration of their prayers we can convey no better idea of
them than by quoting the ingenuous remark of one of them   The prayers
of the postulants are frightful  the prayers of the novices are still
worse  and the prayers of the professed nuns are still worse  

Once a week the chapter assembles  the prioress presides  the vocal
mothers assist  Each sister kneels in turn on the stones  and confesses
aloud  in the presence of all  the faults and sins which she has
committed during the week  The vocal mothers consult after each
confession and inflict the penance aloud 

Besides this confession in a loud tone  for which all faults in the
least serious are reserved  they have for their venial offences what
they call the coulpe  To make one s coulpe means to prostrate one s self
flat on one s face during the office in front of the prioress until
the latter  who is never called anything but our mother  notifies the
culprit by a slight tap of her foot against the wood of her stall that
she can rise  The coulpe or peccavi  is made for a very small matter  a
broken glass  a torn veil  an involuntary delay of a few seconds at an
office  a false note in church  etc   this suffices  and the coulpe
is made  The coulpe is entirely spontaneous  it is the culpable person
herself  the word is etymologically in its place here  who judges
herself and inflicts it on herself  On festival days and Sundays four
mother precentors intone the offices before a large reading desk with
four places  One day one of the mother precentors intoned a psalm
beginning with Ecce  and instead of Ecce she uttered aloud the three
notes do si sol  for this piece of absent mindedness she underwent a
coulpe which lasted during the whole service  what rendered the fault
enormous was the fact that the chapter had laughed 

When a nun is summoned to the parlor  even were it the prioress herself 
she drops her veil  as will be remembered  so that only her mouth is
visible 

The prioress alone can hold communication with strangers  The others can
see only their immediate family  and that very rarely  If  by chance 
an outsider presents herself to see a nun  or one whom she has known and
loved in the outer world  a regular series of negotiations is required 
If it is a woman  the authorization may sometimes be granted  the nun
comes  and they talk to her through the shutters  which are opened only
for a mother or sister  It is unnecessary to say that permission is
always refused to men 

Such is the rule of Saint Benoit  aggravated by Martin Verga 

These nuns are not gay  rosy  and fresh  as the daughters of other
orders often are  They are pale and grave  Between 1825 and 1830 three
of them went mad 




CHAPTER III  AUSTERITIES

One is a postulant for two years at least  often for four  a novice for
four  It is rare that the definitive vows can be pronounced
earlier than the age of twenty three or twenty four years  The
Bernardines Benedictines of Martin Verga do not admit widows to their
order 

In their cells  they deliver themselves up to many unknown macerations 
of which they must never speak 

On the day when a novice makes her profession  she is dressed in her
handsomest attire  she is crowned with white roses  her hair is brushed
until it shines  and curled  Then she prostrates herself  a great black
veil is thrown over her  and the office for the dead is sung  Then the
nuns separate into two files  one file passes close to her  saying in
plaintive accents   Our sister is dead   and the other file responds in
a voice of ecstasy   Our sister is alive in Jesus Christ  

At the epoch when this story takes place  a boarding school was attached
to the convent  a boarding school for young girls of noble and
mostly wealthy families  among whom could be remarked Mademoiselle
de Saint Aulaire and de Belissen  and an English girl bearing the
illustrious Catholic name of Talbot  These young girls  reared by these
nuns between four walls  grew up with a horror of the world and of the
age  One of them said to us one day   The sight of the street pavement
made me shudder from head to foot   They were dressed in blue  with a
white cap and a Holy Spirit of silver gilt or of copper on their breast 
On certain grand festival days  particularly Saint Martha s day  they
were permitted  as a high favor and a supreme happiness  to dress
themselves as nuns and to carry out the offices and practice of
Saint Benoit for a whole day  In the early days the nuns were in the
habit of lending them their black garments  This seemed profane  and
the prioress forbade it  Only the novices were permitted to lend  It is
remarkable that these performances  tolerated and encouraged  no doubt 
in the convent out of a secret spirit of proselytism and in order
to give these children a foretaste of the holy habit  were a genuine
happiness and a real recreation for the scholars  They simply amused
themselves with it  It was new  it gave them a change  Candid reasons
of childhood  which do not  however  succeed in making us worldlings
comprehend the felicity of holding a holy water sprinkler in one s hand
and standing for hours together singing hard enough for four in front of
a reading desk 

The pupils conformed  with the exception of the austerities  to all the
practices of the convent  There was a certain young woman who entered
the world  and who after many years of married life had not succeeded in
breaking herself of the habit of saying in great haste whenever any
one knocked at her door   forever   Like the nuns  the pupils saw
their relatives only in the parlor  Their very mothers did not obtain
permission to embrace them  The following illustrates to what a degree
severity on that point was carried  One day a young girl received a
visit from her mother  who was accompanied by a little sister three
years of age  The young girl wept  for she wished greatly to embrace
her sister  Impossible  She begged that  at least  the child might be
permitted to pass her little hand through the bars so that she could
kiss it  This was almost indignantly refused 




CHAPTER IV  GAYETIES

None the less  these young girls filled this grave house with charming
souvenirs 

At certain hours childhood sparkled in that cloister  The recreation
hour struck  A door swung on its hinges  The birds said   Good 
here come the children   An irruption of youth inundated that garden
intersected with a cross like a shroud  Radiant faces  white foreheads 
innocent eyes  full of merry light  all sorts of auroras  were scattered
about amid these shadows  After the psalmodies  the bells  the peals 
and knells and offices  the sound of these little girls burst forth on a
sudden more sweetly than the noise of bees  The hive of joy was opened 
and each one brought her honey  They played  they called to each other 
they formed into groups  they ran about  pretty little white teeth
chattered in the corners  the veils superintended the laughs from a
distance  shades kept watch of the sunbeams  but what mattered it  Still
they beamed and laughed  Those four lugubrious walls had their moment
of dazzling brilliancy  They looked on  vaguely blanched with the
reflection of so much joy at this sweet swarming of the hives  It was
like a shower of roses falling athwart this house of mourning  The young
girls frolicked beneath the eyes of the nuns  the gaze of impeccability
does not embarrass innocence  Thanks to these children  there was 
among so many austere hours  one hour of ingenuousness  The little ones
skipped about  the elder ones danced  In this cloister play was mingled
with heaven  Nothing is so delightful and so august as all these fresh 
expanding young souls  Homer would have come thither to laugh with
Perrault  and there was in that black garden  youth  health  noise 
cries  giddiness  pleasure  happiness enough to smooth out the wrinkles
of all their ancestresses  those of the epic as well as those of the
fairy tale  those of the throne as well as those of the thatched cottage
from Hecuba to la Mere Grand 

In that house more than anywhere else  perhaps  arise those children s
sayings which are so graceful and which evoke a smile that is full of
thoughtfulness  It was between those four gloomy walls that a child of
five years exclaimed one day   Mother  one of the big girls has just
told me that I have only nine years and ten months longer to remain
here  What happiness  

It was here  too  that this memorable dialogue took place   

A Vocal Mother  Why are you weeping  my child 

The child  aged six   I told Alix that I knew my French history  She
says that I do not know it  but I do 

Alix  the big girl  aged nine   No  she does not know it 

The Mother  How is that  my child 

Alix  She told me to open the book at random and to ask her any question
in the book  and she would answer it 

 Well  

 She did not answer it  

 Let us see about it  What did you ask her  

 I opened the book at random  as she proposed  and I put the first
question that I came across  

 And what was the question  

 It was   What happened after that   

It was there that that profound remark was made anent a rather greedy
paroquet which belonged to a lady boarder   

 How well bred  it eats the top of the slice of bread and butter just
like a person  

It was on one of the flagstones of this cloister that there was once
picked up a confession which had been written out in advance  in order
that she might not forget it  by a sinner of seven years   

 Father  I accuse myself of having been avaricious 

 Father  I accuse myself of having been an adulteress 

 Father  I accuse myself of having raised my eyes to the gentlemen  

It was on one of the turf benches of this garden that a rosy mouth six
years of age improvised the following tale  which was listened to by
blue eyes aged four and five years   

 There were three little cocks who owned a country where there were
a great many flowers  They plucked the flowers and put them in their
pockets  After that they plucked the leaves and put them in their
playthings  There was a wolf in that country  there was a great deal of
forest  and the wolf was in the forest  and he ate the little cocks  

And this other poem   

 There came a blow with a stick 

 It was Punchinello who bestowed it on the cat 

 It was not good for her  it hurt her 

 Then a lady put Punchinello in prison  

It was there that a little abandoned child  a foundling whom the convent
was bringing up out of charity  uttered this sweet and heart breaking
saying  She heard the others talking of their mothers  and she murmured
in her corner   

 As for me  my mother was not there when I was born  

There was a stout portress who could always be seen hurrying through the
corridors with her bunch of keys  and whose name was Sister Agatha  The
big big girls  those over ten years of age  called her Agathocles 

The refectory  a large apartment of an oblong square form  which
received no light except through a vaulted cloister on a level with the
garden  was dark and damp  and  as the children say  full of beasts  All
the places round about furnished their contingent of insects 

Each of its four corners had received  in the language of the pupils 
a special and expressive name  There was Spider corner  Caterpillar
corner  Wood louse corner  and Cricket corner 

Cricket corner was near the kitchen and was highly esteemed  It was not
so cold there as elsewhere  From the refectory the names had passed to
the boarding school  and there served as in the old College Mazarin
to distinguish four nations  Every pupil belonged to one of these four
nations according to the corner of the refectory in which she sat at
meals  One day Monseigneur the Archbishop while making his pastoral
visit saw a pretty little rosy girl with beautiful golden hair enter the
class room through which he was passing 

He inquired of another pupil  a charming brunette with rosy cheeks  who
stood near him   

 Who is that  

 She is a spider  Monseigneur  

 Bah  And that one yonder  

 She is a cricket  

 And that one  

 She is a caterpillar  

 Really  and yourself  

 I am a wood louse  Monseigneur  

Every house of this sort has its own peculiarities  At the beginning of
this century Ecouen was one of those strict and graceful places where
young girls pass their childhood in a shadow that is almost august  At
Ecouen  in order to take rank in the procession of the Holy Sacrament 
a distinction was made between virgins and florists  There were also the
 dais  and the  censors    the first who held the cords of the dais  and
the others who carried incense before the Holy Sacrament  The flowers
belonged by right to the florists  Four  virgins  walked in advance  On
the morning of that great day it was no rare thing to hear the question
put in the dormitory   Who is a virgin  

Madame Campan used to quote this saying of a  little one  of seven
years  to a  big girl  of sixteen  who took the head of the procession 
while she  the little one  remained at the rear   You are a virgin  but
I am not  




CHAPTER V  DISTRACTIONS

Above the door of the refectory this prayer  which was called the white
Paternoster  and which possessed the property of bearing people straight
to paradise  was inscribed in large black letters   

 Little white Paternoster  which God made  which God said  which God
placed in paradise  In the evening  when I went to bed  I found three
angels sitting on my bed  one at the foot  two at the head  the good
Virgin Mary in the middle  who told me to lie down without hesitation 
The good God is my father  the good Virgin is my mother  the three
apostles are my brothers  the three virgins are my sisters  The shirt in
which God was born envelopes my body  Saint Margaret s cross is written
on my breast  Madame the Virgin was walking through the meadows  weeping
for God  when she met M  Saint John   Monsieur Saint John  whence come
you    I come from Ave Salus    You have not seen the good God  where
is he    He is on the tree of the Cross  his feet hanging  his hands
nailed  a little cap of white thorns on his head   Whoever shall say
this thrice at eventide  thrice in the morning  shall win paradise at
the last  

In 1827 this characteristic orison had disappeared from the wall under
a triple coating of daubing paint  At the present time it is finally
disappearing from the memories of several who were young girls then  and
who are old women now 

A large crucifix fastened to the wall completed the decoration of this
refectory  whose only door  as we think we have mentioned  opened on the
garden  Two narrow tables  each flanked by two wooden benches  formed
two long parallel lines from one end to the other of the refectory 
The walls were white  the tables were black  these two mourning colors
constitute the only variety in convents  The meals were plain  and
the food of the children themselves severe  A single dish of meat and
vegetables combined  or salt fish  such was their luxury  This meagre
fare  which was reserved for the pupils alone  was  nevertheless  an
exception  The children ate in silence  under the eye of the mother
whose turn it was  who  if a fly took a notion to fly or to hum against
the rule  opened and shut a wooden book from time to time  This silence
was seasoned with the lives of the saints  read aloud from a little
pulpit with a desk  which was situated at the foot of the crucifix  The
reader was one of the big girls  in weekly turn  At regular distances 
on the bare tables  there were large  varnished bowls in which the
pupils washed their own silver cups and knives and forks  and into which
they sometimes threw some scrap of tough meat or spoiled fish  this was
punished  These bowls were called ronds d eau  The child who broke the
silence  made a cross with her tongue   Where  On the ground  She licked
the pavement  The dust  that end of all joys  was charged with the
chastisement of those poor little rose leaves which had been guilty of
chirping 

There was in the convent a book which has never been printed except as
a unique copy  and which it is forbidden to read  It is the rule of
Saint Benoit  An arcanum which no profane eye must penetrate  Nemo
regulas  seu constitutiones nostras  externis communicabit 

The pupils one day succeeded in getting possession of this book  and set
to reading it with avidity  a reading which was often interrupted by
the fear of being caught  which caused them to close the volume
precipitately 

From the great danger thus incurred they derived but a very moderate
amount of pleasure  The most  interesting thing  they found were some
unintelligible pages about the sins of young boys 

They played in an alley of the garden bordered with a few shabby
fruit trees  In spite of the extreme surveillance and the severity of
the punishments administered  when the wind had shaken the trees  they
sometimes succeeded in picking up a green apple or a spoiled apricot or
an inhabited pear on the sly  I will now cede the privilege of speech
to a letter which lies before me  a letter written five and twenty
years ago by an old pupil  now Madame la Duchesse de    one of the most
elegant women in Paris  I quote literally   One hides one s pear or
one s apple as best one may  When one goes up stairs to put the veil on
the bed before supper  one stuffs them under one s pillow and at night
one eats them in bed  and when one cannot do that  one eats them in the
closet   That was one of their greatest luxuries 

Once  it was at the epoch of the visit from the archbishop to the
convent  one of the young girls  Mademoiselle Bouchard  who was
connected with the Montmorency family  laid a wager that she would ask
for a day s leave of absence  an enormity in so austere a community  The
wager was accepted  but not one of those who bet believed that she would
do it  When the moment came  as the archbishop was passing in front of
the pupils  Mademoiselle Bouchard  to the indescribable terror of her
companions  stepped out of the ranks  and said   Monseigneur  a day s
leave of absence   Mademoiselle Bouchard was tall  blooming  with the
prettiest little rosy face in the world  M  de Quelen smiled and said 
 What  my dear child  a day s leave of absence  Three days if you like 
I grant you three days   The prioress could do nothing  the archbishop
had spoken  Horror of the convent  but joy of the pupil  The effect may
be imagined 

This stern cloister was not so well walled off  however  but that the
life of the passions of the outside world  drama  and even romance 
did not make their way in  To prove this  we will confine ourselves to
recording here and to briefly mentioning a real and incontestable fact 
which  however  bears no reference in itself to  and is not connected by
any thread whatever with the story which we are relating  We mention the
fact for the sake of completing the physiognomy of the convent in the
reader s mind 

About this time there was in the convent a mysterious person who was
not a nun  who was treated with great respect  and who was addressed as
Madame Albertine  Nothing was known about her  save that she was mad 
and that in the world she passed for dead  Beneath this history it
was said there lay the arrangements of fortune necessary for a great
marriage 

This woman  hardly thirty years of age  of dark complexion and tolerably
pretty  had a vague look in her large black eyes  Could she see  There
was some doubt about this  She glided rather than walked  she never
spoke  it was not quite known whether she breathed  Her nostrils were
livid and pinched as after yielding up their last sigh  To touch her
hand was like touching snow  She possessed a strange spectral grace 
Wherever she entered  people felt cold  One day a sister  on seeing her
pass  said to another sister   She passes for a dead woman    Perhaps
she is one   replied the other 

A hundred tales were told of Madame Albertine  This arose from the
eternal curiosity of the pupils  In the chapel there was a gallery
called L OEil de Boeuf  It was in this gallery  which had only a
circular bay  an oeil de boeuf  that Madame Albertine listened to the
offices  She always occupied it alone because this gallery  being on the
level of the first story  the preacher or the officiating priest could
be seen  which was interdicted to the nuns  One day the pulpit was
occupied by a young priest of high rank  M  Le Duc de Rohan  peer of
France  officer of the Red Musketeers in 1815 when he was Prince de
Leon  and who died afterward  in 1830  as cardinal and Archbishop of
Besancon  It was the first time that M  de Rohan had preached at
the Petit Picpus convent  Madame Albertine usually preserved perfect
calmness and complete immobility during the sermons and services  That
day  as soon as she caught sight of M  de Rohan  she half rose  and
said  in a loud voice  amid the silence of the chapel   Ah  Auguste  
The whole community turned their heads in amazement  the preacher raised
his eyes  but Madame Albertine had relapsed into her immobility  A
breath from the outer world  a flash of life  had passed for an instant
across that cold and lifeless face and had then vanished  and the mad
woman had become a corpse again 

Those two words  however  had set every one in the convent who had the
privilege of speech to chattering  How many things were contained in
that  Ah  Auguste   what revelations  M  de Rohan s name really was
Auguste  It was evident that Madame Albertine belonged to the very
highest society  since she knew M  de Rohan  and that her own rank there
was of the highest  since she spoke thus familiarly of so great a lord 
and that there existed between them some connection  of relationship 
perhaps  but a very close one in any case  since she knew his  pet
name  

Two very severe duchesses  Mesdames de Choiseul and de Serent  often
visited the community  whither they penetrated  no doubt  in virtue of
the privilege Magnates mulieres  and caused great consternation in the
boarding school  When these two old ladies passed by  all the poor young
girls trembled and dropped their eyes 

Moreover  M  de Rohan  quite unknown to himself  was an object of
attention to the school girls  At that epoch he had just been made 
while waiting for the episcopate  vicar general of the Archbishop of
Paris  It was one of his habits to come tolerably often to celebrate the
offices in the chapel of the nuns of the Petit Picpus  Not one of the
young recluses could see him  because of the serge curtain  but he had
a sweet and rather shrill voice  which they had come to know and to
distinguish  He had been a mousquetaire  and then  he was said to be
very coquettish  that his handsome brown hair was very well dressed in
a roll around his head  and that he had a broad girdle of magnificent
moire  and that his black cassock was of the most elegant cut in the
world  He held a great place in all these imaginations of sixteen years 

Not a sound from without made its way into the convent  But there was
one year when the sound of a flute penetrated thither  This was an
event  and the girls who were at school there at the time still recall
it 

It was a flute which was played in the neighborhood  This flute always
played the same air  an air which is very far away nowadays    My
Zetulbe  come reign o er my soul    and it was heard two or three
times a day  The young girls passed hours in listening to it  the vocal
mothers were upset by it  brains were busy  punishments descended in
showers  This lasted for several months  The girls were all more or
less in love with the unknown musician  Each one dreamed that she was
Zetulbe  The sound of the flute proceeded from the direction of the Rue
Droit Mur  and they would have given anything  compromised everything 
attempted anything for the sake of seeing  of catching a glance  if only
for a second  of the  young man  who played that flute so deliciously 
and who  no doubt  played on all these souls at the same time  There
were some who made their escape by a back door  and ascended to the
third story on the Rue Droit Mur side  in order to attempt to catch a
glimpse through the gaps  Impossible  One even went so far as to thrust
her arm through the grating  and to wave her white handkerchief  Two
were still bolder  They found means to climb on a roof  and risked their
lives there  and succeeded at last in seeing  the young man   He was an
old emigre gentleman  blind and penniless  who was playing his flute in
his attic  in order to pass the time 




CHAPTER VI  THE LITTLE CONVENT

In this enclosure of the Petit Picpus there were three perfectly
distinct buildings   the Great Convent  inhabited by the nuns  the
Boarding school  where the scholars were lodged  and lastly  what was
called the Little Convent  It was a building with a garden  in which
lived all sorts of aged nuns of various orders  the relics of cloisters
destroyed in the Revolution  a reunion of all the black  gray  and white
medleys of all communities and all possible varieties  what might be
called  if such a coupling of words is permissible  a sort of harlequin
convent 

When the Empire was established  all these poor old dispersed and exiled
women had been accorded permission to come and take shelter under the
wings of the Bernardines Benedictines  The government paid them a small
pension  the ladies of the Petit Picpus received them cordially  It was
a singular pell mell  Each followed her own rule  Sometimes the pupils
of the boarding school were allowed  as a great recreation  to pay them
a visit  the result is  that all those young memories have
retained among other souvenirs that of Mother Sainte Bazile  Mother
Sainte Scolastique  and Mother Jacob 

One of these refugees found herself almost at home  She was a nun of
Sainte Aure  the only one of her order who had survived  The ancient
convent of the ladies of Sainte Aure occupied  at the beginning of the
eighteenth century  this very house of the Petit Picpus  which belonged
later to the Benedictines of Martin Verga  This holy woman  too poor to
wear the magnificent habit of her order  which was a white robe with
a scarlet scapulary  had piously put it on a little manikin  which she
exhibited with complacency and which she bequeathed to the house at
her death  In 1824  only one nun of this order remained  to day  there
remains only a doll 

In addition to these worthy mothers  some old society women had obtained
permission of the prioress  like Madame Albertine  to retire into the
Little Convent  Among the number were Madame Beaufort d Hautpoul and
Marquise Dufresne  Another was never known in the convent except by
the formidable noise which she made when she blew her nose  The pupils
called her Madame Vacarmini  hubbub  

About 1820 or 1821  Madame de Genlis  who was at that time editing a
little periodical publication called l Intrepide  asked to be allowed
to enter the convent of the Petit Picpus as lady resident  The Duc
d Orleans recommended her  Uproar in the hive  the vocal mothers were
all in a flutter  Madame de Genlis had made romances  But she declared
that she was the first to detest them  and then  she had reached her
fierce stage of devotion  With the aid of God  and of the Prince  she
entered  She departed at the end of six or eight months  alleging as a
reason  that there was no shade in the garden  The nuns were delighted 
Although very old  she still played the harp  and did it very well 

When she went away she left her mark in her cell  Madame de Genlis was
superstitious and a Latinist  These two words furnish a tolerably good
profile of her  A few years ago  there were still to be seen  pasted in
the inside of a little cupboard in her cell in which she locked up her
silverware and her jewels  these five lines in Latin  written with
her own hand in red ink on yellow paper  and which  in her opinion 
possessed the property of frightening away robbers   


               Imparibus meritis pendent tria corpora ramis  15 
               Dismas et Gesmas  media est divina potestas 
               Alta petit Dismas  infelix  infima  Gesmas 
               Nos et res nostras conservet summa potestas 
               Hos versus dicas  ne tu furto tua perdas 


These verses in sixth century Latin raise the question whether the
two thieves of Calvary were named  as is commonly believed  Dismas and
Gestas  or Dismas and Gesmas  This orthography might have confounded the
pretensions put forward in the last century by the Vicomte de Gestas  of
a descent from the wicked thief  However  the useful virtue attached to
these verses forms an article of faith in the order of the Hospitallers 

The church of the house  constructed in such a manner as to separate the
Great Convent from the Boarding school like a veritable intrenchment 
was  of course  common to the Boarding school  the Great Convent  and
the Little Convent  The public was even admitted by a sort of lazaretto
entrance on the street  But all was so arranged  that none of the
inhabitants of the cloister could see a face from the outside world 
Suppose a church whose choir is grasped in a gigantic hand  and
folded in such a manner as to form  not  as in ordinary churches  a
prolongation behind the altar  but a sort of hall  or obscure cellar  to
the right of the officiating priest  suppose this hall to be shut off by
a curtain seven feet in height  of which we have already spoken  in the
shadow of that curtain  pile up on wooden stalls the nuns in the choir
on the left  the school girls on the right  the lay sisters and the
novices at the bottom  and you will have some idea of the nuns of the
Petit Picpus assisting at divine service  That cavern  which was called
the choir  communicated with the cloister by a lobby  The church was
lighted from the garden  When the nuns were present at services where
their rule enjoined silence  the public was warned of their presence
only by the folding seats of the stalls noisily rising and falling 




CHAPTER VII  SOME SILHOUETTES OF THIS DARKNESS

During the six years which separate 1819 from 1825  the prioress of the
Petit Picpus was Mademoiselle de Blemeur  whose name  in religion 
was Mother Innocente  She came of the family of Marguerite de Blemeur 
author of Lives of the Saints of the Order of Saint Benoit  She had
been re elected  She was a woman about sixty years of age  short  thick 
 singing like a cracked pot   says the letter which we have already
quoted  an excellent woman  moreover  and the only merry one in the
whole convent  and for that reason adored  She was learned  erudite 
wise  competent  curiously proficient in history  crammed with Latin 
stuffed with Greek  full of Hebrew  and more of a Benedictine monk than
a Benedictine nun 

The sub prioress was an old Spanish nun  Mother Cineres  who was almost
blind 

The most esteemed among the vocal mothers were Mother Sainte Honorine 
the treasurer  Mother Sainte Gertrude  the chief mistress of the
novices  Mother Saint Ange  the assistant mistress  Mother Annonciation 
the sacristan  Mother Saint Augustin  the nurse  the only one in the
convent who was malicious  then Mother Sainte Mechtilde  Mademoiselle
Gauvain   very young and with a beautiful voice  Mother des Anges
 Mademoiselle Drouet   who had been in the convent of the Filles Dieu 
and in the convent du Tresor  between Gisors and Magny  Mother
Saint Joseph  Mademoiselle de Cogolludo   Mother Sainte Adelaide
 Mademoiselle d Auverney   Mother Misericorde  Mademoiselle de
Cifuentes  who could not resist austerities   Mother Compassion
 Mademoiselle de la Miltiere  received at the age of sixty in defiance
of the rule  and very wealthy   Mother Providence  Mademoiselle de
Laudiniere   Mother Presentation  Mademoiselle de Siguenza   who was
prioress in 1847  and finally  Mother Sainte Celigne  sister of the
sculptor Ceracchi   who went mad  Mother Sainte Chantal  Mademoiselle de
Suzon   who went mad 

There was also  among the prettiest of them  a charming girl of three
and twenty  who was from the Isle de Bourbon  a descendant of the
Chevalier Roze  whose name had been Mademoiselle Roze  and who was
called Mother Assumption 

Mother Sainte Mechtilde  intrusted with the singing and the choir  was
fond of making use of the pupils in this quarter  She usually took a
complete scale of them  that is to say  seven  from ten to sixteen years
of age  inclusive  of assorted voices and sizes  whom she made sing
standing  drawn up in a line  side by side  according to age  from the
smallest to the largest  This presented to the eye  something in the
nature of a reed pipe of young girls  a sort of living Pan pipe made of
angels 

Those of the lay sisters whom the scholars loved most were Sister
Euphrasie  Sister Sainte Marguerite  Sister Sainte Marthe  who was in
her dotage  and Sister Sainte Michel  whose long nose made them laugh 

All these women were gentle with the children  The nuns were severe only
towards themselves  No fire was lighted except in the school  and the
food was choice compared to that in the convent  Moreover  they lavished
a thousand cares on their scholars  Only  when a child passed near a nun
and addressed her  the nun never replied 

This rule of silence had had this effect  that throughout the whole
convent  speech had been withdrawn from human creatures  and bestowed
on inanimate objects  Now it was the church bell which spoke  now it was
the gardener s bell  A very sonorous bell  placed beside the portress 
and which was audible throughout the house  indicated by its varied
peals  which formed a sort of acoustic telegraph  all the actions of
material life which were to be performed  and summoned to the parlor  in
case of need  such or such an inhabitant of the house  Each person
and each thing had its own peal  The prioress had one and one  the
sub prioress one and two  Six five announced lessons  so that the pupils
never said  to go to lessons   but  to go to six five   Four four was
Madame de Genlis s signal  It was very often heard   C est le diable
a quatre    it s the very deuce  said the uncharitable  Tennine strokes
announced a great event  It was the opening of the door of seclusion 
a frightful sheet of iron bristling with bolts which only turned on its
hinges in the presence of the archbishop 

With the exception of the archbishop and the gardener  no man entered
the convent  as we have already said  The schoolgirls saw two others 
one  the chaplain  the Abbe Banes  old and ugly  whom they were
permitted to contemplate in the choir  through a grating  the other the
drawing master  M  Ansiaux  whom the letter  of which we have perused a
few lines  calls M  Anciot  and describes as a frightful old hunchback 

It will be seen that all these men were carefully chosen 

Such was this curious house 




CHAPTER VIII  POST CORDA LAPIDES

After having sketched its moral face  it will not prove unprofitable
to point out  in a few words  its material configuration  The reader
already has some idea of it 

The convent of the Petit Picpus Sainte Antoine filled almost the whole
of the vast trapezium which resulted from the intersection of the Rue
Polonceau  the Rue Droit Mur  the Rue Petit Picpus  and the unused lane 
called Rue Aumarais on old plans  These four streets surrounded this
trapezium like a moat  The convent was composed of several buildings
and a garden  The principal building  taken in its entirety  was a
juxtaposition of hybrid constructions which  viewed from a bird s eye
view  outlined  with considerable exactness  a gibbet laid flat on the
ground  The main arm of the gibbet occupied the whole of the fragment
of the Rue Droit Mur comprised between the Rue Petit Picpus and the Rue
Polonceau  the lesser arm was a lofty  gray  severe grated facade which
faced the Rue Petit Picpus  the carriage entrance No  62 marked its
extremity  Towards the centre of this facade was a low  arched door 
whitened with dust and ashes  where the spiders wove their webs 
and which was open only for an hour or two on Sundays  and on rare
occasions  when the coffin of a nun left the convent  This was the
public entrance of the church  The elbow of the gibbet was a square
hall which was used as the servants  hall  and which the nuns called the
buttery  In the main arm were the cells of the mothers  the sisters  and
the novices  In the lesser arm lay the kitchens  the refectory  backed
up by the cloisters and the church  Between the door No  62 and the
corner of the closed lane Aumarais  was the school  which was not
visible from without  The remainder of the trapezium formed the garden 
which was much lower than the level of the Rue Polonceau  which caused
the walls to be very much higher on the inside than on the outside  The
garden  which was slightly arched  had in its centre  on the summit of
a hillock  a fine pointed and conical fir tree  whence ran  as from
the peaked boss of a shield  four grand alleys  and  ranged by twos
in between the branchings of these  eight small ones  so that  if the
enclosure had been circular  the geometrical plan of the alleys would
have resembled a cross superposed on a wheel  As the alleys all ended
in the very irregular walls of the garden  they were of unequal length 
They were bordered with currant bushes  At the bottom  an alley of tall
poplars ran from the ruins of the old convent  which was at the angle of
the Rue Droit Mur to the house of the Little Convent  which was at the
angle of the Aumarais lane  In front of the Little Convent was what was
called the little garden  To this whole  let the reader add a courtyard 
all sorts of varied angles formed by the interior buildings  prison
walls  the long black line of roofs which bordered the other side of the
Rue Polonceau for its sole perspective and neighborhood  and he will
be able to form for himself a complete image of what the house of the
Bernardines of the Petit Picpus was forty years ago  This holy house
had been built on the precise site of a famous tennis ground of the
fourteenth to the sixteenth century  which was called the  tennis ground
of the eleven thousand devils  

All these streets  moreover  were more ancient than Paris  These names 
Droit Mur and Aumarais  are very ancient  the streets which bear them
are very much more ancient still  Aumarais Lane was called Maugout Lane 
the Rue Droit Mur was called the Rue des Eglantiers  for God opened
flowers before man cut stones 




CHAPTER IX  A CENTURY UNDER A GUIMPE

Since we are engaged in giving details as to what the convent of the
Petit Picpus was in former times  and since we have ventured to open
a window on that discreet retreat  the reader will permit us one other
little digression  utterly foreign to this book  but characteristic and
useful  since it shows that the cloister even has its original figures 

In the Little Convent there was a centenarian who came from the Abbey
of Fontevrault  She had even been in society before the Revolution  She
talked a great deal of M  de Miromesnil  Keeper of the Seals under Louis
XVI  and of a Presidentess Duplat  with whom she had been very intimate 
It was her pleasure and her vanity to drag in these names on every
pretext  She told wonders of the Abbey of Fontevrault   that it was like
a city  and that there were streets in the monastery 

She talked with a Picard accent which amused the pupils  Every year 
she solemnly renewed her vows  and at the moment of taking the oath  she
said to the priest   Monseigneur Saint Francois gave it to Monseigneur
Saint Julien  Monseigneur Saint Julien gave it to Monseigneur
Saint Eusebius  Monseigneur Saint Eusebius gave it to Monseigneur
Saint Procopius  etc   etc   and thus I give it to you  father   And the
school girls would begin to laugh  not in their sleeves  but under
their veils  charming little stifled laughs which made the vocal mothers
frown 

On another occasion  the centenarian was telling stories  She said
that in her youth the Bernardine monks were every whit as good as the
mousquetaires  It was a century which spoke through her  but it was the
eighteenth century  She told about the custom of the four wines  which
existed before the Revolution in Champagne and Bourgogne  When a great
personage  a marshal of France  a prince  a duke  and a peer  traversed
a town in Burgundy or Champagne  the city fathers came out to harangue
him and presented him with four silver gondolas into which they
had poured four different sorts of wine  On the first goblet this
inscription could be read  monkey wine  on the second  lion wine  on the
third  sheep wine  on the fourth  hog wine  These four legends express
the four stages descended by the drunkard  the first  intoxication 
which enlivens  the second  that which irritates  the third  that which
dulls  and the fourth  that which brutalizes 

In a cupboard  under lock and key  she kept a mysterious object of which
she thought a great deal  The rule of Fontevrault did not forbid this 
She would not show this object to anyone  She shut herself up  which her
rule allowed her to do  and hid herself  every time that she desired to
contemplate it  If she heard a footstep in the corridor  she closed the
cupboard again as hastily as it was possible with her aged hands  As
soon as it was mentioned to her  she became silent  she who was so fond
of talking  The most curious were baffled by her silence and the most
tenacious by her obstinacy  Thus it furnished a subject of comment for
all those who were unoccupied or bored in the convent  What could that
treasure of the centenarian be  which was so precious and so secret 
Some holy book  no doubt  Some unique chaplet  Some authentic relic 
They lost themselves in conjectures  When the poor old woman died 
they rushed to her cupboard more hastily than was fitting  perhaps  and
opened it  They found the object beneath a triple linen cloth  like some
consecrated paten  It was a Faenza platter representing little Loves
flitting away pursued by apothecary lads armed with enormous syringes 
The chase abounds in grimaces and in comical postures  One of the
charming little Loves is already fairly spitted  He is resisting 
fluttering his tiny wings  and still making an effort to fly  but the
dancer is laughing with a satanical air  Moral  Love conquered by the
colic  This platter  which is very curious  and which had  possibly 
the honor of furnishing Moliere with an idea  was still in existence
in September  1845  it was for sale by a bric a brac merchant in the
Boulevard Beaumarchais 

This good old woman would not receive any visits from outside because 
said she  the parlor is too gloomy 




CHAPTER X  ORIGIN OF THE PERPETUAL ADORATION

However  this almost sepulchral parlor  of which we have sought to
convey an idea  is a purely local trait which is not reproduced with the
same severity in other convents  At the convent of the Rue du Temple 
in particular  which belonged  in truth  to another order  the black
shutters were replaced by brown curtains  and the parlor itself was a
salon with a polished wood floor  whose windows were draped in white
muslin curtains and whose walls admitted all sorts of frames  a portrait
of a Benedictine nun with unveiled face  painted bouquets  and even the
head of a Turk 

It is in that garden of the Temple convent  that stood that famous
chestnut tree which was renowned as the finest and the largest in
France  and which bore the reputation among the good people of the
eighteenth century of being the father of all the chestnut trees of the
realm 

As we have said  this convent of the Temple was occupied by Benedictines
of the Perpetual Adoration  Benedictines quite different from those who
depended on Citeaux  This order of the Perpetual Adoration is not very
ancient and does not go back more than two hundred years  In 1649 the
holy sacrament was profaned on two occasions a few days apart  in two
churches in Paris  at Saint Sulpice and at Saint Jean en Greve  a rare
and frightful sacrilege which set the whole town in an uproar  M  the
Prior and Vicar General of Saint Germain des Pres ordered a solemn
procession of all his clergy  in which the Pope s Nuncio officiated 
But this expiation did not satisfy two sainted women  Madame Courtin 
Marquise de Boucs  and the Comtesse de Chateauvieux  This outrage
committed on  the most holy sacrament of the altar   though but
temporary  would not depart from these holy souls  and it seemed to
them that it could only be extenuated by a  Perpetual Adoration  in some
female monastery  Both of them  one in 1652  the other in 1653  made
donations of notable sums to Mother Catherine de Bar  called of the Holy
Sacrament  a Benedictine nun  for the purpose of founding  to this pious
end  a monastery of the order of Saint Benoit  the first permission for
this foundation was given to Mother Catherine de Bar by M  de Metz  Abbe
of Saint Germain   on condition that no woman could be received unless
she contributed three hundred livres income  which amounts to six
thousand livres  to the principal   After the Abbe of Saint Germain  the
king accorded letters patent  and all the rest  abbatial charter  and
royal letters  was confirmed in 1654 by the Chamber of Accounts and the
Parliament 

Such is the origin of the legal consecration of the establishment of the
Benedictines of the Perpetual Adoration of the Holy Sacrament at Paris 
Their first convent was  a new building  in the Rue Cassette  out of the
contributions of Mesdames de Boucs and de Chateauvieux 

This order  as it will be seen  was not to be confounded with
the Benedictine nuns of Citeaux  It mounted back to the Abbe of
Saint Germain des Pres  in the same manner that the ladies of the Sacred
Heart go back to the general of the Jesuits  and the sisters of charity
to the general of the Lazarists 

It was also totally different from the Bernardines of the Petit Picpus 
whose interior we have just shown  In 1657  Pope Alexander VII  had
authorized  by a special brief  the Bernardines of the Rue Petit Picpus 
to practise the Perpetual Adoration like the Benedictine nuns of the
Holy Sacrament  But the two orders remained distinct none the less 




CHAPTER XI  END OF THE PETIT PICPUS

At the beginning of the Restoration  the convent of the Petit Picpus
was in its decay  this forms a part of the general death of the order 
which  after the eighteenth century  has been disappearing like all
the religious orders  Contemplation is  like prayer  one of humanity s
needs  but  like everything which the Revolution touched  it will be
transformed  and from being hostile to social progress  it will become
favorable to it 

The house of the Petit Picpus was becoming rapidly depopulated  In 1840 
the Little Convent had disappeared  the school had disappeared  There
were no longer any old women  nor young girls  the first were dead  the
latter had taken their departure  Volaverunt 

The rule of the Perpetual Adoration is so rigid in its nature that it
alarms  vocations recoil before it  the order receives no recruits  In
1845  it still obtained lay sisters here and there  But of professed
nuns  none at all  Forty years ago  the nuns numbered nearly a hundred 
fifteen years ago there were not more than twenty eight of them  How
many are there to day  In 1847  the prioress was young  a sign that
the circle of choice was restricted  She was not forty years old  In
proportion as the number diminishes  the fatigue increases  the service
of each becomes more painful  the moment could then be seen drawing near
when there would be but a dozen bent and aching shoulders to bear the
heavy rule of Saint Benoit  The burden is implacable  and remains the
same for the few as for the many  It weighs down  it crushes  Thus they
die  At the period when the author of this book still lived in Paris 
two died  One was twenty five years old  the other twenty three  This
latter can say  like Julia Alpinula   Hic jaceo  Vixi annos viginti et
tres   It is in consequence of this decay that the convent gave up the
education of girls 

We have not felt able to pass before this extraordinary house without
entering it  and without introducing the minds which accompany us  and
which are listening to our tale  to the profit of some  perchance  of
the melancholy history of Jean Valjean  We have penetrated into this
community  full of those old practices which seem so novel to day  It
is the closed garden  hortus conclusus  We have spoken of this singular
place in detail  but with respect  in so far  at least  as detail and
respect are compatible  We do not understand all  but we insult nothing 
We are equally far removed from the hosanna of Joseph de Maistre  who
wound up by anointing the executioner  and from the sneer of Voltaire 
who even goes so far as to ridicule the cross 

An illogical act on Voltaire s part  we may remark  by the way  for
Voltaire would have defended Jesus as he defended Calas  and even
for those who deny superhuman incarnations  what does the crucifix
represent  The assassinated sage 

In this nineteenth century  the religious idea is undergoing a crisis 
People are unlearning certain things  and they do well  provided that 
while unlearning them they learn this  There is no vacuum in the human
heart  Certain demolitions take place  and it is well that they do  but
on condition that they are followed by reconstructions 

In the meantime  let us study things which are no more  It is necessary
to know them  if only for the purpose of avoiding them  The counterfeits
of the past assume false names  and gladly call themselves the future 
This spectre  this past  is given to falsifying its own passport  Let
us inform ourselves of the trap  Let us be on our guard  The past has a
visage  superstition  and a mask  hypocrisy  Let us denounce the visage
and let us tear off the mask 

As for convents  they present a complex problem   a question of
civilization  which condemns them  a question of liberty  which protects
them 




BOOK SEVENTH   PARENTHESIS




CHAPTER I  THE CONVENT AS AN ABSTRACT IDEA

This book is a drama  whose leading personage is the Infinite 

Man is the second 

Such being the case  and a convent having happened to be on our road  it
has been our duty to enter it  Why  Because the convent  which is common
to the Orient as well as to the Occident  to antiquity as well as to
modern times  to paganism  to Buddhism  to Mahometanism  as well as to
Christianity  is one of the optical apparatuses applied by man to the
Infinite 

This is not the place for enlarging disproportionately on certain
ideas  nevertheless  while absolutely maintaining our reserves  our
restrictions  and even our indignations  we must say that every time we
encounter man in the Infinite  either well or ill understood  we feel
ourselves overpowered with respect  There is  in the synagogue  in the
mosque  in the pagoda  in the wigwam  a hideous side which we execrate 
and a sublime side  which we adore  What a contemplation for the mind 
and what endless food for thought  is the reverberation of God upon the
human wall 




CHAPTER II  THE CONVENT AS AN HISTORICAL FACT

From the point of view of history  of reason  and of truth  monasticism
is condemned  Monasteries  when they abound in a nation  are clogs in
its circulation  cumbrous establishments  centres of idleness where
centres of labor should exist  Monastic communities are to the great
social community what the mistletoe is to the oak  what the wart is
to the human body  Their prosperity and their fatness mean the
impoverishment of the country  The monastic regime  good at the
beginning of civilization  useful in the reduction of the brutal by the
spiritual  is bad when peoples have reached their manhood  Moreover 
when it becomes relaxed  and when it enters into its period of disorder 
it becomes bad for the very reasons which rendered it salutary in its
period of purity  because it still continues to set the example 

Claustration has had its day  Cloisters  useful in the early education
of modern civilization  have embarrassed its growth  and are injurious
to its development  So far as institution and formation with relation
to man are concerned  monasteries  which were good in the tenth century 
questionable in the fifteenth  are detestable in the nineteenth  The
leprosy of monasticism has gnawed nearly to a skeleton two wonderful
nations  Italy and Spain  the one the light  the other the splendor of
Europe for centuries  and  at the present day  these two illustrious
peoples are but just beginning to convalesce  thanks to the healthy and
vigorous hygiene of 1789 alone 

The convent  the ancient female convent in particular  such as it still
presents itself on the threshold of this century  in Italy  in Austria 
in Spain  is one of the most sombre concretions of the Middle Ages  The
cloister  that cloister  is the point of intersection of horrors  The
Catholic cloister  properly speaking  is wholly filled with the black
radiance of death 

The Spanish convent is the most funereal of all  There rise  in
obscurity  beneath vaults filled with gloom  beneath domes vague with
shadow  massive altars of Babel  as high as cathedrals  there immense
white crucifixes hang from chains in the dark  there are extended  all
nude on the ebony  great Christs of ivory  more than bleeding   bloody 
hideous and magnificent  with their elbows displaying the bones  their
knee pans showing their integuments  their wounds showing their flesh 
crowned with silver thorns  nailed with nails of gold  with blood drops
of rubies on their brows  and diamond tears in their eyes  The diamonds
and rubies seem wet  and make veiled beings in the shadow below weep 
their sides bruised with the hair shirt and their iron tipped scourges 
their breasts crushed with wicker hurdles  their knees excoriated with
prayer  women who think themselves wives  spectres who think themselves
seraphim  Do these women think  No  Have they any will  No  Do they
love  No  Do they live  No  Their nerves have turned to bone  their
bones have turned to stone  Their veil is of woven night  Their breath
under their veil resembles the indescribably tragic respiration of
death  The abbess  a spectre  sanctifies them and terrifies them 
The immaculate one is there  and very fierce  Such are the ancient
monasteries of Spain  Liars of terrible devotion  caverns of virgins 
ferocious places 

Catholic Spain is more Roman than Rome herself  The Spanish convent was 
above all others  the Catholic convent  There was a flavor of the Orient
about it  The archbishop  the kislar aga of heaven  locked up and kept
watch over this seraglio of souls reserved for God  The nun was the
odalisque  the priest was the eunuch  The fervent were chosen in dreams
and possessed Christ  At night  the beautiful  nude young man descended
from the cross and became the ecstasy of the cloistered one  Lofty walls
guarded the mystic sultana  who had the crucified for her sultan  from
all living distraction  A glance on the outer world was infidelity  The
in pace replaced the leather sack  That which was cast into the sea in
the East was thrown into the ground in the West  In both quarters  women
wrung their hands  the waves for the first  the grave for the last  here
the drowned  there the buried  Monstrous parallel 

To day the upholders of the past  unable to deny these things  have
adopted the expedient of smiling at them  There has come into fashion
a strange and easy manner of suppressing the revelations of history  of
invalidating the commentaries of philosophy  of eliding all embarrassing
facts and all gloomy questions  A matter for declamations  say the
clever  Declamations  repeat the foolish  Jean Jacques a declaimer 
Diderot a declaimer  Voltaire on Calas  Labarre  and Sirven  declaimers 
I know not who has recently discovered that Tacitus was a declaimer 
that Nero was a victim  and that pity is decidedly due to  that poor
Holofernes  

Facts  however  are awkward things to disconcert  and they are
obstinate  The author of this book has seen  with his own eyes  eight
leagues distant from Brussels   there are relics of the Middle Ages
there which are attainable for everybody   at the Abbey of Villers  the
hole of the oubliettes  in the middle of the field which was formerly
the courtyard of the cloister  and on the banks of the Thil  four stone
dungeons  half under ground  half under the water  They were in pace 
Each of these dungeons has the remains of an iron door  a vault  and a
grated opening which  on the outside  is two feet above the level of the
river  and on the inside  six feet above the level of the ground  Four
feet of river flow past along the outside wall  The ground is always
soaked  The occupant of the in pace had this wet soil for his bed  In
one of these dungeons  there is a fragment of an iron necklet riveted to
the wall  in another  there can be seen a square box made of four slabs
of granite  too short for a person to lie down in  too low for him to
stand upright in  A human being was put inside  with a coverlid of stone
on top  This exists  It can be seen  It can be touched  These in pace 
these dungeons  these iron hinges  these necklets  that lofty peep hole
on a level with the river s current  that box of stone closed with a lid
of granite like a tomb  with this difference  that the dead man here
was a living being  that soil which is but mud  that vault hole  those
oozing walls   what declaimers 




CHAPTER III  ON WHAT CONDITIONS ONE CAN RESPECT THE PAST

Monasticism  such as it existed in Spain  and such as it still exists in
Thibet  is a sort of phthisis for civilization  It stops life short  It
simply depopulates  Claustration  castration  It has been the scourge
of Europe  Add to this the violence so often done to the conscience  the
forced vocations  feudalism bolstered up by the cloister  the right of
the first born pouring the excess of the family into monasticism  the
ferocities of which we have just spoken  the in pace  the closed mouths 
the walled up brains  so many unfortunate minds placed in the dungeon
of eternal vows  the taking of the habit  the interment of living souls 
Add individual tortures to national degradations  and  whoever you
may be  you will shudder before the frock and the veil   those two
winding sheets of human devising  Nevertheless  at certain points and in
certain places  in spite of philosophy  in spite of progress  the spirit
of the cloister persists in the midst of the nineteenth century  and
a singular ascetic recrudescence is  at this moment  astonishing
the civilized world  The obstinacy of antiquated institutions in
perpetuating themselves resembles the stubbornness of the rancid perfume
which should claim our hair  the pretensions of the spoiled fish which
should persist in being eaten  the persecution of the child s garment
which should insist on clothing the man  the tenderness of corpses which
should return to embrace the living 

 Ingrates   says the garment   I protected you in inclement weather  Why
will you have nothing to do with me    I have just come from the deep
sea   says the fish   I have been a rose   says the perfume   I have
loved you   says the corpse   I have civilized you   says the convent 

To this there is but one reply   In former days  

To dream of the indefinite prolongation of defunct things  and of the
government of men by embalming  to restore dogmas in a bad condition 
to regild shrines  to patch up cloisters  to rebless reliquaries  to
refurnish superstitions  to revictual fanaticisms  to put new handles
on holy water brushes and militarism  to reconstitute monasticism and
militarism  to believe in the salvation of society by the multiplication
of parasites  to force the past on the present   this seems strange 
Still  there are theorists who hold such theories  These theorists 
who are in other respects people of intelligence  have a very simple
process  they apply to the past a glazing which they call social
order  divine right  morality  family  the respect of elders  antique
authority  sacred tradition  legitimacy  religion  and they go about
shouting   Look  take this  honest people   This logic was known to the
ancients  The soothsayers practise it  They rubbed a black heifer over
with chalk  and said   She is white  Bos cretatus  

As for us  we respect the past here and there  and we spare it  above
all  provided that it consents to be dead  If it insists on being alive 
we attack it  and we try to kill it 

Superstitions  bigotries  affected devotion  prejudices  those forms all
forms as they are  are tenacious of life  they have teeth and nails in
their smoke  and they must be clasped close  body to body  and war must
be made on them  and that without truce  for it is one of the fatalities
of humanity to be condemned to eternal combat with phantoms  It is
difficult to seize darkness by the throat  and to hurl it to the earth 

A convent in France  in the broad daylight of the nineteenth century  is
a college of owls facing the light  A cloister  caught in the very act
of asceticism  in the very heart of the city of  89 and of 1830 and
of 1848  Rome blossoming out in Paris  is an anachronism  In ordinary
times  in order to dissolve an anachronism and to cause it to vanish 
one has only to make it spell out the date  But we are not in ordinary
times 

Let us fight 

Let us fight  but let us make a distinction  The peculiar property of
truth is never to commit excesses  What need has it of exaggeration 
There is that which it is necessary to destroy  and there is that which
it is simply necessary to elucidate and examine  What a force is kindly
and serious examination  Let us not apply a flame where only a light is
required 

So  given the nineteenth century  we are opposed  as a general
proposition  and among all peoples  in Asia as well as in Europe 
in India as well as in Turkey  to ascetic claustration  Whoever says
cloister  says marsh  Their putrescence is evident  their stagnation is
unhealthy  their fermentation infects people with fever  and etiolates
them  their multiplication becomes a plague of Egypt  We cannot think
without affright of those lands where fakirs  bonzes  santons  Greek
monks  marabouts  talapoins  and dervishes multiply even like swarms of
vermin 

This said  the religious question remains  This question has certain
mysterious  almost formidable sides  may we be permitted to look at it
fixedly 




CHAPTER IV  THE CONVENT FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF PRINCIPLES

Men unite themselves and dwell in communities  By virtue of what right 
By virtue of the right of association 

They shut themselves up at home  By virtue of what right  By virtue of
the right which every man has to open or shut his door 

They do not come forth  By virtue of what right  By virtue of the right
to go and come  which implies the right to remain at home 

There  at home  what do they do 

They speak in low tones  they drop their eyes  they toil  They renounce
the world  towns  sensualities  pleasures  vanities  pride  interests 
They are clothed in coarse woollen or coarse linen  Not one of them
possesses in his own right anything whatever  On entering there  each
one who was rich makes himself poor  What he has  he gives to all  He
who was what is called noble  a gentleman and a lord  is the equal of
him who was a peasant  The cell is identical for all  All undergo the
same tonsure  wear the same frock  eat the same black bread  sleep on
the same straw  die on the same ashes  The same sack on their backs  the
same rope around their loins  If the decision has been to go barefoot 
all go barefoot  There may be a prince among them  that prince is the
same shadow as the rest  No titles  Even family names have disappeared 
They bear only first names  All are bowed beneath the equality of
baptismal names  They have dissolved the carnal family  and constituted
in their community a spiritual family  They have no other relatives than
all men  They succor the poor  they care for the sick  They elect those
whom they obey  They call each other  my brother  

You stop me and exclaim   But that is the ideal convent  

It is sufficient that it may be the possible convent  that I should take
notice of it 

Thence it results that  in the preceding book  I have spoken of a
convent with respectful accents  The Middle Ages cast aside  Asia cast
aside  the historical and political question held in reserve  from the
purely philosophical point of view  outside the requirements of militant
policy  on condition that the monastery shall be absolutely a voluntary
matter and shall contain only consenting parties  I shall always
consider a cloistered community with a certain attentive  and  in some
respects  a deferential gravity 

Wherever there is a community  there is a commune  where there is a
commune  there is right  The monastery is the product of the formula 
Equality  Fraternity  Oh  how grand is liberty  And what a splendid
transfiguration  Liberty suffices to transform the monastery into a
republic 

Let us continue 

But these men  or these women who are behind these four walls  They
dress themselves in coarse woollen  they are equals  they call each
other brothers  that is well  but they do something else 

Yes 

What 

They gaze on the darkness  they kneel  and they clasp their hands 

What does this signify 




CHAPTER V  PRAYER

They pray 

To whom 

To God 

To pray to God   what is the meaning of these words 

Is there an infinite beyond us  Is that infinite there  inherent 
permanent  necessarily substantial  since it is infinite  and because 
if it lacked matter it would be bounded  necessarily intelligent  since
it is infinite  and because  if it lacked intelligence  it would end
there  Does this infinite awaken in us the idea of essence  while we can
attribute to ourselves only the idea of existence  In other terms  is it
not the absolute  of which we are only the relative 

At the same time that there is an infinite without us  is there not
an infinite within us  Are not these two infinites  what an alarming
plural   superposed  the one upon the other  Is not this second
infinite  so to speak  subjacent to the first  Is it not the latter s
mirror  reflection  echo  an abyss which is concentric with another
abyss  Is this second infinity intelligent also  Does it think  Does
it love  Does it will  If these two infinities are intelligent  each of
them has a will principle  and there is an  I  in the upper infinity as
there is an  I  in the lower infinity  The  I  below is the soul  the
 I  on high is God 

To place the infinity here below in contact  by the medium of thought 
with the infinity on high  is called praying 

Let us take nothing from the human mind  to suppress is bad  We must
reform and transform  Certain faculties in man are directed towards
the Unknown  thought  revery  prayer  The Unknown is an ocean  What
is conscience  It is the compass of the Unknown  Thought  revery 
prayer   these are great and mysterious radiations  Let us respect them 
Whither go these majestic irradiations of the soul  Into the shadow 
that is to say  to the light 

The grandeur of democracy is to disown nothing and to deny nothing of
humanity  Close to the right of the man  beside it  at the least  there
exists the right of the soul 

To crush fanaticism and to venerate the infinite  such is the law  Let
us not confine ourselves to prostrating ourselves before the tree of
creation  and to the contemplation of its branches full of stars  We
have a duty to labor over the human soul  to defend the mystery against
the miracle  to adore the incomprehensible and reject the absurd 
to admit  as an inexplicable fact  only what is necessary  to purify
belief  to remove superstitions from above religion  to clear God of
caterpillars 




CHAPTER VI  THE ABSOLUTE GOODNESS OF PRAYER

With regard to the modes of prayer  all are good  provided that they are
sincere  Turn your book upside down and be in the infinite 

There is  as we know  a philosophy which denies the infinite  There is
also a philosophy  pathologically classified  which denies the sun  this
philosophy is called blindness 

To erect a sense which we lack into a source of truth  is a fine blind
man s self sufficiency 

The curious thing is the haughty  superior  and compassionate airs which
this groping philosophy assumes towards the philosophy which beholds
God  One fancies he hears a mole crying   I pity them with their sun  

There are  as we know  powerful and illustrious atheists  At bottom  led
back to the truth by their very force  they are not absolutely sure that
they are atheists  it is with them only a question of definition  and in
any case  if they do not believe in God  being great minds  they prove
God 

We salute them as philosophers  while inexorably denouncing their
philosophy 

Let us go on 

The remarkable thing about it is  also  their facility in paying
themselves off with words  A metaphysical school of the North 
impregnated to some extent with fog  has fancied that it has worked a
revolution in human understanding by replacing the word Force with the
word Will 

To say   the plant wills   instead of   the plant grows   this would be
fecund in results  indeed  if we were to add   the universe wills   Why 
Because it would come to this  the plant wills  therefore it has an  I  
the universe wills  therefore it has a God 

As for us  who  however  in contradistinction to this school  reject
nothing a priori  a will in the plant  accepted by this school  appears
to us more difficult to admit than a will in the universe denied by it 

To deny the will of the infinite  that is to say  God  is impossible on
any other conditions than a denial of the infinite  We have demonstrated
this 

The negation of the infinite leads straight to nihilism  Everything
becomes  a mental conception  

With nihilism  no discussion is possible  for the nihilist logic doubts
the existence of its interlocutor  and is not quite sure that it exists
itself 

From its point of view  it is possible that it may be for itself  only
 a mental conception  

Only  it does not perceive that all which it has denied it admits in the
lump  simply by the utterance of the word  mind 

In short  no way is open to the thought by a philosophy which makes all
end in the monosyllable  No 

To No there is only one reply  Yes 

Nihilism has no point 

There is no such thing as nothingness  Zero does not exist  Everything
is something  Nothing is nothing 

Man lives by affirmation even more than by bread 

Even to see and to show does not suffice  Philosophy should be an
energy  it should have for effort and effect to ameliorate the condition
of man  Socrates should enter into Adam and produce Marcus Aurelius  in
other words  the man of wisdom should be made to emerge from the man
of felicity  Eden should be changed into a Lyceum  Science should be
a cordial  To enjoy   what a sad aim  and what a paltry ambition  The
brute enjoys  To offer thought to the thirst of men  to give them all as
an elixir the notion of God  to make conscience and science fraternize
in them  to render them just by this mysterious confrontation  such is
the function of real philosophy  Morality is a blossoming out of truths 
Contemplation leads to action  The absolute should be practicable  It is
necessary that the ideal should be breathable  drinkable  and eatable to
the human mind  It is the ideal which has the right to say  Take  this
 It is on this condition that it ceases to be a sterile love of science
and becomes the one and sovereign mode of human rallying  and that
philosophy herself is promoted to religion 

Philosophy should not be a corbel erected on mystery to gaze upon it
at its ease  without any other result than that of being convenient to
curiosity 

For our part  adjourning the development of our thought to another
occasion  we will confine ourselves to saying that we neither understand
man as a point of departure nor progress as an end  without those two
forces which are their two motors  faith and love 

Progress is the goal  the ideal is the type 

What is this ideal  It is God 

Ideal  absolute  perfection  infinity  identical words 




CHAPTER VII  PRECAUTIONS TO BE OBSERVED IN BLAME

History and philosophy have eternal duties  which are  at the same time 
simple duties  to combat Caiphas the High priest  Draco the Lawgiver 
Trimalcion the Legislator  Tiberius the Emperor  this is clear  direct 
and limpid  and offers no obscurity 

But the right to live apart  even with its inconveniences and its
abuses  insists on being stated and taken into account  Cenobitism is a
human problem 

When one speaks of convents  those abodes of error  but of innocence 
of aberration but of good will  of ignorance but of devotion  of torture
but of martyrdom  it always becomes necessary to say either yes or no 

A convent is a contradiction  Its object  salvation  its means thereto 
sacrifice  The convent is supreme egoism having for its result supreme
abnegation 

To abdicate with the object of reigning seems to be the device of
monasticism 

In the cloister  one suffers in order to enjoy  One draws a bill of
exchange on death  One discounts in terrestrial gloom celestial light 
In the cloister  hell is accepted in advance as a post obit on paradise 

The taking of the veil or the frock is a suicide paid for with eternity 

It does not seem to us  that on such a subject mockery is permissible 
All about it is serious  the good as well as the bad 

The just man frowns  but never smiles with a malicious sneer  We
understand wrath  but not malice 




CHAPTER VIII  FAITH  LAW

A few words more 

We blame the church when she is saturated with intrigues  we despise the
spiritual which is harsh toward the temporal  but we everywhere honor
the thoughtful man 

We salute the man who kneels 

A faith  this is a necessity for man  Woe to him who believes nothing 

One is not unoccupied because one is absorbed  There is visible labor
and invisible labor 

To contemplate is to labor  to think is to act 

Folded arms toil  clasped hands work  A gaze fixed on heaven is a work 

Thales remained motionless for four years  He founded philosophy 

In our opinion  cenobites are not lazy men  and recluses are not idlers 

To meditate on the Shadow is a serious thing 

Without invalidating anything that we have just said  we believe that
a perpetual memory of the tomb is proper for the living  On this point 
the priest and the philosopher agree  We must die  The Abbe de la Trappe
replies to Horace 

To mingle with one s life a certain presence of the sepulchre   this is
the law of the sage  and it is the law of the ascetic  In this respect 
the ascetic and the sage converge  There is a material growth  we
admit it  There is a moral grandeur  we hold to that  Thoughtless and
vivacious spirits say   

 What is the good of those motionless figures on the side of mystery 
What purpose do they serve  What do they do  

Alas  In the presence of the darkness which environs us  and which
awaits us  in our ignorance of what the immense dispersion will make of
us  we reply   There is probably no work more divine than that performed
by these souls   And we add   There is probably no work which is more
useful  

There certainly must be some who pray constantly for those who never
pray at all 

In our opinion the whole question lies in the amount of thought that is
mingled with prayer 

Leibnitz praying is grand  Voltaire adoring is fine  Deo erexit
Voltaire 

We are for religion as against religions 

We are of the number who believe in the wretchedness of orisons  and the
sublimity of prayer 

Moreover  at this minute which we are now traversing   a minute which
will not  fortunately  leave its impress on the nineteenth century   at
this hour  when so many men have low brows and souls but little
elevated  among so many mortals whose morality consists in enjoyment 
and who are busied with the brief and misshapen things of matter 
whoever exiles himself seems worthy of veneration to us 

The monastery is a renunciation  Sacrifice wrongly directed is still
sacrifice  To mistake a grave error for a duty has a grandeur of its
own 

Taken by itself  and ideally  and in order to examine the truth on all
sides until all aspects have been impartially exhausted  the monastery 
the female convent in particular   for in our century it is woman who
suffers the most  and in this exile of the cloister there is something
of protestation   the female convent has incontestably a certain
majesty 

This cloistered existence which is so austere  so depressing  a few of
whose features we have just traced  is not life  for it is not liberty 
it is not the tomb  for it is not plenitude  it is the strange place
whence one beholds  as from the crest of a lofty mountain  on one side
the abyss where we are  on the other  the abyss whither we shall go  it
is the narrow and misty frontier separating two worlds  illuminated
and obscured by both at the same time  where the ray of life which has
become enfeebled is mingled with the vague ray of death  it is the half
obscurity of the tomb 

We  who do not believe what these women believe  but who  like them 
live by faith   we have never been able to think without a sort of
tender and religious terror  without a sort of pity  that is full of
envy  of those devoted  trembling and trusting creatures  of these
humble and august souls  who dare to dwell on the very brink of the
mystery  waiting between the world which is closed and heaven which is
not yet open  turned towards the light which one cannot see  possessing
the sole happiness of thinking that they know where it is  aspiring
towards the gulf  and the unknown  their eyes fixed motionless on the
darkness  kneeling  bewildered  stupefied  shuddering  half lifted  at
times  by the deep breaths of eternity 




BOOK EIGHTH   CEMETERIES TAKE THAT WHICH IS COMMITTED THEM




CHAPTER I  WHICH TREATS OF THE MANNER OF ENTERING A CONVENT

It was into this house that Jean Valjean had  as Fauchelevent expressed
it   fallen from the sky  

He had scaled the wall of the garden which formed the angle of the Rue
Polonceau  That hymn of the angels which he had heard in the middle
of the night  was the nuns chanting matins  that hall  of which he had
caught a glimpse in the gloom  was the chapel  That phantom which he had
seen stretched on the ground was the sister who was making reparation 
that bell  the sound of which had so strangely surprised him  was the
gardener s bell attached to the knee of Father Fauchelevent 

Cosette once put to bed  Jean Valjean and Fauchelevent had  as we have
already seen  supped on a glass of wine and a bit of cheese before a
good  crackling fire  then  the only bed in the hut being occupied by
Cosette  each threw himself on a truss of straw 

Before he shut his eyes  Jean Valjean said   I must remain here
henceforth   This remark trotted through Fauchelevent s head all night
long 

To tell the truth  neither of them slept 

Jean Valjean  feeling that he was discovered and that Javert was on
his scent  understood that he and Cosette were lost if they returned to
Paris  Then the new storm which had just burst upon him had stranded
him in this cloister  Jean Valjean had  henceforth  but one thought   to
remain there  Now  for an unfortunate man in his position  this
convent was both the safest and the most dangerous of places  the most
dangerous  because  as no men might enter there  if he were discovered 
it was a flagrant offence  and Jean Valjean would find but one step
intervening between the convent and prison  the safest  because  if he
could manage to get himself accepted there and remain there  who would
ever seek him in such a place  To dwell in an impossible place was
safety 

On his side  Fauchelevent was cudgelling his brains  He began by
declaring to himself that he understood nothing of the matter  How had
M  Madeleine got there  when the walls were what they were  Cloister
walls are not to be stepped over  How did he get there with a child  One
cannot scale a perpendicular wall with a child in one s arms  Who was
that child  Where did they both come from  Since Fauchelevent had lived
in the convent  he had heard nothing of M  sur M   and he knew nothing
of what had taken place there  Father Madeleine had an air which
discouraged questions  and besides  Fauchelevent said to himself   One
does not question a saint   M  Madeleine had preserved all his prestige
in Fauchelevent s eyes  Only  from some words which Jean Valjean had let
fall  the gardener thought he could draw the inference that M  Madeleine
had probably become bankrupt through the hard times  and that he was
pursued by his creditors  or that he had compromised himself in some
political affair  and was in hiding  which last did not displease
Fauchelevent  who  like many of our peasants of the North  had an
old fund of Bonapartism about him  While in hiding  M  Madeleine had
selected the convent as a refuge  and it was quite simple that he should
wish to remain there  But the inexplicable point  to which Fauchelevent
returned constantly and over which he wearied his brain  was that M 
Madeleine should be there  and that he should have that little girl with
him  Fauchelevent saw them  touched them  spoke to them  and still did
not believe it possible  The incomprehensible had just made its entrance
into Fauchelevent s hut  Fauchelevent groped about amid conjectures  and
could see nothing clearly but this   M  Madeleine saved my life  
This certainty alone was sufficient and decided his course  He said to
himself   It is my turn now   He added in his conscience   M  Madeleine
did not stop to deliberate when it was a question of thrusting himself
under the cart for the purpose of dragging me out   He made up his mind
to save M  Madeleine 

Nevertheless  he put many questions to himself and made himself divers
replies   After what he did for me  would I save him if he were a thief 
Just the same  If he were an assassin  would I save him  Just the same 
Since he is a saint  shall I save him  Just the same  

But what a problem it was to manage to have him remain in the convent 
Fauchelevent did not recoil in the face of this almost chimerical
undertaking  this poor peasant of Picardy without any other ladder
than his self devotion  his good will  and a little of that old
rustic cunning  on this occasion enlisted in the service of a generous
enterprise  undertook to scale the difficulties of the cloister  and the
steep escarpments of the rule of Saint Benoit  Father Fauchelevent was
an old man who had been an egoist all his life  and who  towards the end
of his days  halt  infirm  with no interest left to him in the world 
found it sweet to be grateful  and perceiving a generous action to be
performed  flung himself upon it like a man  who at the moment when he
is dying  should find close to his hand a glass of good wine which he
had never tasted  and should swallow it with avidity  We may add 
that the air which he had breathed for many years in this convent had
destroyed all personality in him  and had ended by rendering a good
action of some kind absolutely necessary to him 

So he took his resolve  to devote himself to M  Madeleine 

We have just called him a poor peasant of Picardy  That description
is just  but incomplete  At the point of this story which we have now
reached  a little of Father Fauchelevent s physiology becomes useful 
He was a peasant  but he had been a notary  which added trickery to his
cunning  and penetration to his ingenuousness  Having  through various
causes  failed in his business  he had descended to the calling of a
carter and a laborer  But  in spite of oaths and lashings  which horses
seem to require  something of the notary had lingered in him  He had
some natural wit  he talked good grammar  he conversed  which is a rare
thing in a village  and the other peasants said of him   He talks almost
like a gentleman with a hat   Fauchelevent belonged  in fact  to that
species  which the impertinent and flippant vocabulary of the last
century qualified as demi bourgeois  demi lout  and which the metaphors
showered by the chateau upon the thatched cottage ticketed in the
pigeon hole of the plebeian  rather rustic  rather citified  pepper and
salt  Fauchelevent  though sorely tried and harshly used by fate 
worn out  a sort of poor  threadbare old soul  was  nevertheless  an
impulsive man  and extremely spontaneous in his actions  a precious
quality which prevents one from ever being wicked  His defects and his
vices  for he had some  were all superficial  in short  his physiognomy
was of the kind which succeeds with an observer  His aged face had none
of those disagreeable wrinkles at the top of the forehead  which signify
malice or stupidity 

At daybreak  Father Fauchelevent opened his eyes  after having done an
enormous deal of thinking  and beheld M  Madeleine seated on his truss
of straw  and watching Cosette s slumbers  Fauchelevent sat up and
said   

 Now that you are here  how are you going to contrive to enter  

This remark summed up the situation and aroused Jean Valjean from his
revery 

The two men took counsel together 

 In the first place   said Fauchelevent   you will begin by not setting
foot outside of this chamber  either you or the child  One step in the
garden and we are done for  

 That is true  

 Monsieur Madeleine   resumed Fauchelevent   you have arrived at a very
auspicious moment  I mean to say a very inauspicious moment  one of
the ladies is very ill  This will prevent them from looking much in our
direction  It seems that she is dying  The prayers of the forty hours
are being said  The whole community is in confusion  That occupies them 
The one who is on the point of departure is a saint  In fact  we are
all saints here  all the difference between them and me is that they say
 our cell   and that I say  my cabin   The prayers for the dying are to
be said  and then the prayers for the dead  We shall be at peace here
for to day  but I will not answer for to morrow  

 Still   observed Jean Valjean   this cottage is in the niche of the
wall  it is hidden by a sort of ruin  there are trees  it is not visible
from the convent  

 And I add that the nuns never come near it  

 Well   said Jean Valjean 

The interrogation mark which accentuated this  well  signified 
 it seems to me that one may remain concealed here   It was to this
interrogation point that Fauchelevent responded   

 There are the little girls  

 What little girls   asked Jean Valjean 

Just as Fauchelevent opened his mouth to explain the words which he had
uttered  a bell emitted one stroke 

 The nun is dead   said he   There is the knell  

And he made a sign to Jean Valjean to listen 

The bell struck a second time 

 It is the knell  Monsieur Madeleine  The bell will continue to strike
once a minute for twenty four hours  until the body is taken from the
church   You see  they play  At recreation hours it suffices to have a
ball roll aside  to send them all hither  in spite of prohibitions  to
hunt and rummage for it all about here  Those cherubs are devils  

 Who   asked Jean Valjean 

 The little girls  You would be very quickly discovered  They would
shriek   Oh  a man   There is no danger to day  There will be no
recreation hour  The day will be entirely devoted to prayers  You hear
the bell  As I told you  a stroke each minute  It is the death knell  

 I understand  Father Fauchelevent  There are pupils  

And Jean Valjean thought to himself   

 Here is Cosette s education already provided  

Fauchelevent exclaimed   

 Pardine  There are little girls indeed  And they would bawl around you 
And they would rush off  To be a man here is to have the plague  You see
how they fasten a bell to my paw as though I were a wild beast  

Jean Valjean fell into more and more profound thought    This convent
would be our salvation   he murmured 

Then he raised his voice   

 Yes  the difficulty is to remain here  

 No   said Fauchelevent   the difficulty is to get out  

Jean Valjean felt the blood rush back to his heart 

 To get out  

 Yes  Monsieur Madeleine  In order to return here it is first necessary
to get out  

And after waiting until another stroke of the knell had sounded 
Fauchelevent went on   

 You must not be found here in this fashion  Whence come you  For me 
you fall from heaven  because I know you  but the nuns require one to
enter by the door  

All at once they heard a rather complicated pealing from another bell 

 Ah   said Fauchelevent   they are ringing up the vocal mothers  They
are going to the chapter  They always hold a chapter when any one dies 
She died at daybreak  People generally do die at daybreak  But cannot
you get out by the way in which you entered  Come  I do not ask for the
sake of questioning you  but how did you get in  

Jean Valjean turned pale  the very thought of descending again into
that terrible street made him shudder  You make your way out of a forest
filled with tigers  and once out of it  imagine a friendly counsel that
shall advise you to return thither  Jean Valjean pictured to himself the
whole police force still engaged in swarming in that quarter  agents on
the watch  sentinels everywhere  frightful fists extended towards his
collar  Javert at the corner of the intersection of the streets perhaps 

 Impossible   said he   Father Fauchelevent  say that I fell from the
sky  

 But I believe it  I believe it   retorted Fauchelevent   You have no
need to tell me that  The good God must have taken you in his hand for
the purpose of getting a good look at you close to  and then dropped
you  Only  he meant to place you in a man s convent  he made a mistake 
Come  there goes another peal  that is to order the porter to go and
inform the municipality that the dead doctor is to come here and view a
corpse  All that is the ceremony of dying  These good ladies are not
at all fond of that visit  A doctor is a man who does not believe in
anything  He lifts the veil  Sometimes he lifts something else too  How
quickly they have had the doctor summoned this time  What is the matter 
Your little one is still asleep  What is her name  

 Cosette  

 She is your daughter  You are her grandfather  that is  

 Yes  

 It will be easy enough for her to get out of here  I have my service
door which opens on the courtyard  I knock  The porter opens  I have
my vintage basket on my back  the child is in it  I go out  Father
Fauchelevent goes out with his basket  that is perfectly natural  You
will tell the child to keep very quiet  She will be under the cover  I
will leave her for whatever time is required with a good old friend  a
fruit seller whom I know in the Rue Chemin Vert  who is deaf  and who
has a little bed  I will shout in the fruit seller s ear  that she is a
niece of mine  and that she is to keep her for me until to morrow  Then
the little one will re enter with you  for I will contrive to have you
re enter  It must be done  But how will you manage to get out  

Jean Valjean shook his head 

 No one must see me  the whole point lies there  Father Fauchelevent 
Find some means of getting me out in a basket  under cover  like
Cosette  

Fauchelevent scratched the lobe of his ear with the middle finger of his
left hand  a sign of serious embarrassment 

A third peal created a diversion 

 That is the dead doctor taking his departure   said Fauchelevent   He
has taken a look and said   She is dead  that is well   When the doctor
has signed the passport for paradise  the undertaker s company sends a
coffin  If it is a mother  the mothers lay her out  if she is a sister 
the sisters lay her out  After which  I nail her up  That forms a part
of my gardener s duty  A gardener is a bit of a grave digger  She is
placed in a lower hall of the church which communicates with the street 
and into which no man may enter save the doctor of the dead  I don t
count the undertaker s men and myself as men  It is in that hall that I
nail up the coffin  The undertaker s men come and get it  and whip
up  coachman  that s the way one goes to heaven  They fetch a box with
nothing in it  they take it away again with something in it  That s what
a burial is like  De profundis  

A horizontal ray of sunshine lightly touched the face of the sleeping
Cosette  who lay with her mouth vaguely open  and had the air of an
angel drinking in the light  Jean Valjean had fallen to gazing at her 
He was no longer listening to Fauchelevent 

That one is not listened to is no reason for preserving silence  The
good old gardener went on tranquilly with his babble   

 The grave is dug in the Vaugirard cemetery  They declare that they are
going to suppress that Vaugirard cemetery  It is an ancient cemetery
which is outside the regulations  which has no uniform  and which is
going to retire  It is a shame  for it is convenient  I have a friend
there  Father Mestienne  the grave digger  The nuns here possess one
privilege  it is to be taken to that cemetery at nightfall  There is
a special permission from the Prefecture on their behalf  But how many
events have happened since yesterday  Mother Crucifixion is dead  and
Father Madeleine   

 Is buried   said Jean Valjean  smiling sadly 

Fauchelevent caught the word 

 Goodness  if you were here for good  it would be a real burial  

A fourth peal burst out  Fauchelevent hastily detached the belled
knee cap from its nail and buckled it on his knee again 

 This time it is for me  The Mother Prioress wants me  Good  now I am
pricking myself on the tongue of my buckle  Monsieur Madeleine  don t
stir from here  and wait for me  Something new has come up  If you are
hungry  there is wine  bread and cheese  

And he hastened out of the hut  crying   Coming  coming  

Jean Valjean watched him hurrying across the garden as fast as his
crooked leg would permit  casting a sidelong glance by the way on his
melon patch 

Less than ten minutes later  Father Fauchelevent  whose bell put the
nuns in his road to flight  tapped gently at a door  and a gentle voice
replied   Forever  Forever   that is to say   Enter  

The door was the one leading to the parlor reserved for seeing the
gardener on business  This parlor adjoined the chapter hall  The
prioress  seated on the only chair in the parlor  was waiting for
Fauchelevent 




CHAPTER II  FAUCHELEVENT IN THE PRESENCE OF A DIFFICULTY

It is the peculiarity of certain persons and certain professions 
notably priests and nuns  to wear a grave and agitated air on critical
occasions  At the moment when Fauchelevent entered  this double form of
preoccupation was imprinted on the countenance of the prioress  who was
that wise and charming Mademoiselle de Blemeur  Mother Innocente  who
was ordinarily cheerful 

The gardener made a timid bow  and remained at the door of the cell  The
prioress  who was telling her beads  raised her eyes and said   

 Ah  it is you  Father Fauvent  

This abbreviation had been adopted in the convent 

Fauchelevent bowed again 

 Father Fauvent  I have sent for you  

 Here I am  reverend Mother  

 I have something to say to you  

 And so have I   said Fauchelevent with a boldness which caused him
inward terror   I have something to say to the very reverend Mother  

The prioress stared at him 

 Ah  you have a communication to make to me  

 A request  

 Very well  speak  

Goodman Fauchelevent  the ex notary  belonged to the category of
peasants who have assurance  A certain clever ignorance constitutes a
force  you do not distrust it  and you are caught by it  Fauchelevent
had been a success during the something more than two years which he had
passed in the convent  Always solitary and busied about his gardening 
he had nothing else to do than to indulge his curiosity  As he was at a
distance from all those veiled women passing to and fro  he saw before
him only an agitation of shadows  By dint of attention and sharpness
he had succeeded in clothing all those phantoms with flesh  and those
corpses were alive for him  He was like a deaf man whose sight grows
keener  and like a blind man whose hearing becomes more acute  He had
applied himself to riddling out the significance of the different peals 
and he had succeeded  so that this taciturn and enigmatical cloister
possessed no secrets for him  the sphinx babbled all her secrets in his
ear  Fauchelevent knew all and concealed all  that constituted his art 
The whole convent thought him stupid  A great merit in religion  The
vocal mothers made much of Fauchelevent  He was a curious mute  He
inspired confidence  Moreover  he was regular  and never went out except
for well demonstrated requirements of the orchard and vegetable garden 
This discretion of conduct had inured to his credit  None the less  he
had set two men to chattering  the porter  in the convent  and he
knew the singularities of their parlor  and the grave digger  at
the cemetery  and he was acquainted with the peculiarities of their
sepulture  in this way  he possessed a double light on the subject of
these nuns  one as to their life  the other as to their death  But he
did not abuse his knowledge  The congregation thought a great deal of
him  Old  lame  blind to everything  probably a little deaf into the
bargain   what qualities  They would have found it difficult to replace
him 

The goodman  with the assurance of a person who feels that he is
appreciated  entered into a rather diffuse and very deep rustic harangue
to the reverend prioress  He talked a long time about his age  his
infirmities  the surcharge of years counting double for him henceforth 
of the increasing demands of his work  of the great size of the garden 
of nights which must be passed  like the last  for instance  when he had
been obliged to put straw mats over the melon beds  because of the moon 
and he wound up as follows   That he had a brother    the prioress made
a movement     a brother no longer young    a second movement on the
part of the prioress  but one expressive of reassurance     that  if he
might be permitted  this brother would come and live with him and help
him  that he was an excellent gardener  that the community would receive
from him good service  better than his own  that  otherwise  if his
brother were not admitted  as he  the elder  felt that his health was
broken and that he was insufficient for the work  he should be obliged 
greatly to his regret  to go away  and that his brother had a little
daughter whom he would bring with him  who might be reared for God in
the house  and who might  who knows  become a nun some day  

When he had finished speaking  the prioress stayed the slipping of her
rosary between her fingers  and said to him   

 Could you procure a stout iron bar between now and this evening  

 For what purpose  

 To serve as a lever  

 Yes  reverend Mother   replied Fauchelevent 

The prioress  without adding a word  rose and entered the adjoining
room  which was the hall of the chapter  and where the vocal mothers
were probably assembled  Fauchelevent was left alone 




CHAPTER III  MOTHER INNOCENTE

About a quarter of an hour elapsed  The prioress returned and seated
herself once more on her chair 

The two interlocutors seemed preoccupied  We will present a stenographic
report of the dialogue which then ensued  to the best of our ability 

 Father Fauvent  

 Reverend Mother  

 Do you know the chapel  

 I have a little cage there  where I hear the mass and the offices  

 And you have been in the choir in pursuance of your duties  

 Two or three times  

 There is a stone to be raised  

 Heavy  

 The slab of the pavement which is at the side of the altar  

 The slab which closes the vault  

 Yes  

 It would be a good thing to have two men for it  

 Mother Ascension  who is as strong as a man  will help you  

 A woman is never a man  

 We have only a woman here to help you  Each one does what he can 
Because Dom Mabillon gives four hundred and seventeen epistles of
Saint Bernard  while Merlonus Horstius only gives three hundred and
sixty seven  I do not despise Merlonus Horstius  

 Neither do I  

 Merit consists in working according to one s strength  A cloister is
not a dock yard  

 And a woman is not a man  But my brother is the strong one  though  

 And can you get a lever  

 That is the only sort of key that fits that sort of door  

 There is a ring in the stone  

 I will put the lever through it  

 And the stone is so arranged that it swings on a pivot  

 That is good  reverend Mother  I will open the vault  

 And the four Mother Precentors will help you  

 And when the vault is open  

 It must be closed again  

 Will that be all  

 No  

 Give me your orders  very reverend Mother  

 Fauvent  we have confidence in you  

 I am here to do anything you wish  

 And to hold your peace about everything  

 Yes  reverend Mother  

 When the vault is open   

 I will close it again  

 But before that   

 What  reverend Mother  

 Something must be lowered into it  

A silence ensued  The prioress  after a pout of the under lip which
resembled hesitation  broke it 

 Father Fauvent  

 Reverend Mother  

 You know that a mother died this morning  

 No  

 Did you not hear the bell  

 Nothing can be heard at the bottom of the garden  

 Really  

 I can hardly distinguish my own signal  

 She died at daybreak  

 And then  the wind is not blowing in my direction this morning  

 It was Mother Crucifixion  A blessed woman  

The prioress paused  moved her lips  as though in mental prayer  and
resumed   

 Three years ago  Madame de Bethune  a Jansenist  turned orthodox 
merely from having seen Mother Crucifixion at prayer  

 Ah  yes  now I hear the knell  reverend Mother  

 The mothers have taken her to the dead room  which opens on the
church  

 I know  

 No other man than you can or must enter that chamber  See to that  A
fine sight it would be  to see a man enter the dead room  

 More often  

 Hey  

 More often  

 What do you say  

 I say more often  

 More often than what  

 Reverend Mother  I did not say more often than what  I said more
often  

 I don t understand you  Why do you say more often  

 In order to speak like you  reverend Mother  

 But I did not say  more often   

At that moment  nine o clock struck 

 At nine o clock in the morning and at all hours  praised and adored be
the most Holy Sacrament of the altar   said the prioress 

 Amen   said Fauchelevent 

The clock struck opportunely  It cut  more often  short  It is probable 
that had it not been for this  the prioress and Fauchelevent would never
have unravelled that skein 

Fauchelevent mopped his forehead 

The prioress indulged in another little inward murmur  probably sacred 
then raised her voice   

 In her lifetime  Mother Crucifixion made converts  after her death  she
will perform miracles  

 She will   replied Father Fauchelevent  falling into step  and striving
not to flinch again 

 Father Fauvent  the community has been blessed in Mother Crucifixion 
No doubt  it is not granted to every one to die  like Cardinal de
Berulle  while saying the holy mass  and to breathe forth their souls to
God  while pronouncing these words  Hanc igitur oblationem  But without
attaining to such happiness  Mother Crucifixion s death was very
precious  She retained her consciousness to the very last moment 
She spoke to us  then she spoke to the angels  She gave us her last
commands  If you had a little more faith  and if you could have been
in her cell  she would have cured your leg merely by touching it 
She smiled  We felt that she was regaining her life in God  There was
something of paradise in that death  

Fauchelevent thought that it was an orison which she was finishing 

 Amen   said he 

 Father Fauvent  what the dead wish must be done  

The prioress took off several beads of her chaplet  Fauchelevent held
his peace 

She went on   

 I have consulted upon this point many ecclesiastics laboring in Our
Lord  who occupy themselves in the exercises of the clerical life  and
who bear wonderful fruit  

 Reverend Mother  you can hear the knell much better here than in the
garden  

 Besides  she is more than a dead woman  she is a saint  

 Like yourself  reverend Mother  

 She slept in her coffin for twenty years  by express permission of our
Holy Father  Pius VII    

 The one who crowned the Emp  Buonaparte  

For a clever man like Fauchelevent  this allusion was an awkward one 
Fortunately  the prioress  completely absorbed in her own thoughts  did
not hear it  She continued   

 Father Fauvent  

 Reverend Mother  

 Saint Didorus  Archbishop of Cappadocia  desired that this single word
might be inscribed on his tomb  Acarus  which signifies  a worm of the
earth  this was done  Is this true  

 Yes  reverend Mother  

 The blessed Mezzocane  Abbot of Aquila  wished to be buried beneath the
gallows  this was done  

 That is true  

 Saint Terentius  Bishop of Port  where the mouth of the Tiber empties
into the sea  requested that on his tomb might be engraved the
sign which was placed on the graves of parricides  in the hope that
passers by would spit on his tomb  This was done  The dead must be
obeyed  

 So be it  

 The body of Bernard Guidonis  born in France near Roche Abeille  was 
as he had ordered  and in spite of the king of Castile  borne to the
church of the Dominicans in Limoges  although Bernard Guidonis was
Bishop of Tuy in Spain  Can the contrary be affirmed  

 For that matter  no  reverend Mother  

 The fact is attested by Plantavit de la Fosse  

Several beads of the chaplet were told off  still in silence  The
prioress resumed   

 Father Fauvent  Mother Crucifixion will be interred in the coffin in
which she has slept for the last twenty years  

 That is just  

 It is a continuation of her slumber  

 So I shall have to nail up that coffin  

 Yes  

 And we are to reject the undertaker s coffin  

 Precisely  

 I am at the orders of the very reverend community  

 The four Mother Precentors will assist you  

 In nailing up the coffin  I do not need them  

 No  In lowering the coffin  

 Where  

 Into the vault  

 What vault  

 Under the altar  

Fauchelevent started 

 The vault under the altar  

 Under the altar  

 But   

 You will have an iron bar  

 Yes  but   

 You will raise the stone with the bar by means of the ring  

 But   

 The dead must be obeyed  To be buried in the vault under the altar of
the chapel  not to go to profane earth  to remain there in death where
she prayed while living  such was the last wish of Mother Crucifixion 
She asked it of us  that is to say  commanded us  

 But it is forbidden  

 Forbidden by men  enjoined by God  

 What if it became known  

 We have confidence in you  

 Oh  I am a stone in your walls  

 The chapter assembled  The vocal mothers  whom I have just consulted
again  and who are now deliberating  have decided that Mother
Crucifixion shall be buried  according to her wish  in her own coffin 
under our altar  Think  Father Fauvent  if she were to work miracles
here  What a glory of God for the community  And miracles issue from
tombs  

 But  reverend Mother  if the agent of the sanitary commission   

 Saint Benoit II   in the matter of sepulture  resisted Constantine
Pogonatus  

 But the commissary of police   

 Chonodemaire  one of the seven German kings who entered among the Gauls
under the Empire of Constantius  expressly recognized the right of nuns
to be buried in religion  that is to say  beneath the altar  

 But the inspector from the Prefecture   

 The world is nothing in the presence of the cross  Martin  the eleventh
general of the Carthusians  gave to his order this device  Stat crux dum
volvitur orbis  

 Amen   said Fauchelevent  who imperturbably extricated himself in this
manner from the dilemma  whenever he heard Latin 

Any audience suffices for a person who has held his peace too long  On
the day when the rhetorician Gymnastoras left his prison  bearing in
his body many dilemmas and numerous syllogisms which had struck in  he
halted in front of the first tree which he came to  harangued it and
made very great efforts to convince it  The prioress  who was usually
subjected to the barrier of silence  and whose reservoir was overfull 
rose and exclaimed with the loquacity of a dam which has broken away   

 I have on my right Benoit and on my left Bernard  Who was Bernard  The
first abbot of Clairvaux  Fontaines in Burgundy is a country that is
blest because it gave him birth  His father was named Tecelin  and his
mother Alethe  He began at Citeaux  to end in Clairvaux  he was ordained
abbot by the bishop of Chalon sur Saone  Guillaume de Champeaux  he had
seven hundred novices  and founded a hundred and sixty monasteries  he
overthrew Abeilard at the council of Sens in 1140  and Pierre de Bruys
and Henry his disciple  and another sort of erring spirits who were
called the Apostolics  he confounded Arnauld de Brescia  darted
lightning at the monk Raoul  the murderer of the Jews  dominated the
council of Reims in 1148  caused the condemnation of Gilbert de Porea 
Bishop of Poitiers  caused the condemnation of Eon de l Etoile  arranged
the disputes of princes  enlightened King Louis the Young  advised Pope
Eugene III   regulated the Temple  preached the crusade  performed
two hundred and fifty miracles during his lifetime  and as many
as thirty nine in one day  Who was Benoit  He was the patriarch of
Mont Cassin  he was the second founder of the Saintete Claustrale 
he was the Basil of the West  His order has produced forty popes  two
hundred cardinals  fifty patriarchs  sixteen hundred archbishops  four
thousand six hundred bishops  four emperors  twelve empresses  forty six
kings  forty one queens  three thousand six hundred canonized saints 
and has been in existence for fourteen hundred years  On one side Saint
Bernard  on the other the agent of the sanitary department  On one side
Saint Benoit  on the other the inspector of public ways  The state 
the road commissioners  the public undertaker  regulations  the
administration  what do we know of all that  There is not a chance
passer by who would not be indignant to see how we are treated  We
have not even the right to give our dust to Jesus Christ  Your sanitary
department is a revolutionary invention  God subordinated to the
commissary of police  such is the age  Silence  Fauvent  

Fauchelevent was but ill at ease under this shower bath  The prioress
continued   

 No one doubts the right of the monastery to sepulture  Only fanatics
and those in error deny it  We live in times of terrible confusion  We
do not know that which it is necessary to know  and we know that which
we should ignore  We are ignorant and impious  In this age there exist
people who do not distinguish between the very great Saint Bernard and
the Saint Bernard denominated of the poor Catholics  a certain good
ecclesiastic who lived in the thirteenth century  Others are so
blasphemous as to compare the scaffold of Louis XVI  to the cross of
Jesus Christ  Louis XVI  was merely a king  Let us beware of God  There
is no longer just nor unjust  The name of Voltaire is known  but not
the name of Cesar de Bus  Nevertheless  Cesar de Bus is a man of blessed
memory  and Voltaire one of unblessed memory  The last arch bishop 
the Cardinal de Perigord  did not even know that Charles de
Gondren succeeded to Berulle  and Francois Bourgoin to Gondren 
and Jean Francois Senault to Bourgoin  and Father Sainte Marthe to
Jean Francois Senault  The name of Father Coton is known  not because
he was one of the three who urged the foundation of the Oratorie  but
because he furnished Henri IV   the Huguenot king  with the material
for an oath  That which pleases people of the world in Saint Francois de
Sales  is that he cheated at play  And then  religion is attacked  Why 
Because there have been bad priests  because Sagittaire  Bishop of Gap 
was the brother of Salone  Bishop of Embrun  and because both of them
followed Mommol  What has that to do with the question  Does that
prevent Martin de Tours from being a saint  and giving half of his cloak
to a beggar  They persecute the saints  They shut their eyes to the
truth  Darkness is the rule  The most ferocious beasts are beasts which
are blind  No one thinks of hell as a reality  Oh  how wicked people
are  By order of the king signifies to day  by order of the revolution 
One no longer knows what is due to the living or to the dead  A holy
death is prohibited  Burial is a civil matter  This is horrible  Saint
Leo II  wrote two special letters  one to Pierre Notaire  the other to
the king of the Visigoths  for the purpose of combating and rejecting 
in questions touching the dead  the authority of the exarch and the
supremacy of the Emperor  Gauthier  Bishop of Chalons  held his own
in this matter against Otho  Duke of Burgundy  The ancient magistracy
agreed with him  In former times we had voices in the chapter  even on
matters of the day  The Abbot of Citeaux  the general of the order  was
councillor by right of birth to the parliament of Burgundy  We do what
we please with our dead  Is not the body of Saint Benoit himself in
France  in the abbey of Fleury  called Saint Benoit sur Loire  although
he died in Italy at Mont Cassin  on Saturday  the 21st of the month
of March  of the year 543  All this is incontestable  I abhor
psalm singers  I hate priors  I execrate heretics  but I should detest
yet more any one who should maintain the contrary  One has only to
read Arnoul Wion  Gabriel Bucelin  Trithemus  Maurolics  and Dom Luc
d Achery  

The prioress took breath  then turned to Fauchelevent 

 Is it settled  Father Fauvent  

 It is settled  reverend Mother  

 We may depend on you  

 I will obey  

 That is well  

 I am entirely devoted to the convent  

 That is understood  You will close the coffin  The sisters will carry
it to the chapel  The office for the dead will then be said  Then we
shall return to the cloister  Between eleven o clock and midnight  you
will come with your iron bar  All will be done in the most profound
secrecy  There will be in the chapel only the four Mother Precentors 
Mother Ascension and yourself  

 And the sister at the post  

 She will not turn round  

 But she will hear  

 She will not listen  Besides  what the cloister knows the world learns
not  

A pause ensued  The prioress went on   

 You will remove your bell  It is not necessary that the sister at the
post should perceive your presence  

 Reverend Mother  

 What  Father Fauvent  

 Has the doctor for the dead paid his visit  

 He will pay it at four o clock to day  The peal which orders the
doctor for the dead to be summoned has already been rung  But you do not
understand any of the peals  

 I pay no attention to any but my own  

 That is well  Father Fauvent  

 Reverend Mother  a lever at least six feet long will be required  

 Where will you obtain it  

 Where gratings are not lacking  iron bars are not lacking  I have my
heap of old iron at the bottom of the garden  

 About three quarters of an hour before midnight  do not forget  

 Reverend Mother  

 What  

 If you were ever to have any other jobs of this sort  my brother is the
strong man for you  A perfect Turk  

 You will do it as speedily as possible  

 I cannot work very fast  I am infirm  that is why I require an
assistant  I limp  

 To limp is no sin  and perhaps it is a blessing  The Emperor Henry II  
who combated Antipope Gregory and re established Benoit VIII   has two
surnames  the Saint and the Lame  

 Two surtouts are a good thing   murmured Fauchelevent  who really was a
little hard of hearing 

 Now that I think of it  Father Fauvent  let us give a whole hour to it 
That is not too much  Be near the principal altar  with your iron bar 
at eleven o clock  The office begins at midnight  Everything must have
been completed a good quarter of an hour before that  

 I will do anything to prove my zeal towards the community  These are my
orders  I am to nail up the coffin  At eleven o clock exactly  I am to
be in the chapel  The Mother Precentors will be there  Mother Ascension
will be there  Two men would be better  However  never mind  I shall
have my lever  We will open the vault  we will lower the coffin  and
we will close the vault again  After which  there will be no trace
of anything  The government will have no suspicion  Thus all has been
arranged  reverend Mother  

 No  

 What else remains  

 The empty coffin remains  

This produced a pause  Fauchelevent meditated  The prioress meditated 

 What is to be done with that coffin  Father Fauvent  

 It will be given to the earth  

 Empty  

Another silence  Fauchelevent made  with his left hand  that sort of a
gesture which dismisses a troublesome subject 

 Reverend Mother  I am the one who is to nail up the coffin in the
basement of the church  and no one can enter there but myself  and I
will cover the coffin with the pall  

 Yes  but the bearers  when they place it in the hearse and lower it
into the grave  will be sure to feel that there is nothing in it  

 Ah  the de     exclaimed Fauchelevent 

The prioress began to make the sign of the cross  and looked fixedly at
the gardener  The vil stuck fast in his throat 

He made haste to improvise an expedient to make her forget the oath 

 I will put earth in the coffin  reverend Mother  That will produce the
effect of a corpse  

 You are right  Earth  that is the same thing as man  So you will manage
the empty coffin  

 I will make that my special business  

The prioress s face  up to that moment troubled and clouded  grew serene
once more  She made the sign of a superior dismissing an inferior to
him  Fauchelevent went towards the door  As he was on the point of
passing out  the prioress raised her voice gently   

 I am pleased with you  Father Fauvent  bring your brother to me
to morrow  after the burial  and tell him to fetch his daughter  




CHAPTER IV  IN WHICH JEAN VALJEAN HAS QUITE THE AIR OF HAVING READ
AUSTIN CASTILLEJO

The strides of a lame man are like the ogling glances of a one eyed man 
they do not reach their goal very promptly  Moreover  Fauchelevent
was in a dilemma  He took nearly a quarter of an hour to return to his
cottage in the garden  Cosette had waked up  Jean Valjean had placed her
near the fire  At the moment when Fauchelevent entered  Jean Valjean was
pointing out to her the vintner s basket on the wall  and saying to her 
 Listen attentively to me  my little Cosette  We must go away from this
house  but we shall return to it  and we shall be very happy here  The
good man who lives here is going to carry you off on his back in that 
You will wait for me at a lady s house  I shall come to fetch you  Obey 
and say nothing  above all things  unless you want Madame Thenardier to
get you again  

Cosette nodded gravely 

Jean Valjean turned round at the noise made by Fauchelevent opening the
door 

 Well  

 Everything is arranged  and nothing is   said Fauchelevent   I have
permission to bring you in  but before bringing you in you must be
got out  That s where the difficulty lies  It is easy enough with the
child  

 You will carry her out  

 And she will hold her tongue  

 I answer for that  

 But you  Father Madeleine  

And  after a silence  fraught with anxiety  Fauchelevent exclaimed   

 Why  get out as you came in  

Jean Valjean  as in the first instance  contented himself with saying 
 Impossible  

Fauchelevent grumbled  more to himself than to Jean Valjean   

 There is another thing which bothers me  I have said that I would put
earth in it  When I come to think it over  the earth instead of the
corpse will not seem like the real thing  it won t do  it will get
displaced  it will move about  The men will bear it  You understand 
Father Madeleine  the government will notice it  

Jean Valjean stared him straight in the eye and thought that he was
raving 

Fauchelevent went on   

 How the de  uce are you going to get out  It must all be done by
to morrow morning  It is to morrow that I am to bring you in  The
prioress expects you  

Then he explained to Jean Valjean that this was his recompense for a
service which he  Fauchelevent  was to render to the community  That it
fell among his duties to take part in their burials  that he nailed up
the coffins and helped the grave digger at the cemetery  That the nun
who had died that morning had requested to be buried in the coffin which
had served her for a bed  and interred in the vault under the altar of
the chapel  That the police regulations forbade this  but that she was
one of those dead to whom nothing is refused  That the prioress and the
vocal mothers intended to fulfil the wish of the deceased  That it was
so much the worse for the government  That he  Fauchelevent  was to nail
up the coffin in the cell  raise the stone in the chapel  and lower the
corpse into the vault  And that  by way of thanks  the prioress was to
admit his brother to the house as a gardener  and his niece as a pupil 
That his brother was M  Madeleine  and that his niece was Cosette  That
the prioress had told him to bring his brother on the following evening 
after the counterfeit interment in the cemetery  But that he could not
bring M  Madeleine in from the outside if M  Madeleine was not outside 
That that was the first problem  And then  that there was another  the
empty coffin 

 What is that empty coffin   asked Jean Valjean 

Fauchelevent replied   

 The coffin of the administration  

 What coffin  What administration  

 A nun dies  The municipal doctor comes and says   A nun has died  
The government sends a coffin  The next day it sends a hearse and
undertaker s men to get the coffin and carry it to the cemetery  The
undertaker s men will come and lift the coffin  there will be nothing in
it  

 Put something in it  

 A corpse  I have none  

 No  

 What then  

 A living person  

 What person  

 Me   said Jean Valjean 

Fauchelevent  who was seated  sprang up as though a bomb had burst under
his chair 

 You  

 Why not  

Jean Valjean gave way to one of those rare smiles which lighted up his
face like a flash from heaven in the winter 

 You know  Fauchelevent  what you have said   Mother Crucifixion is
dead   and I add   and Father Madeleine is buried   

 Ah  good  you can laugh  you are not speaking seriously  

 Very seriously  I must get out of this place  

 Certainly  

 l have told you to find a basket  and a cover for me also  

 Well  

 The basket will be of pine  and the cover a black cloth  

 In the first place  it will be a white cloth  Nuns are buried in
white  

 Let it be a white cloth  then  

 You are not like other men  Father Madeleine  

To behold such devices  which are nothing else than the savage and
daring inventions of the galleys  spring forth from the peaceable things
which surrounded him  and mingle with what he called the  petty course
of life in the convent   caused Fauchelevent as much amazement as a
gull fishing in the gutter of the Rue Saint Denis would inspire in a
passer by 

Jean Valjean went on   

 The problem is to get out of here without being seen  This offers
the means  But give me some information  in the first place  How is it
managed  Where is this coffin  

 The empty one  

 Yes  

 Down stairs  in what is called the dead room  It stands on two
trestles  under the pall  

 How long is the coffin  

 Six feet  

 What is this dead room  

 It is a chamber on the ground floor which has a grated window opening
on the garden  which is closed on the outside by a shutter  and two
doors  one leads into the convent  the other into the church  

 What church  

 The church in the street  the church which any one can enter  

 Have you the keys to those two doors  

 No  I have the key to the door which communicates with the convent  the
porter has the key to the door which communicates with the church  

 When does the porter open that door  

 Only to allow the undertaker s men to enter  when they come to get the
coffin  When the coffin has been taken out  the door is closed again  

 Who nails up the coffin  

 I do  

 Who spreads the pall over it  

 I do  

 Are you alone  

 Not another man  except the police doctor  can enter the dead room 
That is even written on the wall  

 Could you hide me in that room to night when every one is asleep  

 No  But I could hide you in a small  dark nook which opens on the
dead room  where I keep my tools to use for burials  and of which I have
the key  

 At what time will the hearse come for the coffin to morrow  

 About three o clock in the afternoon  The burial will take place at the
Vaugirard cemetery a little before nightfall  It is not very near  

 I will remain concealed in your tool closet all night and all the
morning  And how about food  I shall be hungry  

 I will bring you something  

 You can come and nail me up in the coffin at two o clock  

Fauchelevent recoiled and cracked his finger joints 

 But that is impossible  

 Bah  Impossible to take a hammer and drive some nails in a plank  

What seemed unprecedented to Fauchelevent was  we repeat  a simple
matter to Jean Valjean  Jean Valjean had been in worse straits than
this  Any man who has been a prisoner understands how to contract
himself to fit the diameter of the escape  The prisoner is subject to
flight as the sick man is subject to a crisis which saves or kills him 
An escape is a cure  What does not a man undergo for the sake of a
cure  To have himself nailed up in a case and carried off like a bale
of goods  to live for a long time in a box  to find air where there is
none  to economize his breath for hours  to know how to stifle without
dying  this was one of Jean Valjean s gloomy talents 

Moreover  a coffin containing a living being   that convict s
expedient   is also an imperial expedient  If we are to credit the monk
Austin Castillejo  this was the means employed by Charles the Fifth 
desirous of seeing the Plombes for the last time after his abdication 

He had her brought into and carried out of the monastery of Saint Yuste
in this manner 

Fauchelevent  who had recovered himself a little  exclaimed   

 But how will you manage to breathe  

 I will breathe  

 In that box  The mere thought of it suffocates me  

 You surely must have a gimlet  you will make a few holes here and
there  around my mouth  and you will nail the top plank on loosely  

 Good  And what if you should happen to cough or to sneeze  

 A man who is making his escape does not cough or sneeze  

And Jean Valjean added   

 Father Fauchelevent  we must come to a decision  I must either be
caught here  or accept this escape through the hearse  

Every one has noticed the taste which cats have for pausing and lounging
between the two leaves of a half shut door  Who is there who has not
said to a cat   Do come in   There are men who  when an incident stands
half open before them  have the same tendency to halt in indecision
between two resolutions  at the risk of getting crushed through the
abrupt closing of the adventure by fate  The over prudent  cats as they
are  and because they are cats  sometimes incur more danger than
the audacious  Fauchelevent was of this hesitating nature  But
Jean Valjean s coolness prevailed over him in spite of himself  He
grumbled   

 Well  since there is no other means  

Jean Valjean resumed   

 The only thing which troubles me is what will take place at the
cemetery  

 That is the very point that is not troublesome   exclaimed
Fauchelevent   If you are sure of coming out of the coffin all right  I
am sure of getting you out of the grave  The grave digger is a drunkard 
and a friend of mine  He is Father Mestienne  An old fellow of the old
school  The grave digger puts the corpses in the grave  and I put the
grave digger in my pocket  I will tell you what will take place  They
will arrive a little before dusk  three quarters of an hour before the
gates of the cemetery are closed  The hearse will drive directly up to
the grave  I shall follow  that is my business  I shall have a hammer 
a chisel  and some pincers in my pocket  The hearse halts  the
undertaker s men knot a rope around your coffin and lower you down  The
priest says the prayers  makes the sign of the cross  sprinkles the holy
water  and takes his departure  I am left alone with Father Mestienne 
He is my friend  I tell you  One of two things will happen  he will
either be sober  or he will not be sober  If he is not drunk  I shall
say to him   Come and drink a bout while the Bon Coing  the Good Quince 
is open   I carry him off  I get him drunk   it does not take long to
make Father Mestienne drunk  he always has the beginning of it about
him   I lay him under the table  I take his card  so that I can get into
the cemetery again  and I return without him  Then you have no longer
any one but me to deal with  If he is drunk  I shall say to him   Be
off  I will do your work for you   Off he goes  and I drag you out of
the hole  

Jean Valjean held out his hand  and Fauchelevent precipitated himself
upon it with the touching effusion of a peasant 

 That is settled  Father Fauchelevent  All will go well  

 Provided nothing goes wrong   thought Fauchelevent   In that case  it
would be terrible  




CHAPTER V  IT IS NOT NECESSARY TO BE DRUNK IN ORDER TO BE IMMORTAL

On the following day  as the sun was declining  the very rare passers by
on the Boulevard du Maine pulled off their hats to an old fashioned
hearse  ornamented with skulls  cross bones  and tears  This hearse
contained a coffin covered with a white cloth over which spread a large
black cross  like a huge corpse with drooping arms  A mourning coach  in
which could be seen a priest in his surplice  and a choir boy in his red
cap  followed  Two undertaker s men in gray uniforms trimmed with black
walked on the right and the left of the hearse  Behind it came an old
man in the garments of a laborer  who limped along  The procession was
going in the direction of the Vaugirard cemetery 

The handle of a hammer  the blade of a cold chisel  and the antennae of
a pair of pincers were visible  protruding from the man s pocket 

The Vaugirard cemetery formed an exception among the cemeteries of
Paris  It had its peculiar usages  just as it had its carriage
entrance and its house door  which old people in the quarter  who clung
tenaciously to ancient words  still called the porte cavaliere and the
porte pietonne  16  The Bernardines Benedictines of the Rue Petit Picpus
had obtained permission  as we have already stated  to be buried there
in a corner apart  and at night  the plot of land having formerly
belonged to their community  The grave diggers being thus bound to
service in the evening in summer and at night in winter  in this
cemetery  they were subjected to a special discipline  The gates of the
Paris cemeteries closed  at that epoch  at sundown  and this being a
municipal regulation  the Vaugirard cemetery was bound by it like the
rest  The carriage gate and the house door were two contiguous grated
gates  adjoining a pavilion built by the architect Perronet  and
inhabited by the door keeper of the cemetery  These gates  therefore 
swung inexorably on their hinges at the instant when the sun disappeared
behind the dome of the Invalides  If any grave digger were delayed
after that moment in the cemetery  there was but one way for him to
get out  his grave digger s card furnished by the department of public
funerals  A sort of letter box was constructed in the porter s window 
The grave digger dropped his card into this box  the porter heard it
fall  pulled the rope  and the small door opened  If the man had not his
card  he mentioned his name  the porter  who was sometimes in bed and
asleep  rose  came out and identified the man  and opened the gate with
his key  the grave digger stepped out  but had to pay a fine of fifteen
francs 

This cemetery  with its peculiarities outside the regulations 
embarrassed the symmetry of the administration  It was suppressed
a little later than 1830  The cemetery of Mont Parnasse  called the
Eastern cemetery  succeeded to it  and inherited that famous dram shop
next to the Vaugirard cemetery  which was surmounted by a quince painted
on a board  and which formed an angle  one side on the drinkers  tables 
and the other on the tombs  with this sign  Au Bon Coing 

The Vaugirard cemetery was what may be called a faded cemetery  It
was falling into disuse  Dampness was invading it  the flowers were
deserting it  The bourgeois did not care much about being buried in
the Vaugirard  it hinted at poverty  Pere Lachaise if you please  to be
buried in Pere Lachaise is equivalent to having furniture of mahogany 
It is recognized as elegant  The Vaugirard cemetery was a venerable
enclosure  planted like an old fashioned French garden  Straight alleys 
box  thuya trees  holly  ancient tombs beneath aged cypress trees  and
very tall grass  In the evening it was tragic there  There were very
lugubrious lines about it 

The sun had not yet set when the hearse with the white pall and the
black cross entered the avenue of the Vaugirard cemetery  The lame man
who followed it was no other than Fauchelevent 

The interment of Mother Crucifixion in the vault under the altar  the
exit of Cosette  the introduction of Jean Valjean to the dead room   all
had been executed without difficulty  and there had been no hitch 

Let us remark in passing  that the burial of Mother Crucifixion under
the altar of the convent is a perfectly venial offence in our sight  It
is one of the faults which resemble a duty  The nuns had committed it 
not only without difficulty  but even with the applause of their own
consciences  In the cloister  what is called the  government  is only
an intermeddling with authority  an interference which is always
questionable  In the first place  the rule  as for the code  we shall
see  Make as many laws as you please  men  but keep them for yourselves 
The tribute to Caesar is never anything but the remnants of the tribute
to God  A prince is nothing in the presence of a principle 

Fauchelevent limped along behind the hearse in a very contented frame
of mind  His twin plots  the one with the nuns  the one for the convent 
the other against it  the other with M  Madeleine  had succeeded  to
all appearance  Jean Valjean s composure was one of those powerful
tranquillities which are contagious  Fauchelevent no longer felt
doubtful as to his success 

What remained to be done was a mere nothing  Within the last two years 
he had made good Father Mestienne  a chubby cheeked person  drunk at
least ten times  He played with Father Mestienne  He did what he liked
with him  He made him dance according to his whim  Mestienne s head
adjusted itself to the cap of Fauchelevent s will  Fauchelevent s
confidence was perfect 

At the moment when the convoy entered the avenue leading to the
cemetery  Fauchelevent glanced cheerfully at the hearse  and said half
aloud  as he rubbed his big hands   

 Here s a fine farce  

All at once the hearse halted  it had reached the gate  The permission
for interment must be exhibited  The undertaker s man addressed himself
to the porter of the cemetery  During this colloquy  which always is
productive of a delay of from one to two minutes  some one  a stranger 
came and placed himself behind the hearse  beside Fauchelevent  He was
a sort of laboring man  who wore a waistcoat with large pockets and
carried a mattock under his arm 

Fauchelevent surveyed this stranger 

 Who are you   he demanded 

 The man replied   

 The grave digger  

If a man could survive the blow of a cannon ball full in the breast  he
would make the same face that Fauchelevent made 

 The grave digger  

 Yes  

 You  

 I  

 Father Mestienne is the grave digger  

 He was  

 What  He was  

 He is dead  

Fauchelevent had expected anything but this  that a grave digger could
die  It is true  nevertheless  that grave diggers do die themselves  By
dint of excavating graves for other people  one hollows out one s own 

Fauchelevent stood there with his mouth wide open  He had hardly the
strength to stammer   

 But it is not possible  

 It is so  

 But   he persisted feebly   Father Mestienne is the grave digger  

 After Napoleon  Louis XVIII  After Mestienne  Gribier  Peasant  my name
is Gribier  

Fauchelevent  who was deadly pale  stared at this Gribier 

He was a tall  thin  livid  utterly funereal man  He had the air of an
unsuccessful doctor who had turned grave digger 

Fauchelevent burst out laughing 

 Ah   said he   what queer things do happen  Father Mestienne is dead 
but long live little Father Lenoir  Do you know who little Father Lenoir
is  He is a jug of red wine  It is a jug of Surene  morbigou  of real
Paris Surene  Ah  So old Mestienne is dead  I am sorry for it  he was
a jolly fellow  But you are a jolly fellow  too  Are you not  comrade 
We ll go and have a drink together presently  

The man replied   

 I have been a student  I passed my fourth examination  I never drink  

The hearse had set out again  and was rolling up the grand alley of the
cemetery 

Fauchelevent had slackened his pace  He limped more out of anxiety than
from infirmity 

The grave digger walked on in front of him 

Fauchelevent passed the unexpected Gribier once more in review 

He was one of those men who  though very young  have the air of age  and
who  though slender  are extremely strong 

 Comrade   cried Fauchelevent 

The man turned round 

 I am the convent grave digger  

 My colleague   said the man 

Fauchelevent  who was illiterate but very sharp  understood that he
had to deal with a formidable species of man  with a fine talker  He
muttered 

 So Father Mestienne is dead  

The man replied   

 Completely  The good God consulted his note book which shows when the
time is up  It was Father Mestienne s turn  Father Mestienne died  

Fauchelevent repeated mechanically   The good God   

 The good God   said the man authoritatively   According to the
philosophers  the Eternal Father  according to the Jacobins  the Supreme
Being  

 Shall we not make each other s acquaintance   stammered Fauchelevent 

 It is made  You are a peasant  I am a Parisian  

 People do not know each other until they have drunk together  He who
empties his glass empties his heart  You must come and have a drink with
me  Such a thing cannot be refused  

 Business first  

Fauchelevent thought   I am lost  

They were only a few turns of the wheel distant from the small alley
leading to the nuns  corner 

The grave digger resumed   

 Peasant  I have seven small children who must be fed  As they must eat 
I cannot drink  

And he added  with the satisfaction of a serious man who is turning a
phrase well   

 Their hunger is the enemy of my thirst  

The hearse skirted a clump of cypress trees  quitted the grand alley 
turned into a narrow one  entered the waste land  and plunged into
a thicket  This indicated the immediate proximity of the place of
sepulture  Fauchelevent slackened his pace  but he could not detain the
hearse  Fortunately  the soil  which was light and wet with the winter
rains  clogged the wheels and retarded its speed 

He approached the grave digger 

 They have such a nice little Argenteuil wine   murmured Fauchelevent 

 Villager   retorted the man   I ought not be a grave digger  My
father was a porter at the Prytaneum  Town Hall   He destined me for
literature  But he had reverses  He had losses on  change  I was obliged
to renounce the profession of author  But I am still a public writer  

 So you are not a grave digger  then   returned Fauchelevent  clutching
at this branch  feeble as it was 

 The one does not hinder the other  I cumulate  

Fauchelevent did not understand this last word 

 Come have a drink   said he 

Here a remark becomes necessary  Fauchelevent  whatever his anguish 
offered a drink  but he did not explain himself on one point  who was to
pay  Generally  Fauchelevent offered and Father Mestienne paid  An offer
of a drink was the evident result of the novel situation created by the
new grave digger  and it was necessary to make this offer  but the old
gardener left the proverbial quarter of an hour named after Rabelais in
the dark  and that not unintentionally  As for himself  Fauchelevent did
not wish to pay  troubled as he was 

The grave digger went on with a superior smile   

 One must eat  I have accepted Father Mestienne s reversion  One gets to
be a philosopher when one has nearly completed his classes  To the labor
of the hand I join the labor of the arm  I have my scrivener s stall in
the market of the Rue de Sevres  You know  the Umbrella Market  All the
cooks of the Red Cross apply to me  I scribble their declarations of
love to the raw soldiers  In the morning I write love letters  in the
evening I dig graves  Such is life  rustic  

The hearse was still advancing  Fauchelevent  uneasy to the last degree 
was gazing about him on all sides  Great drops of perspiration trickled
down from his brow 

 But   continued the grave digger   a man cannot serve two mistresses 
I must choose between the pen and the mattock  The mattock is ruining my
hand  

The hearse halted 

The choir boy alighted from the mourning coach  then the priest 

One of the small front wheels of the hearse had run up a little on a
pile of earth  beyond which an open grave was visible 

 What a farce this is   repeated Fauchelevent in consternation 




CHAPTER VI  BETWEEN FOUR PLANKS

Who was in the coffin  The reader knows  Jean Valjean 

Jean Valjean had arranged things so that he could exist there  and he
could almost breathe 

It is a strange thing to what a degree security of conscience confers
security of the rest  Every combination thought out by Jean Valjean had
been progressing  and progressing favorably  since the preceding day 
He  like Fauchelevent  counted on Father Mestienne  He had no doubt
as to the end  Never was there a more critical situation  never more
complete composure 

The four planks of the coffin breathe out a kind of terrible peace  It
seemed as though something of the repose of the dead entered into Jean
Valjean s tranquillity 

From the depths of that coffin he had been able to follow  and he had
followed  all the phases of the terrible drama which he was playing with
death 

Shortly after Fauchelevent had finished nailing on the upper plank  Jean
Valjean had felt himself carried out  then driven off  He knew  from the
diminution in the jolting  when they left the pavements and reached the
earth road  He had divined  from a dull noise  that they were crossing
the bridge of Austerlitz  At the first halt  he had understood that they
were entering the cemetery  at the second halt  he said to himself   

 Here is the grave  

Suddenly  he felt hands seize the coffin  then a harsh grating against
the planks  he explained it to himself as the rope which was being
fastened round the casket in order to lower it into the cavity 

Then he experienced a giddiness 

The undertaker s man and the grave digger had probably allowed the
coffin to lose its balance  and had lowered the head before the foot  He
recovered himself fully when he felt himself horizontal and motionless 
He had just touched the bottom 

He had a certain sensation of cold 

A voice rose above him  glacial and solemn  He heard Latin words  which
he did not understand  pass over him  so slowly that he was able to
catch them one by one   

 Qui dormiunt in terrae pulvere  evigilabunt  alii in vitam aeternam  et
alii in approbrium  ut videant semper  

A child s voice said   

 De profundis  

The grave voice began again   

 Requiem aeternam dona ei  Domine  

The child s voice responded   

 Et lux perpetua luceat ei  

He heard something like the gentle patter of several drops of rain on
the plank which covered him  It was probably the holy water 

He thought   This will be over soon now  Patience for a little while
longer  The priest will take his departure  Fauchelevent will take
Mestienne off to drink  I shall be left  Then Fauchelevent will return
alone  and I shall get out  That will be the work of a good hour  

The grave voice resumed

 Requiescat in pace  

And the child s voice said   

 Amen  

Jean Valjean strained his ears  and heard something like retreating
footsteps 

 There  they are going now   thought he   I am alone  

All at once  he heard over his head a sound which seemed to him to be a
clap of thunder 

It was a shovelful of earth falling on the coffin 

A second shovelful fell 

One of the holes through which he breathed had just been stopped up 

A third shovelful of earth fell 

Then a fourth 

There are things which are too strong for the strongest man  Jean
Valjean lost consciousness 




CHAPTER VII  IN WHICH WILL BE FOUND THE ORIGIN OF THE SAYING  DON T LOSE
THE CARD

This is what had taken place above the coffin in which lay Jean Valjean 

When the hearse had driven off  when the priest and the choir boy had
entered the carriage again and taken their departure  Fauchelevent  who
had not taken his eyes from the grave digger  saw the latter bend over
and grasp his shovel  which was sticking upright in the heap of dirt 

Then Fauchelevent took a supreme resolve 

He placed himself between the grave and the grave digger  crossed his
arms and said   

 I am the one to pay  

The grave digger stared at him in amazement  and replied   

 What s that  peasant  

Fauchelevent repeated   

 I am the one who pays  

 What  

 For the wine  

 What wine  

 That Argenteuil wine  

 Where is the Argenteuil  

 At the Bon Coing  

 Go to the devil   said the grave digger 

And he flung a shovelful of earth on the coffin 

The coffin gave back a hollow sound  Fauchelevent felt himself stagger
and on the point of falling headlong into the grave himself  He shouted
in a voice in which the strangling sound of the death rattle began to
mingle   

 Comrade  Before the Bon Coing is shut  

The grave digger took some more earth on his shovel  Fauchelevent
continued 

 I will pay  

And he seized the man s arm 

 Listen to me  comrade  I am the convent grave digger  I have come
to help you  It is a business which can be performed at night  Let us
begin  then  by going for a drink  

And as he spoke  and clung to this desperate insistence  this melancholy
reflection occurred to him   And if he drinks  will he get drunk  

 Provincial   said the man   if you positively insist upon it  I
consent  We will drink  After work  never before  

And he flourished his shovel briskly  Fauchelevent held him back 

 It is Argenteuil wine  at six  

 Oh  come   said the grave digger   you are a bell ringer  Ding dong 
ding dong  that s all you know how to say  Go hang yourself  

And he threw in a second shovelful 

Fauchelevent had reached a point where he no longer knew what he was
saying 

 Come along and drink   he cried   since it is I who pays the bill  

 When we have put the child to bed   said the grave digger 

He flung in a third shovelful 

Then he thrust his shovel into the earth and added   

 It s cold to night  you see  and the corpse would shriek out after us
if we were to plant her there without a coverlet  

At that moment  as he loaded his shovel  the grave digger bent over 
and the pocket of his waistcoat gaped  Fauchelevent s wild gaze fell
mechanically into that pocket  and there it stopped 

The sun was not yet hidden behind the horizon  there was still light
enough to enable him to distinguish something white at the bottom of
that yawning pocket 

The sum total of lightning that the eye of a Picard peasant can contain 
traversed Fauchelevent s pupils  An idea had just occurred to him 

He thrust his hand into the pocket from behind  without the
grave digger  who was wholly absorbed in his shovelful of earth 
observing it  and pulled out the white object which lay at the bottom of
it 

The man sent a fourth shovelful tumbling into the grave 

Just as he turned round to get the fifth  Fauchelevent looked calmly at
him and said   

 By the way  you new man  have you your card  

The grave digger paused 

 What card  

 The sun is on the point of setting  

 That s good  it is going to put on its nightcap  

 The gate of the cemetery will close immediately  

 Well  what then  

 Have you your card  

 Ah  my card   said the grave digger 

And he fumbled in his pocket 

Having searched one pocket  he proceeded to search the other  He passed
on to his fobs  explored the first  returned to the second 

 Why  no   said he   I have not my card  I must have forgotten it  

 Fifteen francs fine   said Fauchelevent 

The grave digger turned green  Green is the pallor of livid people 

 Ah  Jesus mon Dieu bancroche a bas la lune   17  he exclaimed   Fifteen
francs fine  

 Three pieces of a hundred sous   said Fauchelevent 

The grave digger dropped his shovel 

Fauchelevent s turn had come 

 Ah  come now  conscript   said Fauchelevent   none of this despair 
There is no question of committing suicide and benefiting the grave 
Fifteen francs is fifteen francs  and besides  you may not be able to
pay it  I am an old hand  you are a new one  I know all the ropes and
the devices  I will give you some friendly advice  One thing is clear 
the sun is on the point of setting  it is touching the dome now  the
cemetery will be closed in five minutes more  

 That is true   replied the man 

 Five minutes more and you will not have time to fill the grave  it is
as hollow as the devil  this grave  and to reach the gate in season to
pass it before it is shut  

 That is true  

 In that case  a fine of fifteen francs  

 Fifteen francs  

 But you have time  Where do you live  

 A couple of steps from the barrier  a quarter of an hour from here  No 
87 Rue de Vaugirard  

 You have just time to get out by taking to your heels at your best
speed  

 That is exactly so  

 Once outside the gate  you gallop home  you get your card  you return 
the cemetery porter admits you  As you have your card  there will be
nothing to pay  And you will bury your corpse  I ll watch it for you in
the meantime  so that it shall not run away  

 I am indebted to you for my life  peasant  

 Decamp   said Fauchelevent 

The grave digger  overwhelmed with gratitude  shook his hand and set off
on a run 

When the man had disappeared in the thicket  Fauchelevent listened until
he heard his footsteps die away in the distance  then he leaned over the
grave  and said in a low tone   

 Father Madeleine  

There was no reply 

Fauchelevent was seized with a shudder  He tumbled rather than climbed
into the grave  flung himself on the head of the coffin and cried   

 Are you there  

Silence in the coffin 

Fauchelevent  hardly able to draw his breath for trembling  seized his
cold chisel and his hammer  and pried up the coffin lid 

Jean Valjean s face appeared in the twilight  it was pale and his eyes
were closed 

Fauchelevent s hair rose upright on his head  he sprang to his feet 
then fell back against the side of the grave  ready to swoon on the
coffin  He stared at Jean Valjean 

Jean Valjean lay there pallid and motionless 

Fauchelevent murmured in a voice as faint as a sigh   

 He is dead  

And  drawing himself up  and folding his arms with such violence that
his clenched fists came in contact with his shoulders  he cried   

 And this is the way I save his life  

Then the poor man fell to sobbing  He soliloquized the while  for it is
an error to suppose that the soliloquy is unnatural  Powerful emotion
often talks aloud 

 It is Father Mestienne s fault  Why did that fool die  What need was
there for him to give up the ghost at the very moment when no one was
expecting it  It is he who has killed M  Madeleine  Father Madeleine 
He is in the coffin  It is quite handy  All is over  Now  is there any
sense in these things  Ah  my God  he is dead  Well  and his little
girl  what am I to do with her  What will the fruit seller say  The idea
of its being possible for a man like that to die like this  When I think
how he put himself under that cart  Father Madeleine  Father Madeleine 
Pardine  He was suffocated  I said so  He wouldn t believe me  Well 
Here s a pretty trick to play  He is dead  that good man  the very best
man out of all the good God s good folks  And his little girl  Ah  In
the first place  I won t go back there myself  I shall stay here  After
having done such a thing as that  What s the use of being two old men 
if we are two old fools  But  in the first place  how did he manage to
enter the convent  That was the beginning of it all  One should not
do such things  Father Madeleine  Father Madeleine  Father Madeleine 
Madeleine  Monsieur Madeleine  Monsieur le Maire  He does not hear me 
Now get out of this scrape if you can  

And he tore his hair 

A grating sound became audible through the trees in the distance  It was
the cemetery gate closing 

Fauchelevent bent over Jean Valjean  and all at once he bounded back and
recoiled so far as the limits of a grave permit 

Jean Valjean s eyes were open and gazing at him 

To see a corpse is alarming  to behold a resurrection is almost as much
so  Fauchelevent became like stone  pale  haggard  overwhelmed by all
these excesses of emotion  not knowing whether he had to do with a
living man or a dead one  and staring at Jean Valjean  who was gazing at
him 

 Illustration  The Resurrection 2b8 7 resurrection 

 I fell asleep   said Jean Valjean 

And he raised himself to a sitting posture 

Fauchelevent fell on his knees 

 Just  good Virgin  How you frightened me  

Then he sprang to his feet and cried   

 Thanks  Father Madeleine  

Jean Valjean had merely fainted  The fresh air had revived him 

Joy is the ebb of terror  Fauchelevent found almost as much difficulty
in recovering himself as Jean Valjean had 

 So you are not dead  Oh  How wise you are  I called you so much that
you came back  When I saw your eyes shut  I said   Good  there he is 
stifled   I should have gone raving mad  mad enough for a strait jacket 
They would have put me in Bicetre  What do you suppose I should
have done if you had been dead  And your little girl  There s that
fruit seller   she would never have understood it  The child is thrust
into your arms  and then  the grandfather is dead  What a story  good
saints of paradise  what a tale  Ah  you are alive  that s the best of
it  

 I am cold   said Jean Valjean 

This remark recalled Fauchelevent thoroughly to reality  and there was
pressing need of it  The souls of these two men were troubled even when
they had recovered themselves  although they did not realize it 
and there was about them something uncanny  which was the sinister
bewilderment inspired by the place 

 Let us get out of here quickly   exclaimed Fauchelevent 

He fumbled in his pocket  and pulled out a gourd with which he had
provided himself 

 But first  take a drop   said he 

The flask finished what the fresh air had begun  Jean Valjean swallowed
a mouthful of brandy  and regained full possession of his faculties 

He got out of the coffin  and helped Fauchelevent to nail on the lid
again 

Three minutes later they were out of the grave 

Moreover  Fauchelevent was perfectly composed  He took his time  The
cemetery was closed  The arrival of the grave digger Gribier was not to
be apprehended  That  conscript  was at home busily engaged in looking
for his card  and at some difficulty in finding it in his lodgings 
since it was in Fauchelevent s pocket  Without a card  he could not get
back into the cemetery 

Fauchelevent took the shovel  and Jean Valjean the pick axe  and
together they buried the empty coffin 

When the grave was full  Fauchelevent said to Jean Valjean   

 Let us go  I will keep the shovel  do you carry off the mattock  

Night was falling 

Jean Valjean experienced rome difficulty in moving and in walking  He
had stiffened himself in that coffin  and had become a little like a
corpse  The rigidity of death had seized upon him between those four
planks  He had  in a manner  to thaw out  from the tomb 

 You are benumbed   said Fauchelevent   It is a pity that I have a game
leg  for otherwise we might step out briskly  

 Bah   replied Jean Valjean   four paces will put life into my legs once
more  

They set off by the alleys through which the hearse had passed  On
arriving before the closed gate and the porter s pavilion Fauchelevent 
who held the grave digger s card in his hand  dropped it into the box 
the porter pulled the rope  the gate opened  and they went out 

 How well everything is going   said Fauchelevent   what a capital idea
that was of yours  Father Madeleine  

They passed the Vaugirard barrier in the simplest manner in the world 
In the neighborhood of the cemetery  a shovel and pick are equal to two
passports 

The Rue Vaugirard was deserted 

 Father Madeleine   said Fauchelevent as they went along  and raising
his eyes to the houses   Your eyes are better than mine  Show me No 
87  

 Here it is   said Jean Valjean 

 There is no one in the street   said Fauchelevent   Give me your
mattock and wait a couple of minutes for me  

Fauchelevent entered No  87  ascended to the very top  guided by the
instinct which always leads the poor man to the garret  and knocked in
the dark  at the door of an attic 

A voice replied   Come in  

It was Gribier s voice 

Fauchelevent opened the door  The grave digger s dwelling was  like
all such wretched habitations  an unfurnished and encumbered garret 
A packing case  a coffin  perhaps  took the place of a commode  a
butter pot served for a drinking fountain  a straw mattress served for
a bed  the floor served instead of tables and chairs  In a corner  on a
tattered fragment which had been a piece of an old carpet  a thin
woman and a number of children were piled in a heap  The whole of this
poverty stricken interior bore traces of having been overturned  One
would have said that there had been an earthquake  for one   The covers
were displaced  the rags scattered about  the jug broken  the mother had
been crying  the children had probably been beaten  traces of a vigorous
and ill tempered search  It was plain that the grave digger had made
a desperate search for his card  and had made everybody in the garret 
from the jug to his wife  responsible for its loss  He wore an air of
desperation 

But Fauchelevent was in too great a hurry to terminate this adventure to
take any notice of this sad side of his success 

He entered and said   

 I have brought you back your shovel and pick  

Gribier gazed at him in stupefaction 

 Is it you  peasant  

 And to morrow morning you will find your card with the porter of the
cemetery  

And he laid the shovel and mattock on the floor 

 What is the meaning of this   demanded Gribier 

 The meaning of it is  that you dropped your card out of your pocket 
that I found it on the ground after you were gone  that I have buried
the corpse  that I have filled the grave  that I have done your work 
that the porter will return your card to you  and that you will not have
to pay fifteen francs  There you have it  conscript  

 Thanks  villager   exclaimed Gribier  radiant   The next time I will
pay for the drinks  




CHAPTER VIII  A SUCCESSFUL INTERROGATORY

An hour later  in the darkness of night  two men and a child presented
themselves at No  62 Rue Petit Picpus  The elder of the men lifted the
knocker and rapped 

They were Fauchelevent  Jean Valjean  and Cosette 

The two old men had gone to fetch Cosette from the fruiterer s in
the Rue du Chemin Vert  where Fauchelevent had deposited her on the
preceding day  Cosette had passed these twenty four hours trembling
silently and understanding nothing  She trembled to such a degree that
she wept  She had neither eaten nor slept  The worthy fruit seller had
plied her with a hundred questions  without obtaining any other reply
than a melancholy and unvarying gaze  Cosette had betrayed nothing of
what she had seen and heard during the last two days  She divined that
they were passing through a crisis  She was deeply conscious that it was
necessary to  be good   Who has not experienced the sovereign power
of those two words  pronounced with a certain accent in the ear of a
terrified little being  Say nothing  Fear is mute  Moreover  no one
guards a secret like a child 

But when  at the expiration of these lugubrious twenty four hours  she
beheld Jean Valjean again  she gave vent to such a cry of joy  that any
thoughtful person who had chanced to hear that cry  would have guessed
that it issued from an abyss 

Fauchelevent belonged to the convent and knew the pass words  All the
doors opened 

Thus was solved the double and alarming problem of how to get out and
how to get in 

The porter  who had received his instructions  opened the little
servant s door which connected the courtyard with the garden  and which
could still be seen from the street twenty years ago  in the wall at the
bottom of the court  which faced the carriage entrance 

The porter admitted all three of them through this door  and from that
point they reached the inner  reserved parlor where Fauchelevent  on the
preceding day  had received his orders from the prioress 

The prioress  rosary in hand  was waiting for them  A vocal mother  with
her veil lowered  stood beside her 

A discreet candle lighted  one might almost say  made a show of lighting
the parlor 

The prioress passed Jean Valjean in review  There is nothing which
examines like a downcast eye 

Then she questioned him   

 You are the brother  

 Yes  reverend Mother   replied Fauchelevent 

 What is your name  

Fauchelevent replied   

 Ultime Fauchelevent  

He really had had a brother named Ultime  who was dead 

 Where do you come from  

Fauchelevent replied   

 From Picquigny  near Amiens  

 What is your age  

Fauchelevent replied   

 Fifty  

 What is your profession  

Fauchelevent replied   

 Gardener  

 Are you a good Christian  

Fauchelevent replied   

 Every one is in the family  

 Is this your little girl  

Fauchelevent replied   

 Yes  reverend Mother  

 You are her father  

Fauchelevent replied   

 Her grandfather  

The vocal mother said to the prioress in a low voice

 He answers well  

Jean Valjean had not uttered a single word 

The prioress looked attentively at Cosette  and said half aloud to the
vocal mother   

 She will grow up ugly  

The two mothers consulted for a few moments in very low tones in the
corner of the parlor  then the prioress turned round and said   

 Father Fauvent  you will get another knee cap with a bell  Two will be
required now  

On the following day  therefore  two bells were audible in the garden 
and the nuns could not resist the temptation to raise the corner of
their veils  At the extreme end of the garden  under the trees  two
men  Fauvent and another man  were visible as they dug side by side  An
enormous event  Their silence was broken to the extent of saying to each
other   He is an assistant gardener  

The vocal mothers added   He is a brother of Father Fauvent  

Jean Valjean was  in fact  regularly installed  he had his belled
knee cap  henceforth he was official  His name was Ultime Fauchelevent 

The most powerful determining cause of his admission had been the
prioress s observation upon Cosette   She will grow up ugly  

The prioress  that pronounced prognosticator  immediately took a fancy
to Cosette and gave her a place in the school as a charity pupil 

There is nothing that is not strictly logical about this 

It is in vain that mirrors are banished from the convent  women are
conscious of their faces  now  girls who are conscious of their beauty
do not easily become nuns  the vocation being voluntary in inverse
proportion to their good looks  more is to be hoped from the ugly than
from the pretty  Hence a lively taste for plain girls 

The whole of this adventure increased the importance of good  old
Fauchelevent  he won a triple success  in the eyes of Jean Valjean  whom
he had saved and sheltered  in those of grave digger Gribier  who said
to himself   He spared me that fine   with the convent  which  being
enabled  thanks to him  to retain the coffin of Mother Crucifixion
under the altar  eluded Caesar and satisfied God  There was a coffin
containing a body in the Petit Picpus  and a coffin without a body in
the Vaugirard cemetery  public order had no doubt been deeply disturbed
thereby  but no one was aware of it 

As for the convent  its gratitude to Fauchelevent was very great 
Fauchelevent became the best of servitors and the most precious of
gardeners  Upon the occasion of the archbishop s next visit  the
prioress recounted the affair to his Grace  making something of a
confession at the same time  and yet boasting of her deed  On leaving
the convent  the archbishop mentioned it with approval  and in a whisper
to M  de Latil  Monsieur s confessor  afterwards Archbishop of Reims
and Cardinal  This admiration for Fauchelevent became widespread  for it
made its way to Rome  We have seen a note addressed by the then reigning
Pope  Leo XII   to one of his relatives  a Monsignor in the Nuncio s
establishment in Paris  and bearing  like himself  the name of Della
Genga  it contained these lines   It appears that there is in a convent
in Paris an excellent gardener  who is also a holy man  named Fauvent  
Nothing of this triumph reached Fauchelevent in his hut  he went on
grafting  weeding  and covering up his melon beds  without in the least
suspecting his excellences and his sanctity  Neither did he suspect his
glory  any more than a Durham or Surrey bull whose portrait is published
in the London Illustrated News  with this inscription   Bull which
carried off the prize at the Cattle Show  




CHAPTER IX  CLOISTERED

Cosette continued to hold her tongue in the convent 

It was quite natural that Cosette should think herself Jean Valjean s
daughter  Moreover  as she knew nothing  she could say nothing  and
then  she would not have said anything in any case  As we have just
observed  nothing trains children to silence like unhappiness  Cosette
had suffered so much  that she feared everything  even to speak or to
breathe  A single word had so often brought down an avalanche upon her 
She had hardly begun to regain her confidence since she had been with
Jean Valjean  She speedily became accustomed to the convent  Only she
regretted Catherine  but she dared not say so  Once  however  she did
say to Jean Valjean   Father  if I had known  I would have brought her
away with me  

Cosette had been obliged  on becoming a scholar in the convent  to don
the garb of the pupils of the house  Jean Valjean succeeded in getting
them to restore to him the garments which she laid aside  This was the
same mourning suit which he had made her put on when she had quitted
the Thenardiers  inn  It was not very threadbare even now  Jean Valjean
locked up these garments  plus the stockings and the shoes  with a
quantity of camphor and all the aromatics in which convents abound  in a
little valise which he found means of procuring  He set this valise on
a chair near his bed  and he always carried the key about his person 
 Father   Cosette asked him one day   what is there in that box which
smells so good  

Father Fauchelevent received other recompense for his good action  in
addition to the glory which we just mentioned  and of which he knew
nothing  in the first place it made him happy  next  he had much less
work  since it was shared  Lastly  as he was very fond of snuff  he
found the presence of M  Madeleine an advantage  in that he used three
times as much as he had done previously  and that in an infinitely more
luxurious manner  seeing that M  Madeleine paid for it 

The nuns did not adopt the name of Ultime  they called Jean Valjean the
other Fauvent 

If these holy women had possessed anything of Javert s glance  they
would eventually have noticed that when there was any errand to be
done outside in the behalf of the garden  it was always the elder
Fauchelevent  the old  the infirm  the lame man  who went  and never the
other  but whether it is that eyes constantly fixed on God know not how
to spy  or whether they were  by preference  occupied in keeping watch
on each other  they paid no heed to this 

Moreover  it was well for Jean Valjean that he kept close and did not
stir out  Javert watched the quarter for more than a month 

This convent was for Jean Valjean like an island surrounded by gulfs 
Henceforth  those four walls constituted his world  He saw enough of the
sky there to enable him to preserve his serenity  and Cosette enough to
remain happy 

A very sweet life began for him 

He inhabited the old hut at the end of the garden  in company with
Fauchelevent  This hovel  built of old rubbish  which was still in
existence in 1845  was composed  as the reader already knows  of three
chambers  all of which were utterly bare and had nothing beyond the
walls  The principal one had been given up  by force  for Jean Valjean
had opposed it in vain  to M  Madeleine  by Father Fauchelevent  The
walls of this chamber had for ornament  in addition to the two nails
whereon to hang the knee cap and the basket  a Royalist bank note
of  93  applied to the wall over the chimney piece  and of which the
following is an exact facsimile   


 Illustration  Royalist Bank note  2b8 9 banknote 


This specimen of Vendean paper money had been nailed to the wall by
the preceding gardener  an old Chouan  who had died in the convent  and
whose place Fauchelevent had taken 

Jean Valjean worked in the garden every day and made himself very
useful  He had formerly been a pruner of trees  and he gladly found
himself a gardener once more  It will be remembered that he knew all
sorts of secrets and receipts for agriculture  He turned these to
advantage  Almost all the trees in the orchard were ungrafted  and wild 
He budded them and made them produce excellent fruit 

Cosette had permission to pass an hour with him every day  As the
sisters were melancholy and he was kind  the child made comparisons and
adored him  At the appointed hour she flew to the hut  When she entered
the lowly cabin  she filled it with paradise  Jean Valjean blossomed
out and felt his happiness increase with the happiness which he afforded
Cosette  The joy which we inspire has this charming property  that  far
from growing meagre  like all reflections  it returns to us more radiant
than ever  At recreation hours  Jean Valjean watched her running and
playing in the distance  and he distinguished her laugh from that of the
rest 

For Cosette laughed now 

Cosette s face had even undergone a change  to a certain extent  The
gloom had disappeared from it  A smile is the same as sunshine  it
banishes winter from the human countenance 

Recreation over  when Cosette went into the house again  Jean Valjean
gazed at the windows of her class room  and at night he rose to look at
the windows of her dormitory 

God has his own ways  moreover  the convent contributed  like Cosette 
to uphold and complete the Bishop s work in Jean Valjean  It is certain
that virtue adjoins pride on one side  A bridge built by the devil
exists there  Jean Valjean had been  unconsciously  perhaps  tolerably
near that side and that bridge  when Providence cast his lot in the
convent of the Petit Picpus  so long as he had compared himself only to
the Bishop  he had regarded himself as unworthy and had remained humble 
but for some time past he had been comparing himself to men in general 
and pride was beginning to spring up  Who knows  He might have ended by
returning very gradually to hatred 

The convent stopped him on that downward path 

This was the second place of captivity which he had seen  In his youth 
in what had been for him the beginning of his life  and later on  quite
recently again  he had beheld another   a frightful place  a terrible
place  whose severities had always appeared to him the iniquity of
justice  and the crime of the law  Now  after the galleys  he saw the
cloister  and when he meditated how he had formed a part of the galleys 
and that he now  so to speak  was a spectator of the cloister  he
confronted the two in his own mind with anxiety 

Sometimes he crossed his arms and leaned on his hoe  and slowly
descended the endless spirals of revery 

He recalled his former companions  how wretched they were  they rose at
dawn  and toiled until night  hardly were they permitted to sleep  they
lay on camp beds  where nothing was tolerated but mattresses two inches
thick  in rooms which were heated only in the very harshest months of
the year  they were clothed in frightful red blouses  they were allowed 
as a great favor  linen trousers in the hottest weather  and a woollen
carter s blouse on their backs when it was very cold  they drank no
wine  and ate no meat  except when they went on  fatigue duty   They
lived nameless  designated only by numbers  and converted  after a
manner  into ciphers themselves  with downcast eyes  with lowered
voices  with shorn heads  beneath the cudgel and in disgrace 

Then his mind reverted to the beings whom he had under his eyes 

These beings also lived with shorn heads  with downcast eyes  with
lowered voices  not in disgrace  but amid the scoffs of the world 
not with their backs bruised with the cudgel  but with their shoulders
lacerated with their discipline  Their names  also  had vanished from
among men  they no longer existed except under austere appellations 
They never ate meat and they never drank wine  they often remained until
evening without food  they were attired  not in a red blouse  but in a
black shroud  of woollen  which was heavy in summer and thin in winter 
without the power to add or subtract anything from it  without having
even  according to the season  the resource of the linen garment or the
woollen cloak  and for six months in the year they wore serge chemises
which gave them fever  They dwelt  not in rooms warmed only during
rigorous cold  but in cells where no fire was ever lighted  they slept 
not on mattresses two inches thick  but on straw  And finally  they were
not even allowed their sleep  every night  after a day of toil  they
were obliged  in the weariness of their first slumber  at the moment
when they were falling sound asleep and beginning to get warm  to rouse
themselves  to rise and to go and pray in an ice cold and gloomy chapel 
with their knees on the stones 

On certain days each of these beings in turn had to remain for twelve
successive hours in a kneeling posture  or prostrate  with face upon the
pavement  and arms outstretched in the form of a cross 

The others were men  these were women 

What had those men done  They had stolen  violated  pillaged 
murdered  assassinated  They were bandits  counterfeiters  poisoners 
incendiaries  murderers  parricides  What had these women done  They had
done nothing whatever 

On the one hand  highway robbery  fraud  deceit  violence  sensuality 
homicide  all sorts of sacrilege  every variety of crime  on the other 
one thing only  innocence 

Perfect innocence  almost caught up into heaven in a mysterious
assumption  attached to the earth by virtue  already possessing
something of heaven through holiness 

On the one hand  confidences over crimes  which are exchanged in
whispers  on the other  the confession of faults made aloud  And what
crimes  And what faults 

On the one hand  miasms  on the other  an ineffable perfume  On the one
hand  a moral pest  guarded from sight  penned up under the range of
cannon  and literally devouring its plague stricken victims  on
the other  the chaste flame of all souls on the same hearth  There 
darkness  here  the shadow  but a shadow filled with gleams of light 
and of gleams full of radiance 

Two strongholds of slavery  but in the first  deliverance possible 
a legal limit always in sight  and then  escape  In the second 
perpetuity  the sole hope  at the distant extremity of the future  that
faint light of liberty which men call death 

In the first  men are bound only with chains  in the other  chained by
faith 

What flowed from the first  An immense curse  the gnashing of teeth 
hatred  desperate viciousness  a cry of rage against human society  a
sarcasm against heaven 

What results flowed from the second  Blessings and love 

And in these two places  so similar yet so unlike  these two species
of beings who were so very unlike  were undergoing the same work 
expiation 

Jean Valjean understood thoroughly the expiation of the former  that
personal expiation  the expiation for one s self  But he did not
understand that of these last  that of creatures without reproach and
without stain  and he trembled as he asked himself  The expiation of
what  What expiation 

A voice within his conscience replied   The most divine of human
generosities  the expiation for others  

Here all personal theory is withheld  we are only the narrator  we
place ourselves at Jean Valjean s point of view  and we translate his
impressions 

Before his eyes he had the sublime summit of abnegation  the highest
possible pitch of virtue  the innocence which pardons men their faults 
and which expiates in their stead  servitude submitted to  torture
accepted  punishment claimed by souls which have not sinned  for the
sake of sparing it to souls which have fallen  the love of humanity
swallowed up in the love of God  but even there preserving its distinct
and mediatorial character  sweet and feeble beings possessing the misery
of those who are punished and the smile of those who are recompensed 

And he remembered that he had dared to murmur 

Often  in the middle of the night  he rose to listen to the grateful
song of those innocent creatures weighed down with severities  and the
blood ran cold in his veins at the thought that those who were justly
chastised raised their voices heavenward only in blasphemy  and that he 
wretch that he was  had shaken his fist at God 

There was one striking thing which caused him to meditate deeply  like
a warning whisper from Providence itself  the scaling of that wall  the
passing of those barriers  the adventure accepted even at the risk of
death  the painful and difficult ascent  all those efforts even  which
he had made to escape from that other place of expiation  he had made in
order to gain entrance into this one  Was this a symbol of his destiny 
This house was a prison likewise and bore a melancholy resemblance to
that other one whence he had fled  and yet he had never conceived an
idea of anything similar 

Again he beheld gratings  bolts  iron bars  to guard whom  Angels 

These lofty walls which he had seen around tigers  he now beheld once
more around lambs 

This was a place of expiation  and not of punishment  and yet  it was
still more austere  more gloomy  and more pitiless than the other 

These virgins were even more heavily burdened than the convicts  A cold 
harsh wind  that wind which had chilled his youth  traversed the barred
and padlocked grating of the vultures  a still harsher and more biting
breeze blew in the cage of these doves 

Why 

When he thought on these things  all that was within him was lost in
amazement before this mystery of sublimity 

In these meditations  his pride vanished  He scrutinized his own heart
in all manner of ways  he felt his pettiness  and many a time he wept 
All that had entered into his life for the last six months had led him
back towards the Bishop s holy injunctions  Cosette through love  the
convent through humility 

Sometimes at eventide  in the twilight  at an hour when the garden was
deserted  he could be seen on his knees in the middle of the walk which
skirted the chapel  in front of the window through which he had gazed on
the night of his arrival  and turned towards the spot where  as he knew 
the sister was making reparation  prostrated in prayer  Thus he prayed
as he knelt before the sister 

It seemed as though he dared not kneel directly before God 

Everything that surrounded him  that peaceful garden  those fragrant
flowers  those children who uttered joyous cries  those grave and simple
women  that silent cloister  slowly permeated him  and little by little 
his soul became compounded of silence like the cloister  of perfume like
the flowers  of simplicity like the women  of joy like the children 
And then he reflected that these had been two houses of God which had
received him in succession at two critical moments in his life  the
first  when all doors were closed and when human society rejected him 
the second  at a moment when human society had again set out in pursuit
of him  and when the galleys were again yawning  and that  had it not
been for the first  he should have relapsed into crime  and had it not
been for the second  into torment 

His whole heart melted in gratitude  and he loved more and more 

Many years passed in this manner  Cosette was growing up 


 THE END OF VOLUME II   COSETTE  






VOLUME III  MARIUS 


 Illustration  Frontispiece Volume Three  3frontispiece 

 Illustration  Titlepage Volume Three  3titlepage 




BOOK FIRST   PARIS STUDIED IN ITS ATOM




CHAPTER I  PARVULUS

Paris has a child  and the forest has a bird  the bird is called the
sparrow  the child is called the gamin 

Couple these two ideas which contain  the one all the furnace  the other
all the dawn  strike these two sparks together  Paris  childhood  there
leaps out from them a little being  Homuncio  Plautus would say 

This little being is joyous  He has not food every day  and he goes to
the play every evening  if he sees good  He has no shirt on his body 
no shoes on his feet  no roof over his head  he is like the flies of
heaven  who have none of these things  He is from seven to thirteen
years of age  he lives in bands  roams the streets  lodges in the open
air  wears an old pair of trousers of his father s  which descend below
his heels  an old hat of some other father  which descends below his
ears  a single suspender of yellow listing  he runs  lies in wait 
rummages about  wastes time  blackens pipes  swears like a convict 
haunts the wine shop  knows thieves  calls gay women thou  talks slang 
sings obscene songs  and has no evil in his heart  This is because he
has in his heart a pearl  innocence  and pearls are not to be dissolved
in mud  So long as man is in his childhood  God wills that he shall be
innocent 

If one were to ask that enormous city   What is this   she would reply 
 It is my little one  




CHAPTER II  SOME OF HIS PARTICULAR CHARACTERISTICS

The gamin  the street Arab  of Paris is the dwarf of the giant 

Let us not exaggerate  this cherub of the gutter sometimes has a shirt 
but  in that case  he owns but one  he sometimes has shoes  but then
they have no soles  he sometimes has a lodging  and he loves it  for
he finds his mother there  but he prefers the street  because there he
finds liberty  He has his own games  his own bits of mischief  whose
foundation consists of hatred for the bourgeois  his peculiar metaphors 
to be dead is to eat dandelions by the root  his own occupations 
calling hackney coaches  letting down carriage steps  establishing means
of transit between the two sides of a street in heavy rains  which he
calls making the bridge of arts  crying discourses pronounced by the
authorities in favor of the French people  cleaning out the cracks
in the pavement  he has his own coinage  which is composed of all the
little morsels of worked copper which are found on the public streets 
This curious money  which receives the name of loques  rags  has
an invariable and well regulated currency in this little Bohemia of
children 

Lastly  he has his own fauna  which he observes attentively in
the corners  the lady bird  the death s head plant louse  the
daddy long legs   the devil   a black insect  which menaces by twisting
about its tail armed with two horns  He has his fabulous monster  which
has scales under its belly  but is not a lizard  which has pustules on
its back  but is not a toad  which inhabits the nooks of old lime kilns
and wells that have run dry  which is black  hairy  sticky  which crawls
sometimes slowly  sometimes rapidly  which has no cry  but which has a
look  and is so terrible that no one has ever beheld it  he calls this
monster  the deaf thing   The search for these  deaf things  among
the stones is a joy of formidable nature  Another pleasure consists in
suddenly prying up a paving stone  and taking a look at the wood lice 
Each region of Paris is celebrated for the interesting treasures which
are to be found there  There are ear wigs in the timber yards of the
Ursulines  there are millepeds in the Pantheon  there are tadpoles in
the ditches of the Champs de Mars 

As far as sayings are concerned  this child has as many of them as
Talleyrand  He is no less cynical  but he is more honest  He is endowed
with a certain indescribable  unexpected joviality  he upsets the
composure of the shopkeeper with his wild laughter  He ranges boldly
from high comedy to farce 

A funeral passes by  Among those who accompany the dead there is a
doctor   Hey there   shouts some street Arab   how long has it been
customary for doctors to carry home their own work  

Another is in a crowd  A grave man  adorned with spectacles and
trinkets  turns round indignantly   You good for nothing  you have
seized my wife s waist     I  sir  Search me  




CHAPTER III  HE IS AGREEABLE

In the evening  thanks to a few sous  which he always finds means
to procure  the homuncio enters a theatre  On crossing that magic
threshold  he becomes transfigured  he was the street Arab  he becomes
the titi  18  Theatres are a sort of ship turned upside down with the
keel in the air  It is in that keel that the titi huddle together 
The titi is to the gamin what the moth is to the larva  the same being
endowed with wings and soaring  It suffices for him to be there  with
his radiance of happiness  with his power of enthusiasm and joy  with
his hand clapping  which resembles a clapping of wings  to confer on
that narrow  dark  fetid  sordid  unhealthy  hideous  abominable keel 
the name of Paradise 

Bestow on an individual the useless and deprive him of the necessary 
and you have the gamin 

The gamin is not devoid of literary intuition  His tendency  and we say
it with the proper amount of regret  would not constitute classic
taste  He is not very academic by nature  Thus  to give an example  the
popularity of Mademoiselle Mars among that little audience of stormy
children was seasoned with a touch of irony  The gamin called her
Mademoiselle Muche   hide yourself  

This being bawls and scoffs and ridicules and fights  has rags like a
baby and tatters like a philosopher  fishes in the sewer  hunts in the
cesspool  extracts mirth from foulness  whips up the squares with his
wit  grins and bites  whistles and sings  shouts  and shrieks  tempers
Alleluia with Matantur lurette  chants every rhythm from the De
Profundis to the Jack pudding  finds without seeking  knows what he is
ignorant of  is a Spartan to the point of thieving  is mad to wisdom  is
lyrical to filth  would crouch down on Olympus  wallows in the dunghill
and emerges from it covered with stars  The gamin of Paris is Rabelais
in this youth 

He is not content with his trousers unless they have a watch pocket 

He is not easily astonished  he is still less easily terrified  he makes
songs on superstitions  he takes the wind out of exaggerations  he twits
mysteries  he thrusts out his tongue at ghosts  he takes the poetry out
of stilted things  he introduces caricature into epic extravaganzas 
It is not that he is prosaic  far from that  but he replaces the solemn
vision by the farcical phantasmagoria  If Adamastor were to appear to
him  the street Arab would say   Hi there  The bugaboo  




CHAPTER IV  HE MAY BE OF USE

Paris begins with the lounger and ends with the street Arab  two
beings of which no other city is capable  the passive acceptance  which
contents itself with gazing  and the inexhaustible initiative  Prudhomme
and Fouillou  Paris alone has this in its natural history  The whole of
the monarchy is contained in the lounger  the whole of anarchy in the
gamin 

This pale child of the Parisian faubourgs lives and develops  makes
connections   grows supple  in suffering  in the presence of social
realities and of human things  a thoughtful witness  He thinks himself
heedless  and he is not  He looks and is on the verge of laughter  he is
on the verge of something else also  Whoever you may be  if your name is
Prejudice  Abuse  Ignorance  Oppression  Iniquity  Despotism  Injustice 
Fanaticism  Tyranny  beware of the gaping gamin 

The little fellow will grow up 

Of what clay is he made  Of the first mud that comes to hand  A handful
of dirt  a breath  and behold Adam  It suffices for a God to pass by  A
God has always passed over the street Arab  Fortune labors at this tiny
being  By the word  fortune  we mean chance  to some extent  That pigmy
kneaded out of common earth  ignorant  unlettered  giddy  vulgar  low 
Will that become an Ionian or a Boeotian  Wait  currit rota  the Spirit
of Paris  that demon which creates the children of chance and the men
of destiny  reversing the process of the Latin potter  makes of a jug an
amphora 




CHAPTER V  HIS FRONTIERS

The gamin loves the city  he also loves solitude  since he has something
of the sage in him  Urbis amator  like Fuscus  ruris amator  like
Flaccus 

To roam thoughtfully about  that is to say  to lounge  is a fine
employment of time in the eyes of the philosopher  particularly in that
rather illegitimate species of campaign  which is tolerably ugly but
odd and composed of two natures  which surrounds certain great cities 
notably Paris  To study the suburbs is to study the amphibious animal 
End of the trees  beginning of the roofs  end of the grass  beginning
of the pavements  end of the furrows  beginning of the shops  end of
the wheel ruts  beginning of the passions  end of the divine murmur 
beginning of the human uproar  hence an extraordinary interest 

Hence  in these not very attractive places  indelibly stamped by the
passing stroller with the epithet  melancholy  the apparently objectless
promenades of the dreamer 

He who writes these lines has long been a prowler about the barriers
of Paris  and it is for him a source of profound souvenirs  That
close shaven turf  those pebbly paths  that chalk  those pools 
those harsh monotonies of waste and fallow lands  the plants of early
market garden suddenly springing into sight in a bottom  that mixture of
the savage and the citizen  those vast desert nooks where the garrison
drums practise noisily  and produce a sort of lisping of battle  those
hermits by day and cut throats by night  that clumsy mill which turns
in the wind  the hoisting wheels of the quarries  the tea gardens at the
corners of the cemeteries  the mysterious charm of great  sombre walls
squarely intersecting immense  vague stretches of land inundated with
sunshine and full of butterflies   all this attracted him 

There is hardly any one on earth who is not acquainted with those
singular spots  the Glaciere  the Cunette  the hideous wall of Grenelle
all speckled with balls  Mont Parnasse  the Fosse aux Loups  Aubiers on
the bank of the Marne  Mont Souris  the Tombe Issoire  the Pierre Plate
de Chatillon  where there is an old  exhausted quarry which no longer
serves any purpose except to raise mushrooms  and which is closed  on a
level with the ground  by a trap door of rotten planks  The campagna of
Rome is one idea  the banlieue of Paris is another  to behold nothing
but fields  houses  or trees in what a stretch of country offers us  is
to remain on the surface  all aspects of things are thoughts of God  The
spot where a plain effects its junction with a city is always stamped
with a certain piercing melancholy  Nature and humanity both appeal
to you at the same time there  Local originalities there make their
appearance 

Any one who  like ourselves  has wandered about in these solitudes
contiguous to our faubourgs  which may be designated as the limbos of
Paris  has seen here and there  in the most desert spot  at the
most unexpected moment  behind a meagre hedge  or in the corner of a
lugubrious wall  children grouped tumultuously  fetid  muddy 
dusty  ragged  dishevelled  playing hide and seek  and crowned with
corn flowers  All of them are little ones who have made their escape
from poor families  The outer boulevard is their breathing space  the
suburbs belong to them  There they are eternally playing truant  There
they innocently sing their repertory of dirty songs  There they are  or
rather  there they exist  far from every eye  in the sweet light of
May or June  kneeling round a hole in the ground  snapping marbles with
their thumbs  quarrelling over half farthings  irresponsible  volatile 
free and happy  and  no sooner do they catch sight of you than they
recollect that they have an industry  and that they must earn their
living  and they offer to sell you an old woollen stocking filled
with cockchafers  or a bunch of lilacs  These encounters with strange
children are one of the charming and at the same time poignant graces of
the environs of Paris 

Sometimes there are little girls among the throng of boys   are they
their sisters   who are almost young maidens  thin  feverish  with
sunburnt hands  covered with freckles  crowned with poppies and ears of
rye  gay  haggard  barefooted  They can be seen devouring cherries among
the wheat  In the evening they can be heard laughing  These groups 
warmly illuminated by the full glow of midday  or indistinctly seen in
the twilight  occupy the thoughtful man for a very long time  and these
visions mingle with his dreams 

Paris  centre  banlieue  circumference  this constitutes all the earth
to those children  They never venture beyond this  They can no more
escape from the Parisian atmosphere than fish can escape from the
water  For them  nothing exists two leagues beyond the barriers 
Ivry  Gentilly  Arcueil  Belleville  Aubervilliers  Menilmontant 
Choisy le Roi  Billancourt  Mendon  Issy  Vanvre  Sevres  Puteaux 
Neuilly  Gennevilliers  Colombes  Romainville  Chatou  Asnieres 
Bougival  Nanterre  Enghien  Noisy le Sec  Nogent  Gournay  Drancy 
Gonesse  the universe ends there 




CHAPTER VI  A BIT OF HISTORY

At the epoch  nearly contemporary by the way  when the action of this
book takes place  there was not  as there is to day  a policeman at
the corner of every street  a benefit which there is no time to discuss
here   stray children abounded in Paris  The statistics give an average
of two hundred and sixty homeless children picked up annually at that
period  by the police patrols  in unenclosed lands  in houses in process
of construction  and under the arches of the bridges  One of these
nests  which has become famous  produced  the swallows of the bridge of
Arcola   This is  moreover  the most disastrous of social symptoms  All
crimes of the man begin in the vagabondage of the child 

Let us make an exception in favor of Paris  nevertheless  In a relative
measure  and in spite of the souvenir which we have just recalled  the
exception is just  While in any other great city the vagabond child is
a lost man  while nearly everywhere the child left to itself is  in
some sort  sacrificed and abandoned to a kind of fatal immersion in the
public vices which devour in him honesty and conscience  the street boy
of Paris  we insist on this point  however defaced and injured on the
surface  is almost intact on the interior  It is a magnificent thing to
put on record  and one which shines forth in the splendid probity of our
popular revolutions  that a certain incorruptibility results from the
idea which exists in the air of Paris  as salt exists in the water of
the ocean  To breathe Paris preserves the soul 

What we have just said takes away nothing of the anguish of heart which
one experiences every time that one meets one of these children around
whom one fancies that he beholds floating the threads of a broken
family  In the civilization of the present day  incomplete as it still
is  it is not a very abnormal thing to behold these fractured families
pouring themselves out into the darkness  not knowing clearly what has
become of their children  and allowing their own entrails to fall on the
public highway  Hence these obscure destinies  This is called  for this
sad thing has given rise to an expression   to be cast on the pavements
of Paris  

Let it be said by the way  that this abandonment of children was not
discouraged by the ancient monarchy  A little of Egypt and Bohemia in
the lower regions suited the upper spheres  and compassed the aims of
the powerful  The hatred of instruction for the children of the people
was a dogma  What is the use of  half lights   Such was the countersign 
Now  the erring child is the corollary of the ignorant child 

Besides this  the monarchy sometimes was in need of children  and in
that case it skimmed the streets 

Under Louis XIV   not to go any further back  the king rightly desired
to create a fleet  The idea was a good one  But let us consider
the means  There can be no fleet  if  beside the sailing ship  that
plaything of the winds  and for the purpose of towing it  in case of
necessity  there is not the vessel which goes where it pleases  either
by means of oars or of steam  the galleys were then to the marine what
steamers are to day  Therefore  galleys were necessary  but the galley
is moved only by the galley slave  hence  galley slaves were required 
Colbert had the commissioners of provinces and the parliaments make
as many convicts as possible  The magistracy showed a great deal of
complaisance in the matter  A man kept his hat on in the presence of a
procession  it was a Huguenot attitude  he was sent to the galleys  A
child was encountered in the streets  provided that he was fifteen
years of age and did not know where he was to sleep  he was sent to the
galleys  Grand reign  grand century 

Under Louis XV  children disappeared in Paris  the police carried them
off  for what mysterious purpose no one knew  People whispered with
terror monstrous conjectures as to the king s baths of purple  Barbier
speaks ingenuously of these things  It sometimes happened that the
exempts of the guard  when they ran short of children  took those who
had fathers  The fathers  in despair  attacked the exempts  In that
case  the parliament intervened and had some one hung  Who  The exempts 
No  the fathers 




CHAPTER VII  THE GAMIN SHOULD HAVE HIS PLACE IN THE CLASSIFICATIONS OF
INDIA

The body of street Arabs in Paris almost constitutes a caste  One might
almost say  Not every one who wishes to belong to it can do so 

This word gamin was printed for the first time  and reached popular
speech through the literary tongue  in 1834  It is in a little work
entitled Claude Gueux that this word made its appearance  The horror was
lively  The word passed into circulation 

The elements which constitute the consideration of the gamins for each
other are very various  We have known and associated with one who was
greatly respected and vastly admired because he had seen a man fall from
the top of the tower of Notre Dame  another  because he had succeeded in
making his way into the rear courtyard where the statues of the dome
of the Invalides had been temporarily deposited  and had  prigged  some
lead from them  a third  because he had seen a diligence tip over  still
another  because he  knew  a soldier who came near putting out the eye
of a citizen 

This explains that famous exclamation of a Parisian gamin  a profound
epiphonema  which the vulgar herd laughs at without comprehending   Dieu
de Dieu  What ill luck I do have  to think that I have never yet seen
anybody tumble from a fifth story window   I have pronounced I ave and
fifth pronounced fift   

Surely  this saying of a peasant is a fine one   Father So and So  your
wife has died of her malady  why did you not send for the doctor  
 What would you have  sir  we poor folks die of ourselves   But if
the peasant s whole passivity lies in this saying  the whole of the
free thinking anarchy of the brat of the faubourgs is  assuredly 
contained in this other saying  A man condemned to death is listening
to his confessor in the tumbrel  The child of Paris exclaims   He is
talking to his black cap  Oh  the sneak  

A certain audacity on matters of religion sets off the gamin  To be
strong minded is an important item 

To be present at executions constitutes a duty  He shows himself at the
guillotine  and he laughs  He calls it by all sorts of pet names  The
End of the Soup  The Growler  The Mother in the Blue  the sky   The Last
Mouthful  etc   etc  In order not to lose anything of the affair  he
scales the walls  he hoists himself to balconies  he ascends trees  he
suspends himself to gratings  he clings fast to chimneys  The gamin is
born a tiler as he is born a mariner  A roof inspires him with no more
fear than a mast  There is no festival which comes up to an execution
on the Place de Greve  Samson and the Abbe Montes are the truly popular
names  They hoot at the victim in order to encourage him  They sometimes
admire him  Lacenaire  when a gamin  on seeing the hideous Dautin die
bravely  uttered these words which contain a future   I was jealous of
him   In the brotherhood of gamins Voltaire is not known  but Papavoine
is   Politicians  are confused with assassins in the same legend 
They have a tradition as to everybody s last garment  It is known that
Tolleron had a fireman s cap  Avril an otter cap  Losvel a round hat 
that old Delaporte was bald and bare headed  that Castaing was all ruddy
and very handsome  that Bories had a romantic small beard  that Jean
Martin kept on his suspenders  that Lecouffe and his mother quarrelled 
 Don t reproach each other for your basket   shouted a gamin to them 
Another  in order to get a look at Debacker as he passed  and being too
small in the crowd  caught sight of the lantern on the quay and climbed
it  A gendarme stationed opposite frowned   Let me climb up  m sieu le
gendarme   said the gamin  And  to soften the heart of the authorities
he added   I will not fall    I don t care if you do   retorted the
gendarme 

In the brotherhood of gamins  a memorable accident counts for a great
deal  One reaches the height of consideration if one chances to cut
one s self very deeply   to the very bone  

The fist is no mediocre element of respect  One of the things that the
gamin is fondest of saying is   I am fine and strong  come now   To be
left handed renders you very enviable  A squint is highly esteemed 




CHAPTER VIII  IN WHICH THE READER WILL FIND A CHARMING SAYING OF THE
LAST KING

In summer  he metamorphoses himself into a frog  and in the evening 
when night is falling  in front of the bridges of Austerlitz and Jena 
from the tops of coal wagons  and the washerwomen s boats  he hurls
himself headlong into the Seine  and into all possible infractions of
the laws of modesty and of the police  Nevertheless the police keep an
eye on him  and the result is a highly dramatic situation which
once gave rise to a fraternal and memorable cry  that cry which was
celebrated about 1830  is a strategic warning from gamin to gamin  it
scans like a verse from Homer  with a notation as inexpressible as the
eleusiac chant of the Panathenaea  and in it one encounters again the
ancient Evohe  Here it is   Ohe  Titi  oheee  Here comes the bobby  here
comes the p lice  pick up your duds and be off  through the sewer with
you  

Sometimes this gnat  that is what he calls himself  knows how to read 
sometimes he knows how to write  he always knows how to daub  He
does not hesitate to acquire  by no one knows what mysterious mutual
instruction  all the talents which can be of use to the public  from
1815 to 1830  he imitated the cry of the turkey  from 1830 to 1848  he
scrawled pears on the walls  One summer evening  when Louis Philippe was
returning home on foot  he saw a little fellow  no higher than his knee 
perspiring and climbing up to draw a gigantic pear in charcoal on one
of the pillars of the gate of Neuilly  the King  with that good nature
which came to him from Henry IV   helped the gamin  finished the pear 
and gave the child a louis  saying   The pear is on that also   19 
The gamin loves uproar  A certain state of violence pleases him  He
execrates  the cures   One day  in the Rue de l Universite  one of these
scamps was putting his thumb to his nose at the carriage gate of No 
69   Why are you doing that at the gate   a passer by asked  The boy
replied   There is a cure there   It was there  in fact  that the Papal
Nuncio lived 

Nevertheless  whatever may be the Voltairianism of the small gamin  if
the occasion to become a chorister presents itself  it is quite possible
that he will accept  and in that case he serves the mass civilly  There
are two things to which he plays Tantalus  and which he always desires
without ever attaining them  to overthrow the government  and to get his
trousers sewed up again 

The gamin in his perfect state possesses all the policemen of Paris  and
can always put the name to the face of any one which he chances to
meet  He can tell them off on the tips of his fingers  He studies their
habits  and he has special notes on each one of them  He reads the souls
of the police like an open book  He will tell you fluently and without
flinching   Such an one is a traitor  such another is very malicious 
such another is great  such another is ridiculous    All these words 
traitor  malicious  great  ridiculous  have a particular meaning in his
mouth   That one imagines that he owns the Pont Neuf  and he prevents
people from walking on the cornice outside the parapet  that other has a
mania for pulling person s ears  etc   etc 




CHAPTER IX  THE OLD SOUL OF GAUL

There was something of that boy in Poquelin  the son of the fish market 
Beaumarchais had something of it  Gaminerie is a shade of the Gallic
spirit  Mingled with good sense  it sometimes adds force to the latter 
as alcohol does to wine  Sometimes it is a defect  Homer repeats himself
eternally  granted  one may say that Voltaire plays the gamin  Camille
Desmoulins was a native of the faubourgs  Championnet  who treated
miracles brutally  rose from the pavements of Paris  he had  when a
small lad  inundated the porticos of Saint Jean de Beauvais  and of
Saint Etienne du Mont  he had addressed the shrine of Sainte Genevieve
familiarly to give orders to the phial of Saint Januarius 

The gamin of Paris is respectful  ironical  and insolent  He has
villainous teeth  because he is badly fed and his stomach suffers  and
handsome eyes because he has wit  If Jehovah himself were present  he
would go hopping up the steps of paradise on one foot  He is strong on
boxing  All beliefs are possible to him  He plays in the gutter  and
straightens himself up with a revolt  his effrontery persists even in
the presence of grape shot  he was a scapegrace  he is a hero  like the
little Theban  he shakes the skin from the lion  Barra the drummer boy
was a gamin of Paris  he Shouts   Forward   as the horse of Scripture
says  Vah   and in a moment he has passed from the small brat to the
giant 

This child of the puddle is also the child of the ideal  Measure that
spread of wings which reaches from Moliere to Barra 

To sum up the whole  and in one word  the gamin is a being who amuses
himself  because he is unhappy 




CHAPTER X  ECCE PARIS  ECCE HOMO

To sum it all up once more  the Paris gamin of to day  like the
graeculus of Rome in days gone by  is the infant populace with the
wrinkle of the old world on his brow 

The gamin is a grace to the nation  and at the same time a disease  a
disease which must be cured  how  By light 

Light renders healthy 

Light kindles 

All generous social irradiations spring from science  letters  arts 
education  Make men  make men  Give them light that they may warm
you  Sooner or later the splendid question of universal education will
present itself with the irresistible authority of the absolute truth 
and then  those who govern under the superintendence of the French idea
will have to make this choice  the children of France or the gamins of
Paris  flames in the light or will o  the wisps in the gloom 

The gamin expresses Paris  and Paris expresses the world 

For Paris is a total  Paris is the ceiling of the human race  The whole
of this prodigious city is a foreshortening of dead manners and living
manners  He who sees Paris thinks he sees the bottom of all history with
heaven and constellations in the intervals  Paris has a capital  the
Town Hall  a Parthenon  Notre Dame  a Mount Aventine  the Faubourg
Saint Antoine  an Asinarium  the Sorbonne  a Pantheon  the Pantheon  a
Via Sacra  the Boulevard des Italiens  a temple of the winds  opinion 
and it replaces the Gemoniae by ridicule  Its majo is called  faraud  
its Transteverin is the man of the faubourgs  its hammal is the
market porter  its lazzarone is the pegre  its cockney is the native of
Ghent  Everything that exists elsewhere exists at Paris  The fishwoman
of Dumarsais can retort on the herb seller of Euripides  the
discobols Vejanus lives again in the Forioso  the tight rope dancer 
Therapontigonus Miles could walk arm in arm with Vadeboncoeur the
grenadier  Damasippus the second hand dealer would be happy among
bric a brac merchants  Vincennes could grasp Socrates in its fist as
just as Agora could imprison Diderot  Grimod de la Reyniere discovered
larded roast beef  as Curtillus invented roast hedgehog  we see the
trapeze which figures in Plautus reappear under the vault of the Arc
of l Etoile  the sword eater of Poecilus encountered by Apuleius is a
sword swallower on the Pont Neuf  the nephew of Rameau and Curculio
the parasite make a pair  Ergasilus could get himself presented to
Cambaceres by d Aigrefeuille  the four dandies of Rome  Alcesimarchus 
Phoedromus  Diabolus  and Argyrippus  descend from Courtille in
Labatut s posting chaise  Aulus Gellius would halt no longer in front of
Congrio than would Charles Nodier in front of Punchinello  Marto is not
a tigress  but Pardalisca was not a dragon  Pantolabus the wag jeers in
the Cafe Anglais at Nomentanus the fast liver  Hermogenus is a tenor
in the Champs Elysees  and round him  Thracius the beggar  clad like
Bobeche  takes up a collection  the bore who stops you by the button
of your coat in the Tuileries makes you repeat after a lapse of two
thousand years Thesprion s apostrophe  Quis properantem me prehendit
pallio  The wine on Surene is a parody of the wine of Alba  the red
border of Desaugiers forms a balance to the great cutting of Balatro 
Pere Lachaise exhales beneath nocturnal rains same gleams as the
Esquiliae  and the grave of the poor bought for five years  is certainly
the equivalent of the slave s hived coffin 

Seek something that Paris has not  The vat of Trophonius contains
nothing that is not in Mesmer s tub  Ergaphilas lives again in
Cagliostro  the Brahmin Vasaphanta become incarnate in the Comte de
Saint Germain  the cemetery of Saint Medard works quite as good miracles
as the Mosque of Oumoumie at Damascus 

Paris has an AEsop Mayeux  and a Canidia  Mademoiselle Lenormand  It is
terrified  like Delphos at the fulgurating realities of the vision  it
makes tables turn as Dodona did tripods  It places the grisette on the
throne  as Rome placed the courtesan there  and  taking it altogether 
if Louis XV  is worse than Claudian  Madame Dubarry is better than
Messalina  Paris combines in an unprecedented type  which has existed
and which we have elbowed  Grecian nudity  the Hebraic ulcer  and the
Gascon pun  It mingles Diogenes  Job  and Jack pudding  dresses up a
spectre in old numbers of the Constitutional  and makes Chodruc Duclos 

Although Plutarch says  the tyrant never grows old  Rome  under Sylla as
under Domitian  resigned itself and willingly put water in its wine  The
Tiber was a Lethe  if the rather doctrinary eulogium made of it by Varus
Vibiscus is to be credited  Contra Gracchos Tiberim habemus  Bibere
Tiberim  id est seditionem oblivisci  Paris drinks a million litres of
water a day  but that does not prevent it from occasionally beating the
general alarm and ringing the tocsin 

With that exception  Paris is amiable  It accepts everything royally 
it is not too particular about its Venus  its Callipyge is Hottentot 
provided that it is made to laugh  it condones  ugliness cheers it 
deformity provokes it to laughter  vice diverts it  be eccentric and
you may be an eccentric  even hypocrisy  that supreme cynicism  does
not disgust it  it is so literary that it does not hold its nose before
Basile  and is no more scandalized by the prayer of Tartuffe than Horace
was repelled by the  hiccup  of Priapus  No trait of the universal face
is lacking in the profile of Paris  The bal Mabile is not the polymnia
dance of the Janiculum  but the dealer in ladies  wearing apparel there
devours the lorette with her eyes  exactly as the procuress Staphyla
lay in wait for the virgin Planesium  The Barriere du Combat is not
the Coliseum  but people are as ferocious there as though Caesar were
looking on  The Syrian hostess has more grace than Mother Saguet 
but  if Virgil haunted the Roman wine shop  David d Angers  Balzac
and Charlet have sat at the tables of Parisian taverns  Paris reigns 
Geniuses flash forth there  the red tails prosper there  Adonai passes
on his chariot with its twelve wheels of thunder and lightning  Silenus
makes his entry there on his ass  For Silenus read Ramponneau 

Paris is the synonym of Cosmos  Paris is Athens  Sybaris  Jerusalem 
Pantin  All civilizations are there in an abridged form  all barbarisms
also  Paris would greatly regret it if it had not a guillotine 

A little of the Place de Greve is a good thing  What would all that
eternal festival be without this seasoning  Our laws are wisely
provided  and thanks to them  this blade drips on this Shrove Tuesday 




CHAPTER XI  TO SCOFF  TO REIGN

There is no limit to Paris  No city has had that domination which
sometimes derides those whom it subjugates  To please you  O Athenians 
exclaimed Alexander  Paris makes more than the law  it makes the
fashion  Paris sets more than the fashion  it sets the routine  Paris
may be stupid  if it sees fit  it sometimes allows itself this luxury 
then the universe is stupid in company with it  then Paris awakes  rubs
its eyes  says   How stupid I am   and bursts out laughing in the face
of the human race  What a marvel is such a city  it is a strange thing
that this grandioseness and this burlesque should be amicable neighbors 
that all this majesty should not be thrown into disorder by all this
parody  and that the same mouth can to day blow into the trump of the
Judgment Day  and to morrow into the reed flute  Paris has a sovereign
joviality  Its gayety is of the thunder and its farce holds a sceptre 

Its tempest sometimes proceeds from a grimace  Its explosions  its days 
its masterpieces  its prodigies  its epics  go forth to the bounds of
the universe  and so also do its cock and bull stories  Its laugh is the
mouth of a volcano which spatters the whole earth  Its jests are sparks 
It imposes its caricatures as well as its ideal on people  the highest
monuments of human civilization accept its ironies and lend their
eternity to its mischievous pranks  It is superb  it has a prodigious
14th of July  which delivers the globe  it forces all nations to take
the oath of tennis  its night of the 4th of August dissolves in three
hours a thousand years of feudalism  it makes of its logic the muscle
of unanimous will  it multiplies itself under all sorts of forms of
the sublime  it fills with its light Washington  Kosciusko  Bolivar 
Bozzaris  Riego  Bem  Manin  Lopez  John Brown  Garibaldi  it is
everywhere where the future is being lighted up  at Boston in 1779 
at the Isle de Leon in 1820  at Pesth in 1848  at Palermo in 1860  it
whispers the mighty countersign  Liberty  in the ear of the American
abolitionists grouped about the boat at Harper s Ferry  and in the ear
of the patriots of Ancona assembled in the shadow  to the Archi before
the Gozzi inn on the seashore  it creates Canaris  it creates Quiroga 
it creates Pisacane  it irradiates the great on earth  it was while
proceeding whither its breath urge them  that Byron perished at
Missolonghi  and that Mazet died at Barcelona  it is the tribune under
the feet of Mirabeau  and a crater under the feet of Robespierre 
its books  its theatre  its art  its science  its literature  its
philosophy  are the manuals of the human race  it has Pascal  Regnier 
Corneille  Descartes  Jean Jacques  Voltaire for all moments  Moliere
for all centuries  it makes its language to be talked by the universal
mouth  and that language becomes the word  it constructs in all minds
the idea of progress  the liberating dogmas which it forges are for the
generations trusty friends  and it is with the soul of its thinkers and
its poets that all heroes of all nations have been made since 1789  this
does not prevent vagabondism  and that enormous genius which is called
Paris  while transfiguring the world by its light  sketches in charcoal
Bouginier s nose on the wall of the temple of Theseus and writes
Credeville the thief on the Pyramids 

Paris is always showing its teeth  when it is not scolding it is
laughing 

Such is Paris  The smoke of its roofs forms the ideas of the universe  A
heap of mud and stone  if you will  but  above all  a moral being  It is
more than great  it is immense  Why  Because it is daring 

To dare  that is the price of progress 

All sublime conquests are  more or less  the prizes of daring  In
order that the Revolution should take place  it does not suffice that
Montesquieu should foresee it  that Diderot should preach it  that
Beaumarchais should announce it  that Condorcet should calculate it 
that Arouet should prepare it  that Rousseau should premeditate it  it
is necessary that Danton should dare it 

The cry  Audacity  is a Fiat lux  It is necessary  for the sake of the
forward march of the human race  that there should be proud lessons of
courage permanently on the heights  Daring deeds dazzle history and are
one of man s great sources of light  The dawn dares when it rises  To
attempt  to brave  to persist  to persevere  to be faithful to one s
self  to grasp fate bodily  to astound catastrophe by the small amount
of fear that it occasions us  now to affront unjust power  again to
insult drunken victory  to hold one s position  to stand one s ground 
that is the example which nations need  that is the light which
electrifies them  The same formidable lightning proceeds from the torch
of Prometheus to Cambronne s short pipe 




CHAPTER XII  THE FUTURE LATENT IN THE PEOPLE

As for the Parisian populace  even when a man grown  it is always the
street Arab  to paint the child is to paint the city  and it is for that
reason that we have studied this eagle in this arrant sparrow  It is in
the faubourgs  above all  we maintain  that the Parisian race appears 
there is the pure blood  there is the true physiognomy  there this
people toils and suffers  and suffering and toil are the two faces of
man  There exist there immense numbers of unknown beings  among whom
swarm types of the strangest  from the porter of la Rapee to the knacker
of Montfaucon  Fex urbis  exclaims Cicero  mob  adds Burke  indignantly 
rabble  multitude  populace  These are words and quickly uttered  But
so be it  What does it matter  What is it to me if they do go barefoot 
They do not know how to read  so much the worse  Would you abandon them
for that  Would you turn their distress into a malediction  Cannot the
light penetrate these masses  Let us return to that cry  Light  and let
us obstinately persist therein  Light  Light  Who knows whether
these opacities will not become transparent  Are not revolutions
transfigurations  Come  philosophers  teach  enlighten  light up  think
aloud  speak aloud  hasten joyously to the great sun  fraternize with
the public place  announce the good news  spend your alphabets lavishly 
proclaim rights  sing the Marseillaises  sow enthusiasms  tear green
boughs from the oaks  Make a whirlwind of the idea  This crowd may
be rendered sublime  Let us learn how to make use of that vast
conflagration of principles and virtues  which sparkles  bursts forth
and quivers at certain hours  These bare feet  these bare arms  these
rags  these ignorances  these abjectnesses  these darknesses  may be
employed in the conquest of the ideal  Gaze past the people  and you
will perceive truth  Let that vile sand which you trample under foot be
cast into the furnace  let it melt and seethe there  it will become a
splendid crystal  and it is thanks to it that Galileo and Newton will
discover stars 




CHAPTER XIII  LITTLE GAVROCHE

 Illustration  Little Gavroche  3b1 13 gavroche 

Eight or nine years after the events narrated in the second part of this
story  people noticed on the Boulevard du Temple  and in the regions of
the Chateau d Eau  a little boy eleven or twelve years of age  who would
have realized with tolerable accuracy that ideal of the gamin sketched
out above  if  with the laugh of his age on his lips  he had not had a
heart absolutely sombre and empty  This child was well muffled up in a
pair of man s trousers  but he did not get them from his father  and a
woman s chemise  but he did not get it from his mother  Some people or
other had clothed him in rags out of charity  Still  he had a father and
a mother  But his father did not think of him  and his mother did not
love him 

He was one of those children most deserving of pity  among all  one of
those who have father and mother  and who are orphans nevertheless 

This child never felt so well as when he was in the street  The
pavements were less hard to him than his mother s heart 

His parents had despatched him into life with a kick 

He simply took flight 

He was a boisterous  pallid  nimble  wide awake  jeering  lad  with a
vivacious but sickly air  He went and came  sang  played at hopscotch 
scraped the gutters  stole a little  but  like cats and sparrows  gayly
laughed when he was called a rogue  and got angry when called a thief 
He had no shelter  no bread  no fire  no love  but he was merry because
he was free 

When these poor creatures grow to be men  the millstones of the social
order meet them and crush them  but so long as they are children  they
escape because of their smallness  The tiniest hole saves them 

Nevertheless  abandoned as this child was  it sometimes happened  every
two or three months  that he said   Come  I ll go and see mamma   Then
he quitted the boulevard  the Cirque  the Porte Saint Martin  descended
to the quays  crossed the bridges  reached the suburbs  arrived at the
Salpetriere  and came to a halt  where  Precisely at that double number
50 52 with which the reader is acquainted  at the Gorbeau hovel 

At that epoch  the hovel 50 52 generally deserted and eternally
decorated with the placard   Chambers to let   chanced to be  a rare
thing  inhabited by numerous individuals who  however  as is always the
case in Paris  had no connection with each other  All belonged to
that indigent class which begins to separate from the lowest of petty
bourgeoisie in straitened circumstances  and which extends from misery
to misery into the lowest depths of society down to those two beings
in whom all the material things of civilization end  the sewer man who
sweeps up the mud  and the ragpicker who collects scraps 

The  principal lodger  of Jean Valjean s day was dead and had been
replaced by another exactly like her  I know not what philosopher has
said   Old women are never lacking  

This new old woman was named Madame Bourgon  and had nothing remarkable
about her life except a dynasty of three paroquets  who had reigned in
succession over her soul 

The most miserable of those who inhabited the hovel were a family of
four persons  consisting of father  mother  and two daughters  already
well grown  all four of whom were lodged in the same attic  one of the
cells which we have already mentioned 

At first sight  this family presented no very special feature except its
extreme destitution  the father  when he hired the chamber  had stated
that his name was Jondrette  Some time after his moving in  which had
borne a singular resemblance to the entrance of nothing at all  to
borrow the memorable expression of the principal tenant  this Jondrette
had said to the woman  who  like her predecessor  was at the same time
portress and stair sweeper   Mother So and So  if any one should chance
to come and inquire for a Pole or an Italian  or even a Spaniard 
perchance  it is I  

This family was that of the merry barefoot boy  He arrived there and
found distress  and  what is still sadder  no smile  a cold hearth
and cold hearts  When he entered  he was asked   Whence come you   He
replied   From the street   When he went away  they asked him   Whither
are you going   He replied   Into the streets   His mother said to him 
 What did you come here for  

This child lived  in this absence of affection  like the pale plants
which spring up in cellars  It did not cause him suffering  and he
blamed no one  He did not know exactly how a father and mother should
be 

Nevertheless  his mother loved his sisters 

We have forgotten to mention  that on the Boulevard du Temple this child
was called Little Gavroche  Why was he called Little Gavroche 

Probably because his father s name was Jondrette 

It seems to be the instinct of certain wretched families to break the
thread 

The chamber which the Jondrettes inhabited in the Gorbeau hovel was the
last at the end of the corridor  The cell next to it was occupied by a
very poor young man who was called M  Marius 

Let us explain who this M  Marius was 




BOOK SECOND   THE GREAT BOURGEOIS




CHAPTER I  NINETY YEARS AND THIRTY TWO TEETH

In the Rue Boucherat  Rue de Normandie and the Rue de Saintonge there
still exist a few ancient inhabitants who have preserved the memory of a
worthy man named M  Gillenormand  and who mention him with complaisance 
This good man was old when they were young  This silhouette has not yet
entirely disappeared  for those who regard with melancholy that vague
swarm of shadows which is called the past  from the labyrinth of streets
in the vicinity of the Temple to which  under Louis XIV   the names of
all the provinces of France were appended exactly as in our day  the
streets of the new Tivoli quarter have received the names of all the
capitals of Europe  a progression  by the way  in which progress is
visible 

M Gillenormand  who was as much alive as possible in 1831  was one of
those men who had become curiosities to be viewed  simply because
they have lived a long time  and who are strange because they formerly
resembled everybody  and now resemble nobody  He was a peculiar old man 
and in very truth  a man of another age  the real  complete and rather
haughty bourgeois of the eighteenth century  who wore his good  old
bourgeoisie with the air with which marquises wear their marquisates  He
was over ninety years of age  his walk was erect  he talked loudly  saw
clearly  drank neat  ate  slept  and snored  He had all thirty two of
his teeth  He only wore spectacles when he read  He was of an amorous
disposition  but declared that  for the last ten years  he had wholly
and decidedly renounced women  He could no longer please  he said  he
did not add   I am too old   but   I am too poor   He said   If I were
not ruined  Heee   All he had left  in fact  was an income of about
fifteen thousand francs  His dream was to come into an inheritance and
to have a hundred thousand livres income for mistresses  He did
not belong  as the reader will perceive  to that puny variety of
octogenaries who  like M  de Voltaire  have been dying all their life 
his was no longevity of a cracked pot  this jovial old man had always
had good health  He was superficial  rapid  easily angered  He flew into
a passion at everything  generally quite contrary to all reason  When
contradicted  he raised his cane  he beat people as he had done in the
great century  He had a daughter over fifty years of age  and unmarried 
whom he chastised severely with his tongue  when in a rage  and whom he
would have liked to whip  She seemed to him to be eight years old  He
boxed his servants  ears soundly  and said   Ah  carogne   One of his
oaths was   By the pantoufloche of the pantouflochade   He had singular
freaks of tranquillity  he had himself shaved every day by a barber who
had been mad and who detested him  being jealous of M  Gillenormand on
account of his wife  a pretty and coquettish barberess  M  Gillenormand
admired his own discernment in all things  and declared that he was
extremely sagacious  here is one of his sayings   I have  in truth  some
penetration  I am able to say when a flea bites me  from what woman it
came  

The words which he uttered the most frequently were  the sensible man 
and nature  He did not give to this last word the grand acceptation
which our epoch has accorded to it  but he made it enter  after his own
fashion  into his little chimney corner satires   Nature   he said   in
order that civilization may have a little of everything  gives it even
specimens of its amusing barbarism  Europe possesses specimens of Asia
and Africa on a small scale  The cat is a drawing room tiger  the lizard
is a pocket crocodile  The dancers at the opera are pink female savages 
They do not eat men  they crunch them  or  magicians that they are  they
transform them into oysters and swallow them  The Caribbeans leave only
the bones  they leave only the shell  Such are our morals  We do not
devour  we gnaw  we do not exterminate  we claw  




CHAPTER II  LIKE MASTER  LIKE HOUSE

He lived in the Marais  Rue des Filles du Calvaire  No  6  He owned the
house  This house has since been demolished and rebuilt  and the number
has probably been changed in those revolutions of numeration which the
streets of Paris undergo  He occupied an ancient and vast apartment
on the first floor  between street and gardens  furnished to the very
ceilings with great Gobelins and Beauvais tapestries representing
pastoral scenes  the subjects of the ceilings and the panels were
repeated in miniature on the arm chairs  He enveloped his bed in a vast 
nine leaved screen of Coromandel lacquer  Long  full curtains hung from
the windows  and formed great  broken folds that were very magnificent 
The garden situated immediately under his windows was attached to that
one of them which formed the angle  by means of a staircase twelve or
fifteen steps long  which the old gentleman ascended and descended with
great agility  In addition to a library adjoining his chamber  he had a
boudoir of which he thought a great deal  a gallant and elegant retreat 
with magnificent hangings of straw  with a pattern of flowers and
fleurs de lys made on the galleys of Louis XIV  and ordered of his
convicts by M  de Vivonne for his mistress  M  Gillenormand had
inherited it from a grim maternal great aunt  who had died a
centenarian  He had had two wives  His manners were something between
those of the courtier  which he had never been  and the lawyer  which
he might have been  He was gay  and caressing when he had a mind  In
his youth he had been one of those men who are always deceived by their
wives and never by their mistresses  because they are  at the same
time  the most sullen of husbands and the most charming of lovers in
existence  He was a connoisseur of painting  He had in his chamber a
marvellous portrait of no one knows whom  painted by Jordaens  executed
with great dashes of the brush  with millions of details  in a confused
and hap hazard manner  M  Gillenormand s attire was not the habit of
Louis XIV  nor yet that of Louis XVI   it was that of the Incroyables
of the Directory  He had thought himself young up to that period and
had followed the fashions  His coat was of light weight cloth with
voluminous revers  a long swallow tail and large steel buttons  With
this he wore knee breeches and buckle shoes  He always thrust his hands
into his fobs  He said authoritatively   The French Revolution is a heap
of blackguards  




CHAPTER III  LUC ESPRIT

At the age of sixteen  one evening at the opera  he had had the honor
to be stared at through opera glasses by two beauties at the same
time  ripe and celebrated beauties then  and sung by Voltaire  the
Camargo and the Salle  Caught between two fires  he had beaten a heroic
retreat towards a little dancer  a young girl named Nahenry  who was
sixteen like himself  obscure as a cat  and with whom he was in love 
He abounded in memories  He was accustomed to exclaim   How pretty she
was  that Guimard Guimardini Guimardinette  the last time I saw her
at Longchamps  her hair curled in sustained sentiments  with her
come and see of turquoises  her gown of the color of persons newly
arrived  and her little agitation muff   He had worn in his young
manhood a waistcoat of Nain Londrin  which he was fond of talking about
effusively   I was dressed like a Turk of the Levant Levantin   said he 
Madame de Boufflers  having seen him by chance when he was twenty  had
described him as  a charming fool   He was horrified by all the names
which he saw in politics and in power  regarding them as vulgar and
bourgeois  He read the journals  the newspapers  the gazettes as he
said  stifling outbursts of laughter the while   Oh   he said   what
people these are  Corbiere  Humann  Casimir Perier  There s a minister
for you  I can imagine this in a journal   M  Gillenorman  minister  
that would be a farce  Well  They are so stupid that it would pass   he
merrily called everything by its name  whether decent or indecent  and
did not restrain himself in the least before ladies  He uttered coarse
speeches  obscenities  and filth with a certain tranquillity and lack
of astonishment which was elegant  It was in keeping with the
unceremoniousness of his century  It is to be noted that the age of
periphrase in verse was the age of crudities in prose  His god father
had predicted that he would turn out a man of genius  and had bestowed
on him these two significant names  Luc Esprit 




CHAPTER IV  A CENTENARIAN ASPIRANT

He had taken prizes in his boyhood at the College of Moulins  where he
was born  and he had been crowned by the hand of the Duc de Nivernais 
whom he called the Duc de Nevers  Neither the Convention  nor the death
of Louis XVI   nor the Napoleon  nor the return of the Bourbons  nor
anything else had been able to efface the memory of this crowning  The
Duc de Nevers was  in his eyes  the great figure of the century   What a
charming grand seigneur   he said   and what a fine air he had with his
blue ribbon  

In the eyes of M  Gillenormand  Catherine the Second had made reparation
for the crime of the partition of Poland by purchasing  for three
thousand roubles  the secret of the elixir of gold  from Bestucheff  He
grew animated on this subject   The elixir of gold   he exclaimed   the
yellow dye of Bestucheff  General Lamotte s drops  in the eighteenth
century   this was the great remedy for the catastrophes of love  the
panacea against Venus  at one louis the half ounce phial  Louis XV 
sent two hundred phials of it to the Pope   He would have been greatly
irritated and thrown off his balance  had any one told him that the
elixir of gold is nothing but the perchloride of iron  M  Gillenormand
adored the Bourbons  and had a horror of 1789  he was forever narrating
in what manner he had saved himself during the Terror  and how he had
been obliged to display a vast deal of gayety and cleverness in order to
escape having his head cut off  If any young man ventured to pronounce
an eulogium on the Republic in his presence  he turned purple and grew
so angry that he was on the point of swooning  He sometimes alluded to
his ninety years  and said   I hope that I shall not see ninety three
twice   On these occasions  he hinted to people that he meant to live to
be a hundred 




CHAPTER V  BASQUE AND NICOLETTE

He had theories  Here is one of them   When a man is passionately fond
of women  and when he has himself a wife for whom he cares but little 
who is homely  cross  legitimate  with plenty of rights  perched on the
code  and jealous at need  there is but one way of extricating himself
from the quandry and of procuring peace  and that is to let his wife
control the purse strings  This abdication sets him free  Then his
wife busies herself  grows passionately fond of handling coin  gets her
fingers covered with verdigris in the process  undertakes the education
of half share tenants and the training of farmers  convokes lawyers 
presides over notaries  harangues scriveners  visits limbs of the law 
follows lawsuits  draws up leases  dictates contracts  feels herself the
sovereign  sells  buys  regulates  promises and compromises  binds fast
and annuls  yields  concedes and retrocedes  arranges  disarranges 
hoards  lavishes  she commits follies  a supreme and personal delight 
and that consoles her  While her husband disdains her  she has the
satisfaction of ruining her husband   This theory M  Gillenormand had
himself applied  and it had become his history  His wife  the second
one  had administered his fortune in such a manner that  one fine day 
when M  Gillenormand found himself a widower  there remained to him just
sufficient to live on  by sinking nearly the whole of it in an annuity
of fifteen thousand francs  three quarters of which would expire with
him  He had not hesitated on this point  not being anxious to leave
a property behind him  Besides  he had noticed that patrimonies are
subject to adventures  and  for instance  become national property  he
had been present at the avatars of consolidated three per cents  and he
had no great faith in the Great Book of the Public Debt   All that s
the Rue Quincampois   he said  His house in the Rue Filles du Clavaire
belonged to him  as we have already stated  He had two servants   a male
and a female   When a servant entered his establishment  M  Gillenormand
re baptized him  He bestowed on the men the name of their province 
Nimois  Comtois  Poitevin  Picard  His last valet was a big  foundered 
short winded fellow of fifty five  who was incapable of running twenty
paces  but  as he had been born at Bayonne  M  Gillenormand called him
Basque  All the female servants in his house were called Nicolette  even
the Magnon  of whom we shall hear more farther on   One day  a haughty
cook  a cordon bleu  of the lofty race of porters  presented herself 
 How much wages do you want a month   asked M  Gillenormand   Thirty
francs    What is your name    Olympie    You shall have fifty francs 
and you shall be called Nicolette  




CHAPTER VI  IN WHICH MAGNON AND HER TWO CHILDREN ARE SEEN

With M  Gillenormand  sorrow was converted into wrath  he was furious at
being in despair  He had all sorts of prejudices and took all sorts
of liberties  One of the facts of which his exterior relief and his
internal satisfaction was composed  was  as we have just hinted  that he
had remained a brisk spark  and that he passed energetically for such 
This he called having  royal renown   This royal renown sometimes drew
down upon him singular windfalls  One day  there was brought to him in
a basket  as though it had been a basket of oysters  a stout  newly
born boy  who was yelling like the deuce  and duly wrapped in
swaddling clothes  which a servant maid  dismissed six months
previously  attributed to him  M  Gillenormand had  at that time 
fully completed his eighty fourth year  Indignation and uproar in the
establishment  And whom did that bold hussy think she could persuade to
believe that  What audacity  What an abominable calumny  M  Gillenormand
himself was not at all enraged  He gazed at the brat with the amiable
smile of a good man who is flattered by the calumny  and said in an
aside   Well  what now  What s the matter  You are finely taken aback 
and really  you are excessively ignorant  M  le Duc d Angouleme  the
bastard of his Majesty Charles IX   married a silly jade of fifteen
when he was eighty five  M  Virginal  Marquis d Alluye  brother to
the Cardinal de Sourdis  Archbishop of Bordeaux  had  at the age of
eighty three  by the maid of Madame la Presidente Jacquin  a son  a
real child of love  who became a Chevalier of Malta and a counsellor of
state  one of the great men of this century  the Abbe Tabaraud  is the
son of a man of eighty seven  There is nothing out of the ordinary in
these things  And then  the Bible  Upon that I declare that this little
gentleman is none of mine  Let him be taken care of  It is not his
fault   This manner of procedure was good tempered  The woman  whose
name was Magnon  sent him another parcel in the following year  It was a
boy again  Thereupon  M  Gillenormand capitulated  He sent the two brats
back to their mother  promising to pay eighty francs a month for their
maintenance  on the condition that the said mother would not do so any
more  He added   I insist upon it that the mother shall treat them well 
I shall go to see them from time to time   And this he did  He had had
a brother who was a priest  and who had been rector of the Academy of
Poitiers for three and thirty years  and had died at seventy nine 
 I lost him young   said he  This brother  of whom but little memory
remains  was a peaceable miser  who  being a priest  thought himself
bound to bestow alms on the poor whom he met  but he never gave them
anything except bad or demonetized sous  thereby discovering a means of
going to hell by way of paradise  As for M  Gillenormand the elder  he
never haggled over his alms giving  but gave gladly and nobly  He was
kindly  abrupt  charitable  and if he had been rich  his turn of mind
would have been magnificent  He desired that all which concerned him
should be done in a grand manner  even his rogueries  One day  having
been cheated by a business man in a matter of inheritance  in a gross
and apparent manner  he uttered this solemn exclamation   That was
indecently done  I am really ashamed of this pilfering  Everything has
degenerated in this century  even the rascals  Morbleu  this is not the
way to rob a man of my standing  I am robbed as though in a forest  but
badly robbed  Silva  sint consule dignae   He had had two wives  as
we have already mentioned  by the first he had had a daughter  who had
remained unmarried  and by the second another daughter  who had died
at about the age of thirty  who had wedded  through love  or chance 
or otherwise  a soldier of fortune who had served in the armies of the
Republic and of the Empire  who had won the cross at Austerlitz and had
been made colonel at Waterloo   He is the disgrace of my family  
said the old bourgeois  He took an immense amount of snuff  and had a
particularly graceful manner of plucking at his lace ruffle with the
back of one hand  He believed very little in God 




CHAPTER VII  RULE  RECEIVE NO ONE EXCEPT IN THE EVENING

Such was M  Luc Esprit Gillenormand  who had not lost his hair   which
was gray rather than white   and which was always dressed in  dog s
ears   To sum up  he was venerable in spite of all this 

He had something of the eighteenth century about him  frivolous and
great 

In 1814 and during the early years of the Restoration  M  Gillenormand 
who was still young   he was only seventy four   lived in the Faubourg
Saint Germain  Rue Servandoni  near Saint Sulpice  He had only retired
to the Marais when he quitted society  long after attaining the age of
eighty 

And  on abandoning society  he had immured himself in his habits  The
principal one  and that which was invariable  was to keep his door
absolutely closed during the day  and never to receive any one whatever
except in the evening  He dined at five o clock  and after that his door
was open  That had been the fashion of his century  and he would not
swerve from it   The day is vulgar   said he   and deserves only a
closed shutter  Fashionable people only light up their minds when the
zenith lights up its stars   And he barricaded himself against every
one  even had it been the king himself  This was the antiquated elegance
of his day 




CHAPTER VIII  TWO DO NOT MAKE A PAIR

We have just spoken of M  Gillenormand s two daughters  They had come
into the world ten years apart  In their youth they had borne very
little resemblance to each other  either in character or countenance 
and had also been as little like sisters to each other as possible  The
youngest had a charming soul  which turned towards all that belongs to
the light  was occupied with flowers  with verses  with music  which
fluttered away into glorious space  enthusiastic  ethereal  and was
wedded from her very youth  in ideal  to a vague and heroic figure  The
elder had also her chimera  she espied in the azure some very wealthy
purveyor  a contractor  a splendidly stupid husband  a million made man 
or even a prefect  the receptions of the Prefecture  an usher in the
antechamber with a chain on his neck  official balls  the harangues
of the town hall  to be  Madame la Prefete    all this had created a
whirlwind in her imagination  Thus the two sisters strayed  each in her
own dream  at the epoch when they were young girls  Both had wings  the
one like an angel  the other like a goose 

No ambition is ever fully realized  here below at least  No paradise
becomes terrestrial in our day  The younger wedded the man of her
dreams  but she died  The elder did not marry at all 

At the moment when she makes her entrance into this history which we are
relating  she was an antique virtue  an incombustible prude  with one of
the sharpest noses  and one of the most obtuse minds that it is possible
to see  A characteristic detail  outside of her immediate family  no one
had ever known her first name  She was called Mademoiselle Gillenormand 
the elder 

In the matter of cant  Mademoiselle Gillenormand could have given points
to a miss  Her modesty was carried to the other extreme of blackness 
She cherished a frightful memory of her life  one day  a man had beheld
her garter 

Age had only served to accentuate this pitiless modesty  Her guimpe was
never sufficiently opaque  and never ascended sufficiently high  She
multiplied clasps and pins where no one would have dreamed of looking 
The peculiarity of prudery is to place all the more sentinels in
proportion as the fortress is the less menaced 

Nevertheless  let him who can explain these antique mysteries of
innocence  she allowed an officer of the Lancers  her grand nephew 
named Theodule  to embrace her without displeasure 

In spite of this favored Lancer  the label  Prude  under which we
have classed her  suited her to absolute perfection  Mademoiselle
Gillenormand was a sort of twilight soul  Prudery is a demi virtue and a
demi vice 

To prudery she added bigotry  a well assorted lining  She belonged
to the society of the Virgin  wore a white veil on certain festivals 
mumbled special orisons  revered  the holy blood   venerated  the sacred
heart   remained for hours in contemplation before a rococo jesuit altar
in a chapel which was inaccessible to the rank and file of the faithful 
and there allowed her soul to soar among little clouds of marble  and
through great rays of gilded wood 

She had a chapel friend  an ancient virgin like herself  named
Mademoiselle Vaubois  who was a positive blockhead  and beside whom
Mademoiselle Gillenormand had the pleasure of being an eagle  Beyond
the Agnus Dei and Ave Maria  Mademoiselle Vaubois had no knowledge of
anything except of the different ways of making preserves  Mademoiselle
Vaubois  perfect in her style  was the ermine of stupidity without a
single spot of intelligence 

Let us say it plainly  Mademoiselle Gillenormand had gained rather than
lost as she grew older  This is the case with passive natures  She had
never been malicious  which is relative kindness  and then  years wear
away the angles  and the softening which comes with time had come to
her  She was melancholy with an obscure sadness of which she did not
herself know the secret  There breathed from her whole person the stupor
of a life that was finished  and which had never had a beginning 

She kept house for her father  M  Gillenormand had his daughter near
him  as we have seen that Monseigneur Bienvenu had his sister with him 
These households comprised of an old man and an old spinster are not
rare  and always have the touching aspect of two weaknesses leaning on
each other for support 

There was also in this house  between this elderly spinster and this
old man  a child  a little boy  who was always trembling and mute in the
presence of M  Gillenormand  M  Gillenormand never addressed this child
except in a severe voice  and sometimes  with uplifted cane   Here  sir 
rascal  scoundrel  come here   Answer me  you scamp  Just let me see
you  you good for nothing   etc   etc  He idolized him 

This was his grandson  We shall meet with this child again later on 




BOOK THIRD   THE GRANDFATHER AND THE GRANDSON




CHAPTER I  AN ANCIENT SALON

When M  Gillenormand lived in the Rue Servandoni  he had frequented
many very good and very aristocratic salons  Although a bourgeois  M 
Gillenormand was received in society  As he had a double measure of wit 
in the first place  that which was born with him  and secondly  that
which was attributed to him  he was even sought out and made much of  He
never went anywhere except on condition of being the chief person there 
There are people who will have influence at any price  and who will have
other people busy themselves over them  when they cannot be oracles 
they turn wags  M  Gillenormand was not of this nature  his domination
in the Royalist salons which he frequented cost his self respect
nothing  He was an oracle everywhere  It had happened to him to hold his
own against M  de Bonald  and even against M  Bengy Puy Vallee 

About 1817  he invariably passed two afternoons a week in a house in
his own neighborhood  in the Rue Ferou  with Madame la Baronne de T  
a worthy and respectable person  whose husband had been Ambassador of
France to Berlin under Louis XVI  Baron de T   who  during his lifetime 
had gone very passionately into ecstasies and magnetic visions  had died
bankrupt  during the emigration  leaving  as his entire fortune 
some very curious Memoirs about Mesmer and his tub  in ten manuscript
volumes  bound in red morocco and gilded on the edges  Madame de T  had
not published the memoirs  out of pride  and maintained herself on a
meagre income which had survived no one knew how 

Madame de T  lived far from the Court   a very mixed society   as she
said  in a noble isolation  proud and poor  A few friends assembled
twice a week about her widowed hearth  and these constituted a purely
Royalist salon  They sipped tea there  and uttered groans or cries of
horror at the century  the charter  the Bonapartists  the prostitution
of the blue ribbon  or the Jacobinism of Louis XVIII   according as the
wind veered towards elegy or dithyrambs  and they spoke in low tones of
the hopes which were presented by Monsieur  afterwards Charles X 

The songs of the fishwomen  in which Napoleon was called Nicolas  were
received there with transports of joy  Duchesses  the most delicate and
charming women in the world  went into ecstasies over couplets like the
following  addressed to  the federates    

               Refoncez dans vos culottes 20 
               Le bout d  chemis  qui vous pend 
               Qu on n  dis  pas qu  les patriotes
               Ont arbore l  drapeau blanc 

There they amused themselves with puns which were considered terrible 
with innocent plays upon words which they supposed to be venomous  with
quatrains  with distiches even  thus  upon the Dessolles ministry  a
moderate cabinet  of which MM  Decazes and Deserre were members   

          Pour raffermir le trone ebranle sur sa base  21 
          Il faut changer de sol  et de serre et de case 

Or they drew up a list of the chamber of peers   an abominably Jacobin
chamber   and from this list they combined alliances of names  in such
a manner as to form  for example  phrases like the following  Damas 
Sabran  Gouvion Saint Cyr   All this was done merrily  In that society 
they parodied the Revolution  They used I know not what desires to give
point to the same wrath in inverse sense  They sang their little Ca
ira   

               Ah  ca ira ca ira ca ira 
               Les Bonapartistes a la lanterne 

Songs are like the guillotine  they chop away indifferently  to day this
head  to morrow that  It is only a variation 

In the Fualdes affair  which belongs to this epoch  1816  they took
part for Bastide and Jausion  because Fualdes was  a Buonapartist   They
designated the liberals as friends and brothers  this constituted the
most deadly insult 

Like certain church towers  Madame de T  s salon had two cocks  One of
them was M  Gillenormand  the other was Comte de Lamothe Valois  of whom
it was whispered about  with a sort of respect   Do you know  That is
the Lamothe of the affair of the necklace   These singular amnesties do
occur in parties 

Let us add the following  in the bourgeoisie  honored situations decay
through too easy relations  one must beware whom one admits  in the same
way that there is a loss of caloric in the vicinity of those who are
cold  there is a diminution of consideration in the approach of despised
persons  The ancient society of the upper classes held themselves above
this law  as above every other  Marigny  the brother of the Pompadour 
had his entry with M  le Prince de Soubise  In spite of  No  because  Du
Barry  the god father of the Vaubernier  was very welcome at the house
of M  le Marechal de Richelieu  This society is Olympus  Mercury and
the Prince de Guemenee are at home there  A thief is admitted there 
provided he be a god 

The Comte de Lamothe  who  in 1815  was an old man seventy five years of
age  had nothing remarkable about him except his silent and sententious
air  his cold and angular face  his perfectly polished manners  his coat
buttoned up to his cravat  and his long legs always crossed in long 
flabby trousers of the hue of burnt sienna  His face was the same color
as his trousers 

This M  de Lamothe was  held in consideration  in this salon on account
of his  celebrity  and  strange to say  though true  because of his name
of Valois 

As for M  Gillenormand  his consideration was of absolutely first rate
quality  He had  in spite of his levity  and without its interfering in
any way with his dignity  a certain manner about him which was imposing 
dignified  honest  and lofty  in a bourgeois fashion  and his great
age added to it  One is not a century with impunity  The years finally
produce around a head a venerable dishevelment 

In addition to this  he said things which had the genuine sparkle of the
old rock  Thus  when the King of Prussia  after having restored Louis
XVIII   came to pay the latter a visit under the name of the Count de
Ruppin  he was received by the descendant of Louis XIV  somewhat
as though he had been the Marquis de Brandebourg  and with the most
delicate impertinence  M  Gillenormand approved   All kings who are
not the King of France   said he   are provincial kings   One day  the
following question was put and the following answer returned in his
presence   To what was the editor of the Courrier Francais condemned  
 To be suspended    Sus is superfluous   observed M  Gillenormand  22 
Remarks of this nature found a situation 

At the Te Deum on the anniversary of the return of the Bourbons  he
said  on seeing M  de Talleyrand pass by   There goes his Excellency the
Evil One  

M  Gillenormand was always accompanied by his daughter  that tall
mademoiselle  who was over forty and looked fifty  and by a handsome
little boy of seven years  white  rosy  fresh  with happy and trusting
eyes  who never appeared in that salon without hearing voices murmur
around him   How handsome he is  What a pity  Poor child   This child
was the one of whom we dropped a word a while ago  He was called  poor
child   because he had for a father  a brigand of the Loire  

This brigand of the Loire was M  Gillenormand s son in law  who has
already been mentioned  and whom M  Gillenormand called  the disgrace of
his family  




CHAPTER II  ONE OF THE RED SPECTRES OF THAT EPOCH

Any one who had chanced to pass through the little town of Vernon at
this epoch  and who had happened to walk across that fine monumental
bridge  which will soon be succeeded  let us hope  by some hideous iron
cable bridge  might have observed  had he dropped his eyes over the
parapet  a man about fifty years of age wearing a leather cap  and
trousers and a waistcoat of coarse gray cloth  to which something yellow
which had been a red ribbon  was sewn  shod with wooden sabots  tanned
by the sun  his face nearly black and his hair nearly white  a large
scar on his forehead which ran down upon his cheek  bowed  bent 
prematurely aged  who walked nearly every day  hoe and sickle in hand 
in one of those compartments surrounded by walls which abut on the
bridge  and border the left bank of the Seine like a chain of terraces 
charming enclosures full of flowers of which one could say  were they
much larger   these are gardens   and were they a little smaller   these
are bouquets   All these enclosures abut upon the river at one end  and
on a house at the other  The man in the waistcoat and the wooden shoes
of whom we have just spoken  inhabited the smallest of these enclosures
and the most humble of these houses about 1817  He lived there alone and
solitary  silently and poorly  with a woman who was neither young nor
old  neither homely nor pretty  neither a peasant nor a bourgeoise  who
served him  The plot of earth which he called his garden was celebrated
in the town for the beauty of the flowers which he cultivated there 
These flowers were his occupation 

By dint of labor  of perseverance  of attention  and of buckets of
water  he had succeeded in creating after the Creator  and he had
invented certain tulips and certain dahlias which seemed to have been
forgotten by nature  He was ingenious  he had forestalled Soulange
Bodin in the formation of little clumps of earth of heath mould  for the
cultivation of rare and precious shrubs from America and China  He
was in his alleys from the break of day  in summer  planting  cutting 
hoeing  watering  walking amid his flowers with an air of kindness 
sadness  and sweetness  sometimes standing motionless and thoughtful
for hours  listening to the song of a bird in the trees  the babble of a
child in a house  or with his eyes fixed on a drop of dew at the tip of
a spear of grass  of which the sun made a carbuncle  His table was very
plain  and he drank more milk than wine  A child could make him give
way  and his servant scolded him  He was so timid that he seemed shy  he
rarely went out  and he saw no one but the poor people who tapped at his
pane and his cure  the Abbe Mabeuf  a good old man  Nevertheless  if the
inhabitants of the town  or strangers  or any chance comers  curious to
see his tulips  rang at his little cottage  he opened his door with a
smile  He was the  brigand of the Loire  

Any one who had  at the same time  read military memoirs  biographies 
the Moniteur  and the bulletins of the grand army  would have been
struck by a name which occurs there with tolerable frequency  the name
of Georges Pontmercy  When very young  this Georges Pontmercy had been
a soldier in Saintonge s regiment  The revolution broke out  Saintonge s
regiment formed a part of the army of the Rhine  for the old regiments
of the monarchy preserved their names of provinces even after the fall
of the monarchy  and were only divided into brigades in 1794  Pontmercy
fought at Spire  at Worms  at Neustadt  at Turkheim  at Alzey  at
Mayence  where he was one of the two hundred who formed Houchard s
rearguard  It was the twelfth to hold its ground against the corps
of the Prince of Hesse  behind the old rampart of Andernach  and only
rejoined the main body of the army when the enemy s cannon had opened
a breach from the cord of the parapet to the foot of the glacis  He was
under Kleber at Marchiennes and at the battle of Mont Palissel  where
a ball from a biscaien broke his arm  Then he passed to the frontier
of Italy  and was one of the thirty grenadiers who defended the Col
de Tende with Joubert  Joubert was appointed its adjutant general  and
Pontmercy sub lieutenant  Pontmercy was by Berthier s side in the midst
of the grape shot of that day at Lodi which caused Bonaparte to say 
 Berthier has been cannoneer  cavalier  and grenadier   He beheld his
old general  Joubert  fall at Novi  at the moment when  with uplifted
sabre  he was shouting   Forward   Having been embarked with his
company in the exigencies of the campaign  on board a pinnace which was
proceeding from Genoa to some obscure port on the coast  he fell into
a wasps  nest of seven or eight English vessels  The Genoese commander
wanted to throw his cannon into the sea  to hide the soldiers between
decks  and to slip along in the dark as a merchant vessel  Pontmercy had
the colors hoisted to the peak  and sailed proudly past under the guns
of the British frigates  Twenty leagues further on  his audacity having
increased  he attacked with his pinnace  and captured a large English
transport which was carrying troops to Sicily  and which was so loaded
down with men and horses that the vessel was sunk to the level of the
sea  In 1805 he was in that Malher division which took Gunzberg from the
Archduke Ferdinand  At Weltingen he received into his arms  beneath a
storm of bullets  Colonel Maupetit  mortally wounded at the head of the
9th Dragoons  He distinguished himself at Austerlitz in that admirable
march in echelons effected under the enemy s fire  When the cavalry of
the Imperial Russian Guard crushed a battalion of the 4th of the line 
Pontmercy was one of those who took their revenge and overthrew the
Guard  The Emperor gave him the cross  Pontmercy saw Wurmser at Mantua 
Melas  and Alexandria  Mack at Ulm  made prisoners in succession 
He formed a part of the eighth corps of the grand army which Mortier
commanded  and which captured Hamburg  Then he was transferred to the
55th of the line  which was the old regiment of Flanders  At Eylau
he was in the cemetery where  for the space of two hours  the heroic
Captain Louis Hugo  the uncle of the author of this book  sustained
alone with his company of eighty three men every effort of the hostile
army  Pontmercy was one of the three who emerged alive from that
cemetery  He was at Friedland  Then he saw Moscow  Then La Beresina 
then Lutzen  Bautzen  Dresden  Wachau  Leipzig  and the defiles of
Gelenhausen  then Montmirail  Chateau Thierry  Craon  the banks of the
Marne  the banks of the Aisne  and the redoubtable position of Laon  At
Arnay Le Duc  being then a captain  he put ten Cossacks to the sword 
and saved  not his general  but his corporal  He was well slashed up on
this occasion  and twenty seven splinters were extracted from his left
arm alone  Eight days before the capitulation of Paris he had just
exchanged with a comrade and entered the cavalry  He had what was called
under the old regime  the double hand  that is to say  an equal aptitude
for handling the sabre or the musket as a soldier  or a squadron or
a battalion as an officer  It is from this aptitude  perfected by a
military education  which certain special branches of the service arise 
the dragoons  for example  who are both cavalry men and infantry at one
and the same time  He accompanied Napoleon to the Island of Elba  At
Waterloo  he was chief of a squadron of cuirassiers  in Dubois  brigade 
It was he who captured the standard of the Lunenburg battalion  He came
and cast the flag at the Emperor s feet  He was covered with blood 
While tearing down the banner he had received a sword cut across his
face  The Emperor  greatly pleased  shouted to him   You are a colonel 
you are a baron  you are an officer of the Legion of Honor   Pontmercy
replied   Sire  I thank you for my widow   An hour later  he fell in the
ravine of Ohain  Now  who was this Georges Pontmercy  He was this same
 brigand of the Loire  

We have already seen something of his history  After Waterloo 
Pontmercy  who had been pulled out of the hollow road of Ohain  as it
will be remembered  had succeeded in joining the army  and had dragged
himself from ambulance to ambulance as far as the cantonments of the
Loire 

The Restoration had placed him on half pay  then had sent him into
residence  that is to say  under surveillance  at Vernon  King Louis
XVIII   regarding all that which had taken place during the Hundred
Days as not having occurred at all  did not recognize his quality as an
officer of the Legion of Honor  nor his grade of colonel  nor his title
of baron  He  on his side  neglected no occasion of signing himself
 Colonel Baron Pontmercy   He had only an old blue coat  and he never
went out without fastening to it his rosette as an officer of the Legion
of Honor  The Attorney for the Crown had him warned that the authorities
would prosecute him for  illegal  wearing of this decoration  When this
notice was conveyed to him through an officious intermediary  Pontmercy
retorted with a bitter smile   I do not know whether I no longer
understand French  or whether you no longer speak it  but the fact is
that I do not understand   Then he went out for eight successive days
with his rosette  They dared not interfere with him  Two or three times
the Minister of War and the general in command of the department wrote
to him with the following address   A Monsieur le Commandant Pontmercy  
He sent back the letters with the seals unbroken  At the same moment 
Napoleon at Saint Helena was treating in the same fashion the missives
of Sir Hudson Lowe addressed to General Bonaparte  Pontmercy had ended 
may we be pardoned the expression  by having in his mouth the same
saliva as his Emperor 

In the same way  there were at Rome Carthaginian prisoners who refused
to salute Flaminius  and who had a little of Hannibal s spirit 

One day he encountered the district attorney in one of the streets of
Vernon  stepped up to him  and said   Mr  Crown Attorney  am I permitted
to wear my scar  

He had nothing save his meagre half pay as chief of squadron  He had
hired the smallest house which he could find at Vernon  He lived there
alone  we have just seen how  Under the Empire  between two wars  he
had found time to marry Mademoiselle Gillenormand  The old bourgeois 
thoroughly indignant at bottom  had given his consent with a sigh 
saying   The greatest families are forced into it   In 1815  Madame
Pontmercy  an admirable woman in every sense  by the way  lofty in
sentiment and rare  and worthy of her husband  died  leaving a
child  This child had been the colonel s joy in his solitude  but the
grandfather had imperatively claimed his grandson  declaring that if
the child were not given to him he would disinherit him  The father had
yielded in the little one s interest  and had transferred his love to
flowers 

Moreover  he had renounced everything  and neither stirred up mischief
nor conspired  He shared his thoughts between the innocent things which
he was then doing and the great things which he had done  He passed his
time in expecting a pink or in recalling Austerlitz 

M  Gillenormand kept up no relations with his son in law  The colonel
was  a bandit  to him  M  Gillenormand never mentioned the colonel 
except when he occasionally made mocking allusions to  his Baronship  
It had been expressly agreed that Pontmercy should never attempt to see
his son nor to speak to him  under penalty of having the latter handed
over to him disowned and disinherited  For the Gillenormands  Pontmercy
was a man afflicted with the plague  They intended to bring up the
child in their own way  Perhaps the colonel was wrong to accept these
conditions  but he submitted to them  thinking that he was doing right
and sacrificing no one but himself 

The inheritance of Father Gillenormand did not amount to much  but the
inheritance of Mademoiselle Gillenormand the elder was considerable 
This aunt  who had remained unmarried  was very rich on the maternal
side  and her sister s son was her natural heir  The boy  whose name was
Marius  knew that he had a father  but nothing more  No one opened
his mouth to him about it  Nevertheless  in the society into which his
grandfather took him  whispers  innuendoes  and winks  had eventually
enlightened the little boy s mind  he had finally understood something
of the case  and as he naturally took in the ideas and opinions which
were  so to speak  the air he breathed  by a sort of infiltration and
slow penetration  he gradually came to think of his father only with
shame and with a pain at his heart 

While he was growing up in this fashion  the colonel slipped away every
two or three months  came to Paris on the sly  like a criminal breaking
his ban  and went and posted himself at Saint Sulpice  at the hour when
Aunt Gillenormand led Marius to the mass  There  trembling lest the aunt
should turn round  concealed behind a pillar  motionless  not daring to
breathe  he gazed at his child  The scarred veteran was afraid of that
old spinster 

From this had arisen his connection with the cure of Vernon  M  l Abbe
Mabeuf 

That worthy priest was the brother of a warden of Saint Sulpice  who had
often observed this man gazing at his child  and the scar on his cheek 
and the large tears in his eyes  That man  who had so manly an air  yet
who was weeping like a woman  had struck the warden  That face had clung
to his mind  One day  having gone to Vernon to see his brother  he had
encountered Colonel Pontmercy on the bridge  and had recognized the man
of Saint Sulpice  The warden had mentioned the circumstance to the cure 
and both had paid the colonel a visit  on some pretext or other  This
visit led to others  The colonel  who had been extremely reserved at
first  ended by opening his heart  and the cure and the warden finally
came to know the whole history  and how Pontmercy was sacrificing his
happiness to his child s future  This caused the cure to regard him with
veneration and tenderness  and the colonel  on his side  became fond
of the cure  And moreover  when both are sincere and good  no men so
penetrate each other  and so amalgamate with each other  as an old
priest and an old soldier  At bottom  the man is the same  The one has
devoted his life to his country here below  the other to his country on
high  that is the only difference 

Twice a year  on the first of January and on St  George s day  Marius
wrote duty letters to his father  which were dictated by his aunt  and
which one would have pronounced to be copied from some formula  this was
all that M  Gillenormand tolerated  and the father answered them with
very tender letters which the grandfather thrust into his pocket unread 




CHAPTER III  REQUIESCANT

Madame de T  s salon was all that Marius Pontmercy knew of the world  It
was the only opening through which he could get a glimpse of life  This
opening was sombre  and more cold than warmth  more night than day  came
to him through this skylight  This child  who had been all joy and light
on entering this strange world  soon became melancholy  and  what is
still more contrary to his age  grave  Surrounded by all those singular
and imposing personages  he gazed about him with serious amazement 
Everything conspired to increase this astonishment in him  There were
in Madame de T  s salon some very noble ladies named Mathan  Noe 
Levis   which was pronounced Levi   Cambis  pronounced Cambyse  These
antique visages and these Biblical names mingled in the child s mind
with the Old Testament which he was learning by heart  and when they
were all there  seated in a circle around a dying fire  sparely lighted
by a lamp shaded with green  with their severe profiles  their gray or
white hair  their long gowns of another age  whose lugubrious colors
could not be distinguished  dropping  at rare intervals  words which
were both majestic and severe  little Marius stared at them with
frightened eyes  in the conviction that he beheld not women  but
patriarchs and magi  not real beings  but phantoms 

With these phantoms  priests were sometimes mingled  frequenters of
this ancient salon  and some gentlemen  the Marquis de Sass      private
secretary to Madame de Berry  the Vicomte de Val     who published 
under the pseudonyme of Charles Antoine  monorhymed odes  the Prince de
Beauff         who  though very young  had a gray head and a pretty and
witty wife  whose very low necked toilettes of scarlet velvet with gold
torsades alarmed these shadows  the Marquis de C     d E        the man
in all France who best understood  proportioned politeness   the Comte
d Am       the kindly man with the amiable chin  and the Chevalier de
Port de Guy  a pillar of the library of the Louvre  called the King s
cabinet  M  de Port de Guy  bald  and rather aged than old  was wont
to relate that in 1793  at the age of sixteen  he had been put in the
galleys as refractory and chained with an octogenarian  the Bishop
of Mirepoix  also refractory  but as a priest  while he was so in the
capacity of a soldier  This was at Toulon  Their business was to go at
night and gather up on the scaffold the heads and bodies of the persons
who had been guillotined during the day  they bore away on their backs
these dripping corpses  and their red galley slave blouses had a clot of
blood at the back of the neck  which was dry in the morning and wet at
night  These tragic tales abounded in Madame de T  s salon  and by
dint of cursing Marat  they applauded Trestaillon  Some deputies of the
undiscoverable variety played their whist there  M  Thibord du Chalard 
M  Lemarchant de Gomicourt  and the celebrated scoffer of the right  M 
Cornet Dincourt  The bailiff de Ferrette  with his short breeches
and his thin legs  sometimes traversed this salon on his way to M  de
Talleyrand  He had been M  le Comte d Artois  companion in pleasures and
unlike Aristotle crouching under Campaspe  he had made the Guimard crawl
on all fours  and in that way he had exhibited to the ages a philosopher
avenged by a bailiff  As for the priests  there was the Abbe Halma  the
same to whom M  Larose  his collaborator on la Foudre  said   Bah  Who
is there who is not fifty years old  a few greenhorns perhaps   The Abbe
Letourneur  preacher to the King  the Abbe Frayssinous  who was not  as
yet  either count  or bishop  or minister  or peer  and who wore an old
cassock whose buttons were missing  and the Abbe Keravenant  Cure of
Saint Germain des Pres  also the Pope s Nuncio  then Monsignor Macchi 
Archbishop of Nisibi  later on Cardinal  remarkable for his long 
pensive nose  and another Monsignor  entitled thus  Abbate Palmieri 
domestic prelate  one of the seven participant prothonotaries of the
Holy See  Canon of the illustrious Liberian basilica  Advocate of the
saints  Postulatore dei Santi  which refers to matters of canonization 
and signifies very nearly  Master of Requests of the section of
Paradise  Lastly  two cardinals  M  de la Luzerne  and M  de Cl      
T         The Cardinal of Luzerne was a writer and was destined to have 
a few years later  the honor of signing in the Conservateur articles
side by side with Chateaubriand  M  de Cl       T        was Archbishop
of Toul      and often made trips to Paris  to his nephew  the Marquis
de T         who was Minister of Marine and War  The Cardinal of
Cl       T        was a merry little man  who displayed his red
stockings beneath his tucked up cassock  his specialty was a hatred of
the Encyclopaedia  and his desperate play at billiards  and persons who 
at that epoch  passed through the Rue M      on summer evenings  where
the hotel de Cl       T        then stood  halted to listen to the shock
of the balls and the piercing voice of the Cardinal shouting to his
conclavist  Monseigneur Cotiret  Bishop in partibus of Caryste   Mark 
Abbe  I make a cannon   The Cardinal de Cl       T        had been
brought to Madame de T  s by his most intimate friend  M  de Roquelaure 
former Bishop of Senlis  and one of the Forty  M  de Roquelaure was
notable for his lofty figure and his assiduity at the Academy  through
the glass door of the neighboring hall of the library where the French
Academy then held its meetings  the curious could  on every Tuesday 
contemplate the Ex Bishop of Senlis  usually standing erect  freshly
powdered  in violet hose  with his back turned to the door  apparently
for the purpose of allowing a better view of his little collar  All
these ecclesiastics  though for the most part as much courtiers as
churchmen  added to the gravity of the T  salon  whose seigniorial
aspect was accentuated by five peers of France  the Marquis de Vib     
the Marquis de Tal     the Marquis de Herb         the Vicomte Damb    
and the Duc de Val          This Duc de Val          although Prince de
Mon     that is to say a reigning prince abroad  had so high an idea of
France and its peerage  that he viewed everything through their medium 
It was he who said   The Cardinals are the peers of France of Rome 
the lords are the peers of France of England   Moreover  as it is
indispensable that the Revolution should be everywhere in this century 
this feudal salon was  as we have said  dominated by a bourgeois  M 
Gillenormand reigned there 

There lay the essence and quintessence of the Parisian white society 
There reputations  even Royalist reputations  were held in quarantine 
There is always a trace of anarchy in renown  Chateaubriand  had he
entered there  would have produced the effect of Pere Duchene  Some of
the scoffed at did  nevertheless  penetrate thither on sufferance  Comte
Beug    was received there  subject to correction 

The  noble  salons of the present day no longer resemble those salons 
The Faubourg Saint Germain reeks of the fagot even now  The Royalists of
to day are demagogues  let us record it to their credit 

At Madame de T  s the society was superior  taste was exquisite and
haughty  under the cover of a great show of politeness  Manners there
admitted of all sorts of involuntary refinements which were the old
regime itself  buried but still alive  Some of these habits  especially
in the matter of language  seem eccentric  Persons but superficially
acquainted with them would have taken for provincial that which was only
antique  A woman was called Madame la Generale  Madame la Colonelle was
not entirely disused  The charming Madame de Leon  in memory  no
doubt  of the Duchesses de Longueville and de Chevreuse  preferred this
appellation to her title of Princesse  The Marquise de Crequy was also
called Madame la Colonelle 

It was this little high society which invented at the Tuileries the
refinement of speaking to the King in private as the King  in the third
person  and never as Your Majesty  the designation of Your Majesty
having been  soiled by the usurper  

Men and deeds were brought to judgment there  They jeered at the age 
which released them from the necessity of understanding it  They abetted
each other in amazement  They communicated to each other that modicum
of light which they possessed  Methuselah bestowed information on
Epimenides  The deaf man made the blind man acquainted with the course
of things  They declared that the time which had elasped since Coblentz
had not existed  In the same manner that Louis XVIII  was by the grace
of God  in the five and twentieth year of his reign  the emigrants were 
by rights  in the five and twentieth year of their adolescence 

All was harmonious  nothing was too much alive  speech hardly amounted
to a breath  the newspapers  agreeing with the salons  seemed a papyrus 
There were some young people  but they were rather dead  The liveries in
the antechamber were antiquated  These utterly obsolete personages were
served by domestics of the same stamp 

They all had the air of having lived a long time ago  and of obstinately
resisting the sepulchre  Nearly the whole dictionary consisted of
Conserver  Conservation  Conservateur  to be in good odor   that was the
point  There are  in fact  aromatics in the opinions of these venerable
groups  and their ideas smelled of it  It was a mummified society  The
masters were embalmed  the servants were stuffed with straw 

A worthy old marquise  an emigree and ruined  who had but a solitary
maid  continued to say   My people  

What did they do in Madame de T  s salon  They were ultra 

To be ultra  this word  although what it represents may not have
disappeared  has no longer any meaning at the present day  Let us
explain it 

To be ultra is to go beyond  It is to attack the sceptre in the name of
the throne  and the mitre in the name of the attar  it is to ill treat
the thing which one is dragging  it is to kick over the traces  it is
to cavil at the fagot on the score of the amount of cooking received by
heretics  it is to reproach the idol with its small amount of idolatry 
it is to insult through excess of respect  it is to discover that the
Pope is not sufficiently papish  that the King is not sufficiently
royal  and that the night has too much light  it is to be discontented
with alabaster  with snow  with the swan and the lily in the name of
whiteness  it is to be a partisan of things to the point of becoming
their enemy  it is to be so strongly for  as to be against 

The ultra spirit especially characterizes the first phase of the
Restoration 

Nothing in history resembles that quarter of an hour which begins in
1814 and terminates about 1820  with the advent of M  de Villele 
the practical man of the Right  These six years were an extraordinary
moment  at one and the same time brilliant and gloomy  smiling and
sombre  illuminated as by the radiance of dawn and entirely covered  at
the same time  with the shadows of the great catastrophes which still
filled the horizon and were slowly sinking into the past  There existed
in that light and that shadow  a complete little new and old world 
comic and sad  juvenile and senile  which was rubbing its eyes  nothing
resembles an awakening like a return  a group which regarded France
with ill temper  and which France regarded with irony  good old owls
of marquises by the streetful  who had returned  and of ghosts  the
 former  subjects of amazement at everything  brave and noble gentlemen
who smiled at being in France but wept also  delighted to behold
their country once more  in despair at not finding their monarchy  the
nobility of the Crusades treating the nobility of the Empire  that is to
say  the nobility of the sword  with scorn  historic races who had
lost the sense of history  the sons of the companions of Charlemagne
disdaining the companions of Napoleon  The swords  as we have just
remarked  returned the insult  the sword of Fontenoy was laughable and
nothing but a scrap of rusty iron  the sword of Marengo was odious and
was only a sabre  Former days did not recognize Yesterday  People no
longer had the feeling for what was grand  There was some one who called
Bonaparte Scapin  This Society no longer exists  Nothing of it  we
repeat  exists to day  When we select from it some one figure at random 
and attempt to make it live again in thought  it seems as strange to us
as the world before the Deluge  It is because it  too  as a matter of
fact  has been engulfed in a deluge  It has disappeared beneath two
Revolutions  What billows are ideas  How quickly they cover all that it
is their mission to destroy and to bury  and how promptly they create
frightful gulfs 

Such was the physiognomy of the salons of those distant and candid times
when M  Martainville had more wit than Voltaire 

These salons had a literature and politics of their own  They believed
in Fievee  M  Agier laid down the law in them  They commentated M 
Colnet  the old bookseller and publicist of the Quay Malaquais  Napoleon
was to them thoroughly the Corsican Ogre  Later on the introduction into
history of M  le Marquis de Bonaparte  Lieutenant General of the King s
armies  was a concession to the spirit of the age 

These salons did not long preserve their purity  Beginning with 1818 
doctrinarians began to spring up in them  a disturbing shade  Their way
was to be Royalists and to excuse themselves for being so  Where the
ultras were very proud  the doctrinarians were rather ashamed  They had
wit  they had silence  their political dogma was suitably impregnated
with arrogance  they should have succeeded  They indulged  and usefully
too  in excesses in the matter of white neckties and tightly buttoned
coats  The mistake or the misfortune of the doctrinarian party was to
create aged youth  They assumed the poses of wise men  They dreamed of
engrafting a temperate power on the absolute and excessive principle 
They opposed  and sometimes with rare intelligence  conservative
liberalism to the liberalism which demolishes  They were heard to say 
 Thanks for Royalism  It has rendered more than one service  It has
brought back tradition  worship  religion  respect  It is faithful 
brave  chivalric  loving  devoted  It has mingled  though with regret 
the secular grandeurs of the monarchy with the new grandeurs of the
nation  Its mistake is not to understand the Revolution  the Empire 
glory  liberty  young ideas  young generations  the age  But this
mistake which it makes with regard to us   have we not sometimes been
guilty of it towards them  The Revolution  whose heirs we are  ought to
be intelligent on all points  To attack Royalism is a misconstruction of
liberalism  What an error  And what blindness  Revolutionary France is
wanting in respect towards historic France  that is to say  towards its
mother  that is to say  towards itself  After the 5th of September  the
nobility of the monarchy is treated as the nobility of the Empire was
treated after the 5th of July  They were unjust to the eagle  we are
unjust to the fleur de lys  It seems that we must always have something
to proscribe  Does it serve any purpose to ungild the crown of Louis
XIV   to scrape the coat of arms of Henry IV   We scoff at M  de
Vaublanc for erasing the N s from the bridge of Jena  What was it that
he did  What are we doing  Bouvines belongs to us as well as Marengo 
The fleurs de lys are ours as well as the N s  That is our patrimony  To
what purpose shall we diminish it  We must not deny our country in the
past any more than in the present  Why not accept the whole of history 
Why not love the whole of France  

It is thus that doctrinarians criticised and protected Royalism  which
was displeased at criticism and furious at protection 

The ultras marked the first epoch of Royalism  congregation
characterized the second  Skill follows ardor  Let us confine ourselves
here to this sketch 

In the course of this narrative  the author of this book has encountered
in his path this curious moment of contemporary history  he has been
forced to cast a passing glance upon it  and to trace once more some of
the singular features of this society which is unknown to day  But he
does it rapidly and without any bitter or derisive idea  Souvenirs both
respectful and affectionate  for they touch his mother  attach him to
this past  Moreover  let us remark  this same petty world had a grandeur
of its own  One may smile at it  but one can neither despise nor hate
it  It was the France of former days 

Marius Pontmercy pursued some studies  as all children do  When he
emerged from the hands of Aunt Gillenormand  his grandfather confided
him to a worthy professor of the most purely classic innocence  This
young soul which was expanding passed from a prude to a vulgar pedant 

Marius went through his years of college  then he entered the law
school  He was a Royalist  fanatical and severe  He did not love his
grandfather much  as the latter s gayety and cynicism repelled him  and
his feelings towards his father were gloomy 

He was  on the whole  a cold and ardent  noble  generous  proud 
religious  enthusiastic lad  dignified to harshness  pure to shyness 




CHAPTER IV  END OF THE BRIGAND

The conclusion of Marius  classical studies coincided with M 
Gillenormand s departure from society  The old man bade farewell to
the Faubourg Saint Germain and to Madame de T  s salon  and established
himself in the Mardis  in his house of the Rue des Filles du Calvaire 
There he had for servants  in addition to the porter  that chambermaid 
Nicolette  who had succeeded to Magnon  and that short breathed and
pursy Basque  who have been mentioned above 

In 1827  Marius had just attained his seventeenth year  One evening  on
his return home  he saw his grandfather holding a letter in his hand 

 Marius   said M  Gillenormand   you will set out for Vernon to morrow  

 Why   said Marius 

 To see your father  

Marius was seized with a trembling fit  He had thought of everything
except this  that he should one day be called upon to see his father 
Nothing could be more unexpected  more surprising  and  let us admit
it  more disagreeable to him  It was forcing estrangement into
reconciliation  It was not an affliction  but it was an unpleasant duty 

Marius  in addition to his motives of political antipathy  was convinced
that his father  the slasher  as M  Gillenormand called him on his
amiable days  did not love him  this was evident  since he had abandoned
him to others  Feeling that he was not beloved  he did not love 
 Nothing is more simple   he said to himself 

He was so astounded that he did not question M  Gillenormand  The
grandfather resumed   

 It appears that he is ill  He demands your presence  

And after a pause  he added   

 Set out to morrow morning  I think there is a coach which leaves the
Cour des Fontaines at six o clock  and which arrives in the evening 
Take it  He says that here is haste  

Then he crushed the letter in his hand and thrust it into his pocket 
Marius might have set out that very evening and have been with his
father on the following morning  A diligence from the Rue du Bouloi
took the trip to Rouen by night at that date  and passed through Vernon 
Neither Marius nor M  Gillenormand thought of making inquiries about it 

The next day  at twilight  Marius reached Vernon  People were just
beginning to light their candles  He asked the first person whom he
met for  M  Pontmercy s house   For in his own mind  he agreed with the
Restoration  and like it  did not recognize his father s claim to the
title of either colonel or baron 

The house was pointed out to him  He rang  a woman with a little lamp in
her hand opened the door 

 M  Pontmercy   said Marius 

The woman remained motionless 

 Is this his house   demanded Marius 

The woman nodded affirmatively 

 Can I speak with him  

The woman shook her head 

 But I am his son   persisted Marius   He is expecting me  

 He no longer expects you   said the woman 

Then he perceived that she was weeping 

She pointed to the door of a room on the ground floor  he entered 

In that room  which was lighted by a tallow candle standing on the
chimney piece  there were three men  one standing erect  another
kneeling  and one lying at full length  on the floor in his shirt  The
one on the floor was the colonel 

The other two were the doctor  and the priest  who was engaged in
prayer 

The colonel had been attacked by brain fever three days previously  As
he had a foreboding of evil at the very beginning of his illness  he
had written to M  Gillenormand to demand his son  The malady had grown
worse  On the very evening of Marius  arrival at Vernon  the colonel had
had an attack of delirium  he had risen from his bed  in spite of the
servant s efforts to prevent him  crying   My son is not coming  I shall
go to meet him   Then he ran out of his room and fell prostrate on the
floor of the antechamber  He had just expired 

The doctor had been summoned  and the cure  The doctor had arrived too
late  The son had also arrived too late 

By the dim light of the candle  a large tear could be distinguished on
the pale and prostrate colonel s cheek  where it had trickled from his
dead eye  The eye was extinguished  but the tear was not yet dry  That
tear was his son s delay 

Marius gazed upon that man whom he beheld for the first time  on that
venerable and manly face  on those open eyes which saw not  on those
white locks  those robust limbs  on which  here and there  brown
lines  marking sword thrusts  and a sort of red stars  which indicated
bullet holes  were visible  He contemplated that gigantic sear which
stamped heroism on that countenance upon which God had imprinted
goodness  He reflected that this man was his father  and that this man
was dead  and a chill ran over him 

The sorrow which he felt was the sorrow which he would have felt in the
presence of any other man whom he had chanced to behold stretched out in
death 

Anguish  poignant anguish  was in that chamber  The servant woman was
lamenting in a corner  the cure was praying  and his sobs were audible 
the doctor was wiping his eyes  the corpse itself was weeping 

The doctor  the priest  and the woman gazed at Marius in the midst of
their affliction without uttering a word  he was the stranger there 
Marius  who was far too little affected  felt ashamed and embarrassed at
his own attitude  he held his hat in his hand  and he dropped it on the
floor  in order to produce the impression that grief had deprived him of
the strength to hold it 

At the same time  he experienced remorse  and he despised himself for
behaving in this manner  But was it his fault  He did not love his
father  Why should he 

The colonel had left nothing  The sale of big furniture barely paid the
expenses of his burial 

The servant found a scrap of paper  which she handed to Marius  It
contained the following  in the colonel s handwriting   

 For my son   The Emperor made me a Baron on the battle field of
Waterloo  Since the Restoration disputes my right to this title which I
purchased with my blood  my son shall take it and bear it  That he will
be worthy of it is a matter of course   Below  the colonel had added 
 At that same battle of Waterloo  a sergeant saved my life  The man s
name was Thenardier  I think that he has recently been keeping a
little inn  in a village in the neighborhood of Paris  at Chelles or
Montfermeil  If my son meets him  he will do all the good he can to
Thenardier  

Marius took this paper and preserved it  not out of duty to his father 
but because of that vague respect for death which is always imperious in
the heart of man 

Nothing remained of the colonel  M  Gillenormand had his sword and
uniform sold to an old clothes dealer  The neighbors devastated the
garden and pillaged the rare flowers  The other plants turned to nettles
and weeds  and died 

Marius remained only forty eight hours at Vernon  After the interment he
returned to Paris  and applied himself again to his law studies  with
no more thought of his father than if the latter had never lived  In two
days the colonel was buried  and in three forgotten 

Marius wore crape on his hat  That was all 




CHAPTER V  THE UTILITY OF GOING TO MASS  IN ORDER TO BECOME A
REVOLUTIONIST

Marius had preserved the religious habits of his childhood  One Sunday 
when he went to hear mass at Saint Sulpice  at that same chapel of the
Virgin whither his aunt had led him when a small lad  he placed himself
behind a pillar  being more absent minded and thoughtful than usual on
that occasion  and knelt down  without paying any special heed  upon a
chair of Utrecht velvet  on the back of which was inscribed this name 
Monsieur Mabeuf  warden  Mass had hardly begun when an old man presented
himself and said to Marius   

 This is my place  sir  

Marius stepped aside promptly  and the old man took possession of his
chair 

The mass concluded  Marius still stood thoughtfully a few paces distant 
the old man approached him again and said   

 I beg your pardon  sir  for having disturbed you a while ago  and for
again disturbing you at this moment  you must have thought me intrusive 
and I will explain myself  

 There is no need of that  Sir   said Marius 

 Yes   went on the old man   I do not wish you to have a bad opinion of
me  You see  I am attached to this place  It seems to me that the mass
is better from here  Why  I will tell you  It is from this place  that
I have watched a poor  brave father come regularly  every two or three
months  for the last ten years  since he had no other opportunity and
no other way of seeing his child  because he was prevented by family
arrangements  He came at the hour when he knew that his son would be
brought to mass  The little one never suspected that his father was
there  Perhaps he did not even know that he had a father  poor innocent 
The father kept behind a pillar  so that he might not be seen  He gazed
at his child and he wept  He adored that little fellow  poor man  I
could see that  This spot has become sanctified in my sight  and I have
contracted a habit of coming hither to listen to the mass  I prefer it
to the stall to which I have a right  in my capacity of warden  I knew
that unhappy gentleman a little  too  He had a father in law  a wealthy
aunt  relatives  I don t know exactly what all  who threatened to
disinherit the child if he  the father  saw him  He sacrificed himself
in order that his son might be rich and happy some day  He was separated
from him because of political opinions  Certainly  I approve of
political opinions  but there are people who do not know where to stop 
Mon Dieu  a man is not a monster because he was at Waterloo  a father
is not separated from his child for such a reason as that  He was one of
Bonaparte s colonels  He is dead  I believe  He lived at Vernon  where I
have a brother who is a cure  and his name was something like Pontmarie
or Montpercy  He had a fine sword cut  on my honor  

 Pontmercy   suggested Marius  turning pale 

 Precisely  Pontmercy  Did you know him  

 Sir   said Marius   he was my father  

The old warden clasped his hands and exclaimed   

 Ah  you are the child  Yes  that s true  he must be a man by this
time  Well  poor child  you may say that you had a father who loved you
dearly  

Marius offered his arm to the old man and conducted him to his lodgings 

On the following day  he said to M  Gillenormand   

 I have arranged a hunting party with some friends  Will you permit me
to be absent for three days  

 Four   replied his grandfather   Go and amuse yourself  

And he said to his daughter in a low tone  and with a wink   Some love
affair  




CHAPTER VI  THE CONSEQUENCES OF HAVING MET A WARDEN

Where it was that Marius went will be disclosed a little further on 

Marius was absent for three days  then he returned to Paris  went
straight to the library of the law school and asked for the files of the
Moniteur 

He read the Moniteur  he read all the histories of the Republic and
the Empire  the Memorial de Sainte Helene  all the memoirs  all the
newspapers  the bulletins  the proclamations  he devoured everything 
The first time that he came across his father s name in the bulletins of
the grand army  he had a fever for a week  He went to see the generals
under whom Georges Pontmercy had served  among others  Comte H 
Church warden Mabeuf  whom he went to see again  told him about the life
at Vernon  the colonel s retreat  his flowers  his solitude  Marius came
to a full knowledge of that rare  sweet  and sublime man  that species
of lion lamb who had been his father 

In the meanwhile  occupied as he was with this study which absorbed all
his moments as well as his thoughts  he hardly saw the Gillenormands at
all  He made his appearance at meals  then they searched for him  and he
was not to be found  Father Gillenormand smiled   Bah  bah  He is just
of the age for the girls   Sometimes the old man added   The deuce 
I thought it was only an affair of gallantry  It seems that it is an
affair of passion  

It was a passion  in fact  Marius was on the high road to adoring his
father 

At the same time  his ideas underwent an extraordinary change  The
phases of this change were numerous and successive  As this is the
history of many minds of our day  we think it will prove useful to
follow these phases step by step and to indicate them all 

That history upon which he had just cast his eyes appalled him 

The first effect was to dazzle him 

Up to that time  the Republic  the Empire  had been to him only
monstrous words  The Republic  a guillotine in the twilight  the Empire 
a sword in the night  He had just taken a look at it  and where he had
expected to find only a chaos of shadows  he had beheld  with a sort
of unprecedented surprise  mingled with fear and joy  stars sparkling 
Mirabeau  Vergniaud  Saint Just  Robespierre  Camille  Desmoulins 
Danton  and a sun arise  Napoleon  He did not know where he stood  He
recoiled  blinded by the brilliant lights  Little by little  when his
astonishment had passed off  he grew accustomed to this radiance  he
contemplated these deeds without dizziness  he examined these personages
without terror  the Revolution and the Empire presented themselves
luminously  in perspective  before his mind s eye  he beheld each of
these groups of events and of men summed up in two tremendous facts  the
Republic in the sovereignty of civil right restored to the masses 
the Empire in the sovereignty of the French idea imposed on Europe  he
beheld the grand figure of the people emerge from the Revolution  and
the grand figure of France spring forth from the Empire  He asserted
in his conscience  that all this had been good  What his dazzled state
neglected in this  his first far too synthetic estimation  we do not
think it necessary to point out here  It is the state of a mind on the
march that we are recording  Progress is not accomplished in one stage 
That stated  once for all  in connection with what precedes as well as
with what is to follow  we continue 

He then perceived that  up to that moment  he had comprehended his
country no more than he had comprehended his father  He had not known
either the one or the other  and a sort of voluntary night had obscured
his eyes  Now he saw  and on the one hand he admired  while on the other
he adored 

He was filled with regret and remorse  and he reflected in despair that
all he had in his soul could now be said only to the tomb  Oh  if his
father had still been in existence  if he had still had him  if God  in
his compassion and his goodness  had permitted his father to be still
among the living  how he would have run  how he would have precipitated
himself  how he would have cried to his father   Father  Here I am  It
is I  I have the same heart as thou  I am thy son   How he would have
embraced that white head  bathed his hair in tears  gazed upon his scar 
pressed his hands  adored his garment  kissed his feet  Oh  Why had his
father died so early  before his time  before the justice  the love of
his son had come to him  Marius had a continual sob in his heart  which
said to him every moment   Alas   At the same time  he became more truly
serious  more truly grave  more sure of his thought and his faith  At
each instant  gleams of the true came to complete his reason  An inward
growth seemed to be in progress within him  He was conscious of a sort
of natural enlargement  which gave him two things that were new to
him  his father and his country 

As everything opens when one has a key  so he explained to himself that
which he had hated  he penetrated that which he had abhorred  henceforth
he plainly perceived the providential  divine and human sense of the
great things which he had been taught to detest  and of the great men
whom he had been instructed to curse  When he reflected on his former
opinions  which were but those of yesterday  and which  nevertheless 
seemed to him already so very ancient  he grew indignant  yet he smiled 

From the rehabilitation of his father  he naturally passed to the
rehabilitation of Napoleon 

But the latter  we will confess  was not effected without labor 

From his infancy  he had been imbued with the judgments of the party of
1814  on Bonaparte  Now  all the prejudices of the Restoration  all its
interests  all its instincts tended to disfigure Napoleon  It execrated
him even more than it did Robespierre  It had very cleverly turned to
sufficiently good account the fatigue of the nation  and the hatred of
mothers  Bonaparte had become an almost fabulous monster  and in order
to paint him to the imagination of the people  which  as we lately
pointed out  resembles the imagination of children  the party of 1814
made him appear under all sorts of terrifying masks in succession  from
that which is terrible though it remains grandiose to that which is
terrible and becomes grotesque  from Tiberius to the bugaboo  Thus  in
speaking of Bonaparte  one was free to sob or to puff up with
laughter  provided that hatred lay at the bottom  Marius had never
entertained  about that man  as he was called  any other ideas in his
mind  They had combined with the tenacity which existed in his nature 
There was in him a headstrong little man who hated Napoleon 

On reading history  on studying him  especially in the documents and
materials for history  the veil which concealed Napoleon from the eyes
of Marius was gradually rent  He caught a glimpse of something immense 
and he suspected that he had been deceived up to that moment  on
the score of Bonaparte as about all the rest  each day he saw more
distinctly  and he set about mounting  slowly  step by step  almost
regretfully in the beginning  then with intoxication and as though
attracted by an irresistible fascination  first the sombre steps  then
the vaguely illuminated steps  at last the luminous and splendid steps
of enthusiasm 

One night  he was alone in his little chamber near the roof  His candle
was burning  he was reading  with his elbows resting on his table close
to the open window  All sorts of reveries reached him from space  and
mingled with his thoughts  What a spectacle is the night  One hears dull
sounds  without knowing whence they proceed  one beholds Jupiter  which
is twelve hundred times larger than the earth  glowing like a firebrand 
the azure is black  the stars shine  it is formidable 

He was perusing the bulletins of the grand army  those heroic strophes
penned on the field of battle  there  at intervals  he beheld his
father s name  always the name of the Emperor  the whole of that great
Empire presented itself to him  he felt a flood swelling and rising
within him  it seemed to him at moments that his father passed close
to him like a breath  and whispered in his ear  he gradually got into
a singular state  he thought that he heard drums  cannon  trumpets 
the measured tread of battalions  the dull and distant gallop of the
cavalry  from time to time  his eyes were raised heavenward  and gazed
upon the colossal constellations as they gleamed in the measureless
depths of space  then they fell upon his book once more  and there they
beheld other colossal things moving confusedly  His heart contracted
within him  He was in a transport  trembling  panting  All at once 
without himself knowing what was in him  and what impulse he was
obeying  he sprang to his feet  stretched both arms out of the window 
gazed intently into the gloom  the silence  the infinite darkness  the
eternal immensity  and exclaimed   Long live the Emperor  

From that moment forth  all was over  the Ogre of Corsica   the
usurper   the tyrant   the monster who was the lover of his own
sisters   the actor who took lessons of Talma   the poisoner of
Jaffa   the tiger   Buonaparte   all this vanished  and gave place
in his mind to a vague and brilliant radiance in which shone  at an
inaccessible height  the pale marble phantom of Caesar  The Emperor had
been for his father only the well beloved captain whom one admires  for
whom one sacrifices one s self  he was something more to Marius  He was
the predestined constructor of the French group  succeeding the Roman
group in the domination of the universe  He was a prodigious architect 
of a destruction  the continuer of Charlemagne  of Louis XI   of Henry
IV   of Richelieu  of Louis XIV   and of the Committee of Public Safety 
having his spots  no doubt  his faults  his crimes even  being a man 
that is to say  but august in his faults  brilliant in his spots 
powerful in his crime 

He was the predestined man  who had forced all nations to say   The
great nation   He was better than that  he was the very incarnation of
France  conquering Europe by the sword which he grasped  and the world
by the light which he shed  Marius saw in Bonaparte the dazzling spectre
which will always rise upon the frontier  and which will guard the
future  Despot but dictator  a despot resulting from a republic and
summing up a revolution  Napoleon became for him the man people as Jesus
Christ is the man God 

It will be perceived  that like all new converts to a religion  his
conversion intoxicated him  he hurled himself headlong into adhesion
and he went too far  His nature was so constructed  once on the downward
slope  it was almost impossible for him to put on the drag  Fanaticism
for the sword took possession of him  and complicated in his mind his
enthusiasm for the idea  He did not perceive that  along with genius 
and pell mell  he was admitting force  that is to say  that he was
installing in two compartments of his idolatry  on the one hand that
which is divine  on the other that which is brutal  In many respects  he
had set about deceiving himself otherwise  He admitted everything  There
is a way of encountering error while on one s way to the truth  He had a
violent sort of good faith which took everything in the lump  In the new
path which he had entered on  in judging the mistakes of the old regime 
as in measuring the glory of Napoleon  he neglected the attenuating
circumstances 

At all events  a tremendous step had been taken  Where he had formerly
beheld the fall of the monarchy  he now saw the advent of France  His
orientation had changed  What had been his East became the West  He had
turned squarely round 

All these revolutions were accomplished within him  without his family
obtaining an inkling of the case 

When  during this mysterious labor  he had entirely shed his old Bourbon
and ultra skin  when he had cast off the aristocrat  the Jacobite and
the Royalist  when he had become thoroughly a revolutionist  profoundly
democratic and republican  he went to an engraver on the Quai des
Orfevres and ordered a hundred cards bearing this name  Le Baron Marius
Pontmercy 

This was only the strictly logical consequence of the change which had
taken place in him  a change in which everything gravitated round his
father 

Only  as he did not know any one and could not sow his cards with any
porter  he put them in his pocket 

By another natural consequence  in proportion as he drew nearer to his
father  to the latter s memory  and to the things for which the
colonel had fought five and twenty years before  he receded from his
grandfather  We have long ago said  that M  Gillenormand s temper did
not please him  There already existed between them all the dissonances
of the grave young man and the frivolous old man  The gayety of Geronte
shocks and exasperates the melancholy of Werther  So long as the same
political opinions and the same ideas had been common to them both 
Marius had met M  Gillenormand there as on a bridge  When the bridge
fell  an abyss was formed  And then  over and above all  Marius
experienced unutterable impulses to revolt  when he reflected that it
was M  Gillenormand who had  from stupid motives  torn him ruthlessly
from the colonel  thus depriving the father of the child  and the child
of the father 

By dint of pity for his father  Marius had nearly arrived at aversion
for his grandfather 

Nothing of this sort  however  was betrayed on the exterior  as we have
already said  Only he grew colder and colder  laconic at meals  and rare
in the house  When his aunt scolded him for it  he was very gentle and
alleged his studies  his lectures  the examinations  etc   as a pretext 
His grandfather never departed from his infallible diagnosis   In love 
I know all about it  

From time to time Marius absented himself 

 Where is it that he goes off like this   said his aunt 

On one of these trips  which were always very brief  he went to
Montfermeil  in order to obey the injunction which his father had
left him  and he sought the old sergeant to Waterloo  the inn keeper
Thenardier  Thenardier had failed  the inn was closed  and no one knew
what had become of him  Marius was away from the house for four days on
this quest 

 He is getting decidedly wild   said his grandfather 

They thought they had noticed that he wore something on his breast 
under his shirt  which was attached to his neck by a black ribbon 




CHAPTER VII  SOME PETTICOAT

We have mentioned a lancer 

He was a great grand nephew of M  Gillenormand  on the paternal side 
who led a garrison life  outside the family and far from the domestic
hearth  Lieutenant Theodule Gillenormand fulfilled all the conditions
required to make what is called a fine officer  He had  a lady s waist  
a victorious manner of trailing his sword and of twirling his mustache
in a hook  He visited Paris very rarely  and so rarely that Marius had
never seen him  The cousins knew each other only by name  We think
we have said that Theodule was the favorite of Aunt Gillenormand  who
preferred him because she did not see him  Not seeing people permits one
to attribute to them all possible perfections 

One morning  Mademoiselle Gillenormand the elder returned to her
apartment as much disturbed as her placidity was capable of allowing 
Marius had just asked his grandfather s permission to take a little
trip  adding that he meant to set out that very evening   Go   had been
his grandfather s reply  and M  Gillenormand had added in an aside  as
he raised his eyebrows to the top of his forehead   Here he is passing
the night out again   Mademoiselle Gillenormand had ascended to
her chamber greatly puzzled  and on the staircase had dropped this
exclamation   This is too much    and this interrogation   But where is
it that he goes   She espied some adventure of the heart  more or less
illicit  a woman in the shadow  a rendezvous  a mystery  and she would
not have been sorry to thrust her spectacles into the affair  Tasting a
mystery resembles getting the first flavor of a scandal  sainted souls
do not detest this  There is some curiosity about scandal in the secret
compartments of bigotry 

So she was the prey of a vague appetite for learning a history 

In order to get rid of this curiosity which agitated her a little beyond
her wont  she took refuge in her talents  and set about scalloping 
with one layer of cotton after another  one of those embroideries of the
Empire and the Restoration  in which there are numerous cart wheels 
The work was clumsy  the worker cross  She had been seated at this for
several hours when the door opened  Mademoiselle Gillenormand raised
her nose  Lieutenant Theodule stood before her  making the regulation
salute  She uttered a cry of delight  One may be old  one may be a
prude  one may be pious  one may be an aunt  but it is always agreeable
to see a lancer enter one s chamber 

 You here  Theodule   she exclaimed 

 On my way through town  aunt  

 Embrace me  

 Here goes   said Theodule 

And he kissed her  Aunt Gillenormand went to her writing desk and opened
it 

 You will remain with us a week at least  

 I leave this very evening  aunt  

 It is not possible  

 Mathematically  

 Remain  my little Theodule  I beseech you  

 My heart says  yes   but my orders say  no   The matter is simple 
They are changing our garrison  we have been at Melun  we are being
transferred to Gaillon  It is necessary to pass through Paris in order
to get from the old post to the new one  I said   I am going to see my
aunt   

 Here is something for your trouble  

And she put ten louis into his hand 

 For my pleasure  you mean to say  my dear aunt  

Theodule kissed her again  and she experienced the joy of having some of
the skin scratched from her neck by the braidings on his uniform 

 Are you making the journey on horseback  with your regiment   she asked
him 

 No  aunt  I wanted to see you  I have special permission  My servant is
taking my horse  I am travelling by diligence  And  by the way  I want
to ask you something  

 What is it  

 Is my cousin Marius Pontmercy travelling so  too  

 How do you know that   said his aunt  suddenly pricked to the quick
with a lively curiosity 

 On my arrival  I went to the diligence to engage my seat in the coupe  

 Well  

 A traveller had already come to engage a seat in the imperial  I saw
his name on the card  

 What name  

 Marius Pontmercy  

 The wicked fellow   exclaimed his aunt   Ah  your cousin is not a
steady lad like yourself  To think that he is to pass the night in a
diligence  

 Just as I am going to do  

 But you  it is your duty  in his case  it is wildness  

 Bosh   said Theodule 

Here an event occurred to Mademoiselle Gillenormand the elder   an idea
struck her  If she had been a man  she would have slapped her brow  She
apostrophized Theodule   

 Are you aware whether your cousin knows you  

 No  I have seen him  but he has never deigned to notice me  

 So you are going to travel together  

 He in the imperial  I in the coupe  

 Where does this diligence run  

 To Andelys  

 Then that is where Marius is going  

 Unless  like myself  he should stop on the way  I get down at Vernon 
in order to take the branch coach for Gaillon  I know nothing of Marius 
plan of travel  

 Marius  what an ugly name  what possessed them to name him Marius 
While you  at least  are called Theodule  

 I would rather be called Alfred   said the officer 

 Listen  Theodule  

 I am listening  aunt  

 Pay attention  

 I am paying attention  

 You understand  

 Yes  

 Well  Marius absents himself  

 Eh  eh  

 He travels  

 Ah  ah  

 He spends the night out  

 Oh  oh  

 We should like to know what there is behind all this  

Theodule replied with the composure of a man of bronze   

 Some petticoat or other  

And with that inward laugh which denotes certainty  he added   

 A lass  

 That is evident   exclaimed his aunt  who thought she heard M 
Gillenormand speaking  and who felt her conviction become irresistible
at that word fillette  accentuated in almost the very same fashion by
the granduncle and the grandnephew  She resumed   

 Do us a favor  Follow Marius a little  He does not know you  it will be
easy  Since a lass there is  try to get a sight of her  You must write
us the tale  It will amuse his grandfather  

Theodule had no excessive taste for this sort of spying  but he was much
touched by the ten louis  and he thought he saw a chance for a possible
sequel  He accepted the commission and said   As you please  aunt  

And he added in an aside  to himself   Here I am a duenna  

Mademoiselle Gillenormand embraced him 

 You are not the man to play such pranks  Theodule  You obey discipline 
you are the slave of orders  you are a man of scruples and duty  and you
would not quit your family to go and see a creature  

The lancer made the pleased grimace of Cartouche when praised for his
probity 

Marius  on the evening following this dialogue  mounted the diligence
without suspecting that he was watched  As for the watcher  the
first thing he did was to fall asleep  His slumber was complete and
conscientious  Argus snored all night long 

At daybreak  the conductor of the diligence shouted   Vernon  relay of
Vernon  Travellers for Vernon   And Lieutenant Theodule woke 

 Good   he growled  still half asleep   this is where I get out  

Then  as his memory cleared by degrees  the effect of waking  he
recalled his aunt  the ten louis  and the account which he had
undertaken to render of the deeds and proceedings of Marius  This set
him to laughing 

 Perhaps he is no longer in the coach   he thought  as he rebuttoned the
waistcoat of his undress uniform   He may have stopped at Poissy  he may
have stopped at Triel  if he did not get out at Meulan  he may have got
out at Mantes  unless he got out at Rolleboise  or if he did not go on
as far as Pacy  with the choice of turning to the left at Evreus  or to
the right at Laroche Guyon  Run after him  aunty  What the devil am I to
write to that good old soul  

At that moment a pair of black trousers descending from the imperial 
made its appearance at the window of the coupe 

 Can that be Marius   said the lieutenant 

It was Marius 

A little peasant girl  all entangled with the horses and the postilions
at the end of the vehicle  was offering flowers to the travellers   Give
your ladies flowers   she cried 

Marius approached her and purchased the finest flowers in her flat
basket 

 Come now   said Theodule  leaping down from the coupe   this piques my
curiosity  Who the deuce is he going to carry those flowers to  She
must be a splendidly handsome woman for so fine a bouquet  I want to see
her  

And no longer in pursuance of orders  but from personal curiosity  like
dogs who hunt on their own account  he set out to follow Marius 

Marius paid no attention to Theodule  Elegant women descended from the
diligence  he did not glance at them  He seemed to see nothing around
him 

 He is pretty deeply in love   thought Theodule 

Marius directed his steps towards the church 

 Capital   said Theodule to himself   Rendezvous seasoned with a bit of
mass are the best sort  Nothing is so exquisite as an ogle which passes
over the good God s head  

On arriving at the church  Marius did not enter it  but skirted the
apse  He disappeared behind one of the angles of the apse 

 The rendezvous is appointed outside   said Theodule   Let s have a look
at the lass  

And he advanced on the tips of his boots towards the corner which Marius
had turned 

On arriving there  he halted in amazement 

Marius  with his forehead clasped in his hands  was kneeling upon the
grass on a grave  He had strewn his bouquet there  At the extremity of
the grave  on a little swelling which marked the head  there stood
a cross of black wood with this name in white letters  COLONEL BARON
PONTMERCY  Marius  sobs were audible 

The  lass  was a grave 




CHAPTER VIII  MARBLE AGAINST GRANITE

It was hither that Marius had come on the first occasion of his
absenting himself from Paris  It was hither that he had come every time
that M  Gillenormand had said   He is sleeping out  

Lieutenant Theodule was absolutely put out of countenance by this
unexpected encounter with a sepulchre  he experienced a singular and
disagreeable sensation which he was incapable of analyzing  and which
was composed of respect for the tomb  mingled with respect for the
colonel  He retreated  leaving Marius alone in the cemetery  and
there was discipline in this retreat  Death appeared to him with large
epaulets  and he almost made the military salute to him  Not knowing
what to write to his aunt  he decided not to write at all  and it is
probable that nothing would have resulted from the discovery made
by Theodule as to the love affairs of Marius  if  by one of those
mysterious arrangements which are so frequent in chance  the scene at
Vernon had not had an almost immediate counter shock at Paris 

Marius returned from Vernon on the third day  in the middle of the
morning  descended at his grandfather s door  and  wearied by the two
nights spent in the diligence  and feeling the need of repairing his
loss of sleep by an hour at the swimming school  he mounted rapidly to
his chamber  took merely time enough to throw off his travelling coat 
and the black ribbon which he wore round his neck  and went off to the
bath 

M  Gillenormand  who had risen betimes like all old men in good health 
had heard his entrance  and had made haste to climb  as quickly as his
old legs permitted  the stairs to the upper story where Marius lived 
in order to embrace him  and to question him while so doing  and to find
out where he had been 

But the youth had taken less time to descend than the old man had to
ascend  and when Father Gillenormand entered the attic  Marius was no
longer there 

The bed had not been disturbed  and on the bed lay  outspread  but not
defiantly the great coat and the black ribbon 

 I like this better   said M  Gillenormand 

And a moment later  he made his entrance into the salon  where
Mademoiselle Gillenormand was already seated  busily embroidering her
cart wheels 

The entrance was a triumphant one 

M  Gillenormand held in one hand the great coat  and in the other the
neck ribbon  and exclaimed   

 Victory  We are about to penetrate the mystery  We are going to
learn the most minute details  we are going to lay our finger on the
debaucheries of our sly friend  Here we have the romance itself  I have
the portrait  

In fact  a case of black shagreen  resembling a medallion portrait  was
suspended from the ribbon 

The old man took this case and gazed at it for some time without opening
it  with that air of enjoyment  rapture  and wrath  with which a poor
hungry fellow beholds an admirable dinner which is not for him  pass
under his very nose 

 For this evidently is a portrait  I know all about such things  That is
worn tenderly on the heart  How stupid they are  Some abominable fright
that will make us shudder  probably  Young men have such bad taste
nowadays  

 Let us see  father   said the old spinster 

The case opened by the pressure of a spring  They found in it nothing
but a carefully folded paper 

 From the same to the same   said M  Gillenormand  bursting with
laughter   I know what it is  A billet doux  

 Ah  let us read it   said the aunt 

And she put on her spectacles  They unfolded the paper and read as
follows   

 For my son   The Emperor made me a Baron on the battlefield of
Waterloo  Since the Restoration disputes my right to this title which I
purchased with my blood  my son shall take it and bear it  That he will
be worthy of it is a matter of course  

The feelings of father and daughter cannot be described  They felt
chilled as by the breath of a death s head  They did not exchange a
word 

Only  M  Gillenormand said in a low voice and as though speaking to
himself   

 It is the slasher s handwriting  

The aunt examined the paper  turned it about in all directions  then put
it back in its case 

At the same moment a little oblong packet  enveloped in blue paper  fell
from one of the pockets of the great coat  Mademoiselle Gillenormand
picked it up and unfolded the blue paper 

It contained Marius  hundred cards  She handed one of them to M 
Gillenormand  who read  Le Baron Marius Pontmercy 

The old man rang the bell  Nicolette came  M  Gillenormand took the
ribbon  the case  and the coat  flung them all on the floor in the
middle of the room  and said   

 Carry those duds away  

A full hour passed in the most profound silence  The old man and the old
spinster had seated themselves with their backs to each other  and were
thinking  each on his own account  the same things  in all probability 

At the expiration of this hour  Aunt Gillenormand said    A pretty state
of things  

A few moments later  Marius made his appearance  He entered  Even before
he had crossed the threshold  he saw his grandfather holding one of
his own cards in his hand  and on catching sight of him  the latter
exclaimed with his air of bourgeois and grinning superiority which was
something crushing   

 Well  well  well  well  well  so you are a baron now  I present you my
compliments  What is the meaning of this  

Marius reddened slightly and replied   

 It means that I am the son of my father  

M  Gillenormand ceased to laugh  and said harshly   

 I am your father  

 My father   retorted Marius  with downcast eyes and a severe air   was
a humble and heroic man  who served the Republic and France gloriously 
who was great in the greatest history that men have ever made  who
lived in the bivouac for a quarter of a century  beneath grape shot and
bullets  in snow and mud by day  beneath rain at night  who captured two
flags  who received twenty wounds  who died forgotten and abandoned  and
who never committed but one mistake  which was to love too fondly two
ingrates  his country and myself  

This was more than M  Gillenormand could bear to hear  At the word
republic  he rose  or  to speak more correctly  he sprang to his feet 
Every word that Marius had just uttered produced on the visage of the
old Royalist the effect of the puffs of air from a forge upon a blazing
brand  From a dull hue he had turned red  from red  purple  and from
purple  flame colored 

 Marius   he cried   Abominable child  I do not know what your father
was  I do not wish to know  I know nothing about that  and I do not know
him  But what I do know is  that there never was anything but scoundrels
among those men  They were all rascals  assassins  red caps  thieves  I
say all  I say all  I know not one  I say all  Do you hear me  Marius 
See here  you are no more a baron than my slipper is  They were all
bandits in the service of Robespierre  All who served B u o naparte were
brigands  They were all traitors who betrayed  betrayed  betrayed their
legitimate king  All cowards who fled before the Prussians and the
English at Waterloo  That is what I do know  Whether Monsieur your
father comes in that category  I do not know  I am sorry for it  so much
the worse  your humble servant  

In his turn  it was Marius who was the firebrand and M  Gillenormand
who was the bellows  Marius quivered in every limb  he did not know what
would happen next  his brain was on fire  He was the priest who beholds
all his sacred wafers cast to the winds  the fakir who beholds a
passer by spit upon his idol  It could not be that such things had been
uttered in his presence  What was he to do  His father had just been
trampled under foot and stamped upon in his presence  but by whom  By
his grandfather  How was he to avenge the one without outraging the
other  It was impossible for him to insult his grandfather and it was
equally impossible for him to leave his father unavenged  On the one
hand was a sacred grave  on the other hoary locks 

He stood there for several moments  staggering as though intoxicated 
with all this whirlwind dashing through his head  then he raised
his eyes  gazed fixedly at his grandfather  and cried in a voice of
thunder   

 Down with the Bourbons  and that great hog of a Louis XVIII   

Louis XVIII  had been dead for four years  but it was all the same to
him 

The old man  who had been crimson  turned whiter than his hair  He
wheeled round towards a bust of M  le Duc de Berry  which stood on the
chimney piece  and made a profound bow  with a sort of peculiar majesty 
Then he paced twice  slowly and in silence  from the fireplace to the
window and from the window to the fireplace  traversing the whole length
of the room  and making the polished floor creak as though he had been a
stone statue walking 

On his second turn  he bent over his daughter  who was watching this
encounter with the stupefied air of an antiquated lamb  and said to her
with a smile that was almost calm   A baron like this gentleman  and a
bourgeois like myself cannot remain under the same roof  

And drawing himself up  all at once  pallid  trembling  terrible  with
his brow rendered more lofty by the terrible radiance of wrath  he
extended his arm towards Marius and shouted to him   

 Be off  

Marius left the house 

On the following day  M  Gillenormand said to his daughter 

 You will send sixty pistoles every six months to that blood drinker 
and you will never mention his name to me  

Having an immense reserve fund of wrath to get rid of  and not knowing
what to do with it  he continued to address his daughter as you instead
of thou for the next three months 

Marius  on his side  had gone forth in indignation  There was one
circumstance which  it must be admitted  aggravated his exasperation 
There are always petty fatalities of the sort which complicate domestic
dramas  They augment the grievances in such cases  although  in reality 
the wrongs are not increased by them  While carrying Marius   duds 
precipitately to his chamber  at his grandfather s command  Nicolette
had  inadvertently  let fall  probably  on the attic staircase  which
was dark  that medallion of black shagreen which contained the paper
penned by the colonel  Neither paper nor case could afterwards be found 
Marius was convinced that  Monsieur Gillenormand   from that day forth
he never alluded to him otherwise  had flung  his father s testament  in
the fire  He knew by heart the few lines which the colonel had written 
and  consequently  nothing was lost  But the paper  the writing  that
sacred relic   all that was his very heart  What had been done with it 

Marius had taken his departure without saying whither he was going  and
without knowing where  with thirty francs  his watch  and a few clothes
in a hand bag  He had entered a hackney coach  had engaged it by the
hour  and had directed his course at hap hazard towards the Latin
quarter 

What was to become of Marius 




BOOK FOURTH   THE FRIENDS OF THE A B C




CHAPTER I  A GROUP WHICH BARELY MISSED BECOMING HISTORIC

At that epoch  which was  to all appearances indifferent  a certain
revolutionary quiver was vaguely current  Breaths which had started
forth from the depths of  89 and  93 were in the air  Youth was on
the point  may the reader pardon us the word  of moulting  People were
undergoing a transformation  almost without being conscious of it 
through the movement of the age  The needle which moves round the
compass also moves in souls  Each person was taking that step in advance
which he was bound to take  The Royalists were becoming liberals 
liberals were turning democrats  It was a flood tide complicated with
a thousand ebb movements  the peculiarity of ebbs is to create
intermixtures  hence the combination of very singular ideas  people
adored both Napoleon and liberty  We are making history here  These
were the mirages of that period  Opinions traverse phases  Voltairian
royalism  a quaint variety  had a no less singular sequel  Bonapartist
liberalism 

Other groups of minds were more serious  In that direction  they
sounded principles  they attached themselves to the right  They
grew enthusiastic for the absolute  they caught glimpses of infinite
realizations  the absolute  by its very rigidity  urges spirits towards
the sky and causes them to float in illimitable space  There is nothing
like dogma for bringing forth dreams  And there is nothing like dreams
for engendering the future  Utopia to day  flesh and blood to morrow 

These advanced opinions had a double foundation  A beginning of mystery
menaced  the established order of things   which was suspicious and
underhand  A sign which was revolutionary to the highest degree  The
second thoughts of power meet the second thoughts of the populace in
the mine  The incubation of insurrections gives the retort to the
premeditation of coups d etat 

There did not  as yet  exist in France any of those vast underlying
organizations  like the German tugendbund and Italian Carbonarism  but
here and there there were dark underminings  which were in process of
throwing off shoots  The Cougourde was being outlined at Aix  there
existed at Paris  among other affiliations of that nature  the society
of the Friends of the A B C 

What were these Friends of the A B C  A society which had for its object
apparently the education of children  in reality the elevation of man 

They declared themselves the Friends of the A B C   the Abaisse   the
debased   that is to say  the people  They wished to elevate the people 
It was a pun which we should do wrong to smile at  Puns are sometimes
serious factors in politics  witness the Castratus ad castra  which made
a general of the army of Narses  witness  Barbari et Barberini  witness 
Tu es Petrus et super hanc petram  etc   etc 

The Friends of the A B C were not numerous  it was a secret society in
the state of embryo  we might almost say a coterie  if coteries ended in
heroes  They assembled in Paris in two localities  near the fish market 
in a wine shop called Corinthe  of which more will be heard later on 
and near the Pantheon in a little cafe in the Rue Saint Michel called
the Cafe Musain  now torn down  the first of these meeting places was
close to the workingman  the second to the students 

The assemblies of the Friends of the A B C were usually held in a back
room of the Cafe Musain 

This hall  which was tolerably remote from the cafe  with which it was
connected by an extremely long corridor  had two windows and an exit
with a private stairway on the little Rue des Gres  There they smoked
and drank  and gambled and laughed  There they conversed in very loud
tones about everything  and in whispers of other things  An old map
of France under the Republic was nailed to the wall   a sign quite
sufficient to excite the suspicion of a police agent 

The greater part of the Friends of the A B C were students  who were
on cordial terms with the working classes  Here are the names of the
principal ones  They belong  in a certain measure  to history  Enjolras 
Combeferre  Jean Prouvaire  Feuilly  Courfeyrac  Bahorel  Lesgle or
Laigle  Joly  Grantaire 

These young men formed a sort of family  through the bond of friendship 
All  with the exception of Laigle  were from the South 

 Illustration  Friends of the A B C  3b4 1 abc friends 

This was a remarkable group  It vanished in the invisible depths which
lie behind us  At the point of this drama which we have now reached 
it will not perhaps be superfluous to throw a ray of light upon these
youthful heads  before the reader beholds them plunging into the shadow
of a tragic adventure 

Enjolras  whose name we have mentioned first of all   the reader shall
see why later on   was an only son and wealthy 

Enjolras was a charming young man  who was capable of being terrible  He
was angelically handsome  He was a savage Antinous  One would have said 
to see the pensive thoughtfulness of his glance  that he had already 
in some previous state of existence  traversed the revolutionary
apocalypse  He possessed the tradition of it as though he had been a
witness  He was acquainted with all the minute details of the great
affair  A pontifical and warlike nature  a singular thing in a youth  He
was an officiating priest and a man of war  from the immediate point of
view  a soldier of the democracy  above the contemporary movement  the
priest of the ideal  His eyes were deep  his lids a little red  his
lower lip was thick and easily became disdainful  his brow was lofty  A
great deal of brow in a face is like a great deal of horizon in a view 
Like certain young men at the beginning of this century and the end of
the last  who became illustrious at an early age  he was endowed with
excessive youth  and was as rosy as a young girl  although subject to
hours of pallor  Already a man  he still seemed a child  His two and
twenty years appeared to be but seventeen  he was serious  it did not
seem as though he were aware there was on earth a thing called woman 
He had but one passion  the right  but one thought  to overthrow
the obstacle  On Mount Aventine  he would have been Gracchus  in the
Convention  he would have been Saint Just  He hardly saw the roses  he
ignored spring  he did not hear the carolling of the birds  the bare
throat of Evadne would have moved him no more than it would have moved
Aristogeiton  he  like Harmodius  thought flowers good for nothing
except to conceal the sword  He was severe in his enjoyments  He
chastely dropped his eyes before everything which was not the Republic 
He was the marble lover of liberty  His speech was harshly inspired 
and had the thrill of a hymn  He was subject to unexpected outbursts of
soul  Woe to the love affair which should have risked itself beside him 
If any grisette of the Place Cambrai or the Rue Saint Jean de Beauvais 
seeing that face of a youth escaped from college  that page s mien 
those long  golden lashes  those blue eyes  that hair billowing in the
wind  those rosy cheeks  those fresh lips  those exquisite teeth  had
conceived an appetite for that complete aurora  and had tried her beauty
on Enjolras  an astounding and terrible glance would have promptly shown
her the abyss  and would have taught her not to confound the mighty
cherub of Ezekiel with the gallant Cherubino of Beaumarchais 

By the side of Enjolras  who represented the logic of the Revolution 
Combeferre represented its philosophy  Between the logic of the
Revolution and its philosophy there exists this difference  that its
logic may end in war  whereas its philosophy can end only in peace 
Combeferre complemented and rectified Enjolras  He was less lofty  but
broader  He desired to pour into all minds the extensive principles of
general ideas  he said   Revolution  but civilization   and around the
mountain peak he opened out a vast view of the blue sky  The Revolution
was more adapted for breathing with Combeferre than with Enjolras 
Enjolras expressed its divine right  and Combeferre its natural right 
The first attached himself to Robespierre  the second confined himself
to Condorcet  Combeferre lived the life of all the rest of the world
more than did Enjolras  If it had been granted to these two young men to
attain to history  the one would have been the just  the other the wise
man  Enjolras was the more virile  Combeferre the more humane  Homo and
vir  that was the exact effect of their different shades  Combeferre was
as gentle as Enjolras was severe  through natural whiteness  He loved
the word citizen  but he preferred the word man  He would gladly
have said  Hombre  like the Spanish  He read everything  went to
the theatres  attended the courses of public lecturers  learned the
polarization of light from Arago  grew enthusiastic over a lesson in
which Geoffrey Sainte Hilaire explained the double function of the
external carotid artery  and the internal  the one which makes the face 
and the one which makes the brain  he kept up with what was going
on  followed science step by step  compared Saint Simon with Fourier 
deciphered hieroglyphics  broke the pebble which he found and reasoned
on geology  drew from memory a silkworm moth  pointed out the faulty
French in the Dictionary of the Academy  studied Puysegur and Deleuze 
affirmed nothing  not even miracles  denied nothing  not even ghosts 
turned over the files of the Moniteur  reflected  He declared that the
future lies in the hand of the schoolmaster  and busied himself with
educational questions  He desired that society should labor without
relaxation at the elevation of the moral and intellectual level  at
coining science  at putting ideas into circulation  at increasing the
mind in youthful persons  and he feared lest the present poverty of
method  the paltriness from a literary point of view confined to two
or three centuries called classic  the tyrannical dogmatism of official
pedants  scholastic prejudices and routines should end by converting our
colleges into artificial oyster beds  He was learned  a purist  exact 
a graduate of the Polytechnic  a close student  and at the same time 
thoughtful  even to chimaeras   so his friends said  He believed in
all dreams  railroads  the suppression of suffering in chirurgical
operations  the fixing of images in the dark chamber  the electric
telegraph  the steering of balloons  Moreover  he was not much alarmed
by the citadels erected against the human mind in every direction  by
superstition  despotism  and prejudice  He was one of those who think
that science will eventually turn the position  Enjolras was a chief 
Combeferre was a guide  One would have liked to fight under the one and
to march behind the other  It is not that Combeferre was not capable of
fighting  he did not refuse a hand to hand combat with the obstacle  and
to attack it by main force and explosively  but it suited him better to
bring the human race into accord with its destiny gradually  by means of
education  the inculcation of axioms  the promulgation of positive laws 
and  between two lights  his preference was rather for illumination than
for conflagration  A conflagration can create an aurora  no doubt  but
why not await the dawn  A volcano illuminates  but daybreak furnishes a
still better illumination  Possibly  Combeferre preferred the whiteness
of the beautiful to the blaze of the sublime  A light troubled by smoke 
progress purchased at the expense of violence  only half satisfied this
tender and serious spirit  The headlong precipitation of a people into
the truth  a  93  terrified him  nevertheless  stagnation was still
more repulsive to him  in it he detected putrefaction and death  on the
whole  he preferred scum to miasma  and he preferred the torrent to the
cesspool  and the falls of Niagara to the lake of Montfaucon  In
short  he desired neither halt nor haste  While his tumultuous friends 
captivated by the absolute  adored and invoked splendid revolutionary
adventures  Combeferre was inclined to let progress  good progress  take
its own course  he may have been cold  but he was pure  methodical  but
irreproachable  phlegmatic  but imperturbable  Combeferre would have
knelt and clasped his hands to enable the future to arrive in all
its candor  and that nothing might disturb the immense and virtuous
evolution of the races  The good must be innocent  he repeated
incessantly  And in fact  if the grandeur of the Revolution consists
in keeping the dazzling ideal fixedly in view  and of soaring thither
athwart the lightnings  with fire and blood in its talons  the beauty
of progress lies in being spotless  and there exists between Washington 
who represents the one  and Danton  who incarnates the other  that
difference which separates the swan from the angel with the wings of an
eagle 

Jean Prouvaire was a still softer shade than Combeferre  His name
was Jehan  owing to that petty momentary freak which mingled with the
powerful and profound movement whence sprang the very essential study
of the Middle Ages  Jean Prouvaire was in love  he cultivated a pot
of flowers  played on the flute  made verses  loved the people  pitied
woman  wept over the child  confounded God and the future in the same
confidence  and blamed the Revolution for having caused the fall of a
royal head  that of Andre Chenier  His voice was ordinarily delicate 
but suddenly grew manly  He was learned even to erudition  and almost an
Orientalist  Above all  he was good  and  a very simple thing to those
who know how nearly goodness borders on grandeur  in the matter of
poetry  he preferred the immense  He knew Italian  Latin  Greek  and
Hebrew  and these served him only for the perusal of four poets  Dante 
Juvenal  AEschylus  and Isaiah  In French  he preferred Corneille to
Racine  and Agrippa d Aubigne to Corneille  He loved to saunter through
fields of wild oats and corn flowers  and busied himself with clouds
nearly as much as with events  His mind had two attitudes  one on
the side towards man  the other on that towards God  he studied or
he contemplated  All day long  he buried himself in social questions 
salary  capital  credit  marriage  religion  liberty of thought 
education  penal servitude  poverty  association  property  production
and sharing  the enigma of this lower world which covers the human
ant hill with darkness  and at night  he gazed upon the planets  those
enormous beings  Like Enjolras  he was wealthy and an only son  He spoke
softly  bowed his head  lowered his eyes  smiled with embarrassment 
dressed badly  had an awkward air  blushed at a mere nothing  and was
very timid  Yet he was intrepid 

Feuilly was a workingman  a fan maker  orphaned both of father and
mother  who earned with difficulty three francs a day  and had but
one thought  to deliver the world  He had one other preoccupation  to
educate himself  he called this also  delivering himself  He had taught
himself to read and write  everything that he knew  he had learned by
himself  Feuilly had a generous heart  The range of his embrace was
immense  This orphan had adopted the peoples  As his mother had
failed him  he meditated on his country  He brooded with the profound
divination of the man of the people  over what we now call the idea of
the nationality  had learned history with the express object of raging
with full knowledge of the case  In this club of young Utopians 
occupied chiefly with France  he represented the outside world  He had
for his specialty Greece  Poland  Hungary  Roumania  Italy  He uttered
these names incessantly  appropriately and inappropriately  with the
tenacity of right  The violations of Turkey on Greece and Thessaly  of
Russia on Warsaw  of Austria on Venice  enraged him  Above all things 
the great violence of 1772 aroused him  There is no more sovereign
eloquence than the true in indignation  he was eloquent with that
eloquence  He was inexhaustible on that infamous date of 1772  on the
subject of that noble and valiant race suppressed by treason  and that
three sided crime  on that monstrous ambush  the prototype and pattern
of all those horrible suppressions of states  which  since that time 
have struck many a noble nation  and have annulled their certificate of
birth  so to speak  All contemporary social crimes have their origin in
the partition of Poland  The partition of Poland is a theorem of which
all present political outrages are the corollaries  There has not been
a despot  nor a traitor for nearly a century back  who has not signed 
approved  counter signed  and copied  ne variatur  the partition of
Poland  When the record of modern treasons was examined  that was the
first thing which made its appearance  The congress of Vienna consulted
that crime before consummating its own  1772 sounded the onset  1815
was the death of the game  Such was Feuilly s habitual text  This
poor workingman had constituted himself the tutor of Justice  and she
recompensed him by rendering him great  The fact is  that there is
eternity in right  Warsaw can no more be Tartar than Venice can be
Teuton  Kings lose their pains and their honor in the attempt to make
them so  Sooner or later  the submerged part floats to the surface and
reappears  Greece becomes Greece again  Italy is once more Italy  The
protest of right against the deed persists forever  The theft of a
nation cannot be allowed by prescription  These lofty deeds of rascality
have no future  A nation cannot have its mark extracted like a pocket
handkerchief 

Courfeyrac had a father who was called M  de Courfeyrac  One of
the false ideas of the bourgeoisie under the Restoration as regards
aristocracy and the nobility was to believe in the particle  The
particle  as every one knows  possesses no significance  But the
bourgeois of the epoch of la Minerve estimated so highly that poor de 
that they thought themselves bound to abdicate it  M  de Chauvelin
had himself called M  Chauvelin  M  de Caumartin  M  Caumartin  M  de
Constant de Robecque  Benjamin Constant  M  de Lafayette  M  Lafayette 
Courfeyrac had not wished to remain behind the rest  and called himself
plain Courfeyrac 

We might almost  so far as Courfeyrac is concerned  stop here 
and confine ourselves to saying with regard to what remains   For
Courfeyrac  see Tholomyes  

Courfeyrac had  in fact  that animation of youth which may be called
the beaute du diable of the mind  Later on  this disappears like the
playfulness of the kitten  and all this grace ends  with the bourgeois 
on two legs  and with the tomcat  on four paws 

This sort of wit is transmitted from generation to generation of the
successive levies of youth who traverse the schools  who pass it from
hand to hand  quasi cursores  and is almost always exactly the same 
so that  as we have just pointed out  any one who had listened to
Courfeyrac in 1828 would have thought he heard Tholomyes in 1817  Only 
Courfeyrac was an honorable fellow  Beneath the apparent similarities
of the exterior mind  the difference between him and Tholomyes was very
great  The latent man which existed in the two was totally different
in the first from what it was in the second  There was in Tholomyes a
district attorney  and in Courfeyrac a paladin 

Enjolras was the chief  Combeferre was the guide  Courfeyrac was the
centre  The others gave more light  he shed more warmth  the truth is 
that he possessed all the qualities of a centre  roundness and radiance 

Bahorel had figured in the bloody tumult of June  1822  on the occasion
of the burial of young Lallemand 

Bahorel was a good natured mortal  who kept bad company  brave  a
spendthrift  prodigal  and to the verge of generosity  talkative  and
at times eloquent  bold to the verge of effrontery  the best fellow
possible  he had daring waistcoats  and scarlet opinions  a wholesale
blusterer  that is to say  loving nothing so much as a quarrel  unless
it were an uprising  and nothing so much as an uprising  unless it were
a revolution  always ready to smash a window pane  then to tear up the
pavement  then to demolish a government  just to see the effect of it 
a student in his eleventh year  He had nosed about the law  but did not
practise it  He had taken for his device   Never a lawyer   and for his
armorial bearings a nightstand in which was visible a square cap  Every
time that he passed the law school  which rarely happened  he buttoned
up his frock coat   the paletot had not yet been invented   and took
hygienic precautions  Of the school porter he said   What a fine
old man   and of the dean  M  Delvincourt   What a monument   In his
lectures he espied subjects for ballads  and in his professors occasions
for caricature  He wasted a tolerably large allowance  something like
three thousand francs a year  in doing nothing 

He had peasant parents whom he had contrived to imbue with respect for
their son 

He said of them   They are peasants and not bourgeois  that is the
reason they are intelligent  

Bahorel  a man of caprice  was scattered over numerous cafes  the others
had habits  he had none  He sauntered  To stray is human  To saunter
is Parisian  In reality  he had a penetrating mind and was more of a
thinker than appeared to view 

He served as a connecting link between the Friends of the A B C and
other still unorganized groups  which were destined to take form later
on 

In this conclave of young heads  there was one bald member 

The Marquis d Avaray  whom Louis XVIII  made a duke for having assisted
him to enter a hackney coach on the day when he emigrated  was wont
to relate  that in 1814  on his return to France  as the King was
disembarking at Calais  a man handed him a petition 

 What is your request   said the King 

 Sire  a post office  

 What is your name  

 L Aigle  

The King frowned  glanced at the signature of the petition and beheld
the name written thus  LESGLE  This non Bonoparte orthography touched
the King and he began to smile   Sire   resumed the man with the
petition   I had for ancestor a keeper of the hounds surnamed
Lesgueules  This surname furnished my name  I am called Lesgueules  by
contraction Lesgle  and by corruption l Aigle   This caused the King
to smile broadly  Later on he gave the man the posting office of Meaux 
either intentionally or accidentally 

The bald member of the group was the son of this Lesgle  or Legle  and
he signed himself  Legle  de Meaux   As an abbreviation  his companions
called him Bossuet 

Bossuet was a gay but unlucky fellow  His specialty was not to succeed
in anything  As an offset  he laughed at everything  At five and twenty
he was bald  His father had ended by owning a house and a field  but
he  the son  had made haste to lose that house and field in a bad
speculation  He had nothing left  He possessed knowledge and wit  but
all he did miscarried  Everything failed him and everybody deceived him 
what he was building tumbled down on top of him  If he were splitting
wood  he cut off a finger  If he had a mistress  he speedily discovered
that he had a friend also  Some misfortune happened to him every moment 
hence his joviality  He said   I live under falling tiles   He was
not easily astonished  because  for him  an accident was what he had
foreseen  he took his bad luck serenely  and smiled at the teasing of
fate  like a person who is listening to pleasantries  He was poor  but
his fund of good humor was inexhaustible  He soon reached his last sou 
never his last burst of laughter  When adversity entered his doors  he
saluted this old acquaintance cordially  he tapped all catastrophes on
the stomach  he was familiar with fatality to the point of calling it by
its nickname   Good day  Guignon   he said to it 

These persecutions of fate had rendered him inventive  He was full of
resources  He had no money  but he found means  when it seemed good to
him  to indulge in  unbridled extravagance   One night  he went so far
as to eat a  hundred francs  in a supper with a wench  which inspired
him to make this memorable remark in the midst of the orgy   Pull off my
boots  you five louis jade  

Bossuet was slowly directing his steps towards the profession of a
lawyer  he was pursuing his law studies after the manner of Bahorel 
Bossuet had not much domicile  sometimes none at all  He lodged now with
one  now with another  most often with Joly  Joly was studying medicine 
He was two years younger than Bossuet 

Joly was the  malade imaginaire  junior  What he had won in medicine was
to be more of an invalid than a doctor  At three and twenty he thought
himself a valetudinarian  and passed his life in inspecting his tongue
in the mirror  He affirmed that man becomes magnetic like a needle  and
in his chamber he placed his bed with its head to the south  and the
foot to the north  so that  at night  the circulation of his blood
might not be interfered with by the great electric current of the globe 
During thunder storms  he felt his pulse  Otherwise  he was the gayest
of them all  All these young  maniacal  puny  merry incoherences lived
in harmony together  and the result was an eccentric and agreeable
being whom his comrades  who were prodigal of winged consonants  called
Jolllly   You may fly away on the four L s   Jean Prouvaire said to
him  23 

Joly had a trick of touching his nose with the tip of his cane  which is
an indication of a sagacious mind 

All these young men who differed so greatly  and who  on the whole  can
only be discussed seriously  held the same religion  Progress 

All were the direct sons of the French Revolution  The most giddy of
them became solemn when they pronounced that date   89  Their fathers in
the flesh had been  either royalists  doctrinaires  it matters not what 
this confusion anterior to themselves  who were young  did not concern
them at all  the pure blood of principle ran in their veins  They
attached themselves  without intermediate shades  to incorruptible right
and absolute duty 

Affiliated and initiated  they sketched out the ideal underground 

Among all these glowing hearts and thoroughly convinced minds  there was
one sceptic  How came he there  By juxtaposition  This sceptic s name
was Grantaire  and he was in the habit of signing himself with this
rebus  R  Grantaire was a man who took good care not to believe in
anything  Moreover  he was one of the students who had learned the most
during their course at Paris  he knew that the best coffee was to be had
at the Cafe Lemblin  and the best billiards at the Cafe Voltaire  that
good cakes and lasses were to be found at the Ermitage  on the Boulevard
du Maine  spatchcocked chickens at Mother Sauget s  excellent matelotes
at the Barriere de la Cunette  and a certain thin white wine at the
Barriere du Com pat  He knew the best place for everything  in
addition  boxing and foot fencing and some dances  and he was a thorough
single stick player  He was a tremendous drinker to boot  He was
inordinately homely  the prettiest boot stitcher of that day  Irma
Boissy  enraged with his homeliness  pronounced sentence on him as
follows   Grantaire is impossible   but Grantaire s fatuity was not to
be disconcerted  He stared tenderly and fixedly at all women  with the
air of saying to them all   If I only chose   and of trying to make his
comrades believe that he was in general demand 

All those words  rights of the people  rights of man  the social
contract  the French Revolution  the Republic  democracy  humanity 
civilization  religion  progress  came very near to signifying nothing
whatever to Grantaire  He smiled at them  Scepticism  that caries of the
intelligence  had not left him a single whole idea  He lived with irony 
This was his axiom   There is but one certainty  my full glass   He
sneered at all devotion in all parties  the father as well as the
brother  Robespierre junior as well as Loizerolles   They are greatly in
advance to be dead   he exclaimed  He said of the crucifix   There is a
gibbet which has been a success   A rover  a gambler  a libertine 
often drunk  he displeased these young dreamers by humming incessantly 
 J aimons les filles  et j aimons le bon vin   Air  Vive Henri IV 

However  this sceptic had one fanaticism  This fanaticism was neither a
dogma  nor an idea  nor an art  nor a science  it was a man  Enjolras 
Grantaire admired  loved  and venerated Enjolras  To whom did this
anarchical scoffer unite himself in this phalanx of absolute minds  To
the most absolute  In what manner had Enjolras subjugated him  By his
ideas  No  By his character  A phenomenon which is often observable 
A sceptic who adheres to a believer is as simple as the law of
complementary colors  That which we lack attracts us  No one loves the
light like the blind man  The dwarf adores the drum major  The toad
always has his eyes fixed on heaven  Why  In order to watch the bird in
its flight  Grantaire  in whom writhed doubt  loved to watch faith
soar in Enjolras  He had need of Enjolras  That chaste  healthy  firm 
upright  hard  candid nature charmed him  without his being clearly
aware of it  and without the idea of explaining it to himself having
occurred to him  He admired his opposite by instinct  His soft 
yielding  dislocated  sickly  shapeless ideas attached themselves
to Enjolras as to a spinal column  His moral backbone leaned on that
firmness  Grantaire in the presence of Enjolras became some one once
more  He was  himself  moreover  composed of two elements  which were 
to all appearance  incompatible  He was ironical and cordial  His
indifference loved  His mind could get along without belief  but his
heart could not get along without friendship  A profound contradiction 
for an affection is a conviction  His nature was thus constituted  There
are men who seem to be born to be the reverse  the obverse  the wrong
side  They are Pollux  Patrocles  Nisus  Eudamidas  Ephestion  Pechmeja 
They only exist on condition that they are backed up with another man 
their name is a sequel  and is only written preceded by the conjunction
and  and their existence is not their own  it is the other side of an
existence which is not theirs  Grantaire was one of these men  He was
the obverse of Enjolras 

One might almost say that affinities begin with the letters of the
alphabet  In the series O and P are inseparable  You can  at will 
pronounce O and P or Orestes and Pylades 

Grantaire  Enjolras  true satellite  inhabited this circle of young men 
he lived there  he took no pleasure anywhere but there  he followed them
everywhere  His joy was to see these forms go and come through the fumes
of wine  They tolerated him on account of his good humor 

Enjolras  the believer  disdained this sceptic  and  a sober man
himself  scorned this drunkard  He accorded him a little lofty pity 
Grantaire was an unaccepted Pylades  Always harshly treated by Enjolras 
roughly repulsed  rejected yet ever returning to the charge  he said of
Enjolras   What fine marble  




CHAPTER II  BLONDEAU S FUNERAL ORATION BY BOSSUET

On a certain afternoon  which had  as will be seen hereafter  some
coincidence with the events heretofore related  Laigle de Meaux was to
be seen leaning in a sensual manner against the doorpost of the Cafe
Musain  He had the air of a caryatid on a vacation  he carried nothing
but his revery  however  He was staring at the Place Saint Michel 
To lean one s back against a thing is equivalent to lying down while
standing erect  which attitude is not hated by thinkers  Laigle de Meaux
was pondering without melancholy  over a little misadventure which
had befallen him two days previously at the law school  and which had
modified his personal plans for the future  plans which were rather
indistinct in any case 

Revery does not prevent a cab from passing by  nor the dreamer from
taking note of that cab  Laigle de Meaux  whose eyes were straying about
in a sort of diffuse lounging  perceived  athwart his somnambulism  a
two wheeled vehicle proceeding through the place  at a foot pace and
apparently in indecision  For whom was this cabriolet  Why was it
driving at a walk  Laigle took a survey  In it  beside the coachman  sat
a young man  and in front of the young man lay a rather bulky hand bag 
The bag displayed to passers by the following name inscribed in large
black letters on a card which was sewn to the stuff  MARIUS PONTMERCY 

This name caused Laigle to change his attitude  He drew himself up and
hurled this apostrophe at the young man in the cabriolet   

 Monsieur Marius Pontmercy  

The cabriolet thus addressed came to a halt 

The young man  who also seemed deeply buried in thought  raised his
eyes   

 Hey   said he 

 You are M  Marius Pontmercy  

 Certainly  

 I was looking for you   resumed Laigle de Meaux 

 How so   demanded Marius  for it was he  in fact  he had just quitted
his grandfather s  and had before him a face which he now beheld for the
first time   I do not know you  

 Neither do I know you   responded Laigle 

Marius thought he had encountered a wag  the beginning of a
mystification in the open street  He was not in a very good humor at the
moment  He frowned  Laigle de Meaux went on imperturbably   

 You were not at the school day before yesterday  

 That is possible  

 That is certain  

 You are a student   demanded Marius 

 Yes  sir  Like yourself  Day before yesterday  I entered the school  by
chance  You know  one does have such freaks sometimes  The professor was
just calling the roll  You are not unaware that they are very ridiculous
on such occasions  At the third call  unanswered  your name is erased
from the list  Sixty francs in the gulf  

Marius began to listen 

 It was Blondeau who was making the call  You know Blondeau  he has a
very pointed and very malicious nose  and he delights to scent out the
absent  He slyly began with the letter P  I was not listening  not being
compromised by that letter  The call was not going badly  No erasures 
the universe was present  Blondeau was grieved  I said to myself 
 Blondeau  my love  you will not get the very smallest sort of an
execution to day   All at once Blondeau calls   Marius Pontmercy   No
one answers  Blondeau  filled with hope  repeats more loudly   Marius
Pontmercy   And he takes his pen  Monsieur  I have bowels of compassion 
I said to myself hastily   Here s a brave fellow who is going to get
scratched out  Attention  Here is a veritable mortal who is not exact 
He s not a good student  Here is none of your heavy sides  a student who
studies  a greenhorn pedant  strong on letters  theology  science  and
sapience  one of those dull wits cut by the square  a pin by profession 
He is an honorable idler who lounges  who practises country jaunts  who
cultivates the grisette  who pays court to the fair sex  who is at
this very moment  perhaps  with my mistress  Let us save him  Death to
Blondeau   At that moment  Blondeau dipped his pen in  all black with
erasures in the ink  cast his yellow eyes round the audience room  and
repeated for the third time   Marius Pontmercy   I replied   Present  
This is why you were not crossed off  

 Monsieur     said Marius 

 And why I was   added Laigle de Meaux 

 I do not understand you   said Marius 

Laigle resumed   

 Nothing is more simple  I was close to the desk to reply  and close
to the door for the purpose of flight  The professor gazed at me with a
certain intensity  All of a sudden  Blondeau  who must be the malicious
nose alluded to by Boileau  skipped to the letter L  L is my letter  I
am from Meaux  and my name is Lesgle  

 L Aigle   interrupted Marius   what fine name  

 Monsieur  Blondeau came to this fine name  and called   Laigle   I
reply   Present   Then Blondeau gazes at me  with the gentleness of a
tiger  and says to me   If you are Pontmercy  you are not Laigle   A
phrase which has a disobliging air for you  but which was lugubrious
only for me  That said  he crossed me off  

Marius exclaimed   

 I am mortified  sir   

 First of all   interposed Laigle   I demand permission to embalm
Blondeau in a few phrases of deeply felt eulogium  I will assume that he
is dead  There will be no great change required in his gauntness  in
his pallor  in his coldness  and in his smell  And I say   Erudimini
qui judicatis terram  Here lies Blondeau  Blondeau the Nose  Blondeau
Nasica  the ox of discipline  bos disciplinae  the bloodhound of the
password  the angel of the roll call  who was upright  square exact 
rigid  honest  and hideous  God crossed him off as he crossed me off   

Marius resumed   

 I am very sorry   

 Young man   said Laigle de Meaux   let this serve you as a lesson  In
future  be exact  

 I really beg you a thousand pardons  

 Do not expose your neighbor to the danger of having his name erased
again  

 I am extremely sorry   

Laigle burst out laughing 

 And I am delighted  I was on the brink of becoming a lawyer  This
erasure saves me  I renounce the triumphs of the bar  I shall not defend
the widow  and I shall not attack the orphan  No more toga  no more
stage  Here is my erasure all ready for me  It is to you that I am
indebted for it  Monsieur Pontmercy  I intend to pay a solemn call of
thanks upon you  Where do you live  

 In this cab   said Marius 

 A sign of opulence   retorted Laigle calmly   I congratulate you  You
have there a rent of nine thousand francs per annum  

At that moment  Courfeyrac emerged from the cafe 

Marius smiled sadly 

 I have paid this rent for the last two hours  and I aspire to get rid
of it  but there is a sort of history attached to it  and I don t know
where to go  

 Come to my place  sir   said Courfeyrac 

 I have the priority   observed Laigle   but I have no home  

 Hold your tongue  Bossuet   said Courfeyrac 

 Bossuet   said Marius   but I thought that your name was Laigle  

 De Meaux   replied Laigle   by metaphor  Bossuet  

Courfeyrac entered the cab 

 Coachman   said he   hotel de la Porte Saint Jacques  

And that very evening  Marius found himself installed in a chamber of
the hotel de la Porte Saint Jacques side by side with Courfeyrac 




CHAPTER III  MARIUS  ASTONISHMENTS

In a few days  Marius had become Courfeyrac s friend  Youth is the
season for prompt welding and the rapid healing of scars  Marius
breathed freely in Courfeyrac s society  a decidedly new thing for him 
Courfeyrac put no questions to him  He did not even think of such a
thing  At that age  faces disclose everything on the spot  Words are
superfluous  There are young men of whom it can be said that their
countenances chatter  One looks at them and one knows them 

One morning  however  Courfeyrac abruptly addressed this interrogation
to him   

 By the way  have you any political opinions  

 The idea   said Marius  almost affronted by the question 

 What are you  

 A democrat Bonapartist  

 The gray hue of a reassured rat   said Courfeyrac 

On the following day  Courfeyrac introduced Marius at the Cafe Musain 
Then he whispered in his ear  with a smile   I must give you your entry
to the revolution   And he led him to the hall of the Friends of the A B
C  He presented him to the other comrades  saying this simple word which
Marius did not understand   A pupil  

Marius had fallen into a wasps  nest of wits  However  although he was
silent and grave  he was  none the less  both winged and armed 

Marius  up to that time solitary and inclined to soliloquy  and to
asides  both by habit and by taste  was a little fluttered by this covey
of young men around him  All these various initiatives solicited his
attention at once  and pulled him about  The tumultuous movements of
these minds at liberty and at work set his ideas in a whirl  Sometimes 
in his trouble  they fled so far from him  that he had difficulty in
recovering them  He heard them talk of philosophy  of literature  of
art  of history  of religion  in unexpected fashion  He caught glimpses
of strange aspects  and  as he did not place them in proper perspective 
he was not altogether sure that it was not chaos that he grasped  On
abandoning his grandfather s opinions for the opinions of his father 
he had supposed himself fixed  he now suspected  with uneasiness  and
without daring to avow it to himself  that he was not  The angle
at which he saw everything began to be displaced anew  A certain
oscillation set all the horizons of his brains in motion  An odd
internal upsetting  He almost suffered from it 

It seemed as though there were no  consecrated things  for those young
men  Marius heard singular propositions on every sort of subject  which
embarrassed his still timid mind 

A theatre poster presented itself  adorned with the title of a tragedy
from the ancient repertory called classic   Down with tragedy dear to
the bourgeois   cried Bahorel  And Marius heard Combeferre reply   

 You are wrong  Bahorel  The bourgeoisie loves tragedy  and the
bourgeoisie must be left at peace on that score  Bewigged tragedy has
a reason for its existence  and I am not one of those who  by order of
AEschylus  contest its right to existence  There are rough outlines in
nature  there are  in creation  ready made parodies  a beak which is not
a beak  wings which are not wings  gills which are not gills  paws which
are not paws  a cry of pain which arouses a desire to laugh  there is
the duck  Now  since poultry exists by the side of the bird  I do
not see why classic tragedy should not exist in the face of antique
tragedy  

Or chance decreed that Marius should traverse Rue Jean Jacques Rousseau
between Enjolras and Courfeyrac 

Courfeyrac took his arm   

 Pay attention  This is the Rue Platriere  now called Rue Jean Jacques
Rousseau  on account of a singular household which lived in it sixty
years ago  This consisted of Jean Jacques and Therese  From time
to time  little beings were born there  Therese gave birth to them 
Jean Jacques represented them as foundlings  

And Enjolras addressed Courfeyrac roughly   

 Silence in the presence of Jean Jacques  I admire that man  He denied
his own children  that may be  but he adopted the people  

Not one of these young men articulated the word  The Emperor 
Jean Prouvaire alone sometimes said Napoleon  all the others said
 Bonaparte   Enjolras pronounced it  Buonaparte  

Marius was vaguely surprised  Initium sapientiae 




CHAPTER IV  THE BACK ROOM OF THE CAFE MUSAIN

One of the conversations among the young men  at which Marius was
present and in which he sometimes joined  was a veritable shock to his
mind 

This took place in the back room of the Cafe Musain  Nearly all the
Friends of the A B C had convened that evening  The argand lamp was
solemnly lighted  They talked of one thing and another  without passion
and with noise  With the exception of Enjolras and Marius  who held
their peace  all were haranguing rather at hap hazard  Conversations
between comrades sometimes are subject to these peaceable tumults  It
was a game and an uproar as much as a conversation  They tossed words
to each other and caught them up in turn  They were chattering in all
quarters 

No woman was admitted to this back room  except Louison  the dish washer
of the cafe  who passed through it from time to time  to go to her
washing in the  lavatory  

Grantaire  thoroughly drunk  was deafening the corner of which he had
taken possession  reasoning and contradicting at the top of his lungs 
and shouting   

 I am thirsty  Mortals  I am dreaming  that the tun of Heidelberg has an
attack of apoplexy  and that I am one of the dozen leeches which will
be applied to it  I want a drink  I desire to forget life  Life is a
hideous invention of I know not whom  It lasts no time at all  and is
worth nothing  One breaks one s neck in living  Life is a theatre set in
which there are but few practicable entrances  Happiness is an antique
reliquary painted on one side only  Ecclesiastes says   All is vanity  
I agree with that good man  who never existed  perhaps  Zero not wishing
to go stark naked  clothed himself in vanity  O vanity  The patching up
of everything with big words  a kitchen is a laboratory  a dancer is a
professor  an acrobat is a gymnast  a boxer is a pugilist  an apothecary
is a chemist  a wigmaker is an artist  a hodman is an architect  a
jockey is a sportsman  a wood louse is a pterigybranche  Vanity has a
right and a wrong side  the right side is stupid  it is the negro with
his glass beads  the wrong side is foolish  it is the philosopher with
his rags  I weep over the one and I laugh over the other  What are
called honors and dignities  and even dignity and honor  are generally
of pinchbeck  Kings make playthings of human pride  Caligula made a
horse a consul  Charles II  made a knight of a sirloin  Wrap yourself
up now  then  between Consul Incitatus and Baronet Roastbeef  As for
the intrinsic value of people  it is no longer respectable in the least 
Listen to the panegyric which neighbor makes of neighbor  White on white
is ferocious  if the lily could speak  what a setting down it would give
the dove  A bigoted woman prating of a devout woman is more venomous
than the asp and the cobra  It is a shame that I am ignorant  otherwise
I would quote to you a mass of things  but I know nothing  For instance 
I have always been witty  when I was a pupil of Gros  instead of
daubing wretched little pictures  I passed my time in pilfering apples 
rapin 24  is the masculine of rapine  So much for myself  as for
the rest of you  you are worth no more than I am  I scoff at your
perfections  excellencies  and qualities  Every good quality tends
towards a defect  economy borders on avarice  the generous man is next
door to the prodigal  the brave man rubs elbows with the braggart  he
who says very pious says a trifle bigoted  there are just as many vices
in virtue as there are holes in Diogenes  cloak  Whom do you admire  the
slain or the slayer  Caesar or Brutus  Generally men are in favor of the
slayer  Long live Brutus  he has slain  There lies the virtue  Virtue 
granted  but madness also  There are queer spots on those great men  The
Brutus who killed Caesar was in love with the statue of a little boy 
This statue was from the hand of the Greek sculptor Strongylion 
who also carved that figure of an Amazon known as the Beautiful Leg 
Eucnemos  which Nero carried with him in his travels  This Strongylion
left but two statues which placed Nero and Brutus in accord  Brutus was
in love with the one  Nero with the other  All history is nothing but
wearisome repetition  One century is the plagiarist of the other  The
battle of Marengo copies the battle of Pydna  the Tolbiac of Clovis and
the Austerlitz of Napoleon are as like each other as two drops of water 
I don t attach much importance to victory  Nothing is so stupid as to
conquer  true glory lies in convincing  But try to prove something  If
you are content with success  what mediocrity  and with conquering  what
wretchedness  Alas  vanity and cowardice everywhere  Everything obeys
success  even grammar  Si volet usus  says Horace  Therefore I disdain
the human race  Shall we descend to the party at all  Do you wish me
to begin admiring the peoples  What people  if you please  Shall it be
Greece  The Athenians  those Parisians of days gone by  slew Phocion 
as we might say Coligny  and fawned upon tyrants to such an extent that
Anacephorus said of Pisistratus   His urine attracts the bees   The most
prominent man in Greece for fifty years was that grammarian Philetas 
who was so small and so thin that he was obliged to load his shoes with
lead in order not to be blown away by the wind  There stood on the great
square in Corinth a statue carved by Silanion and catalogued by Pliny 
this statue represented Episthates  What did Episthates do  He invented
a trip  That sums up Greece and glory  Let us pass on to others  Shall I
admire England  Shall I admire France  France  Why  Because of Paris 
I have just told you my opinion of Athens  England  Why  Because of
London  I hate Carthage  And then  London  the metropolis of luxury  is
the headquarters of wretchedness  There are a hundred deaths a year of
hunger in the parish of Charing Cross alone  Such is Albion  I add 
as the climax  that I have seen an Englishwoman dancing in a wreath of
roses and blue spectacles  A fig then for England  If I do not admire
John Bull  shall I admire Brother Jonathan  I have but little taste for
that slave holding brother  Take away Time is money  what remains of
England  Take away Cotton is king  what remains of America  Germany is
the lymph  Italy is the bile  Shall we go into ecstasies over Russia 
Voltaire admired it  He also admired China  I admit that Russia has its
beauties  among others  a stout despotism  but I pity the despots 
Their health is delicate  A decapitated Alexis  a poignarded Peter 
a strangled Paul  another Paul crushed flat with kicks  divers Ivans
strangled  with their throats cut  numerous Nicholases and Basils
poisoned  all this indicates that the palace of the Emperors of Russia
is in a condition of flagrant insalubrity  All civilized peoples offer
this detail to the admiration of the thinker  war  now  war  civilized
war  exhausts and sums up all the forms of ruffianism  from the
brigandage of the Trabuceros in the gorges of Mont Jaxa to the marauding
of the Comanche Indians in the Doubtful Pass   Bah   you will say to
me   but Europe is certainly better than Asia   I admit that Asia is a
farce  but I do not precisely see what you find to laugh at in the Grand
Lama  you peoples of the west  who have mingled with your fashions and
your elegances all the complicated filth of majesty  from the dirty
chemise of Queen Isabella to the chamber chair of the Dauphin  Gentlemen
of the human race  I tell you  not a bit of it  It is at Brussels that
the most beer is consumed  at Stockholm the most brandy  at Madrid the
most chocolate  at Amsterdam the most gin  at London the most wine  at
Constantinople the most coffee  at Paris the most absinthe  there are
all the useful notions  Paris carries the day  in short  In Paris 
even the rag pickers are sybarites  Diogenes would have loved to be a
rag picker of the Place Maubert better than to be a philosopher at the
Piraeus  Learn this in addition  the wineshops of the ragpickers
are called bibines  the most celebrated are the Saucepan and The
Slaughter House  Hence  tea gardens  goguettes  caboulots  bouibuis 
mastroquets  bastringues  manezingues  bibines of the rag pickers 
caravanseries of the caliphs  I certify to you  I am a voluptuary  I eat
at Richard s at forty sous a head  I must have Persian carpets to roll
naked Cleopatra in  Where is Cleopatra  Ah  So it is you  Louison  Good
day  

Thus did Grantaire  more than intoxicated  launch into speech  catching
at the dish washer in her passage  from his corner in the back room of
the Cafe Musain 

Bossuet  extending his hand towards him  tried to impose silence on him 
and Grantaire began again worse than ever   

 Aigle de Meaux  down with your paws  You produce on me no effect with
your gesture of Hippocrates refusing Artaxerxes  bric a brac  I excuse
you from the task of soothing me  Moreover  I am sad  What do you wish
me to say to you  Man is evil  man is deformed  the butterfly is a
success  man is a failure  God made a mistake with that animal  A
crowd offers a choice of ugliness  The first comer is a wretch 
Femme  woman  rhymes with infame   infamous  Yes  I have the spleen 
complicated with melancholy  with homesickness  plus hypochondria  and
I am vexed and I rage  and I yawn  and I am bored  and I am tired to
death  and I am stupid  Let God go to the devil  

 Silence then  capital R   resumed Bossuet  who was discussing a point
of law behind the scenes  and who was plunged more than waist high in a
phrase of judicial slang  of which this is the conclusion   

   And as for me  although I am hardly a legist  and at the most  an
amateur attorney  I maintain this  that  in accordance with the terms
of the customs of Normandy  at Saint Michel  and for each year  an
equivalent must be paid to the profit of the lord of the manor  saving
the rights of others  and by all and several  the proprietors as well
as those seized with inheritance  and that  for all emphyteuses  leases 
freeholds  contracts of domain  mortgages   

 Echo  plaintive nymph   hummed Grantaire 

Near Grantaire  an almost silent table  a sheet of paper  an inkstand
and a pen between two glasses of brandy  announced that a vaudeville was
being sketched out 

This great affair was being discussed in a low voice  and the two heads
at work touched each other   Let us begin by finding names  When one has
the names  one finds the subject  

 That is true  Dictate  I will write  

 Monsieur Dorimon  

 An independent gentleman  

 Of course  

 His daughter  Celestine  

   tine  What next  

 Colonel Sainval  

 Sainval is stale  I should say Valsin  

Beside the vaudeville aspirants  another group  which was also taking
advantage of the uproar to talk low  was discussing a duel  An old
fellow of thirty was counselling a young one of eighteen  and explaining
to him what sort of an adversary he had to deal with 

 The deuce  Look out for yourself  He is a fine swordsman  His play is
neat  He has the attack  no wasted feints  wrist  dash  lightning  a
just parade  mathematical parries  bigre  and he is left handed  

In the angle opposite Grantaire  Joly and Bahorel were playing dominoes 
and talking of love 

 You are in luck  that you are   Joly was saying   You have a mistress
who is always laughing  

 That is a fault of hers   returned Bahorel   One s mistress does wrong
to laugh  That encourages one to deceive her  To see her gay removes
your remorse  if you see her sad  your conscience pricks you  

 Ingrate  a woman who laughs is such a good thing  And you never
quarrel  

 That is because of the treaty which we have made  On forming our little
Holy Alliance we assigned ourselves each our frontier  which we never
cross  What is situated on the side of winter belongs to Vaud  on the
side of the wind to Gex  Hence the peace  

 Peace is happiness digesting  

 And you  Jolllly  where do you stand in your entanglement with
Mamselle  you know whom I mean  

 She sulks at me with cruel patience  

 Yet you are a lover to soften the heart with gauntness  

 Alas  

 In your place  I would let her alone  

 That is easy enough to say  

 And to do  Is not her name Musichetta  

 Yes  Ah  my poor Bahorel  she is a superb girl  very literary  with
tiny feet  little hands  she dresses well  and is white and dimpled 
with the eyes of a fortune teller  I am wild over her  

 My dear fellow  then in order to please her  you must be elegant 
and produce effects with your knees  Buy a good pair of trousers of
double milled cloth at Staub s  That will assist  

 At what price   shouted Grantaire 

The third corner was delivered up to a poetical discussion  Pagan
mythology was giving battle to Christian mythology  The question was
about Olympus  whose part was taken by Jean Prouvaire  out of pure
romanticism 

Jean Prouvaire was timid only in repose  Once excited  he burst forth 
a sort of mirth accentuated his enthusiasm  and he was at once both
laughing and lyric 

 Let us not insult the gods   said he   The gods may not have taken
their departure  Jupiter does not impress me as dead  The gods are
dreams  you say  Well  even in nature  such as it is to day  after the
flight of these dreams  we still find all the grand old pagan myths 
Such and such a mountain with the profile of a citadel  like the
Vignemale  for example  is still to me the headdress of Cybele  it has
not been proved to me that Pan does not come at night to breathe into
the hollow trunks of the willows  stopping up the holes in turn with his
fingers  and I have always believed that Io had something to do with the
cascade of Pissevache  

In the last corner  they were talking politics  The Charter which had
been granted was getting roughly handled  Combeferre was upholding it
weakly  Courfeyrac was energetically making a breach in it  On the table
lay an unfortunate copy of the famous Touquet Charter  Courfeyrac had
seized it  and was brandishing it  mingling with his arguments the
rattling of this sheet of paper 

 In the first place  I won t have any kings  if it were only from an
economical point of view  I don t want any  a king is a parasite  One
does not have kings gratis  Listen to this  the dearness of kings  At
the death of Francois I   the national debt of France amounted to an
income of thirty thousand livres  at the death of Louis XIV  it was two
milliards  six hundred millions  at twenty eight livres the mark  which
was equivalent in 1760  according to Desmarets  to four milliards  five
hundred millions  which would to day be equivalent to twelve milliards 
In the second place  and no offence to Combeferre  a charter granted is
but a poor expedient of civilization  To save the transition  to soften
the passage  to deaden the shock  to cause the nation to pass insensibly
from the monarchy to democracy by the practice of constitutional
fictions   what detestable reasons all those are  No  no  let us never
enlighten the people with false daylight  Principles dwindle and pale
in your constitutional cellar  No illegitimacy  no compromise  no grant
from the king to the people  In all such grants there is an Article 14 
By the side of the hand which gives there is the claw which snatches
back  I refuse your charter point blank  A charter is a mask  the lie
lurks beneath it  A people which accepts a charter abdicates  The law is
only the law when entire  No  no charter  

It was winter  a couple of fagots were crackling in the fireplace  This
was tempting  and Courfeyrac could not resist  He crumpled the poor
Touquet Charter in his fist  and flung it in the fire  The paper
flashed up  Combeferre watched the masterpiece of Louis XVIII  burn
philosophically  and contented himself with saying   

 The charter metamorphosed into flame  

And sarcasms  sallies  jests  that French thing which is called entrain 
and that English thing which is called humor  good and bad taste 
good and bad reasons  all the wild pyrotechnics of dialogue  mounting
together and crossing from all points of the room  produced a sort of
merry bombardment over their heads 




CHAPTER V  ENLARGEMENT OF HORIZON

The shocks of youthful minds among themselves have this admirable
property  that one can never foresee the spark  nor divine the lightning
flash  What will dart out presently  No one knows  The burst of laughter
starts from a tender feeling 

At the moment of jest  the serious makes its entry  Impulses depend on
the first chance word  The spirit of each is sovereign  jest suffices
to open the field to the unexpected  These are conversations with
abrupt turns  in which the perspective changes suddenly  Chance is the
stage manager of such conversations 

A severe thought  starting oddly from a clash of words  suddenly
traversed the conflict of quips in which Grantaire  Bahorel  Prouvaire 
Bossuet  Combeferre  and Courfeyrac were confusedly fencing 

How does a phrase crop up in a dialogue  Whence comes it that it
suddenly impresses itself on the attention of those who hear it  We
have just said  that no one knows anything about it  In the midst of the
uproar  Bossuet all at once terminated some apostrophe to Combeferre 
with this date   

 June 18th  1815  Waterloo  

At this name of Waterloo  Marius  who was leaning his elbows on a table 
beside a glass of water  removed his wrist from beneath his chin  and
began to gaze fixedly at the audience 

 Pardieu   exclaimed Courfeyrac   Parbleu  was falling into disuse
at this period    that number 18 is strange and strikes me  It is
Bonaparte s fatal number  Place Louis in front and Brumaire behind  you
have the whole destiny of the man  with this significant peculiarity 
that the end treads close on the heels of the commencement  

Enjolras  who had remained mute up to that point  broke the silence and
addressed this remark to Combeferre   

 You mean to say  the crime and the expiation  

This word crime overpassed the measure of what Marius  who was already
greatly agitated by the abrupt evocation of Waterloo  could accept 

He rose  walked slowly to the map of France spread out on the wall  and
at whose base an island was visible in a separate compartment  laid his
finger on this compartment and said   

 Corsica  a little island which has rendered France very great  

This was like a breath of icy air  All ceased talking  They felt that
something was on the point of occurring 

Bahorel  replying to Bossuet  was just assuming an attitude of the torso
to which he was addicted  He gave it up to listen 

Enjolras  whose blue eye was not fixed on any one  and who seemed to be
gazing at space  replied  without glancing at Marius   

 France needs no Corsica to be great  France is great because she is
France  Quia nomina leo  

Marius felt no desire to retreat  he turned towards Enjolras  and his
voice burst forth with a vibration which came from a quiver of his very
being   

 God forbid that I should diminish France  But amalgamating Napoleon
with her is not diminishing her  Come  let us argue the question  I am
a new comer among you  but I will confess that you amaze me  Where do we
stand  Who are we  Who are you  Who am I  Let us come to an explanation
about the Emperor  I hear you say Buonaparte  accenting the u like the
Royalists  I warn you that my grandfather does better still  he
says Buonaparte   I thought you were young men  Where  then  is your
enthusiasm  And what are you doing with it  Whom do you admire  if you
do not admire the Emperor  And what more do you want  If you will
have none of that great man  what great men would you like  He had
everything  He was complete  He had in his brain the sum of human
faculties  He made codes like Justinian  he dictated like Caesar  his
conversation was mingled with the lightning flash of Pascal  with the
thunderclap of Tacitus  he made history and he wrote it  his bulletins
are Iliads  he combined the cipher of Newton with the metaphor of
Mahomet  he left behind him in the East words as great as the pyramids 
at Tilsit he taught Emperors majesty  at the Academy of Sciences he
replied to Laplace  in the Council of State be held his own against
Merlin  he gave a soul to the geometry of the first  and to the
chicanery of the last  he was a legist with the attorneys and sidereal
with the astronomers  like Cromwell blowing out one of two candles  he
went to the Temple to bargain for a curtain tassel  he saw everything 
he knew everything  which did not prevent him from laughing
good naturedly beside the cradle of his little child  and all at once 
frightened Europe lent an ear  armies put themselves in motion  parks of
artillery rumbled  pontoons stretched over the rivers  clouds of cavalry
galloped in the storm  cries  trumpets  a trembling of thrones in every
direction  the frontiers of kingdoms oscillated on the map  the sound
of a superhuman sword was heard  as it was drawn from its sheath  they
beheld him  him  rise erect on the horizon with a blazing brand in his
hand  and a glow in his eyes  unfolding amid the thunder  his two wings 
the grand army and the old guard  and he was the archangel of war  

All held their peace  and Enjolras bowed his head  Silence always
produces somewhat the effect of acquiescence  of the enemy being driven
to the wall  Marius continued with increased enthusiasm  and almost
without pausing for breath   

 Let us be just  my friends  What a splendid destiny for a nation to be
the Empire of such an Emperor  when that nation is France and when it
adds its own genius to the genius of that man  To appear and to reign 
to march and to triumph  to have for halting places all capitals  to
take his grenadiers and to make kings of them  to decree the falls of
dynasties  and to transfigure Europe at the pace of a charge  to make
you feel that when you threaten you lay your hand on the hilt of the
sword of God  to follow in a single man  Hannibal  Caesar  Charlemagne 
to be the people of some one who mingles with your dawns the startling
announcement of a battle won  to have the cannon of the Invalides to
rouse you in the morning  to hurl into abysses of light prodigious words
which flame forever  Marengo  Arcola  Austerlitz  Jena  Wagram  To cause
constellations of victories to flash forth at each instant from the
zenith of the centuries  to make the French Empire a pendant to the
Roman Empire  to be the great nation and to give birth to the grand
army  to make its legions fly forth over all the earth  as a mountain
sends out its eagles on all sides to conquer  to dominate  to strike
with lightning  to be in Europe a sort of nation gilded through glory 
to sound athwart the centuries a trumpet blast of Titans  to conquer
the world twice  by conquest and by dazzling  that is sublime  and what
greater thing is there  

 To be free   said Combeferre 

Marius lowered his head in his turn  that cold and simple word had
traversed his epic effusion like a blade of steel  and he felt it
vanishing within him  When he raised his eyes  Combeferre was no longer
there  Probably satisfied with his reply to the apotheosis  he had
just taken his departure  and all  with the exception of Enjolras 
had followed him  The room had been emptied  Enjolras  left alone with
Marius  was gazing gravely at him  Marius  however  having rallied his
ideas to some extent  did not consider himself beaten  there lingered in
him a trace of inward fermentation which was on the point  no doubt  of
translating itself into syllogisms arrayed against Enjolras  when all of
a sudden  they heard some one singing on the stairs as he went  It was
Combeferre  and this is what he was singing   

                Si Cesar m avait donne 25 
                 La gloire et la guerre 
               Et qu il me fallait quitter
                 L amour de ma mere 
               Je dirais au grand Cesar 
                 Reprends ton sceptre et ton char 
               J aime mieux ma mere  o gue 
                 J aime mieux ma mere  

The wild and tender accents with which Combeferre sang communicated to
this couplet a sort of strange grandeur  Marius  thoughtfully  and
with his eyes diked on the ceiling  repeated almost mechanically   My
mother    

At that moment  he felt Enjolras  hand on his shoulder 

 Citizen   said Enjolras to him   my mother is the Republic  




CHAPTER VI  RES ANGUSTA

That evening left Marius profoundly shaken  and with a melancholy shadow
in his soul  He felt what the earth may possibly feel  at the moment
when it is torn open with the iron  in order that grain may be deposited
within it  it feels only the wound  the quiver of the germ and the joy
of the fruit only arrive later 

Marius was gloomy  He had but just acquired a faith  must he then reject
it already  He affirmed to himself that he would not  He declared to
himself that he would not doubt  and he began to doubt in spite of
himself  To stand between two religions  from one of which you have
not as yet emerged  and another into which you have not yet entered  is
intolerable  and twilight is pleasing only to bat like souls  Marius
was clear eyed  and he required the true light  The half lights of doubt
pained him  Whatever may have been his desire to remain where he was 
he could not halt there  he was irresistibly constrained to continue  to
advance  to examine  to think  to march further  Whither would this lead
him  He feared  after having taken so many steps which had brought him
nearer to his father  to now take a step which should estrange him from
that father  His discomfort was augmented by all the reflections which
occurred to him  An escarpment rose around him  He was in accord neither
with his grandfather nor with his friends  daring in the eyes of
the one  he was behind the times in the eyes of the others  and he
recognized the fact that he was doubly isolated  on the side of age and
on the side of youth  He ceased to go to the Cafe Musain 

In the troubled state of his conscience  he no longer thought of
certain serious sides of existence  The realities of life do not allow
themselves to be forgotten  They soon elbowed him abruptly 

One morning  the proprietor of the hotel entered Marius  room and said
to him   

 Monsieur Courfeyrac answered for you  

 Yes  

 But I must have my money  

 Request Courfeyrac to come and talk with me   said Marius 

Courfeyrac having made his appearance  the host left them  Marius then
told him what it had not before occurred to him to relate  that he was
the same as alone in the world  and had no relatives 

 What is to become of you   said Courfeyrac 

 I do not know in the least   replied Marius 

 What are you going to do  

 I do not know  

 Have you any money  

 Fifteen francs  

 Do you want me to lend you some  

 Never  

 Have you clothes  

 Here is what I have  

 Have you trinkets  

 A watch  

 Silver  

 Gold  here it is  

 I know a clothes dealer who will take your frock coat and a pair of
trousers  

 That is good  

 You will then have only a pair of trousers  a waistcoat  a hat and a
coat  

 And my boots  

 What  you will not go barefoot  What opulence  

 That will be enough  

 I know a watchmaker who will buy your watch  

 That is good  

 No  it is not good  What will you do after that  

 Whatever is necessary  Anything honest  that is to say  

 Do you know English  

 No  

 Do you know German  

 No  

 So much the worse  

 Why  

 Because one of my friends  a publisher  is getting up a sort of an
encyclopaedia  for which you might have translated English or German
articles  It is badly paid work  but one can live by it  

 I will learn English and German  

 And in the meanwhile  

 In the meanwhile I will live on my clothes and my watch  

The clothes dealer was sent for  He paid twenty francs for the cast off
garments  They went to the watchmaker s  He bought the watch for
forty five francs 

 That is not bad   said Marius to Courfeyrac  on their return to the
hotel   with my fifteen francs  that makes eighty  

 And the hotel bill   observed Courfeyrac 

 Hello  I had forgotten that   said Marius 

The landlord presented his bill  which had to be paid on the spot  It
amounted to seventy francs 

 I have ten francs left   said Marius 

 The deuce   exclaimed Courfeyrac   you will eat up five francs while
you are learning English  and five while learning German  That will be
swallowing a tongue very fast  or a hundred sous very slowly  

In the meantime Aunt Gillenormand  a rather good hearted person at
bottom in difficulties  had finally hunted up Marius  abode 

One morning  on his return from the law school  Marius found a letter
from his aunt  and the sixty pistoles  that is to say  six hundred
francs in gold  in a sealed box 

Marius sent back the thirty louis to his aunt  with a respectful letter 
in which he stated that he had sufficient means of subsistence and that
he should be able thenceforth to supply all his needs  At that moment 
he had three francs left 

His aunt did not inform his grandfather of this refusal for fear of
exasperating him  Besides  had he not said   Let me never hear the name
of that blood drinker again  

Marius left the hotel de la Porte Saint Jacques  as he did not wish to
run in debt there 




BOOK FIFTH   THE EXCELLENCE OF MISFORTUNE




CHAPTER I  MARIUS INDIGENT

 Illustration  Excellence of Misfortune  3b5 1 misfortune 


Life became hard for Marius  It was nothing to eat his clothes and his
watch  He ate of that terrible  inexpressible thing that is called de la
vache enrage  that is to say  he endured great hardships and privations 
A terrible thing it is  containing days without bread  nights without
sleep  evenings without a candle  a hearth without a fire  weeks without
work  a future without hope  a coat out at the elbows  an old hat which
evokes the laughter of young girls  a door which one finds locked on one
at night because one s rent is not paid  the insolence of the porter
and the cook shop man  the sneers of neighbors  humiliations  dignity
trampled on  work of whatever nature accepted  disgusts  bitterness 
despondency  Marius learned how all this is eaten  and how such are
often the only things which one has to devour  At that moment of his
existence when a man needs his pride  because he needs love  he felt
that he was jeered at because he was badly dressed  and ridiculous
because he was poor  At the age when youth swells the heart with
imperial pride  he dropped his eyes more than once on his dilapidated
boots  and he knew the unjust shame and the poignant blushes of
wretchedness  Admirable and terrible trial from which the feeble emerge
base  from which the strong emerge sublime  A crucible into which
destiny casts a man  whenever it desires a scoundrel or a demi god 

For many great deeds are performed in petty combats  There are instances
of bravery ignored and obstinate  which defend themselves step by
step in that fatal onslaught of necessities and turpitudes  Noble and
mysterious triumphs which no eye beholds  which are requited with no
renown  which are saluted with no trumpet blast  Life  misfortune 
isolation  abandonment  poverty  are the fields of battle which have
their heroes  obscure heroes  who are  sometimes  grander than the
heroes who win renown 

Firm and rare natures are thus created  misery  almost always a
step mother  is sometimes a mother  destitution gives birth to might of
soul and spirit  distress is the nurse of pride  unhappiness is a good
milk for the magnanimous 

There came a moment in Marius  life  when he swept his own landing  when
he bought his sou s worth of Brie cheese at the fruiterer s  when he
waited until twilight had fallen to slip into the baker s and purchase
a loaf  which he carried off furtively to his attic as though he had
stolen it  Sometimes there could be seen gliding into the butcher s shop
on the corner  in the midst of the bantering cooks who elbowed him  an
awkward young man  carrying big books under his arm  who had a timid yet
angry air  who  on entering  removed his hat from a brow whereon stood
drops of perspiration  made a profound bow to the butcher s astonished
wife  asked for a mutton cutlet  paid six or seven sous for it  wrapped
it up in a paper  put it under his arm  between two books  and went
away  It was Marius  On this cutlet  which he cooked for himself  he
lived for three days 

On the first day he ate the meat  on the second he ate the fat  on the
third he gnawed the bone  Aunt Gillenormand made repeated attempts  and
sent him the sixty pistoles several times  Marius returned them on every
occasion  saying that he needed nothing 

He was still in mourning for his father when the revolution which we
have just described was effected within him  From that time forth  he
had not put off his black garments  But his garments were quitting him 
The day came when he had no longer a coat  The trousers would go next 
What was to be done  Courfeyrac  to whom he had  on his side  done some
good turns  gave him an old coat  For thirty sous  Marius got it turned
by some porter or other  and it was a new coat  But this coat was green 
Then Marius ceased to go out until after nightfall  This made his coat
black  As he wished always to appear in mourning  he clothed himself
with the night 

In spite of all this  he got admitted to practice as a lawyer  He was
supposed to live in Courfeyrac s room  which was decent  and where
a certain number of law books backed up and completed by several
dilapidated volumes of romance  passed as the library required by the
regulations  He had his letters addressed to Courfeyrac s quarters 

When Marius became a lawyer  he informed his grandfather of the fact
in a letter which was cold but full of submission and respect  M 
Gillenormand trembled as he took the letter  read it  tore it in four
pieces  and threw it into the waste basket  Two or three days later 
Mademoiselle Gillenormand heard her father  who was alone in his room 
talking aloud to himself  He always did this whenever he was greatly
agitated  She listened  and the old man was saying   If you were not a
fool  you would know that one cannot be a baron and a lawyer at the same
time  




CHAPTER II  MARIUS POOR

It is the same with wretchedness as with everything else  It ends by
becoming bearable  It finally assumes a form  and adjusts itself  One
vegetates  that is to say  one develops in a certain meagre fashion 
which is  however  sufficient for life  This is the mode in which the
existence of Marius Pontmercy was arranged 

He had passed the worst straits  the narrow pass was opening out a
little in front of him  By dint of toil  perseverance  courage  and
will  he had managed to draw from his work about seven hundred francs a
year  He had learned German and English  thanks to Courfeyrac  who had
put him in communication with his friend the publisher  Marius filled
the modest post of utility man in the literature of the publishing
house  He drew up prospectuses  translated newspapers  annotated
editions  compiled biographies  etc   net product  year in and year
out  seven hundred francs  He lived on it  How  Not so badly  We will
explain 

Marius occupied in the Gorbeau house  for an annual sum of thirty
francs  a den minus a fireplace  called a cabinet  which contained only
the most indispensable articles of furniture  This furniture belonged
to him  He gave three francs a month to the old principal tenant to come
and sweep his hole  and to bring him a little hot water every morning 
a fresh egg  and a penny roll  He breakfasted on this egg and roll  His
breakfast varied in cost from two to four sous  according as eggs
were dear or cheap  At six o clock in the evening he descended the
Rue Saint Jacques to dine at Rousseau s  opposite Basset s  the
stamp dealer s  on the corner of the Rue des Mathurins  He ate no soup 
He took a six sou plate of meat  a half portion of vegetables for three
sous  and a three sou dessert  For three sous he got as much bread as
he wished  As for wine  he drank water  When he paid at the desk
where Madam Rousseau  at that period still plump and rosy majestically
presided  he gave a sou to the waiter  and Madam Rousseau gave him a
smile  Then he went away  For sixteen sous he had a smile and a dinner 

This Restaurant Rousseau  where so few bottles and so many water carafes
were emptied  was a calming potion rather than a restaurant  It no
longer exists  The proprietor had a fine nickname  he was called
Rousseau the Aquatic 

Thus  breakfast four sous  dinner sixteen sous  his food cost him twenty
sous a day  which made three hundred and sixty five francs a year  Add
the thirty francs for rent  and the thirty six francs to the old woman 
plus a few trifling expenses  for four hundred and fifty francs  Marius
was fed  lodged  and waited on  His clothing cost him a hundred francs 
his linen fifty francs  his washing fifty francs  the whole did not
exceed six hundred and fifty francs  He was rich  He sometimes lent ten
francs to a friend  Courfeyrac had once been able to borrow sixty francs
of him  As far as fire was concerned  as Marius had no fireplace  he had
 simplified matters  

Marius always had two complete suits of clothes  the one old   for every
day   the other  brand new for special occasions  Both were black  He
had but three shirts  one on his person  the second in the commode  and
the third in the washerwoman s hands  He renewed them as they wore out 
They were always ragged  which caused him to button his coat to the
chin 

It had required years for Marius to attain to this flourishing
condition  Hard years  difficult  some of them  to traverse  others to
climb  Marius had not failed for a single day  He had endured everything
in the way of destitution  he had done everything except contract debts 
He did himself the justice to say that he had never owed any one a sou 
A debt was  to him  the beginning of slavery  He even said to himself 
that a creditor is worse than a master  for the master possesses only
your person  a creditor possesses your dignity and can administer to
it a box on the ear  Rather than borrow  he went without food  He had
passed many a day fasting  Feeling that all extremes meet  and that 
if one is not on one s guard  lowered fortunes may lead to baseness of
soul  he kept a jealous watch on his pride  Such and such a formality
or action  which  in any other situation would have appeared merely a
deference to him  now seemed insipidity  and he nerved himself against
it  His face wore a sort of severe flush  He was timid even to rudeness 

During all these trials he had felt himself encouraged and even
uplifted  at times  by a secret force that he possessed within himself 
The soul aids the body  and at certain moments  raises it  It is the
only bird which bears up its own cage 

Besides his father s name  another name was graven in Marius  heart 
the name of Thenardier  Marius  with his grave and enthusiastic nature 
surrounded with a sort of aureole the man to whom  in his thoughts 
he owed his father s life   that intrepid sergeant who had saved the
colonel amid the bullets and the cannon balls of Waterloo  He never
separated the memory of this man from the memory of his father  and
he associated them in his veneration  It was a sort of worship in two
steps  with the grand altar for the colonel and the lesser one for
Thenardier  What redoubled the tenderness of his gratitude towards
Thenardier  was the idea of the distress into which he knew that
Thenardier had fallen  and which had engulfed the latter  Marius had
learned at Montfermeil of the ruin and bankruptcy of the unfortunate
inn keeper  Since that time  he had made unheard of efforts to find
traces of him and to reach him in that dark abyss of misery in which
Thenardier had disappeared  Marius had beaten the whole country  he
had gone to Chelles  to Bondy  to Gourney  to Nogent  to Lagny  He had
persisted for three years  expending in these explorations the little
money which he had laid by  No one had been able to give him any news of
Thenardier  he was supposed to have gone abroad  His creditors had also
sought him  with less love than Marius  but with as much assiduity  and
had not been able to lay their hands on him  Marius blamed himself  and
was almost angry with himself for his lack of success in his researches 
It was the only debt left him by the colonel  and Marius made it a
matter of honor to pay it   What   he thought   when my father lay dying
on the field of battle  did Thenardier contrive to find him amid the
smoke and the grape shot  and bear him off on his shoulders  and yet he
owed him nothing  and I  who owe so much to Thenardier  cannot join him
in this shadow where he is lying in the pangs of death  and in my
turn bring him back from death to life  Oh  I will find him   To find
Thenardier  in fact  Marius would have given one of his arms  to rescue
him from his misery  he would have sacrificed all his blood  To see
Thenardier  to render Thenardier some service  to say to him   You do
not know me  well  I do know you  Here I am  Dispose of me   This was
Marius  sweetest and most magnificent dream 




CHAPTER III  MARIUS GROWN UP

At this epoch  Marius was twenty years of age  It was three years since
he had left his grandfather  Both parties had remained on the same
terms  without attempting to approach each other  and without seeking to
see each other  Besides  what was the use of seeing each other  Marius
was the brass vase  while Father Gillenormand was the iron pot 

We admit that Marius was mistaken as to his grandfather s heart  He had
imagined that M  Gillenormand had never loved him  and that that crusty 
harsh  and smiling old fellow who cursed  shouted  and stormed
and brandished his cane  cherished for him  at the most  only that
affection  which is at once slight and severe  of the dotards of comedy 
Marius was in error  There are fathers who do not love their children 
there exists no grandfather who does not adore his grandson  At bottom 
as we have said  M  Gillenormand idolized Marius  He idolized him after
his own fashion  with an accompaniment of snappishness and boxes on the
ear  but  this child once gone  he felt a black void in his heart 
he would allow no one to mention the child to him  and all the while
secretly regretted that he was so well obeyed  At first  he hoped that
this Buonapartist  this Jacobin  this terrorist  this Septembrist  would
return  But the weeks passed by  years passed  to M  Gillenormand s
great despair  the  blood drinker  did not make his appearance   I could
not do otherwise than turn him out   said the grandfather to himself 
and he asked himself   If the thing were to do over again  would I do
it   His pride instantly answered  yes   but his aged head  which he
shook in silence  replied sadly  no   He had his hours of depression 
He missed Marius  Old men need affection as they need the sun  It is
warmth  Strong as his nature was  the absence of Marius had wrought some
change in him  Nothing in the world could have induced him to take a
step towards  that rogue   but he suffered  He never inquired about him 
but he thought of him incessantly  He lived in the Marais in a more and
more retired manner  he was still merry and violent as of old  but
his merriment had a convulsive harshness  and his violences always
terminated in a sort of gentle and gloomy dejection  He sometimes said 
 Oh  if he only would return  what a good box on the ear I would give
him  

As for his aunt  she thought too little to love much  Marius was no
longer for her much more than a vague black form  and she eventually
came to occupy herself with him much less than with the cat or the
paroquet which she probably had  What augmented Father Gillenormand s
secret suffering was  that he locked it all up within his breast  and
did not allow its existence to be divined  His sorrow was like those
recently invented furnaces which consume their own smoke  It sometimes
happened that officious busybodies spoke to him of Marius  and asked
him   What is your grandson doing    What has become of him   The old
bourgeois replied with a sigh  that he was a sad case  and giving a
fillip to his cuff  if he wished to appear gay   Monsieur le Baron de
Pontmercy is practising pettifogging in some corner or other  

While the old man regretted  Marius applauded himself  As is the case
with all good hearted people  misfortune had eradicated his bitterness 
He only thought of M  Gillenormand in an amiable light  but he had set
his mind on not receiving anything more from the man who had been
unkind to his father  This was the mitigated translation of his first
indignation  Moreover  he was happy at having suffered  and at suffering
still  It was for his father s sake  The hardness of his life satisfied
and pleased him  He said to himself with a sort of joy that  it was
certainly the least he could do  that it was an expiation   that  had
it not been for that  he would have been punished in some other way and
later on for his impious indifference towards his father  and such a
father  that it would not have been just that his father should have all
the suffering  and he none of it  and that  in any case  what were his
toils and his destitution compared with the colonel s heroic life  that 
in short  the only way for him to approach his father and resemble him 
was to be brave in the face of indigence  as the other had been valiant
before the enemy  and that that was  no doubt  what the colonel had
meant to imply by the words   He will be worthy of it   Words which
Marius continued to wear  not on his breast  since the colonel s writing
had disappeared  but in his heart 

And then  on the day when his grandfather had turned him out of doors 
he had been only a child  now he was a man  He felt it  Misery  we
repeat  had been good for him  Poverty in youth  when it succeeds  has
this magnificent property about it  that it turns the whole will towards
effort  and the whole soul towards aspiration  Poverty instantly lays
material life bare and renders it hideous  hence inexpressible bounds
towards the ideal life  The wealthy young man has a hundred coarse and
brilliant distractions  horse races  hunting  dogs  tobacco  gaming 
good repasts  and all the rest of it  occupations for the baser side
of the soul  at the expense of the loftier and more delicate sides 
The poor young man wins his bread with difficulty  he eats  when he has
eaten  he has nothing more but meditation  He goes to the spectacles
which God furnishes gratis  he gazes at the sky  space  the stars 
flowers  children  the humanity among which he is suffering  the
creation amid which he beams  He gazes so much on humanity that he
perceives its soul  he gazes upon creation to such an extent that he
beholds God  He dreams  he feels himself great  he dreams on  and feels
himself tender  From the egotism of the man who suffers he passes to the
compassion of the man who meditates  An admirable sentiment breaks forth
in him  forgetfulness of self and pity for all  As he thinks of the
innumerable enjoyments which nature offers  gives  and lavishes to souls
which stand open  and refuses to souls that are closed  he comes to
pity  he the millionnaire of the mind  the millionnaire of money  All
hatred departs from his heart  in proportion as light penetrates his
spirit  And is he unhappy  No  The misery of a young man is never
miserable  The first young lad who comes to hand  however poor he may
be  with his strength  his health  his rapid walk  his brilliant eyes 
his warmly circulating blood  his black hair  his red lips  his white
teeth  his pure breath  will always arouse the envy of an aged emperor 
And then  every morning  he sets himself afresh to the task of earning
his bread  and while his hands earn his bread  his dorsal column
gains pride  his brain gathers ideas  His task finished  he returns to
ineffable ecstasies  to contemplation  to joys  he beholds his feet set
in afflictions  in obstacles  on the pavement  in the nettles  sometimes
in the mire  his head in the light  He is firm serene  gentle  peaceful 
attentive  serious  content with little  kindly  and he thanks God for
having bestowed on him those two forms of riches which many a rich
man lacks  work  which makes him free  and thought  which makes him
dignified 

This is what had happened with Marius  To tell the truth  he inclined a
little too much to the side of contemplation  From the day when he had
succeeded in earning his living with some approach to certainty  he had
stopped  thinking it good to be poor  and retrenching time from his work
to give to thought  that is to say  he sometimes passed entire days
in meditation  absorbed  engulfed  like a visionary  in the mute
voluptuousness of ecstasy and inward radiance  He had thus propounded
the problem of his life  to toil as little as possible at material
labor  in order to toil as much as possible at the labor which is
impalpable  in other words  to bestow a few hours on real life  and to
cast the rest to the infinite  As he believed that he lacked nothing  he
did not perceive that contemplation  thus understood  ends by becoming
one of the forms of idleness  that he was contenting himself with
conquering the first necessities of life  and that he was resting from
his labors too soon 

It was evident that  for this energetic and enthusiastic nature  this
could only be a transitory state  and that  at the first shock against
the inevitable complications of destiny  Marius would awaken 

In the meantime  although he was a lawyer  and whatever Father
Gillenormand thought about the matter  he was not practising  he was
not even pettifogging  Meditation had turned him aside from pleading  To
haunt attorneys  to follow the court  to hunt up cases  what a bore  Why
should he do it  He saw no reason for changing the manner of gaining his
livelihood  The obscure and ill paid publishing establishment had come
to mean for him a sure source of work which did not involve too much
labor  as we have explained  and which sufficed for his wants 

One of the publishers for whom he worked  M  Magimel  I think  offered
to take him into his own house  to lodge him well  to furnish him with
regular occupation  and to give him fifteen hundred francs a year  To be
well lodged  Fifteen hundred francs  No doubt  But renounce his liberty 
Be on fixed wages  A sort of hired man of letters  According to Marius 
opinion  if he accepted  his position would become both better and worse
at the same time  he acquired comfort  and lost his dignity  it was a
fine and complete unhappiness converted into a repulsive and ridiculous
state of torture  something like the case of a blind man who should
recover the sight of one eye  He refused 

Marius dwelt in solitude  Owing to his taste for remaining outside of
everything  and through having been too much alarmed  he had not entered
decidedly into the group presided over by Enjolras  They had remained
good friends  they were ready to assist each other on occasion in every
possible way  but nothing more  Marius had two friends  one young 
Courfeyrac  and one old  M  Mabeuf  He inclined more to the old man 
In the first place  he owed to him the revolution which had taken
place within him  to him he was indebted for having known and loved his
father   He operated on me for a cataract   he said 

The churchwarden had certainly played a decisive part 

It was not  however  that M  Mabeuf had been anything but the calm and
impassive agent of Providence in this connection  He had enlightened
Marius by chance and without being aware of the fact  as does a candle
which some one brings  he had been the candle and not the some one 

As for Marius  inward political revolution  M  Mabeuf was totally
incapable of comprehending it  of willing or of directing it 

As we shall see M  Mabeuf again  later on  a few words will not be
superfluous 




CHAPTER IV  M  MABEUF

On the day when M  Mabeuf said to Marius   Certainly I approve of
political opinions   he expressed the real state of his mind  All
political opinions were matters of indifference to him  and he approved
them all  without distinction  provided they left him in peace  as the
Greeks called the Furies  the beautiful  the good  the charming   the
Eumenides  M  Mabeuf s political opinion consisted in a passionate love
for plants  and  above all  for books  Like all the rest of the world 
he possessed the termination in ist  without which no one could exist at
that time  but he was neither a Royalist  a Bonapartist  a Chartist 
an Orleanist  nor an Anarchist  he was a bouquinist  a collector of old
books  He did not understand how men could busy themselves with
hating each other because of silly stuff like the charter  democracy 
legitimacy  monarchy  the republic  etc   when there were in the world
all sorts of mosses  grasses  and shrubs which they might be looking at 
and heaps of folios  and even of 32mos  which they might turn over  He
took good care not to become useless  having books did not prevent his
reading  being a botanist did not prevent his being a gardener  When
he made Pontmercy s acquaintance  this sympathy had existed between the
colonel and himself  that what the colonel did for flowers  he did for
fruits  M  Mabeuf had succeeded in producing seedling pears as savory
as the pears of St  Germain  it is from one of his combinations 
apparently  that the October Mirabelle  now celebrated and no less
perfumed than the summer Mirabelle  owes its origin  He went to mass
rather from gentleness than from piety  and because  as he loved the
faces of men  but hated their noise  he found them assembled and silent
only in church  Feeling that he must be something in the State  he had
chosen the career of warden  However  he had never succeeded in loving
any woman as much as a tulip bulb  nor any man as much as an Elzevir 
He had long passed sixty  when  one day  some one asked him   Have you
never been married    I have forgotten   said he  When it sometimes
happened to him  and to whom does it not happen   to say   Oh  if I were
only rich   it was not when ogling a pretty girl  as was the case with
Father Gillenormand  but when contemplating an old book  He lived alone
with an old housekeeper  He was somewhat gouty  and when he was asleep 
his aged fingers  stiffened with rheumatism  lay crooked up in the folds
of his sheets  He had composed and published a Flora of the Environs of
Cauteretz  with colored plates  a work which enjoyed a tolerable
measure of esteem and which sold well  People rang his bell  in the Rue
Mesieres  two or three times a day  to ask for it  He drew as much as
two thousand francs a year from it  this constituted nearly the whole of
his fortune  Although poor  he had had the talent to form for himself 
by dint of patience  privations  and time  a precious collection of rare
copies of every sort  He never went out without a book under his arm 
and he often returned with two  The sole decoration of the four rooms
on the ground floor  which composed his lodgings  consisted of framed
herbariums  and engravings of the old masters  The sight of a sword or
a gun chilled his blood  He had never approached a cannon in his life 
even at the Invalides  He had a passable stomach  a brother who was a
cure  perfectly white hair  no teeth  either in his mouth or his mind  a
trembling in every limb  a Picard accent  an infantile laugh  the air of
an old sheep  and he was easily frightened  Add to this  that he had no
other friendship  no other acquaintance among the living  than an old
bookseller of the Porte Saint Jacques  named Royal  His dream was to
naturalize indigo in France 

His servant was also a sort of innocent  The poor good old woman was a
spinster  Sultan  her cat  which might have mewed Allegri s miserere in
the Sixtine Chapel  had filled her heart and sufficed for the quantity
of passion which existed in her  None of her dreams had ever proceeded
as far as man  She had never been able to get further than her cat  Like
him  she had a mustache  Her glory consisted in her caps  which were
always white  She passed her time  on Sundays  after mass  in counting
over the linen in her chest  and in spreading out on her bed the dresses
in the piece which she bought and never had made up  She knew how to
read  M  Mabeuf had nicknamed her Mother Plutarque 

M  Mabeuf had taken a fancy to Marius  because Marius  being young and
gentle  warmed his age without startling his timidity  Youth combined
with gentleness produces on old people the effect of the sun without
wind  When Marius was saturated with military glory  with gunpowder 
with marches and countermarches  and with all those prodigious battles
in which his father had given and received such tremendous blows of the
sword  he went to see M  Mabeuf  and M  Mabeuf talked to him of his hero
from the point of view of flowers 

His brother the cure died about 1830  and almost immediately  as when
the night is drawing on  the whole horizon grew dark for M  Mabeuf  A
notary s failure deprived him of the sum of ten thousand francs  which
was all that he possessed in his brother s right and his own  The
Revolution of July brought a crisis to publishing  In a period of
embarrassment  the first thing which does not sell is a Flora  The Flora
of the Environs of Cauteretz stopped short  Weeks passed by without a
single purchaser  Sometimes M  Mabeuf started at the sound of the bell 
 Monsieur   said Mother Plutarque sadly   it is the water carrier  
In short  one day  M  Mabeuf quitted the Rue Mesieres  abdicated the
functions of warden  gave up Saint Sulpice  sold not a part of his
books  but of his prints   that to which he was the least attached   and
installed himself in a little house on the Rue Montparnasse  where 
however  he remained but one quarter for two reasons  in the first
place  the ground floor and the garden cost three hundred francs  and he
dared not spend more than two hundred francs on his rent  in the second 
being near Faton s shooting gallery  he could hear the pistol shots 
which was intolerable to him 

He carried off his Flora  his copper plates  his herbariums  his
portfolios  and his books  and established himself near the Salpetriere 
in a sort of thatched cottage of the village of Austerlitz  where 
for fifty crowns a year  he got three rooms and a garden enclosed by a
hedge  and containing a well  He took advantage of this removal to sell
off nearly all his furniture  On the day of his entrance into his new
quarters  he was very gay  and drove the nails on which his engravings
and herbariums were to hang  with his own hands  dug in his garden the
rest of the day  and at night  perceiving that Mother Plutarque had a
melancholy air  and was very thoughtful  he tapped her on the shoulder
and said to her with a smile   We have the indigo  

Only two visitors  the bookseller of the Porte Saint Jacques and Marius 
were admitted to view the thatched cottage at Austerlitz  a brawling
name which was  to tell the truth  extremely disagreeable to him 

However  as we have just pointed out  brains which are absorbed in some
bit of wisdom  or folly  or  as it often happens  in both at once  are
but slowly accessible to the things of actual life  Their own destiny
is a far off thing to them  There results from such concentration a
passivity  which  if it were the outcome of reasoning  would resemble
philosophy  One declines  descends  trickles away  even crumbles away 
and yet is hardly conscious of it one s self  It always ends  it is
true  in an awakening  but the awakening is tardy  In the meantime  it
seems as though we held ourselves neutral in the game which is going on
between our happiness and our unhappiness  We are the stake  and we look
on at the game with indifference 

It is thus that  athwart the cloud which formed about him  when all his
hopes were extinguished one after the other  M  Mabeuf remained rather
puerilely  but profoundly serene  His habits of mind had the regular
swing of a pendulum  Once mounted on an illusion  he went for a very
long time  even after the illusion had disappeared  A clock does not
stop short at the precise moment when the key is lost 

M  Mabeuf had his innocent pleasures  These pleasures were inexpensive
and unexpected  the merest chance furnished them  One day  Mother
Plutarque was reading a romance in one corner of the room  She was
reading aloud  finding that she understood better thus  To read aloud is
to assure one s self of what one is reading  There are people who read
very loud  and who have the appearance of giving themselves their word
of honor as to what they are perusing 

It was with this sort of energy that Mother Plutarque was reading the
romance which she had in hand  M  Mabeuf heard her without listening to
her 

In the course of her reading  Mother Plutarque came to this phrase  It
was a question of an officer of dragoons and a beauty   

   The beauty pouted  and the dragoon   

Here she interrupted herself to wipe her glasses 

 Bouddha and the Dragon   struck in M  Mabeuf in a low voice   Yes  it
is true that there was a dragon  which  from the depths of its cave 
spouted flame through his maw and set the heavens on fire  Many stars
had already been consumed by this monster  which  besides  had the claws
of a tiger  Bouddha went into its den and succeeded in converting the
dragon  That is a good book that you are reading  Mother Plutarque 
There is no more beautiful legend in existence  

And M  Mabeuf fell into a delicious revery 




CHAPTER V  POVERTY A GOOD NEIGHBOR FOR MISERY

Marius liked this candid old man who saw himself gradually falling into
the clutches of indigence  and who came to feel astonishment  little
by little  without  however  being made melancholy by it  Marius met
Courfeyrac and sought out M  Mabeuf  Very rarely  however  twice a month
at most 

Marius  pleasure consisted in taking long walks alone on the outer
boulevards  or in the Champs de Mars  or in the least frequented alleys
of the Luxembourg  He often spent half a day in gazing at a market
garden  the beds of lettuce  the chickens on the dung heap  the horse
turning the water wheel  The passers by stared at him in surprise  and
some of them thought his attire suspicious and his mien sinister  He was
only a poor young man dreaming in an objectless way 

It was during one of his strolls that he had hit upon the Gorbeau house 
and  tempted by its isolation and its cheapness  had taken up his abode
there  He was known there only under the name of M  Marius 

Some of his father s old generals or old comrades had invited him to go
and see them  when they learned about him  Marius had not refused their
invitations  They afforded opportunities of talking about his father 
Thus he went from time to time  to Comte Pajol  to General Bellavesne 
to General Fririon  to the Invalides  There was music and dancing there 
On such evenings  Marius put on his new coat  But he never went to
these evening parties or balls except on days when it was freezing cold 
because he could not afford a carriage  and he did not wish to arrive
with boots otherwise than like mirrors 

He said sometimes  but without bitterness   Men are so made that in a
drawing room you may be soiled everywhere except on your shoes  In order
to insure a good reception there  only one irreproachable thing is asked
of you  your conscience  No  your boots  

All passions except those of the heart are dissipated by revery  Marius 
political fevers vanished thus  The Revolution of 1830 assisted in the
process  by satisfying and calming him  He remained the same  setting
aside his fits of wrath  He still held the same opinions  Only  they had
been tempered  To speak accurately  he had no longer any opinions  he
had sympathies  To what party did he belong  To the party of humanity 
Out of humanity he chose France  out of the Nation he chose the people 
out of the people he chose the woman  It was to that point above all 
that his pity was directed  Now he preferred an idea to a deed  a
poet to a hero  and he admired a book like Job more than an event like
Marengo  And then  when  after a day spent in meditation  he returned
in the evening through the boulevards  and caught a glimpse through
the branches of the trees of the fathomless space beyond  the nameless
gleams  the abyss  the shadow  the mystery  all that which is only human
seemed very pretty indeed to him 

He thought that he had  and he really had  in fact  arrived at the truth
of life and of human philosophy  and he had ended by gazing at nothing
but heaven  the only thing which Truth can perceive from the bottom of
her well 

This did not prevent him from multiplying his plans  his combinations 
his scaffoldings  his projects for the future  In this state of revery 
an eye which could have cast a glance into Marius  interior would have
been dazzled with the purity of that soul  In fact  had it been given to
our eyes of the flesh to gaze into the consciences of others  we should
be able to judge a man much more surely according to what he dreams 
than according to what he thinks  There is will in thought  there is
none in dreams  Revery  which is utterly spontaneous  takes and keeps 
even in the gigantic and the ideal  the form of our spirit  Nothing
proceeds more directly and more sincerely from the very depth of our
soul  than our unpremeditated and boundless aspirations towards
the splendors of destiny  In these aspirations  much more than in
deliberate  rational coordinated ideas  is the real character of a man
to be found  Our chimeras are the things which the most resemble us 
Each one of us dreams of the unknown and the impossible in accordance
with his nature 

Towards the middle of this year 1831  the old woman who waited on Marius
told him that his neighbors  the wretched Jondrette family  had been
turned out of doors  Marius  who passed nearly the whole of his days out
of the house  hardly knew that he had any neighbors 

 Why are they turned out   he asked 

 Because they do not pay their rent  they owe for two quarters  

 How much is it  

 Twenty francs   said the old woman 

Marius had thirty francs saved up in a drawer 

 Here   he said to the old woman   take these twenty five francs  Pay
for the poor people and give them five francs  and do not tell them that
it was I  




CHAPTER VI  THE SUBSTITUTE

It chanced that the regiment to which Lieutenant Theodule belonged came
to perform garrison duty in Paris  This inspired Aunt Gillenormand with
a second idea  She had  on the first occasion  hit upon the plan of
having Marius spied upon by Theodule  now she plotted to have Theodule
take Marius  place 

At all events and in case the grandfather should feel the vague need of
a young face in the house   these rays of dawn are sometimes sweet to
ruin   it was expedient to find another Marius   Take it as a simple
erratum   she thought   such as one sees in books  For Marius  read
Theodule  

A grandnephew is almost the same as a grandson  in default of a lawyer
one takes a lancer 

One morning  when M  Gillenormand was about to read something in the
Quotidienne  his daughter entered and said to him in her sweetest voice 
for the question concerned her favorite   

 Father  Theodule is coming to present his respects to you this
morning  

 Who s Theodule  

 Your grandnephew  

 Ah   said the grandfather 

Then he went back to his reading  thought no more of his grandnephew 
who was merely some Theodule or other  and soon flew into a rage  which
almost always happened when he read  The  sheet  which he held  although
Royalist  of course  announced for the following day  without any
softening phrases  one of these little events which were of daily
occurrence at that date in Paris   That the students of the schools
of law and medicine were to assemble on the Place du Pantheon  at
midday   to deliberate   The discussion concerned one of the questions
of the moment  the artillery of the National Guard  and a conflict
between the Minister of War and  the citizen s militia   on the subject
of the cannon parked in the courtyard of the Louvre  The students were
to  deliberate  over this  It did not take much more than this to swell
M  Gillenormand s rage 

He thought of Marius  who was a student  and who would probably go with
the rest  to  deliberate  at midday  on the Place du Pantheon  

As he was indulging in this painful dream  Lieutenant Theodule entered
clad in plain clothes as a bourgeois  which was clever of him  and
was discreetly introduced by Mademoiselle Gillenormand  The lancer had
reasoned as follows   The old druid has not sunk all his money in a life
pension  It is well to disguise one s self as a civilian from time to
time  

Mademoiselle Gillenormand said aloud to her father   

 Theodule  your grandnephew  

And in a low voice to the lieutenant   

 Approve of everything  

And she withdrew 

The lieutenant  who was but little accustomed to such venerable
encounters  stammered with some timidity   Good day  uncle    and made
a salute composed of the involuntary and mechanical outline of the
military salute finished off as a bourgeois salute 

 Ah  so it s you  that is well  sit down   said the old gentleman 

That said  he totally forgot the lancer 

Theodule seated himself  and M  Gillenormand rose 

M  Gillenormand began to pace back and forth  his hands in his pockets 
talking aloud  and twitching  with his irritated old fingers  at the two
watches which he wore in his two fobs 

 That pack of brats  they convene on the Place du Pantheon  by my life 
urchins who were with their nurses but yesterday  If one were to squeeze
their noses  milk would burst out  And they deliberate to morrow  at
midday  What are we coming to  What are we coming to  It is clear that
we are making for the abyss  That is what the descamisados have brought
us to  To deliberate on the citizen artillery  To go and jabber in the
open air over the jibes of the National Guard  And with whom are they to
meet there  Just see whither Jacobinism leads  I will bet anything you
like  a million against a counter  that there will be no one there but
returned convicts and released galley slaves  The Republicans and the
galley slaves   they form but one nose and one handkerchief  Carnot used
to say   Where would you have me go  traitor   Fouche replied   Wherever
you please  imbecile   That s what the Republicans are like  

 That is true   said Theodule 

M  Gillenormand half turned his head  saw Theodule  and went on   

 When one reflects that that scoundrel was so vile as to turn carbonaro 
Why did you leave my house  To go and become a Republican  Pssst  In
the first place  the people want none of your republic  they have common
sense  they know well that there always have been kings  and that there
always will be  they know well that the people are only the people 
after all  they make sport of it  of your republic  do you understand 
idiot  Is it not a horrible caprice  To fall in love with Pere Duchesne 
to make sheep s eyes at the guillotine  to sing romances  and play on
the guitar under the balcony of  93  it s enough to make one spit on all
these young fellows  such fools are they  They are all alike  Not one
escapes  It suffices for them to breathe the air which blows through the
street to lose their senses  The nineteenth century is poison  The
first scamp that happens along lets his beard grow like a goat s 
thinks himself a real scoundrel  and abandons his old relatives  He s
a Republican  he s a romantic  What does that mean  romantic  Do me the
favor to tell me what it is  All possible follies  A year ago  they ran
to Hernani  Now  I just ask you  Hernani  antitheses  abominations
which are not even written in French  And then  they have cannons in the
courtyard of the Louvre  Such are the rascalities of this age  

 You are right  uncle   said Theodule 

M  Gillenormand resumed   

 Cannons in the courtyard of the Museum  For what purpose  Do you want
to fire grape shot at the Apollo Belvedere  What have those cartridges
to do with the Venus de Medici  Oh  the young men of the present day are
all blackguards  What a pretty creature is their Benjamin Constant  And
those who are not rascals are simpletons  They do all they can to make
themselves ugly  they are badly dressed  they are afraid of women  in
the presence of petticoats they have a mendicant air which sets the
girls into fits of laughter  on my word of honor  one would say the poor
creatures were ashamed of love  They are deformed  and they complete
themselves by being stupid  they repeat the puns of Tiercelin and
Potier  they have sack coats  stablemen s waistcoats  shirts of coarse
linen  trousers of coarse cloth  boots of coarse leather  and their
rigmarole resembles their plumage  One might make use of their jargon
to put new soles on their old shoes  And all this awkward batch of brats
has political opinions  if you please  Political opinions should be
strictly forbidden  They fabricate systems  they recast society  they
demolish the monarchy  they fling all laws to the earth  they put the
attic in the cellar s place and my porter in the place of the King  they
turn Europe topsy turvy  they reconstruct the world  and all their love
affairs consist in staring slily at the ankles of the laundresses as
these women climb into their carts  Ah  Marius  Ah  you blackguard  to
go and vociferate on the public place  to discuss  to debate  to take
measures  They call that measures  just God  Disorder humbles itself
and becomes silly  I have seen chaos  I now see a mess  Students
deliberating on the National Guard   such a thing could not be seen
among the Ogibewas nor the Cadodaches  Savages who go naked  with their
noddles dressed like a shuttlecock  with a club in their paws  are less
of brutes than those bachelors of arts  The four penny monkeys  And they
set up for judges  Those creatures deliberate and ratiocinate  The
end of the world is come  This is plainly the end of this miserable
terraqueous globe  A final hiccough was required  and France has emitted
it  Deliberate  my rascals  Such things will happen so long as they go
and read the newspapers under the arcades of the Odeon  That costs them
a sou  and their good sense  and their intelligence  and their heart and
their soul  and their wits  They emerge thence  and decamp from their
families  All newspapers are pests  all  even the Drapeau Blanc  At
bottom  Martainville was a Jacobin  Ah  just Heaven  you may boast of
having driven your grandfather to despair  that you may  

 That is evident   said Theodule 

And profiting by the fact that M  Gillenormand was taking breath  the
lancer added in a magisterial manner   

 There should be no other newspaper than the Moniteur  and no other book
than the Annuaire Militaire  

M  Gillenormand continued   

 It is like their Sieyes  A regicide ending in a senator  for that is
the way they always end  They give themselves a scar with the address
of thou as citizens  in order to get themselves called  eventually 
Monsieur le Comte  Monsieur le Comte as big as my arm  assassins of
September  The philosopher Sieyes  I will do myself the justice to say 
that I have never had any better opinion of the philosophies of all
those philosophers  than of the spectacles of the grimacer of Tivoli 
One day I saw the Senators cross the Quai Malplaquet in mantles of
violet velvet sown with bees  with hats a la Henri IV  They were
hideous  One would have pronounced them monkeys from the tiger s court 
Citizens  I declare to you  that your progress is madness  that your
humanity is a dream  that your revolution is a crime  that your republic
is a monster  that your young and virgin France comes from the brothel 
and I maintain it against all  whoever you may be  whether journalists 
economists  legists  or even were you better judges of liberty  of
equality  and fraternity than the knife of the guillotine  And that I
announce to you  my flne fellows  

 Parbleu   cried the lieutenant   that is wonderfully true  

M  Gillenormand paused in a gesture which he had begun  wheeled round 
stared Lancer Theodule intently in the eyes  and said to him   

 You are a fool  




BOOK SIXTH   THE CONJUNCTION OF TWO STARS




CHAPTER I  THE SOBRIQUET  MODE OF FORMATION OF FAMILY NAMES

Marius was  at this epoch  a handsome young man  of medium stature 
with thick and intensely black hair  a lofty and intelligent brow 
well opened and passionate nostrils  an air of calmness and sincerity 
and with something indescribably proud  thoughtful  and innocent over
his whole countenance  His profile  all of whose lines were rounded 
without thereby losing their firmness  had a certain Germanic sweetness 
which has made its way into the French physiognomy by way of Alsace
and Lorraine  and that complete absence of angles which rendered
the Sicambres so easily recognizable among the Romans  and which
distinguishes the leonine from the aquiline race  He was at that period
of life when the mind of men who think is composed  in nearly equal
parts  of depth and ingenuousness  A grave situation being given  he
had all that is required to be stupid  one more turn of the key  and he
might be sublime  His manners were reserved  cold  polished  not very
genial  As his mouth was charming  his lips the reddest  and his teeth
the whitest in the world  his smile corrected the severity of his face 
as a whole  At certain moments  that pure brow and that voluptuous smile
presented a singular contrast  His eyes were small  but his glance was
large 

At the period of his most abject misery  he had observed that young
girls turned round when he passed by  and he fled or hid  with death in
his soul  He thought that they were staring at him because of his old
clothes  and that they were laughing at them  the fact is  that they
stared at him because of his grace  and that they dreamed of him 

This mute misunderstanding between him and the pretty passers by had
made him shy  He chose none of them for the excellent reason that
he fled from all of them  He lived thus indefinitely   stupidly  as
Courfeyrac said 

Courfeyrac also said to him   Do not aspire to be venerable   they
called each other thou  it is the tendency of youthful friendships to
slip into this mode of address    Let me give you a piece of advice 
my dear fellow  Don t read so many books  and look a little more at the
lasses  The jades have some good points about them  O Marius  By dint of
fleeing and blushing  you will become brutalized  

On other occasions  Courfeyrac encountered him and said    Good morning 
Monsieur l Abbe  

When Courfeyrac had addressed to him some remark of this nature  Marius
avoided women  both young and old  more than ever for a week to come 
and he avoided Courfeyrac to boot 

Nevertheless  there existed in all the immensity of creation  two women
whom Marius did not flee  and to whom he paid no attention whatever  In
truth  he would have been very much amazed if he had been informed
that they were women  One was the bearded old woman who swept out his
chamber  and caused Courfeyrac to say   Seeing that his servant woman
wears his beard  Marius does not wear his own beard   The other was a
sort of little girl whom he saw very often  and whom he never looked at 

For more than a year  Marius had noticed in one of the walks of the
Luxembourg  the one which skirts the parapet of the Pepiniere  a man
and a very young girl  who were almost always seated side by side on the
same bench  at the most solitary end of the alley  on the Rue de l Ouest
side  Every time that that chance which meddles with the strolls of
persons whose gaze is turned inwards  led Marius to that walk   and it
was nearly every day   he found this couple there  The man appeared to
be about sixty years of age  he seemed sad and serious  his whole person
presented the robust and weary aspect peculiar to military men who have
retired from the service  If he had worn a decoration  Marius would have
said   He is an ex officer   He had a kindly but unapproachable air 
and he never let his glance linger on the eyes of any one  He wore
blue trousers  a blue frock coat and a broad brimmed hat  which always
appeared to be new  a black cravat  a quaker shirt  that is to say  it
was dazzlingly white  but of coarse linen  A grisette who passed near
him one day  said   Here s a very tidy widower   His hair was very
white 

The first time that the young girl who accompanied him came and seated
herself on the bench which they seemed to have adopted  she was a sort
of child thirteen or fourteen years of age  so thin as to be almost
homely  awkward  insignificant  and with a possible promise of
handsome eyes  Only  they were always raised with a sort of displeasing
assurance  Her dress was both aged and childish  like the dress of the
scholars in a convent  it consisted of a badly cut gown of black merino 
They had the air of being father and daughter 

Marius scanned this old man  who was not yet aged  and this little
girl  who was not yet a person  for a few days  and thereafter paid no
attention to them  They  on their side  did not appear even to see him 
They conversed together with a peaceful and indifferent air  The girl
chattered incessantly and merrily  The old man talked but little  and 
at times  he fixed on her eyes overflowing with an ineffable paternity 

Marius had acquired the mechanical habit of strolling in that walk  He
invariably found them there 

This is the way things went   

Marius liked to arrive by the end of the alley which was furthest from
their bench  he walked the whole length of the alley  passed in front
of them  then returned to the extremity whence he had come  and began
again  This he did five or six times in the course of his promenade 
and the promenade was taken five or six times a week  without its
having occurred to him or to these people to exchange a greeting  That
personage  and that young girl  although they appeared   and perhaps
because they appeared   to shun all glances  had  naturally  caused some
attention on the part of the five or six students who strolled along
the Pepiniere from time to time  the studious after their lectures 
the others after their game of billiards  Courfeyrac  who was among the
last  had observed them several times  but  finding the girl homely  he
had speedily and carefully kept out of the way  He had fled  discharging
at them a sobriquet  like a Parthian dart  Impressed solely with
the child s gown and the old man s hair  he had dubbed the daughter
Mademoiselle Lanoire  and the father  Monsieur Leblanc  so that as no
one knew them under any other title  this nickname became a law in the
default of any other name  The students said   Ah  Monsieur Leblanc is
on his bench   And Marius  like the rest  had found it convenient to
call this unknown gentleman Monsieur Leblanc 

We shall follow their example  and we shall say M  Leblanc  in order to
facilitate this tale 

So Marius saw them nearly every day  at the same hour  during the first
year  He found the man to his taste  but the girl insipid 




CHAPTER II  LUX FACTA EST

During the second year  precisely at the point in this history which the
reader has now reached  it chanced that this habit of the Luxembourg was
interrupted  without Marius himself being quite aware why  and nearly
six months elapsed  during which he did not set foot in the alley  One
day  at last  he returned thither once more  it was a serene summer
morning  and Marius was in joyous mood  as one is when the weather is
fine  It seemed to him that he had in his heart all the songs of the
birds that he was listening to  and all the bits of blue sky of which he
caught glimpses through the leaves of the trees 

He went straight to  his alley   and when he reached the end of it he
perceived  still on the same bench  that well known couple  Only  when
he approached  it certainly was the same man  but it seemed to him that
it was no longer the same girl  The person whom he now beheld was a tall
and beautiful creature  possessed of all the most charming lines of a
woman at the precise moment when they are still combined with all the
most ingenuous graces of the child  a pure and fugitive moment  which
can be expressed only by these two words    fifteen years   She had
wonderful brown hair  shaded with threads of gold  a brow that seemed
made of marble  cheeks that seemed made of rose leaf  a pale flush 
an agitated whiteness  an exquisite mouth  whence smiles darted like
sunbeams  and words like music  a head such as Raphael would have given
to Mary  set upon a neck that Jean Goujon would have attributed to a
Venus  And  in order that nothing might be lacking to this bewitching
face  her nose was not handsome  it was pretty  neither straight nor
curved  neither Italian nor Greek  it was the Parisian nose  that is
to say  spiritual  delicate  irregular  pure   which drives painters to
despair  and charms poets 

When Marius passed near her  he could not see her eyes  which were
constantly lowered  He saw only her long chestnut lashes  permeated with
shadow and modesty 

This did not prevent the beautiful child from smiling as she listened
to what the white haired old man was saying to her  and nothing could
be more fascinating than that fresh smile  combined with those drooping
eyes 

For a moment  Marius thought that she was another daughter of the same
man  a sister of the former  no doubt  But when the invariable habit of
his stroll brought him  for the second time  near the bench  and he had
examined her attentively  he recognized her as the same  In six months
the little girl had become a young maiden  that was all  Nothing is more
frequent than this phenomenon  There is a moment when girls blossom out
in the twinkling of an eye  and become roses all at once  One left
them children but yesterday  today  one finds them disquieting to the
feelings 

This child had not only grown  she had become idealized  As three days
in April suffice to cover certain trees with flowers  six months had
sufficed to clothe her with beauty  Her April had arrived 

One sometimes sees people  who  poor and mean  seem to wake up  pass
suddenly from indigence to luxury  indulge in expenditures of all sorts 
and become dazzling  prodigal  magnificent  all of a sudden  That is
the result of having pocketed an income  a note fell due yesterday  The
young girl had received her quarterly income 

And then  she was no longer the school girl with her felt hat  her
merino gown  her scholar s shoes  and red hands  taste had come to her
with beauty  she was a well dressed person  clad with a sort of rich
and simple elegance  and without affectation  She wore a dress of black
damask  a cape of the same material  and a bonnet of white crape  Her
white gloves displayed the delicacy of the hand which toyed with the
carved  Chinese ivory handle of a parasol  and her silken shoe outlined
the smallness of her foot  When one passed near her  her whole toilette
exhaled a youthful and penetrating perfume 

As for the man  he was the same as usual 

The second time that Marius approached her  the young girl raised her
eyelids  her eyes were of a deep  celestial blue  but in that veiled
azure  there was  as yet  nothing but the glance of a child  She looked
at Marius indifferently  as she would have stared at the brat running
beneath the sycamores  or the marble vase which cast a shadow on the
bench  and Marius  on his side  continued his promenade  and thought
about something else 

He passed near the bench where the young girl sat  five or six times 
but without even turning his eyes in her direction 

On the following days  he returned  as was his wont  to the Luxembourg 
as usual  he found there  the father and daughter   but he paid no
further attention to them  He thought no more about the girl now that
she was beautiful than he had when she was homely  He passed very near
the bench where she sat  because such was his habit 




CHAPTER III  EFFECT OF THE SPRING

One day  the air was warm  the Luxembourg was inundated with light
and shade  the sky was as pure as though the angels had washed it that
morning  the sparrows were giving vent to little twitters in the depths
of the chestnut trees  Marius had thrown open his whole soul to nature 
he was not thinking of anything  he simply lived and breathed  he passed
near the bench  the young girl raised her eyes to him  the two glances
met 

What was there in the young girl s glance on this occasion  Marius could
not have told  There was nothing and there was everything  It was a
strange flash 

She dropped her eyes  and he pursued his way 

What he had just seen was no longer the ingenuous and simple eye of a
child  it was a mysterious gulf which had half opened  then abruptly
closed again 

There comes a day when the young girl glances in this manner  Woe to him
who chances to be there 

That first gaze of a soul which does not  as yet  know itself  is
like the dawn in the sky  It is the awakening of something radiant
and strange  Nothing can give any idea of the dangerous charm of that
unexpected gleam  which flashes suddenly and vaguely forth from adorable
shadows  and which is composed of all the innocence of the present  and
of all the passion of the future  It is a sort of undecided tenderness
which reveals itself by chance  and which waits  It is a snare which
the innocent maiden sets unknown to herself  and in which she captures
hearts without either wishing or knowing it  It is a virgin looking like
a woman 

It is rare that a profound revery does not spring from that glance 
where it falls  All purities and all candors meet in that celestial
and fatal gleam which  more than all the best planned tender glances of
coquettes  possesses the magic power of causing the sudden blossoming 
in the depths of the soul  of that sombre flower  impregnated with
perfume and with poison  which is called love 

That evening  on his return to his garret  Marius cast his eyes over
his garments  and perceived  for the first time  that he had been so
slovenly  indecorous  and inconceivably stupid as to go for his walk in
the Luxembourg with his  every day clothes   that is to say  with a
hat battered near the band  coarse carter s boots  black trousers
which showed white at the knees  and a black coat which was pale at the
elbows 




CHAPTER IV  BEGINNING OF A GREAT MALADY

On the following day  at the accustomed hour  Marius drew from his
wardrobe his new coat  his new trousers  his new hat  and his new
boots  he clothed himself in this complete panoply  put on his gloves  a
tremendous luxury  and set off for the Luxembourg 

On the way thither  he encountered Courfeyrac  and pretended not to see
him  Courfeyrac  on his return home  said to his friends   

 I have just met Marius  new hat and new coat  with Marius inside
them  He was going to pass an examination  no doubt  He looked utterly
stupid  

On arriving at the Luxembourg  Marius made the tour of the fountain
basin  and stared at the swans  then he remained for a long time in
contemplation before a statue whose head was perfectly black with mould 
and one of whose hips was missing  Near the basin there was a bourgeois
forty years of age  with a prominent stomach  who was holding by the
hand a little urchin of five  and saying to him   Shun excess  my son 
keep at an equal distance from despotism and from anarchy   Marius
listened to this bourgeois  Then he made the circuit of the basin once
more  At last he directed his course towards  his alley   slowly  and as
if with regret  One would have said that he was both forced to go there
and withheld from doing so  He did not perceive it himself  and thought
that he was doing as he always did 

On turning into the walk  he saw M  Leblanc and the young girl at the
other end   on their bench   He buttoned his coat up to the very top 
pulled it down on his body so that there might be no wrinkles  examined 
with a certain complaisance  the lustrous gleams of his trousers  and
marched on the bench  This march savored of an attack  and certainly
of a desire for conquest  So I say that he marched on the bench  as I
should say   Hannibal marched on Rome  

However  all his movements were purely mechanical  and he had
interrupted none of the habitual preoccupations of his mind and labors 
At that moment  he was thinking that the Manuel du Baccalaureat was
a stupid book  and that it must have been drawn up by rare idiots  to
allow of three tragedies of Racine and only one comedy of Moliere being
analyzed therein as masterpieces of the human mind  There was a piercing
whistling going on in his ears  As he approached the bench  he held
fast to the folds in his coat  and fixed his eyes on the young girl  It
seemed to him that she filled the entire extremity of the alley with a
vague blue light 

In proportion as he drew near  his pace slackened more and more  On
arriving at some little distance from the bench  and long before he had
reached the end of the walk  he halted  and could not explain to himself
why he retraced his steps  He did not even say to himself that he would
not go as far as the end  It was only with difficulty that the young
girl could have perceived him in the distance and noted his fine
appearance in his new clothes  Nevertheless  he held himself very erect 
in case any one should be looking at him from behind 

He attained the opposite end  then came back  and this time he
approached a little nearer to the bench  He even got to within three
intervals of trees  but there he felt an indescribable impossibility of
proceeding further  and he hesitated  He thought he saw the young girl s
face bending towards him  But he exerted a manly and violent effort 
subdued his hesitation  and walked straight ahead  A few seconds later 
he rushed in front of the bench  erect and firm  reddening to the very
ears  without daring to cast a glance either to the right or to the
left  with his hand thrust into his coat like a statesman  At the moment
when he passed   under the cannon of the place   he felt his heart beat
wildly  As on the preceding day  she wore her damask gown and her crape
bonnet  He heard an ineffable voice  which must have been  her voice  
She was talking tranquilly  She was very pretty  He felt it  although he
made no attempt to see her   She could not  however   he thought   help
feeling esteem and consideration for me  if she only knew that I am
the veritable author of the dissertation on Marcos Obregon de la Ronde 
which M  Francois de Neufchateau put  as though it were his own  at the
head of his edition of Gil Blas   He went beyond the bench as far as the
extremity of the walk  which was very near  then turned on his heel and
passed once more in front of the lovely girl  This time  he was very
pale  Moreover  all his emotions were disagreeable  As he went further
from the bench and the young girl  and while his back was turned to her 
he fancied that she was gazing after him  and that made him stumble 

He did not attempt to approach the bench again  he halted near the
middle of the walk  and there  a thing which he never did  he sat down 
and reflecting in the most profoundly indistinct depths of his spirit 
that after all  it was hard that persons whose white bonnet and black
gown he admired should be absolutely insensible to his splendid trousers
and his new coat 

At the expiration of a quarter of an hour  he rose  as though he were
on the point of again beginning his march towards that bench which was
surrounded by an aureole  But he remained standing there  motionless 
For the first time in fifteen months  he said to himself that that
gentleman who sat there every day with his daughter  had  on his side 
noticed him  and probably considered his assiduity singular 

For the first time  also  he was conscious of some irreverence in
designating that stranger  even in his secret thoughts  by the sobriquet
of M  le Blanc 

He stood thus for several minutes  with drooping head  tracing figures
in the sand  with the cane which he held in his hand 

Then he turned abruptly in the direction opposite to the bench  to M 
Leblanc and his daughter  and went home 

That day he forgot to dine  At eight o clock in the evening he perceived
this fact  and as it was too late to go down to the Rue Saint Jacques 
he said   Never mind   and ate a bit of bread 

He did not go to bed until he had brushed his coat and folded it up with
great care 




CHAPTER V  DIVRS CLAPS OF THUNDER FALL ON MA AM BOUGON

On the following day  Ma am Bougon  as Courfeyrac styled the old
portress principal tenant  housekeeper of the Gorbeau hovel  Ma am
Bougon  whose name was  in reality  Madame Burgon  as we have found
out  but this iconoclast  Courfeyrac  respected nothing   Ma am Bougon
observed  with stupefaction  that M  Marius was going out again in his
new coat 

He went to the Luxembourg again  but he did not proceed further than his
bench midway of the alley  He seated himself there  as on the preceding
day  surveying from a distance  and clearly making out  the white
bonnet  the black dress  and above all  that blue light  He did not stir
from it  and only went home when the gates of the Luxembourg closed  He
did not see M  Leblanc and his daughter retire  He concluded that they
had quitted the garden by the gate on the Rue de l Ouest  Later on 
several weeks afterwards  when he came to think it over  he could never
recall where he had dined that evening 

On the following day  which was the third  Ma am Bougon was
thunderstruck  Marius went out in his new coat   Three days in
succession   she exclaimed 

She tried to follow him  but Marius walked briskly  and with immense
strides  it was a hippopotamus undertaking the pursuit of a chamois 
She lost sight of him in two minutes  and returned breathless 
three quarters choked with asthma  and furious   If there is any sense  
she growled   in putting on one s best clothes every day  and making
people run like this  

Marius betook himself to the Luxembourg 

The young girl was there with M  Leblanc  Marius approached as near as
he could  pretending to be busy reading a book  but he halted afar off 
then returned and seated himself on his bench  where he spent four hours
in watching the house sparrows who were skipping about the walk  and who
produced on him the impression that they were making sport of him 

A fortnight passed thus  Marius went to the Luxembourg no longer for the
sake of strolling there  but to seat himself always in the same spot 
and that without knowing why  Once arrived there  he did not stir 
He put on his new coat every morning  for the purpose of not showing
himself  and he began all over again on the morrow 

She was decidedly a marvellous beauty  The only remark approaching a
criticism  that could be made  was  that the contradiction between
her gaze  which was melancholy  and her smile  which was merry  gave
a rather wild effect to her face  which sometimes caused this sweet
countenance to become strange without ceasing to be charming 




CHAPTER VI  TAKEN PRISONER

On one of the last days of the second week  Marius was seated on his
bench  as usual  holding in his hand an open book  of which he had not
turned a page for the last two hours  All at once he started  An event
was taking place at the other extremity of the walk  Leblanc and his
daughter had just left their seat  and the daughter had taken her
father s arm  and both were advancing slowly  towards the middle of the
alley where Marius was  Marius closed his book  then opened it again 
then forced himself to read  he trembled  the aureole was coming
straight towards him   Ah  good Heavens   thought he   I shall not have
time to strike an attitude   Still the white haired man and the girl
advanced  It seemed to him that this lasted for a century  and that it
was but a second   What are they coming in this direction for   he asked
himself   What  She will pass here  Her feet will tread this sand  this
walk  two paces from me   He was utterly upset  he would have liked to
be very handsome  he would have liked to own the cross  He heard the
soft and measured sound of their approaching footsteps  He imagined that
M  Leblanc was darting angry glances at him   Is that gentleman going to
address me   he thought to himself  He dropped his head  when he raised
it again  they were very near him  The young girl passed  and as she
passed  she glanced at him  She gazed steadily at him  with a pensive
sweetness which thrilled Marius from head to foot  It seemed to him
that she was reproaching him for having allowed so long a time to elapse
without coming as far as her  and that she was saying to him   I am
coming myself   Marius was dazzled by those eyes fraught with rays and
abysses 

He felt his brain on fire  She had come to him  what joy  And then  how
she had looked at him  She appeared to him more beautiful than he had
ever seen her yet  Beautiful with a beauty which was wholly feminine and
angelic  with a complete beauty which would have made Petrarch sing and
Dante kneel  It seemed to him that he was floating free in the azure
heavens  At the same time  he was horribly vexed because there was dust
on his boots 

He thought he felt sure that she had looked at his boots too 

He followed her with his eyes until she disappeared  Then he started
up and walked about the Luxembourg garden like a madman  It is possible
that  at times  he laughed to himself and talked aloud  He was so dreamy
when he came near the children s nurses  that each one of them thought
him in love with her 

He quitted the Luxembourg  hoping to find her again in the street 

He encountered Courfeyrac under the arcades of the Odeon  and said to
him   Come and dine with me   They went off to Rousseau s and spent
six francs  Marius ate like an ogre  He gave the waiter six sous  At
dessert  he said to Courfeyrac   Have you read the paper  What a fine
discourse Audry de Puyraveau delivered  

He was desperately in love 

After dinner  he said to Courfeyrac   I will treat you to the play  
They went to the Porte Sainte Martin to see Frederick in l Auberge des
Adrets  Marius was enormously amused 

At the same time  he had a redoubled attack of shyness  On emerging
from the theatre  he refused to look at the garter of a modiste who was
stepping across a gutter  and Courfeyrac  who said   I should like to
put that woman in my collection   almost horrified him 

Courfeyrac invited him to breakfast at the Cafe Voltaire on the
following morning  Marius went thither  and ate even more than on the
preceding evening  He was very thoughtful and very merry  One would
have said that he was taking advantage of every occasion to laugh
uproariously  He tenderly embraced some man or other from the provinces 
who was presented to him  A circle of students formed round the table 
and they spoke of the nonsense paid for by the State which was uttered
from the rostrum in the Sorbonne  then the conversation fell upon the
faults and omissions in Guicherat s dictionaries and grammars  Marius
interrupted the discussion to exclaim   But it is very agreeable  all
the same to have the cross  

 That s queer   whispered Courfeyrac to Jean Prouvaire 

 No   responded Prouvaire   that s serious  

It was serious  in fact  Marius had reached that first violent and
charming hour with which grand passions begin 

A glance had wrought all this 

When the mine is charged  when the conflagration is ready  nothing is
more simple  A glance is a spark 

It was all over with him  Marius loved a woman  His fate was entering
the unknown 

The glance of women resembles certain combinations of wheels  which are
tranquil in appearance yet formidable  You pass close to them every
day  peaceably and with impunity  and without a suspicion of anything  A
moment arrives when you forget that the thing is there  You go and come 
dream  speak  laugh  All at once you feel yourself clutched  all is
over  The wheels hold you fast  the glance has ensnared you  It has
caught you  no matter where or how  by some portion of your thought
which was fluttering loose  by some distraction which had attacked you 
You are lost  The whole of you passes into it  A chain of mysterious
forces takes possession of you  You struggle in vain  no more human
succor is possible  You go on falling from gearing to gearing  from
agony to agony  from torture to torture  you  your mind  your fortune 
your future  your soul  and  according to whether you are in the power
of a wicked creature  or of a noble heart  you will not escape from this
terrifying machine otherwise than disfigured with shame  or transfigured
by passion 




CHAPTER VII  ADVENTURES OF THE LETTER U DELIVERED OVER TO CONJECTURES

Isolation  detachment  from everything  pride  independence  the taste
of nature  the absence of daily and material activity  the life within
himself  the secret conflicts of chastity  a benevolent ecstasy towards
all creation  had prepared Marius for this possession which is called
passion  His worship of his father had gradually become a religion 
and  like all religions  it had retreated to the depths of his soul 
Something was required in the foreground  Love came 

A full month elapsed  during which Marius went every day to the
Luxembourg  When the hour arrived  nothing could hold him back    He
is on duty   said Courfeyrac  Marius lived in a state of delight  It is
certain that the young girl did look at him 

He had finally grown bold  and approached the bench  Still  he did not
pass in front of it any more  in obedience to the instinct of timidity
and to the instinct of prudence common to lovers  He considered it
better not to attract  the attention of the father   He combined his
stations behind the trees and the pedestals of the statues with a
profound diplomacy  so that he might be seen as much as possible by the
young girl and as little as possible by the old gentleman  Sometimes  he
remained motionless by the half hour together in the shade of a Leonidas
or a Spartacus  holding in his hand a book  above which his eyes  gently
raised  sought the beautiful girl  and she  on her side  turned her
charming profile towards him with a vague smile  While conversing in the
most natural and tranquil manner in the world with the white haired man 
she bent upon Marius all the reveries of a virginal and passionate eye 
Ancient and time honored manoeuvre which Eve understood from the very
first day of the world  and which every woman understands from the very
first day of her life  her mouth replied to one  and her glance replied
to another 

It must be supposed  that M  Leblanc finally noticed something  for
often  when Marius arrived  he rose and began to walk about  He had
abandoned their accustomed place and had adopted the bench by the
Gladiator  near the other end of the walk  as though with the object
of seeing whether Marius would pursue them thither  Marius did not
understand  and committed this error   The father  began to grow
inexact  and no longer brought  his daughter  every day  Sometimes  he
came alone  Then Marius did not stay  Another blunder 

Marius paid no heed to these symptoms  From the phase of timidity  he
had passed  by a natural and fatal progress  to the phase of blindness 
His love increased  He dreamed of it every night  And then  an
unexpected bliss had happened to him  oil on the fire  a redoubling of
the shadows over his eyes  One evening  at dusk  he had found  on
the bench which  M  Leblanc and his daughter  had just quitted  a
handkerchief  a very simple handkerchief  without embroidery  but white 
and fine  and which seemed to him to exhale ineffable perfume  He seized
it with rapture  This handkerchief was marked with the letters U  F 
Marius knew nothing about this beautiful child   neither her family
name  her Christian name nor her abode  these two letters were the first
thing of her that he had gained possession of  adorable initials  upon
which he immediately began to construct his scaffolding  U was evidently
the Christian name   Ursule   he thought   what a delicious name   He
kissed the handkerchief  drank it in  placed it on his heart  on his
flesh  during the day  and at night  laid it beneath his lips that he
might fall asleep on it 

 I feel that her whole soul lies within it   he exclaimed 

This handkerchief belonged to the old gentleman  who had simply let it
fall from his pocket 

In the days which followed the finding of this treasure  he only
displayed himself at the Luxembourg in the act of kissing the
handkerchief and laying it on his heart  The beautiful child understood
nothing of all this  and signified it to him by imperceptible signs 

 O modesty   said Marius 




CHAPTER VIII  THE VETERANS THEMSELVES CAN BE HAPPY

Since we have pronounced the word modesty  and since we conceal nothing 
we ought to say that once  nevertheless  in spite of his ecstasies   his
Ursule  caused him very serious grief  It was on one of the days when
she persuaded M  Leblanc to leave the bench and stroll along the walk 
A brisk May breeze was blowing  which swayed the crests of the
plaintain trees  The father and daughter  arm in arm  had just passed
Marius  bench  Marius had risen to his feet behind them  and was
following them with his eyes  as was fitting in the desperate situation
of his soul 

All at once  a gust of wind  more merry than the rest  and probably
charged with performing the affairs of Springtime  swept down from
the nursery  flung itself on the alley  enveloped the young girl in
a delicious shiver  worthy of Virgil s nymphs  and the fawns of
Theocritus  and lifted her dress  the robe more sacred than that of
Isis  almost to the height of her garter  A leg of exquisite shape
appeared  Marius saw it  He was exasperated and furious 

The young girl had hastily thrust down her dress  with a divinely
troubled motion  but he was none the less angry for all that  He was
alone in the alley  it is true  But there might have been some one
there  And what if there had been some one there  Can any one comprehend
such a thing  What she had just done is horrible   Alas  the poor child
had done nothing  there had been but one culprit  the wind  but Marius 
in whom quivered the Bartholo who exists in Cherubin  was determined to
be vexed  and was jealous of his own shadow  It is thus  in fact  that
the harsh and capricious jealousy of the flesh awakens in the human
heart  and takes possession of it  even without any right  Moreover 
setting aside even that jealousy  the sight of that charming leg had
contained nothing agreeable for him  the white stocking of the first
woman he chanced to meet would have afforded him more pleasure 

When  his Ursule   after having reached the end of the walk  retraced
her steps with M  Leblanc  and passed in front of the bench on which
Marius had seated himself once more  Marius darted a sullen and
ferocious glance at her  The young girl gave way to that slight
straightening up with a backward movement  accompanied by a raising of
the eyelids  which signifies   Well  what is the matter  

This was  their first quarrel  

Marius had hardly made this scene at her with his eyes  when some one
crossed the walk  It was a veteran  very much bent  extremely wrinkled 
and pale  in a uniform of the Louis XV  pattern  bearing on his breast
the little oval plaque of red cloth  with the crossed swords  the
soldier s cross of Saint Louis  and adorned  in addition  with a
coat sleeve  which had no arm within it  with a silver chin and a wooden
leg  Marius thought he perceived that this man had an extremely well
satisfied air  It even struck him that the aged cynic  as he hobbled
along past him  addressed to him a very fraternal and very merry wink 
as though some chance had created an understanding between them  and as
though they had shared some piece of good luck together  What did that
relic of Mars mean by being so contented  What had passed between
that wooden leg and the other  Marius reached a paroxysm of
jealousy    Perhaps he was there   he said to himself   perhaps he
saw    And he felt a desire to exterminate the veteran 

With the aid of time  all points grow dull  Marius  wrath against
 Ursule   just and legitimate as it was  passed off  He finally pardoned
her  but this cost him a great effort  he sulked for three days 

Nevertheless  in spite of all this  and because of all this  his passion
augmented and grew to madness 




CHAPTER IX  ECLIPSE

The reader has just seen how Marius discovered  or thought that he
discovered  that She was named Ursule 

Appetite grows with loving  To know that her name was Ursule was a great
deal  it was very little  In three or four weeks  Marius had devoured
this bliss  He wanted another  He wanted to know where she lived 

He had committed his first blunder  by falling into the ambush of the
bench by the Gladiator  He had committed a second  by not remaining at
the Luxembourg when M  Leblanc came thither alone  He now committed a
third  and an immense one  He followed  Ursule  

She lived in the Rue de l Ouest  in the most unfrequented spot  in a
new  three story house  of modest appearance 

From that moment forth  Marius added to his happiness of seeing her at
the Luxembourg the happiness of following her home 

His hunger was increasing  He knew her first name  at least  a charming
name  a genuine woman s name  he knew where she lived  he wanted to know
who she was 

One evening  after he had followed them to their dwelling  and had seen
them disappear through the carriage gate  he entered in their train and
said boldly to the porter   

 Is that the gentleman who lives on the first floor  who has just come
in  

 No   replied the porter   He is the gentleman on the third floor  

Another step gained  This success emboldened Marius 

 On the front   he asked 

 Parbleu   said the porter   the house is only built on the street  

 And what is that gentleman s business   began Marius again 

 He is a gentleman of property  sir  A very kind man who does good to
the unfortunate  though not rich himself  

 What is his name   resumed Marius 

The porter raised his head and said   

 Are you a police spy  sir  

Marius went off quite abashed  but delighted  He was getting on 

 Good   thought he   I know that her name is Ursule  that she is the
daughter of a gentleman who lives on his income  and that she lives
there  on the third floor  in the Rue de l Ouest  

On the following day  M  Leblanc and his daughter made only a very
brief stay in the Luxembourg  they went away while it was still broad
daylight  Marius followed them to the Rue de l Ouest  as he had taken up
the habit of doing  On arriving at the carriage entrance M  Leblanc made
his daughter pass in first  then paused  before crossing the threshold 
and stared intently at Marius 

On the next day they did not come to the Luxembourg  Marius waited for
them all day in vain 

At nightfall  he went to the Rue de l Ouest  and saw a light in the
windows of the third story 

He walked about beneath the windows until the light was extinguished 

The next day  no one at the Luxembourg  Marius waited all day  then went
and did sentinel duty under their windows  This carried him on to ten
o clock in the evening 

His dinner took care of itself  Fever nourishes the sick man  and love
the lover 

He spent a week in this manner  M  Leblanc no longer appeared at the
Luxembourg 

Marius indulged in melancholy conjectures  he dared not watch the porte
cochere during the day  he contented himself with going at night to gaze
upon the red light of the windows  At times he saw shadows flit across
them  and his heart began to beat 

On the eighth day  when he arrived under the windows  there was no light
in them 

 Hello   he said   the lamp is not lighted yet  But it is dark  Can they
have gone out   He waited until ten o clock  Until midnight  Until one
in the morning  Not a light appeared in the windows of the third story 
and no one entered the house 

He went away in a very gloomy frame of mind 

On the morrow   for he only existed from morrow to morrow  there was 
so to speak  no to day for him   on the morrow  he found no one at the
Luxembourg  he had expected this  At dusk  he went to the house 

No light in the windows  the shades were drawn  the third floor was
totally dark 

Marius rapped at the porte cochere  entered  and said to the porter   

 The gentleman on the third floor  

 Has moved away   replied the porter 

Marius reeled and said feebly   

 How long ago  

 Yesterday  

 Where is he living now  

 I don t know anything about it  

 So he has not left his new address  

 No  

And the porter  raising his eyes  recognized Marius 

 Come  So it s you   said he   but you are decidedly a spy then  




BOOK SEVENTH   PATRON MINETTE




CHAPTER I  MINES AND MINERS

Human societies all have what is called in theatrical parlance  a third
lower floor  The social soil is everywhere undermined  sometimes for
good  sometimes for evil  These works are superposed one upon the other 
There are superior mines and inferior mines  There is a top and a
bottom in this obscure sub soil  which sometimes gives way beneath
civilization  and which our indifference and heedlessness trample under
foot  The Encyclopedia  in the last century  was a mine that was
almost open to the sky  The shades  those sombre hatchers of primitive
Christianity  only awaited an opportunity to bring about an explosion
under the Caesars and to inundate the human race with light  For in the
sacred shadows there lies latent light  Volcanoes are full of a shadow
that is capable of flashing forth  Every form begins by being night  The
catacombs  in which the first mass was said  were not alone the cellar
of Rome  they were the vaults of the world 

Beneath the social construction  that complicated marvel of a structure 
there are excavations of all sorts  There is the religious mine  the
philosophical mine  the economic mine  the revolutionary mine  Such and
such a pick axe with the idea  such a pick with ciphers  Such another
with wrath  People hail and answer each other from one catacomb to
another  Utopias travel about underground  in the pipes  There they
branch out in every direction  They sometimes meet  and fraternize
there  Jean Jacques lends his pick to Diogenes  who lends him his
lantern  Sometimes they enter into combat there  Calvin seizes Socinius
by the hair  But nothing arrests nor interrupts the tension of all these
energies toward the goal  and the vast  simultaneous activity  which
goes and comes  mounts  descends  and mounts again in these obscurities 
and which immense unknown swarming slowly transforms the top and the
bottom and the inside and the outside  Society hardly even suspects this
digging which leaves its surface intact and changes its bowels  There
are as many different subterranean stages as there are varying works 
as there are extractions  What emerges from these deep excavations  The
future 

The deeper one goes  the more mysterious are the toilers  The work
is good  up to a degree which the social philosophies are able to
recognize  beyond that degree it is doubtful and mixed  lower down 
it becomes terrible  At a certain depth  the excavations are no longer
penetrable by the spirit of civilization  the limit breathable by man
has been passed  a beginning of monsters is possible 

The descending scale is a strange one  and each one of the rungs of this
ladder corresponds to a stage where philosophy can find foothold  and
where one encounters one of these workmen  sometimes divine  sometimes
misshapen  Below John Huss  there is Luther  below Luther  there is
Descartes  below Descartes  there is Voltaire  below Voltaire  there
is Condorcet  below Condorcet  there is Robespierre  below Robespierre 
there is Marat  below Marat there is Babeuf  And so it goes on  Lower
down  confusedly  at the limit which separates the indistinct from the
invisible  one perceives other gloomy men  who perhaps do not exist as
yet  The men of yesterday are spectres  those of to morrow are forms 
The eye of the spirit distinguishes them but obscurely  The embryonic
work of the future is one of the visions of philosophy 

A world in limbo  in the state of foetus  what an unheard of spectre 

Saint Simon  Owen  Fourier  are there also  in lateral galleries 

Surely  although a divine and invisible chain unknown to themselves 
binds together all these subterranean pioneers who  almost always  think
themselves isolated  and who are not so  their works vary greatly  and
the light of some contrasts with the blaze of others  The first are
paradisiacal  the last are tragic  Nevertheless  whatever may be the
contrast  all these toilers  from the highest to the most nocturnal 
from the wisest to the most foolish  possess one likeness  and this
is it  disinterestedness  Marat forgets himself like Jesus  They
throw themselves on one side  they omit themselves  they think not of
themselves  They have a glance  and that glance seeks the absolute  The
first has the whole heavens in his eyes  the last  enigmatical though he
may be  has still  beneath his eyelids  the pale beam of the infinite 
Venerate the man  whoever he may be  who has this sign  the starry eye 

The shadowy eye is the other sign 

With it  evil commences  Reflect and tremble in the presence of any one
who has no glance at all  The social order has its black miners 

There is a point where depth is tantamount to burial  and where light
becomes extinct 

Below all these mines which we have just mentioned  below all these
galleries  below this whole immense  subterranean  venous system of
progress and utopia  much further on in the earth  much lower than
Marat  lower than Babeuf  lower  much lower  and without any connection
with the upper levels  there lies the last mine  A formidable spot  This
is what we have designated as the le troisieme dessous  It is the grave
of shadows  It is the cellar of the blind  Inferi 

This communicates with the abyss 




CHAPTER II  THE LOWEST DEPTHS

There disinterestedness vanishes  The demon is vaguely outlined  each
one is for himself  The  I  in the eyes howls  seeks  fumbles  and
gnaws  The social Ugolino is in this gulf 

The wild spectres who roam in this grave  almost beasts  almost
phantoms  are not occupied with universal progress  they are ignorant
both of the idea and of the word  they take no thought for anything
but the satisfaction of their individual desires  They are almost
unconscious  and there exists within them a sort of terrible
obliteration  They have two mothers  both step mothers  ignorance and
misery  They have a guide  necessity  and for all forms of satisfaction 
appetite  They are brutally voracious  that is to say  ferocious  not
after the fashion of the tyrant  but after the fashion of the tiger 
From suffering these spectres pass to crime  fatal affiliation  dizzy
creation  logic of darkness  That which crawls in the social third lower
level is no longer complaint stifled by the absolute  it is the protest
of matter  Man there becomes a dragon  To be hungry  to be thirsty  that
is the point of departure  to be Satan  that is the point reached  From
that vault Lacenaire emerges 

We have just seen  in Book Fourth  one of the compartments of the
upper mine  of the great political  revolutionary  and philosophical
excavation  There  as we have just said  all is pure  noble  dignified 
honest  There  assuredly  one might be misled  but error is worthy of
veneration there  so thoroughly does it imply heroism  The work there
effected  taken as a whole has a name  Progress 

The moment has now come when we must take a look at other depths 
hideous depths  There exists beneath society  we insist upon this point 
and there will exist  until that day when ignorance shall be dissipated 
the great cavern of evil 

This cavern is below all  and is the foe of all  It is hatred  without
exception  This cavern knows no philosophers  its dagger has never cut
a pen  Its blackness has no connection with the sublime blackness of the
inkstand  Never have the fingers of night which contract beneath this
stifling ceiling  turned the leaves of a book nor unfolded a newspaper 
Babeuf is a speculator to Cartouche  Marat is an aristocrat to
Schinderhannes  This cavern has for its object the destruction of
everything 

Of everything  Including the upper superior mines  which it execrates 
It not only undermines  in its hideous swarming  the actual social
order  it undermines philosophy  it undermines human thought  it
undermines civilization  it undermines revolution  it undermines
progress  Its name is simply theft  prostitution  murder  assassination 
It is darkness  and it desires chaos  Its vault is formed of ignorance 

All the others  those above it  have but one object  to suppress it 
It is to this point that philosophy and progress tend  with all their
organs simultaneously  by their amelioration of the real  as well as by
their contemplation of the absolute  Destroy the cavern Ignorance and
you destroy the lair Crime 

Let us condense  in a few words  a part of what we have just written 
The only social peril is darkness 

Humanity is identity  All men are made of the same clay  There is no
difference  here below  at least  in predestination  The same shadow
in front  the same flesh in the present  the same ashes afterwards  But
ignorance  mingled with the human paste  blackens it  This incurable
blackness takes possession of the interior of a man and is there
converted into evil 




CHAPTER III  BABET  GUEULEMER  CLAQUESOUS  AND MONTPARNASSE

A quartette of ruffians  Claquesous  Gueulemer  Babet  and Montparnasse
governed the third lower floor of Paris  from 1830 to 1835 

Gueulemer was a Hercules of no defined position  For his lair he had the
sewer of the Arche Marion  He was six feet high  his pectoral muscles
were of marble  his biceps of brass  his breath was that of a cavern 
his torso that of a colossus  his head that of a bird  One thought one
beheld the Farnese Hercules clad in duck trousers and a cotton velvet
waistcoat  Gueulemer  built after this sculptural fashion  might have
subdued monsters  he had found it more expeditious to be one  A low
brow  large temples  less than forty years of age  but with crow s feet 
harsh  short hair  cheeks like a brush  a beard like that of a wild
boar  the reader can see the man before him  His muscles called for
work  his stupidity would have none of it  He was a great  idle force 
He was an assassin through coolness  He was thought to be a creole  He
had  probably  somewhat to do with Marshal Brune  having been a porter
at Avignon in 1815  After this stage  he had turned ruffian 

The diaphaneity of Babet contrasted with the grossness of Gueulemer 
Babet was thin and learned  He was transparent but impenetrable 
Daylight was visible through his bones  but nothing through his eyes  He
declared that he was a chemist  He had been a jack of all trades  He had
played in vaudeville at Saint Mihiel  He was a man of purpose  a fine
talker  who underlined his smiles and accentuated his gestures  His
occupation consisted in selling  in the open air  plaster busts and
portraits of  the head of the State   In addition to this  he extracted
teeth  He had exhibited phenomena at fairs  and he had owned a booth
with a trumpet and this poster   Babet  Dental Artist  Member of the
Academies  makes physical experiments on metals and metalloids  extracts
teeth  undertakes stumps abandoned by his brother practitioners  Price 
one tooth  one franc  fifty centimes  two teeth  two francs  three
teeth  two francs  fifty  Take advantage of this opportunity   This Take
advantage of this opportunity meant  Have as many teeth extracted as
possible  He had been married and had had children  He did not know what
had become of his wife and children  He had lost them as one loses his
handkerchief  Babet read the papers  a striking exception in the world
to which he belonged  One day  at the period when he had his family with
him in his booth on wheels  he had read in the Messager  that a woman
had just given birth to a child  who was doing well  and had a calf s
muzzle  and he exclaimed   There s a fortune  my wife has not the wit to
present me with a child like that  

Later on he had abandoned everything  in order to  undertake Paris  
This was his expression 

Who was Claquesous  He was night  He waited until the sky was daubed
with black  before he showed himself  At nightfall he emerged from the
hole whither he returned before daylight  Where was this hole  No one
knew  He only addressed his accomplices in the most absolute darkness 
and with his back turned to them  Was his name Claquesous  Certainly
not  If a candle was brought  he put on a mask  He was a ventriloquist 
Babet said   Claquesous is a nocturne for two voices   Claquesous was
vague  terrible  and a roamer  No one was sure whether he had a name 
Claquesous being a sobriquet  none was sure that he had a voice  as his
stomach spoke more frequently than his voice  no one was sure that he
had a face  as he was never seen without his mask  He disappeared as
though he had vanished into thin air  when he appeared  it was as though
he sprang from the earth 

A lugubrious being was Montparnasse  Montparnasse was a child  less than
twenty years of age  with a handsome face  lips like cherries  charming
black hair  the brilliant light of springtime in his eyes  he had all
vices and aspired to all crimes 

The digestion of evil aroused in him an appetite for worse  It was the
street boy turned pickpocket  and a pickpocket turned garroter  He was
genteel  effeminate  graceful  robust  sluggish  ferocious  The rim of
his hat was curled up on the left side  in order to make room for a tuft
of hair  after the style of 1829  He lived by robbery with violence 
His coat was of the best cut  but threadbare  Montparnasse was a
fashion plate in misery and given to the commission of murders  The
cause of all this youth s crimes was the desire to be well dressed  The
first grisette who had said to him   You are handsome   had cast the
stain of darkness into his heart  and had made a Cain of this Abel 
Finding that he was handsome  he desired to be elegant  now  the
height of elegance is idleness  idleness in a poor man means crime  Few
prowlers were so dreaded as Montparnasse  At eighteen  he had already
numerous corpses in his past  More than one passer by lay with
outstretched arms in the presence of this wretch  with his face in a
pool of blood  Curled  pomaded  with laced waist  the hips of a woman 
the bust of a Prussian officer  the murmur of admiration from the
boulevard wenches surrounding him  his cravat knowingly tied  a bludgeon
in his pocket  a flower in his buttonhole  such was this dandy of the
sepulchre 




CHAPTER IV  COMPOSITION OF THE TROUPE

These four ruffians formed a sort of Proteus  winding like a serpent
among the police  and striving to escape Vidocq s indiscreet glances
 under divers forms  tree  flame  fountain   lending each other their
names and their traps  hiding in their own shadows  boxes with
secret compartments and refuges for each other  stripping off their
personalities  as one removes his false nose at a masked ball  sometimes
simplifying matters to the point of consisting of but one individual 
sometimes multiplying themselves to such a point that Coco Latour
himself took them for a whole throng 

These four men were not four men  they were a sort of mysterious robber
with four heads  operating on a grand scale on Paris  they were that
monstrous polyp of evil  which inhabits the crypt of society 

Thanks to their ramifications  and to the network underlying their
relations  Babet  Gueulemer  Claquesous  and Montparnasse were charged
with the general enterprise of the ambushes of the department of
the Seine  The inventors of ideas of that nature  men with nocturnal
imaginations  applied to them to have their ideas executed  They
furnished the canvas to the four rascals  and the latter undertook the
preparation of the scenery  They labored at the stage setting  They were
always in a condition to lend a force proportioned and suitable to
all crimes which demanded a lift of the shoulder  and which were
sufficiently lucrative  When a crime was in quest of arms  they
under let their accomplices  They kept a troupe of actors of the shadows
at the disposition of all underground tragedies 

They were in the habit of assembling at nightfall  the hour when they
woke up  on the plains which adjoin the Salpetriere  There they held
their conferences  They had twelve black hours before them  they
regulated their employment accordingly 

Patron Minette   such was the name which was bestowed in the
subterranean circulation on the association of these four men  In the
fantastic  ancient  popular parlance  which is vanishing day by day 
Patron Minette signifies the morning  the same as entre chien et
loup  between dog and wolf  signifies the evening  This appellation 
Patron Minette  was probably derived from the hour at which their work
ended  the dawn being the vanishing moment for phantoms and for the
separation of ruffians  These four men were known under this title 
When the President of the Assizes visited Lacenaire in his prison  and
questioned him concerning a misdeed which Lacenaire denied   Who did
it   demanded the President  Lacenaire made this response  enigmatical
so far as the magistrate was concerned  but clear to the police 
 Perhaps it was Patron Minette  

A piece can sometimes be divined on the enunciation of the personages 
in the same manner a band can almost be judged from the list of ruffians
composing it  Here are the appellations to which the principal members
of Patron Minette answered   for the names have survived in special
memoirs 

Panchaud  alias Printanier  alias Bigrenaille 

Brujon   There was a Brujon dynasty  we cannot refrain from
interpolating this word  

Boulatruelle  the road mender already introduced 

Laveuve 

Finistere 

Homere Hogu  a negro 

Mardisoir   Tuesday evening  

Depeche   Make haste  

Fauntleroy  alias Bouquetiere  the Flower Girl  

Glorieux  a discharged convict 

Barrecarrosse  Stop carriage   called Monsieur Dupont 

L Esplanade du Sud 

Poussagrive 

Carmagnolet 

Kruideniers  called Bizarro 

Mangedentelle   Lace eater  

Les pieds en l Air   Feet in the air  

Demi Liard  called Deux Milliards 

Etc   etc 

We pass over some  and not the worst of them  These names have faces
attached  They do not express merely beings  but species  Each one of
these names corresponds to a variety of those misshapen fungi from the
under side of civilization 

Those beings  who were not very lavish with their countenances  were not
among the men whom one sees passing along the streets  Fatigued by the
wild nights which they passed  they went off by day to sleep  sometimes
in the lime kilns  sometimes in the abandoned quarries of Montmatre or
Montrouge  sometimes in the sewers  They ran to earth 

What became of these men  They still exist  They have always existed 
Horace speaks of them  Ambubaiarum collegia  pharmacopolae  mendici 
mimae  and so long as society remains what it is  they will remain what
they are  Beneath the obscure roof of their cavern  they are continually
born again from the social ooze  They return  spectres  but always
identical  only  they no longer bear the same names and they are
no longer in the same skins  The individuals extirpated  the tribe
subsists 

They always have the same faculties  From the vagrant to the tramp  the
race is maintained in its purity  They divine purses in pockets  they
scent out watches in fobs  Gold and silver possess an odor for them 
There exist ingenuous bourgeois  of whom it might be said  that they
have a  stealable  air  These men patiently pursue these bourgeois  They
experience the quivers of a spider at the passage of a stranger or of a
man from the country 

These men are terrible  when one encounters them  or catches a glimpse
of them  towards midnight  on a deserted boulevard  They do not seem
to be men but forms composed of living mists  one would say that they
habitually constitute one mass with the shadows  that they are in
no wise distinct from them  that they possess no other soul than the
darkness  and that it is only momentarily and for the purpose of living
for a few minutes a monstrous life  that they have separated from the
night 

What is necessary to cause these spectres to vanish  Light  Light in
floods  Not a single bat can resist the dawn  Light up society from
below 




BOOK EIGHTH   THE WICKED POOR MAN




CHAPTER I  MARIUS  WHILE SEEKING A GIRL IN A BONNET  ENCOUNTERS A MAN IN
A CAP

Summer passed  then the autumn  winter came  Neither M  Leblanc nor the
young girl had again set foot in the Luxembourg garden  Thenceforth 
Marius had but one thought   to gaze once more on that sweet and
adorable face  He sought constantly  he sought everywhere  he found
nothing  He was no longer Marius  the enthusiastic dreamer  the firm 
resolute  ardent man  the bold defier of fate  the brain which erected
future on future  the young spirit encumbered with plans  with projects 
with pride  with ideas and wishes  he was a lost dog  He fell into a
black melancholy  All was over  Work disgusted him  walking tired him 
Vast nature  formerly so filled with forms  lights  voices  counsels 
perspectives  horizons  teachings  now lay empty before him  It seemed
to him that everything had disappeared 

He thought incessantly  for he could not do otherwise  but he no longer
took pleasure in his thoughts  To everything that they proposed to him
in a whisper  he replied in his darkness   What is the use  

He heaped a hundred reproaches on himself   Why did I follow her  I
was so happy at the mere sight of her  She looked at me  was not that
immense  She had the air of loving me  Was not that everything  I wished
to have  what  There was nothing after that  I have been absurd  It is
my own fault   etc   etc  Courfeyrac  to whom he confided nothing   it
was his nature   but who made some little guess at everything   that was
his nature   had begun by congratulating him on being in love  though he
was amazed at it  then  seeing Marius fall into this melancholy state 
he ended by saying to him   I see that you have been simply an animal 
Here  come to the Chaumiere  

Once  having confidence in a fine September sun  Marius had allowed
himself to be taken to the ball at Sceaux by Courfeyrac  Bossuet  and
Grantaire  hoping  what a dream  that he might  perhaps  find her there 
Of course he did not see the one he sought    But this is the place 
all the same  where all lost women are found   grumbled Grantaire in an
aside  Marius left his friends at the ball and returned home on foot 
alone  through the night  weary  feverish  with sad and troubled eyes 
stunned by the noise and dust of the merry wagons filled with singing
creatures on their way home from the feast  which passed close to
him  as he  in his discouragement  breathed in the acrid scent of the
walnut trees  along the road  in order to refresh his head 

He took to living more and more alone  utterly overwhelmed  wholly given
up to his inward anguish  going and coming in his pain like the wolf in
the trap  seeking the absent one everywhere  stupefied by love 

On another occasion  he had an encounter which produced on him a
singular effect  He met  in the narrow streets in the vicinity of the
Boulevard des Invalides  a man dressed like a workingman and wearing a
cap with a long visor  which allowed a glimpse of locks of very
white hair  Marius was struck with the beauty of this white hair  and
scrutinized the man  who was walking slowly and as though absorbed in
painful meditation  Strange to say  he thought that he recognized M 
Leblanc  The hair was the same  also the profile  so far as the cap
permitted a view of it  the mien identical  only more depressed  But why
these workingman s clothes  What was the meaning of this  What signified
that disguise  Marius was greatly astonished  When he recovered himself 
his first impulse was to follow the man  who knows whether he did not
hold at last the clue which he was seeking  In any case  he must see the
man near at hand  and clear up the mystery  But the idea occurred to him
too late  the man was no longer there  He had turned into some little
side street  and Marius could not find him  This encounter occupied
his mind for three days and then was effaced   After all   he said to
himself   it was probably only a resemblance  




CHAPTER II  TREASURE TROVE

Marius had not left the Gorbeau house  He paid no attention to any one
there 

At that epoch  to tell the truth  there were no other inhabitants in the
house  except himself and those Jondrettes whose rent he had once paid 
without  moreover  ever having spoken to either father  mother  or
daughters  The other lodgers had moved away or had died  or had been
turned out in default of payment 

One day during that winter  the sun had shown itself a little in the
afternoon  but it was the 2d of February  that ancient Candlemas
day whose treacherous sun  the precursor of a six weeks  cold spell 
inspired Mathieu Laensberg with these two lines  which have with justice
remained classic   


           Qu il luise ou qu il luiserne 
           L ours rentre dans en sa caverne  26 


Marius had just emerged from his  night was falling  It was the hour for
his dinner  for he had been obliged to take to dining again  alas  oh 
infirmities of ideal passions 

He had just crossed his threshold  where Ma am Bougon was sweeping at
the moment  as she uttered this memorable monologue   

 What is there that is cheap now  Everything is dear  There is nothing
in the world that is cheap except trouble  you can get that for nothing 
the trouble of the world  

Marius slowly ascended the boulevard towards the barrier  in order to
reach the Rue Saint Jacques  He was walking along with drooping head 

All at once  he felt some one elbow him in the dusk  he wheeled round 
and saw two young girls clad in rags  the one tall and slim  the other a
little shorter  who were passing rapidly  all out of breath  in terror 
and with the appearance of fleeing  they had been coming to meet him 
had not seen him  and had jostled him as they passed  Through the
twilight  Marius could distinguish their livid faces  their wild heads 
their dishevelled hair  their hideous bonnets  their ragged petticoats 
and their bare feet  They were talking as they ran  The taller said in a
very low voice   

 The bobbies have come  They came near nabbing me at the half circle  
The other answered   I saw them  I bolted  bolted  bolted  

Through this repulsive slang  Marius understood that gendarmes or the
police had come near apprehending these two children  and that the
latter had escaped 

They plunged among the trees of the boulevard behind him  and there
created  for a few minutes  in the gloom  a sort of vague white spot 
then disappeared 

Marius had halted for a moment 

He was about to pursue his way  when his eye lighted on a little grayish
package lying on the ground at his feet  He stooped and picked it up  It
was a sort of envelope which appeared to contain papers 

 Good   he said to himself   those unhappy girls dropped it  

He retraced his steps  he called  he did not find them  he reflected
that they must already be far away  put the package in his pocket  and
went off to dine 

On the way  he saw in an alley of the Rue Mouffetard  a child s coffin 
covered with a black cloth resting on three chairs  and illuminated by a
candle  The two girls of the twilight recurred to his mind 

 Poor mothers   he thought   There is one thing sadder than to see one s
children die  it is to see them leading an evil life  

Then those shadows which had varied his melancholy vanished from his
thoughts  and he fell back once more into his habitual preoccupations 
He fell to thinking once more of his six months of love and happiness
in the open air and the broad daylight  beneath the beautiful trees of
Luxembourg 

 How gloomy my life has become   he said to himself   Young girls are
always appearing to me  only formerly they were angels and now they are
ghouls  




CHAPTER III  QUADRIFRONS

That evening  as he was undressing preparatory to going to bed  his hand
came in contact  in the pocket of his coat  with the packet which he
had picked up on the boulevard  He had forgotten it  He thought that it
would be well to open it  and that this package might possibly contain
the address of the young girls  if it really belonged to them  and  in
any case  the information necessary to a restitution to the person who
had lost it 

He opened the envelope 

It was not sealed and contained four letters  also unsealed 

They bore addresses 

All four exhaled a horrible odor of tobacco 

The first was addressed   To Madame  Madame la Marquise de Grucheray 
the place opposite the Chamber of Deputies  No    

Marius said to himself  that he should probably find in it the
information which he sought  and that  moreover  the letter being open 
it was probable that it could be read without impropriety 

It was conceived as follows   


Madame la Marquise  The virtue of clemency and piety is that which most
closely unites sosiety  Turn your Christian spirit and cast a look of
compassion on this unfortunate Spanish victim of loyalty and attachment
to the sacred cause of legitimacy  who has given with his blood 
consecrated his fortune  evverything  to defend that cause  and to day
finds himself in the greatest missery  He doubts not that your honorable
person will grant succor to preserve an existence exteremely painful for
a military man of education and honor full of wounds  counts in advance
on the humanity which animates you and on the interest which Madame la
Marquise bears to a nation so unfortunate  Their prayer will not be in
vain  and their gratitude will preserve theirs charming souvenir 

 My respectful sentiments  with which I have the honor to be
                            Madame 
                                 Don Alvares  Spanish Captain
                                 of Cavalry  a royalist who
                                 has take refuge in France 
                                 who finds himself on travells
                                 for his country  and the
                                 resources are lacking him to
                                 continue his travells 


No address was joined to the signature  Marius hoped to find the address
in the second letter  whose superscription read  A Madame  Madame la
Comtesse de Montvernet  Rue Cassette  No  9  This is what Marius read in
it   


 Madame la Comtesse   It is an unhappy mother of a family of six
 children the last of which is only eight months old   I sick
 since my last confinement  abandoned by my husband five months ago 
 haveing no resources in the world the most frightful indigance 

 In the hope of Madame la Comtesse  she has the honor to be 
 Madame  with profound respect 
                                        Mistress Balizard 


Marius turned to the third letter  which was a petition like the
preceding  he read   

        Monsieur Pabourgeot  Elector  wholesale stocking merchant 
           Rue Saint Denis on the corner of the Rue aux Fers 

 I permit myself to address you this letter to beg you to grant me
 the pretious favor of your simpaties and to interest yourself in a man
 of letters who has just sent a drama to the Theatre Francais  The subject
 is historical  and the action takes place in Auvergne in the time
 of the Empire  the style  I think  is natural  laconic  and may have
 some merit   There are couplets to be sung in four places   The comic 
 the serious  the unexpected  are mingled in a variety of characters 
 and a tinge of romanticism lightly spread through all the intrigue
 which proceeds misteriously  and ends  after striking altarations 
 in the midst of many beautiful strokes of brilliant scenes 

 My principal object is to satisfi the desire which progressively
 animates the man of our century  that is to say  the fashion 
 that capritious and bizarre weathervane which changes at almost
 every new wind 

 In spite of these qualities I have reason to fear that jealousy 
 the egotism of priviliged authors  may obtaine my exclusion from
 the theatre  for I am not ignorant of the mortifications with which
 new comers are treated 

 Monsiuer Pabourgeot  your just reputation as an enlightened protector
 of men of litters emboldens me to send you my daughter who will
 explain our indigant situation to you  lacking bread and fire
 in this wynter season   When I say to you that I beg you to accept
 the dedication of my drama which I desire to make to you and of all
 those that I shall make  is to prove to you how great is my ambition
 to have the honor of sheltering myself under your protection 
 and of adorning my writings with your name   If you deign to honor
 me with the most modest offering  I shall immediately occupy myself
 in making a piesse of verse to pay you my tribute of gratitude 
 Which I shall endeavor to render this piesse as perfect as possible 
 will be sent to you before it is inserted at the beginning of the
 drama and delivered on the stage 
                             To Monsieur
                                and Madame Pabourgeot 
                                   My most respectful complements 
                                      Genflot  man of letters 
       P  S  Even if it is only forty sous 

 Excuse me for sending my daughter and not presenting myself 
 but sad motives connected with the toilet do not permit me 
 alas  to go out 


Finally  Marius opened the fourth letter  The address ran  To the
benevolent Gentleman of the church of Saint Jacquesdu haut Pas  It
contained the following lines   


 Benevolent Man   If you deign to accompany my daughter  you will
 behold a misserable calamity  and I will show you my certificates 

 At the aspect of these writings your generous soul will be moved
 with a sentiment of obvious benevolence  for true philosophers
 always feel lively emotions 

 Admit  compassionate man  that it is necessary to suffer the most
 cruel need  and that it is very painful  for the sake of obtaining
 a little relief  to get oneself attested by the authorities as though
 one were not free to suffer and to die of inanition while waiting
 to have our misery relieved   Destinies are very fatal for several
 and too prodigal or too protecting for others 

 I await your presence or your offering  if you deign to make one 
 and I beseech you to accept the respectful sentiments with which I
 have the honor to be 
                       truly magnanimous man 
                         your very humble
                           and very obedient servant 
                                        P  Fabantou  dramatic artist 


After perusing these four letters  Marius did not find himself much
further advanced than before 

In the first place  not one of the signers gave his address 

Then  they seemed to come from four different individuals  Don Alveras 
Mistress Balizard  the poet Genflot  and dramatic artist Fabantou  but
the singular thing about these letters was  that all four were written
by the same hand 

What conclusion was to be drawn from this  except that they all come
from the same person 

Moreover  and this rendered the conjecture all the more probable  the
coarse and yellow paper was the same in all four  the odor of tobacco
was the same  and  although an attempt had been made to vary the
style  the same orthographical faults were reproduced with the greatest
tranquillity  and the man of letters Genflot was no more exempt from
them than the Spanish captain 

It was waste of trouble to try to solve this petty mystery  Had it not
been a chance find  it would have borne the air of a mystification 
Marius was too melancholy to take even a chance pleasantry well  and to
lend himself to a game which the pavement of the street seemed desirous
of playing with him  It seemed to him that he was playing the part of
the blind man in blind man s buff between the four letters  and that
they were making sport of him 

Nothing  however  indicated that these letters belonged to the two
young girls whom Marius had met on the boulevard  After all  they were
evidently papers of no value  Marius replaced them in their envelope 
flung the whole into a corner and went to bed  About seven o clock in
the morning  he had just risen and breakfasted  and was trying to settle
down to work  when there came a soft knock at his door 

As he owned nothing  he never locked his door  unless occasionally 
though very rarely  when he was engaged in some pressing work  Even when
absent he left his key in the lock   You will be robbed   said Ma am
Bougon   Of what   said Marius  The truth is  however  that he had  one
day  been robbed of an old pair of boots  to the great triumph of Ma am
Bougon 

There came a second knock  as gentle as the first 

 Come in   said Marius 

The door opened 

 What do you want  Ma am Bougon   asked Marius  without raising his eyes
from the books and manuscripts on his table 

A voice which did not belong to Ma am Bougon replied   

 Excuse me  sir   

It was a dull  broken  hoarse  strangled voice  the voice of an old man 
roughened with brandy and liquor 

Marius turned round hastily  and beheld a young girl 




CHAPTER IV  A ROSE IN MISERY

 Illustration  Rose in Misery  3b8 4 rose in misery 

A very young girl was standing in the half open door  The dormer window
of the garret  through which the light fell  was precisely opposite
the door  and illuminated the figure with a wan light  She was a frail 
emaciated  slender creature  there was nothing but a chemise and a
petticoat upon that chilled and shivering nakedness  Her girdle was a
string  her head ribbon a string  her pointed shoulders emerged from her
chemise  a blond and lymphatic pallor  earth colored collar bones  red
hands  a half open and degraded mouth  missing teeth  dull  bold  base
eyes  she had the form of a young girl who has missed her youth  and the
look of a corrupt old woman  fifty years mingled with fifteen  one of
those beings which are both feeble and horrible  and which cause those
to shudder whom they do not cause to weep 

Marius had risen  and was staring in a sort of stupor at this being  who
was almost like the forms of the shadows which traverse dreams 

The most heart breaking thing of all was  that this young girl had not
come into the world to be homely  In her early childhood she must even
have been pretty  The grace of her age was still struggling against the
hideous  premature decrepitude of debauchery and poverty  The remains of
beauty were dying away in that face of sixteen  like the pale sunlight
which is extinguished under hideous clouds at dawn on a winter s day 

That face was not wholly unknown to Marius  He thought he remembered
having seen it somewhere 

 What do you wish  Mademoiselle   he asked 

The young girl replied in her voice of a drunken convict   

 Here is a letter for you  Monsieur Marius  

She called Marius by his name  he could not doubt that he was the person
whom she wanted  but who was this girl  How did she know his name 

Without waiting for him to tell her to advance  she entered  She entered
resolutely  staring  with a sort of assurance that made the heart bleed 
at the whole room and the unmade bed  Her feet were bare  Large holes
in her petticoat permitted glimpses of her long legs and her thin knees 
She was shivering 

She held a letter in her hand  which she presented to Marius 

Marius  as he opened the letter  noticed that the enormous wafer which
sealed it was still moist  The message could not have come from a
distance  He read   


 My amiable neighbor  young man   I have learned of your goodness to me 
 that you paid my rent six months ago   I bless you  young man 
 My eldest daughter will tell you that we have been without a morsel
 of bread for two days  four persons and my spouse ill   If I am
 not deseaved in my opinion  I think I may hope that your generous
 heart will melt at this statement and the desire will subjugate you
 to be propitious to me by daigning to lavish on me a slight favor 

 I am with the distinguished consideration which is due to the
 benefactors of humanity   

 Jondrette 

 P S  My eldest daughter will await your orders  dear Monsieur Marius 


This letter  coming in the very midst of the mysterious adventure which
had occupied Marius  thoughts ever since the preceding evening  was like
a candle in a cellar  All was suddenly illuminated 

This letter came from the same place as the other four  There was the
same writing  the same style  the same orthography  the same paper  the
same odor of tobacco 

There were five missives  five histories  five signatures  and a single
signer  The Spanish Captain Don Alvares  the unhappy Mistress Balizard 
the dramatic poet Genflot  the old comedian Fabantou  were all four
named Jondrette  if  indeed  Jondrette himself were named Jondrette 

Marius had lived in the house for a tolerably long time  and he had had 
as we have said  but very rare occasion to see  to even catch a glimpse
of  his extremely mean neighbors  His mind was elsewhere  and where the
mind is  there the eyes are also  He had been obliged more than once to
pass the Jondrettes in the corridor or on the stairs  but they were mere
forms to him  he had paid so little heed to them  that  on the preceding
evening  he had jostled the Jondrette girls on the boulevard  without
recognizing them  for it had evidently been they  and it was with great
difficulty that the one who had just entered his room had awakened in
him  in spite of disgust and pity  a vague recollection of having met
her elsewhere 

Now he saw everything clearly  He understood that his neighbor
Jondrette  in his distress  exercised the industry of speculating on the
charity of benevolent persons  that he procured addresses  and that he
wrote under feigned names to people whom he judged to be wealthy and
compassionate  letters which his daughters delivered at their risk
and peril  for this father had come to such a pass  that he risked his
daughters  he was playing a game with fate  and he used them as the
stake  Marius understood that probably  judging from their flight on the
evening before  from their breathless condition  from their terror
and from the words of slang which he had overheard  these unfortunate
creatures were plying some inexplicably sad profession  and that the
result of the whole was  in the midst of human society  as it is now
constituted  two miserable beings who were neither girls nor women  a
species of impure and innocent monsters produced by misery 

Sad creatures  without name  or sex  or age  to whom neither good nor
evil were any longer possible  and who  on emerging from childhood 
have already nothing in this world  neither liberty  nor virtue  nor
responsibility  Souls which blossomed out yesterday  and are faded
to day  like those flowers let fall in the streets  which are soiled
with every sort of mire  while waiting for some wheel to crush them 
Nevertheless  while Marius bent a pained and astonished gaze on her  the
young girl was wandering back and forth in the garret with the audacity
of a spectre  She kicked about  without troubling herself as to her
nakedness  Occasionally her chemise  which was untied and torn  fell
almost to her waist  She moved the chairs about  she disarranged the
toilet articles which stood on the commode  she handled Marius  clothes 
she rummaged about to see what there was in the corners 

 Hullo   said she   you have a mirror  

And she hummed scraps of vaudevilles  as though she had been alone 
frolicsome refrains which her hoarse and guttural voice rendered
lugubrious 

An indescribable constraint  weariness  and humiliation were perceptible
beneath this hardihood  Effrontery is a disgrace 

Nothing could be more melancholy than to see her sport about the room 
and  so to speak  flit with the movements of a bird which is frightened
by the daylight  or which has broken its wing  One felt that under other
conditions of education and destiny  the gay and over free mien of this
young girl might have turned out sweet and charming  Never  even among
animals  does the creature born to be a dove change into an osprey  That
is only to be seen among men 

Marius reflected  and allowed her to have her way 

She approached the table 

 Ah   said she   books  

A flash pierced her glassy eye  She resumed  and her accent expressed
the happiness which she felt in boasting of something  to which no human
creature is insensible   

 I know how to read  I do  

She eagerly seized a book which lay open on the table  and read with
tolerable fluency   

   General Bauduin received orders to take the chateau of Hougomont
which stands in the middle of the plain of Waterloo  with five
battalions of his brigade  

She paused 

 Ah  Waterloo  I know about that  It was a battle long ago  My father
was there  My father has served in the armies  We are fine Bonapartists
in our house  that we are  Waterloo was against the English  

She laid down the book  caught up a pen  and exclaimed   

 And I know how to write  too  

She dipped her pen in the ink  and turning to Marius   

 Do you want to see  Look here  I m going to write a word to show you  

And before he had time to answer  she wrote on a sheet of white paper 
which lay in the middle of the table   The bobbies are here  

Then throwing down the pen   

 There are no faults of orthography  You can look  We have received an
education  my sister and I  We have not always been as we are now  We
were not made   

Here she paused  fixed her dull eyes on Marius  and burst out laughing 
saying  with an intonation which contained every form of anguish 
stifled by every form of cynicism   

 Bah  

And she began to hum these words to a gay air   

       J ai faim  mon pere        I am hungry  father 
       Pas de fricot              I have no food 
       J ai froid  ma mere        I am cold  mother 
       Pas de tricot              I have no clothes 
       Grelotte                   Lolotte 
            Lolotte                    Shiver 
            Sanglote                   Sob 
            Jacquot                    Jacquot  


She had hardly finished this couplet  when she exclaimed   

 Do you ever go to the play  Monsieur Marius  I do  I have a little
brother who is a friend of the artists  and who gives me tickets
sometimes  But I don t like the benches in the galleries  One is cramped
and uncomfortable there  There are rough people there sometimes  and
people who smell bad  

Then she scrutinized Marius  assumed a singular air and said   

 Do you know  Mr  Marius  that you are a very handsome fellow  

And at the same moment the same idea occurred to them both  and made
her smile and him blush  She stepped up to him  and laid her hand on his
shoulder   You pay no heed to me  but I know you  Mr  Marius  I meet you
here on the staircase  and then I often see you going to a person named
Father Mabeuf who lives in the direction of Austerlitz  sometimes when I
have been strolling in that quarter  It is very becoming to you to have
your hair tumbled thus  

She tried to render her voice soft  but only succeeded in making it very
deep  A portion of her words was lost in the transit from her larynx to
her lips  as though on a piano where some notes are missing 

Marius had retreated gently 

 Mademoiselle   said he  with his cool gravity   I have here a package
which belongs to you  I think  Permit me to return it to you  

And he held out the envelope containing the four letters 

She clapped her hands and exclaimed   

 We have been looking everywhere for that  

Then she eagerly seized the package and opened the envelope  saying as
she did so   

 Dieu de Dieu  how my sister and I have hunted  And it was you who found
it  On the boulevard  was it not  It must have been on the boulevard 
You see  we let it fall when we were running  It was that brat of a
sister of mine who was so stupid  When we got home  we could not find it
anywhere  As we did not wish to be beaten  as that is useless  as that
is entirely useless  as that is absolutely useless  we said that we had
carried the letters to the proper persons  and that they had said to us 
 Nix   So here they are  those poor letters  And how did you find out
that they belonged to me  Ah  yes  the writing  So it was you that we
jostled as we passed last night  We couldn t see  I said to my sister 
 Is it a gentleman   My sister said to me   I think it is a gentleman   

In the meanwhile she had unfolded the petition addressed to  the
benevolent gentleman of the church of Saint Jacquesdu Haut Pas  

 Here   said she   this is for that old fellow who goes to mass  By the
way  this is his hour  I ll go and carry it to him  Perhaps he will give
us something to breakfast on  

Then she began to laugh again  and added   

 Do you know what it will mean if we get a breakfast today  It will mean
that we shall have had our breakfast of the day before yesterday  our
breakfast of yesterday  our dinner of to day  and all that at once  and
this morning  Come  Parbleu  if you are not satisfied  dogs  burst  

This reminded Marius of the wretched girl s errand to himself  He
fumbled in his waistcoat pocket  and found nothing there 

The young girl went on  and seemed to have no consciousness of Marius 
presence 

 I often go off in the evening  Sometimes I don t come home again  Last
winter  before we came here  we lived under the arches of the bridges 
We huddled together to keep from freezing  My little sister cried  How
melancholy the water is  When I thought of drowning myself  I said
to myself   No  it s too cold   I go out alone  whenever I choose  I
sometimes sleep in the ditches  Do you know  at night  when I walk along
the boulevard  I see the trees like forks  I see houses  all black and
as big as Notre Dame  I fancy that the white walls are the river  I say
to myself   Why  there s water there   The stars are like the lamps in
illuminations  one would say that they smoked and that the wind blew
them out  I am bewildered  as though horses were breathing in my ears 
although it is night  I hear hand organs and spinning machines  and I
don t know what all  I think people are flinging stones at me  I flee
without knowing whither  everything whirls and whirls  You feel very
queer when you have had no food  

And then she stared at him with a bewildered air 

By dint of searching and ransacking his pockets  Marius had finally
collected five francs sixteen sous  This was all he owned in the world
for the moment   At all events   he thought   there is my dinner for
to day  and to morrow we will see   He kept the sixteen sous  and handed
the five francs to the young girl 

She seized the coin 

 Good   said she   the sun is shining  

And  as though the sun had possessed the property of melting the
avalanches of slang in her brain  she went on   

 Five francs  the shiner  a monarch  in this hole  Ain t this fine 
You re a jolly thief  I m your humble servant  Bravo for the good
fellows  Two days  wine  and meat  and stew  we ll have a royal feast 
and a good fill  

She pulled her chemise up on her shoulders  made a low bow to Marius 
then a familiar sign with her hand  and went towards the door  saying   

 Good morning  sir  It s all right  I ll go and find my old man  

As she passed  she caught sight of a dry crust of bread on the commode 
which was moulding there amid the dust  she flung herself upon it and
bit into it  muttering   

 That s good  it s hard  it breaks my teeth  

Then she departed 




CHAPTER V  A PROVIDENTIAL PEEP HOLE

Marius had lived for five years in poverty  in destitution  even in
distress  but he now perceived that he had not known real misery  True
misery he had but just had a view of  It was its spectre which had just
passed before his eyes  In fact  he who has only beheld the misery of
man has seen nothing  the misery of woman is what he must see  he who
has seen only the misery of woman has seen nothing  he must see the
misery of the child 

When a man has reached his last extremity  he has reached his last
resources at the same time  Woe to the defenceless beings who surround
him  Work  wages  bread  fire  courage  good will  all fail him
simultaneously  The light of day seems extinguished without  the moral
light within  in these shadows man encounters the feebleness of the
woman and the child  and bends them violently to ignominy 

Then all horrors become possible  Despair is surrounded with fragile
partitions which all open on either vice or crime 

Health  youth  honor  all the shy delicacies of the young body  the
heart  virginity  modesty  that epidermis of the soul  are manipulated
in sinister wise by that fumbling which seeks resources  which
encounters opprobrium  and which accommodates itself to it  Fathers 
mothers  children  brothers  sisters  men  women  daughters  adhere
and become incorporated  almost like a mineral formation  in that dusky
promiscuousness of sexes  relationships  ages  infamies  and innocences 
They crouch  back to back  in a sort of hut of fate  They exchange
woe begone glances  Oh  the unfortunate wretches  How pale they are  How
cold they are  It seems as though they dwelt in a planet much further
from the sun than ours 

This young girl was to Marius a sort of messenger from the realm of sad
shadows  She revealed to him a hideous side of the night 

Marius almost reproached himself for the preoccupations of revery and
passion which had prevented his bestowing a glance on his neighbors up
to that day  The payment of their rent had been a mechanical movement 
which any one would have yielded to  but he  Marius  should have done
better than that  What  only a wall separated him from those abandoned
beings who lived gropingly in the dark outside the pale of the rest of
the world  he was elbow to elbow with them  he was  in some sort  the
last link of the human race which they touched  he heard them live  or
rather  rattle in the death agony beside him  and he paid no heed to
them  Every day  every instant  he heard them walking on the other side
of the wall  he heard them go  and come  and speak  and he did not even
lend an ear  And groans lay in those words  and he did not even listen
to them  his thoughts were elsewhere  given up to dreams  to impossible
radiances  to loves in the air  to follies  and all the while  human
creatures  his brothers in Jesus Christ  his brothers in the people 
were agonizing in vain beside him  He even formed a part of their
misfortune  and he aggravated it  For if they had had another neighbor
who was less chimerical and more attentive  any ordinary and charitable
man  evidently their indigence would have been noticed  their signals of
distress would have been perceived  and they would have been taken hold
of and rescued  They appeared very corrupt and very depraved  no
doubt  very vile  very odious even  but those who fall without becoming
degraded are rare  besides  there is a point where the unfortunate and
the infamous unite and are confounded in a single word  a fatal word 
the miserable  whose fault is this  And then should not the charity be
all the more profound  in proportion as the fall is great 

While reading himself this moral lesson  for there were occasions on
which Marius  like all truly honest hearts  was his own pedagogue and
scolded himself more than he deserved  he stared at the wall which
separated him from the Jondrettes  as though he were able to make his
gaze  full of pity  penetrate that partition and warm these wretched
people  The wall was a thin layer of plaster upheld by lathes and beams 
and  as the reader had just learned  it allowed the sound of voices and
words to be clearly distinguished  Only a man as dreamy as Marius could
have failed to perceive this long before  There was no paper pasted on
the wall  either on the side of the Jondrettes or on that of Marius  the
coarse construction was visible in its nakedness  Marius examined the
partition  almost unconsciously  sometimes revery examines  observes 
and scrutinizes as thought would  All at once he sprang up  he had just
perceived  near the top  close to the ceiling  a triangular hole  which
resulted from the space between three lathes  The plaster which should
have filled this cavity was missing  and by mounting on the commode 
a view could be had through this aperture into the Jondrettes  attic 
Commiseration has  and should have  its curiosity  This aperture formed
a sort of peep hole  It is permissible to gaze at misfortune like a
traitor in order to succor it  27 

 Let us get some little idea of what these people are like   thought
Marius   and in what condition they are  

He climbed upon the commode  put his eye to the crevice  and looked 




CHAPTER VI  THE WILD MAN IN HIS LAIR

Cities  like forests  have their caverns in which all the most wicked
and formidable creatures which they contain conceal themselves  Only 
in cities  that which thus conceals itself is ferocious  unclean  and
petty  that is to say  ugly  in forests  that which conceals itself is
ferocious  savage  and grand  that is to say  beautiful  Taking one lair
with another  the beast s is preferable to the man s  Caverns are better
than hovels 

What Marius now beheld was a hovel 

Marius was poor  and his chamber was poverty stricken  but as his
poverty was noble  his garret was neat  The den upon which his eye now
rested was abject  dirty  fetid  pestiferous  mean  sordid  The only
furniture consisted of a straw chair  an infirm table  some old bits of
crockery  and in two of the corners  two indescribable pallets  all
the light was furnished by a dormer window of four panes  draped with
spiders  webs  Through this aperture there penetrated just enough light
to make the face of a man appear like the face of a phantom  The walls
had a leprous aspect  and were covered with seams and scars  like a
visage disfigured by some horrible malady  a repulsive moisture exuded
from them  Obscene sketches roughly sketched with charcoal could be
distinguished upon them 

The chamber which Marius occupied had a dilapidated brick pavement  this
one was neither tiled nor planked  its inhabitants stepped directly
on the antique plaster of the hovel  which had grown black under the
long continued pressure of feet  Upon this uneven floor  where the dirt
seemed to be fairly incrusted  and which possessed but one virginity 
that of the broom  were capriciously grouped constellations of old
shoes  socks  and repulsive rags  however  this room had a fireplace 
so it was let for forty francs a year  There was every sort of thing
in that fireplace  a brazier  a pot  broken boards  rags suspended
from nails  a bird cage  ashes  and even a little fire  Two brands were
smouldering there in a melancholy way 

One thing which added still more to the horrors of this garret was  that
it was large  It had projections and angles and black holes  the lower
sides of roofs  bays  and promontories  Hence horrible  unfathomable
nooks where it seemed as though spiders as big as one s fist  wood lice
as large as one s foot  and perhaps even  who knows   some monstrous
human beings  must be hiding 

One of the pallets was near the door  the other near the window  One
end of each touched the fireplace and faced Marius  In a corner near the
aperture through which Marius was gazing  a colored engraving in a black
frame was suspended to a nail on the wall  and at its bottom  in large
letters  was the inscription  THE DREAM  This represented a sleeping
woman  and a child  also asleep  the child on the woman s lap  an eagle
in a cloud  with a crown in his beak  and the woman thrusting the
crown away from the child s head  without awaking the latter  in the
background  Napoleon in a glory  leaning on a very blue column with a
yellow capital ornamented with this inscription 

                            MARINGO
                           AUSTERLITS
                              IENA
                            WAGRAMME
                              ELOT

Beneath this frame  a sort of wooden panel  which was no longer than it
was broad  stood on the ground and rested in a sloping attitude against
the wall  It had the appearance of a picture with its face turned to
the wall  of a frame probably showing a daub on the other side  of some
pier glass detached from a wall and lying forgotten there while waiting
to be rehung 

Near the table  upon which Marius descried a pen  ink  and paper  sat
a man about sixty years of age  small  thin  livid  haggard  with a
cunning  cruel  and uneasy air  a hideous scoundrel 

If Lavater had studied this visage  he would have found the vulture
mingled with the attorney there  the bird of prey and the pettifogger
rendering each other mutually hideous and complementing each other  the
pettifogger making the bird of prey ignoble  the bird of prey making the
pettifogger horrible 

This man had a long gray beard  He was clad in a woman s chemise  which
allowed his hairy breast and his bare arms  bristling with gray hair 
to be seen  Beneath this chemise  muddy trousers and boots through which
his toes projected were visible 

He had a pipe in his mouth and was smoking  There was no bread in the
hovel  but there was still tobacco 

He was writing probably some more letters like those which Marius had
read 

On the corner of the table lay an ancient  dilapidated  reddish volume 
and the size  which was the antique 12mo of reading rooms  betrayed a
romance  On the cover sprawled the following title  printed in large
capitals  GOD  THE KING  HONOR AND THE LADIES  BY DUCRAY DUMINIL  1814 

As the man wrote  he talked aloud  and Marius heard his words   

 The idea that there is no equality  even when you are dead  Just look
at Pere Lachaise  The great  those who are rich  are up above  in the
acacia alley  which is paved  They can reach it in a carriage  The
little people  the poor  the unhappy  well  what of them  they are put
down below  where the mud is up to your knees  in the damp places  They
are put there so that they will decay the sooner  You cannot go to see
them without sinking into the earth  

He paused  smote the table with his fist  and added  as he ground his
teeth   

 Oh  I could eat the whole world  

A big woman  who might be forty years of age  or a hundred  was
crouching near the fireplace on her bare heels 

She  too  was clad only in a chemise and a knitted petticoat patched
with bits of old cloth  A coarse linen apron concealed the half of her
petticoat  Although this woman was doubled up and bent together  it
could be seen that she was of very lofty stature  She was a sort of
giant  beside her husband  She had hideous hair  of a reddish blond
which was turning gray  and which she thrust back from time to time 
with her enormous shining hands  with their flat nails 

Beside her  on the floor  wide open  lay a book of the same form as the
other  and probably a volume of the same romance 

On one of the pallets  Marius caught a glimpse of a sort of tall pale
young girl  who sat there half naked and with pendant feet  and who did
not seem to be listening or seeing or living 

No doubt the younger sister of the one who had come to his room 

She seemed to be eleven or twelve years of age  On closer scrutiny it
was evident that she really was fourteen  She was the child who had
said  on the boulevard the evening before   I bolted  bolted  bolted  

She was of that puny sort which remains backward for a long time 
then suddenly starts up rapidly  It is indigence which produces these
melancholy human plants  These creatures have neither childhood nor
youth  At fifteen years of age they appear to be twelve  at sixteen they
seem twenty  To day a little girl  to morrow a woman  One might say
that they stride through life  in order to get through with it the more
speedily 

At this moment  this being had the air of a child 

Moreover  no trace of work was revealed in that dwelling  no handicraft 
no spinning wheel  not a tool  In one corner lay some ironmongery of
dubious aspect  It was the dull listlessness which follows despair and
precedes the death agony 

Marius gazed for a while at this gloomy interior  more terrifying than
the interior of a tomb  for the human soul could be felt fluttering
there  and life was palpitating there  The garret  the cellar  the lowly
ditch where certain indigent wretches crawl at the very bottom of the
social edifice  is not exactly the sepulchre  but only its antechamber 
but  as the wealthy display their greatest magnificence at the entrance
of their palaces  it seems that death  which stands directly side by
side with them  places its greatest miseries in that vestibule 

The man held his peace  the woman spoke no word  the young girl did
not even seem to breathe  The scratching of the pen on the paper was
audible 

The man grumbled  without pausing in his writing   Canaille  canaille 
everybody is canaille  

This variation to Solomon s exclamation elicited a sigh from the woman 

 Calm yourself  my little friend   she said   Don t hurt yourself  my
dear  You are too good to write to all those people  husband  

Bodies press close to each other in misery  as in cold  but hearts draw
apart  This woman must have loved this man  to all appearance  judging
from the amount of love within her  but probably  in the daily and
reciprocal reproaches of the horrible distress which weighed on the
whole group  this had become extinct  There no longer existed in her
anything more than the ashes of affection for her husband  Nevertheless 
caressing appellations had survived  as is often the case  She called
him  My dear  my little friend  my good man  etc   with her mouth while
her heart was silent 

The man resumed his writing 




CHAPTER VII  STRATEGY AND TACTICS

Marius  with a load upon his breast  was on the point of descending
from the species of observatory which he had improvised  when a sound
attracted his attention and caused him to remain at his post 

The door of the attic had just burst open abruptly  The eldest girl made
her appearance on the threshold  On her feet  she had large  coarse 
men s shoes  bespattered with mud  which had splashed even to her red
ankles  and she was wrapped in an old mantle which hung in tatters 
Marius had not seen it on her an hour previously  but she had probably
deposited it at his door  in order that she might inspire the more pity 
and had picked it up again on emerging  She entered  pushed the door to
behind her  paused to take breath  for she was completely breathless 
then exclaimed with an expression of triumph and joy   

 He is coming  

The father turned his eyes towards her  the woman turned her head  the
little sister did not stir 

 Who   demanded her father 

 The gentleman  

 The philanthropist  

 Yes  

 From the church of Saint Jacques  

 Yes  

 That old fellow  

 Yes  

 And he is coming  

 He is following me  

 You are sure  

 I am sure  

 There  truly  he is coming  

 He is coming in a fiacre  

 In a fiacre  He is Rothschild  

The father rose 

 How are you sure  If he is coming in a fiacre  how is it that you
arrive before him  You gave him our address at least  Did you tell him
that it was the last door at the end of the corridor  on the right  If
he only does not make a mistake  So you found him at the church  Did he
read my letter  What did he say to you  

 Ta  ta  ta   said the girl   how you do gallop on  my good man  See
here  I entered the church  he was in his usual place  I made him a
reverence  and I handed him the letter  he read it and said to me 
 Where do you live  my child   I said   Monsieur  I will show you   He
said to me   No  give me your address  my daughter has some purchases to
make  I will take a carriage and reach your house at the same time that
you do   I gave him the address  When I mentioned the house  he seemed
surprised and hesitated for an instant  then he said   Never mind  I
will come   When the mass was finished  I watched him leave the church
with his daughter  and I saw them enter a carriage  I certainly did tell
him the last door in the corridor  on the right  

 And what makes you think that he will come  

 I have just seen the fiacre turn into the Rue Petit Banquier  That is
what made me run so  

 How do you know that it was the same fiacre  

 Because I took notice of the number  so there  

 What was the number  

 440  

 Good  you are a clever girl  

The girl stared boldly at her father  and showing the shoes which she
had on her feet   

 A clever girl  possibly  but I tell you I won t put these shoes on
again  and that I won t  for the sake of my health  in the first place 
and for the sake of cleanliness  in the next  I don t know anything
more irritating than shoes that squelch  and go ghi  ghi  ghi  the whole
time  I prefer to go barefoot  

 You are right   said her father  in a sweet tone which contrasted with
the young girl s rudeness   but then  you will not be allowed to enter
churches  for poor people must have shoes to do that  One cannot go
barefoot to the good God   he added bitterly 

Then  returning to the subject which absorbed him   

 So you are sure that he will come  

 He is following on my heels   said she 

The man started up  A sort of illumination appeared on his countenance 

 Wife   he exclaimed   you hear  Here is the philanthropist  Extinguish
the fire  

The stupefied mother did not stir 

The father  with the agility of an acrobat  seized a broken nosed jug
which stood on the chimney  and flung the water on the brands 

Then  addressing his eldest daughter   

 Here you  Pull the straw off that chair  

His daughter did not understand 

He seized the chair  and with one kick he rendered it seatless  His leg
passed through it 

As he withdrew his leg  he asked his daughter   

 Is it cold  

 Very cold  It is snowing  

The father turned towards the younger girl who sat on the bed near the
window  and shouted to her in a thundering voice   

 Quick  get off that bed  you lazy thing  will you never do anything 
Break a pane of glass  

The little girl jumped off the bed with a shiver 

 Break a pane   he repeated 

The child stood still in bewilderment 

 Do you hear me   repeated her father   I tell you to break a pane  

The child  with a sort of terrified obedience  rose on tiptoe  and
struck a pane with her fist  The glass broke and fell with a loud
clatter 

 Good   said the father 

He was grave and abrupt  His glance swept rapidly over all the crannies
of the garret  One would have said that he was a general making the
final preparation at the moment when the battle is on the point of
beginning 

The mother  who had not said a word so far  now rose and demanded in
a dull  slow  languid voice  whence her words seemed to emerge in a
congealed state   

 What do you mean to do  my dear  

 Get into bed   replied the man 

His intonation admitted of no deliberation  The mother obeyed  and threw
herself heavily on one of the pallets 

In the meantime  a sob became audible in one corner 

 What s that   cried the father 

The younger daughter exhibited her bleeding fist  without quitting the
corner in which she was cowering  She had wounded herself while breaking
the window  she went off  near her mother s pallet and wept silently 

It was now the mother s turn to start up and exclaim   

 Just see there  What follies you commit  She has cut herself breaking
that pane for you  

 So much the better   said the man   I foresaw that  

 What  So much the better   retorted his wife 

 Peace   replied the father   I suppress the liberty of the press  

Then tearing the woman s chemise which he was wearing  he made a strip
of cloth with which he hastily swathed the little girl s bleeding wrist 

That done  his eye fell with a satisfied expression on his torn chemise 

 And the chemise too   said he   this has a good appearance  

An icy breeze whistled through the window and entered the room  The
outer mist penetrated thither and diffused itself like a whitish sheet
of wadding vaguely spread by invisible fingers  Through the broken pane
the snow could be seen falling  The snow promised by the Candlemas sun
of the preceding day had actually come 

The father cast a glance about him as though to make sure that he had
forgotten nothing  He seized an old shovel and spread ashes over the wet
brands in such a manner as to entirely conceal them 

Then drawing himself up and leaning against the chimney piece   

 Now   said he   we can receive the philanthropist  




CHAPTER VIII  THE RAY OF LIGHT IN THE HOVEL

The big girl approached and laid her hand in her father s 

 Feel how cold I am   said she 

 Bah   replied the father   I am much colder than that  

The mother exclaimed impetuously   

 You always have something better than any one else  so you do  even bad
things  

 Down with you   said the man 

The mother  being eyed after a certain fashion  held her tongue 

Silence reigned for a moment in the hovel  The elder girl was removing
the mud from the bottom of her mantle  with a careless air  her younger
sister continued to sob  the mother had taken the latter s head between
her hands  and was covering it with kisses  whispering to her the
while   

 My treasure  I entreat you  it is nothing of consequence  don t cry 
you will anger your father  

 No   exclaimed the father   quite the contrary  sob  sob  that s
right  

Then turning to the elder   

 There now  He is not coming  What if he were not to come  I shall have
extinguished my fire  wrecked my chair  torn my shirt  and broken my
pane all for nothing  

 And wounded the child   murmured the mother 

 Do you know   went on the father   that it s beastly cold in this
devil s garret  What if that man should not come  Oh  See there  you  He
makes us wait  He says to himself   Well  they will wait for me 
That s what they re there for   Oh  how I hate them  and with what joy 
jubilation  enthusiasm  and satisfaction I could strangle all those rich
folks  all those rich folks  These men who pretend to be charitable 
who put on airs  who go to mass  who make presents to the priesthood 
preachy  preachy  in their skullcaps  and who think themselves above
us  and who come for the purpose of humiliating us  and to bring us
 clothes   as they say  old duds that are not worth four sous  And
bread  That s not what I want  pack of rascals that they are  it s
money  Ah  money  Never  Because they say that we would go off and drink
it up  and that we are drunkards and idlers  And they  What are they 
then  and what have they been in their time  Thieves  They never could
have become rich otherwise  Oh  Society ought to be grasped by the four
corners of the cloth and tossed into the air  all of it  It would all
be smashed  very likely  but at least  no one would have anything 
and there would be that much gained  But what is that blockhead of
a benevolent gentleman doing  Will he come  Perhaps the animal has
forgotten the address  I ll bet that that old beast   

At that moment there came a light tap at the door  the man rushed to it
and opened it  exclaiming  amid profound bows and smiles of adoration   

 Enter  sir  Deign to enter  most respected benefactor  and your
charming young lady  also  

A man of ripe age and a young girl made their appearance on the
threshold of the attic 

Marius had not quitted his post  His feelings for the moment surpassed
the powers of the human tongue 

It was She 

Whoever has loved knows all the radiant meanings contained in those
three letters of that word  She 

It was certainly she  Marius could hardly distinguish her through the
luminous vapor which had suddenly spread before his eyes  It was that
sweet  absent being  that star which had beamed upon him for six months 
it was those eyes  that brow  that mouth  that lovely vanished face
which had created night by its departure  The vision had been eclipsed 
now it reappeared 

It reappeared in that gloom  in that garret  in that misshapen attic  in
all that horror 

Marius shuddered in dismay  What  It was she  The palpitations of his
heart troubled his sight  He felt that he was on the brink of bursting
into tears  What  He beheld her again at last  after having sought her
so long  It seemed to him that he had lost his soul  and that he had
just found it again 

She was the same as ever  only a little pale  her delicate face was
framed in a bonnet of violet velvet  her figure was concealed beneath
a pelisse of black satin  Beneath her long dress  a glimpse could be
caught of her tiny foot shod in a silken boot 

She was still accompanied by M  Leblanc 

She had taken a few steps into the room  and had deposited a tolerably
bulky parcel on the table 

The eldest Jondrette girl had retired behind the door  and was staring
with sombre eyes at that velvet bonnet  that silk mantle  and that
charming  happy face 




CHAPTER IX  JONDRETTE COMES NEAR WEEPING

The hovel was so dark  that people coming from without felt on entering
it the effect produced on entering a cellar  The two new comers
advanced  therefore  with a certain hesitation  being hardly able
to distinguish the vague forms surrounding them  while they could be
clearly seen and scrutinized by the eyes of the inhabitants of the
garret  who were accustomed to this twilight 

M  Leblanc approached  with his sad but kindly look  and said to
Jondrette the father   

 Monsieur  in this package you will find some new clothes and some
woollen stockings and blankets  

 Our angelic benefactor overwhelms us   said Jondrette  bowing to the
very earth 

Then  bending down to the ear of his eldest daughter  while the two
visitors were engaged in examining this lamentable interior  he added in
a low and rapid voice   

 Hey  What did I say  Duds  No money  They are all alike  By the way 
how was the letter to that old blockhead signed  

 Fabantou   replied the girl 

 The dramatic artist  good  

It was lucky for Jondrette  that this had occurred to him  for at the
very moment  M  Leblanc turned to him  and said to him with the air of a
person who is seeking to recall a name   

 I see that you are greatly to be pitied  Monsieur   

 Fabantou   replied Jondrette quickly 

 Monsieur Fabantou  yes  that is it  I remember  

 Dramatic artist  sir  and one who has had some success  

Here Jondrette evidently judged the moment propitious for capturing the
 philanthropist   He exclaimed with an accent which smacked at the same
time of the vainglory of the mountebank at fairs  and the humility of
the mendicant on the highway   

 A pupil of Talma  Sir  I am a pupil of Talma  Fortune formerly smiled
on me  Alas  Now it is misfortune s turn  You see  my benefactor  no
bread  no fire  My poor babes have no fire  My only chair has no seat  A
broken pane  And in such weather  My spouse in bed  Ill  

 Poor woman   said M  Leblanc 

 My child wounded   added Jondrette 

The child  diverted by the arrival of the strangers  had fallen to
contemplating  the young lady   and had ceased to sob 

 Cry  bawl   said Jondrette to her in a low voice 

At the same time he pinched her sore hand  All this was done with the
talent of a juggler 

The little girl gave vent to loud shrieks 

The adorable young girl  whom Marius  in his heart  called  his Ursule  
approached her hastily 

 Poor  dear child   said she 

 You see  my beautiful young lady   pursued Jondrette  her bleeding
wrist  It came through an accident while working at a machine to earn
six sous a day  It may be necessary to cut off her arm  

 Really   said the old gentleman  in alarm 

The little girl  taking this seriously  fell to sobbing more violently
than ever 

 Alas  yes  my benefactor   replied the father 

For several minutes  Jondrette had been scrutinizing  the benefactor 
in a singular fashion  As he spoke  he seemed to be examining the other
attentively  as though seeking to summon up his recollections  All at
once  profiting by a moment when the new comers were questioning the
child with interest as to her injured hand  he passed near his wife 
who lay in her bed with a stupid and dejected air  and said to her in a
rapid but very low tone   

 Take a look at that man  

Then  turning to M  Leblanc  and continuing his lamentations   

 You see  sir  All the clothing that I have is my wife s chemise  And
all torn at that  In the depths of winter  I can t go out for lack of a
coat  If I had a coat of any sort  I would go and see Mademoiselle Mars 
who knows me and is very fond of me  Does she not still reside in the
Rue de la Tour des Dames  Do you know  sir  We played together in the
provinces  I shared her laurels  Celimene would come to my succor  sir 
Elmire would bestow alms on Belisaire  But no  nothing  And not a sou in
the house  My wife ill  and not a sou  My daughter dangerously injured 
not a sou  My wife suffers from fits of suffocation  It comes from her
age  and besides  her nervous system is affected  She ought to have
assistance  and my daughter also  But the doctor  But the apothecary 
How am I to pay them  I would kneel to a penny  sir  Such is the
condition to which the arts are reduced  And do you know  my charming
young lady  and you  my generous protector  do you know  you who breathe
forth virtue and goodness  and who perfume that church where my daughter
sees you every day when she says her prayers   For I have brought up my
children religiously  sir  I did not want them to take to the theatre 
Ah  the hussies  If I catch them tripping  I do not jest  that I don t 
I read them lessons on honor  on morality  on virtue  Ask them  They
have got to walk straight  They are none of your unhappy wretches who
begin by having no family  and end by espousing the public  One is
Mamselle Nobody  and one becomes Madame Everybody  Deuce take it  None
of that in the Fabantou family  I mean to bring them up virtuously  and
they shall be honest  and nice  and believe in God  by the sacred name 
Well  sir  my worthy sir  do you know what is going to happen to morrow 
To morrow is the fourth day of February  the fatal day  the last day of
grace allowed me by my landlord  if by this evening I have not paid my
rent  to morrow my oldest daughter  my spouse with her fever  my child
with her wound   we shall all four be turned out of here and thrown into
the street  on the boulevard  without shelter  in the rain  in the snow 
There  sir  I owe for four quarters  a whole year  that is to say  sixty
francs  

Jondrette lied  Four quarters would have amounted to only forty francs 
and he could not owe four  because six months had not elapsed since
Marius had paid for two 

M  Leblanc drew five francs from his pocket and threw them on the table 

Jondrette found time to mutter in the ear of his eldest daughter   

 The scoundrel  What does he think I can do with his five francs 
That won t pay me for my chair and pane of glass  That s what comes of
incurring expenses  

In the meanwhile  M  Leblanc had removed the large brown great coat
which he wore over his blue coat  and had thrown it over the back of the
chair 

 Monsieur Fabantou   he said   these five francs are all that I have
about me  but I shall now take my daughter home  and I will return this
evening   it is this evening that you must pay  is it not  

Jondrette s face lighted up with a strange expression  He replied
vivaciously   

 Yes  respected sir  At eight o clock  I must be at my landlord s  

 I will be here at six  and I will fetch you the sixty francs  

 My benefactor   exclaimed Jondrette  overwhelmed  And he added  in a
low tone   Take a good look at him  wife  

M  Leblanc had taken the arm of the young girl  once more  and had
turned towards the door 

 Farewell until this evening  my friends   said he 

 Six o clock   said Jondrette 

 Six o clock precisely  

At that moment  the overcoat lying on the chair caught the eye of the
elder Jondrette girl 

 You are forgetting your coat  sir   said she 

Jondrette darted an annihilating look at his daughter  accompanied by a
formidable shrug of the shoulders 

M  Leblanc turned back and said  with a smile   

 I have not forgotten it  I am leaving it  

 O my protector   said Jondrette   my august benefactor  I melt into
tears  Permit me to accompany you to your carriage  

 If you come out   answered M  Leblanc   put on this coat  It really is
very cold  

Jondrette did not need to be told twice  He hastily donned the brown
great coat  And all three went out  Jondrette preceding the two
strangers 




CHAPTER X  TARIFF OF LICENSED CABS  TWO FRANCS AN HOUR

Marius had lost nothing of this entire scene  and yet  in reality  had
seen nothing  His eyes had remained fixed on the young girl  his heart
had  so to speak  seized her and wholly enveloped her from the moment of
her very first step in that garret  During her entire stay there  he
had lived that life of ecstasy which suspends material perceptions and
precipitates the whole soul on a single point  He contemplated  not that
girl  but that light which wore a satin pelisse and a velvet bonnet  The
star Sirius might have entered the room  and he would not have been any
more dazzled 

While the young girl was engaged in opening the package  unfolding the
clothing and the blankets  questioning the sick mother kindly  and the
little injured girl tenderly  he watched her every movement  he sought
to catch her words  He knew her eyes  her brow  her beauty  her form 
her walk  he did not know the sound of her voice  He had once fancied
that he had caught a few words at the Luxembourg  but he was not
absolutely sure of the fact  He would have given ten years of his life
to hear it  in order that he might bear away in his soul a little of
that music  But everything was drowned in the lamentable exclamations
and trumpet bursts of Jondrette  This added a touch of genuine wrath
to Marius  ecstasy  He devoured her with his eyes  He could not believe
that it really was that divine creature whom he saw in the midst of
those vile creatures in that monstrous lair  It seemed to him that he
beheld a humming bird in the midst of toads 

When she took her departure  he had but one thought  to follow her  to
cling to her trace  not to quit her until he learned where she
lived  not to lose her again  at least  after having so miraculously
re discovered her  He leaped down from the commode and seized his hat 
As he laid his hand on the lock of the door  and was on the point of
opening it  a sudden reflection caused him to pause  The corridor was
long  the staircase steep  Jondrette was talkative  M  Leblanc had 
no doubt  not yet regained his carriage  if  on turning round in the
corridor  or on the staircase  he were to catch sight of him  Marius 
in that house  he would  evidently  take the alarm  and find means to
escape from him again  and this time it would be final  What was he
to do  Should he wait a little  But while he was waiting  the carriage
might drive off  Marius was perplexed  At last he accepted the risk and
quitted his room 

There was no one in the corridor  He hastened to the stairs  There was
no one on the staircase  He descended in all haste  and reached the
boulevard in time to see a fiacre turning the corner of the Rue du
Petit Banquier  on its way back to Paris 

Marius rushed headlong in that direction  On arriving at the angle of
the boulevard  he caught sight of the fiacre again  rapidly descending
the Rue Mouffetard  the carriage was already a long way off  and there
was no means of overtaking it  what  run after it  Impossible  and
besides  the people in the carriage would assuredly notice an individual
running at full speed in pursuit of a fiacre  and the father would
recognize him  At that moment  wonderful and unprecedented good luck 
Marius perceived an empty cab passing along the boulevard  There was but
one thing to be done  to jump into this cab and follow the fiacre  That
was sure  efficacious  and free from danger 

Marius made the driver a sign to halt  and called to him   

 By the hour  

Marius wore no cravat  he had on his working coat  which was destitute
of buttons  his shirt was torn along one of the plaits on the bosom 

The driver halted  winked  and held out his left hand to Marius  rubbing
his forefinger gently with his thumb 

 What is it   said Marius 

 Pay in advance   said the coachman 

Marius recollected that he had but sixteen sous about him 

 How much   he demanded 

 Forty sous  

 I will pay on my return  

The driver s only reply was to whistle the air of La Palisse and to whip
up his horse 

Marius stared at the retreating cabriolet with a bewildered air  For the
lack of four and twenty sous  he was losing his joy  his happiness 
his love  He had seen  and he was becoming blind again  He reflected
bitterly  and it must be confessed  with profound regret  on the five
francs which he had bestowed  that very morning  on that miserable girl 
If he had had those five francs  he would have been saved  he would have
been born again  he would have emerged from the limbo and darkness  he
would have made his escape from isolation and spleen  from his widowed
state  he might have re knotted the black thread of his destiny to that
beautiful golden thread  which had just floated before his eyes and
had broken at the same instant  once more  He returned to his hovel in
despair 

He might have told himself that M  Leblanc had promised to return in
the evening  and that all he had to do was to set about the matter more
skilfully  so that he might follow him on that occasion  but  in his
contemplation  it is doubtful whether he had heard this 

As he was on the point of mounting the staircase  he perceived  on the
other side of the boulevard  near the deserted wall skirting the Rue De
la Barriere des Gobelins  Jondrette  wrapped in the  philanthropist s 
great coat  engaged in conversation with one of those men of disquieting
aspect who have been dubbed by common consent  prowlers of the barriers 
people of equivocal face  of suspicious monologues  who present the
air of having evil minds  and who generally sleep in the daytime  which
suggests the supposition that they work by night 

These two men  standing there motionless and in conversation  in the
snow which was falling in whirlwinds  formed a group that a policeman
would surely have observed  but which Marius hardly noticed 

Still  in spite of his mournful preoccupation  he could not refrain from
saying to himself that this prowler of the barriers with whom Jondrette
was talking resembled a certain Panchaud  alias Printanier  alias
Bigrenaille  whom Courfeyrac had once pointed out to him as a very
dangerous nocturnal roamer  This man s name the reader has learned in
the preceding book  This Panchaud  alias Printanier  alias Bigrenaille 
figured later on in many criminal trials  and became a notorious rascal 
He was at that time only a famous rascal  To day he exists in the state
of tradition among ruffians and assassins  He was at the head of
a school towards the end of the last reign  And in the evening  at
nightfall  at the hour when groups form and talk in whispers  he was
discussed at La Force in the Fosse aux Lions  One might even  in
that prison  precisely at the spot where the sewer which served the
unprecedented escape  in broad daylight  of thirty prisoners  in 1843 
passes under the culvert  read his name  PANCHAUD  audaciously carved
by his own hand on the wall of the sewer  during one of his attempts at
flight  In 1832  the police already had their eye on him  but he had not
as yet made a serious beginning 




CHAPTER XI  OFFERS OF SERVICE FROM MISERY TO WRETCHEDNESS

Marius ascended the stairs of the hovel with slow steps  at the moment
when he was about to re enter his cell  he caught sight of the elder
Jondrette girl following him through the corridor  The very sight of
this girl was odious to him  it was she who had his five francs  it was
too late to demand them back  the cab was no longer there  the fiacre
was far away  Moreover  she would not have given them back  As for
questioning her about the residence of the persons who had just been
there  that was useless  it was evident that she did not know  since the
letter signed Fabantou had been addressed  to the benevolent gentleman
of the church of Saint Jacquesdu Haut Pas  

Marius entered his room and pushed the door to after him 

It did not close  he turned round and beheld a hand which held the door
half open 

 What is it   he asked   who is there  

It was the Jondrette girl 

 Is it you   resumed Marius almost harshly   still you  What do you want
with me  

She appeared to be thoughtful and did not look at him  She no longer had
the air of assurance which had characterized her that morning  She did
not enter  but held back in the darkness of the corridor  where Marius
could see her through the half open door 

 Come now  will you answer   cried Marius   What do you want with me  

She raised her dull eyes  in which a sort of gleam seemed to flicker
vaguely  and said   

 Monsieur Marius  you look sad  What is the matter with you  

 With me   said Marius 

 Yes  you  

 There is nothing the matter with me  

 Yes  there is  

 No  

 I tell you there is  

 Let me alone  

Marius gave the door another push  but she retained her hold on it 

 Stop   said she   you are in the wrong  Although you are not rich  you
were kind this morning  Be so again now  You gave me something to eat 
now tell me what ails you  You are grieved  that is plain  I do not want
you to be grieved  What can be done for it  Can I be of any service 
Employ me  I do not ask for your secrets  you need not tell them to me 
but I may be of use  nevertheless  I may be able to help you  since I
help my father  When it is necessary to carry letters  to go to houses 
to inquire from door to door  to find out an address  to follow any one 
I am of service  Well  you may assuredly tell me what is the matter with
you  and I will go and speak to the persons  sometimes it is enough if
some one speaks to the persons  that suffices to let them understand
matters  and everything comes right  Make use of me  

An idea flashed across Marius  mind  What branch does one disdain when
one feels that one is falling 

He drew near to the Jondrette girl 

 Listen    he said to her 

She interrupted him with a gleam of joy in her eyes 

 Oh yes  do call me thou  I like that better  

 Well   he resumed   thou hast brought hither that old gentleman and his
daughter  

 Yes  

 Dost thou know their address  

 No  

 Find it for me  

The Jondrette s dull eyes had grown joyous  and they now became gloomy 

 Is that what you want   she demanded 

 Yes  

 Do you know them  

 No  

 That is to say   she resumed quickly   you do not know her  but you
wish to know her  

This them which had turned into her had something indescribably
significant and bitter about it 

 Well  can you do it   said Marius 

 You shall have the beautiful lady s address  

There was still a shade in the words  the beautiful lady  which troubled
Marius  He resumed   

 Never mind  after all  the address of the father and daughter  Their
address  indeed  

She gazed fixedly at him 

 What will you give me  

 Anything you like  

 Anything I like  

 Yes  

 You shall have the address  

She dropped her head  then  with a brusque movement  she pulled to the
door  which closed behind her 

Marius found himself alone 

He dropped into a chair  with his head and both elbows on his bed 
absorbed in thoughts which he could not grasp  and as though a prey to
vertigo  All that had taken place since the morning  the appearance of
the angel  her disappearance  what that creature had just said to him  a
gleam of hope floating in an immense despair   this was what filled his
brain confusedly 

All at once he was violently aroused from his revery 

He heard the shrill  hard voice of Jondrette utter these words  which
were fraught with a strange interest for him   

 I tell you that I am sure of it  and that I recognized him  

Of whom was Jondrette speaking  Whom had he recognized  M  Leblanc  The
father of  his Ursule   What  Did Jondrette know him  Was Marius about
to obtain in this abrupt and unexpected fashion all the information
without which his life was so dark to him  Was he about to learn at last
who it was that he loved  who that young girl was  Who her father
was  Was the dense shadow which enwrapped them on the point of being
dispelled  Was the veil about to be rent  Ah  Heavens 

He bounded rather than climbed upon his commode  and resumed his post
near the little peep hole in the partition wall 

Again he beheld the interior of Jondrette s hovel 




CHAPTER XII  THE USE MADE OF M  LEBLANC S FIVE FRANC PIECE

Nothing in the aspect of the family was altered  except that the wife
and daughters had levied on the package and put on woollen stockings and
jackets  Two new blankets were thrown across the two beds 

Jondrette had evidently just returned  He still had the breathlessness
of out of doors  His daughters were seated on the floor near the
fireplace  the elder engaged in dressing the younger s wounded hand  His
wife had sunk back on the bed near the fireplace  with a face indicative
of astonishment  Jondrette was pacing up and down the garret with long
strides  His eyes were extraordinary 

The woman  who seemed timid and overwhelmed with stupor in the presence
of her husband  turned to say   

 What  really  You are sure  

 Sure  Eight years have passed  But I recognize him  Ah  I recognize
him  I knew him at once  What  Didn t it force itself on you  

 No  

 But I told you   Pay attention   Why  it is his figure  it is his face 
only older   there are people who do not grow old  I don t know how they
manage it   it is the very sound of his voice  He is better dressed 
that is all  Ah  you mysterious old devil  I ve got you  that I have  

He paused  and said to his daughters   

 Get out of here  you   It s queer that it didn t strike you  

They arose to obey 

The mother stammered   

 With her injured hand  

 The air will do it good   said Jondrette   Be off  

It was plain that this man was of the sort to whom no one offers to
reply  The two girls departed 

At the moment when they were about to pass through the door  the father
detained the elder by the arm  and said to her with a peculiar accent   

 You will be here at five o clock precisely  Both of you  I shall need
you  

Marius redoubled his attention 

On being left alone with his wife  Jondrette began to pace the room
again  and made the tour of it two or three times in silence  Then he
spent several minutes in tucking the lower part of the woman s chemise
which he wore into his trousers 

All at once  he turned to the female Jondrette  folded his arms and
exclaimed   

 And would you like to have me tell you something  The young lady   

 Well  what   retorted his wife   the young lady  

Marius could not doubt that it was really she of whom they were
speaking  He listened with ardent anxiety  His whole life was in his
ears 

But Jondrette had bent over and spoke to his wife in a whisper  Then he
straightened himself up and concluded aloud   

 It is she  

 That one   said his wife 

 That very one   said the husband 

No expression can reproduce the significance of the mother s words 
Surprise  rage  hate  wrath  were mingled and combined in one monstrous
intonation  The pronunciation of a few words  the name  no doubt  which
her husband had whispered in her ear  had sufficed to rouse this huge 
somnolent woman  and from being repulsive she became terrible 

 It is not possible   she cried   When I think that my daughters are
going barefoot  and have not a gown to their backs  What  A satin
pelisse  a velvet bonnet  boots  and everything  more than two hundred
francs  worth of clothes  so that one would think she was a lady  No 
you are mistaken  Why  in the first place  the other was hideous  and
this one is not so bad looking  She really is not bad looking  It can t
be she  

 I tell you that it is she  You will see  

At this absolute assertion  the Jondrette woman raised her large  red 
blonde face and stared at the ceiling with a horrible expression 
At that moment  she seemed to Marius even more to be feared than her
husband  She was a sow with the look of a tigress 

 What   she resumed   that horrible  beautiful young lady  who gazed at
my daughters with an air of pity   she is that beggar brat  Oh  I should
like to kick her stomach in for her  

She sprang off of the bed  and remained standing for a moment  her
hair in disorder  her nostrils dilating  her mouth half open  her fists
clenched and drawn back  Then she fell back on the bed once more  The
man paced to and fro and paid no attention to his female 

After a silence lasting several minutes  he approached the female
Jondrette  and halted in front of her  with folded arms  as he had done
a moment before   

 And shall I tell you another thing  

 What is it   she asked 

He answered in a low  curt voice   

 My fortune is made  

The woman stared at him with the look that signifies   Is the person who
is addressing me on the point of going mad  

He went on   

 Thunder  It was not so very long ago that I was a parishioner of
the parish of
die of hunger if you have a fire  die of cold if you have bread  I have
had enough of misery  my share and other people s share  I am not joking
any longer  I don t find it comic any more  I ve had enough of puns 
good God  no more farces  Eternal Father  I want to eat till I am full 
I want to drink my fill  to gormandize  to sleep  to do nothing  I want
to have my turn  so I do  come now  before I die  I want to be a bit of
a millionnaire  

He took a turn round the hovel  and added   

 Like other people  

 What do you mean by that   asked the woman 

He shook his head  winked  screwed up one eye  and raised his voice like
a medical professor who is about to make a demonstration   

 What do I mean by that  Listen  

 Hush   muttered the woman   not so loud  These are matters which must
not be overheard  

 Bah  Who s here  Our neighbor  I saw him go out a little while ago 
Besides  he doesn t listen  the big booby  And I tell you that I saw him
go out  

Nevertheless  by a sort of instinct  Jondrette lowered his voice 
although not sufficiently to prevent Marius hearing his words  One
favorable circumstance  which enabled Marius not to lose a word of this
conversation was the falling snow which deadened the sound of vehicles
on the boulevard 

This is what Marius heard   

 Listen carefully  The Croesus is caught  or as good as caught  That s
all settled already  Everything is arranged  I have seen some people  He
will come here this evening at six o clock  To bring sixty francs  the
rascal  Did you notice how I played that game on him  my sixty francs 
my landlord  my fourth of February  I don t even owe for one quarter 
Isn t he a fool  So he will come at six o clock  That s the hour when
our neighbor goes to his dinner  Mother Bougon is off washing dishes in
the city  There s not a soul in the house  The neighbor never comes home
until eleven o clock  The children shall stand on watch  You shall help
us  He will give in  

 And what if he does not give in   demanded his wife 

Jondrette made a sinister gesture  and said   

 We ll fix him  

And he burst out laughing 

This was the first time Marius had seen him laugh  The laugh was cold
and sweet  and provoked a shudder 

Jondrette opened a cupboard near the fireplace  and drew from it an old
cap  which he placed on his head  after brushing it with his sleeve 

 Now   said he   I m going out  I have some more people that I must see 
Good ones  You ll see how well the whole thing will work  I shall be
away as short a time as possible  it s a fine stroke of business  do you
look after the house  

And with both fists thrust into the pockets of his trousers  he stood
for a moment in thought  then exclaimed   

 Do you know  it s mighty lucky  by the way  that he didn t recognize
me  If he had recognized me on his side  he would not have come back
again  He would have slipped through our fingers  It was my beard that
saved us  my romantic beard  my pretty little romantic beard  

And again he broke into a laugh 

He stepped to the window  The snow was still falling  and streaking the
gray of the sky 

 What beastly weather   said he 

Then lapping his overcoat across his breast   

 This rind is too large for me  Never mind   he added   he did a
devilish good thing in leaving it for me  the old scoundrel  If it
hadn t been for that  I couldn t have gone out  and everything would
have gone wrong  What small points things hang on  anyway  

And pulling his cap down over his eyes  he quitted the room 

He had barely had time to take half a dozen steps from the door  when
the door opened again  and his savage but intelligent face made its
appearance once more in the opening 

 I came near forgetting   said he   You are to have a brazier of
charcoal ready  

And he flung into his wife s apron the five franc piece which the
 philanthropist  had left with him 

 A brazier of charcoal   asked his wife 

 Yes  

 How many bushels  

 Two good ones  

 That will come to thirty sous  With the rest I will buy something for
dinner  

 The devil  no  

 Why  

 Don t go and spend the hundred sou piece  

 Why  

 Because I shall have to buy something  too  

 What  

 Something  

 How much shall you need  

 Whereabouts in the neighborhood is there an ironmonger s shop  

 Rue Mouffetard  

 Ah  yes  at the corner of a street  I can see the shop  

 But tell me how much you will need for what you have to purchase  

 Fifty sous  three francs  

 There won t be much left for dinner  

 Eating is not the point to day  There s something better to be done  

 That s enough  my jewel  

At this word from his wife  Jondrette closed the door again  and this
time  Marius heard his step die away in the corridor of the hovel  and
descend the staircase rapidly 

At that moment  one o clock struck from the church of Saint Medard 




CHAPTER XIII  SOLUS CUM SOLO  IN LOCO REMOTO  NON COGITABUNTUR ORARE
PATER NOSTER

Marius  dreamer as he was  was  as we have said  firm and energetic by
nature  His habits of solitary meditation  while they had developed in
him sympathy and compassion  had  perhaps  diminished the faculty for
irritation  but had left intact the power of waxing indignant  he had
the kindliness of a brahmin  and the severity of a judge  he took pity
upon a toad  but he crushed a viper  Now  it was into a hole of vipers
that his glance had just been directed  it was a nest of monsters that
he had beneath his eyes 

 These wretches must be stamped upon   said he 

Not one of the enigmas which he had hoped to see solved had been
elucidated  on the contrary  all of them had been rendered more dense 
if anything  he knew nothing more about the beautiful maiden of the
Luxembourg and the man whom he called M  Leblanc  except that Jondrette
was acquainted with them  Athwart the mysterious words which had been
uttered  the only thing of which he caught a distinct glimpse was the
fact that an ambush was in course of preparation  a dark but terrible
trap  that both of them were incurring great danger  she probably  her
father certainly  that they must be saved  that the hideous plots of the
Jondrettes must be thwarted  and the web of these spiders broken 

He scanned the female Jondrette for a moment  She had pulled an old
sheet iron stove from a corner  and she was rummaging among the old heap
of iron 

He descended from the commode as softly as possible  taking care not to
make the least noise  Amid his terror as to what was in preparation  and
in the horror with which the Jondrettes had inspired him  he experienced
a sort of joy at the idea that it might be granted to him perhaps to
render a service to the one whom he loved 

But how was it to be done  How warn the persons threatened  He did not
know their address  They had reappeared for an instant before his eyes 
and had then plunged back again into the immense depths of Paris  Should
he wait for M  Leblanc at the door that evening at six o clock  at the
moment of his arrival  and warn him of the trap  But Jondrette and his
men would see him on the watch  the spot was lonely  they were stronger
than he  they would devise means to seize him or to get him away  and
the man whom Marius was anxious to save would be lost  One o clock had
just struck  the trap was to be sprung at six  Marius had five hours
before him 

There was but one thing to be done 

He put on his decent coat  knotted a silk handkerchief round his neck 
took his hat  and went out  without making any more noise than if he had
been treading on moss with bare feet 

Moreover  the Jondrette woman continued to rummage among her old iron 

Once outside of the house  he made for the Rue du Petit Banquier 

He had almost reached the middle of this street  near a very low wall
which a man can easily step over at certain points  and which abuts on
a waste space  and was walking slowly  in consequence of his preoccupied
condition  and the snow deadened the sound of his steps  all at once he
heard voices talking very close by  He turned his head  the street was
deserted  there was not a soul in it  it was broad daylight  and yet he
distinctly heard voices 

It occurred to him to glance over the wall which he was skirting 

There  in fact  sat two men  flat on the snow  with their backs against
the wall  talking together in subdued tones 

These two persons were strangers to him  one was a bearded man in a
blouse  and the other a long haired individual in rags  The bearded man
had on a fez  the other s head was bare  and the snow had lodged in his
hair 

By thrusting his head over the wall  Marius could hear their remarks 

The hairy one jogged the other man s elbow and said   

   With the assistance of Patron Minette  it can t fail  

 Do you think so   said the bearded man 

And the long haired one began again   

 It s as good as a warrant for each one  of five hundred balls  and the
worst that can happen is five years  six years  ten years at the most  

The other replied with some hesitation  and shivering beneath his fez   

 That s a real thing  You can t go against such things  

 I tell you that the affair can t go wrong   resumed the long haired
man   Father What s his name s team will be already harnessed  

Then they began to discuss a melodrama that they had seen on the
preceding evening at the Gaite Theatre 

Marius went his way 

It seemed to him that the mysterious words of these men  so strangely
hidden behind that wall  and crouching in the snow  could not but bear
some relation to Jondrette s abominable projects  That must be the
affair 

He directed his course towards the faubourg Saint Marceau and asked at
the first shop he came to where he could find a commissary of police 

He was directed to Rue de Pontoise  No  14 

Thither Marius betook himself 

As he passed a baker s shop  he bought a two penny roll  and ate it 
foreseeing that he should not dine 

On the way  he rendered justice to Providence  He reflected that had he
not given his five francs to the Jondrette girl in the morning  he
would have followed M  Leblanc s fiacre  and consequently have remained
ignorant of everything  and that there would have been no obstacle to
the trap of the Jondrettes and that M  Leblanc would have been lost  and
his daughter with him  no doubt 




CHAPTER XIV  IN WHICH A POLICE AGENT BESTOWS TWO FISTFULS ON A LAWYER

On arriving at No  14  Rue de Pontoise  he ascended to the first floor
and inquired for the commissary of police 

 The commissary of police is not here   said a clerk   but there is an
inspector who takes his place  Would you like to speak to him  Are you
in haste  

 Yes   said Marius 

The clerk introduced him into the commissary s office  There stood a
tall man behind a grating  leaning against a stove  and holding up with
both hands the tails of a vast topcoat  with three collars  His face
was square  with a thin  firm mouth  thick  gray  and very ferocious
whiskers  and a look that was enough to turn your pockets inside out 
Of that glance it might have been well said  not that it penetrated  but
that it searched 

This man s air was not much less ferocious nor less terrible than
Jondrette s  the dog is  at times  no less terrible to meet than the
wolf 

 What do you want   he said to Marius  without adding  monsieur  

 Is this Monsieur le Commissaire de Police  

 He is absent  I am here in his stead  

 The matter is very private  

 Then speak  

 And great haste is required  

 Then speak quick  

This calm  abrupt man was both terrifying and reassuring at one and the
same time  He inspired fear and confidence  Marius related the adventure
to him  That a person with whom he was not acquainted otherwise than by
sight  was to be inveigled into a trap that very evening  that  as he
occupied the room adjoining the den  he  Marius Pontmercy  a lawyer 
had heard the whole plot through the partition  that the wretch who
had planned the trap was a certain Jondrette  that there would be
accomplices  probably some prowlers of the barriers  among others a
certain Panchaud  alias Printanier  alias Bigrenaille  that Jondrette s
daughters were to lie in wait  that there was no way of warning the
threatened man  since he did not even know his name  and that  finally 
all this was to be carried out at six o clock that evening  at the most
deserted point of the Boulevard de l Hopital  in house No  50 52 

At the sound of this number  the inspector raised his head  and said
coldly   

 So it is in the room at the end of the corridor  

 Precisely   answered Marius  and he added   Are you acquainted with
that house  

The inspector remained silent for a moment  then replied  as he warmed
the heel of his boot at the door of the stove   

 Apparently  

He went on  muttering between his teeth  and not addressing Marius so
much as his cravat   

 Patron Minette must have had a hand in this  

This word struck Marius 

 Patron Minette   said he   I did hear that word pronounced  in fact  

And he repeated to the inspector the dialogue between the long haired
man and the bearded man in the snow behind the wall of the Rue du
Petit Banquier 

The inspector muttered   

 The long haired man must be Brujon  and the bearded one Demi Liard 
alias Deux Milliards  

He had dropped his eyelids again  and became absorbed in thought 

 As for Father What s his name  I think I recognize him  Here  I ve
burned my coat  They always have too much fire in these cursed stoves 
Number 50 52  Former property of Gorbeau  

Then he glanced at Marius 

 You saw only that bearded and that long haired man  

 And Panchaud  

 You didn t see a little imp of a dandy prowling about the premises  

 No  

 Nor a big lump of matter  resembling an elephant in the Jardin des
Plantes  

 No  

 Nor a scamp with the air of an old red tail  

 No  

 As for the fourth  no one sees him  not even his adjutants  clerks  and
employees  It is not surprising that you did not see him  

 No  Who are all those persons   asked Marius 

The inspector answered   

 Besides  this is not the time for them  

He relapsed into silence  then resumed   

 50 52  I know that barrack  Impossible to conceal ourselves inside
it without the artists seeing us  and then they will get off simply
by countermanding the vaudeville  They are so modest  An audience
embarrasses them  None of that  none of that  I want to hear them sing
and make them dance  

This monologue concluded  he turned to Marius  and demanded  gazing at
him intently the while   

 Are you afraid  

 Of what   said Marius 

 Of these men  

 No more than yourself   retorted Marius rudely  who had begun to notice
that this police agent had not yet said  monsieur  to him 

The inspector stared still more intently at Marius  and continued with
sententious solemnity   

 There  you speak like a brave man  and like an honest man  Courage does
not fear crime  and honesty does not fear authority  

Marius interrupted him   

 That is well  but what do you intend to do  

The inspector contented himself with the remark   

 The lodgers have pass keys with which to get in at night  You must have
one  

 Yes   said Marius 

 Have you it about you  

 Yes  

 Give it to me   said the inspector 

Marius took his key from his waistcoat pocket  handed it to the
inspector and added   

 If you will take my advice  you will come in force  

The inspector cast on Marius such a glance as Voltaire might have
bestowed on a provincial academician who had suggested a rhyme to him 
with one movement he plunged his hands  which were enormous  into the
two immense pockets of his top coat  and pulled out two small steel
pistols  of the sort called  knock me downs   Then he presented them to
Marius  saying rapidly  in a curt tone   

 Take these  Go home  Hide in your chamber  so that you may be supposed
to have gone out  They are loaded  Each one carries two balls  You will
keep watch  there is a hole in the wall  as you have informed me  These
men will come  Leave them to their own devices for a time  When you
think matters have reached a crisis  and that it is time to put a stop
to them  fire a shot  Not too soon  The rest concerns me  A shot into
the ceiling  the air  no matter where  Above all things  not too soon 
Wait until they begin to put their project into execution  you are a
lawyer  you know the proper point   Marius took the pistols and put them
in the side pocket of his coat 

 That makes a lump that can be seen   said the inspector   Put them in
your trousers pocket  

Marius hid the pistols in his trousers pockets 

 Now   pursued the inspector   there is not a minute more to be lost by
any one  What time is it  Half past two  Seven o clock is the hour  

 Six o clock   answered Marius 

 I have plenty of time   said the inspector   but no more than enough 
Don t forget anything that I have said to you  Bang  A pistol shot  

 Rest easy   said Marius 

And as Marius laid his hand on the handle of the door on his way out 
the inspector called to him   

 By the way  if you have occasion for my services between now and then 
come or send here  You will ask for Inspector Javert  




CHAPTER XV  JONDRETTE MAKES HIS PURCHASES

A few moments later  about three o clock  Courfeyrac chanced to be
passing along the Rue Mouffetard in company with Bossuet  The snow had
redoubled in violence  and filled the air  Bossuet was just saying to
Courfeyrac   

 One would say  to see all these snow flakes fall  that there was a
plague of white butterflies in heaven   All at once  Bossuet caught
sight of Marius coming up the street towards the barrier with a peculiar
air 

 Hold   said Bossuet   There s Marius  

 I saw him   said Courfeyrac   Don t let s speak to him  

 Why  

 He is busy  

 With what  

 Don t you see his air  

 What air  

 He has the air of a man who is following some one  

 That s true   said Bossuet 

 Just see the eyes he is making   said Courfeyrac 

 But who the deuce is he following  

 Some fine  flowery bonneted wench  He s in love  

 But   observed Bossuet   I don t see any wench nor any flowery bonnet
in the street  There s not a woman round  

Courfeyrac took a survey  and exclaimed   

 He s following a man  

A man  in fact  wearing a gray cap  and whose gray beard could be
distinguished  although they only saw his back  was walking along about
twenty paces in advance of Marius 

This man was dressed in a great coat which was perfectly new and too
large for him  and in a frightful pair of trousers all hanging in rags
and black with mud 

Bossuet burst out laughing 

 Who is that man  

 He   retorted Courfeyrac   he s a poet  Poets are very fond of wearing
the trousers of dealers in rabbit skins and the overcoats of peers of
France  

 Let s see where Marius will go   said Bossuet   let s see where the man
is going  let s follow them  hey  

 Bossuet   exclaimed Courfeyrac   eagle of Meaux  You are a prodigious
brute  Follow a man who is following another man  indeed  

They retraced their steps 

Marius had  in fact  seen Jondrette passing along the Rue Mouffetard 
and was spying on his proceedings 

Jondrette walked straight ahead  without a suspicion that he was already
held by a glance 

He quitted the Rue Mouffetard  and Marius saw him enter one of the most
terrible hovels in the Rue Gracieuse  he remained there about a quarter
of an hour  then returned to the Rue Mouffetard  He halted at
an ironmonger s shop  which then stood at the corner of the Rue
Pierre Lombard  and a few minutes later Marius saw him emerge from the
shop  holding in his hand a huge cold chisel with a white wood handle 
which he concealed beneath his great coat  At the top of the Rue
Petit Gentilly he turned to the left and proceeded rapidly to the Rue du
Petit Banquier  The day was declining  the snow  which had ceased for a
moment  had just begun again  Marius posted himself on the watch at the
very corner of the Rue du Petit Banquier  which was deserted  as usual 
and did not follow Jondrette into it  It was lucky that he did so 
for  on arriving in the vicinity of the wall where Marius had heard the
long haired man and the bearded man conversing  Jondrette turned round 
made sure that no one was following him  did not see him  then sprang
across the wall and disappeared 

The waste land bordered by this wall communicated with the back yard of
an ex livery stable keeper of bad repute  who had failed and who still
kept a few old single seated berlins under his sheds 

Marius thought that it would be wise to profit by Jondrette s absence to
return home  moreover  it was growing late  every evening  Ma am Bougon
when she set out for her dish washing in town  had a habit of locking
the door  which was always closed at dusk  Marius had given his key to
the inspector of police  it was important  therefore  that he should
make haste 

Evening had arrived  night had almost closed in  on the horizon and in
the immensity of space  there remained but one spot illuminated by the
sun  and that was the moon 

It was rising in a ruddy glow behind the low dome of Salpetriere 

Marius returned to No  50 52 with great strides  The door was still open
when he arrived  He mounted the stairs on tip toe and glided along the
wall of the corridor to his chamber  This corridor  as the reader will
remember  was bordered on both sides by attics  all of which were  for
the moment  empty and to let  Ma am Bougon was in the habit of leaving
all the doors open  As he passed one of these attics  Marius thought
he perceived in the uninhabited cell the motionless heads of four men 
vaguely lighted up by a remnant of daylight  falling through a dormer
window 

Marius made no attempt to see  not wishing to be seen himself  He
succeeded in reaching his chamber without being seen and without making
any noise  It was high time  A moment later he heard Ma am Bougon take
her departure  locking the door of the house behind her 




CHAPTER XVI  IN WHICH WILL BE FOUND THE WORDS TO AN ENGLISH AIR WHICH
WAS IN FASHION IN 1832

Marius seated himself on his bed  It might have been half past five
o clock  Only half an hour separated him from what was about to happen 
He heard the beating of his arteries as one hears the ticking of a watch
in the dark  He thought of the double march which was going on at that
moment in the dark   crime advancing on one side  justice coming up on
the other  He was not afraid  but he could not think without a shudder
of what was about to take place  As is the case with all those who are
suddenly assailed by an unforeseen adventure  the entire day produced
upon him the effect of a dream  and in order to persuade himself that he
was not the prey of a nightmare  he had to feel the cold barrels of the
steel pistols in his trousers pockets 

It was no longer snowing  the moon disengaged itself more and more
clearly from the mist  and its light  mingled with the white reflection
of the snow which had fallen  communicated to the chamber a sort of
twilight aspect 

There was a light in the Jondrette den  Marius saw the hole in the wall
shining with a reddish glow which seemed bloody to him 

It was true that the light could not be produced by a candle  However 
there was not a sound in the Jondrette quarters  not a soul was moving
there  not a soul speaking  not a breath  the silence was glacial and
profound  and had it not been for that light  he might have thought
himself next door to a sepulchre 

Marius softly removed his boots and pushed them under his bed 

Several minutes elapsed  Marius heard the lower door turn on its hinges 
a heavy step mounted the staircase  and hastened along the corridor  the
latch of the hovel was noisily lifted  it was Jondrette returning 

Instantly  several voices arose  The whole family was in the garret 
Only  it had been silent in the master s absence  like wolf whelps in
the absence of the wolf 

 It s I   said he 

 Good evening  daddy   yelped the girls 

 Well   said the mother 

 All s going first rate   responded Jondrette   but my feet are beastly
cold  Good  You have dressed up  You have done well  You must inspire
confidence  

 All ready to go out  

 Don t forget what I told you  You will do everything sure  

 Rest easy  

 Because    said Jondrette  And he left the phrase unfinished 

Marius heard him lay something heavy on the table  probably the chisel
which he had purchased 

 By the way   said Jondrette   have you been eating here  

 Yes   said the mother   I got three large potatoes and some salt  I
took advantage of the fire to cook them  

 Good   returned Jondrette   To morrow I will take you out to dine with
me  We will have a duck and fixings  You shall dine like Charles the
Tenth  all is going well  

Then he added   

 The mouse trap is open  The cats are there  

He lowered his voice still further  and said   

 Put this in the fire  

Marius heard a sound of charcoal being knocked with the tongs or some
iron utensil  and Jondrette continued   

 Have you greased the hinges of the door so that they will not squeak  

 Yes   replied the mother 

 What time is it  

 Nearly six  The half hour struck from Saint Medard a while ago  

 The devil   ejaculated Jondrette   the children must go and watch  Come
you  do you listen here  

A whispering ensued 

Jondrette s voice became audible again   

 Has old Bougon left  

 Yes   said the mother 

 Are you sure that there is no one in our neighbor s room  

 He has not been in all day  and you know very well that this is his
dinner hour  

 You are sure  

 Sure  

 All the same   said Jondrette   there s no harm in going to see whether
he is there  Here  my girl  take the candle and go there  

Marius fell on his hands and knees and crawled silently under his bed 

Hardly had he concealed himself  when he perceived a light through the
crack of his door 

 P pa   cried a voice   he is not in here  

He recognized the voice of the eldest daughter 

 Did you go in   demanded her father 

 No   replied the girl   but as his key is in the door  he must be out  

The father exclaimed   

 Go in  nevertheless  

The door opened  and Marius saw the tall Jondrette come in with a candle
in her hand  She was as she had been in the morning  only still more
repulsive in this light 

She walked straight up to the bed  Marius endured an indescribable
moment of anxiety  but near the bed there was a mirror nailed to the
wall  and it was thither that she was directing her steps  She raised
herself on tiptoe and looked at herself in it  In the neighboring room 
the sound of iron articles being moved was audible 

She smoothed her hair with the palm of her hand  and smiled into the
mirror  humming with her cracked and sepulchral voice   

          Nos amours ont dure toute une semaine  28 
          Mais que du bonheur les instants sont courts 
          S adorer huit jours  c  etait bien la peine 
          Le temps des amours devait durer toujours 
          Devrait durer toujours  devrait durer toujours 


In the meantime  Marius trembled  It seemed impossible to him that she
should not hear his breathing 

She stepped to the window and looked out with the half foolish way she
had 

 How ugly Paris is when it has put on a white chemise   said she 

She returned to the mirror and began again to put on airs before it 
scrutinizing herself full face and three quarters face in turn 

 Well   cried her father   what are you about there  

 I am looking under the bed and the furniture   she replied  continuing
to arrange her hair   there s no one here  

 Booby   yelled her father   Come here this minute  And don t waste any
time about it  

 Coming  Coming   said she   One has no time for anything in this
hovel  

She hummed   

          Vous me quittez pour aller a la gloire  29 
          Mon triste coeur suivra partout 


She cast a parting glance in the mirror and went out  shutting the door
behind her 

A moment more  and Marius heard the sound of the two young girls  bare
feet in the corridor  and Jondrette s voice shouting to them   

 Pay strict heed  One on the side of the barrier  the other at the
corner of the Rue du Petit Banquier  Don t lose sight for a moment of
the door of this house  and the moment you see anything  rush here on
the instant  as hard as you can go  You have a key to get in  

The eldest girl grumbled   

 The idea of standing watch in the snow barefoot  

 To morrow you shall have some dainty little green silk boots   said the
father 

They ran down stairs  and a few seconds later the shock of the outer
door as it banged to announced that they were outside 

There now remained in the house only Marius  the Jondrettes and
probably  also  the mysterious persons of whom Marius had caught a
glimpse in the twilight  behind the door of the unused attic 




CHAPTER XVII  THE USE MADE OF MARIUS  FIVE FRANC PIECE

Marius decided that the moment had now arrived when he must resume his
post at his observatory  In a twinkling  and with the agility of his
age  he had reached the hole in the partition 

He looked 

The interior of the Jondrette apartment presented a curious aspect  and
Marius found an explanation of the singular light which he had noticed 
A candle was burning in a candlestick covered with verdigris  but
that was not what really lighted the chamber  The hovel was completely
illuminated  as it were  by the reflection from a rather large
sheet iron brazier standing in the fireplace  and filled with burning
charcoal  the brazier prepared by the Jondrette woman that morning  The
charcoal was glowing hot and the brazier was red  a blue flame flickered
over it  and helped him to make out the form of the chisel purchased by
Jondrette in the Rue Pierre Lombard  where it had been thrust into the
brazier to heat  In one corner  near the door  and as though prepared
for some definite use  two heaps were visible  which appeared to be  the
one a heap of old iron  the other a heap of ropes  All this would have
caused the mind of a person who knew nothing of what was in preparation 
to waver between a very sinister and a very simple idea  The lair thus
lighted up more resembled a forge than a mouth of hell  but Jondrette 
in this light  had rather the air of a demon than of a smith 

The heat of the brazier was so great  that the candle on the table was
melting on the side next the chafing dish  and was drooping over  An old
dark lantern of copper  worthy of Diogenes turned Cartouche  stood on
the chimney piece 

The brazier  placed in the fireplace itself  beside the nearly extinct
brands  sent its vapors up the chimney  and gave out no odor 

The moon  entering through the four panes of the window  cast its
whiteness into the crimson and flaming garret  and to the poetic spirit
of Marius  who was dreamy even in the moment of action  it was like a
thought of heaven mingled with the misshapen reveries of earth 

A breath of air which made its way in through the open pane  helped to
dissipate the smell of the charcoal and to conceal the presence of the
brazier 

The Jondrette lair was  if the reader recalls what we have said of the
Gorbeau building  admirably chosen to serve as the theatre of a violent
and sombre deed  and as the envelope for a crime  It was the most
retired chamber in the most isolated house on the most deserted
boulevard in Paris  If the system of ambush and traps had not already
existed  they would have been invented there 

The whole thickness of a house and a multitude of uninhabited rooms
separated this den from the boulevard  and the only window that existed
opened on waste lands enclosed with walls and palisades 

Jondrette had lighted his pipe  seated himself on the seatless chair 
and was engaged in smoking  His wife was talking to him in a low tone 

If Marius had been Courfeyrac  that is to say  one of those men who
laugh on every occasion in life  he would have burst with laughter when
his gaze fell on the Jondrette woman  She had on a black bonnet with
plumes not unlike the hats of the heralds at arms at the coronation of
Charles X   an immense tartan shawl over her knitted petticoat  and the
man s shoes which her daughter had scorned in the morning  It was this
toilette which had extracted from Jondrette the exclamation   Good  You
have dressed up  You have done well  You must inspire confidence  

As for Jondrette  he had not taken off the new surtout  which was too
large for him  and which M  Leblanc had given him  and his costume
continued to present that contrast of coat and trousers which
constituted the ideal of a poet in Courfeyrac s eyes 

All at once  Jondrette lifted up his voice   

 By the way  Now that I think of it  In this weather  he will come in a
carriage  Light the lantern  take it and go down stairs  You will stand
behind the lower door  The very moment that you hear the carriage stop 
you will open the door  instantly  he will come up  you will light the
staircase and the corridor  and when he enters here  you will go down
stairs again as speedily as possible  you will pay the coachman  and
dismiss the fiacre  

 And the money   inquired the woman 

Jondrette fumbled in his trousers pocket and handed her five francs 

 What s this   she exclaimed 

Jondrette replied with dignity   

 That is the monarch which our neighbor gave us this morning  

And he added   

 Do you know what  Two chairs will be needed here  

 What for  

 To sit on  

Marius felt a cold chill pass through his limbs at hearing this mild
answer from Jondrette 

 Pardieu  I ll go and get one of our neighbor s  

And with a rapid movement  she opened the door of the den  and went out
into the corridor 

Marius absolutely had not the time to descend from the commode  reach
his bed  and conceal himself beneath it 

 Take the candle   cried Jondrette 

 No   said she   it would embarrass me  I have the two chairs to carry 
There is moonlight  

Marius heard Mother Jondrette s heavy hand fumbling at his lock in the
dark  The door opened  He remained nailed to the spot with the shock and
with horror 

The Jondrette entered 

The dormer window permitted the entrance of a ray of moonlight between
two blocks of shadow  One of these blocks of shadow entirely covered the
wall against which Marius was leaning  so that he disappeared within it 

Mother Jondrette raised her eyes  did not see Marius  took the two
chairs  the only ones which Marius possessed  and went away  letting the
door fall heavily to behind her 

She re entered the lair 

 Here are the two chairs  

 And here is the lantern  Go down as quick as you can  

She hastily obeyed  and Jondrette was left alone 

He placed the two chairs on opposite sides of the table  turned the
chisel in the brazier  set in front of the fireplace an old screen which
masked the chafing dish  then went to the corner where lay the pile
of rope  and bent down as though to examine something  Marius then
recognized the fact  that what he had taken for a shapeless mass was a
very well made rope ladder  with wooden rungs and two hooks with which
to attach it 

This ladder  and some large tools  veritable masses of iron  which were
mingled with the old iron piled up behind the door  had not been in the
Jondrette hovel in the morning  and had evidently been brought thither
in the afternoon  during Marius  absence 

 Those are the utensils of an edge tool maker   thought Marius 

Had Marius been a little more learned in this line  he would have
recognized in what he took for the engines of an edge tool maker 
certain instruments which will force a lock or pick a lock  and others
which will cut or slice  the two families of tools which burglars call
cadets and fauchants 

The fireplace and the two chairs were exactly opposite Marius  The
brazier being concealed  the only light in the room was now furnished
by the candle  the smallest bit of crockery on the table or on the
chimney piece cast a large shadow  There was something indescribably
calm  threatening  and hideous about this chamber  One felt that there
existed in it the anticipation of something terrible 

Jondrette had allowed his pipe to go out  a serious sign of
preoccupation  and had again seated himself  The candle brought out the
fierce and the fine angles of his countenance  He indulged in scowls and
in abrupt unfoldings of the right hand  as though he were responding to
the last counsels of a sombre inward monologue  In the course of one of
these dark replies which he was making to himself  he pulled the table
drawer rapidly towards him  took out a long kitchen knife which was
concealed there  and tried the edge of its blade on his nail  That done 
he put the knife back in the drawer and shut it 

Marius  on his side  grasped the pistol in his right pocket  drew it out
and cocked it 

The pistol emitted a sharp  clear click  as he cocked it 

Jondrette started  half rose  listened a moment  then began to laugh and
said   

 What a fool I am  It s the partition cracking  

Marius kept the pistol in his hand 




CHAPTER XVIII  MARIUS  TWO CHAIRS FORM A VIS A VIS

Suddenly  the distant and melancholy vibration of a clock shook the
panes  Six o clock was striking from Saint Medard 

Jondrette marked off each stroke with a toss of his head  When the sixth
had struck  he snuffed the candle with his fingers 

Then he began to pace up and down the room  listened at the corridor 
walked on again  then listened once more 

 Provided only that he comes   he muttered  then he returned to his
chair 

He had hardly reseated himself when the door opened 

Mother Jondrette had opened it  and now remained in the corridor making
a horrible  amiable grimace  which one of the holes of the dark lantern
illuminated from below 

 Enter  sir   she said 

 Enter  my benefactor   repeated Jondrette  rising hastily 

M  Leblanc made his appearance 

He wore an air of serenity which rendered him singularly venerable 

He laid four louis on the table 

 Monsieur Fabantou   said he   this is for your rent and your most
pressing necessities  We will attend to the rest hereafter  

 May God requite it to you  my generous benefactor   said Jondrette 

And rapidly approaching his wife   

 Dismiss the carriage  

She slipped out while her husband was lavishing salutes and offering
M  Leblanc a chair  An instant later she returned and whispered in his
ear   

  Tis done  

The snow  which had not ceased falling since the morning  was so deep
that the arrival of the fiacre had not been audible  and they did not
now hear its departure 

Meanwhile  M  Leblanc had seated himself 

Jondrette had taken possession of the other chair  facing M  Leblanc 

Now  in order to form an idea of the scene which is to follow  let the
reader picture to himself in his own mind  a cold night  the solitudes
of the Salpetriere covered with snow and white as winding sheets in
the moonlight  the taper like lights of the street lanterns which shone
redly here and there along those tragic boulevards  and the long rows
of black elms  not a passer by for perhaps a quarter of a league around 
the Gorbeau hovel  at its highest pitch of silence  of horror  and of
darkness  in that building  in the midst of those solitudes  in the
midst of that darkness  the vast Jondrette garret lighted by a single
candle  and in that den two men seated at a table  M  Leblanc tranquil 
Jondrette smiling and alarming  the Jondrette woman  the female wolf 
in one corner  and  behind the partition  Marius  invisible  erect  not
losing a word  not missing a single movement  his eye on the watch  and
pistol in hand 

However  Marius experienced only an emotion of horror  but no fear  He
clasped the stock of the pistol firmly and felt reassured   I shall be
able to stop that wretch whenever I please   he thought 

He felt that the police were there somewhere in ambuscade  waiting for
the signal agreed upon and ready to stretch out their arm 

Moreover  he was in hopes  that this violent encounter between Jondrette
and M  Leblanc would cast some light on all the things which he was
interested in learning 




CHAPTER XIX  OCCUPYING ONE S SELF WITH OBSCURE DEPTHS

Hardly was M  Leblanc seated  when he turned his eyes towards the
pallets  which were empty 

 How is the poor little wounded girl   he inquired 

 Bad   replied Jondrette with a heart broken and grateful smile   very
bad  my worthy sir  Her elder sister has taken her to the Bourbe to
have her hurt dressed  You will see them presently  they will be back
immediately  

 Madame Fabantou seems to me to be better   went on M  Leblanc  casting
his eyes on the eccentric costume of the Jondrette woman  as she stood
between him and the door  as though already guarding the exit  and gazed
at him in an attitude of menace and almost of combat 

 She is dying   said Jondrette   But what do you expect  sir  She has so
much courage  that woman has  She s not a woman  she s an ox  

The Jondrette  touched by his compliment  deprecated it with the
affected airs of a flattered monster 

 You are always too good to me  Monsieur Jondrette  

 Jondrette   said M  Leblanc   I thought your name was Fabantou  

 Fabantou  alias Jondrette   replied the husband hurriedly   An artistic
sobriquet  

And launching at his wife a shrug of the shoulders which M  Leblanc did
not catch  he continued with an emphatic and caressing inflection of
voice   

 Ah  we have had a happy life together  this poor darling and I  What
would there be left for us if we had not that  We are so wretched  my
respectable sir  We have arms  but there is no work  We have the will 
no work  I don t know how the government arranges that  but  on my word
of honor  sir  I am not Jacobin  sir  I am not a bousingot  30  I don t
wish them any evil  but if I were the ministers  on my most sacred word 
things would be different  Here  for instance  I wanted to have my
girls taught the trade of paper box makers  You will say to me   What 
a trade   Yes  A trade  A simple trade  A bread winner  What a fall 
my benefactor  What a degradation  when one has been what we have been 
Alas  There is nothing left to us of our days of prosperity  One thing
only  a picture  of which I think a great deal  but which I am willing
to part with  for I must live  Item  one must live  

While Jondrette thus talked  with an apparent incoherence which
detracted nothing from the thoughtful and sagacious expression of his
physiognomy  Marius raised his eyes  and perceived at the other end of
the room a person whom he had not seen before  A man had just entered 
so softly that the door had not been heard to turn on its hinges  This
man wore a violet knitted vest  which was old  worn  spotted  cut and
gaping at every fold  wide trousers of cotton velvet  wooden shoes on
his feet  no shirt  had his neck bare  his bare arms tattooed  and his
face smeared with black  He had seated himself in silence on the nearest
bed  and  as he was behind Jondrette  he could only be indistinctly
seen 

That sort of magnetic instinct which turns aside the gaze  caused M 
Leblanc to turn round almost at the same moment as Marius  He could not
refrain from a gesture of surprise which did not escape Jondrette 

 Ah  I see   exclaimed Jondrette  buttoning up his coat with an air of
complaisance   you are looking at your overcoat  It fits me  My faith 
but it fits me  

 Who is that man   said M  Leblanc 

 Him   ejaculated Jondrette   he s a neighbor of mine  Don t pay any
attention to him  

The neighbor was a singular looking individual  However  manufactories
of chemical products abound in the Faubourg Saint Marceau  Many of the
workmen might have black faces  Besides this  M  Leblanc s whole person
was expressive of candid and intrepid confidence 

He went on   

 Excuse me  what were you saying  M  Fabantou  

 I was telling you  sir  and dear protector   replied Jondrette placing
his elbows on the table and contemplating M  Leblanc with steady and
tender eyes  not unlike the eyes of the boa constrictor   I was telling
you  that I have a picture to sell  

A slight sound came from the door  A second man had just entered and
seated himself on the bed  behind Jondrette 

Like the first  his arms were bare  and he had a mask of ink or
lampblack 

Although this man had  literally  glided into the room  he had not been
able to prevent M  Leblanc catching sight of him 

 Don t mind them   said Jondrette   they are people who belong in the
house  So I was saying  that there remains in my possession a valuable
picture  But stop  sir  take a look at it  

He rose  went to the wall at the foot of which stood the panel which we
have already mentioned  and turned it round  still leaving it supported
against the wall  It really was something which resembled a picture  and
which the candle illuminated  somewhat  Marius could make nothing out of
it  as Jondrette stood between the picture and him  he only saw a coarse
daub  and a sort of principal personage colored with the harsh crudity
of foreign canvasses and screen paintings 

 What is that   asked M  Leblanc 

Jondrette exclaimed   

 A painting by a master  a picture of great value  my benefactor  I am
as much attached to it as I am to my two daughters  it recalls souvenirs
to me  But I have told you  and I will not take it back  that I am so
wretched that I will part with it  

Either by chance  or because he had begun to feel a dawning uneasiness 
M  Leblanc s glance returned to the bottom of the room as he examined
the picture 

There were now four men  three seated on the bed  one standing near the
door post  all four with bare arms and motionless  with faces smeared
with black  One of those on the bed was leaning against the wall  with
closed eyes  and it might have been supposed that he was asleep  He
was old  his white hair contrasting with his blackened face produced a
horrible effect  The other two seemed to be young  one wore a beard  the
other wore his hair long  None of them had on shoes  those who did not
wear socks were barefooted 

Jondrette noticed that M  Leblanc s eye was fixed on these men 

 They are friends  They are neighbors   said he   Their faces are black
because they work in charcoal  They are chimney builders  Don t trouble
yourself about them  my benefactor  but buy my picture  Have pity on
my misery  I will not ask you much for it  How much do you think it is
worth  

 Well   said M  Leblanc  looking Jondrette full in the eye  and with the
manner of a man who is on his guard   it is some signboard for a tavern 
and is worth about three francs  

Jondrette replied sweetly   

 Have you your pocket book with you  I should be satisfied with a
thousand crowns  

M  Leblanc sprang up  placed his back against the wall  and cast a rapid
glance around the room  He had Jondrette on his left  on the side next
the window  and the Jondrette woman and the four men on his right  on
the side next the door  The four men did not stir  and did not even seem
to be looking on 

Jondrette had again begun to speak in a plaintive tone  with so vague
an eye  and so lamentable an intonation  that M  Leblanc might have
supposed that what he had before him was a man who had simply gone mad
with misery 

 If you do not buy my picture  my dear benefactor   said Jondrette   I
shall be left without resources  there will be nothing left for me but
to throw myself into the river  When I think that I wanted to have my
two girls taught the middle class paper box trade  the making of boxes
for New Year s gifts  Well  A table with a board at the end to keep the
glasses from falling off is required  then a special stove is needed  a
pot with three compartments for the different degrees of strength of
the paste  according as it is to be used for wood  paper  or stuff  a
paring knife to cut the cardboard  a mould to adjust it  a hammer to
nail the steels  pincers  how the devil do I know what all  And all that
in order to earn four sous a day  And you have to work fourteen hours a
day  And each box passes through the workwoman s hands thirteen times 
And you can t wet the paper  And you mustn t spot anything  And you must
keep the paste hot  The devil  I tell you  Four sous a day  How do you
suppose a man is to live  

As he spoke  Jondrette did not look at M  Leblanc  who was observing
him  M  Leblanc s eye was fixed on Jondrette  and Jondrette s eye was
fixed on the door  Marius  eager attention was transferred from one
to the other  M  Leblanc seemed to be asking himself   Is this man an
idiot   Jondrette repeated two or three distinct times  with all manner
of varying inflections of the whining and supplicating order   There
is nothing left for me but to throw myself into the river  I went down
three steps at the side of the bridge of Austerlitz the other day for
that purpose  

All at once his dull eyes lighted up with a hideous flash  the little
man drew himself up and became terrible  took a step toward M  Leblanc
and cried in a voice of thunder   That has nothing to do with the
question  Do you know me  




CHAPTER XX  THE TRAP

The door of the garret had just opened abruptly  and allowed a view of
three men clad in blue linen blouses  and masked with masks of black
paper  The first was thin  and had a long  iron tipped cudgel  the
second  who was a sort of colossus  carried  by the middle of the
handle  with the blade downward  a butcher s pole axe for slaughtering
cattle  The third  a man with thick set shoulders  not so slender as
the first  held in his hand an enormous key stolen from the door of some
prison 

It appeared that the arrival of these men was what Jondrette had been
waiting for  A rapid dialogue ensued between him and the man with the
cudgel  the thin one 

 Is everything ready   said Jondrette 

 Yes   replied the thin man 

 Where is Montparnasse  

 The young principal actor stopped to chat with your girl  

 Which  

 The eldest  

 Is there a carriage at the door  

 Yes  

 Is the team harnessed  

 Yes  

 With two good horses  

 Excellent  

 Is it waiting where I ordered  

 Yes  

 Good   said Jondrette 

M  Leblanc was very pale  He was scrutinizing everything around him in
the den  like a man who understands what he has fallen into  and his
head  directed in turn toward all the heads which surrounded him  moved
on his neck with an astonished and attentive slowness  but there
was nothing in his air which resembled fear  He had improvised
an intrenchment out of the table  and the man  who but an instant
previously  had borne merely the appearance of a kindly old man  had
suddenly become a sort of athlete  and placed his robust fist on the
back of his chair  with a formidable and surprising gesture 

This old man  who was so firm and so brave in the presence of such a
danger  seemed to possess one of those natures which are as courageous
as they are kind  both easily and simply  The father of a woman whom we
love is never a stranger to us  Marius felt proud of that unknown man 

Three of the men  of whom Jondrette had said   They are
chimney builders   had armed themselves from the pile of old iron  one
with a heavy pair of shears  the second with weighing tongs  the third
with a hammer  and had placed themselves across the entrance without
uttering a syllable  The old man had remained on the bed  and had merely
opened his eyes  The Jondrette woman had seated herself beside him 

Marius decided that in a few seconds more the moment for intervention
would arrive  and he raised his right hand towards the ceiling  in the
direction of the corridor  in readiness to discharge his pistol 

Jondrette having terminated his colloquy with the man with the cudgel 
turned once more to M  Leblanc  and repeated his question  accompanying
it with that low  repressed  and terrible laugh which was peculiar to
him   

 So you do not recognize me  

M  Leblanc looked him full in the face  and replied   

 No  

Then Jondrette advanced to the table  He leaned across the candle 
crossing his arms  putting his angular and ferocious jaw close to M 
Leblanc s calm face  and advancing as far as possible without forcing M 
Leblanc to retreat  and  in this posture of a wild beast who is about to
bite  he exclaimed   

 My name is not Fabantou  my name is not Jondrette  my name is
Thenardier  I am the inn keeper of Montfermeil  Do you understand 
Thenardier  Now do you know me  

An almost imperceptible flush crossed M  Leblanc s brow  and he replied
with a voice which neither trembled nor rose above its ordinary level 
with his accustomed placidity   

 No more than before  

Marius did not hear this reply  Any one who had seen him at that moment
through the darkness would have perceived that he was haggard 
stupid  thunder struck  At the moment when Jondrette said   My name is
Thenardier   Marius had trembled in every limb  and had leaned against
the wall  as though he felt the cold of a steel blade through his heart 
Then his right arm  all ready to discharge the signal shot  dropped
slowly  and at the moment when Jondrette repeated   Thenardier  do you
understand   Marius s faltering fingers had come near letting the pistol
fall  Jondrette  by revealing his identity  had not moved M  Leblanc 
but he had quite upset Marius  That name of Thenardier  with which M 
Leblanc did not seem to be acquainted  Marius knew well  Let the reader
recall what that name meant to him  That name he had worn on his heart 
inscribed in his father s testament  He bore it at the bottom of his
mind  in the depths of his memory  in that sacred injunction   A certain
Thenardier saved my life  If my son encounters him  he will do him all
the good that lies in his power   That name  it will be remembered 
was one of the pieties of his soul  he mingled it with the name of
his father in his worship  What  This man was that Thenardier  that
inn keeper of Montfermeil whom he had so long and so vainly sought  He
had found him at last  and how  His father s saviour was a ruffian 
That man  to whose service Marius was burning to devote himself  was
a monster  That liberator of Colonel Pontmercy was on the point
of committing a crime whose scope Marius did not  as yet  clearly
comprehend  but which resembled an assassination  And against whom 
great God  what a fatality  What a bitter mockery of fate  His father
had commanded him from the depths of his coffin to do all the good in
his power to this Thenardier  and for four years Marius had cherished
no other thought than to acquit this debt of his father s  and at the
moment when he was on the eve of having a brigand seized in the very
act of crime by justice  destiny cried to him   This is Thenardier  
He could at last repay this man for his father s life  saved amid a
hail storm of grape shot on the heroic field of Waterloo  and repay it
with the scaffold  He had sworn to himself that if ever he found that
Thenardier  he would address him only by throwing himself at his feet 
and now he actually had found him  but it was only to deliver him over
to the executioner  His father said to him   Succor Thenardier   And he
replied to that adored and sainted voice by crushing Thenardier  He was
about to offer to his father in his grave the spectacle of that man who
had torn him from death at the peril of his own life  executed on the
Place Saint Jacques through the means of his son  of that Marius to whom
he had entrusted that man by his will  And what a mockery to have so
long worn on his breast his father s last commands  written in his own
hand  only to act in so horribly contrary a sense  But  on the other
hand  now look on that trap and not prevent it  Condemn the victim and
to spare the assassin  Could one be held to any gratitude towards so
miserable a wretch  All the ideas which Marius had cherished for the
last four years were pierced through and through  as it were  by this
unforeseen blow 

He shuddered  Everything depended on him  Unknown to themselves  he
held in his hand all those beings who were moving about there before his
eyes  If he fired his pistol  M  Leblanc was saved  and Thenardier lost 
if he did not fire  M  Leblanc would be sacrificed  and  who knows 
Thenardier would escape  Should he dash down the one or allow the other
to fall  Remorse awaited him in either case 

What was he to do  What should he choose  Be false to the most imperious
souvenirs  to all those solemn vows to himself  to the most sacred duty 
to the most venerated text  Should he ignore his father s testament 
or allow the perpetration of a crime  On the one hand  it seemed to him
that he heard  his Ursule  supplicating for her father and on the other 
the colonel commending Thenardier to his care  He felt that he was going
mad  His knees gave way beneath him  And he had not even the time for
deliberation  so great was the fury with which the scene before his eyes
was hastening to its catastrophe  It was like a whirlwind of which he
had thought himself the master  and which was now sweeping him away  He
was on the verge of swooning 

In the meantime  Thenardier  whom we shall henceforth call by no other
name  was pacing up and down in front of the table in a sort of frenzy
and wild triumph 

He seized the candle in his fist  and set it on the chimney piece with
so violent a bang that the wick came near being extinguished  and the
tallow bespattered the wall 

Then he turned to M  Leblanc with a horrible look  and spit out these
words   

 Done for  Smoked brown  Cooked  Spitchcocked  

And again he began to march back and forth  in full eruption 

 Ah   he cried   so I ve found you again at last  Mister philanthropist 
Mister threadbare millionnaire  Mister giver of dolls  you old
ninny  Ah  so you don t recognize me  No  it wasn t you who came to
Montfermeil  to my inn  eight years ago  on Christmas eve  1823  It
wasn t you who carried off that Fantine s child from me  The Lark  It
wasn t you who had a yellow great coat  No  Nor a package of duds in
your hand  as you had this morning here  Say  wife  it seems to be his
mania to carry packets of woollen stockings into houses  Old charity
monger  get out with you  Are you a hosier  Mister millionnaire  You
give away your stock in trade to the poor  holy man  What bosh  merry
Andrew  Ah  and you don t recognize me  Well  I recognize you  that I
do  I recognized you the very moment you poked your snout in here  Ah 
you ll find out presently  that it isn t all roses to thrust yourself
in that fashion into people s houses  under the pretext that they are
taverns  in wretched clothes  with the air of a poor man  to whom one
would give a sou  to deceive persons  to play the generous  to take away
their means of livelihood  and to make threats in the woods  and you
can t call things quits because afterwards  when people are ruined  you
bring a coat that is too large  and two miserable hospital blankets  you
old blackguard  you child stealer  

He paused  and seemed to be talking to himself for a moment  One would
have said that his wrath had fallen into some hole  like the Rhone 
then  as though he were concluding aloud the things which he had been
saying to himself in a whisper  he smote the table with his fist  and
shouted   

 And with his goody goody air  

And  apostrophizing M  Leblanc   

 Parbleu  You made game of me in the past  You are the cause of all my
misfortunes  For fifteen hundred francs you got a girl whom I had  and
who certainly belonged to rich people  and who had already brought in a
great deal of money  and from whom I might have extracted enough to live
on all my life  A girl who would have made up to me for everything that
I lost in that vile cook shop  where there was nothing but one continual
row  and where  like a fool  I ate up my last farthing  Oh  I wish all
the wine folks drank in my house had been poison to those who drank it 
Well  never mind  Say  now  You must have thought me ridiculous when you
went off with the Lark  You had your cudgel in the forest  You were the
stronger  Revenge  I m the one to hold the trumps to day  You re in a
sorry case  my good fellow  Oh  but I can laugh  Really  I laugh  Didn t
he fall into the trap  I told him that I was an actor  that my name was
Fabantou  that I had played comedy with Mamselle Mars  with Mamselle
Muche  that my landlord insisted on being paid tomorrow  the 4th of
February  and he didn t even notice that the 8th of January  and not the
4th of February is the time when the quarter runs out  Absurd idiot 
And the four miserable Philippes which he has brought me  Scoundrel 
He hadn t the heart even to go as high as a hundred francs  And how
he swallowed my platitudes  That did amuse me  I said to myself 
 Blockhead  Come  I ve got you  I lick your paws this morning  but I ll
gnaw your heart this evening   

Thenardier paused  He was out of breath  His little  narrow chest panted
like a forge bellows  His eyes were full of the ignoble happiness of a
feeble  cruel  and cowardly creature  which finds that it can  at last 
harass what it has feared  and insult what it has flattered  the joy of
a dwarf who should be able to set his heel on the head of Goliath  the
joy of a jackal which is beginning to rend a sick bull  so nearly dead
that he can no longer defend himself  but sufficiently alive to suffer
still 

M  Leblanc did not interrupt him  but said to him when he paused   

 I do not know what you mean to say  You are mistaken in me  I am a very
poor man  and anything but a millionnaire  I do not know you  You are
mistaking me for some other person  

 Ah   roared Thenardier hoarsely   a pretty lie  You stick to that
pleasantry  do you  You re floundering  my old buck  Ah  You don t
remember  You don t see who I am  

 Excuse me  sir   said M  Leblanc with a politeness of accent  which at
that moment seemed peculiarly strange and powerful   I see that you are
a villain  

Who has not remarked the fact that odious creatures possess a
susceptibility of their own  that monsters are ticklish  At this word
 villain   the female Thenardier sprang from the bed  Thenardier grasped
his chair as though he were about to crush it in his hands   Don t you
stir   he shouted to his wife  and  turning to M  Leblanc   

 Villain  Yes  I know that you call us that  you rich gentlemen  Stop 
it s true that I became bankrupt  that I am in hiding  that I have no
bread  that I have not a single sou  that I am a villain  It s three
days since I have had anything to eat  so I m a villain  Ah  you folks
warm your feet  you have Sakoski boots  you have wadded great coats 
like archbishops  you lodge on the first floor in houses that have
porters  you eat truffles  you eat asparagus at forty francs the bunch
in the month of January  and green peas  you gorge yourselves  and when
you want to know whether it is cold  you look in the papers to see what
the engineer Chevalier s thermometer says about it  We  it is we who are
thermometers  We don t need to go out and look on the quay at the corner
of the Tour de l Horologe  to find out the number of degrees of cold 
we feel our blood congealing in our veins  and the ice forming round our
hearts  and we say   There is no God   And you come to our caverns  yes
our caverns  for the purpose of calling us villains  But we ll devour
you  But we ll devour you  poor little things  Just see here  Mister
millionnaire  I have been a solid man  I have held a license  I have
been an elector  I am a bourgeois  that I am  And it s quite possible
that you are not  

Here Thenardier took a step towards the men who stood near the door  and
added with a shudder   

 When I think that he has dared to come here and talk to me like a
cobbler  

Then addressing M  Leblanc with a fresh outburst of frenzy   

 And listen to this also  Mister philanthropist  I m not a suspicious
character  not a bit of it  I m not a man whose name nobody knows  and
who comes and abducts children from houses  I m an old French soldier 
I ought to have been decorated  I was at Waterloo  so I was  And in the
battle I saved a general called the Comte of I don t know what  He told
me his name  but his beastly voice was so weak that I didn t hear  All I
caught was Merci  thanks   I d rather have had his name than his thanks 
That would have helped me to find him again  The picture that you see
here  and which was painted by David at Bruqueselles   do you know what
it represents  It represents me  David wished to immortalize that
feat of prowess  I have that general on my back  and I am carrying him
through the grape shot  There s the history of it  That general never
did a single thing for me  he was no better than the rest  But none the
less  I saved his life at the risk of my own  and I have the certificate
of the fact in my pocket  I am a soldier of Waterloo  by all the furies 
And now that I have had the goodness to tell you all this  let s have an
end of it  I want money  I want a deal of money  I must have an enormous
lot of money  or I ll exterminate you  by the thunder of the good God  

Marius had regained some measure of control over his anguish  and was
listening  The last possibility of doubt had just vanished  It certainly
was the Thenardier of the will  Marius shuddered at that reproach of
ingratitude directed against his father  and which he was on the point
of so fatally justifying  His perplexity was redoubled 

Moreover  there was in all these words of Thenardier  in his accent  in
his gesture  in his glance which darted flames at every word  there
was  in this explosion of an evil nature disclosing everything  in that
mixture of braggadocio and abjectness  of pride and pettiness  of rage
and folly  in that chaos of real griefs and false sentiments  in
that immodesty of a malicious man tasting the voluptuous delights
of violence  in that shameless nudity of a repulsive soul  in that
conflagration of all sufferings combined with all hatreds  something
which was as hideous as evil  and as heart rending as the truth 

The picture of the master  the painting by David which he had proposed
that M  Leblanc should purchase  was nothing else  as the reader has
divined  than the sign of his tavern painted  as it will be remembered 
by himself  the only relic which he had preserved from his shipwreck at
Montfermeil 

As he had ceased to intercept Marius  visual ray  Marius could examine
this thing  and in the daub  he actually did recognize a battle  a
background of smoke  and a man carrying another man  It was the group
composed of Pontmercy and Thenardier  the sergeant the rescuer  the
colonel rescued  Marius was like a drunken man  this picture restored
his father to life in some sort  it was no longer the signboard of the
wine shop at Montfermeil  it was a resurrection  a tomb had yawned  a
phantom had risen there  Marius heard his heart beating in his temples 
he had the cannon of Waterloo in his ears  his bleeding father  vaguely
depicted on that sinister panel terrified him  and it seemed to him that
the misshapen spectre was gazing intently at him 

When Thenardier had recovered his breath  he turned his bloodshot eyes
on M  Leblanc  and said to him in a low  curt voice   

 What have you to say before we put the handcuffs on you  

M  Leblanc held his peace 

In the midst of this silence  a cracked voice launched this lugubrious
sarcasm from the corridor   

 If there s any wood to be split  I m there  

It was the man with the axe  who was growing merry 

At the same moment  an enormous  bristling  and clayey face made its
appearance at the door  with a hideous laugh which exhibited not teeth 
but fangs 

It was the face of the man with the butcher s axe 

 Why have you taken off your mask   cried Thenardier in a rage 

 For fun   retorted the man 

For the last few minutes M  Leblanc had appeared to be watching and
following all the movements of Thenardier  who  blinded and dazzled by
his own rage  was stalking to and fro in the den with full confidence
that the door was guarded  and of holding an unarmed man fast  he being
armed himself  of being nine against one  supposing that the female
Thenardier counted for but one man 

During his address to the man with the pole axe  he had turned his back
to M  Leblanc 

M  Leblanc seized this moment  overturned the chair with his foot and
the table with his fist  and with one bound  with prodigious agility 
before Thenardier had time to turn round  he had reached the window  To
open it  to scale the frame  to bestride it  was the work of a second
only  He was half out when six robust fists seized him and dragged
him back energetically into the hovel  These were the three
 chimney builders   who had flung themselves upon him  At the same time
the Thenardier woman had wound her hands in his hair 

At the trampling which ensued  the other ruffians rushed up from the
corridor  The old man on the bed  who seemed under the influence
of wine  descended from the pallet and came reeling up  with a
stone breaker s hammer in his hand 

One of the  chimney builders   whose smirched face was lighted up by
the candle  and in whom Marius recognized  in spite of his daubing 
Panchaud  alias Printanier  alias Bigrenaille  lifted above M  Leblanc s
head a sort of bludgeon made of two balls of lead  at the two ends of a
bar of iron 

Marius could not resist this sight   My father   he thought   forgive
me  

And his finger sought the trigger of his pistol 

The shot was on the point of being discharged when Thenardier s voice
shouted   

 Don t harm him  

This desperate attempt of the victim  far from exasperating Thenardier 
had calmed him  There existed in him two men  the ferocious man and
the adroit man  Up to that moment  in the excess of his triumph in the
presence of the prey which had been brought down  and which did not
stir  the ferocious man had prevailed  when the victim struggled and
tried to resist  the adroit man reappeared and took the upper hand 

 Don t hurt him   he repeated  and without suspecting it  his first
success was to arrest the pistol in the act of being discharged  and to
paralyze Marius  in whose opinion the urgency of the case disappeared 
and who  in the face of this new phase  saw no inconvenience in waiting
a while longer 

Who knows whether some chance would not arise which would deliver him
from the horrible alternative of allowing Ursule s father to perish  or
of destroying the colonel s saviour 

A herculean struggle had begun  With one blow full in the chest  M 
Leblanc had sent the old man tumbling  rolling in the middle of the
room  then with two backward sweeps of his hand he had overthrown two
more assailants  and he held one under each of his knees  the wretches
were rattling in the throat beneath this pressure as under a granite
millstone  but the other four had seized the formidable old man by both
arms and the back of his neck  and were holding him doubled up over the
two  chimney builders  on the floor 

Thus  the master of some and mastered by the rest  crushing those
beneath him and stifling under those on top of him  endeavoring in vain
to shake off all the efforts which were heaped upon him  M  Leblanc
disappeared under the horrible group of ruffians like the wild boar
beneath a howling pile of dogs and hounds 

They succeeded in overthrowing him upon the bed nearest the window  and
there they held him in awe  The Thenardier woman had not released her
clutch on his hair 

 Don t you mix yourself up in this affair   said Thenardier   You ll
tear your shawl  

The Thenardier obeyed  as the female wolf obeys the male wolf  with a
growl 

 Now   said Thenardier   search him  you other fellows  

M  Leblanc seemed to have renounced the idea of resistance 

They searched him 

He had nothing on his person except a leather purse containing six
francs  and his handkerchief 

Thenardier put the handkerchief into his own pocket 

 What  No pocket book   he demanded 

 No  nor watch   replied one of the  chimney builders  

 Never mind   murmured the masked man who carried the big key  in the
voice of a ventriloquist   he s a tough old fellow  

Thenardier went to the corner near the door  picked up a bundle of ropes
and threw them at the men 

 Tie him to the leg of the bed   said he 

And  catching sight of the old man who had been stretched across the
room by the blow from M  Leblanc s fist  and who made no movement  he
added   

 Is Boulatruelle dead  

 No   replied Bigrenaille   he s drunk  

 Sweep him into a corner   said Thenardier 

Two of the  chimney builders  pushed the drunken man into the corner
near the heap of old iron with their feet 

 Babet   said Thenardier in a low tone to the man with the cudgel   why
did you bring so many  they were not needed  

 What can you do   replied the man with the cudgel   they all wanted to
be in it  This is a bad season  There s no business going on  

The pallet on which M  Leblanc had been thrown was a sort of hospital
bed  elevated on four coarse wooden legs  roughly hewn 

M  Leblanc let them take their own course 

The ruffians bound him securely  in an upright attitude  with his feet
on the ground at the head of the bed  the end which was most remote from
the window  and nearest to the fireplace 

When the last knot had been tied  Thenardier took a chair and seated
himself almost facing M  Leblanc 

Thenardier no longer looked like himself  in the course of a few moments
his face had passed from unbridled violence to tranquil and cunning
sweetness 

Marius found it difficult to recognize in that polished smile of a man
in official life the almost bestial mouth which had been foaming but a
moment before  he gazed with amazement on that fantastic and alarming
metamorphosis  and he felt as a man might feel who should behold a tiger
converted into a lawyer 

 Monsieur    said Thenardier 

And dismissing with a gesture the ruffians who still kept their hands on
M  Leblanc   

 Stand off a little  and let me have a talk with the gentleman  

All retired towards the door 

He went on   

 Monsieur  you did wrong to try to jump out of the window  You might
have broken your leg  Now  if you will permit me  we will converse
quietly  In the first place  I must communicate to you an observation
which I have made which is  that you have not uttered the faintest cry  

Thenardier was right  this detail was correct  although it had escaped
Marius in his agitation  M  Leblanc had barely pronounced a few words 
without raising his voice  and even during his struggle with the six
ruffians near the window he had preserved the most profound and singular
silence 

Thenardier continued   

 Mon Dieu  You might have shouted  stop thief  a bit  and I should not
have thought it improper   Murder   That  too  is said occasionally 
and  so far as I am concerned  I should not have taken it in bad part 
It is very natural that you should make a little row when you find
yourself with persons who don t inspire you with sufficient confidence 
You might have done that  and no one would have troubled you on that
account  You would not even have been gagged  And I will tell you why 
This room is very private  That s its only recommendation  but it has
that in its favor  You might fire off a mortar and it would produce
about as much noise at the nearest police station as the snores of a
drunken man  Here a cannon would make a boum  and the thunder would make
a pouf  It s a handy lodging  But  in short  you did not shout  and
it is better so  I present you my compliments  and I will tell you the
conclusion that I draw from that fact  My dear sir  when a man shouts 
who comes  The police  And after the police  Justice  Well  You have not
made an outcry  that is because you don t care to have the police and
the courts come in any more than we do  It is because   I have long
suspected it   you have some interest in hiding something  On our side
we have the same interest  So we can come to an understanding  

As he spoke thus  it seemed as though Thenardier  who kept his eyes
fixed on M  Leblanc  were trying to plunge the sharp points which darted
from the pupils into the very conscience of his prisoner  Moreover  his
language  which was stamped with a sort of moderated  subdued insolence
and crafty insolence  was reserved and almost choice  and in that
rascal  who had been nothing but a robber a short time previously  one
now felt  the man who had studied for the priesthood  

The silence preserved by the prisoner  that precaution which had been
carried to the point of forgetting all anxiety for his own life  that
resistance opposed to the first impulse of nature  which is to utter
a cry  all this  it must be confessed  now that his attention had
been called to it  troubled Marius  and affected him with painful
astonishment 

Thenardier s well grounded observation still further obscured for Marius
the dense mystery which enveloped that grave and singular person on whom
Courfeyrac had bestowed the sobriquet of Monsieur Leblanc 

But whoever he was  bound with ropes  surrounded with executioners  half
plunged  so to speak  in a grave which was closing in upon him to the
extent of a degree with every moment that passed  in the presence
of Thenardier s wrath  as in the presence of his sweetness  this man
remained impassive  and Marius could not refrain from admiring at such a
moment the superbly melancholy visage 

Here  evidently  was a soul which was inaccessible to terror  and which
did not know the meaning of despair  Here was one of those men who
command amazement in desperate circumstances  Extreme as was the crisis 
inevitable as was the catastrophe  there was nothing here of the agony
of the drowning man  who opens his horror filled eyes under the water 

Thenardier rose in an unpretending manner  went to the fireplace  shoved
aside the screen  which he leaned against the neighboring pallet  and
thus unmasked the brazier full of glowing coals  in which the prisoner
could plainly see the chisel white hot and spotted here and there with
tiny scarlet stars 

Then Thenardier returned to his seat beside M  Leblanc 

 I continue   said he   We can come to an understanding  Let us arrange
this matter in an amicable way  I was wrong to lose my temper just now 
I don t know what I was thinking of  I went a great deal too far  I said
extravagant things  For example  because you are a millionnaire  I told
you that I exacted money  a lot of money  a deal of money  That would
not be reasonable  Mon Dieu  in spite of your riches  you have expenses
of your own  who has not  I don t want to ruin you  I am not a greedy
fellow  after all  I am not one of those people who  because they have
the advantage of the position  profit by the fact to make themselves
ridiculous  Why  I m taking things into consideration and making a
sacrifice on my side  I only want two hundred thousand francs  

M  Leblanc uttered not a word 

Thenardier went on   

 You see that I put not a little water in my wine  I m very moderate  I
don t know the state of your fortune  but I do know that you don t stick
at money  and a benevolent man like yourself can certainly give two
hundred thousand francs to the father of a family who is out of luck 
Certainly  you are reasonable  too  you haven t imagined that I should
take all the trouble I have to day and organized this affair this
evening  which has been labor well bestowed  in the opinion of these
gentlemen  merely to wind up by asking you for enough to go and drink
red wine at fifteen sous and eat veal at Desnoyer s  Two hundred
thousand francs  it s surely worth all that  This trifle once out of
your pocket  I guarantee you that that s the end of the matter  and that
you have no further demands to fear  You will say to me   But I haven t
two hundred thousand francs about me   Oh  I m not extortionate  I don t
demand that  I only ask one thing of you  Have the goodness to write
what I am about to dictate to you  

Here Thenardier paused  then he added  emphasizing his words  and
casting a smile in the direction of the brazier   

 I warn you that I shall not admit that you don t know how to write  

A grand inquisitor might have envied that smile 

Thenardier pushed the table close to M  Leblanc  and took an inkstand 
a pen  and a sheet of paper from the drawer which he left half open  and
in which gleamed the long blade of the knife 

He placed the sheet of paper before M  Leblanc 

 Write   said he 

The prisoner spoke at last 

 How do you expect me to write  I am bound  

 That s true  excuse me   ejaculated Thenardier   you are quite right  

And turning to Bigrenaille   

 Untie the gentleman s right arm  

Panchaud  alias Printanier  alias Bigrenaille  executed Thenardier s
order 

When the prisoner s right arm was free  Thenardier dipped the pen in the
ink and presented it to him 

 Understand thoroughly  sir  that you are in our power  at our
discretion  that no human power can get you out of this  and that we
shall be really grieved if we are forced to proceed to disagreeable
extremities  I know neither your name  nor your address  but I warn you 
that you will remain bound until the person charged with carrying the
letter which you are about to write shall have returned  Now  be so good
as to write  

 What   demanded the prisoner 

 I will dictate  

M  Leblanc took the pen 

Thenardier began to dictate   

 My daughter   

The prisoner shuddered  and raised his eyes to Thenardier 

 Put down  My dear daughter     said Thenardier 

M  Leblanc obeyed 

Thenardier continued   

 Come instantly   

He paused   

 You address her as thou  do you not  

 Who   asked M  Leblanc 

 Parbleu   cried Thenardier   the little one  the Lark  

M  Leblanc replied without the slightest apparent emotion   

 I do not know what you mean  

 Go on  nevertheless   ejaculated Thenardier  and he continued to
dictate   

 Come immediately  I am in absolute need of thee  The person who will
deliver this note to thee is instructed to conduct thee to me  I am
waiting for thee  Come with confidence  

M  Leblanc had written the whole of this 

Thenardier resumed   

 Ah  erase  come with confidence   that might lead her to suppose that
everything was not as it should be  and that distrust is possible  

M  Leblanc erased the three words 

 Now   pursued Thenardier   sign it  What s your name  

The prisoner laid down the pen and demanded   

 For whom is this letter  

 You know well   retorted Thenardier   for the little one I just told
you so  

It was evident that Thenardier avoided naming the young girl in
question  He said  the Lark   he said  the little one   but he did not
pronounce her name  the precaution of a clever man guarding his secret
from his accomplices  To mention the name was to deliver the whole
 affair  into their hands  and to tell them more about it than there was
any need of their knowing 

He went on   

 Sign  What is your name  

 Urbain Fabre   said the prisoner 

Thenardier  with the movement of a cat  dashed his hand into his pocket
and drew out the handkerchief which had been seized on M  Leblanc  He
looked for the mark on it  and held it close to the candle 

 U  F  That s it  Urbain Fabre  Well  sign it U  F  

The prisoner signed 

 As two hands are required to fold the letter  give it to me  I will
fold it  

That done  Thenardier resumed   

 Address it   Mademoiselle Fabre   at your house  I know that you live
a long distance from here  near Saint Jacquesdu Haut Pas  because you go
to mass there every day  but I don t know in what street  I see that
you understand your situation  As you have not lied about your name  you
will not lie about your address  Write it yourself  

The prisoner paused thoughtfully for a moment  then he took the pen and
wrote   

 Mademoiselle Fabre  at M  Urbain Fabre s  Rue Saint Dominique D Enfer 
No  17  

Thenardier seized the letter with a sort of feverish convulsion 

 Wife   he cried 

The Thenardier woman hastened to him 

 Here s the letter  You know what you have to do  There is a carriage at
the door  Set out at once  and return ditto  

And addressing the man with the meat axe   

 Since you have taken off your nose screen  accompany the mistress  You
will get up behind the fiacre  You know where you left the team  

 Yes   said the man 

And depositing his axe in a corner  he followed Madame Thenardier 

As they set off  Thenardier thrust his head through the half open door 
and shouted into the corridor   

 Above all things  don t lose the letter  remember that you carry two
hundred thousand francs with you  

The Thenardier s hoarse voice replied   

 Be easy  I have it in my bosom  

A minute had not elapsed  when the sound of the cracking of a whip was
heard  which rapidly retreated and died away 

 Good   growled Thenardier   They re going at a fine pace  At such a
gallop  the bourgeoise will be back inside three quarters of an hour  

He drew a chair close to the fireplace  folding his arms  and presenting
his muddy boots to the brazier 

 My feet are cold   said he 

Only five ruffians now remained in the den with Thenardier and the
prisoner 

These men  through the black masks or paste which covered their faces 
and made of them  at fear s pleasure  charcoal burners  negroes  or
demons  had a stupid and gloomy air  and it could be felt that they
perpetrated a crime like a bit of work  tranquilly  without either wrath
or mercy  with a sort of ennui  They were crowded together in one corner
like brutes  and remained silent 

Thenardier warmed his feet 

The prisoner had relapsed into his taciturnity  A sombre calm had
succeeded to the wild uproar which had filled the garret but a few
moments before 

The candle  on which a large  stranger  had formed  cast but a dim
light in the immense hovel  the brazier had grown dull  and all those
monstrous heads cast misshapen shadows on the walls and ceiling 

No sound was audible except the quiet breathing of the old drunken man 
who was fast asleep 

Marius waited in a state of anxiety that was augmented by every trifle 
The enigma was more impenetrable than ever 

Who was this  little one  whom Thenardier had called the Lark  Was she
his  Ursule   The prisoner had not seemed to be affected by that word 
 the Lark   and had replied in the most natural manner in the world 
 I do not know what you mean   On the other hand  the two letters U  F 
were explained  they meant Urbain Fabre  and Ursule was no longer named
Ursule  This was what Marius perceived most clearly of all 

A sort of horrible fascination held him nailed to his post  from which
he was observing and commanding this whole scene  There he stood 
almost incapable of movement or reflection  as though annihilated by the
abominable things viewed at such close quarters  He waited  in the hope
of some incident  no matter of what nature  since he could not collect
his thoughts and did not know upon what course to decide 

 In any case   he said   if she is the Lark  I shall see her  for the
Thenardier woman is to bring her hither  That will be the end  and then
I will give my life and my blood if necessary  but I will deliver her 
Nothing shall stop me  

Nearly half an hour passed in this manner  Thenardier seemed to be
absorbed in gloomy reflections  the prisoner did not stir  Still  Marius
fancied that at intervals  and for the last few moments  he had heard a
faint  dull noise in the direction of the prisoner 

All at once  Thenardier addressed the prisoner 

 By the way  Monsieur Fabre  I might as well say it to you at once  

These few words appeared to be the beginning of an explanation  Marius
strained his ears 

 My wife will be back shortly  don t get impatient  I think that the
Lark really is your daughter  and it seems to me quite natural that you
should keep her  Only  listen to me a bit  My wife will go and hunt her
up with your letter  I told my wife to dress herself in the way she did 
so that your young lady might make no difficulty about following her 
They will both enter the carriage with my comrade behind  Somewhere 
outside the barrier  there is a trap harnessed to two very good horses 
Your young lady will be taken to it  She will alight from the fiacre 
My comrade will enter the other vehicle with her  and my wife will come
back here to tell us   It s done   As for the young lady  no harm will
be done to her  the trap will conduct her to a place where she will be
quiet  and just as soon as you have handed over to me those little two
hundred thousand francs  she will be returned to you  If you have me
arrested  my comrade will give a turn of his thumb to the Lark  that s
all  

The prisoner uttered not a syllable  After a pause  Thenardier
continued   

 It s very simple  as you see  There ll be no harm done unless you wish
that there should be harm done  I m telling you how things stand  I warn
you so that you may be prepared  

He paused  the prisoner did not break the silence  and Thenardier
resumed   

 As soon as my wife returns and says to me   The Lark is on the way   we
will release you  and you will be free to go and sleep at home  You see
that our intentions are not evil  

Terrible images passed through Marius  mind  What  That young girl whom
they were abducting was not to be brought back  One of those monsters
was to bear her off into the darkness  Whither  And what if it were she 

It was clear that it was she  Marius felt his heart stop beating 

What was he to do  Discharge the pistol  Place all those scoundrels in
the hands of justice  But the horrible man with the meat axe would  none
the less  be out of reach with the young girl  and Marius reflected on
Thenardier s words  of which he perceived the bloody significance   If
you have me arrested  my comrade will give a turn of his thumb to the
Lark  

Now  it was not alone by the colonel s testament  it was by his own
love  it was by the peril of the one he loved  that he felt himself
restrained 

This frightful situation  which had already lasted above half an hour 
was changing its aspect every moment 

Marius had sufficient strength of mind to review in succession all the
most heart breaking conjectures  seeking hope and finding none 

The tumult of his thoughts contrasted with the funereal silence of the
den 

In the midst of this silence  the door at the bottom of the staircase
was heard to open and shut again 

The prisoner made a movement in his bonds 

 Here s the bourgeoise   said Thenardier 

He had hardly uttered the words  when the Thenardier woman did in fact
rush hastily into the room  red  panting  breathless  with flaming eyes 
and cried  as she smote her huge hands on her thighs simultaneously   

 False address  

The ruffian who had gone with her made his appearance behind her and
picked up his axe again 

She resumed   

 Nobody there  Rue Saint Dominique  No  17  no Monsieur Urbain Fabre 
They know not what it means  

She paused  choking  then went on   

 Monsieur Thenardier  That old fellow has duped you  You are too good 
you see  If it had been me  I d have chopped the beast in four quarters
to begin with  And if he had acted ugly  I d have boiled him alive  He
would have been obliged to speak  and say where the girl is  and where
he keeps his shiners  That s the way I should have managed matters 
People are perfectly right when they say that men are a deal stupider
than women  Nobody at No  17  It s nothing but a big carriage gate  No
Monsieur Fabre in the Rue Saint Dominique  And after all that racing
and fee to the coachman and all  I spoke to both the porter and the
portress  a fine  stout woman  and they know nothing about him  

Marius breathed freely once more 

She  Ursule or the Lark  he no longer knew what to call her  was safe 

While his exasperated wife vociferated  Thenardier had seated himself on
the table 

For several minutes he uttered not a word  but swung his right foot 
which hung down  and stared at the brazier with an air of savage revery 

Finally  he said to the prisoner  with a slow and singularly ferocious
tone 

 A false address  What did you expect to gain by that  

 To gain time   cried the prisoner in a thundering voice  and at the
same instant he shook off his bonds  they were cut  The prisoner was
only attached to the bed now by one leg 

Before the seven men had time to collect their senses and dash forward 
he had bent down into the fireplace  had stretched out his hand to the
brazier  and had then straightened himself up again  and now Thenardier 
the female Thenardier  and the ruffians  huddled in amazement at the
extremity of the hovel  stared at him in stupefaction  as almost free
and in a formidable attitude  he brandished above his head the red hot
chisel  which emitted a threatening glow 

The judicial examination to which the ambush in the Gorbeau house
eventually gave rise  established the fact that a large sou piece  cut
and worked in a peculiar fashion  was found in the garret  when the
police made their descent on it  This sou piece was one of those marvels
of industry  which are engendered by the patience of the galleys in
the shadows and for the shadows  marvels which are nothing else than
instruments of escape  These hideous and delicate products of wonderful
art are to jewellers  work what the metaphors of slang are to poetry 
There are Benvenuto Cellinis in the galleys  just as there are Villons
in language  The unhappy wretch who aspires to deliverance finds means
sometimes without tools  sometimes with a common wooden handled knife 
to saw a sou into two thin plates  to hollow out these plates without
affecting the coinage stamp  and to make a furrow on the edge of the sou
in such a manner that the plates will adhere again  This can be screwed
together and unscrewed at will  it is a box  In this box he hides a
watch spring  and this watch spring  properly handled  cuts good sized
chains and bars of iron  The unfortunate convict is supposed to possess
merely a sou  not at all  he possesses liberty  It was a large sou of
this sort which  during the subsequent search of the police  was found
under the bed near the window  They also found a tiny saw of blue steel
which would fit the sou 

It is probable that the prisoner had this sou piece on his person at the
moment when the ruffians searched him  that he contrived to conceal
it in his hand  and that afterward  having his right hand free  he
unscrewed it  and used it as a saw to cut the cords which fastened him 
which would explain the faint noise and almost imperceptible movements
which Marius had observed 

As he had not been able to bend down  for fear of betraying himself  he
had not cut the bonds of his left leg 

The ruffians had recovered from their first surprise 

 Be easy   said Bigrenaille to Thenardier   He still holds by one leg 
and he can t get away  I ll answer for that  I tied that paw for him  

In the meanwhile  the prisoner had begun to speak   

 You are wretches  but my life is not worth the trouble of defending it 
When you think that you can make me speak  that you can make me write
what I do not choose to write  that you can make me say what I do not
choose to say   

He stripped up his left sleeve  and added   

 See here  

At the same moment he extended his arm  and laid the glowing chisel
which he held in his left hand by its wooden handle on his bare flesh 

The crackling of the burning flesh became audible  and the odor peculiar
to chambers of torture filled the hovel 

 Illustration  Red Hot Chisel  3b8 20 red hot chisel 

Marius reeled in utter horror  the very ruffians shuddered  hardly a
muscle of the old man s face contracted  and while the red hot iron
sank into the smoking wound  impassive and almost august  he fixed on
Thenardier his beautiful glance  in which there was no hatred  and where
suffering vanished in serene majesty 

With grand and lofty natures  the revolts of the flesh and the senses
when subjected to physical suffering cause the soul to spring forth  and
make it appear on the brow  just as rebellions among the soldiery force
the captain to show himself 

 Wretches   said he   have no more fear of me than I have for you  

And  tearing the chisel from the wound  he hurled it through the window 
which had been left open  the horrible  glowing tool disappeared into
the night  whirling as it flew  and fell far away on the snow 

The prisoner resumed   

 Do what you please with me   He was disarmed 

 Seize him   said Thenardier 

Two of the ruffians laid their hands on his shoulder  and the masked
man with the ventriloquist s voice took up his station in front of him 
ready to smash his skull at the slightest movement 

At the same time  Marius heard below him  at the base of the partition 
but so near that he could not see who was speaking  this colloquy
conducted in a low tone   

 There is only one thing left to do  

 Cut his throat  

 That s it  

It was the husband and wife taking counsel together 

Thenardier walked slowly towards the table  opened the drawer  and
took out the knife  Marius fretted with the handle of his pistol 
Unprecedented perplexity  For the last hour he had had two voices in his
conscience  the one enjoining him to respect his father s testament  the
other crying to him to rescue the prisoner  These two voices continued
uninterruptedly that struggle which tormented him to agony  Up to that
moment he had cherished a vague hope that he should find some means
of reconciling these two duties  but nothing within the limits of
possibility had presented itself 

However  the peril was urgent  the last bounds of delay had been
reached  Thenardier was standing thoughtfully a few paces distant from
the prisoner 

Marius cast a wild glance about him  the last mechanical resource of
despair  All at once a shudder ran through him 

At his feet  on the table  a bright ray of light from the full moon
illuminated and seemed to point out to him a sheet of paper  On this
paper he read the following line written that very morning  in large
letters  by the eldest of the Thenardier girls   

 THE BOBBIES ARE HERE  

An idea  a flash  crossed Marius  mind  this was the expedient of which
he was in search  the solution of that frightful problem which was
torturing him  of sparing the assassin and saving the victim 

He knelt down on his commode  stretched out his arm  seized the sheet of
paper  softly detached a bit of plaster from the wall  wrapped the paper
round it  and tossed the whole through the crevice into the middle of
the den 

It was high time  Thenardier had conquered his last fears or his last
scruples  and was advancing on the prisoner 

 Something is falling   cried the Thenardier woman 

 What is it   asked her husband 

The woman darted forward and picked up the bit of plaster  She handed it
to her husband 

 Where did this come from   demanded Thenardier 

 Pardie   ejaculated his wife   where do you suppose it came from 
Through the window  of course  

 I saw it pass   said Bigrenaille 

Thenardier rapidly unfolded the paper and held it close to the candle 

 It s in Eponine s handwriting  The devil  

He made a sign to his wife  who hastily drew near  and showed her the
line written on the sheet of paper  then he added in a subdued voice   

 Quick  The ladder  Let s leave the bacon in the mousetrap and decamp  

 Without cutting that man s throat   asked  the Thenardier woman 

 We haven t the time  

 Through what   resumed Bigrenaille 

 Through the window   replied Thenardier   Since Ponine has thrown the
stone through the window  it indicates that the house is not watched on
that side  

The mask with the ventriloquist s voice deposited his huge key on the
floor  raised both arms in the air  and opened and clenched his fists 
three times rapidly without uttering a word 

This was the signal like the signal for clearing the decks for action on
board ship 

The ruffians who were holding the prisoner released him  in the
twinkling of an eye the rope ladder was unrolled outside the window  and
solidly fastened to the sill by the two iron hooks 

The prisoner paid no attention to what was going on around him  He
seemed to be dreaming or praying 

As soon as the ladder was arranged  Thenardier cried 

 Come  the bourgeoise first  

And he rushed headlong to the window 

But just as he was about to throw his leg over  Bigrenaille seized him
roughly by the collar 

 Not much  come now  you old dog  after us  

 After us   yelled the ruffians 

 You are children   said Thenardier   we are losing time  The police are
on our heels  

 Well   said the ruffians   let s draw lots to see who shall go down
first  

Thenardier exclaimed   

 Are you mad  Are you crazy  What a pack of boobies  You want to waste
time  do you  Draw lots  do you  By a wet finger  by a short straw  With
written names  Thrown into a hat    

 Would you like my hat   cried a voice on the threshold 

All wheeled round  It was Javert 

He had his hat in his hand  and was holding it out to them with a smile 




CHAPTER XXI  ONE SHOULD ALWAYS BEGIN BY ARRESTING THE VICTIMS

At nightfall  Javert had posted his men and had gone into ambush himself
between the trees of the Rue de la Barrieredes Gobelins which faced
the Gorbeau house  on the other side of the boulevard  He had begun
operations by opening  his pockets   and dropping into it the two young
girls who were charged with keeping a watch on the approaches to the
den  But he had only  caged  Azelma  As for Eponine  she was not at her
post  she had disappeared  and he had not been able to seize her  Then
Javert had made a point and had bent his ear to waiting for the signal
agreed upon  The comings and goings of the fiacres had greatly agitated
him  At last  he had grown impatient  and  sure that there was a nest
there  sure of being in  luck   having recognized many of the ruffians
who had entered  he had finally decided to go upstairs without waiting
for the pistol shot 

It will be remembered that he had Marius  pass key 

He had arrived just in the nick of time 

The terrified ruffians flung themselves on the arms which they had
abandoned in all the corners at the moment of flight  In less than a
second  these seven men  horrible to behold  had grouped themselves in
an attitude of defence  one with his meat axe  another with his key 
another with his bludgeon  the rest with shears  pincers  and hammers 
Thenardier had his knife in his fist  The Thenardier woman snatched up
an enormous paving stone which lay in the angle of the window and served
her daughters as an ottoman 

 Illustration  Snatched up a Paving Stone  3b8 21 paving stone 

Javert put on his hat again  and advanced a couple of paces into the
room  with arms folded  his cane under one arm  his sword in its sheath 

 Halt there   said he   You shall not go out by the window  you shall go
through the door  It s less unhealthy  There are seven of you  there
are fifteen of us  Don t let s fall to collaring each other like men of
Auvergne  

Bigrenaille drew out a pistol which he had kept concealed under his
blouse  and put it in Thenardier s hand  whispering in the latter s
ear   

 It s Javert  I don t dare fire at that man  Do you dare  

 Parbleu   replied Thenardier 

 Well  then  fire  

Thenardier took the pistol and aimed at Javert 

Javert  who was only three paces from him  stared intently at him and
contented himself with saying   

 Come now  don t fire  You ll miss fire  

Thenardier pulled the trigger  The pistol missed fire 

 Didn t I tell you so   ejaculated Javert 

Bigrenaille flung his bludgeon at Javert s feet 

 You re the emperor of the fiends  I surrender  

 And you   Javert asked the rest of the ruffians 

They replied   

 So do we  

Javert began again calmly   

 That s right  that s good  I said so  you are nice fellows  

 I only ask one thing   said Bigrenaille   and that is  that I may not
be denied tobacco while I am in confinement  

 Granted   said Javert 

And turning round and calling behind him   

 Come in now  

A squad of policemen  sword in hand  and agents armed with bludgeons and
cudgels  rushed in at Javert s summons  They pinioned the ruffians 

This throng of men  sparely lighted by the single candle  filled the den
with shadows 

 Handcuff them all   shouted Javert 

 Come on   cried a voice which was not the voice of a man  but of which
no one would ever have said   It is a woman s voice  

The Thenardier woman had entrenched herself in one of the angles of the
window  and it was she who had just given vent to this roar 

The policemen and agents recoiled 

She had thrown off her shawl  but retained her bonnet  her husband  who
was crouching behind her  was almost hidden under the discarded
shawl  and she was shielding him with her body  as she elevated the
paving stone above her head with the gesture of a giantess on the point
of hurling a rock 

 Beware   she shouted 

All crowded back towards the corridor  A broad open space was cleared in
the middle of the garret 

The Thenardier woman cast a glance at the ruffians who had allowed
themselves to be pinioned  and muttered in hoarse and guttural
accents   

 The cowards  

Javert smiled  and advanced across the open space which the Thenardier
was devouring with her eyes 

 Don t come near me   she cried   or I ll crush you  

 What a grenadier   ejaculated Javert   you ve got a beard like a man 
mother  but I have claws like a woman  

And he continued to advance 

The Thenardier  dishevelled and terrible  set her feet far apart  threw
herself backwards  and hurled the paving stone at Javert s head  Javert
ducked  the stone passed over him  struck the wall behind  knocked off a
huge piece of plastering  and  rebounding from angle to angle across the
hovel  now luckily almost empty  rested at Javert s feet 

At the same moment  Javert reached the Thenardier couple  One of his
big hands descended on the woman s shoulder  the other on the husband s
head 

 The handcuffs   he shouted 

The policemen trooped in in force  and in a few seconds Javert s order
had been executed 

The Thenardier female  overwhelmed  stared at her pinioned hands  and
at those of her husband  who had dropped to the floor  and exclaimed 
weeping   

 My daughters  

 They are in the jug   said Javert 

In the meanwhile  the agents had caught sight of the drunken man asleep
behind the door  and were shaking him   

He awoke  stammering   

 Is it all over  Jondrette  

 Yes   replied Javert 

The six pinioned ruffians were standing  and still preserved their
spectral mien  all three besmeared with black  all three masked 

 Keep on your masks   said Javert 

And passing them in review with a glance of a Frederick II  at a Potsdam
parade  he said to the three  chimney builders    

 Good day  Bigrenaille  good day  Brujon  good day  Deuxmilliards  

Then turning to the three masked men  he said to the man with the
meat axe   

 Good day  Gueulemer  

And to the man with the cudgel   

 Good day  Babet  

And to the ventriloquist   

 Your health  Claquesous  

At that moment  he caught sight of the ruffians  prisoner  who  ever
since the entrance of the police  had not uttered a word  and had held
his head down 

 Untie the gentleman   said Javert   and let no one go out  

That said  he seated himself with sovereign dignity before the table 
where the candle and the writing materials still remained  drew a
stamped paper from his pocket  and began to prepare his report 

When he had written the first lines  which are formulas that never vary 
he raised his eyes   

 Let the gentleman whom these gentlemen bound step forward  

The policemen glanced round them 

 Well   said Javert   where is he  

The prisoner of the ruffians  M  Leblanc  M  Urbain Fabre  the father of
Ursule or the Lark  had disappeared 

The door was guarded  but the window was not  As soon as he had found
himself released from his bonds  and while Javert was drawing up his
report  he had taken advantage of confusion  the crowd  the darkness 
and of a moment when the general attention was diverted from him  to
dash out of the window 

An agent sprang to the opening and looked out  He saw no one outside 

The rope ladder was still shaking 

 The devil   ejaculated Javert between his teeth   he must have been the
most valuable of the lot  




CHAPTER XXII  THE LITTLE ONE WHO WAS CRYING IN VOLUME TWO

On the day following that on which these events took place in the house
on the Boulevard de l Hopital  a child  who seemed to be coming from the
direction of the bridge of Austerlitz  was ascending the side alley on
the right in the direction of the Barriere de Fontainebleau 

Night had fully come 

This lad was pale  thin  clad in rags  with linen trousers in the month
of February  and was singing at the top of his voice 

At the corner of the Rue du Petit Banquier  a bent old woman was
rummaging in a heap of refuse by the light of a street lantern  the
child jostled her as he passed  then recoiled  exclaiming   

 Hello  And I took it for an enormous  enormous dog  

He pronounced the word enormous the second time with a jeering swell
of the voice which might be tolerably well represented by capitals   an
enormous  ENORMOUS dog  

The old woman straightened herself up in a fury 

 Nasty brat   she grumbled   If I hadn t been bending over  I know well
where I would have planted my foot on you  

The boy was already far away 

 Kisss  kisss   he cried   After that  I don t think I was mistaken  

The old woman  choking with indignation  now rose completely upright 
and the red gleam of the lantern fully lighted up her livid face  all
hollowed into angles and wrinkles  with crow s feet meeting the corners
of her mouth 

Her body was lost in the darkness  and only her head was visible  One
would have pronounced her a mask of Decrepitude carved out by a light
from the night 

The boy surveyed her 

 Madame   said he   does not possess that style of beauty which pleases
me  

He then pursued his road  and resumed his song   

                Le roi Coupdesabot
               S en allait a la chasse 
               A la chasse aux corbeaux   


At the end of these three lines he paused  He had arrived in front of
No  50 52  and finding the door fastened  he began to assault it with
resounding and heroic kicks  which betrayed rather the man s shoes that
he was wearing than the child s feet which he owned 

In the meanwhile  the very old woman whom he had encountered at the
corner of the Rue du Petit Banquier hastened up behind him  uttering
clamorous cries and indulging in lavish and exaggerated gestures 

 What s this  What s this  Lord God  He s battering the door down  He s
knocking the house down  

The kicks continued 

The old woman strained her lungs 

 Is that the way buildings are treated nowadays  

All at once she paused 

She had recognized the gamin 

 What  so it s that imp  

 Why  it s the old lady   said the lad   Good day  Bougonmuche  I have
come to see my ancestors  

The old woman retorted with a composite grimace  and a wonderful
improvisation of hatred taking advantage of feebleness and ugliness 
which was  unfortunately  wasted in the dark   

 There s no one here  

 Bah   retorted the boy   where s my father  

 At La Force  

 Come  now  And my mother  

 At Saint Lazare  

 Well  And my sisters  

 At the Madelonettes  

The lad scratched his head behind his ear  stared at Ma am Bougon  and
said   

 Ah  

Then he executed a pirouette on his heel  a moment later  the old woman 
who had remained on the door step  heard him singing in his clear  young
voice  as he plunged under the black elm trees  in the wintry wind   

                Le roi Coupdesabot 31 
               S en allait a la chasse 
               A la chasse aux corbeaux 
               Monte sur deux echasses 
               Quand on passait dessous 
               On lui payait deux sous  


 THE END OF VOLUME III   MARIUS  





VOLUME IV   SAINT DENIS 

 Illustration  Frontispiece Volume Four 

 Illustration  Titlepage Volume Four 


THE IDYL IN THE RUE PLUMET AND THE EPIC IN THE RUE SAINT DENIS




BOOK FIRST   A FEW PAGES OF HISTORY




CHAPTER I  WELL CUT

1831 and 1832  the two years which are immediately connected with the
Revolution of July  form one of the most peculiar and striking moments
of history  These two years rise like two mountains midway between those
which precede and those which follow them  They have a revolutionary
grandeur  Precipices are to be distinguished there  The social masses 
the very assizes of civilization  the solid group of superposed and
adhering interests  the century old profiles of the ancient French
formation  appear and disappear in them every instant  athwart the storm
clouds of systems  of passions  and of theories  These appearances
and disappearances have been designated as movement and resistance 
At intervals  truth  that daylight of the human soul  can be descried
shining there 

This remarkable epoch is decidedly circumscribed and is beginning to
be sufficiently distant from us to allow of our grasping the principal
lines even at the present day 

We shall make the attempt 

The Restoration had been one of those intermediate phases  hard to
define  in which there is fatigue  buzzing  murmurs  sleep  tumult 
and which are nothing else than the arrival of a great nation at a
halting place 

These epochs are peculiar and mislead the politicians who desire to
convert them to profit  In the beginning  the nation asks nothing but
repose  it thirsts for but one thing  peace  it has but one ambition 
to be small  Which is the translation of remaining tranquil  Of great
events  great hazards  great adventures  great men  thank God  we
have seen enough  we have them heaped higher than our heads  We would
exchange Caesar for Prusias  and Napoleon for the King of Yvetot   What
a good little king was he   We have marched since daybreak  we have
reached the evening of a long and toilsome day  we have made our first
change with Mirabeau  the second with Robespierre  the third with
Bonaparte  we are worn out  Each one demands a bed 

Devotion which is weary  heroism which has grown old  ambitions which
are sated  fortunes which are made  seek  demand  implore  solicit 
what  A shelter  They have it  They take possession of peace  of
tranquillity  of leisure  behold  they are content  But  at the same
time certain facts arise  compel recognition  and knock at the door in
their turn  These facts are the products of revolutions and wars  they
are  they exist  they have the right to install themselves in society 
and they do install themselves therein  and most of the time  facts
are the stewards of the household and fouriers 32  who do nothing but
prepare lodgings for principles 

This  then  is what appears to philosophical politicians   

At the same time that weary men demand repose  accomplished facts demand
guarantees  Guarantees are the same to facts that repose is to men 

This is what England demanded of the Stuarts after the Protector  this
is what France demanded of the Bourbons after the Empire 

These guarantees are a necessity of the times  They must be accorded 
Princes  grant  them  but in reality  it is the force of things which
gives them  A profound truth  and one useful to know  which the Stuarts
did not suspect in 1662 and which the Bourbons did not even obtain a
glimpse of in 1814 

The predestined family  which returned to France when Napoleon fell  had
the fatal simplicity to believe that it was itself which bestowed  and
that what it had bestowed it could take back again  that the House of
Bourbon possessed the right divine  that France possessed nothing  and
that the political right conceded in the charter of Louis XVIII  was
merely a branch of the right divine  was detached by the House of
Bourbon and graciously given to the people until such day as it should
please the King to reassume it  Still  the House of Bourbon should have
felt  from the displeasure created by the gift  that it did not come
from it 

This house was churlish to the nineteenth century  It put on an
ill tempered look at every development of the nation  To make use of a
trivial word  that is to say  of a popular and a true word  it looked
glum  The people saw this 

It thought it possessed strength because the Empire had been carried
away before it like a theatrical stage setting  It did not perceive that
it had  itself  been brought in in the same fashion  It did not perceive
that it also lay in that hand which had removed Napoleon 

It thought that it had roots  because it was the past  It was mistaken 
it formed a part of the past  but the whole past was France  The roots
of French society were not fixed in the Bourbons  but in the nations 
These obscure and lively roots constituted  not the right of a family 
but the history of a people  They were everywhere  except under the
throne 

The House of Bourbon was to France the illustrious and bleeding knot in
her history  but was no longer the principal element of her destiny 
and the necessary base of her politics  She could get along without the
Bourbons  she had done without them for two and twenty years  there
had been a break of continuity  they did not suspect the fact  And how
should they have suspected it  they who fancied that Louis XVII  reigned
on the 9th of Thermidor  and that Louis XVIII  was reigning at the
battle of Marengo  Never  since the origin of history  had princes been
so blind in the presence of facts and the portion of divine authority
which facts contain and promulgate  Never had that pretension here below
which is called the right of kings denied to such a point the right from
on high 

A capital error which led this family to lay its hand once more on the
guarantees  granted  in 1814  on the concessions  as it termed them 
Sad  A sad thing  What it termed its concessions were our conquests 
what it termed our encroachments were our rights 

When the hour seemed to it to have come  the Restoration  supposing
itself victorious over Bonaparte and well rooted in the country  that is
to say  believing itself to be strong and deep  abruptly decided on its
plan of action  and risked its stroke  One morning it drew itself up
before the face of France  and  elevating its voice  it contested the
collective title and the individual right of the nation to sovereignty 
of the citizen to liberty  In other words  it denied to the nation
that which made it a nation  and to the citizen that which made him a
citizen 

This is the foundation of those famous acts which are called the
ordinances of July  The Restoration fell 

It fell justly  But  we admit  it had not been absolutely hostile to
all forms of progress  Great things had been accomplished  with it
alongside 

Under the Restoration  the nation had grown accustomed to calm
discussion  which had been lacking under the Republic  and to grandeur
in peace  which had been wanting under the Empire  France free and
strong had offered an encouraging spectacle to the other peoples of
Europe  The Revolution had had the word under Robespierre  the cannon
had had the word under Bonaparte  it was under Louis XVIII  and Charles
X  that it was the turn of intelligence to have the word  The wind
ceased  the torch was lighted once more  On the lofty heights  the
pure light of mind could be seen flickering  A magnificent  useful  and
charming spectacle  For a space of fifteen years  those great principles
which are so old for the thinker  so new for the statesman  could be
seen at work in perfect peace  on the public square  equality before the
law  liberty of conscience  liberty of speech  liberty of the press  the
accessibility of all aptitudes to all functions  Thus it proceeded until
1830  The Bourbons were an instrument of civilization which broke in the
hands of Providence 

The fall of the Bourbons was full of grandeur  not on their side  but
on the side of the nation  They quitted the throne with gravity  but
without authority  their descent into the night was not one of those
solemn disappearances which leave a sombre emotion in history  it
was neither the spectral calm of Charles I   nor the eagle scream of
Napoleon  They departed  that is all  They laid down the crown  and
retained no aureole  They were worthy  but they were not august  They
lacked  in a certain measure  the majesty of their misfortune  Charles
X  during the voyage from Cherbourg  causing a round table to be cut
over into a square table  appeared to be more anxious about imperilled
etiquette than about the crumbling monarchy  This diminution saddened
devoted men who loved their persons  and serious men who honored their
race  The populace was admirable  The nation  attacked one morning with
weapons  by a sort of royal insurrection  felt itself in the possession
of so much force that it did not go into a rage  It defended itself 
restrained itself  restored things to their places  the government to
law  the Bourbons to exile  alas  and then halted  It took the old king
Charles X  from beneath that dais which had sheltered Louis XIV  and
set him gently on the ground  It touched the royal personages only with
sadness and precaution  It was not one man  it was not a few men  it
was France  France entire  France victorious and intoxicated with her
victory  who seemed to be coming to herself  and who put into practice 
before the eyes of the whole world  these grave words of Guillaume du
Vair after the day of the Barricades   

 It is easy for those who are accustomed to skim the favors of the
great  and to spring  like a bird from bough to bough  from an afflicted
fortune to a flourishing one  to show themselves harsh towards their
Prince in his adversity  but as for me  the fortune of my Kings and
especially of my afflicted Kings  will always be venerable to me  

The Bourbons carried away with them respect  but not regret  As we have
just stated  their misfortune was greater than they were  They faded out
in the horizon 

The Revolution of July instantly had friends and enemies throughout the
entire world  The first rushed toward her with joy and enthusiasm  the
others turned away  each according to his nature  At the first blush 
the princes of Europe  the owls of this dawn  shut their eyes  wounded
and stupefied  and only opened them to threaten  A fright which can be
comprehended  a wrath which can be pardoned  This strange revolution had
hardly produced a shock  it had not even paid to vanquished royalty the
honor of treating it as an enemy  and of shedding its blood  In the eyes
of despotic governments  who are always interested in having liberty
calumniate itself  the Revolution of July committed the fault of being
formidable and of remaining gentle  Nothing  however  was attempted or
plotted against it  The most discontented  the most irritated  the most
trembling  saluted it  whatever our egotism and our rancor may be  a
mysterious respect springs from events in which we are sensible of the
collaboration of some one who is working above man 

The Revolution of July is the triumph of right overthrowing the fact  A
thing which is full of splendor 

Right overthrowing the fact  Hence the brilliancy of the Revolution of
1830  hence  also  its mildness  Right triumphant has no need of being
violent 

Right is the just and the true 

The property of right is to remain eternally beautiful and pure  The
fact  even when most necessary to all appearances  even when most
thoroughly accepted by contemporaries  if it exist only as a fact  and
if it contain only too little of right  or none at all  is infallibly
destined to become  in the course of time  deformed  impure  perhaps 
even monstrous  If one desires to learn at one blow  to what degree of
hideousness the fact can attain  viewed at the distance of centuries 
let him look at Machiavelli  Machiavelli is not an evil genius  nor a
demon  nor a miserable and cowardly writer  he is nothing but the fact 
And he is not only the Italian fact  he is the European fact  the
fact of the sixteenth century  He seems hideous  and so he is  in the
presence of the moral idea of the nineteenth 

This conflict of right and fact has been going on ever since the origin
of society  To terminate this duel  to amalgamate the pure idea with the
humane reality  to cause right to penetrate pacifically into the fact
and the fact into right  that is the task of sages 




CHAPTER II  BADLY SEWED

But the task of sages is one thing  the task of clever men is another 
The Revolution of 1830 came to a sudden halt 

As soon as a revolution has made the coast  the skilful make haste to
prepare the shipwreck 

The skilful in our century have conferred on themselves the title of
Statesmen  so that this word  statesmen  has ended by becoming somewhat
of a slang word  It must be borne in mind  in fact  that wherever
there is nothing but skill  there is necessarily pettiness  To say  the
skilful  amounts to saying  the mediocre  

In the same way  to say  statesmen  is sometimes equivalent to saying
 traitors   If  then  we are to believe the skilful  revolutions like
the Revolution of July are severed arteries  a prompt ligature is
indispensable  The right  too grandly proclaimed  is shaken  Also  right
once firmly fixed  the state must be strengthened  Liberty once assured 
attention must be directed to power 

Here the sages are not  as yet  separated from the skilful  but they
begin to be distrustful  Power  very good  But  in the first place  what
is power  In the second  whence comes it  The skilful do not seem to
hear the murmured objection  and they continue their manoeuvres 

According to the politicians  who are ingenious in putting the mask
of necessity on profitable fictions  the first requirement of a people
after a revolution  when this people forms part of a monarchical
continent  is to procure for itself a dynasty  In this way  say they 
peace  that is to say  time to dress our wounds  and to repair
the house  can be had after a revolution  The dynasty conceals the
scaffolding and covers the ambulance  Now  it is not always easy to
procure a dynasty 

If it is absolutely necessary  the first man of genius or even the first
man of fortune who comes to hand suffices for the manufacturing of a
king  You have  in the first case  Napoleon  in the second  Iturbide 

But the first family that comes to hand does not suffice to make a
dynasty  There is necessarily required a certain modicum of antiquity in
a race  and the wrinkle of the centuries cannot be improvised 

If we place ourselves at the point of view of the  statesmen   after
making all allowances  of course  after a revolution  what are the
qualities of the king which result from it  He may be and it is useful
for him to be a revolutionary  that is to say  a participant in his own
person in that revolution  that he should have lent a hand to it  that
he should have either compromised or distinguished himself therein  that
he should have touched the axe or wielded the sword in it 

What are the qualities of a dynasty  It should be national  that is to
say  revolutionary at a distance  not through acts committed  but by
reason of ideas accepted  It should be composed of past and be historic 
be composed of future and be sympathetic 

All this explains why the early revolutions contented themselves with
finding a man  Cromwell or Napoleon  and why the second absolutely
insisted on finding a family  the House of Brunswick or the House of
Orleans 

Royal houses resemble those Indian fig trees  each branch of which 
bending over to the earth  takes root and becomes a fig tree itself 
Each branch may become a dynasty  On the sole condition that it shall
bend down to the people 

Such is the theory of the skilful 

Here  then  lies the great art  to make a little render to success the
sound of a catastrophe in order that those who profit by it may tremble
from it also  to season with fear every step that is taken  to augment
the curve of the transition to the point of retarding progress  to dull
that aurora  to denounce and retrench the harshness of enthusiasm  to
cut all angles and nails  to wad triumph  to muffle up right  to envelop
the giant people in flannel  and to put it to bed very speedily  to
impose a diet on that excess of health  to put Hercules on the treatment
of a convalescent  to dilute the event with the expedient  to offer to
spirits thirsting for the ideal that nectar thinned out with a potion 
to take one s precautions against too much success  to garnish the
revolution with a shade 

1830 practised this theory  already applied to England by 1688 

1830 is a revolution arrested midway  Half of progress  quasi right 
Now  logic knows not the  almost   absolutely as the sun knows not the
candle 

Who arrests revolutions half way  The bourgeoisie 

Why 

Because the bourgeoisie is interest which has reached satisfaction 
Yesterday it was appetite  to day it is plenitude  to morrow it will be
satiety 

The phenomenon of 1814 after Napoleon was reproduced in 1830 after
Charles X 

The attempt has been made  and wrongly  to make a class of the
bourgeoisie  The bourgeoisie is simply the contented portion of the
people  The bourgeois is the man who now has time to sit down  A chair
is not a caste 

But through a desire to sit down too soon  one may arrest the very march
of the human race  This has often been the fault of the bourgeoisie 

One is not a class because one has committed a fault  Selfishness is not
one of the divisions of the social order 

Moreover  we must be just to selfishness  The state to which that part
of the nation which is called the bourgeoisie aspired after the shock
of 1830 was not the inertia which is complicated with indifference and
laziness  and which contains a little shame  it was not the slumber
which presupposes a momentary forgetfulness accessible to dreams  it was
the halt 

The halt is a word formed of a singular double and almost contradictory
sense  a troop on the march  that is to say  movement  a stand  that is
to say  repose 

The halt is the restoration of forces  it is repose armed and on the
alert  it is the accomplished fact which posts sentinels and holds
itself on its guard 

The halt presupposes the combat of yesterday and the combat of
to morrow 

It is the partition between 1830 and 1848 

What we here call combat may also be designated as progress 

The bourgeoisie then  as well as the statesmen  required a man who
should express this word Halt  An Although Because  A composite
individuality  signifying revolution and signifying stability  in other
terms  strengthening the present by the evident compatibility of the
past with the future 

This man was  already found   His name was Louis Philippe d Orleans 

The 221 made Louis Philippe King  Lafayette undertook the coronation 

He called it the best of republics  The town hall of Paris took the
place of the Cathedral of Rheims 

This substitution of a half throne for a whole throne was  the work of
1830  

When the skilful had finished  the immense vice of their solution became
apparent  All this had been accomplished outside the bounds of absolute
right  Absolute right cried   I protest   then  terrible to say  it
retired into the darkness 




CHAPTER III  LOUIS PHILIPPE

Revolutions have a terrible arm and a happy hand  they strike firmly and
choose well  Even incomplete  even debased and abused and reduced to the
state of a junior revolution like the Revolution of 1830  they nearly
always retain sufficient providential lucidity to prevent them from
falling amiss  Their eclipse is never an abdication 

Nevertheless  let us not boast too loudly  revolutions also may be
deceived  and grave errors have been seen 

Let us return to 1830  1830  in its deviation  had good luck  In the
establishment which entitled itself order after the revolution had been
cut short  the King amounted to more than royalty  Louis Philippe was a
rare man 

The son of a father to whom history will accord certain attenuating
circumstances  but also as worthy of esteem as that father had been of
blame  possessing all private virtues and many public virtues  careful
of his health  of his fortune  of his person  of his affairs  knowing
the value of a minute and not always the value of a year  sober  serene 
peaceable  patient  a good man and a good prince  sleeping with his
wife  and having in his palace lackeys charged with the duty of showing
the conjugal bed to the bourgeois  an ostentation of the regular
sleeping apartment which had become useful after the former illegitimate
displays of the elder branch  knowing all the languages of Europe  and 
what is more rare  all the languages of all interests  and speaking
them  an admirable representative of the  middle class   but
outstripping it  and in every way greater than it  possessing excellent
sense  while appreciating the blood from which he had sprung  counting
most of all on his intrinsic worth  and  on the question of his race 
very particular  declaring himself Orleans and not Bourbon  thoroughly
the first Prince of the Blood Royal while he was still only a Serene
Highness  but a frank bourgeois from the day he became king  diffuse in
public  concise in private  reputed  but not proved to be a miser  at
bottom  one of those economists who are readily prodigal at their own
fancy or duty  lettered  but not very sensitive to letters  a gentleman 
but not a chevalier  simple  calm  and strong  adored by his family and
his household  a fascinating talker  an undeceived statesman  inwardly
cold  dominated by immediate interest  always governing at the shortest
range  incapable of rancor and of gratitude  making use without mercy of
superiority on mediocrity  clever in getting parliamentary majorities to
put in the wrong those mysterious unanimities which mutter dully under
thrones  unreserved  sometimes imprudent in his lack of reserve  but
with marvellous address in that imprudence  fertile in expedients  in
countenances  in masks  making France fear Europe and Europe France 
Incontestably fond of his country  but preferring his family  assuming
more domination than authority and more authority than dignity  a
disposition which has this unfortunate property  that as it turns
everything to success  it admits of ruse and does not absolutely
repudiate baseness  but which has this valuable side  that it preserves
politics from violent shocks  the state from fractures  and society
from catastrophes  minute  correct  vigilant  attentive  sagacious 
indefatigable  contradicting himself at times and giving himself the
lie  bold against Austria at Ancona  obstinate against England in Spain 
bombarding Antwerp  and paying off Pritchard  singing the Marseillaise
with conviction  inaccessible to despondency  to lassitude  to the taste
for the beautiful and the ideal  to daring generosity  to Utopia  to
chimeras  to wrath  to vanity  to fear  possessing all the forms
of personal intrepidity  a general at Valmy  a soldier at Jemappes 
attacked eight times by regicides and always smiling  Brave as a
grenadier  courageous as a thinker  uneasy only in the face of the
chances of a European shaking up  and unfitted for great political
adventures  always ready to risk his life  never his work  disguising
his will in influence  in order that he might be obeyed as an
intelligence rather than as a king  endowed with observation and not
with divination  not very attentive to minds  but knowing men  that is
to say requiring to see in order to judge  prompt and penetrating
good sense  practical wisdom  easy speech  prodigious memory  drawing
incessantly on this memory  his only point of resemblance with Caesar 
Alexander  and Napoleon  knowing deeds  facts  details  dates  proper
names  ignorant of tendencies  passions  the diverse geniuses of the
crowd  the interior aspirations  the hidden and obscure uprisings of
souls  in a word  all that can be designated as the invisible currents
of consciences  accepted by the surface  but little in accord with
France lower down  extricating himself by dint of tact  governing too
much and not enough  his own first minister  excellent at creating out
of the pettiness of realities an obstacle to the immensity of ideas 
mingling a genuine creative faculty of civilization  of order and
organization  an indescribable spirit of proceedings and chicanery  the
founder and lawyer of a dynasty  having something of Charlemagne and
something of an attorney  in short  a lofty and original figure  a
prince who understood how to create authority in spite of the uneasiness
of France  and power in spite of the jealousy of Europe  Louis Philippe
will be classed among the eminent men of his century  and would be
ranked among the most illustrious governors of history had he loved
glory but a little  and if he had had the sentiment of what is great to
the same degree as the feeling for what is useful 

Louis Philippe had been handsome  and in his old age he remained
graceful  not always approved by the nation  he always was so by the
masses  he pleased  He had that gift of charming  He lacked majesty  he
wore no crown  although a king  and no white hair  although an old man 
his manners belonged to the old regime and his habits to the new  a
mixture of the noble and the bourgeois which suited 1830  Louis Philippe
was transition reigning  he had preserved the ancient pronunciation
and the ancient orthography which he placed at the service of opinions
modern  he loved Poland and Hungary  but he wrote les Polonois  and he
pronounced les Hongrais  He wore the uniform of the national guard  like
Charles X   and the ribbon of the Legion of Honor  like Napoleon 

He went a little to chapel  not at all to the chase  never to the opera 
Incorruptible by sacristans  by whippers in  by ballet dancers  this
made a part of his bourgeois popularity  He had no heart  He went out
with his umbrella under his arm  and this umbrella long formed a part of
his aureole  He was a bit of a mason  a bit of a gardener  something
of a doctor  he bled a postilion who had tumbled from his horse  Louis
Philippe no more went about without his lancet  than did Henri IV 
without his poniard  The Royalists jeered at this ridiculous king  the
first who had ever shed blood with the object of healing 

For the grievances against Louis Philippe  there is one deduction to be
made  there is that which accuses royalty  that which accuses the reign 
that which accuses the King  three columns which all give different
totals  Democratic right confiscated  progress becomes a matter of
secondary interest  the protests of the street violently repressed 
military execution of insurrections  the rising passed over by arms  the
Rue Transnonain  the counsels of war  the absorption of the real
country by the legal country  on half shares with three hundred thousand
privileged persons   these are the deeds of royalty  Belgium refused 
Algeria too harshly conquered  and  as in the case of India by the
English  with more barbarism than civilization  the breach of faith  to
Abd el Kader  Blaye  Deutz bought  Pritchard paid   these are the doings
of the reign  the policy which was more domestic than national was the
doing of the King 

As will be seen  the proper deduction having been made  the King s
charge is decreased 

This is his great fault  he was modest in the name of France 

Whence arises this fault 

We will state it 

Louis Philippe was rather too much of a paternal king  that incubation
of a family with the object of founding a dynasty is afraid of
everything and does not like to be disturbed  hence excessive timidity 
which is displeasing to the people  who have the 14th of July in their
civil and Austerlitz in their military tradition 

Moreover  if we deduct the public duties which require to be fulfilled
first of all  that deep tenderness of Louis Philippe towards his
family was deserved by the family  That domestic group was worthy of
admiration  Virtues there dwelt side by side with talents  One of Louis
Philippe s daughters  Marie d Orleans  placed the name of her race among
artists  as Charles d Orleans had placed it among poets  She made of
her soul a marble which she named Jeanne d Arc  Two of Louis Philippe s
daughters elicited from Metternich this eulogium   They are young people
such as are rarely seen  and princes such as are never seen  

This  without any dissimulation  and also without any exaggeration  is
the truth about Louis Philippe 

To be Prince Equality  to bear in his own person the contradiction of
the Restoration and the Revolution  to have that disquieting side of the
revolutionary which becomes reassuring in governing power  therein lay
the fortune of Louis Philippe in 1830  never was there a more complete
adaptation of a man to an event  the one entered into the other  and the
incarnation took place  Louis Philippe is 1830 made man  Moreover  he
had in his favor that great recommendation to the throne  exile  He had
been proscribed  a wanderer  poor  He had lived by his own labor  In
Switzerland  this heir to the richest princely domains in France had
sold an old horse in order to obtain bread  At Reichenau  he gave
lessons in mathematics  while his sister Adelaide did wool work and
sewed  These souvenirs connected with a king rendered the bourgeoisie
enthusiastic  He had  with his own hands  demolished the iron cage of
Mont Saint Michel  built by Louis XI  and used by Louis XV  He was the
companion of Dumouriez  he was the friend of Lafayette  he had belonged
to the Jacobins  club  Mirabeau had slapped him on the shoulder  Danton
had said to him   Young man   At the age of four and twenty  in  93 
being then M  de Chartres  he had witnessed  from the depth of a box 
the trial of Louis XVI   so well named that poor tyrant  The blind
clairvoyance of the Revolution  breaking royalty in the King and the
King with royalty  did so almost without noticing the man in the fierce
crushing of the idea  the vast storm of the Assembly Tribunal  the
public wrath interrogating  Capet not knowing what to reply  the
alarming  stupefied vacillation by that royal head beneath that sombre
breath  the relative innocence of all in that catastrophe  of those
who condemned as well as of the man condemned   he had looked on those
things  he had contemplated that giddiness  he had seen the centuries
appear before the bar of the Assembly Convention  he had beheld  behind
Louis XVI   that unfortunate passer by who was made responsible  the
terrible culprit  the monarchy  rise through the shadows  and there had
lingered in his soul the respectful fear of these immense justices of
the populace  which are almost as impersonal as the justice of God 

The trace left in him by the Revolution was prodigious  Its memory was
like a living imprint of those great years  minute by minute  One day 
in the presence of a witness whom we are not permitted to doubt  he
rectified from memory the whole of the letter A in the alphabetical list
of the Constituent Assembly 

Louis Philippe was a king of the broad daylight  While he reigned the
press was free  the tribune was free  conscience and speech were free 
The laws of September are open to sight  Although fully aware of the
gnawing power of light on privileges  he left his throne exposed to the
light  History will do justice to him for this loyalty 

Louis Philippe  like all historical men who have passed from the scene 
is to day put on his trial by the human conscience  His case is  as yet 
only in the lower court 

The hour when history speaks with its free and venerable accent  has
not yet sounded for him  the moment has not come to pronounce a definite
judgment on this king  the austere and illustrious historian Louis Blanc
has himself recently softened his first verdict  Louis Philippe was
elected by those two almosts which are called the 221 and 1830  that is
to say  by a half Parliament  and a half revolution  and in any case 
from the superior point of view where philosophy must place itself  we
cannot judge him here  as the reader has seen above  except with certain
reservations in the name of the absolute democratic principle  in the
eyes of the absolute  outside these two rights  the right of man in the
first place  the right of the people in the second  all is usurpation 
but what we can say  even at the present day  that after making these
reserves is  that to sum up the whole  and in whatever manner he is
considered  Louis Philippe  taken in himself  and from the point of view
of human goodness  will remain  to use the antique language of ancient
history  one of the best princes who ever sat on a throne 

What is there against him  That throne  Take away Louis Philippe the
king  there remains the man  And the man is good  He is good at times
even to the point of being admirable  Often  in the midst of his gravest
souvenirs  after a day of conflict with the whole diplomacy of the
continent  he returned at night to his apartments  and there  exhausted
with fatigue  overwhelmed with sleep  what did he do  He took a death
sentence and passed the night in revising a criminal suit  considering
it something to hold his own against Europe  but that it was a still
greater matter to rescue a man from the executioner  He obstinately
maintained his opinion against his keeper of the seals  he disputed the
ground with the guillotine foot by foot against the crown attorneys 
those chatterers of the law  as he called them  Sometimes the pile of
sentences covered his table  he examined them all  it was anguish to
him to abandon these miserable  condemned heads  One day  he said to
the same witness to whom we have recently referred   I won seven last
night   During the early years of his reign  the death penalty was
as good as abolished  and the erection of a scaffold was a violence
committed against the King  The Greve having disappeared with the elder
branch  a bourgeois place of execution was instituted under the name
of the Barriere Saint Jacques   practical men  felt the necessity of
a quasi legitimate guillotine  and this was one of the victories of
Casimir Perier  who represented the narrow sides of the bourgeoisie 
over Louis Philippe  who represented its liberal sides  Louis Philippe
annotated Beccaria with his own hand  After the Fieschi machine  he
exclaimed   What a pity that I was not wounded  Then I might have
pardoned   On another occasion  alluding to the resistance offered by
his ministry  he wrote in connection with a political criminal  who is
one of the most generous figures of our day   His pardon is granted  it
only remains for me to obtain it   Louis Philippe was as gentle as Louis
IX  and as kindly as Henri IV 

Now  to our mind  in history  where kindness is the rarest of pearls 
the man who is kindly almost takes precedence of the man who is great 

Louis Philippe having been severely judged by some  harshly  perhaps  by
others  it is quite natural that a man  himself a phantom at the present
day  who knew that king  should come and testify in his favor before
history  this deposition  whatever else it may be  is evidently and
above all things  entirely disinterested  an epitaph penned by a dead
man is sincere  one shade may console another shade  the sharing of the
same shadows confers the right to praise it  it is not greatly to
be feared that it will ever be said of two tombs in exile   This one
flattered the other  




CHAPTER IV  CRACKS BENEATH THE FOUNDATION

At the moment when the drama which we are narrating is on the point of
penetrating into the depths of one of the tragic clouds which envelop
the beginning of Louis Philippe s reign  it was necessary that there
should be no equivoque  and it became requisite that this book should
offer some explanation with regard to this king 

Louis Philippe had entered into possession of his royal authority
without violence  without any direct action on his part  by virtue of a
revolutionary change  evidently quite distinct from the real aim of the
Revolution  but in which he  the Duc d Orleans  exercised no personal
initiative  He had been born a Prince  and he believed himself to have
been elected King  He had not served this mandate on himself  he had not
taken it  it had been offered to him  and he had accepted it  convinced 
wrongly  to be sure  but convinced nevertheless  that the offer was in
accordance with right and that the acceptance of it was in accordance
with duty  Hence his possession was in good faith  Now  we say it in
good conscience  Louis Philippe being in possession in perfect good
faith  and the democracy being in good faith in its attack  the amount
of terror discharged by the social conflicts weighs neither on the
King nor on the democracy  A clash of principles resembles a clash of
elements  The ocean defends the water  the hurricane defends the
air  the King defends Royalty  the democracy defends the people  the
relative  which is the monarchy  resists the absolute  which is the
republic  society bleeds in this conflict  but that which constitutes
its suffering to day will constitute its safety later on  and  in any
case  those who combat are not to be blamed  one of the two parties is
evidently mistaken  the right is not  like the Colossus of Rhodes  on
two shores at once  with one foot on the republic  and one in Royalty 
it is indivisible  and all on one side  but those who are in error are
so sincerely  a blind man is no more a criminal than a Vendean is a
ruffian  Let us  then  impute to the fatality of things alone these
formidable collisions  Whatever the nature of these tempests may be 
human irresponsibility is mingled with them 

Let us complete this exposition 

The government of 1840 led a hard life immediately  Born yesterday  it
was obliged to fight to day 

Hardly installed  it was already everywhere conscious of vague movements
of traction on the apparatus of July so recently laid  and so lacking in
solidity 

Resistance was born on the morrow  perhaps even  it was born on the
preceding evening  From month to month the hostility increased  and from
being concealed it became patent 

The Revolution of July  which gained but little acceptance outside of
France by kings  had been diversely interpreted in France  as we have
said 

God delivers over to men his visible will in events  an obscure text
written in a mysterious tongue  Men immediately make translations of it 
translations hasty  incorrect  full of errors  of gaps  and of nonsense 
Very few minds comprehend the divine language  The most sagacious  the
calmest  the most profound  decipher slowly  and when they arrive with
their text  the task has long been completed  there are already twenty
translations on the public place  From each remaining springs a party 
and from each misinterpretation a faction  and each party thinks that it
alone has the true text  and each faction thinks that it possesses the
light 

Power itself is often a faction 

There are  in revolutions  swimmers who go against the current  they are
the old parties 

For the old parties who clung to heredity by the grace of God  think
that revolutions  having sprung from the right to revolt  one has the
right to revolt against them  Error  For in these revolutions  the one
who revolts is not the people  it is the king  Revolution is precisely
the contrary of revolt  Every revolution  being a normal outcome 
contains within itself its legitimacy  which false revolutionists
sometimes dishonor  but which remains even when soiled  which survives
even when stained with blood 

Revolutions spring not from an accident  but from necessity  A
revolution is a return from the fictitious to the real  It is because it
must be that it is 

None the less did the old legitimist parties assail the Revolution of
1830 with all the vehemence which arises from false reasoning  Errors
make excellent projectiles  They strike it cleverly in its vulnerable
spot  in default of a cuirass  in its lack of logic  they attacked this
revolution in its royalty  They shouted to it   Revolution  why this
king   Factions are blind men who aim correctly 

This cry was uttered equally by the republicans  But coming from
them  this cry was logical  What was blindness in the legitimists was
clearness of vision in the democrats  1830 had bankrupted the people 
The enraged democracy reproached it with this 

Between the attack of the past and the attack of the future  the
establishment of July struggled  It represented the minute at
loggerheads on the one hand with the monarchical centuries  on the other
hand with eternal right 

In addition  and beside all this  as it was no longer revolution and had
become a monarchy  1830 was obliged to take precedence of all Europe  To
keep the peace  was an increase of complication  A harmony established
contrary to sense is often more onerous than a war  From this secret
conflict  always muzzled  but always growling  was born armed peace 
that ruinous expedient of civilization which in the harness of the
European cabinets is suspicious in itself  The Royalty of July reared
up  in spite of the fact that it caught it in the harness of European
cabinets  Metternich would gladly have put it in kicking straps  Pushed
on in France by progress  it pushed on the monarchies  those loiterers
in Europe  After having been towed  it undertook to tow 

Meanwhile  within her  pauperism  the proletariat  salary  education 
penal servitude  prostitution  the fate of the woman  wealth  misery 
production  consumption  division  exchange  coin  credit  the rights of
capital  the rights of labor   all these questions were multiplied above
society  a terrible slope 

Outside of political parties properly so called  another movement became
manifest  Philosophical fermentation replied to democratic fermentation 
The elect felt troubled as well as the masses  in another manner  but
quite as much 

Thinkers meditated  while the soil  that is to say  the people 
traversed by revolutionary currents  trembled under them with
indescribably vague epileptic shocks  These dreamers  some isolated 
others united in families and almost in communion  turned over social
questions in a pacific but profound manner  impassive miners  who
tranquilly pushed their galleries into the depths of a volcano  hardly
disturbed by the dull commotion and the furnaces of which they caught
glimpses 

This tranquillity was not the least beautiful spectacle of this agitated
epoch 

These men left to political parties the question of rights  they
occupied themselves with the question of happiness 

The well being of man  that was what they wanted to extract from
society 

They raised material questions  questions of agriculture  of industry 
of commerce  almost to the dignity of a religion  In civilization  such
as it has formed itself  a little by the command of God  a great deal by
the agency of man  interests combine  unite  and amalgamate in a
manner to form a veritable hard rock  in accordance with a dynamic law 
patiently studied by economists  those geologists of politics  These men
who grouped themselves under different appellations  but who may all be
designated by the generic title of socialists  endeavored to pierce that
rock and to cause it to spout forth the living waters of human felicity 

From the question of the scaffold to the question of war  their works
embraced everything  To the rights of man  as proclaimed by the French
Revolution  they added the rights of woman and the rights of the child 

The reader will not be surprised if  for various reasons  we do not
here treat in a thorough manner  from the theoretical point of view  the
questions raised by socialism  We confine ourselves to indicating them 

All the problems that the socialists proposed to themselves  cosmogonic
visions  revery and mysticism being cast aside  can be reduced to two
principal problems 

First problem  To produce wealth 

Second problem  To share it 

The first problem contains the question of work 

The second contains the question of salary 

In the first problem the employment of forces is in question 

In the second  the distribution of enjoyment 

From the proper employment of forces results public power 

From a good distribution of enjoyments results individual happiness 

By a good distribution  not an equal but an equitable distribution must
be understood 

From these two things combined  the public power without  individual
happiness within  results social prosperity 

Social prosperity means the man happy  the citizen free  the nation
great 

England solves the first of these two problems  She creates wealth
admirably  she divides it badly  This solution which is complete on
one side only leads her fatally to two extremes  monstrous opulence 
monstrous wretchedness  All enjoyments for some  all privations for the
rest  that is to say  for the people  privilege  exception  monopoly 
feudalism  born from toil itself  A false and dangerous situation  which
sates public power or private misery  which sets the roots of the State
in the sufferings of the individual  A badly constituted grandeur in
which are combined all the material elements and into which no moral
element enters 

Communism and agrarian law think that they solve the second problem 
They are mistaken  Their division kills production  Equal partition
abolishes emulation  and consequently labor  It is a partition made
by the butcher  which kills that which it divides  It is therefore
impossible to pause over these pretended solutions  Slaying wealth is
not the same thing as dividing it 

The two problems require to be solved together  to be well solved  The
two problems must be combined and made but one 

Solve only the first of the two problems  you will be Venice  you will
be England  You will have  like Venice  an artificial power  or  like
England  a material power  you will be the wicked rich man  You will die
by an act of violence  as Venice died  or by bankruptcy  as England
will fall  And the world will allow to die and fall all that is merely
selfishness  all that does not represent for the human race either a
virtue or an idea 

It is well understood here  that by the words Venice  England  we
designate not the peoples  but social structures  the oligarchies
superposed on nations  and not the nations themselves  The nations
always have our respect and our sympathy  Venice  as a people  will live
again  England  the aristocracy  will fall  but England  the nation  is
immortal  That said  we continue 

Solve the two problems  encourage the wealthy  and protect the poor 
suppress misery  put an end to the unjust farming out of the feeble by
the strong  put a bridle on the iniquitous jealousy of the man who
is making his way against the man who has reached the goal  adjust 
mathematically and fraternally  salary to labor  mingle gratuitous and
compulsory education with the growth of childhood  and make of science
the base of manliness  develop minds while keeping arms busy  be at one
and the same time a powerful people and a family of happy men  render
property democratic  not by abolishing it  but by making it universal 
so that every citizen  without exception  may be a proprietor  an easier
matter than is generally supposed  in two words  learn how to produce
wealth and how to distribute it  and you will have at once moral and
material greatness  and you will be worthy to call yourself France 

This is what socialism said outside and above a few sects which have
gone astray  that is what it sought in facts  that is what it sketched
out in minds 

Efforts worthy of admiration  Sacred attempts 

These doctrines  these theories  these resistances  the unforeseen
necessity for the statesman to take philosophers into account  confused
evidences of which we catch a glimpse  a new system of politics to be
created  which shall be in accord with the old world without too much
disaccord with the new revolutionary ideal  a situation in which it
became necessary to use Lafayette to defend Polignac  the intuition of
progress transparent beneath the revolt  the chambers and streets  the
competitions to be brought into equilibrium around him  his faith in
the Revolution  perhaps an eventual indefinable resignation born of the
vague acceptance of a superior definitive right  his desire to remain of
his race  his domestic spirit  his sincere respect for the people  his
own honesty  preoccupied Louis Philippe almost painfully  and there were
moments when strong and courageous as he was  he was overwhelmed by the
difficulties of being a king 

He felt under his feet a formidable disaggregation  which was not 
nevertheless  a reduction to dust  France being more France than ever 

Piles of shadows covered the horizon  A strange shade  gradually drawing
nearer  extended little by little over men  over things  over ideas 
a shade which came from wraths and systems  Everything which had been
hastily stifled was moving and fermenting  At times the conscience of
the honest man resumed its breathing  so great was the discomfort
of that air in which sophisms were intermingled with truths  Spirits
trembled in the social anxiety like leaves at the approach of a storm 
The electric tension was such that at certain instants  the first comer 
a stranger  brought light  Then the twilight obscurity closed in again 
At intervals  deep and dull mutterings allowed a judgment to be formed
as to the quantity of thunder contained by the cloud 

Twenty months had barely elapsed since the Revolution of July  the year
1832 had opened with an aspect of something impending and threatening 

The distress of the people  the laborers without bread  the last Prince
de Conde engulfed in the shadows  Brussels expelling the Nassaus as
Paris did the Bourbons  Belgium offering herself to a French Prince
and giving herself to an English Prince  the Russian hatred of Nicolas 
behind us the demons of the South  Ferdinand in Spain  Miguel in
Portugal  the earth quaking in Italy  Metternich extending his hand over
Bologna  France treating Austria sharply at Ancona  at the North no one
knew what sinister sound of the hammer nailing up Poland in her coffin 
irritated glances watching France narrowly all over Europe  England  a
suspected ally  ready to give a push to that which was tottering and to
hurl herself on that which should fall  the peerage sheltering itself
behind Beccaria to refuse four heads to the law  the fleurs de lys
erased from the King s carriage  the cross torn from Notre Dame 
Lafayette lessened  Laffitte ruined  Benjamin Constant dead in
indigence  Casimir Perier dead in the exhaustion of his power  political
and social malady breaking out simultaneously in the two capitals of the
kingdom  the one in the city of thought  the other in the city of toil 
at Paris civil war  at Lyons servile war  in the two cities  the same
glare of the furnace  a crater like crimson on the brow of the people 
the South rendered fanatic  the West troubled  the Duchesse de Berry in
la Vendee  plots  conspiracies  risings  cholera  added the sombre roar
of tumult of events to the sombre roar of ideas 




CHAPTER V  FACTS WHENCE HISTORY SPRINGS AND WHICH HISTORY IGNORES

Towards the end of April  everything had become aggravated  The
fermentation entered the boiling state  Ever since 1830  petty partial
revolts had been going on here and there  which were quickly suppressed 
but ever bursting forth afresh  the sign of a vast underlying
conflagration  Something terrible was in preparation  Glimpses could be
caught of the features still indistinct and imperfectly lighted  of a
possible revolution  France kept an eye on Paris  Paris kept an eye on
the Faubourg Saint Antoine 

The Faubourg Saint Antoine  which was in a dull glow  was beginning its
ebullition 

 Illustration  A Street Orator  4b1 5 street orator 

The wine shops of the Rue de Charonne were  although the union of
the two epithets seems singular when applied to wine shops  grave and
stormy 

The government was there purely and simply called in question  There
people publicly discussed the question of fighting or of keeping quiet 
There were back shops where workingmen were made to swear that they
would hasten into the street at the first cry of alarm  and  that they
would fight without counting the number of the enemy   This engagement
once entered into  a man seated in the corner of the wine shop  assumed
a sonorous tone   and said   You understand  You have sworn  

Sometimes they went up stairs  to a private room on the first floor 
and there scenes that were almost masonic were enacted  They made the
initiated take oaths to render service to himself as well as to the
fathers of families  That was the formula 

In the tap rooms   subversive  pamphlets were read  They treated the
government with contempt  says a secret report of that time 

Words like the following could be heard there   

 I don t know the names of the leaders  We folks shall not know the day
until two hours beforehand   One workman said   There are three hundred
of us  let each contribute ten sous  that will make one hundred and
fifty francs with which to procure powder and shot  

Another said   I don t ask for six months  I don t ask for even two 
In less than a fortnight we shall be parallel with the government  With
twenty five thousand men we can face them   Another said   I don t sleep
at night  because I make cartridges all night   From time to time 
men  of bourgeois appearance  and in good coats  came and  caused
embarrassment   and with the air of  command   shook hands with the most
important  and then went away  They never stayed more than ten minutes 
Significant remarks were exchanged in a low tone   The plot is ripe  the
matter is arranged    It was murmured by all who were there   to borrow
the very expression of one of those who were present  The exaltation was
such that one day  a workingman exclaimed  before the whole wine shop 
 We have no arms   One of his comrades replied   The soldiers have  
thus parodying without being aware of the fact  Bonaparte s proclamation
to the army in Italy   When they had anything of a more secret nature on
hand   adds one report   they did not communicate it to each other   It
is not easy to understand what they could conceal after what they said 

These reunions were sometimes periodical  At certain ones of them  there
were never more than eight or ten persons present  and they were always
the same  In others  any one entered who wished  and the room was
so full that they were forced to stand  Some went thither through
enthusiasm and passion  others because it was on their way to their
work  As during the Revolution  there were patriotic women in some of
these wine shops who embraced new comers 

Other expressive facts came to light 

A man would enter a shop  drink  and go his way with the remark 
 Wine merchant  the revolution will pay what is due to you  

Revolutionary agents were appointed in a wine shop facing the Rue de
Charonne  The balloting was carried on in their caps 

Workingmen met at the house of a fencing master who gave lessons in
the Rue de Cotte  There there was a trophy of arms formed of wooden
broadswords  canes  clubs  and foils  One day  the buttons were removed
from the foils 

A workman said   There are twenty five of us  but they don t count
on me  because I am looked upon as a machine   Later on  that machine
became Quenisset 

The indefinite things which were brewing gradually acquired a strange
and indescribable notoriety  A woman sweeping off her doorsteps said
to another woman   For a long time  there has been a strong force busy
making cartridges   In the open street  proclamation could be seen
addressed to the National Guard in the departments  One of these
proclamations was signed  Burtot  wine merchant 

One day a man with his beard worn like a collar and with an Italian
accent mounted a stone post at the door of a liquor seller in the Marche
Lenoir  and read aloud a singular document  which seemed to emanate from
an occult power  Groups formed around him  and applauded 

The passages which touched the crowd most deeply were collected and
noted down     Our doctrines are trammelled  our proclamations torn  our
bill stickers are spied upon and thrown into prison     The breakdown
which has recently taken place in cottons has converted to us many
mediums     The future of nations is being worked out in our obscure
ranks     Here are the fixed terms  action or reaction  revolution or
counter revolution  For  at our epoch  we no longer believe either in
inertia or in immobility  For the people against the people  that is the
question  There is no other     On the day when we cease to suit you 
break us  but up to that day  help us to march on   All this in broad
daylight 

Other deeds  more audacious still  were suspicious in the eyes of the
people by reason of their very audacity  On the 4th of April  1832  a
passer by mounted the post on the corner which forms the angle of the
Rue Sainte Marguerite and shouted   I am a Babouvist   But beneath
Babeuf  the people scented Gisquet 

Among other things  this man said   

 Down with property  The opposition of the left is cowardly and
treacherous  When it wants to be on the right side  it preaches
revolution  it is democratic in order to escape being beaten  and
royalist so that it may not have to fight  The republicans are beasts
with feathers  Distrust the republicans  citizens of the laboring
classes  

 Silence  citizen spy   cried an artisan 

This shout put an end to the discourse 

Mysterious incidents occurred 

At nightfall  a workingman encountered near the canal a  very well
dressed man   who said to him   Whither are you bound  citizen    Sir  
replied the workingman   I have not the honor of your acquaintance    I
know you very well  however   And the man added   Don t be alarmed  I
am an agent of the committee  You are suspected of not being quite
faithful  You know that if you reveal anything  there is an eye fixed on
you   Then he shook hands with the workingman and went away  saying   We
shall meet again soon  

The police  who were on the alert  collected singular dialogues  not
only in the wine shops  but in the street 

 Get yourself received very soon   said a weaver to a cabinet maker 

 Why  

 There is going to be a shot to fire  

Two ragged pedestrians exchanged these remarkable replies  fraught with
evident Jacquerie   

 Who governs us  

 M  Philippe  

 No  it is the bourgeoisie  

The reader is mistaken if he thinks that we take the word Jacquerie in a
bad sense  The Jacques were the poor 

On another occasion two men were heard to say to each other as they
passed by   We have a good plan of attack  

Only the following was caught of a private conversation between four men
who were crouching in a ditch of the circle of the Barriere du Trone   

 Everything possible will be done to prevent his walking about Paris any
more  

Who was the he  Menacing obscurity 

 The principal leaders   as they said in the faubourg  held themselves
apart  It was supposed that they met for consultation in a wine shop
near the point Saint Eustache  A certain Aug    chief of the Society
aid for tailors  Rue Mondetour  had the reputation of serving as
intermediary central between the leaders and the Faubourg Saint Antoine 

Nevertheless  there was always a great deal of mystery about these
leaders  and no certain fact can invalidate the singular arrogance of
this reply made later on by a man accused before the Court of Peers   

 Who was your leader  

 I knew of none and I recognized none  

There was nothing but words  transparent but vague  sometimes idle
reports  rumors  hearsay  Other indications cropped up 

A carpenter  occupied in nailing boards to a fence around the ground
on which a house was in process of construction  in the Rue de Reuilly
found on that plot the torn fragment of a letter on which were still
legible the following lines   


The committee must take measures to prevent recruiting in the sections
for the different societies 


And  as a postscript   


We have learned that there are guns in the Rue du Faubourg Poissonniere 
No  5  bis   to the number of five or six thousand  in the house of a
gunsmith in that court  The section owns no arms 


What excited the carpenter and caused him to show this thing to his
neighbors was the fact  that a few paces further on he picked up another
paper  torn like the first  and still more significant  of which we
reproduce a facsimile  because of the historical interest attaching to
these strange documents   

 Illustration  Code Table 4b1 5 page 26 

                                                               
   Q   C   D   E   Learn this list by heart   After so doing
             you will tear it up   The men admitted
             will do the same when you have transmitted
             their orders to them 
             Health and Fraternity 
             u og a fe L   
                                                               

It was only later on that the persons who were in the secret of this
find at the time  learned the significance of those four capital
letters  quinturions  centurions  decurions  eclaireurs  scouts   and
the sense of the letters  u og a fe  which was a date  and meant April
15th  1832  Under each capital letter were inscribed names followed by
very characteristic notes  Thus  Q  Bannerel  8 guns  83 cartridges  A
safe man   C  Boubiere  1 pistol  40 cartridges   D  Rollet  1 foil 
1 pistol  1 pound of powder   E  Tessier  1 sword  1 cartridge box 
Exact   Terreur  8 guns  Brave  etc 

Finally  this carpenter found  still in the same enclosure  a third
paper on which was written in pencil  but very legibly  this sort of
enigmatical list   

          Unite   Blanchard  Arbre Sec  6 
          Barra   Soize   Salle au Comte 
          Kosciusko  Aubry the Butcher 
          J  J  R 
          Caius Gracchus 
          Right of revision   Dufond   Four 
          Fall of the Girondists   Derbac   Maubuee 
          Washington   Pinson   1 pistol  86 cartridges 
          Marseillaise 
          Sovereignty of the people  Michel  Quincampoix  Sword 
          Hoche 
          Marceau   Plato   Arbre Sec 
          Warsaw   Tilly  crier of the Populaire 


The honest bourgeois into whose hands this list fell knew its
significance  It appears that this list was the complete nomenclature of
the sections of the fourth arondissement of the Society of the Rights
of Man  with the names and dwellings of the chiefs of sections  To day 
when all these facts which were obscure are nothing more than history 
we may publish them  It should be added  that the foundation of the
Society of the Rights of Man seems to have been posterior to the date
when this paper was found  Perhaps this was only a rough draft 

Still  according to all the remarks and the words  according to written
notes  material facts begin to make their appearance 

In the Rue Popincourt  in the house of a dealer in bric abrac  there
were seized seven sheets of gray paper  all folded alike lengthwise
and in four  these sheets enclosed twenty six squares of this same
gray paper folded in the form of a cartridge  and a card  on which was
written the following   

           Saltpetre                        12 ounces 
           Sulphur                           2 ounces 
           Charcoal                          2 ounces and a half 
           Water                             2 ounces 


The report of the seizure stated that the drawer exhaled a strong smell
of powder 

A mason returning from his day s work  left behind him a little package
on a bench near the bridge of Austerlitz  This package was taken to
the police station  It was opened  and in it were found two printed
dialogues  signed Lahautiere  a song entitled   Workmen  band together  
and a tin box full of cartridges 

One artisan drinking with a comrade made the latter feel him to see how
warm he was  the other man felt a pistol under his waistcoat 

In a ditch on the boulevard  between Pere Lachaise and the Barriere
du Trone  at the most deserted spot  some children  while playing 
discovered beneath a mass of shavings and refuse bits of wood  a
bag containing a bullet mould  a wooden punch for the preparation of
cartridges  a wooden bowl  in which there were grains of hunting powder 
and a little cast iron pot whose interior presented evident traces of
melted lead 

Police agents  making their way suddenly and unexpectedly at five
o clock in the morning  into the dwelling of a certain Pardon  who
was afterwards a member of the Barricade Merry section and got himself
killed in the insurrection of April  1834  found him standing near his
bed  and holding in his hand some cartridges which he was in the act of
preparing 

Towards the hour when workingmen repose  two men were seen to meet
between the Barriere Picpus and the Barriere Charenton in a little lane
between two walls  near a wine shop  in front of which there was a  Jeu
de Siam   33  One drew a pistol from beneath his blouse and handed it to
the other  As he was handing it to him  he noticed that the perspiration
of his chest had made the powder damp  He primed the pistol and added
more powder to what was already in the pan  Then the two men parted 

A certain Gallais  afterwards killed in the Rue Beaubourg in the affair
of April  boasted of having in his house seven hundred cartridges and
twenty four flints 

The government one day received a warning that arms and two hundred
thousand cartridges had just been distributed in the faubourg  On
the following week thirty thousand cartridges were distributed  The
remarkable point about it was  that the police were not able to seize a
single one 

An intercepted letter read   The day is not far distant when  within
four hours by the clock  eighty thousand patriots will be under arms  

All this fermentation was public  one might almost say tranquil  The
approaching insurrection was preparing its storm calmly in the face of
the government  No singularity was lacking to this still subterranean
crisis  which was already perceptible  The bourgeois talked peaceably to
the working classes of what was in preparation  They said   How is the
rising coming along   in the same tone in which they would have said 
 How is your wife  

A furniture dealer  of the Rue Moreau  inquired   Well  when are you
going to make the attack  

Another shop keeper said   

 The attack will be made soon  

 I know it  A month ago  there were fifteen thousand of you  now there
are twenty five thousand   He offered his gun  and a neighbor offered a
small pistol which he was willing to sell for seven francs 

Moreover  the revolutionary fever was growing  Not a point in Paris nor
in France was exempt from it  The artery was beating everywhere  Like
those membranes which arise from certain inflammations and form in the
human body  the network of secret societies began to spread all over the
country  From the associations of the Friends of the People  which was
at the same time public and secret  sprang the Society of the Rights of
Man  which also dated from one of the orders of the day  Pluviose  Year
40 of the republican era  which was destined to survive even the mandate
of the Court of Assizes which pronounced its dissolution  and which
did not hesitate to bestow on its sections significant names like the
following   

     Pikes 
     Tocsin 
     Signal cannon 
     Phrygian cap 
     January 21 
     The beggars 
     The vagabonds 
     Forward march 
     Robespierre 
     Level 
     Ca Ira 

The Society of the Rights of Man engendered the Society of Action  These
were impatient individuals who broke away and hastened ahead  Other
associations sought to recruit themselves from the great mother
societies  The members of sections complained that they were torn
asunder  Thus  the Gallic Society  and the committee of organization of
the Municipalities  Thus the associations for the liberty of the press 
for individual liberty  for the instruction of the people against
indirect taxes  Then the Society of Equal Workingmen which was divided
into three fractions  the levellers  the communists  the reformers 
Then the Army of the Bastilles  a sort of cohort organized on a military
footing  four men commanded by a corporal  ten by a sergeant  twenty by
a sub lieutenant  forty by a lieutenant  there were never more than
five men who knew each other  Creation where precaution is combined with
audacity and which seemed stamped with the genius of Venice 

The central committee  which was at the head  had two arms  the Society
of Action  and the Army of the Bastilles 

A legitimist association  the Chevaliers of Fidelity  stirred about
among these the republican affiliations  It was denounced and repudiated
there 

The Parisian societies had ramifications in the principal cities  Lyons 
Nantes  Lille  Marseilles  and each had its Society of the Rights of
Man  the Charbonniere  and The Free Men  All had a revolutionary society
which was called the Cougourde  We have already mentioned this word 

In Paris  the Faubourg Saint Marceau kept up an equal buzzing with the
Faubourg Saint Antoine  and the schools were no less moved than the
faubourgs  A cafe in the Rue Saint Hyacinthe and the wine shop of the
Seven Billiards  Rue des Mathurins Saint Jacques  served as rallying
points for the students  The Society of the Friends of the A B C
affiliated to the Mutualists of Angers  and to the Cougourde of Aix 
met  as we have seen  in the Cafe Musain  These same young men assembled
also  as we have stated already  in a restaurant wine shop of the Rue
Mondetour which was called Corinthe  These meetings were secret  Others
were as public as possible  and the reader can judge of their boldness
from these fragments of an interrogatory undergone in one of the
ulterior prosecutions   Where was this meeting held    In the Rue de la
Paix    At whose house    In the street    What sections were there  
 Only one    Which    The Manuel section    Who was its leader  
 I    You are too young to have decided alone upon the bold course of
attacking the government  Where did your instructions come from    From
the central committee  

The army was mined at the same time as the population  as was proved
subsequently by the operations of Beford  Luneville  and Epinard  They
counted on the fifty second regiment  on the fifth  on the eighth  on
the thirty seventh  and on the twentieth light cavalry  In Burgundy and
in the southern towns they planted the liberty tree  that is to say  a
pole surmounted by a red cap 

Such was the situation 

The Faubourg Saint Antoine  more than any other group of the population 
as we stated in the beginning  accentuated this situation and made
it felt  That was the sore point  This old faubourg  peopled like
an ant hill  laborious  courageous  and angry as a hive of bees  was
quivering with expectation and with the desire for a tumult  Everything
was in a state of agitation there  without any interruption  however  of
the regular work  It is impossible to convey an idea of this lively yet
sombre physiognomy  In this faubourg exists poignant distress hidden
under attic roofs  there also exist rare and ardent minds  It is
particularly in the matter of distress and intelligence that it is
dangerous to have extremes meet 

The Faubourg Saint Antoine had also other causes to tremble  for it
received the counter shock of commercial crises  of failures  strikes 
slack seasons  all inherent to great political disturbances  In times
of revolution misery is both cause and effect  The blow which it deals
rebounds upon it  This population full of proud virtue  capable to the
highest degree of latent heat  always ready to fly to arms  prompt to
explode  irritated  deep  undermined  seemed to be only awaiting the
fall of a spark  Whenever certain sparks float on the horizon chased
by the wind of events  it is impossible not to think of the Faubourg
Saint Antoine and of the formidable chance which has placed at the very
gates of Paris that powder house of suffering and ideas 

The wine shops of the Faubourg Antoine  which have been more than
once drawn in the sketches which the reader has just perused  possess
historical notoriety  In troublous times people grow intoxicated there
more on words than on wine  A sort of prophetic spirit and an afflatus
of the future circulates there  swelling hearts and enlarging souls  The
cabarets of the Faubourg Saint Antoine resemble those taverns of Mont
Aventine erected on the cave of the Sibyl and communicating with
the profound and sacred breath  taverns where the tables were almost
tripods  and where was drunk what Ennius calls the sibylline wine 

The Faubourg Saint Antoine is a reservoir of people  Revolutionary
agitations create fissures there  through which trickles the popular
sovereignty  This sovereignty may do evil  it can be mistaken like any
other  but  even when led astray  it remains great  We may say of it as
of the blind cyclops  Ingens 

In  93  according as the idea which was floating about was good or evil 
according as it was the day of fanaticism or of enthusiasm  there leaped
forth from the Faubourg Saint Antoine now savage legions  now heroic
bands 

Savage  Let us explain this word  When these bristling men  who in the
early days of the revolutionary chaos  tattered  howling  wild  with
uplifted bludgeon  pike on high  hurled themselves upon ancient Paris in
an uproar  what did they want  They wanted an end to oppression  an
end to tyranny  an end to the sword  work for men  instruction for the
child  social sweetness for the woman  liberty  equality  fraternity 
bread for all  the idea for all  the Edenizing of the world  Progress 
and that holy  sweet  and good thing  progress  they claimed in terrible
wise  driven to extremities as they were  half naked  club in fist 
a roar in their mouths  They were savages  yes  but the savages of
civilization 

They proclaimed right furiously  they were desirous  if only with
fear and trembling  to force the human race to paradise  They seemed
barbarians  and they were saviours  They demanded light with the mask of
night 

Facing these men  who were ferocious  we admit  and terrifying  but
ferocious and terrifying for good ends  there are other men  smiling 
embroidered  gilded  beribboned  starred  in silk stockings  in white
plumes  in yellow gloves  in varnished shoes  who  with their elbows on
a velvet table  beside a marble chimney piece  insist gently on demeanor
and the preservation of the past  of the Middle Ages  of divine right 
of fanaticism  of innocence  of slavery  of the death penalty  of war 
glorifying in low tones and with politeness  the sword  the stake  and
the scaffold  For our part  if we were forced to make a choice between
the barbarians of civilization and the civilized men of barbarism  we
should choose the barbarians 

But  thank Heaven  still another choice is possible  No perpendicular
fall is necessary  in front any more than in the rear 

Neither despotism nor terrorism  We desire progress with a gentle slope 

God takes care of that  God s whole policy consists in rendering slopes
less steep 




CHAPTER VI  ENJOLRAS AND HIS LIEUTENANTS

It was about this epoch that Enjolras  in view of a possible
catastrophe  instituted a kind of mysterious census 

All were present at a secret meeting at the Cafe Musain 

Enjolras said  mixing his words with a few half enigmatical but
significant metaphors   

 It is proper that we should know where we stand and on whom we may
count  If combatants are required  they must be provided  It can do no
harm to have something with which to strike  Passers by always have more
chance of being gored when there are bulls on the road than when there
are none  Let us  therefore  reckon a little on the herd  How many of us
are there  There is no question of postponing this task until to morrow 
Revolutionists should always be hurried  progress has no time to lose 
Let us mistrust the unexpected  Let us not be caught unprepared  We must
go over all the seams that we have made and see whether they hold fast 
This business ought to be concluded to day  Courfeyrac  you will see the
polytechnic students  It is their day to go out  To day is Wednesday 
Feuilly  you will see those of the Glaciere  will you not  Combeferre
has promised me to go to Picpus  There is a perfect swarm and an
excellent one there  Bahorel will visit the Estrapade  Prouvaire  the
masons are growing lukewarm  you will bring us news from the lodge of
the Rue de Grenelle Saint Honore  Joly will go to Dupuytren s clinical
lecture  and feel the pulse of the medical school  Bossuet will take a
little turn in the court and talk with the young law licentiates  I will
take charge of the Cougourde myself  

 That arranges everything   said Courfeyrac 

 No  

 What else is there  

 A very important thing  

 What is that   asked Courfeyrac 

 The Barriere du Maine   replied Enjolras 

Enjolras remained for a moment as though absorbed in reflection  then he
resumed   

 At the Barriere du Maine there are marble workers  painters  and
journeymen in the studios of sculptors  They are an enthusiastic family 
but liable to cool off  I don t know what has been the matter with
them for some time past  They are thinking of something else  They are
becoming extinguished  They pass their time playing dominoes  There is
urgent need that some one should go and talk with them a little  but
with firmness  They meet at Richefeu s  They are to be found there
between twelve and one o clock  Those ashes must be fanned into a glow 
For that errand I had counted on that abstracted Marius  who is a good
fellow on the whole  but he no longer comes to us  I need some one for
the Barriere du Maine  I have no one  

 What about me   said Grantaire   Here am I  

 You  

 I  

 You indoctrinate republicans  you warm up hearts that have grown cold
in the name of principle  

 Why not  

 Are you good for anything  

 I have a vague ambition in that direction   said Grantaire 

 You do not believe in everything  

 I believe in you  

 Grantaire will you do me a service  

 Anything  I ll black your boots  

 Well  don t meddle with our affairs  Sleep yourself sober from your
absinthe  

 You are an ingrate  Enjolras  

 You the man to go to the Barriere du Maine  You capable of it  

 I am capable of descending the Rue de Gres  of crossing the Place
Saint Michel  of sloping through the Rue Monsieur le Prince  of taking
the Rue de Vaugirard  of passing the Carmelites  of turning into the Rue
d Assas  of reaching the Rue du Cherche Midi  of leaving behind me the
Conseil de Guerre  of pacing the Rue des Vielles Tuileries  of striding
across the boulevard  of following the Chaussee du Maine  of passing
the barrier  and entering Richefeu s  I am capable of that  My shoes are
capable of that  

 Do you know anything of those comrades who meet at Richefeu s  

 Not much  We only address each other as thou  

 What will you say to them  

 I will speak to them of Robespierre  pardi  Of Danton  Of principles  

 You  

 I  But I don t receive justice  When I set about it  I am terrible  I
have read Prudhomme  I know the Social Contract  I know my constitution
of the year Two by heart   The liberty of one citizen ends where the
liberty of another citizen begins   Do you take me for a brute  I have
an old bank bill of the Republic in my drawer  The Rights of Man  the
sovereignty of the people  sapristi  I am even a bit of a Hebertist  I
can talk the most superb twaddle for six hours by the clock  watch in
hand  

 Be serious   said Enjolras 

 I am wild   replied Grantaire 

Enjolras meditated for a few moments  and made the gesture of a man who
has taken a resolution 

 Grantaire   he said gravely   I consent to try you  You shall go to the
Barriere du Maine  

Grantaire lived in furnished lodgings very near the Cafe Musain  He went
out  and five minutes later he returned  He had gone home to put on a
Robespierre waistcoat 

 Red   said he as he entered  and he looked intently at Enjolras  Then 
with the palm of his energetic hand  he laid the two scarlet points of
the waistcoat across his breast 

And stepping up to Enjolras  he whispered in his ear   

 Be easy  

He jammed his hat on resolutely and departed 

A quarter of an hour later  the back room of the Cafe Musain was
deserted  All the friends of the A B C were gone  each in his own
direction  each to his own task  Enjolras  who had reserved the
Cougourde of Aix for himself  was the last to leave 

Those members of the Cougourde of Aix who were in Paris then met on the
plain of Issy  in one of the abandoned quarries which are so numerous in
that side of Paris 

As Enjolras walked towards this place  he passed the whole situation
in review in his own mind  The gravity of events was self evident  When
facts  the premonitory symptoms of latent social malady  move heavily 
the slightest complication stops and entangles them  A phenomenon whence
arises ruin and new births  Enjolras descried a luminous uplifting
beneath the gloomy skirts of the future  Who knows  Perhaps the moment
was at hand  The people were again taking possession of right  and
what a fine spectacle  The revolution was again majestically taking
possession of France and saying to the world   The sequel to morrow  
Enjolras was content  The furnace was being heated  He had at that
moment a powder train of friends scattered all over Paris  He composed 
in his own mind  with Combeferre s philosophical and penetrating
eloquence  Feuilly s cosmopolitan enthusiasm  Courfeyrac s dash 
Bahorel s smile  Jean Prouvaire s melancholy  Joly s science  Bossuet s
sarcasms  a sort of electric spark which took fire nearly everywhere at
once  All hands to work  Surely  the result would answer to the effort 
This was well  This made him think of Grantaire 

 Hold   said he to himself   the Barriere du Maine will not take me far
out of my way  What if I were to go on as far as Richefeu s  Let us have
a look at what Grantaire is about  and see how he is getting on  

One o clock was striking from the Vaugirard steeple when Enjolras
reached the Richefeu smoking room 

He pushed open the door  entered  folded his arms  letting the door fall
to and strike his shoulders  and gazed at that room filled with tables 
men  and smoke 

A voice broke forth from the mist of smoke  interrupted by another
voice  It was Grantaire holding a dialogue with an adversary 

Grantaire was sitting opposite another figure  at a marble Saint Anne
table  strewn with grains of bran and dotted with dominos  He was
hammering the table with his fist  and this is what Enjolras heard   

 Double six  

 Fours  

 The pig  I have no more  

 You are dead  A two  

 Six  

 Three  

 One  

 It s my move  

 Four points  

 Not much  

 It s your turn  

 I have made an enormous mistake  

 You are doing well  

 Fifteen  

 Seven more  

 That makes me twenty two    Thoughtfully   Twenty two   

 You weren t expecting that double six  If I had placed it at the
beginning  the whole play would have been changed  

 A two again  

 One  

 One  Well  five  

 I haven t any  

 It was your play  I believe  

 Yes  

 Blank  

 What luck he has  Ah  You are lucky   Long revery   Two  

 One  

 Neither five nor one  That s bad for you  

 Domino  

 Plague take it  




BOOK SECOND   EPONINE




CHAPTER I  THE LARK S MEADOW

Marius had witnessed the unexpected termination of the ambush upon whose
track he had set Javert  but Javert had no sooner quitted the building 
bearing off his prisoners in three hackney coaches  than Marius also
glided out of the house  It was only nine o clock in the evening  Marius
betook himself to Courfeyrac  Courfeyrac was no longer the imperturbable
inhabitant of the Latin Quarter  he had gone to live in the Rue de la
Verrerie  for political reasons   this quarter was one where  at that
epoch  insurrection liked to install itself  Marius said to Courfeyrac 
 I have come to sleep with you   Courfeyrac dragged a mattress off his
bed  which was furnished with two  spread it out on the floor  and said 
 There  

At seven o clock on the following morning  Marius returned to the hovel 
paid the quarter s rent which he owed to Ma am Bougon  had his books 
his bed  his table  his commode  and his two chairs loaded on a
hand cart and went off without leaving his address  so that when Javert
returned in the course of the morning  for the purpose of questioning
Marius as to the events of the preceding evening  he found only Ma am
Bougon  who answered   Moved away  

Ma am Bougon was convinced that Marius was to some extent an accomplice
of the robbers who had been seized the night before   Who would ever
have said it   she exclaimed to the portresses of the quarter   a young
man like that  who had the air of a girl  

Marius had two reasons for this prompt change of residence  The first
was  that he now had a horror of that house  where he had beheld  so
close at hand  and in its most repulsive and most ferocious development 
a social deformity which is  perhaps  even more terrible than the wicked
rich man  the wicked poor man  The second was  that he did not wish
to figure in the lawsuit which would insue in all probability  and be
brought in to testify against Thenardier 

Javert thought that the young man  whose name he had forgotten  was
afraid  and had fled  or perhaps  had not even returned home at the time
of the ambush  he made some efforts to find him  however  but without
success 

A month passed  then another  Marius was still with Courfeyrac  He had
learned from a young licentiate in law  an habitual frequenter of the
courts  that Thenardier was in close confinement  Every Monday 
Marius had five francs handed in to the clerk s office of La Force for
Thenardier 

As Marius had no longer any money  he borrowed the five francs from
Courfeyrac  It was the first time in his life that he had ever borrowed
money  These periodical five francs were a double riddle to Courfeyrac
who lent and to Thenardier who received them   To whom can they go  
thought Courfeyrac   Whence can this come to me   Thenardier asked
himself 

Moreover  Marius was heart broken  Everything had plunged through a
trap door once more  He no longer saw anything before him  his life
was again buried in mystery where he wandered fumblingly  He had for a
moment beheld very close at hand  in that obscurity  the young girl whom
he loved  the old man who seemed to be her father  those unknown beings 
who were his only interest and his only hope in this world  and  at the
very moment when he thought himself on the point of grasping them  a
gust had swept all these shadows away  Not a spark of certainty and
truth had been emitted even in the most terrible of collisions  No
conjecture was possible  He no longer knew even the name that he thought
he knew  It certainly was not Ursule  And the Lark was a nickname  And
what was he to think of the old man  Was he actually in hiding from
the police  The white haired workman whom Marius had encountered in the
vicinity of the Invalides recurred to his mind  It now seemed probable
that that workingman and M  Leblanc were one and the same person  So he
disguised himself  That man had his heroic and his equivocal sides  Why
had he not called for help  Why had he fled  Was he  or was he not 
the father of the young girl  Was he  in short  the man whom Thenardier
thought that he recognized  Thenardier might have been mistaken  These
formed so many insoluble problems  All this  it is true  detracted
nothing from the angelic charms of the young girl of the Luxembourg 
Heart rending distress  Marius bore a passion in his heart  and night
over his eyes  He was thrust onward  he was drawn  and he could not
stir  All had vanished  save love  Of love itself he had lost the
instincts and the sudden illuminations  Ordinarily  this flame which
burns us lights us also a little  and casts some useful gleams without 
But Marius no longer even heard these mute counsels of passion  He never
said to himself   What if I were to go to such a place  What if I were
to try such and such a thing   The girl whom he could no longer call
Ursule was evidently somewhere  nothing warned Marius in what direction
he should seek her  His whole life was now summed up in two words 
absolute uncertainty within an impenetrable fog  To see her once again 
he still aspired to this  but he no longer expected it 

To crown all  his poverty had returned  He felt that icy breath close to
him  on his heels  In the midst of his torments  and long before
this  he had discontinued his work  and nothing is more dangerous than
discontinued work  it is a habit which vanishes  A habit which is easy
to get rid of  and difficult to take up again 

A certain amount of dreaming is good  like a narcotic in discreet doses 
It lulls to sleep the fevers of the mind at labor  which are sometimes
severe  and produces in the spirit a soft and fresh vapor which corrects
the over harsh contours of pure thought  fills in gaps here and there 
binds together and rounds off the angles of the ideas  But too much
dreaming sinks and drowns  Woe to the brain worker who allows himself to
fall entirely from thought into revery  He thinks that he can re ascend
with equal ease  and he tells himself that  after all  it is the same
thing  Error 

Thought is the toil of the intelligence  revery its voluptuousness  To
replace thought with revery is to confound a poison with a food 

Marius had begun in that way  as the reader will remember  Passion had
supervened and had finished the work of precipitating him into chimaeras
without object or bottom  One no longer emerges from one s self except
for the purpose of going off to dream  Idle production  Tumultuous and
stagnant gulf  And  in proportion as labor diminishes  needs increase 
This is a law  Man  in a state of revery  is generally prodigal and
slack  the unstrung mind cannot hold life within close bounds 

There is  in that mode of life  good mingled with evil  for if
enervation is baleful  generosity is good and healthful  But the poor
man who is generous and noble  and who does not work  is lost  Resources
are exhausted  needs crop up 

Fatal declivity down which the most honest and the firmest as well as
the most feeble and most vicious are drawn  and which ends in one of two
holds  suicide or crime 

By dint of going outdoors to think  the day comes when one goes out to
throw one s self in the water 

Excess of revery breeds men like Escousse and Lebras 

Marius was descending this declivity at a slow pace  with his eyes
fixed on the girl whom he no longer saw  What we have just written seems
strange  and yet it is true  The memory of an absent being kindles in
the darkness of the heart  the more it has disappeared  the more it
beams  the gloomy and despairing soul sees this light on its horizon 
the star of the inner night  She  that was Marius  whole thought  He
meditated of nothing else  he was confusedly conscious that his old coat
was becoming an impossible coat  and that his new coat was growing old 
that his shirts were wearing out  that his hat was wearing out  that his
boots were giving out  and he said to himself   If I could but see her
once again before I die  

One sweet idea alone was left to him  that she had loved him  that her
glance had told him so  that she did not know his name  but that she did
know his soul  and that  wherever she was  however mysterious the place 
she still loved him perhaps  Who knows whether she were not thinking of
him as he was thinking of her  Sometimes  in those inexplicable hours
such as are experienced by every heart that loves  though he had no
reasons for anything but sadness and yet felt an obscure quiver of joy 
he said to himself   It is her thoughts that are coming to me   Then he
added   Perhaps my thoughts reach her also  

This illusion  at which he shook his head a moment later  was
sufficient  nevertheless  to throw beams  which at times resembled hope 
into his soul  From time to time  especially at that evening hour which
is the most depressing to even the dreamy  he allowed the purest  the
most impersonal  the most ideal of the reveries which filled his brain 
to fall upon a notebook which contained nothing else  He called this
 writing to her  

It must not be supposed that his reason was deranged  Quite the
contrary  He had lost the faculty of working and of moving firmly
towards any fixed goal  but he was endowed with more clear sightedness
and rectitude than ever  Marius surveyed by a calm and real  although
peculiar light  what passed before his eyes  even the most indifferent
deeds and men  he pronounced a just criticism on everything with a sort
of honest dejection and candid disinterestedness  His judgment  which
was almost wholly disassociated from hope  held itself aloof and soared
on high 

In this state of mind nothing escaped him  nothing deceived him  and
every moment he was discovering the foundation of life  of humanity  and
of destiny  Happy  even in the midst of anguish  is he to whom God has
given a soul worthy of love and of unhappiness  He who has not viewed
the things of this world and the heart of man under this double light
has seen nothing and knows nothing of the true 

The soul which loves and suffers is in a state of sublimity 

However  day followed day  and nothing new presented itself  It
merely seemed to him  that the sombre space which still remained to be
traversed by him was growing shorter with every instant  He thought that
he already distinctly perceived the brink of the bottomless abyss 

 What   he repeated to himself   shall I not see her again before then  

When you have ascended the Rue Saint Jacques  left the barrier on one
side and followed the old inner boulevard for some distance  you reach
the Rue de la Sante  then the Glaciere  and  a little while before
arriving at the little river of the Gobelins  you come to a sort of
field which is the only spot in the long and monotonous chain of the
boulevards of Paris  where Ruysdeel would be tempted to sit down 

There is something indescribable there which exhales grace  a green
meadow traversed by tightly stretched lines  from which flutter rags
drying in the wind  and an old market gardener s house  built in the
time of Louis XIII   with its great roof oddly pierced with dormer
windows  dilapidated palisades  a little water amid poplar trees 
women  voices  laughter  on the horizon the Pantheon  the pole of
the Deaf Mutes  the Val de Grace  black  squat  fantastic  amusing 
magnificent  and in the background  the severe square crests of the
towers of Notre Dame 

As the place is worth looking at  no one goes thither  Hardly one cart
or wagoner passes in a quarter of an hour 

It chanced that Marius  solitary strolls led him to this plot of
ground  near the water  That day  there was a rarity on the boulevard 
a passer by  Marius  vaguely impressed with the almost savage beauty of
the place  asked this passer by    What is the name of this spot  

The person replied   It is the Lark s meadow  

And he added   It was here that Ulbach killed the shepherdess of Ivry  

But after the word  Lark  Marius heard nothing more  These sudden
congealments in the state of revery  which a single word suffices to
evoke  do occur  The entire thought is abruptly condensed around an
idea  and it is no longer capable of perceiving anything else 

The Lark was the appellation which had replaced Ursule in the depths of
Marius  melancholy    Stop   said he with a sort of unreasoning stupor
peculiar to these mysterious asides   this is her meadow  I shall know
where she lives now  

It was absurd  but irresistible 

And every day he returned to that meadow of the Lark 




CHAPTER II  EMBRYONIC FORMATION OF CRIMES IN THE INCUBATION OF PRISONS

Javert s triumph in the Gorbeau hovel seemed complete  but had not been
so 

In the first place  and this constituted the principal anxiety  Javert
had not taken the prisoner prisoner  The assassinated man who flees
is more suspicious than the assassin  and it is probable that this
personage  who had been so precious a capture for the ruffians  would be
no less fine a prize for the authorities 

And then  Montparnasse had escaped Javert 

Another opportunity of laying hands on that  devil s dandy  must be
waited for  Montparnasse had  in fact  encountered Eponine as she stood
on the watch under the trees of the boulevard  and had led her off 
preferring to play Nemorin with the daughter rather than Schinderhannes
with the father  It was well that he did so  He was free  As for
Eponine  Javert had caused her to be seized  a mediocre consolation 
Eponine had joined Azelma at Les Madelonettes 

And finally  on the way from the Gorbeau house to La Force  one of the
principal prisoners  Claquesous  had been lost  It was not known how
this had been effected  the police agents and the sergeants  could
not understand it at all   He had converted himself into vapor  he had
slipped through the handcuffs  he had trickled through the crevices of
the carriage  the fiacre was cracked  and he had fled  all that they
were able to say was  that on arriving at the prison  there was no
Claquesous  Either the fairies or the police had had a hand in it  Had
Claquesous melted into the shadows like a snow flake in water  Had there
been unavowed connivance of the police agents  Did this man belong
to the double enigma of order and disorder  Was he concentric with
infraction and repression  Had this sphinx his fore paws in crime and
his hind paws in authority  Javert did not accept such comminations  and
would have bristled up against such compromises  but his squad included
other inspectors besides himself  who were more initiated than he 
perhaps  although they were his subordinates in the secrets of the
Prefecture  and Claquesous had been such a villain that he might make
a very good agent  It is an excellent thing for ruffianism and an
admirable thing for the police to be on such intimate juggling terms
with the night  These double edged rascals do exist  However that may
be  Claquesous had gone astray and was not found again  Javert appeared
to be more irritated than amazed at this 

As for Marius   that booby of a lawyer   who had probably become
frightened  and whose name Javert had forgotten  Javert attached very
little importance to him  Moreover  a lawyer can be hunted up at any
time  But was he a lawyer after all 

The investigation had begun 

The magistrate had thought it advisable not to put one of these men of
the band of Patron Minette in close confinement  in the hope that he
would chatter  This man was Brujon  the long haired man of the Rue du
Petit Banquier  He had been let loose in the Charlemagne courtyard  and
the eyes of the watchers were fixed on him 

This name of Brujon is one of the souvenirs of La Force  In that hideous
courtyard  called the court of the Batiment Neuf  New Building   which
the administration called the court Saint Bernard  and which the robbers
called the Fosseaux Lions  The Lion s Ditch   on that wall covered with
scales and leprosy  which rose on the left to a level with the roofs 
near an old door of rusty iron which led to the ancient chapel of the
ducal residence of La Force  then turned in a dormitory for ruffians 
there could still be seen  twelve years ago  a sort of fortress roughly
carved in the stone with a nail  and beneath it this signature   

                       BRUJON  1811 


The Brujon of 1811 was the father of the Brujon of 1832 

The latter  of whom the reader caught but a glimpse at the Gorbeau
house  was a very cunning and very adroit young spark  with a bewildered
and plaintive air  It was in consequence of this plaintive air that the
magistrate had released him  thinking him more useful in the Charlemagne
yard than in close confinement 

Robbers do not interrupt their profession because they are in the hands
of justice  They do not let themselves be put out by such a trifle as
that  To be in prison for one crime is no reason for not beginning on
another crime  They are artists  who have one picture in the salon  and
who toil  none the less  on a new work in their studios 

Brujon seemed to be stupefied by prison  He could sometimes be seen
standing by the hour together in front of the sutler s window in the
Charlemagne yard  staring like an idiot at the sordid list of prices
which began with  garlic  62 centimes  and ended with  cigar  5
centimes  Or he passed his time in trembling  chattering his teeth 
saying that he had a fever  and inquiring whether one of the eight and
twenty beds in the fever ward was vacant 

All at once  towards the end of February  1832  it was discovered that
Brujon  that somnolent fellow  had had three different commissions
executed by the errand men of the establishment  not under his own name 
but in the name of three of his comrades  and they had cost him in all
fifty sous  an exorbitant outlay which attracted the attention of the
prison corporal 

Inquiries were instituted  and on consulting the tariff of commissions
posted in the convict s parlor  it was learned that the fifty sous could
be analyzed as follows  three commissions  one to the Pantheon  ten
sous  one to Val de Grace  fifteen sous  and one to the Barriere de
Grenelle  twenty five sous  This last was the dearest of the whole
tariff  Now  at the Pantheon  at the Val de Grace  and at the Barriere
de Grenelle were situated the domiciles of the three very redoubtable
prowlers of the barriers  Kruideniers  alias Bizarre  Glorieux  an
ex convict  and Barre Carosse  upon whom the attention of the police was
directed by this incident  It was thought that these men were members
of Patron Minette  two of those leaders  Babet and Gueulemer  had been
captured  It was supposed that the messages  which had been addressed 
not to houses  but to people who were waiting for them in the street 
must have contained information with regard to some crime that had been
plotted  They were in possession of other indications  they laid hand on
the three prowlers  and supposed that they had circumvented some one or
other of Brujon s machinations 

About a week after these measures had been taken  one night  as the
superintendent of the watch  who had been inspecting the lower dormitory
in the Batiment Neuf  was about to drop his chestnut in the box  this
was the means adopted to make sure that the watchmen performed their
duties punctually  every hour a chestnut must be dropped into all the
boxes nailed to the doors of the dormitories  a watchman looked through
the peep hole of the dormitory and beheld Brujon sitting on his bed and
writing something by the light of the hall lamp  The guardian entered 
Brujon was put in a solitary cell for a month  but they were not able to
seize what he had written  The police learned nothing further about it 

What is certain is  that on the following morning  a  postilion 
was flung from the Charlemagne yard into the Lions  Ditch  over the
five story building which separated the two court yards 

What prisoners call a  postilion  is a pallet of bread artistically
moulded  which is sent into Ireland  that is to say  over the roofs of a
prison  from one courtyard to another  Etymology  over England  from one
land to another  into Ireland  This little pellet falls in the yard  The
man who picks it up opens it and finds in it a note addressed to some
prisoner in that yard  If it is a prisoner who finds the treasure  he
forwards the note to its destination  if it is a keeper  or one of the
prisoners secretly sold who are called sheep in prisons and foxes in the
galleys  the note is taken to the office and handed over to the police 

On this occasion  the postilion reached its address  although the person
to whom it was addressed was  at that moment  in solitary confinement 
This person was no other than Babet  one of the four heads of Patron
Minette 

The postilion contained a roll of paper on which only these two lines
were written   

 Babet  There is an affair in the Rue Plumet  A gate on a garden  

This is what Brujon had written the night before 

In spite of male and female searchers  Babet managed to pass the note on
from La Force to the Salpetriere  to a  good friend  whom he had and who
was shut up there  This woman in turn transmitted the note to another
woman of her acquaintance  a certain Magnon  who was strongly suspected
by the police  though not yet arrested  This Magnon  whose name the
reader has already seen  had relations with the Thenardier  which will
be described in detail later on  and she could  by going to see Eponine 
serve as a bridge between the Salpetriere and Les Madelonettes 

It happened  that at precisely that moment  as proofs were wanting
in the investigation directed against Thenardier in the matter of his
daughters  Eponine and Azelma were released  When Eponine came out 
Magnon  who was watching the gate of the Madelonettes  handed her
Brujon s note to Babet  charging her to look into the matter 

Eponine went to the Rue Plumet  recognized the gate and the garden 
observed the house  spied  lurked  and  a few days later  brought to
Magnon  who delivers in the Rue Clocheperce  a biscuit  which Magnon
transmitted to Babet s mistress in the Salpetriere  A biscuit  in the
shady symbolism of prisons  signifies  Nothing to be done 

So that in less than a week from that time  as Brujon and Babet met in
the circle of La Force  the one on his way to the examination  the other
on his way from it   

 Well   asked Brujon   the Rue P   

 Biscuit   replied Babet  Thus did the foetus of crime engendered by
Brujon in La Force miscarry 

This miscarriage had its consequences  however  which were perfectly
distinct from Brujon s programme  The reader will see what they were 

Often when we think we are knotting one thread  we are tying quite
another 




CHAPTER III  APPARITION TO FATHER MABEUF

Marius no longer went to see any one  but he sometimes encountered
Father Mabeuf by chance 

While Marius was slowly descending those melancholy steps which may be
called the cellar stairs  and which lead to places without light  where
the happy can be heard walking overhead  M  Mabeuf was descending on his
side 

The Flora of Cauteretz no longer sold at all  The experiments on indigo
had not been successful in the little garden of Austerlitz  which had
a bad exposure  M  Mabeuf could cultivate there only a few plants which
love shade and dampness  Nevertheless  he did not become discouraged  He
had obtained a corner in the Jardin des Plantes  with a good exposure 
to make his trials with indigo  at his own expense   For this purpose he
had pawned his copperplates of the Flora  He had reduced his breakfast
to two eggs  and he left one of these for his old servant  to whom he
had paid no wages for the last fifteen months  And often his breakfast
was his only meal  He no longer smiled with his infantile smile  he had
grown morose and no longer received visitors  Marius did well not to
dream of going thither  Sometimes  at the hour when M  Mabeuf was on his
way to the Jardin des Plantes  the old man and the young man passed
each other on the Boulevard de l Hopital  They did not speak  and only
exchanged a melancholy sign of the head  A heart breaking thing it is
that there comes a moment when misery looses bonds  Two men who have
been friends become two chance passers by 

Royal the bookseller was dead  M  Mabeuf no longer knew his books 
his garden  or his indigo  these were the three forms which happiness 
pleasure  and hope had assumed for him  This sufficed him for his
living  He said to himself   When I shall have made my balls of blueing 
I shall be rich  I will withdraw my copperplates from the pawn shop 
I will put my Flora in vogue again with trickery  plenty of money and
advertisements in the newspapers and I will buy  I know well where  a
copy of Pierre de Medine s Art de Naviguer  with wood cuts  edition of
1655   In the meantime  he toiled all day over his plot of indigo  and
at night he returned home to water his garden  and to read his books  At
that epoch  M  Mabeuf was nearly eighty years of age 

One evening he had a singular apparition 

He had returned home while it was still broad daylight  Mother
Plutarque  whose health was declining  was ill and in bed  He had dined
on a bone  on which a little meat lingered  and a bit of bread that he
had found on the kitchen table  and had seated himself on an overturned
stone post  which took the place of a bench in his garden 

Near this bench there rose  after the fashion in orchard gardens  a sort
of large chest  of beams and planks  much dilapidated  a rabbit hutch on
the ground floor  a fruit closet on the first  There was nothing in the
hutch  but there were a few apples in the fruit closet   the remains of
the winter s provision 

M  Mabeuf had set himself to turning over and reading  with the aid of
his glasses  two books of which he was passionately fond and in which 
a serious thing at his age  he was interested  His natural timidity
rendered him accessible to the acceptance of superstitions in a certain
degree  The first of these books was the famous treatise of President
Delancre  De l inconstance des Demons  the other was a quarto by Mutor
de la Rubaudiere  Sur les Diables de Vauvert et les Gobelins de la
Bievre  This last mentioned old volume interested him all the more 
because his garden had been one of the spots haunted by goblins in
former times  The twilight had begun to whiten what was on high and to
blacken all below  As he read  over the top of the book which he held
in his hand  Father Mabeuf was surveying his plants  and among others a
magnificent rhododendron which was one of his consolations  four days of
heat  wind  and sun without a drop of rain  had passed  the stalks were
bending  the buds drooping  the leaves falling  all this needed water 
the rhododendron was particularly sad  Father Mabeuf was one of those
persons for whom plants have souls  The old man had toiled all day over
his indigo plot  he was worn out with fatigue  but he rose  laid
his books on the bench  and walked  all bent over and with tottering
footsteps  to the well  but when he had grasped the chain  he could not
even draw it sufficiently to unhook it  Then he turned round and cast a
glance of anguish toward heaven which was becoming studded with stars 

The evening had that serenity which overwhelms the troubles of man
beneath an indescribably mournful and eternal joy  The night promised to
be as arid as the day had been 

 Stars everywhere   thought the old man   not the tiniest cloud  Not a
drop of water  

And his head  which had been upraised for a moment  fell back upon his
breast 

He raised it again  and once more looked at the sky  murmuring   

 A tear of dew  A little pity  

He tried again to unhook the chain of the well  and could not 

At that moment  he heard a voice saying   

 Father Mabeuf  would you like to have me water your garden for you  

At the same time  a noise as of a wild animal passing became audible
in the hedge  and he beheld emerging from the shrubbery a sort of tall 
slender girl  who drew herself up in front of him and stared boldly at
him  She had less the air of a human being than of a form which had just
blossomed forth from the twilight 

Before Father Mabeuf  who was easily terrified  and who was  as we have
said  quick to take alarm  was able to reply by a single syllable  this
being  whose movements had a sort of odd abruptness in the darkness  had
unhooked the chain  plunged in and withdrawn the bucket  and filled the
watering pot  and the goodman beheld this apparition  which had bare
feet and a tattered petticoat  running about among the flower beds
distributing life around her  The sound of the watering pot on the
leaves filled Father Mabeuf s soul with ecstasy  It seemed to him that
the rhododendron was happy now 

The first bucketful emptied  the girl drew a second  then a third  She
watered the whole garden 

There was something about her  as she thus ran about among paths  where
her outline appeared perfectly black  waving her angular arms  and with
her fichu all in rags  that resembled a bat 

When she had finished  Father Mabeuf approached her with tears in his
eyes  and laid his hand on her brow 

 God will bless you   said he   you are an angel since you take care of
the flowers  

 No   she replied   I am the devil  but that s all the same to me  

The old man exclaimed  without either waiting for or hearing her
response   

 What a pity that I am so unhappy and so poor  and that I can do nothing
for you  

 You can do something   said she 

 What  

 Tell me where M  Marius lives  

The old man did not understand   What Monsieur Marius  

He raised his glassy eyes and seemed to be seeking something that had
vanished 

 A young man who used to come here  

In the meantime  M  Mabeuf had searched his memory 

 Ah  yes    he exclaimed   I know what you mean  Wait  Monsieur
Marius  the Baron Marius Pontmercy  parbleu  He lives   or rather  he no
longer lives   ah well  I don t know  

As he spoke  he had bent over to train a branch of rhododendron  and he
continued   

 Hold  I know now  He very often passes along the boulevard  and goes in
the direction of the Glaciere  Rue Croulebarbe  The meadow of the Lark 
Go there  It is not hard to meet him  

When M  Mabeuf straightened himself up  there was no longer any one
there  the girl had disappeared 

He was decidedly terrified 

 Really   he thought   if my garden had not been watered  I should think
that she was a spirit  

An hour later  when he was in bed  it came back to him  and as he fell
asleep  at that confused moment when thought  like that fabulous bird
which changes itself into a fish in order to cross the sea  little by
little assumes the form of a dream in order to traverse slumber  he said
to himself in a bewildered way   

 In sooth  that greatly resembles what Rubaudiere narrates of the
goblins  Could it have been a goblin  




CHAPTER IV  AN APPARITION TO MARIUS

Some days after this visit of a  spirit  to Farmer Mabeuf  one
morning   it was on a Monday  the day when Marius borrowed the
hundred sou piece from Courfeyrac for Thenardier  Marius had put this
coin in his pocket  and before carrying it to the clerk s office  he
had gone  to take a little stroll   in the hope that this would make him
work on his return  It was always thus  however  As soon as he rose  he
seated himself before a book and a sheet of paper in order to scribble
some translation  his task at that epoch consisted in turning into
French a celebrated quarrel between Germans  the Gans and Savigny
controversy  he took Savigny  he took Gans  read four lines  tried to
write one  could not  saw a star between him and his paper  and rose
from his chair  saying   I shall go out  That will put me in spirits  

And off he went to the Lark s meadow 

There he beheld more than ever the star  and less than ever Savigny and
Gans 

He returned home  tried to take up his work again  and did not succeed 
there was no means of re knotting a single one of the threads which
were broken in his brain  then he said to himself   I will not go out
to morrow  It prevents my working   And he went out every day 

He lived in the Lark s meadow more than in Courfeyrac s lodgings  That
was his real address  Boulevard de la Sante  at the seventh tree from
the Rue Croulebarbe 

That morning he had quitted the seventh tree and had seated himself on
the parapet of the River des Gobelins  A cheerful sunlight penetrated
the freshly unfolded and luminous leaves 

He was dreaming of  Her   And his meditation turning to a reproach  fell
back upon himself  he reflected dolefully on his idleness  his paralysis
of soul  which was gaining on him  and of that night which was growing
more dense every moment before him  to such a point that he no longer
even saw the sun 

Nevertheless  athwart this painful extrication of indistinct ideas which
was not even a monologue  so feeble had action become in him  and he
had no longer the force to care to despair  athwart this melancholy
absorption  sensations from without did reach him  He heard behind him 
beneath him  on both banks of the river  the laundresses of the Gobelins
beating their linen  and above his head  the birds chattering and
singing in the elm trees  On the one hand  the sound of liberty  the
careless happiness of the leisure which has wings  on the other  the
sound of toil  What caused him to meditate deeply  and almost reflect 
were two cheerful sounds 

All at once  in the midst of his dejected ecstasy  he heard a familiar
voice saying   

 Come  Here he is  

He raised his eyes  and recognized that wretched child who had come to
him one morning  the elder of the Thenardier daughters  Eponine  he knew
her name now  Strange to say  she had grown poorer and prettier 
two steps which it had not seemed within her power to take  She had
accomplished a double progress  towards the light and towards distress 
She was barefooted and in rags  as on the day when she had so resolutely
entered his chamber  only her rags were two months older now  the holes
were larger  the tatters more sordid  It was the same harsh voice 
the same brow dimmed and wrinkled with tan  the same free  wild  and
vacillating glance  She had besides  more than formerly  in her face
that indescribably terrified and lamentable something which sojourn in a
prison adds to wretchedness 

She had bits of straw and hay in her hair  not like Ophelia through
having gone mad from the contagion of Hamlet s madness  but because she
had slept in the loft of some stable 

And in spite of it all  she was beautiful  What a star art thou  O
youth 

In the meantime  she had halted in front of Marius with a trace of joy
in her livid countenance  and something which resembled a smile 

She stood for several moments as though incapable of speech 

 So I have met you at last   she said at length   Father Mabeuf was
right  it was on this boulevard  How I have hunted for you  If you only
knew  Do you know  I have been in the jug  A fortnight  They let me out 
seeing that there was nothing against me  and that  moreover  I had not
reached years of discretion  I lack two months of it  Oh  how I have
hunted for you  These six weeks  So you don t live down there any more  

 No   said Marius 

 Ah  I understand  Because of that affair  Those take downs are
disagreeable  You cleared out  Come now  Why do you wear old hats like
this  A young man like you ought to have fine clothes  Do you know 
Monsieur Marius  Father Mabeuf calls you Baron Marius  I don t know
what  It isn t true that you are a baron  Barons are old fellows  they
go to the Luxembourg  in front of the chateau  where there is the most
sun  and they read the Quotidienne for a sou  I once carried a letter to
a baron of that sort  He was over a hundred years old  Say  where do you
live now  

Marius made no reply 

 Ah   she went on   you have a hole in your shirt  I must sew it up for
you  

She resumed with an expression which gradually clouded over   

 You don t seem glad to see me  

Marius held his peace  she remained silent for a moment  then
exclaimed   

 But if I choose  nevertheless  I could force you to look glad  

 What   demanded Marius   What do you mean  

 Ah  you used to call me thou   she retorted 

 Well  then  what dost thou mean  

She bit her lips  she seemed to hesitate  as though a prey to some sort
of inward conflict  At last she appeared to come to a decision 

 So much the worse  I don t care  You have a melancholy air  I want you
to be pleased  Only promise me that you will smile  I want to see you
smile and hear you say   Ah  well  that s good   Poor Mr  Marius  you
know  You promised me that you would give me anything I like   

 Yes  Only speak  

She looked Marius full in the eye  and said   

 I have the address  

Marius turned pale  All the blood flowed back to his heart 

 What address  

 The address that you asked me to get  

She added  as though with an effort   

 The address  you know very well  

 Yes   stammered Marius 

 Of that young lady  

This word uttered  she sighed deeply 

Marius sprang from the parapet on which he had been sitting and seized
her hand distractedly 

 Oh  Well  lead me thither  Tell me  Ask of me anything you wish  Where
is it  

 Come with me   she responded   I don t know the street or number very
well  it is in quite the other direction from here  but I know the house
well  I will take you to it  

She withdrew her hand and went on  in a tone which could have rent
the heart of an observer  but which did not even graze Marius in his
intoxicated and ecstatic state   

 Oh  how glad you are  

A cloud swept across Marius  brow  He seized Eponine by the arm   

 Swear one thing to me  

 Swear   said she   what does that mean  Come  You want me to swear  

And she laughed 

 Your father  promise me  Eponine  Swear to me that you will not give
this address to your father  

She turned to him with a stupefied air 

 Eponine  How do you know that my name is Eponine  

 Promise what I tell you  

But she did not seem to hear him 

 That s nice  You have called me Eponine  

Marius grasped both her arms at once 

 But answer me  in the name of Heaven  pay attention to what I am saying
to you  swear to me that you will not tell your father this address that
you know  

 My father   said she   Ah yes  my father  Be at ease  He s in close
confinement  Besides  what do I care for my father  

 But you do not promise me   exclaimed Marius 

 Let go of me   she said  bursting into a laugh   how you do shake me 
Yes  Yes  I promise that  I swear that to you  What is that to me  I
will not tell my father the address  There  Is that right  Is that it  

 Nor to any one   said Marius 

 Nor to any one  

 Now   resumed Marius   take me there  

 Immediately  

 Immediately  

 Come along  Ah  how pleased he is   said she 

After a few steps she halted 

 You are following me too closely  Monsieur Marius  Let me go on ahead 
and follow me so  without seeming to do it  A nice young man like you
must not be seen with a woman like me  

No tongue can express all that lay in that word  woman  thus pronounced
by that child 

She proceeded a dozen paces and then halted once more  Marius joined
her  She addressed him sideways  and without turning towards him   

 By the way  you know that you promised me something  

Marius fumbled in his pocket  All that he owned in the world was the
five francs intended for Thenardier the father  He took them and laid
them in Eponine s hand 

She opened her fingers and let the coin fall to the ground  and gazed at
him with a gloomy air 

 I don t want your money   said she 




BOOK THIRD   THE HOUSE IN THE RUE PLUMET




CHAPTER I  THE HOUSE WITH A SECRET

About the middle of the last century  a chief justice in the Parliament
of Paris having a mistress and concealing the fact  for at that period
the grand seignors displayed their mistresses  and the bourgeois
concealed them  had  a little house  built in the Faubourg
Saint Germain  in the deserted Rue Blomet  which is now called Rue
Plumet  not far from the spot which was then designated as Combat des
Animaux 

This house was composed of a single storied pavilion  two rooms on the
ground floor  two chambers on the first floor  a kitchen down stairs 
a boudoir up stairs  an attic under the roof  the whole preceded by a
garden with a large gate opening on the street  This garden was about
an acre and a half in extent  This was all that could be seen by
passers by  but behind the pavilion there was a narrow courtyard  and
at the end of the courtyard a low building consisting of two rooms and
a cellar  a sort of preparation destined to conceal a child and nurse
in case of need  This building communicated in the rear by a masked
door which opened by a secret spring  with a long  narrow  paved winding
corridor  open to the sky  hemmed in with two lofty walls  which  hidden
with wonderful art  and lost as it were between garden enclosures and
cultivated land  all of whose angles and detours it followed  ended in
another door  also with a secret lock which opened a quarter of a league
away  almost in another quarter  at the solitary extremity of the Rue du
Babylone 

Through this the chief justice entered  so that even those who were
spying on him and following him would merely have observed that the
justice betook himself every day in a mysterious way somewhere  and
would never have suspected that to go to the Rue de Babylone was to go
to the Rue Blomet  Thanks to clever purchasers of land  the magistrate
had been able to make a secret  sewer like passage on his own property 
and consequently  without interference  Later on  he had sold in little
parcels  for gardens and market gardens  the lots of ground adjoining
the corridor  and the proprietors of these lots on both sides thought
they had a party wall before their eyes  and did not even suspect the
long  paved ribbon winding between two walls amid their flower beds and
their orchards  Only the birds beheld this curiosity  It is probable
that the linnets and tomtits of the last century gossiped a great deal
about the chief justice 

The pavilion  built of stone in the taste of Mansard  wainscoted and
furnished in the Watteau style  rocaille on the inside  old fashioned
on the outside  walled in with a triple hedge of flowers  had something
discreet  coquettish  and solemn about it  as befits a caprice of love
and magistracy 

This house and corridor  which have now disappeared  were in existence
fifteen years ago  In  93 a coppersmith had purchased the house with
the idea of demolishing it  but had not been able to pay the price  the
nation made him bankrupt  So that it was the house which demolished the
coppersmith  After that  the house remained uninhabited  and fell slowly
to ruin  as does every dwelling to which the presence of man does not
communicate life  It had remained fitted with its old furniture  was
always for sale or to let  and the ten or a dozen people who passed
through the Rue Plumet were warned of the fact by a yellow and illegible
bit of writing which had hung on the garden wall since 1819 

Towards the end of the Restoration  these same passers by might have
noticed that the bill had disappeared  and even that the shutters on the
first floor were open  The house was occupied  in fact  The windows had
short curtains  a sign that there was a woman about 

In the month of October  1829  a man of a certain age had presented
himself and had hired the house just as it stood  including  of course 
the back building and the lane which ended in the Rue de Babylone  He
had had the secret openings of the two doors to this passage repaired 
The house  as we have just mentioned  was still very nearly furnished
with the justice s old fitting  the new tenant had ordered some
repairs  had added what was lacking here and there  had replaced the
paving stones in the yard  bricks in the floors  steps in the stairs 
missing bits in the inlaid floors and the glass in the lattice windows 
and had finally installed himself there with a young girl and an elderly
maid servant  without commotion  rather like a person who is slipping
in than like a man who is entering his own house  The neighbors did not
gossip about him  for the reason that there were no neighbors 

This unobtrusive tenant was Jean Valjean  the young girl was Cosette 
The servant was a woman named Toussaint  whom Jean Valjean had saved
from the hospital and from wretchedness  and who was elderly  a
stammerer  and from the provinces  three qualities which had decided
Jean Valjean to take her with him  He had hired the house under the name
of M  Fauchelevent  independent gentleman  In all that has been
related heretofore  the reader has  doubtless  been no less prompt than
Thenardier to recognize Jean Valjean 

Why had Jean Valjean quitted the convent of the Petit Picpus  What had
happened 

Nothing had happened 

It will be remembered that Jean Valjean was happy in the convent  so
happy that his conscience finally took the alarm  He saw Cosette every
day  he felt paternity spring up and develop within him more and more 
he brooded over the soul of that child  he said to himself that she
was his  that nothing could take her from him  that this would last
indefinitely  that she would certainly become a nun  being thereto
gently incited every day  that thus the convent was henceforth the
universe for her as it was for him  that he should grow old there  and
that she would grow up there  that she would grow old there  and that
he should die there  that  in short  delightful hope  no separation
was possible  On reflecting upon this  he fell into perplexity  He
interrogated himself  He asked himself if all that happiness were
really his  if it were not composed of the happiness of another  of
the happiness of that child which he  an old man  was confiscating and
stealing  if that were not theft  He said to himself  that this child
had a right to know life before renouncing it  that to deprive her in
advance  and in some sort without consulting her  of all joys  under
the pretext of saving her from all trials  to take advantage of her
ignorance of her isolation  in order to make an artificial vocation
germinate in her  was to rob a human creature of its nature and to lie
to God  And who knows if  when she came to be aware of all this some
day  and found herself a nun to her sorrow  Cosette would not come to
hate him  A last  almost selfish thought  and less heroic than the rest 
but which was intolerable to him  He resolved to quit the convent 

He resolved on this  he recognized with anguish  the fact that it was
necessary  As for objections  there were none  Five years  sojourn
between these four walls and of disappearance had necessarily destroyed
or dispersed the elements of fear  He could return tranquilly among men 
He had grown old  and all had undergone a change  Who would recognize
him now  And then  to face the worst  there was danger only for himself 
and he had no right to condemn Cosette to the cloister for the reason
that he had been condemned to the galleys  Besides  what is danger in
comparison with the right  Finally  nothing prevented his being prudent
and taking his precautions 

As for Cosette s education  it was almost finished and complete 

His determination once taken  he awaited an opportunity  It was not long
in presenting itself  Old Fauchelevent died 

Jean Valjean demanded an audience with the revered prioress and told her
that  having come into a little inheritance at the death of his brother 
which permitted him henceforth to live without working  he should leave
the service of the convent and take his daughter with him  but that  as
it was not just that Cosette  since she had not taken the vows  should
have received her education gratuitously  he humbly begged the Reverend
Prioress to see fit that he should offer to the community  as indemnity 
for the five years which Cosette had spent there  the sum of five
thousand francs 

It was thus that Jean Valjean quitted the convent of the Perpetual
Adoration 

On leaving the convent  he took in his own arms the little valise the
key to which he still wore on his person  and would permit no porter to
touch it  This puzzled Cosette  because of the odor of embalming which
proceeded from it 

Let us state at once  that this trunk never quitted him more  He always
had it in his chamber  It was the first and only thing sometimes  that
he carried off in his moving when he moved about  Cosette laughed at it 
and called this valise his inseparable  saying   I am jealous of it  

Nevertheless  Jean Valjean did not reappear in the open air without
profound anxiety 

He discovered the house in the Rue Plumet  and hid himself from
sight there  Henceforth he was in the possession of the name   Ultime
Fauchelevent 

At the same time he hired two other apartments in Paris  in order that
he might attract less attention than if he were to remain always in the
same quarter  and so that he could  at need  take himself off at the
slightest disquietude which should assail him  and in short  so that
he might not again be caught unprovided as on the night when he had
so miraculously escaped from Javert  These two apartments were very
pitiable  poor in appearance  and in two quarters which were far remote
from each other  the one in the Rue de l Ouest  the other in the Rue de
l Homme Arme 

He went from time to time  now to the Rue de l Homme Arme  now to the
Rue de l Ouest  to pass a month or six weeks  without taking Toussaint 
He had himself served by the porters  and gave himself out as a
gentleman from the suburbs  living on his funds  and having a little
temporary resting place in town  This lofty virtue had three domiciles
in Paris for the sake of escaping from the police 




CHAPTER II  JEAN VALJEAN AS A NATIONAL GUARD

However  properly speaking  he lived in the Rue Plumet  and he had
arranged his existence there in the following fashion   

Cosette and the servant occupied the pavilion  she had the big
sleeping room with the painted pier glasses  the boudoir with the gilded
fillets  the justice s drawing room furnished with tapestries and vast
arm chairs  she had the garden  Jean Valjean had a canopied bed of
antique damask in three colors and a beautiful Persian rug purchased in
the Rue du Figuier Saint Paul at Mother Gaucher s  put into Cosette s
chamber  and  in order to redeem the severity of these magnificent
old things  he had amalgamated with this bric a brac all the gay and
graceful little pieces of furniture suitable to young girls  an etagere 
a bookcase filled with gilt edged books  an inkstand  a blotting book 
paper  a work table incrusted with mother of pearl  a silver gilt
dressing case  a toilet service in Japanese porcelain  Long damask
curtains with a red foundation and three colors  like those on the
bed  hung at the windows of the first floor  On the ground floor  the
curtains were of tapestry  All winter long  Cosette s little house was
heated from top to bottom  Jean Valjean inhabited the sort of porter s
lodge which was situated at the end of the back courtyard  with a
mattress on a folding bed  a white wood table  two straw chairs  an
earthenware water jug  a few old volumes on a shelf  his beloved valise
in one corner  and never any fire  He dined with Cosette  and he had a
loaf of black bread on the table for his own use 

When Toussaint came  he had said to her   It is the young lady who is
the mistress of this house     And you  monsieur   Toussaint replied in
amazement    I am a much better thing than the master  I am the father  

Cosette had been taught housekeeping in the convent  and she regulated
their expenditure  which was very modest  Every day  Jean Valjean put
his arm through Cosette s and took her for a walk  He led her to the
Luxembourg  to the least frequented walk  and every Sunday he took her
to mass at Saint Jacques du Haut Pas  because that was a long way off 
As it was a very poor quarter  he bestowed alms largely there  and the
poor people surrounded him in church  which had drawn down upon him
Thenardier s epistle   To the benevolent gentleman of the church of
Saint Jacques du Haut Pas   He was fond of taking Cosette to visit the
poor and the sick  No stranger ever entered the house in the Rue Plumet 
Toussaint brought their provisions  and Jean Valjean went himself for
water to a fountain near by on the boulevard  Their wood and wine were
put into a half subterranean hollow lined with rock work which lay near
the Rue de Babylone and which had formerly served the chief justice as
a grotto  for at the epoch of follies and  Little Houses  no love was
without a grotto 

In the door opening on the Rue de Babylone  there was a box destined for
the reception of letters and papers  only  as the three inhabitants of
the pavilion in the Rue Plumet received neither papers nor letters  the
entire usefulness of that box  formerly the go between of a love
affair  and the confidant of a love lorn lawyer  was now limited to
the tax collector s notices  and the summons of the guard  For M 
Fauchelevent  independent gentleman  belonged to the national guard 
he had not been able to escape through the fine meshes of the census of
1831  The municipal information collected at that time had even reached
the convent of the Petit Picpus  a sort of impenetrable and holy cloud 
whence Jean Valjean had emerged in venerable guise  and  consequently 
worthy of mounting guard in the eyes of the townhall 

Three or four times a year  Jean Valjean donned his uniform and mounted
guard  he did this willingly  however  it was a correct disguise which
mixed him with every one  and yet left him solitary  Jean Valjean had
just attained his sixtieth birthday  the age of legal exemption  but he
did not appear to be over fifty  moreover  he had no desire to escape
his sergeant major nor to quibble with Comte de Lobau  he possessed
no civil status  he was concealing his name  he was concealing his
identity  so he concealed his age  he concealed everything  and  as we
have just said  he willingly did his duty as a national guard  the sum
of his ambition lay in resembling any other man who paid his taxes  This
man had for his ideal  within  the angel  without  the bourgeois 

Let us note one detail  however  when Jean Valjean went out with
Cosette  he dressed as the reader has already seen  and had the air of
a retired officer  When he went out alone  which was generally at night 
he was always dressed in a workingman s trousers and blouse  and wore
a cap which concealed his face  Was this precaution or humility  Both 
Cosette was accustomed to the enigmatical side of her destiny  and
hardly noticed her father s peculiarities  As for Toussaint  she
venerated Jean Valjean  and thought everything he did right 

One day  her butcher  who had caught a glimpse of Jean Valjean  said to
her   That s a queer fish   She replied   He s a saint  

Neither Jean Valjean nor Cosette nor Toussaint ever entered or emerged
except by the door on the Rue de Babylone  Unless seen through the
garden gate it would have been difficult to guess that they lived in
the Rue Plumet  That gate was always closed  Jean Valjean had left the
garden uncultivated  in order not to attract attention 

In this  possibly  he made a mistake 




CHAPTER III  FOLIIS AC FRONDIBUS

The garden thus left to itself for more than half a century had become
extraordinary and charming  The passers by of forty years ago halted to
gaze at it  without a suspicion of the secrets which it hid in its fresh
and verdant depths  More than one dreamer of that epoch often allowed
his thoughts and his eyes to penetrate indiscreetly between the bars of
that ancient  padlocked gate  twisted  tottering  fastened to two
green and moss covered pillars  and oddly crowned with a pediment of
undecipherable arabesque 

There was a stone bench in one corner  one or two mouldy statues 
several lattices which had lost their nails with time  were rotting on
the wall  and there were no walks nor turf  but there was enough grass
everywhere  Gardening had taken its departure  and nature had returned 
Weeds abounded  which was a great piece of luck for a poor corner of
land  The festival of gilliflowers was something splendid  Nothing
in this garden obstructed the sacred effort of things towards life 
venerable growth reigned there among them  The trees had bent over
towards the nettles  the plant had sprung upward  the branch had
inclined  that which crawls on the earth had gone in search of that
which expands in the air  that which floats on the wind had bent over
towards that which trails in the moss  trunks  boughs  leaves  fibres 
clusters  tendrils  shoots  spines  thorns  had mingled  crossed 
married  confounded themselves in each other  vegetation in a deep
and close embrace  had celebrated and accomplished there  under the
well pleased eye of the Creator  in that enclosure three hundred feet
square  the holy mystery of fraternity  symbol of the human fraternity 
This garden was no longer a garden  it was a colossal thicket  that is
to say  something as impenetrable as a forest  as peopled as a city 
quivering like a nest  sombre like a cathedral  fragrant like a bouquet 
solitary as a tomb  living as a throng 

In Floreal 34  this enormous thicket  free behind its gate and within
its four walls  entered upon the secret labor of germination  quivered
in the rising sun  almost like an animal which drinks in the breaths of
cosmic love  and which feels the sap of April rising and boiling in
its veins  and shakes to the wind its enormous wonderful green locks 
sprinkled on the damp earth  on the defaced statues  on the crumbling
steps of the pavilion  and even on the pavement of the deserted street 
flowers like stars  dew like pearls  fecundity  beauty  life  joy 
perfumes  At midday  a thousand white butterflies took refuge there  and
it was a divine spectacle to see that living summer snow whirling about
there in flakes amid the shade  There  in those gay shadows of verdure 
a throng of innocent voices spoke sweetly to the soul  and what the
twittering forgot to say the humming completed  In the evening  a dreamy
vapor exhaled from the garden and enveloped it  a shroud of mist  a
calm and celestial sadness covered it  the intoxicating perfume of the
honeysuckles and convolvulus poured out from every part of it  like an
exquisite and subtle poison  the last appeals of the woodpeckers and
the wagtails were audible as they dozed among the branches  one felt the
sacred intimacy of the birds and the trees  by day the wings rejoice the
leaves  by night the leaves protect the wings 

In winter the thicket was black  dripping  bristling  shivering  and
allowed some glimpse of the house  Instead of flowers on the branches
and dew in the flowers  the long silvery tracks of the snails were
visible on the cold  thick carpet of yellow leaves  but in any fashion 
under any aspect  at all seasons  spring  winter  summer  autumn  this
tiny enclosure breathed forth melancholy  contemplation  solitude 
liberty  the absence of man  the presence of God  and the rusty old gate
had the air of saying   This garden belongs to me  

It was of no avail that the pavements of Paris were there on every side 
the classic and splendid hotels of the Rue de Varennes a couple of paces
away  the dome of the Invalides close at hand  the Chamber of Deputies
not far off  the carriages of the Rue de Bourgogne and of the Rue
Saint Dominique rumbled luxuriously  in vain  in the vicinity  in vain
did the yellow  brown  white  and red omnibuses cross each other s
course at the neighboring cross roads  the Rue Plumet was the desert 
and the death of the former proprietors  the revolution which had passed
over it  the crumbling away of ancient fortunes  absence  forgetfulness 
forty years of abandonment and widowhood  had sufficed to restore to
this privileged spot ferns  mulleins  hemlock  yarrow  tall weeds  great
crimped plants  with large leaves of pale green cloth  lizards  beetles 
uneasy and rapid insects  to cause to spring forth from the depths
of the earth and to reappear between those four walls a certain
indescribable and savage grandeur  and for nature  which disconcerts
the petty arrangements of man  and which sheds herself always thoroughly
where she diffuses herself at all  in the ant as well as in the eagle 
to blossom out in a petty little Parisian garden with as much rude force
and majesty as in a virgin forest of the New World 

Nothing is small  in fact  any one who is subject to the profound
and penetrating influence of nature knows this  Although no absolute
satisfaction is given to philosophy  either to circumscribe the cause
or to limit the effect  the contemplator falls into those unfathomable
ecstasies caused by these decompositions of force terminating in unity 
Everything toils at everything 

Algebra is applied to the clouds  the radiation of the star profits
the rose  no thinker would venture to affirm that the perfume of the
hawthorn is useless to the constellations  Who  then  can calculate the
course of a molecule  How do we know that the creation of worlds is not
determined by the fall of grains of sand  Who knows the reciprocal
ebb and flow of the infinitely great and the infinitely little  the
reverberations of causes in the precipices of being  and the avalanches
of creation  The tiniest worm is of importance  the great is little  the
little is great  everything is balanced in necessity  alarming vision
for the mind  There are marvellous relations between beings and things 
in that inexhaustible whole  from the sun to the grub  nothing despises
the other  all have need of each other  The light does not bear away
terrestrial perfumes into the azure depths  without knowing what it is
doing  the night distributes stellar essences to the sleeping flowers 
All birds that fly have round their leg the thread of the infinite 
Germination is complicated with the bursting forth of a meteor and with
the peck of a swallow cracking its egg  and it places on one level the
birth of an earthworm and the advent of Socrates  Where the telescope
ends  the microscope begins  Which of the two possesses the larger field
of vision  Choose  A bit of mould is a pleiad of flowers  a nebula is an
ant hill of stars  The same promiscuousness  and yet more unprecedented 
exists between the things of the intelligence and the facts of
substance  Elements and principles mingle  combine  wed  multiply with
each other  to such a point that the material and the moral world are
brought eventually to the same clearness  The phenomenon is perpetually
returning upon itself  In the vast cosmic exchanges the universal life
goes and comes in unknown quantities  rolling entirely in the invisible
mystery of effluvia  employing everything  not losing a single dream 
not a single slumber  sowing an animalcule here  crumbling to bits a
planet there  oscillating and winding  making of light a force and of
thought an element  disseminated and invisible  dissolving all 
except that geometrical point  the I  bringing everything back to the
soul atom  expanding everything in God  entangling all activity  from
summit to base  in the obscurity of a dizzy mechanism  attaching the
flight of an insect to the movement of the earth  subordinating  who
knows  Were it only by the identity of the law  the evolution of the
comet in the firmament to the whirling of the infusoria in the drop
of water  A machine made of mind  Enormous gearing  the prime motor of
which is the gnat  and whose final wheel is the zodiac 




CHAPTER IV  CHANGE OF GATE

It seemed that this garden  created in olden days to conceal wanton
mysteries  had been transformed and become fitted to shelter chaste
mysteries  There were no longer either arbors  or bowling greens  or
tunnels  or grottos  there was a magnificent  dishevelled obscurity
falling like a veil over all  Paphos had been made over into Eden  It is
impossible to say what element of repentance had rendered this retreat
wholesome  This flower girl now offered her blossom to the soul  This
coquettish garden  formerly decidedly compromised  had returned to
virginity and modesty  A justice assisted by a gardener  a goodman who
thought that he was a continuation of Lamoignon  and another goodman who
thought that he was a continuation of Lenotre  had turned it about  cut 
ruffled  decked  moulded it to gallantry  nature had taken possession of
it once more  had filled it with shade  and had arranged it for love 

There was  also  in this solitude  a heart which was quite ready  Love
had only to show himself  he had here a temple composed of verdure 
grass  moss  the sight of birds  tender shadows  agitated branches  and
a soul made of sweetness  of faith  of candor  of hope  of aspiration 
and of illusion 

Cosette had left the convent when she was still almost a child  she was
a little more than fourteen  and she was at the  ungrateful age   we
have already said  that with the exception of her eyes  she was homely
rather than pretty  she had no ungraceful feature  but she was awkward 
thin  timid and bold at once  a grown up little girl  in short 

Her education was finished  that is to say  she has been taught
religion  and even and above all  devotion  then  history   that is to
say the thing that bears that name in convents  geography  grammar 
the participles  the kings of France  a little music  a little drawing 
etc   but in all other respects she was utterly ignorant  which is a
great charm and a great peril  The soul of a young girl should not be
left in the dark  later on  mirages that are too abrupt and too lively
are formed there  as in a dark chamber  She should be gently and
discreetly enlightened  rather with the reflection of realities than
with their harsh and direct light  A useful and graciously austere
half light which dissipates puerile fears and obviates falls  There is
nothing but the maternal instinct  that admirable intuition composed of
the memories of the virgin and the experience of the woman  which knows
how this half light is to be created and of what it should consist 

Nothing supplies the place of this instinct  All the nuns in the world
are not worth as much as one mother in the formation of a young girl s
soul 

Cosette had had no mother  She had only had many mothers  in the plural 

As for Jean Valjean  he was  indeed  all tenderness  all solicitude  but
he was only an old man and he knew nothing at all 

Now  in this work of education  in this grave matter of preparing a
woman for life  what science is required to combat that vast ignorance
which is called innocence 

Nothing prepares a young girl for passions like the convent  The convent
turns the thoughts in the direction of the unknown  The heart  thus
thrown back upon itself  works downward within itself  since it cannot
overflow  and grows deep  since it cannot expand  Hence visions 
suppositions  conjectures  outlines of romances  a desire for
adventures  fantastic constructions  edifices built wholly in the inner
obscurity of the mind  sombre and secret abodes where the passions
immediately find a lodgement as soon as the open gate permits them to
enter  The convent is a compression which  in order to triumph over the
human heart  should last during the whole life 

On quitting the convent  Cosette could have found nothing more sweet and
more dangerous than the house in the Rue Plumet  It was the continuation
of solitude with the beginning of liberty  a garden that was closed  but
a nature that was acrid  rich  voluptuous  and fragrant  the same dreams
as in the convent  but with glimpses of young men  a grating  but one
that opened on the street 

Still  when she arrived there  we repeat  she was only a child  Jean
Valjean gave this neglected garden over to her   Do what you like with
it   he said to her  This amused Cosette  she turned over all the clumps
and all the stones  she hunted for  beasts   she played in it  while
awaiting the time when she would dream in it  she loved this garden
for the insects that she found beneath her feet amid the grass  while
awaiting the day when she would love it for the stars that she would see
through the boughs above her head 

And then  she loved her father  that is to say  Jean Valjean  with
all her soul  with an innocent filial passion which made the goodman
a beloved and charming companion to her  It will be remembered that M 
Madeleine had been in the habit of reading a great deal  Jean Valjean
had continued this practice  he had come to converse well  he possessed
the secret riches and the eloquence of a true and humble mind which has
spontaneously cultivated itself  He retained just enough sharpness to
season his kindness  his mind was rough and his heart was soft  During
their conversations in the Luxembourg  he gave her explanations of
everything  drawing on what he had read  and also on what he had
suffered  As she listened to him  Cosette s eyes wandered vaguely about 

This simple man sufficed for Cosette s thought  the same as the wild
garden sufficed for her eyes  When she had had a good chase after the
butterflies  she came panting up to him and said   Ah  How I have run  
He kissed her brow 

Cosette adored the goodman  She was always at his heels  Where Jean
Valjean was  there happiness was  Jean Valjean lived neither in the
pavilion nor the garden  she took greater pleasure in the paved back
courtyard  than in the enclosure filled with flowers  and in his little
lodge furnished with straw seated chairs than in the great drawing room
hung with tapestry  against which stood tufted easy chairs  Jean Valjean
sometimes said to her  smiling at his happiness in being importuned   Do
go to your own quarters  Leave me alone a little  

She gave him those charming and tender scoldings which are so graceful
when they come from a daughter to her father 

 Father  I am very cold in your rooms  why don t you have a carpet here
and a stove  

 Dear child  there are so many people who are better than I and who have
not even a roof over their heads  

 Then why is there a fire in my rooms  and everything that is needed  

 Because you are a woman and a child  

 Bah  must men be cold and feel uncomfortable  

 Certain men  

 That is good  I shall come here so often that you will be obliged to
have a fire  

And again she said to him   

 Father  why do you eat horrible bread like that  

 Because  my daughter  

 Well  if you eat it  I will eat it too  

Then  in order to prevent Cosette eating black bread  Jean Valjean ate
white bread 

Cosette had but a confused recollection of her childhood  She prayed
morning and evening for her mother whom she had never known  The
Thenardiers had remained with her as two hideous figures in a dream  She
remembered that she had gone  one day  at night   to fetch water in a
forest  She thought that it had been very far from Paris  It seemed to
her that she had begun to live in an abyss  and that it was Jean Valjean
who had rescued her from it  Her childhood produced upon her the effect
of a time when there had been nothing around her but millepeds  spiders 
and serpents  When she meditated in the evening  before falling asleep 
as she had not a very clear idea that she was Jean Valjean s daughter 
and that he was her father  she fancied that the soul of her mother had
passed into that good man and had come to dwell near her 

When he was seated  she leaned her cheek against his white hair  and
dropped a silent tear  saying to herself   Perhaps this man is my
mother  

Cosette  although this is a strange statement to make  in the profound
ignorance of a girl brought up in a convent   maternity being also
absolutely unintelligible to virginity   had ended by fancying that she
had had as little mother as possible  She did not even know her mother s
name  Whenever she asked Jean Valjean  Jean Valjean remained silent  If
she repeated her question  he responded with a smile  Once she insisted 
the smile ended in a tear 

This silence on the part of Jean Valjean covered Fantine with darkness 

Was it prudence  Was it respect  Was it a fear that he should deliver
this name to the hazards of another memory than his own 

So long as Cosette had been small  Jean Valjean had been willing to talk
to her of her mother  when she became a young girl  it was impossible
for him to do so  It seemed to him that he no longer dared  Was it
because of Cosette  Was it because of Fantine  He felt a certain
religious horror at letting that shadow enter Cosette s thought  and of
placing a third in their destiny  The more sacred this shade was to him 
the more did it seem that it was to be feared  He thought of Fantine 
and felt himself overwhelmed with silence 

Through the darkness  he vaguely perceived something which appeared
to have its finger on its lips  Had all the modesty which had been
in Fantine  and which had violently quitted her during her lifetime 
returned to rest upon her after her death  to watch in indignation over
the peace of that dead woman  and in its shyness  to keep her in her
grave  Was Jean Valjean unconsciously submitting to the pressure  We
who believe in death  are not among the number who will reject this
mysterious explanation 

Hence the impossibility of uttering  even for Cosette  that name of
Fantine 

One day Cosette said to him   

 Father  I saw my mother in a dream last night  She had two big wings 
My mother must have been almost a saint during her life  

 Through martyrdom   replied Jean Valjean 

However  Jean Valjean was happy 

When Cosette went out with him  she leaned on his arm  proud and happy 
in the plenitude of her heart  Jean Valjean felt his heart melt within
him with delight  at all these sparks of a tenderness so exclusive  so
wholly satisfied with himself alone  The poor man trembled  inundated
with angelic joy  he declared to himself ecstatically that this would
last all their lives  he told himself that he really had not suffered
sufficiently to merit so radiant a bliss  and he thanked God  in the
depths of his soul  for having permitted him to be loved thus  he  a
wretch  by that innocent being 




CHAPTER V  THE ROSE PERCEIVES THAT IT IS AN ENGINE OF WAR

One day  Cosette chanced to look at herself in her mirror  and she said
to herself   Really   It seemed to her almost that she was pretty  This
threw her in a singularly troubled state of mind  Up to that moment she
had never thought of her face  She saw herself in her mirror  but she
did not look at herself  And then  she had so often been told that she
was homely  Jean Valjean alone said gently   No indeed  no indeed   At
all events  Cosette had always thought herself homely  and had grown up
in that belief with the easy resignation of childhood  And here  all
at once  was her mirror saying to her  as Jean Valjean had said   No
indeed   That night  she did not sleep   What if I were pretty   she
thought   How odd it would be if I were pretty   And she recalled those
of her companions whose beauty had produced a sensation in the convent 
and she said to herself   What  Am I to be like Mademoiselle So and So  

The next morning she looked at herself again  not by accident this time 
and she was assailed with doubts   Where did I get such an idea   said
she   no  I am ugly   She had not slept well  that was all  her eyes
were sunken and she was pale  She had not felt very joyous on the
preceding evening in the belief that she was beautiful  but it made her
very sad not to be able to believe in it any longer  She did not look at
herself again  and for more than a fortnight she tried to dress her hair
with her back turned to the mirror 

In the evening  after dinner  she generally embroidered in wool or
did some convent needlework in the drawing room  and Jean Valjean read
beside her  Once she raised her eyes from her work  and was rendered
quite uneasy by the manner in which her father was gazing at her 

On another occasion  she was passing along the street  and it seemed
to her that some one behind her  whom she did not see  said   A pretty
woman  but badly dressed    Bah   she thought   he does not mean me 
I am well dressed and ugly   She was then wearing a plush hat and her
merino gown 

At last  one day when she was in the garden  she heard poor old
Toussaint saying   Do you notice how pretty Cosette is growing  sir  
Cosette did not hear her father s reply  but Toussaint s words caused
a sort of commotion within her  She fled from the garden  ran up to
her room  flew to the looking glass   it was three months since she
had looked at herself   and gave vent to a cry  She had just dazzled
herself 

She was beautiful and lovely  she could not help agreeing with Toussaint
and her mirror  Her figure was formed  her skin had grown white  her
hair was lustrous  an unaccustomed splendor had been lighted in her blue
eyes  The consciousness of her beauty burst upon her in an instant  like
the sudden advent of daylight  other people noticed it also  Toussaint
had said so  it was evidently she of whom the passer by had spoken 
there could no longer be any doubt of that  she descended to the garden
again  thinking herself a queen  imagining that she heard the birds
singing  though it was winter  seeing the sky gilded  the sun among
the trees  flowers in the thickets  distracted  wild  in inexpressible
delight 

Jean Valjean  on his side  experienced a deep and undefinable oppression
at heart 

In fact  he had  for some time past  been contemplating with terror that
beauty which seemed to grow more radiant every day on Cosette s sweet
face  The dawn that was smiling for all was gloomy for him 

Cosette had been beautiful for a tolerably long time before she became
aware of it herself  But  from the very first day  that unexpected light
which was rising slowly and enveloping the whole of the young girl s
person  wounded Jean Valjean s sombre eye  He felt that it was a change
in a happy life  a life so happy that he did not dare to move for fear
of disarranging something  This man  who had passed through all manner
of distresses  who was still all bleeding from the bruises of fate  who
had been almost wicked and who had become almost a saint  who  after
having dragged the chain of the galleys  was now dragging the invisible
but heavy chain of indefinite misery  this man whom the law had not
released from its grasp and who could be seized at any moment and
brought back from the obscurity of his virtue to the broad daylight of
public opprobrium  this man accepted all  excused all  pardoned all  and
merely asked of Providence  of man  of the law  of society  of nature 
of the world  one thing  that Cosette might love him 

That Cosette might continue to love him  That God would not prevent
the heart of the child from coming to him  and from remaining with him 
Beloved by Cosette  he felt that he was healed  rested  appeased  loaded
with benefits  recompensed  crowned  Beloved by Cosette  it was well
with him  He asked nothing more  Had any one said to him   Do you want
anything better   he would have answered   No   God might have said to
him   Do you desire heaven   and he would have replied   I should lose
by it  

Everything which could affect this situation  if only on the surface 
made him shudder like the beginning of something new  He had never
known very distinctly himself what the beauty of a woman means  but he
understood instinctively  that it was something terrible 

He gazed with terror on this beauty  which was blossoming out ever more
triumphant and superb beside him  beneath his very eyes  on the innocent
and formidable brow of that child  from the depths of her homeliness  of
his old age  of his misery  of his reprobation 

He said to himself   How beautiful she is  What is to become of me  

There  moreover  lay the difference between his tenderness and the
tenderness of a mother  What he beheld with anguish  a mother would have
gazed upon with joy 

The first symptoms were not long in making their appearance 

On the very morrow of the day on which she had said to herself 
 Decidedly I am beautiful   Cosette began to pay attention to her
toilet  She recalled the remark of that passer by   Pretty  but badly
dressed   the breath of an oracle which had passed beside her and had
vanished  after depositing in her heart one of the two germs which are
destined  later on  to fill the whole life of woman  coquetry  Love is
the other 

With faith in her beauty  the whole feminine soul expanded within her 
She conceived a horror for her merinos  and shame for her plush hat  Her
father had never refused her anything  She at once acquired the whole
science of the bonnet  the gown  the mantle  the boot  the cuff  the
stuff which is in fashion  the color which is becoming  that science
which makes of the Parisian woman something so charming  so deep  and so
dangerous  The words heady woman were invented for the Parisienne 

In less than a month  little Cosette  in that Thebaid of the Rue de
Babylone  was not only one of the prettiest  but one of the  best
dressed  women in Paris  which means a great deal more 

She would have liked to encounter her  passer by   to see what he would
say  and to  teach him a lesson   The truth is  that she was ravishing
in every respect  and that she distinguished the difference between a
bonnet from Gerard and one from Herbaut in the most marvellous way 

Jean Valjean watched these ravages with anxiety  He who felt that
he could never do anything but crawl  walk at the most  beheld wings
sprouting on Cosette 

Moreover  from the mere inspection of Cosette s toilet  a woman
would have recognized the fact that she had no mother  Certain little
proprieties  certain special conventionalities  were not observed by
Cosette  A mother  for instance  would have told her that a young girl
does not dress in damask 

The first day that Cosette went out in her black damask gown and mantle 
and her white crape bonnet  she took Jean Valjean s arm  gay  radiant 
rosy  proud  dazzling   Father   she said   how do you like me in this
guise   Jean Valjean replied in a voice which resembled the bitter voice
of an envious man   Charming   He was the same as usual during their
walk  On their return home  he asked Cosette   

 Won t you put on that other gown and bonnet again   you know the ones I
mean  

This took place in Cosette s chamber  Cosette turned towards the
wardrobe where her cast off schoolgirl s clothes were hanging 

 That disguise   said she   Father  what do you want me to do with it 
Oh no  the idea  I shall never put on those horrors again  With that
machine on my head  I have the air of Madame Mad dog  

Jean Valjean heaved a deep sigh 

From that moment forth  he noticed that Cosette  who had always
heretofore asked to remain at home  saying   Father  I enjoy myself more
here with you   now was always asking to go out  In fact  what is the
use of having a handsome face and a delicious costume if one does not
display them 

He also noticed that Cosette had no longer the same taste for the back
garden  Now she preferred the garden  and did not dislike to promenade
back and forth in front of the railed fence  Jean Valjean  who was shy 
never set foot in the garden  He kept to his back yard  like a dog 

Cosette  in gaining the knowledge that she was beautiful  lost the grace
of ignoring it  An exquisite grace  for beauty enhanced by ingenuousness
is ineffable  and nothing is so adorable as a dazzling and innocent
creature who walks along  holding in her hand the key to paradise
without being conscious of it  But what she had lost in ingenuous grace 
she gained in pensive and serious charm  Her whole person  permeated
with the joy of youth  of innocence  and of beauty  breathed forth a
splendid melancholy 

It was at this epoch that Marius  after the lapse of six months  saw her
once more at the Luxembourg 




CHAPTER VI  THE BATTLE BEGUN

Cosette in her shadow  like Marius in his  was all ready to take fire 
Destiny  with its mysterious and fatal patience  slowly drew together
these two beings  all charged and all languishing with the stormy
electricity of passion  these two souls which were laden with love as
two clouds are laden with lightning  and which were bound to overflow
and mingle in a look like the clouds in a flash of fire 

The glance has been so much abused in love romances that it has finally
fallen into disrepute  One hardly dares to say  nowadays  that two
beings fell in love because they looked at each other  That is the way
people do fall in love  nevertheless  and the only way  The rest is
nothing  but the rest comes afterwards  Nothing is more real than these
great shocks which two souls convey to each other by the exchange of
that spark 

At that particular hour when Cosette unconsciously darted that glance
which troubled Marius  Marius had no suspicion that he had also launched
a look which disturbed Cosette 

He caused her the same good and the same evil 

She had been in the habit of seeing him for a long time  and she had
scrutinized him as girls scrutinize and see  while looking elsewhere 
Marius still considered Cosette ugly  when she had already begun to
think Marius handsome  But as he paid no attention to her  the young man
was nothing to her 

Still  she could not refrain from saying to herself that he had
beautiful hair  beautiful eyes  handsome teeth  a charming tone of voice
when she heard him conversing with his comrades  that he held himself
badly when he walked  if you like  but with a grace that was all his
own  that he did not appear to be at all stupid  that his whole person
was noble  gentle  simple  proud  and that  in short  though he seemed
to be poor  yet his air was fine 

On the day when their eyes met at last  and said to each other those
first  obscure  and ineffable things which the glance lisps  Cosette did
not immediately understand  She returned thoughtfully to the house in
the Rue de l Ouest  where Jean Valjean  according to his custom  had
come to spend six weeks  The next morning  on waking  she thought of
that strange young man  so long indifferent and icy  who now seemed to
pay attention to her  and it did not appear to her that this attention
was the least in the world agreeable to her  She was  on the contrary 
somewhat incensed at this handsome and disdainful individual  A
substratum of war stirred within her  It struck her  and the idea caused
her a wholly childish joy  that she was going to take her revenge at
last 

Knowing that she was beautiful  she was thoroughly conscious  though
in an indistinct fashion  that she possessed a weapon  Women play with
their beauty as children do with a knife  They wound themselves 

The reader will recall Marius  hesitations  his palpitations  his
terrors  He remained on his bench and did not approach  This vexed
Cosette  One day  she said to Jean Valjean   Father  let us stroll about
a little in that direction   Seeing that Marius did not come to her 
she went to him  In such cases  all women resemble Mahomet  And then 
strange to say  the first symptom of true love in a young man is
timidity  in a young girl it is boldness  This is surprising  and yet
nothing is more simple  It is the two sexes tending to approach each
other and assuming  each the other s qualities 

That day  Cosette s glance drove Marius beside himself  and Marius 
glance set Cosette to trembling  Marius went away confident  and Cosette
uneasy  From that day forth  they adored each other 

The first thing that Cosette felt was a confused and profound
melancholy  It seemed to her that her soul had become black since the
day before  She no longer recognized it  The whiteness of soul in young
girls  which is composed of coldness and gayety  resembles snow  It
melts in love  which is its sun 

Cosette did not know what love was  She had never heard the word uttered
in its terrestrial sense  On the books of profane music which entered
the convent  amour  love  was replaced by tambour  drum  or pandour 
This created enigmas which exercised the imaginations of the big girls 
such as  Ah  how delightful is the drum  or  Pity is not a pandour  But
Cosette had left the convent too early to have occupied herself much
with the  drum   Therefore  she did not know what name to give to what
she now felt  Is any one the less ill because one does not know the name
of one s malady 

She loved with all the more passion because she loved ignorantly  She
did not know whether it was a good thing or a bad thing  useful or
dangerous  eternal or temporary  allowable or prohibited  she loved  She
would have been greatly astonished  had any one said to her   You do not
sleep  But that is forbidden  You do not eat  Why  that is very bad  You
have oppressions and palpitations of the heart  That must not be  You
blush and turn pale  when a certain being clad in black appears at the
end of a certain green walk  But that is abominable   She would not have
understood  and she would have replied   What fault is there of mine in
a matter in which I have no power and of which I know nothing  

It turned out that the love which presented itself was exactly suited to
the state of her soul  It was a sort of admiration at a distance  a mute
contemplation  the deification of a stranger  It was the apparition of
youth to youth  the dream of nights become a reality yet remaining
a dream  the longed for phantom realized and made flesh at last  but
having as yet  neither name  nor fault  nor spot  nor exigence  nor
defect  in a word  the distant lover who lingered in the ideal  a
chimaera with a form  Any nearer and more palpable meeting would have
alarmed Cosette at this first stage  when she was still half immersed in
the exaggerated mists of the cloister  She had all the fears of children
and all the fears of nuns combined  The spirit of the convent  with
which she had been permeated for the space of five years  was still in
the process of slow evaporation from her person  and made everything
tremble around her  In this situation he was not a lover  he was not
even an admirer  he was a vision  She set herself to adoring Marius as
something charming  luminous  and impossible 

As extreme innocence borders on extreme coquetry  she smiled at him with
all frankness 

Every day  she looked forward to the hour for their walk with
impatience  she found Marius there  she felt herself unspeakably happy 
and thought in all sincerity that she was expressing her whole thought
when she said to Jean Valjean   

 What a delicious garden that Luxembourg is  

Marius and Cosette were in the dark as to one another  They did not
address each other  they did not salute each other  they did not know
each other  they saw each other  and like stars of heaven which are
separated by millions of leagues  they lived by gazing at each other 

It was thus that Cosette gradually became a woman and developed 
beautiful and loving  with a consciousness of her beauty  and in
ignorance of her love  She was a coquette to boot through her ignorance 




CHAPTER VII  TO ONE SADNESS OPPOSE A SADNESS AND A HALF

All situations have their instincts  Old and eternal Mother Nature
warned Jean Valjean in a dim way of the presence of Marius  Jean Valjean
shuddered to the very bottom of his soul  Jean Valjean saw nothing  knew
nothing  and yet he scanned with obstinate attention  the darkness
in which he walked  as though he felt on one side of him something in
process of construction  and on the other  something which was crumbling
away  Marius  also warned  and  in accordance with the deep law of God 
by that same Mother Nature  did all he could to keep out of sight of
 the father   Nevertheless  it came to pass that Jean Valjean sometimes
espied him  Marius  manners were no longer in the least natural  He
exhibited ambiguous prudence and awkward daring  He no longer came quite
close to them as formerly  He seated himself at a distance and pretended
to be reading  why did he pretend that  Formerly he had come in his old
coat  now he wore his new one every day  Jean Valjean was not sure
that he did not have his hair curled  his eyes were very queer  he wore
gloves  in short  Jean Valjean cordially detested this young man 

Cosette allowed nothing to be divined  Without knowing just what was the
matter with her she was convinced that there was something in it  and
that it must be concealed 

There was a coincidence between the taste for the toilet which had
recently come to Cosette  and the habit of new clothes developed by
that stranger which was very repugnant to Jean Valjean  It might be
accidental  no doubt  certainly  but it was a menacing accident 

He never opened his mouth to Cosette about this stranger  One day 
however  he could not refrain from so doing  and  with that vague
despair which suddenly casts the lead into the depths of its despair  he
said to her   What a very pedantic air that young man has  

Cosette  but a year before only an indifferent little girl  would have
replied   Why  no  he is charming   Ten years later  with the love
of Marius in her heart  she would have answered   A pedant  and
insufferable to the sight  You are right    At the moment in life
and the heart which she had then attained  she contented herself with
replying  with supreme calmness   That young man  

As though she now beheld him for the first time in her life 

 How stupid I am   thought Jean Valjean   She had not noticed him  It is
I who have pointed him out to her  

Oh  simplicity of the old  oh  the depth of children 

It is one of the laws of those fresh years of suffering and trouble  of
those vivacious conflicts between a first love and the first obstacles 
that the young girl does not allow herself to be caught in any trap
whatever  and that the young man falls into every one  Jean Valjean
had instituted an undeclared war against Marius  which Marius  with
the sublime stupidity of his passion and his age  did not divine  Jean
Valjean laid a host of ambushes for him  he changed his hour  he changed
his bench  he forgot his handkerchief  he came alone to the Luxembourg 
Marius dashed headlong into all these snares  and to all the
interrogation marks planted by Jean Valjean in his pathway  he
ingenuously answered  yes   But Cosette remained immured in her apparent
unconcern and in her imperturbable tranquillity  so that Jean Valjean
arrived at the following conclusion   That ninny is madly in love with
Cosette  but Cosette does not even know that he exists  

None the less did he bear in his heart a mournful tremor  The minute
when Cosette would love might strike at any moment  Does not everything
begin with indifference 

Only once did Cosette make a mistake and alarm him  He rose from his
seat to depart  after a stay of three hours  and she said   What 
already  

Jean Valjean had not discontinued his trips to the Luxembourg  as he
did not wish to do anything out of the way  and as  above all things 
he feared to arouse Cosette  but during the hours which were so sweet
to the lovers  while Cosette was sending her smile to the intoxicated
Marius  who perceived nothing else now  and who now saw nothing in all
the world but an adored and radiant face  Jean Valjean was fixing on
Marius flashing and terrible eyes  He  who had finally come to believe
himself incapable of a malevolent feeling  experienced moments when
Marius was present  in which he thought he was becoming savage and
ferocious once more  and he felt the old depths of his soul  which
had formerly contained so much wrath  opening once more and rising up
against that young man  It almost seemed to him that unknown craters
were forming in his bosom 

What  he was there  that creature  What was he there for  He came
creeping about  smelling out  examining  trying  He came  saying   Hey 
Why not   He came to prowl about his  Jean Valjean s  life  to prowl
about his happiness  with the purpose of seizing it and bearing it away 

Jean Valjean added   Yes  that s it  What is he in search of  An
adventure  What does he want  A love affair  A love affair  And I  What 
I have been first  the most wretched of men  and then the most unhappy 
and I have traversed sixty years of life on my knees  I have suffered
everything that man can suffer  I have grown old without having been
young  I have lived without a family  without relatives  without
friends  without life  without children  I have left my blood on every
stone  on every bramble  on every mile post  along every wall  I have
been gentle  though others have been hard to me  and kind  although
others have been malicious  I have become an honest man once more  in
spite of everything  I have repented of the evil that I have done and
have forgiven the evil that has been done to me  and at the moment
when I receive my recompense  at the moment when it is all over  at the
moment when I am just touching the goal  at the moment when I have what
I desire  it is well  it is good  I have paid  I have earned it  all
this is to take flight  all this will vanish  and I shall lose Cosette 
and I shall lose my life  my joy  my soul  because it has pleased a
great booby to come and lounge at the Luxembourg  

Then his eyes were filled with a sad and extraordinary gleam 

It was no longer a man gazing at a man  it was no longer an enemy
surveying an enemy  It was a dog scanning a thief 

The reader knows the rest  Marius pursued his senseless course  One day
he followed Cosette to the Rue de l Ouest  Another day he spoke to
the porter  The porter  on his side  spoke  and said to Jean Valjean 
 Monsieur  who is that curious young man who is asking for you   On the
morrow Jean Valjean bestowed on Marius that glance which Marius at last
perceived  A week later  Jean Valjean had taken his departure  He swore
to himself that he would never again set foot either in the Luxembourg
or in the Rue de l Ouest  He returned to the Rue Plumet 

Cosette did not complain  she said nothing  she asked no questions  she
did not seek to learn his reasons  she had already reached the point
where she was afraid of being divined  and of betraying herself  Jean
Valjean had no experience of these miseries  the only miseries which
are charming and the only ones with which he was not acquainted  the
consequence was that he did not understand the grave significance of
Cosette s silence 

He merely noticed that she had grown sad  and he grew gloomy  On his
side and on hers  inexperience had joined issue 

Once he made a trial  He asked Cosette   

 Would you like to come to the Luxembourg  

A ray illuminated Cosette s pale face 

 Yes   said she 

They went thither  Three months had elapsed  Marius no longer went
there  Marius was not there 

On the following day  Jean Valjean asked Cosette again   

 Would you like to come to the Luxembourg  

She replied  sadly and gently   

 No  

Jean Valjean was hurt by this sadness  and heart broken at this
gentleness 

What was going on in that mind which was so young and yet already so
impenetrable  What was on its way there within  What was taking place
in Cosette s soul  Sometimes  instead of going to bed  Jean Valjean
remained seated on his pallet  with his head in his hands  and he passed
whole nights asking himself   What has Cosette in her mind   and in
thinking of the things that she might be thinking about 

Oh  at such moments  what mournful glances did he cast towards that
cloister  that chaste peak  that abode of angels  that inaccessible
glacier of virtue  How he contemplated  with despairing ecstasy  that
convent garden  full of ignored flowers and cloistered virgins  where
all perfumes and all souls mount straight to heaven  How he adored that
Eden forever closed against him  whence he had voluntarily and madly
emerged  How he regretted his abnegation and his folly in having brought
Cosette back into the world  poor hero of sacrifice  seized and hurled
to the earth by his very self devotion  How he said to himself   What
have I done  

However  nothing of all this was perceptible to Cosette  No ill temper 
no harshness  His face was always serene and kind  Jean Valjean s
manners were more tender and more paternal than ever  If anything could
have betrayed his lack of joy  it was his increased suavity 

On her side  Cosette languished  She suffered from the absence of Marius
as she had rejoiced in his presence  peculiarly  without exactly being
conscious of it  When Jean Valjean ceased to take her on their customary
strolls  a feminine instinct murmured confusedly  at the bottom of her
heart  that she must not seem to set store on the Luxembourg garden  and
that if this proved to be a matter of indifference to her  her father
would take her thither once more  But days  weeks  months  elapsed  Jean
Valjean had tacitly accepted Cosette s tacit consent  She regretted it 
It was too late  So Marius had disappeared  all was over  The day on
which she returned to the Luxembourg  Marius was no longer there  What
was to be done  Should she ever find him again  She felt an anguish at
her heart  which nothing relieved  and which augmented every day  she no
longer knew whether it was winter or summer  whether it was raining or
shining  whether the birds were singing  whether it was the season for
dahlias or daisies  whether the Luxembourg was more charming than
the Tuileries  whether the linen which the laundress brought home
was starched too much or not enough  whether Toussaint had done  her
marketing  well or ill  and she remained dejected  absorbed  attentive
to but a single thought  her eyes vague and staring as when one gazes by
night at a black and fathomless spot where an apparition has vanished 

However  she did not allow Jean Valjean to perceive anything of this 
except her pallor 

She still wore her sweet face for him 

This pallor sufficed but too thoroughly to trouble Jean Valjean 
Sometimes he asked her   

 What is the matter with you  

She replied   There is nothing the matter with me  

And after a silence  when she divined that he was sad also  she would
add   

 And you  father  is there anything wrong with you  

 With me  Nothing   said he 

These two beings who had loved each other so exclusively  and with so
touching an affection  and who had lived so long for each other
now suffered side by side  each on the other s account  without
acknowledging it to each other  without anger towards each other  and
with a smile 




CHAPTER VIII  THE CHAIN GANG

Jean Valjean was the more unhappy of the two  Youth  even in its
sorrows  always possesses its own peculiar radiance 

At times  Jean Valjean suffered so greatly that he became puerile  It is
the property of grief to cause the childish side of man to reappear  He
had an unconquerable conviction that Cosette was escaping from him  He
would have liked to resist  to retain her  to arouse her enthusiasm by
some external and brilliant matter  These ideas  puerile  as we have
just said  and at the same time senile  conveyed to him  by their very
childishness  a tolerably just notion of the influence of gold lace on
the imaginations of young girls  He once chanced to see a general on
horseback  in full uniform  pass along the street  Comte Coutard  the
commandant of Paris  He envied that gilded man  what happiness it
would be  he said to himself  if he could put on that suit which was an
incontestable thing  and if Cosette could behold him thus  she would be
dazzled  and when he had Cosette on his arm and passed the gates of the
Tuileries  the guard would present arms to him  and that would suffice
for Cosette  and would dispel her idea of looking at young men 

An unforeseen shock was added to these sad reflections 

In the isolated life which they led  and since they had come to dwell
in the Rue Plumet  they had contracted one habit  They sometimes took
a pleasure trip to see the sun rise  a mild species of enjoyment which
befits those who are entering life and those who are quitting it 

For those who love solitude  a walk in the early morning is equivalent
to a stroll by night  with the cheerfulness of nature added  The streets
are deserted and the birds are singing  Cosette  a bird herself  liked
to rise early  These matutinal excursions were planned on the preceding
evening  He proposed  and she agreed  It was arranged like a plot  they
set out before daybreak  and these trips were so many small delights for
Cosette  These innocent eccentricities please young people 

Jean Valjean s inclination led him  as we have seen  to the least
frequented spots  to solitary nooks  to forgotten places  There then
existed  in the vicinity of the barriers of Paris  a sort of poor
meadows  which were almost confounded with the city  where grew in
summer sickly grain  and which  in autumn  after the harvest had been
gathered  presented the appearance  not of having been reaped  but
peeled  Jean Valjean loved to haunt these fields  Cosette was not bored
there  It meant solitude to him and liberty to her  There  she became a
little girl once more  she could run and almost play  she took off her
hat  laid it on Jean Valjean s knees  and gathered bunches of flowers 
She gazed at the butterflies on the flowers  but did not catch them 
gentleness and tenderness are born with love  and the young girl who
cherishes within her breast a trembling and fragile ideal has mercy on
the wing of a butterfly  She wove garlands of poppies  which she placed
on her head  and which  crossed and penetrated with sunlight  glowing
until they flamed  formed for her rosy face a crown of burning embers 

Even after their life had grown sad  they kept up their custom of early
strolls 

One morning in October  therefore  tempted by the serene perfection of
the autumn of 1831  they set out  and found themselves at break of
day near the Barriere du Maine  It was not dawn  it was daybreak  a
delightful and stern moment  A few constellations here and there in the
deep  pale azure  the earth all black  the heavens all white  a quiver
amid the blades of grass  everywhere the mysterious chill of twilight  A
lark  which seemed mingled with the stars  was carolling at a prodigious
height  and one would have declared that that hymn of pettiness calmed
immensity  In the East  the Valde Grace projected its dark mass on the
clear horizon with the sharpness of steel  Venus dazzlingly brilliant
was rising behind that dome and had the air of a soul making its escape
from a gloomy edifice 

All was peace and silence  there was no one on the road  a few stray
laborers  of whom they caught barely a glimpse  were on their way to
their work along the side paths 

Jean Valjean was sitting in a cross walk on some planks deposited at the
gate of a timber yard  His face was turned towards the highway  his back
towards the light  he had forgotten the sun which was on the point of
rising  he had sunk into one of those profound absorptions in which the
mind becomes concentrated  which imprison even the eye  and which are
equivalent to four walls  There are meditations which may be called
vertical  when one is at the bottom of them  time is required to return
to earth  Jean Valjean had plunged into one of these reveries  He was
thinking of Cosette  of the happiness that was possible if nothing came
between him and her  of the light with which she filled his life  a
light which was but the emanation of her soul  He was almost happy in
his revery  Cosette  who was standing beside him  was gazing at the
clouds as they turned rosy 

All at once Cosette exclaimed   Father  I should think some one was
coming yonder   Jean Valjean raised his eyes 

Cosette was right  The causeway which leads to the ancient Barriere du
Maine is a prolongation  as the reader knows  of the Rue de Sevres 
and is cut at right angles by the inner boulevard  At the elbow of the
causeway and the boulevard  at the spot where it branches  they heard a
noise which it was difficult to account for at that hour  and a sort of
confused pile made its appearance  Some shapeless thing which was coming
from the boulevard was turning into the road 

It grew larger  it seemed to move in an orderly manner  though it was
bristling and quivering  it seemed to be a vehicle  but its load could
not be distinctly made out  There were horses  wheels  shouts  whips
were cracking  By degrees the outlines became fixed  although bathed
in shadows  It was a vehicle  in fact  which had just turned from the
boulevard into the highway  and which was directing its course towards
the barrier near which sat Jean Valjean  a second  of the same aspect 
followed  then a third  then a fourth  seven chariots made their
appearance in succession  the heads of the horses touching the rear of
the wagon in front  Figures were moving on these vehicles  flashes were
visible through the dusk as though there were naked swords there  a
clanking became audible which resembled the rattling of chains  and as
this something advanced  the sound of voices waxed louder  and it turned
into a terrible thing such as emerges from the cave of dreams 

As it drew nearer  it assumed a form  and was outlined behind the trees
with the pallid hue of an apparition  the mass grew white  the day 
which was slowly dawning  cast a wan light on this swarming heap which
was at once both sepulchral and living  the heads of the figures turned
into the faces of corpses  and this is what it proved to be   

Seven wagons were driving in a file along the road  The first six were
singularly constructed  They resembled coopers  drays  they consisted
of long ladders placed on two wheels and forming barrows at their rear
extremities  Each dray  or rather let us say  each ladder  was attached
to four horses harnessed tandem  On these ladders strange clusters of
men were being drawn  In the faint light  these men were to be divined
rather than seen  Twenty four on each vehicle  twelve on a side  back to
back  facing the passers by  their legs dangling in the air   this was
the manner in which these men were travelling  and behind their backs
they had something which clanked  and which was a chain  and on their
necks something which shone  and which was an iron collar  Each man had
his collar  but the chain was for all  so that if these four and twenty
men had occasion to alight from the dray and walk  they were seized with
a sort of inexorable unity  and were obliged to wind over the ground
with the chain for a backbone  somewhat after the fashion of millepeds 
In the back and front of each vehicle  two men armed with muskets
stood erect  each holding one end of the chain under his foot  The iron
necklets were square  The seventh vehicle  a huge rack sided baggage
wagon  without a hood  had four wheels and six horses  and carried a
sonorous pile of iron boilers  cast iron pots  braziers  and chains 
among which were mingled several men who were pinioned and stretched at
full length  and who seemed to be ill  This wagon  all lattice work 
was garnished with dilapidated hurdles which appeared to have served for
former punishments  These vehicles kept to the middle of the road  On
each side marched a double hedge of guards of infamous aspect  wearing
three cornered hats  like the soldiers under the Directory  shabby 
covered with spots and holes  muffled in uniforms of veterans and the
trousers of undertakers  men  half gray  half blue  which were almost
hanging in rags  with red epaulets  yellow shoulder belts  short sabres 
muskets  and cudgels  they were a species of soldier blackguards 
These myrmidons seemed composed of the abjectness of the beggar and the
authority of the executioner  The one who appeared to be their chief
held a postilion s whip in his hand  All these details  blurred by the
dimness of dawn  became more and more clearly outlined as the light
increased  At the head and in the rear of the convoy rode mounted
gendarmes  serious and with sword in fist 

This procession was so long that when the first vehicle reached the
barrier  the last was barely debauching from the boulevard  A throng 
sprung  it is impossible to say whence  and formed in a twinkling  as
is frequently the case in Paris  pressed forward from both sides of
the road and looked on  In the neighboring lanes the shouts of people
calling to each other and the wooden shoes of market gardeners hastening
up to gaze were audible 

The men massed upon the drays allowed themselves to be jolted along in
silence  They were livid with the chill of morning  They all wore linen
trousers  and their bare feet were thrust into wooden shoes  The rest
of their costume was a fantasy of wretchedness  Their accoutrements were
horribly incongruous  nothing is more funereal than the harlequin in
rags  Battered felt hats  tarpaulin caps  hideous woollen nightcaps 
and  side by side with a short blouse  a black coat broken at the elbow 
many wore women s headgear  others had baskets on their heads  hairy
breasts were visible  and through the rent in their garments tattooed
designs could be descried  temples of Love  flaming hearts  Cupids 
eruptions and unhealthy red blotches could also be seen  Two or three
had a straw rope attached to the cross bar of the dray  and suspended
under them like a stirrup  which supported their feet  One of them held
in his hand and raised to his mouth something which had the appearance
of a black stone and which he seemed to be gnawing  it was bread which
he was eating  There were no eyes there which were not either dry 
dulled  or flaming with an evil light  The escort troop cursed  the men
in chains did not utter a syllable  from time to time the sound of
a blow became audible as the cudgels descended on shoulder blades or
skulls  some of these men were yawning  their rags were terrible 
their feet hung down  their shoulders oscillated  their heads clashed
together  their fetters clanked  their eyes glared ferociously  their
fists clenched or fell open inertly like the hands of corpses  in the
rear of the convoy ran a band of children screaming with laughter 

This file of vehicles  whatever its nature was  was mournful  It
was evident that to morrow  that an hour hence  a pouring rain might
descend  that it might be followed by another and another  and that
their dilapidated garments would be drenched  that once soaked  these
men would not get dry again  that once chilled  they would not again
get warm  that their linen trousers would be glued to their bones by the
downpour  that the water would fill their shoes  that no lashes from
the whips would be able to prevent their jaws from chattering  that the
chain would continue to bind them by the neck  that their legs would
continue to dangle  and it was impossible not to shudder at the sight
of these human beings thus bound and passive beneath the cold clouds of
autumn  and delivered over to the rain  to the blast  to all the furies
of the air  like trees and stones 

Blows from the cudgel were not omitted even in the case of the sick men 
who lay there knotted with ropes and motionless on the seventh wagon 
and who appeared to have been tossed there like sacks filled with
misery 

Suddenly  the sun made its appearance  the immense light of the Orient
burst forth  and one would have said that it had set fire to all those
ferocious heads  Their tongues were unloosed  a conflagration of grins 
oaths  and songs exploded  The broad horizontal sheet of light severed
the file in two parts  illuminating heads and bodies  leaving feet and
wheels in the obscurity  Thoughts made their appearance on these faces 
it was a terrible moment  visible demons with their masks removed 
fierce souls laid bare  Though lighted up  this wild throng remained in
gloom  Some  who were gay  had in their mouths quills through which they
blew vermin over the crowd  picking out the women  the dawn accentuated
these lamentable profiles with the blackness of its shadows  there
was not one of these creatures who was not deformed by reason of
wretchedness  and the whole was so monstrous that one would have
said that the sun s brilliancy had been changed into the glare of the
lightning  The wagon load which headed the line had struck up a song 
and were shouting at the top of their voices with a haggard joviality 
a potpourri by Desaugiers  then famous  called The Vestal  the trees
shivered mournfully  in the cross lanes  countenances of bourgeois
listened in an idiotic delight to these coarse strains droned by
spectres 

All sorts of distress met in this procession as in chaos  here were to
be found the facial angles of every sort of beast  old men  youths 
bald heads  gray beards  cynical monstrosities  sour resignation  savage
grins  senseless attitudes  snouts surmounted by caps  heads like those
of young girls with corkscrew curls on the temples  infantile visages 
and by reason of that  horrible thin skeleton faces  to which death
alone was lacking  On the first cart was a negro  who had been a slave 
in all probability  and who could make a comparison of his chains  The
frightful leveller from below  shame  had passed over these brows  at
that degree of abasement  the last transformations were suffered by all
in their extremest depths  and ignorance  converted into dulness  was
the equal of intelligence converted into despair  There was no choice
possible between these men who appeared to the eye as the flower of the
mud  It was evident that the person who had had the ordering of that
unclean procession had not classified them  These beings had been
fettered and coupled pell mell  in alphabetical disorder  probably  and
loaded hap hazard on those carts  Nevertheless  horrors  when grouped
together  always end by evolving a result  all additions of wretched men
give a sum total  each chain exhaled a common soul  and each dray load
had its own physiognomy  By the side of the one where they were singing 
there was one where they were howling  a third where they were begging 
one could be seen in which they were gnashing their teeth  another load
menaced the spectators  another blasphemed God  the last was as silent
as the tomb  Dante would have thought that he beheld his seven circles
of hell on the march  The march of the damned to their tortures 
performed in sinister wise  not on the formidable and flaming chariot
of the Apocalypse  but  what was more mournful than that  on the gibbet
cart 

One of the guards  who had a hook on the end of his cudgel  made a
pretence from time to time  of stirring up this mass of human filth 
An old woman in the crowd pointed them out to her little boy five years
old  and said to him   Rascal  let that be a warning to you  

As the songs and blasphemies increased  the man who appeared to be the
captain of the escort cracked his whip  and at that signal a fearful
dull and blind flogging  which produced the sound of hail  fell upon the
seven dray loads  many roared and foamed at the mouth  which redoubled
the delight of the street urchins who had hastened up  a swarm of flies
on these wounds 

Jean Valjean s eyes had assumed a frightful expression  They were no
longer eyes  they were those deep and glassy objects which replace the
glance in the case of certain wretched men  which seem unconscious
of reality  and in which flames the reflection of terrors and of
catastrophes  He was not looking at a spectacle  he was seeing a vision 
He tried to rise  to flee  to make his escape  he could not move his
feet  Sometimes  the things that you see seize upon you and hold you
fast  He remained nailed to the spot  petrified  stupid  asking himself 
athwart confused and inexpressible anguish  what this sepulchral
persecution signified  and whence had come that pandemonium which was
pursuing him  All at once  he raised his hand to his brow  a gesture
habitual to those whose memory suddenly returns  he remembered that this
was  in fact  the usual itinerary  that it was customary to make this
detour in order to avoid all possibility of encountering royalty on the
road to Fontainebleau  and that  five and thirty years before  he had
himself passed through that barrier 

Cosette was no less terrified  but in a different way  She did not
understand  what she beheld did not seem to her to be possible  at
length she cried   

 Father  What are those men in those carts  

Jean Valjean replied   Convicts  

 Whither are they going  

 To the galleys  

At that moment  the cudgelling  multiplied by a hundred hands  became
zealous  blows with the flat of the sword were mingled with it  it was a
perfect storm of whips and clubs  the convicts bent before it  a hideous
obedience was evoked by the torture  and all held their peace  darting
glances like chained wolves 

Cosette trembled in every limb  she resumed   

 Father  are they still men  

 Sometimes   answered the unhappy man 

It was the chain gang  in fact  which had set out before daybreak from
Bicetre  and had taken the road to Mans in order to avoid Fontainebleau 
where the King then was  This caused the horrible journey to last three
or four days longer  but torture may surely be prolonged with the object
of sparing the royal personage a sight of it 

Jean Valjean returned home utterly overwhelmed  Such encounters are
shocks  and the memory that they leave behind them resembles a thorough
shaking up 

Nevertheless  Jean Valjean did not observe that  on his way back to
the Rue de Babylone with Cosette  the latter was plying him with other
questions on the subject of what they had just seen  perhaps he was
too much absorbed in his own dejection to notice her words and reply to
them  But when Cosette was leaving him in the evening  to betake herself
to bed  he heard her say in a low voice  and as though talking to
herself   It seems to me  that if I were to find one of those men in my
pathway  oh  my God  I should die merely from the sight of him close at
hand  

Fortunately  chance ordained that on the morrow of that tragic day 
there was some official solemnity apropos of I know not what   fetes in
Paris  a review in the Champ de Mars  jousts on the Seine  theatrical
performances in the Champs Elysees  fireworks at the Arc de l Etoile 
illuminations everywhere  Jean Valjean did violence to his habits  and
took Cosette to see these rejoicings  for the purpose of diverting her
from the memory of the day before  and of effacing  beneath the smiling
tumult of all Paris  the abominable thing which had passed before her 
The review with which the festival was spiced made the presence of
uniforms perfectly natural  Jean Valjean donned his uniform of a
national guard with the vague inward feeling of a man who is betaking
himself to shelter  However  this trip seemed to attain its object 
Cosette  who made it her law to please her father  and to whom 
moreover  all spectacles were a novelty  accepted this diversion
with the light and easy good grace of youth  and did not pout too
disdainfully at that flutter of enjoyment called a public fete  so that
Jean Valjean was able to believe that he had succeeded  and that no
trace of that hideous vision remained 

Some days later  one morning  when the sun was shining brightly  and
they were both on the steps leading to the garden  another infraction of
the rules which Jean Valjean seemed to have imposed upon himself  and
to the custom of remaining in her chamber which melancholy had caused
Cosette to adopt  Cosette  in a wrapper  was standing erect in that
negligent attire of early morning which envelops young girls in an
adorable way and which produces the effect of a cloud drawn over a star 
and  with her head bathed in light  rosy after a good sleep  submitting
to the gentle glances of the tender old man  she was picking a daisy
to pieces  Cosette did not know the delightful legend  I love a little 
passionately  etc   who was there who could have taught her  She was
handling the flower instinctively  innocently  without a suspicion that
to pluck a daisy apart is to do the same by a heart  If there were a
fourth  and smiling Grace called Melancholy  she would have worn the air
of that Grace  Jean Valjean was fascinated by the contemplation of those
tiny fingers on that flower  and forgetful of everything in the radiance
emitted by that child  A red breast was warbling in the thicket  on one
side  White cloudlets floated across the sky  so gayly  that one would
have said that they had just been set at liberty  Cosette went on
attentively tearing the leaves from her flower  she seemed to be
thinking about something  but whatever it was  it must be something
charming  all at once she turned her head over her shoulder with the
delicate languor of a swan  and said to Jean Valjean   Father  what are
the galleys like  




BOOK FOURTH   SUCCOR FROM BELOW MAY TURN OUT TO BE SUCCOR FROM ON HIGH




CHAPTER I  A WOUND WITHOUT  HEALING WITHIN

Thus their life clouded over by degrees 

But one diversion  which had formerly been a happiness  remained to
them  which was to carry bread to those who were hungry  and clothing
to those who were cold  Cosette often accompanied Jean Valjean on these
visits to the poor  on which they recovered some remnants of their
former free intercourse  and sometimes  when the day had been a good
one  and they had assisted many in distress  and cheered and warmed many
little children  Cosette was rather merry in the evening  It was at this
epoch that they paid their visit to the Jondrette den 

On the day following that visit  Jean Valjean made his appearance in the
pavilion in the morning  calm as was his wont  but with a large wound on
his left arm which was much inflamed  and very angry  which resembled a
burn  and which he explained in some way or other  This wound resulted
in his being detained in the house for a month with fever  He would not
call in a doctor  When Cosette urged him   Call the dog doctor   said
he 

Cosette dressed the wound morning and evening with so divine an air and
such angelic happiness at being of use to him  that Jean Valjean felt
all his former joy returning  his fears and anxieties dissipating  and
he gazed at Cosette  saying   Oh  what a kindly wound  Oh  what a good
misfortune  

Cosette on perceiving that her father was ill  had deserted the pavilion
and again taken a fancy to the little lodging and the back courtyard 
She passed nearly all her days beside Jean Valjean and read to him
the books which he desired  Generally they were books of travel  Jean
Valjean was undergoing a new birth  his happiness was reviving in these
ineffable rays  the Luxembourg  the prowling young stranger  Cosette s
coldness   all these clouds upon his soul were growing dim  He had
reached the point where he said to himself   I imagined all that  I am
an old fool  

His happiness was so great that the horrible discovery of the
Thenardiers made in the Jondrette hovel  unexpected as it was  had 
after a fashion  glided over him unnoticed  He had succeeded in making
his escape  all trace of him was lost  what more did he care for  he
only thought of those wretched beings to pity them   Here they are in
prison  and henceforth they will be incapacitated for doing any harm  
he thought   but what a lamentable family in distress  

As for the hideous vision of the Barriere du Maine  Cosette had not
referred to it again 

Sister Sainte Mechtilde had taught Cosette music in the convent  Cosette
had the voice of a linnet with a soul  and sometimes  in the evening 
in the wounded man s humble abode  she warbled melancholy songs which
delighted Jean Valjean 

Spring came  the garden was so delightful at that season of the year 
that Jean Valjean said to Cosette   

 You never go there  I want you to stroll in it  

 As you like  father   said Cosette 

And for the sake of obeying her father  she resumed her walks in the
garden  generally alone  for  as we have mentioned  Jean Valjean  who
was probably afraid of being seen through the fence  hardly ever went
there 

Jean Valjean s wound had created a diversion 

When Cosette saw that her father was suffering less  that he was
convalescing  and that he appeared to be happy  she experienced a
contentment which she did not even perceive  so gently and naturally
had it come  Then  it was in the month of March  the days were growing
longer  the winter was departing  the winter always bears away with it a
portion of our sadness  then came April  that daybreak of summer  fresh
as dawn always is  gay like every childhood  a little inclined to weep
at times like the new born being that it is  In that month  nature
has charming gleams which pass from the sky  from the trees  from the
meadows and the flowers into the heart of man 

Cosette was still too young to escape the penetrating influence of that
April joy which bore so strong a resemblance to herself  Insensibly  and
without her suspecting the fact  the blackness departed from her spirit 
In spring  sad souls grow light  as light falls into cellars at midday 
Cosette was no longer sad  However  though this was so  she did not
account for it to herself  In the morning  about ten o clock  after
breakfast  when she had succeeded in enticing her father into the garden
for a quarter of an hour  and when she was pacing up and down in the
sunlight in front of the steps  supporting his left arm for him  she did
not perceive that she laughed every moment and that she was happy 

Jean Valjean  intoxicated  beheld her growing fresh and rosy once more 

 Oh  What a good wound   he repeated in a whisper 

And he felt grateful to the Thenardiers 

His wound once healed  he resumed his solitary twilight strolls 

It is a mistake to suppose that a person can stroll alone in that
fashion in the uninhabited regions of Paris without meeting with some
adventure 




CHAPTER II  MOTHER PLUTARQUE FINDS NO DIFFICULTY IN EXPLAINING A
PHENOMENON

One evening  little Gavroche had had nothing to eat  he remembered
that he had not dined on the preceding day either  this was becoming
tiresome  He resolved to make an effort to secure some supper  He
strolled out beyond the Salpetriere into deserted regions  that is
where windfalls are to be found  where there is no one  one always
finds something  He reached a settlement which appeared to him to be the
village of Austerlitz 

In one of his preceding lounges he had noticed there an old garden
haunted by an old man and an old woman  and in that garden  a passable
apple tree  Beside the apple tree stood a sort of fruit house  which was
not securely fastened  and where one might contrive to get an apple  One
apple is a supper  one apple is life  That which was Adam s ruin might
prove Gavroche s salvation  The garden abutted on a solitary  unpaved
lane  bordered with brushwood while awaiting the arrival of houses  the
garden was separated from it by a hedge 

Gavroche directed his steps towards this garden  he found the lane  he
recognized the apple tree  he verified the fruit house  he examined the
hedge  a hedge means merely one stride  The day was declining  there was
not even a cat in the lane  the hour was propitious  Gavroche began
the operation of scaling the hedge  then suddenly paused  Some one was
talking in the garden  Gavroche peeped through one of the breaks in the
hedge 

 Illustration  Succor from Below 4b4 1 succor from below 

A couple of paces distant  at the foot of the hedge on the other side 
exactly at the point where the gap which he was meditating would have
been made  there was a sort of recumbent stone which formed a bench  and
on this bench was seated the old man of the garden  while the old woman
was standing in front of him  The old woman was grumbling  Gavroche  who
was not very discreet  listened 

 Monsieur Mabeuf   said the old woman 

 Mabeuf   thought Gavroche   that name is a perfect farce  

The old man who was thus addressed  did not stir  The old woman
repeated   

 Monsieur Mabeuf  

The old man  without raising his eyes from the ground  made up his mind
to answer   

 What is it  Mother Plutarque  

 Mother Plutarque   thought Gavroche   another farcical name  

Mother Plutarque began again  and the old man was forced to accept the
conversation   

 The landlord is not pleased  

 Why  

 We owe three quarters rent  

 In three months  we shall owe him for four quarters  

 He says that he will turn you out to sleep  

 I will go  

 The green grocer insists on being paid  She will no longer leave her
fagots  What will you warm yourself with this winter  We shall have no
wood  

 There is the sun  

 The butcher refuses to give credit  he will not let us have any more
meat  

 That is quite right  I do not digest meat well  It is too heavy  

 What shall we have for dinner  

 Bread  

 The baker demands a settlement  and says   no money  no bread   

 That is well  

 What will you eat  

 We have apples in the apple room  

 But  Monsieur  we can t live like that without money  

 I have none  

The old woman went away  the old man remained alone  He fell into
thought  Gavroche became thoughtful also  It was almost dark 

The first result of Gavroche s meditation was  that instead of scaling
the hedge  he crouched down under it  The branches stood apart a little
at the foot of the thicket 

 Come   exclaimed Gavroche mentally   here s a nook   and he curled up
in it  His back was almost in contact with Father Mabeuf s bench  He
could hear the octogenarian breathe 

Then  by way of dinner  he tried to sleep 

It was a cat nap  with one eye open  While he dozed  Gavroche kept on
the watch 

The twilight pallor of the sky blanched the earth  and the lane formed a
livid line between two rows of dark bushes 

All at once  in this whitish band  two figures made their appearance 
One was in front  the other some distance in the rear 

 There come two creatures   muttered Gavroche 

The first form seemed to be some elderly bourgeois  who was bent and
thoughtful  dressed more than plainly  and who was walking slowly
because of his age  and strolling about in the open evening air 

The second was straight  firm  slender  It regulated its pace by that
of the first  but in the voluntary slowness of its gait  suppleness
and agility were discernible  This figure had also something fierce and
disquieting about it  the whole shape was that of what was then called
an elegant  the hat was of good shape  the coat black  well cut 
probably of fine cloth  and well fitted in at the waist  The head was
held erect with a sort of robust grace  and beneath the hat the pale
profile of a young man could be made out in the dim light  The profile
had a rose in its mouth  This second form was well known to Gavroche  it
was Montparnasse 

He could have told nothing about the other  except that he was a
respectable old man 

Gavroche immediately began to take observations 

One of these two pedestrians evidently had a project connected with
the other  Gavroche was well placed to watch the course of events  The
bedroom had turned into a hiding place at a very opportune moment 

Montparnasse on the hunt at such an hour  in such a place  betokened
something threatening  Gavroche felt his gamin s heart moved with
compassion for the old man 

What was he to do  Interfere  One weakness coming to the aid of another 
It would be merely a laughing matter for Montparnasse  Gavroche did not
shut his eyes to the fact that the old man  in the first place  and the
child in the second  would make but two mouthfuls for that redoubtable
ruffian eighteen years of age 

While Gavroche was deliberating  the attack took place  abruptly and
hideously  The attack of the tiger on the wild ass  the attack of the
spider on the fly  Montparnasse suddenly tossed away his rose  bounded
upon the old man  seized him by the collar  grasped and clung to him 
and Gavroche with difficulty restrained a scream  A moment later one of
these men was underneath the other  groaning  struggling  with a knee
of marble upon his breast  Only  it was not just what Gavroche had
expected  The one who lay on the earth was Montparnasse  the one who
was on top was the old man  All this took place a few paces distant from
Gavroche 

The old man had received the shock  had returned it  and that in such
a terrible fashion  that in a twinkling  the assailant and the assailed
had exchanged roles 

 Here s a hearty veteran   thought Gavroche 

He could not refrain from clapping his hands  But it was applause
wasted  It did not reach the combatants  absorbed and deafened as they
were  each by the other  as their breath mingled in the struggle 

Silence ensued  Montparnasse ceased his struggles  Gavroche indulged in
this aside   Can he be dead  

The goodman had not uttered a word  nor given vent to a cry  He rose to
his feet  and Gavroche heard him say to Montparnasse   

 Get up  

Montparnasse rose  but the goodman held him fast  Montparnasse s
attitude was the humiliated and furious attitude of the wolf who has
been caught by a sheep 

Gavroche looked on and listened  making an effort to reinforce his eyes
with his ears  He was enjoying himself immensely 

He was repaid for his conscientious anxiety in the character of a
spectator  He was able to catch on the wing a dialogue which borrowed
from the darkness an indescribably tragic accent  The goodman
questioned  Montparnasse replied 

 How old are you  

 Nineteen  

 You are strong and healthy  Why do you not work  

 It bores me  

 What is your trade  

 An idler  

 Speak seriously  Can anything be done for you  What would you like to
be  

 A thief  

A pause ensued  The old man seemed absorbed in profound thought  He
stood motionless  and did not relax his hold on Montparnasse 

Every moment the vigorous and agile young ruffian indulged in the
twitchings of a wild beast caught in a snare  He gave a jerk  tried a
crook of the knee  twisted his limbs desperately  and made efforts to
escape 

The old man did not appear to notice it  and held both his arms with one
hand  with the sovereign indifference of absolute force 

The old man s revery lasted for some time  then  looking steadily at
Montparnasse  he addressed to him in a gentle voice  in the midst of the
darkness where they stood  a solemn harangue  of which Gavroche did not
lose a single syllable   

 My child  you are entering  through indolence  on one of the most
laborious of lives  Ah  You declare yourself to be an idler  prepare to
toil  There is a certain formidable machine  have you seen it  It is
the rolling mill  You must be on your guard against it  it is crafty
and ferocious  if it catches hold of the skirt of your coat  you will be
drawn in bodily  That machine is laziness  Stop while there is yet time 
and save yourself  Otherwise  it is all over with you  in a short time
you will be among the gearing  Once entangled  hope for nothing more 
Toil  lazybones  there is no more repose for you  The iron hand of
implacable toil has seized you  You do not wish to earn your living  to
have a task  to fulfil a duty  It bores you to be like other men  Well 
You will be different  Labor is the law  he who rejects it will find
ennui his torment  You do not wish to be a workingman  you will be a
slave  Toil lets go of you on one side only to grasp you again on the
other  You do not desire to be its friend  you shall be its negro slave 
Ah  You would have none of the honest weariness of men  you shall have
the sweat of the damned  Where others sing  you will rattle in your
throat  You will see afar off  from below  other men at work  it will
seem to you that they are resting  The laborer  the harvester  the
sailor  the blacksmith  will appear to you in glory like the blessed
spirits in paradise  What radiance surrounds the forge  To guide the
plough  to bind the sheaves  is joy  The bark at liberty in the wind 
what delight  Do you  lazy idler  delve  drag on  roll  march  Drag your
halter  You are a beast of burden in the team of hell  Ah  To do nothing
is your object  Well  not a week  not a day  not an hour shall you have
free from oppression  You will be able to lift nothing without anguish 
Every minute that passes will make your muscles crack  What is a feather
to others will be a rock to you  The simplest things will become steep
acclivities  Life will become monstrous all about you  To go  to come 
to breathe  will be just so many terrible labors  Your lungs will
produce on you the effect of weighing a hundred pounds  Whether you
shall walk here rather than there  will become a problem that must be
solved  Any one who wants to go out simply gives his door a push  and
there he is in the open air  If you wish to go out  you will be obliged
to pierce your wall  What does every one who wants to step into the
street do  He goes down stairs  you will tear up your sheets  little
by little you will make of them a rope  then you will climb out of your
window  and you will suspend yourself by that thread over an abyss  and
it will be night  amid storm  rain  and the hurricane  and if the rope
is too short  but one way of descending will remain to you  to fall  To
drop hap hazard into the gulf  from an unknown height  on what  On what
is beneath  on the unknown  Or you will crawl up a chimney flue  at the
risk of burning  or you will creep through a sewer pipe  at the risk of
drowning  I do not speak of the holes that you will be obliged to mask 
of the stones which you will have to take up and replace twenty times a
day  of the plaster that you will have to hide in your straw pallet  A
lock presents itself  the bourgeois has in his pocket a key made by a
locksmith  If you wish to pass out  you will be condemned to execute a
terrible work of art  you will take a large sou  you will cut it in
two plates  with what tools  You will have to invent them  That is your
business  Then you will hollow out the interior of these plates  taking
great care of the outside  and you will make on the edges a thread  so
that they can be adjusted one upon the other like a box and its cover 
The top and bottom thus screwed together  nothing will be suspected  To
the overseers it will be only a sou  to you it will be a box  What will
you put in this box  A small bit of steel  A watch spring  in which you
will have cut teeth  and which will form a saw  With this saw  as long
as a pin  and concealed in a sou  you will cut the bolt of the lock  you
will sever bolts  the padlock of your chain  and the bar at your window 
and the fetter on your leg  This masterpiece finished  this prodigy
accomplished  all these miracles of art  address  skill  and patience
executed  what will be your recompense if it becomes known that you
are the author  The dungeon  There is your future  What precipices are
idleness and pleasure  Do you know that to do nothing is a melancholy
resolution  To live in idleness on the property of society  to be
useless  that is to say  pernicious  This leads straight to the depth
of wretchedness  Woe to the man who desires to be a parasite  He will
become vermin  Ah  So it does not please you to work  Ah  You have but
one thought  to drink well  to eat well  to sleep well  You will drink
water  you will eat black bread  you will sleep on a plank with a fetter
whose cold touch you will feel on your flesh all night long  riveted to
your limbs  You will break those fetters  you will flee  That is well 
You will crawl on your belly through the brushwood  and you will eat
grass like the beasts of the forest  And you will be recaptured  And
then you will pass years in a dungeon  riveted to a wall  groping for
your jug that you may drink  gnawing at a horrible loaf of darkness
which dogs would not touch  eating beans that the worms have eaten
before you  You will be a wood louse in a cellar  Ah  Have pity on
yourself  you miserable young child  who were sucking at nurse less
than twenty years ago  and who have  no doubt  a mother still alive  I
conjure you  listen to me  I entreat you  You desire fine black cloth 
varnished shoes  to have your hair curled and sweet smelling oils on
your locks  to please low women  to be handsome  You will be shaven
clean  and you will wear a red blouse and wooden shoes  You want rings
on your fingers  you will have an iron necklet on your neck  If you
glance at a woman  you will receive a blow  And you will enter there at
the age of twenty  And you will come out at fifty  You will enter young 
rosy  fresh  with brilliant eyes  and all your white teeth  and your
handsome  youthful hair  you will come out broken  bent  wrinkled 
toothless  horrible  with white locks  Ah  my poor child  you are on the
wrong road  idleness is counselling you badly  the hardest of all work
is thieving  Believe me  do not undertake that painful profession of
an idle man  It is not comfortable to become a rascal  It is less
disagreeable to be an honest man  Now go  and ponder on what I have said
to you  By the way  what did you want of me  My purse  Here it is  

And the old man  releasing Montparnasse  put his purse in the latter s
hand  Montparnasse weighed it for a moment  after which he allowed it to
slide gently into the back pocket of his coat  with the same mechanical
precaution as though he had stolen it 

All this having been said and done  the goodman turned his back and
tranquilly resumed his stroll 

 The blockhead   muttered Montparnasse 

Who was this goodman  The reader has  no doubt  already divined 

Montparnasse watched him with amazement  as he disappeared in the dusk 
This contemplation was fatal to him 

While the old man was walking away  Gavroche drew near 

Gavroche had assured himself  with a sidelong glance  that Father Mabeuf
was still sitting on his bench  probably sound asleep  Then the gamin
emerged from his thicket  and began to crawl after Montparnasse in the
dark  as the latter stood there motionless  In this manner he came up
to Montparnasse without being seen or heard  gently insinuated his hand
into the back pocket of that frock coat of fine black cloth  seized the
purse  withdrew his hand  and having recourse once more to his crawling 
he slipped away like an adder through the shadows  Montparnasse  who
had no reason to be on his guard  and who was engaged in thought for the
first time in his life  perceived nothing  When Gavroche had once more
attained the point where Father Mabeuf was  he flung the purse over the
hedge  and fled as fast as his legs would carry him 

The purse fell on Father Mabeuf s foot  This commotion roused him 

He bent over and picked up the purse 

He did not understand in the least  and opened it 

The purse had two compartments  in one of them there was some small
change  in the other lay six napoleons 

M  Mabeuf  in great alarm  referred the matter to his housekeeper 

 That has fallen from heaven   said Mother Plutarque 




BOOK FIFTH   THE END OF WHICH DOES NOT RESEMBLE THE BEGINNING




CHAPTER I  SOLITUDE AND THE BARRACKS COMBINED

Cosette s grief  which had been so poignant and lively four or five
months previously  had  without her being conscious of the fact  entered
upon its convalescence  Nature  spring  youth  love for her father 
the gayety of the birds and flowers  caused something almost resembling
forgetfulness to filter gradually  drop by drop  into that soul  which
was so virgin and so young  Was the fire wholly extinct there  Or was
it merely that layers of ashes had formed  The truth is  that she hardly
felt the painful and burning spot any longer 

One day she suddenly thought of Marius   Why   said she   I no longer
think of him  

That same week  she noticed a very handsome officer of lancers  with
a wasp like waist  a delicious uniform  the cheeks of a young girl  a
sword under his arm  waxed mustaches  and a glazed schapka  passing the
gate  Moreover  he had light hair  prominent blue eyes  a round face 
was vain  insolent and good looking  quite the reverse of Marius  He
had a cigar in his mouth  Cosette thought that this officer doubtless
belonged to the regiment in barracks in the Rue de Babylone 

On the following day  she saw him pass again  She took note of the hour 

From that time forth  was it chance  she saw him pass nearly every day 

The officer s comrades perceived that there was  in that  badly kept 
garden  behind that malicious rococo fence  a very pretty creature 
who was almost always there when the handsome lieutenant   who is not
unknown to the reader  and whose name was Theodule Gillenormand   passed
by 

 See here   they said to him   there s a little creature there who is
making eyes at you  look  

 Have I the time   replied the lancer   to look at all the girls who
look at me  

This was at the precise moment when Marius was descending heavily
towards agony  and was saying   If I could but see her before I
die    Had his wish been realized  had he beheld Cosette at that moment
gazing at the lancer  he would not have been able to utter a word  and
he would have expired with grief 

Whose fault was it  No one s 

Marius possessed one of those temperaments which bury themselves in
sorrow and there abide  Cosette was one of those persons who plunge into
sorrow and emerge from it again 

Cosette was  moreover  passing through that dangerous period  the fatal
phase of feminine revery abandoned to itself  in which the isolated
heart of a young girl resembles the tendrils of the vine which cling 
as chance directs  to the capital of a marble column or to the post of
a wine shop  A rapid and decisive moment  critical for every orphan  be
she rich or poor  for wealth does not prevent a bad choice  misalliances
are made in very high circles  real misalliance is that of souls  and as
many an unknown young man  without name  without birth  without fortune 
is a marble column which bears up a temple of grand sentiments and grand
ideas  so such and such a man of the world satisfied and opulent  who
has polished boots and varnished words  if looked at not outside  but
inside  a thing which is reserved for his wife  is nothing more than a
block obscurely haunted by violent  unclean  and vinous passions  the
post of a drinking shop 

What did Cosette s soul contain  Passion calmed or lulled to sleep 
something limpid  brilliant  troubled to a certain depth  and gloomy
lower down  The image of the handsome officer was reflected in
the surface  Did a souvenir linger in the depths   Quite at the
bottom   Possibly  Cosette did not know 

A singular incident supervened 




CHAPTER II  COSETTE S APPREHENSIONS

During the first fortnight in April  Jean Valjean took a journey  This 
as the reader knows  happened from time to time  at very long intervals 
He remained absent a day or two days at the utmost  Where did he go  No
one knew  not even Cosette  Once only  on the occasion of one of these
departures  she had accompanied him in a hackney coach as far as a
little blind alley at the corner of which she read  Impasse de la
Planchette  There he alighted  and the coach took Cosette back to the
Rue de Babylone  It was usually when money was lacking in the house that
Jean Valjean took these little trips 

So Jean Valjean was absent  He had said   I shall return in three days  

That evening  Cosette was alone in the drawing room  In order to get
rid of her ennui  she had opened her piano organ  and had begun to sing 
accompanying herself the while  the chorus from Euryanthe   Hunters
astray in the wood   which is probably the most beautiful thing in all
the sphere of music  When she had finished  she remained wrapped in
thought 

All at once  it seemed to her that she heard the sound of footsteps in
the garden 

It could not be her father  he was absent  it could not be Toussaint 
she was in bed  and it was ten o clock at night 

She stepped to the shutter of the drawing room  which was closed  and
laid her ear against it 

It seemed to her that it was the tread of a man  and that he was walking
very softly 

She mounted rapidly to the first floor  to her own chamber  opened a
small wicket in her shutter  and peeped into the garden  The moon was at
the full  Everything could be seen as plainly as by day 

There was no one there 

She opened the window  The garden was absolutely calm  and all that was
visible was that the street was deserted as usual 

Cosette thought that she had been mistaken  She thought that she had
heard a noise  It was a hallucination produced by the melancholy and
magnificent chorus of Weber  which lays open before the mind terrified
depths  which trembles before the gaze like a dizzy forest  and in which
one hears the crackling of dead branches beneath the uneasy tread of the
huntsmen of whom one catches a glimpse through the twilight 

She thought no more about it 

Moreover  Cosette was not very timid by nature  There flowed in her
veins some of the blood of the bohemian and the adventuress who runs
barefoot  It will be remembered that she was more of a lark than a dove 
There was a foundation of wildness and bravery in her 

On the following day  at an earlier hour  towards nightfall  she was
strolling in the garden  In the midst of the confused thoughts which
occupied her  she fancied that she caught for an instant a sound similar
to that of the preceding evening  as though some one were walking
beneath the trees in the dusk  and not very far from her  but she told
herself that nothing so closely resembles a step on the grass as the
friction of two branches which have moved from side to side  and she
paid no heed to it  Besides  she could see nothing 

She emerged from  the thicket   she had still to cross a small lawn to
regain the steps 

The moon  which had just risen behind her  cast Cosette s shadow in
front of her upon this lawn  as she came out from the shrubbery 

Cosette halted in alarm 

Beside her shadow  the moon outlined distinctly upon the turf another
shadow  which was particularly startling and terrible  a shadow which
had a round hat 

It was the shadow of a man  who must have been standing on the border of
the clump of shrubbery  a few paces in the rear of Cosette 

She stood for a moment without the power to speak  or cry  or call  or
stir  or turn her head 

Then she summoned up all her courage  and turned round resolutely 

There was no one there 

She glanced on the ground  The figure had disappeared 

She re entered the thicket  searched the corners boldly  went as far as
the gate  and found nothing 

She felt herself absolutely chilled with terror  Was this another
hallucination  What  Two days in succession  One hallucination might
pass  but two hallucinations  The disquieting point about it was  that
the shadow had assuredly not been a phantom  Phantoms do not wear round
hats 

On the following day Jean Valjean returned  Cosette told him what she
thought she had heard and seen  She wanted to be reassured and to see
her father shrug his shoulders and say to her   You are a little goose  

Jean Valjean grew anxious 

 It cannot be anything   said he 

He left her under some pretext  and went into the garden  and she saw
him examining the gate with great attention 

During the night she woke up  this time she was sure  and she distinctly
heard some one walking close to the flight of steps beneath her window 
She ran to her little wicket and opened it  In point of fact  there
was a man in the garden  with a large club in his hand  Just as she
was about to scream  the moon lighted up the man s profile  It was her
father  She returned to her bed  saying to herself   He is very uneasy  

Jean Valjean passed that night and the two succeeding nights in the
garden  Cosette saw him through the hole in her shutter 

On the third night  the moon was on the wane  and had begun to rise
later  at one o clock in the morning  possibly  she heard a loud burst
of laughter and her father s voice calling her   

 Cosette  

She jumped out of bed  threw on her dressing gown  and opened her
window 

Her father was standing on the grass plot below 

 I have waked you for the purpose of reassuring you   said he   look 
there is your shadow with the round hat  

And he pointed out to her on the turf a shadow cast by the moon  and
which did indeed  bear considerable resemblance to the spectre of a man
wearing a round hat  It was the shadow produced by a chimney pipe of
sheet iron  with a hood  which rose above a neighboring roof 

Cosette joined in his laughter  all her lugubrious suppositions were
allayed  and the next morning  as she was at breakfast with her father 
she made merry over the sinister garden haunted by the shadows of iron
chimney pots 

Jean Valjean became quite tranquil once more  as for Cosette  she did
not pay much attention to the question whether the chimney pot was
really in the direction of the shadow which she had seen  or thought she
had seen  and whether the moon had been in the same spot in the sky 

She did not question herself as to the peculiarity of a chimney pot
which is afraid of being caught in the act  and which retires when some
one looks at its shadow  for the shadow had taken the alarm when Cosette
had turned round  and Cosette had thought herself very sure of this 
Cosette s serenity was fully restored  The proof appeared to her to
be complete  and it quite vanished from her mind  whether there could
possibly be any one walking in the garden during the evening or at
night 

A few days later  however  a fresh incident occurred 




CHAPTER III  ENRICHED WITH COMMENTARIES BY TOUSSAINT

In the garden  near the railing on the street  there was a stone bench 
screened from the eyes of the curious by a plantation of yoke elms 
but which could  in case of necessity  be reached by an arm from the
outside  past the trees and the gate 

One evening during that same month of April  Jean Valjean had gone out 
Cosette had seated herself on this bench after sundown  The breeze was
blowing briskly in the trees  Cosette was meditating  an objectless
sadness was taking possession of her little by little  that invincible
sadness evoked by the evening  and which arises  perhaps  who knows 
from the mystery of the tomb which is ajar at that hour 

Perhaps Fantine was within that shadow 

Cosette rose  slowly made the tour of the garden  walking on the
grass drenched in dew  and saying to herself  through the species of
melancholy somnambulism in which she was plunged   Really  one needs
wooden shoes for the garden at this hour  One takes cold  

She returned to the bench 

As she was about to resume her seat there  she observed on the spot
which she had quitted  a tolerably large stone which had  evidently  not
been there a moment before 

Cosette gazed at the stone  asking herself what it meant  All at once
the idea occurred to her that the stone had not reached the bench all by
itself  that some one had placed it there  that an arm had been thrust
through the railing  and this idea appeared to alarm her  This time  the
fear was genuine  the stone was there  No doubt was possible  she did
not touch it  fled without glancing behind her  took refuge in the
house  and immediately closed with shutter  bolt  and bar the door like
window opening on the flight of steps  She inquired of Toussaint   

 Has my father returned yet  

 Not yet  Mademoiselle  

 We have already noted once for all the fact that Toussaint stuttered 
May we be permitted to dispense with it for the future  The musical
notation of an infirmity is repugnant to us  

Jean Valjean  a thoughtful man  and given to nocturnal strolls  often
returned quite late at night 

 Toussaint   went on Cosette   are you careful to thoroughly barricade
the shutters opening on the garden  at least with bars  in the evening 
and to put the little iron things in the little rings that close them  

 Oh  be easy on that score  Miss  

Toussaint did not fail in her duty  and Cosette was well aware of the
fact  but she could not refrain from adding   

 It is so solitary here  

 So far as that is concerned   said Toussaint   it is true  We might be
assassinated before we had time to say ouf  And Monsieur does not sleep
in the house  to boot  But fear nothing  Miss  I fasten the shutters up
like prisons  Lone women  That is enough to make one shudder  I believe
you  Just imagine  what if you were to see men enter your chamber at
night and say   Hold your tongue   and begin to cut your throat  It s
not the dying so much  you die  for one must die  and that s all right 
it s the abomination of feeling those people touch you  And then  their
knives  they can t be able to cut well with them  Ah  good gracious  

 Be quiet   said Cosette   Fasten everything thoroughly  

Cosette  terrified by the melodrama improvised by Toussaint  and
possibly  also  by the recollection of the apparitions of the past week 
which recurred to her memory  dared not even say to her   Go and look at
the stone which has been placed on the bench   for fear of opening the
garden gate and allowing  the men  to enter  She saw that all the doors
and windows were carefully fastened  made Toussaint go all over the
house from garret to cellar  locked herself up in her own chamber 
bolted her door  looked under her couch  went to bed and slept badly 
All night long she saw that big stone  as large as a mountain and full
of caverns 

At sunrise   the property of the rising sun is to make us laugh at all
our terrors of the past night  and our laughter is in direct proportion
to our terror which they have caused   at sunrise Cosette  when she
woke  viewed her fright as a nightmare  and said to herself   What have
I been thinking of  It is like the footsteps that I thought I heard a
week or two ago in the garden at night  It is like the shadow of the
chimney pot  Am I becoming a coward   The sun  which was glowing through
the crevices in her shutters  and turning the damask curtains crimson 
reassured her to such an extent that everything vanished from her
thoughts  even the stone 

 There was no more a stone on the bench than there was a man in a round
hat in the garden  I dreamed about the stone  as I did all the rest  

She dressed herself  descended to the garden  ran to the bench  and
broke out in a cold perspiration  The stone was there 

But this lasted only for a moment  That which is terror by night is
curiosity by day 

 Bah   said she   come  let us see what it is  

She lifted the stone  which was tolerably large  Beneath it was
something which resembled a letter  It was a white envelope  Cosette
seized it  There was no address on one side  no seal on the other 
Yet the envelope  though unsealed  was not empty  Papers could be seen
inside 

Cosette examined it  It was no longer alarm  it was no longer curiosity 
it was a beginning of anxiety 

Cosette drew from the envelope its contents  a little notebook of paper 
each page of which was numbered and bore a few lines in a very fine and
rather pretty handwriting  as Cosette thought 

Cosette looked for a name  there was none  To whom was this addressed 
To her  probably  since a hand had deposited the packet on her bench 
From whom did it come  An irresistible fascination took possession
of her  she tried to turn away her eyes from the leaflets which were
trembling in her hand  she gazed at the sky  the street  the acacias
all bathed in light  the pigeons fluttering over a neighboring roof 
and then her glance suddenly fell upon the manuscript  and she said to
herself that she must know what it contained 

This is what she read 




CHAPTER IV  A HEART BENEATH A STONE

 Illustration  Cosette with Letter  4b4 5 cosette after letter 

The reduction of the universe to a single being  the expansion of a
single being even to God  that is love 


Love is the salutation of the angels to the stars 


How sad is the soul  when it is sad through love 


What a void in the absence of the being who  by herself alone fills the
world  Oh  how true it is that the beloved being becomes God  One could
comprehend that God might be jealous of this had not God the Father of
all evidently made creation for the soul  and the soul for love 


The glimpse of a smile beneath a white crape bonnet with a lilac curtain
is sufficient to cause the soul to enter into the palace of dreams 


God is behind everything  but everything hides God  Things are
black  creatures are opaque  To love a being is to render that being
transparent 


Certain thoughts are prayers  There are moments when  whatever the
attitude of the body may be  the soul is on its knees 


Parted lovers beguile absence by a thousand chimerical devices  which
possess  however  a reality of their own  They are prevented from seeing
each other  they cannot write to each other  they discover a multitude
of mysterious means to correspond  They send each other the song of the
birds  the perfume of the flowers  the smiles of children  the light of
the sun  the sighings of the breeze  the rays of stars  all creation 
And why not  All the works of God are made to serve love  Love is
sufficiently potent to charge all nature with its messages 

Oh Spring  Thou art a letter that I write to her 


The future belongs to hearts even more than it does to minds  Love  that
is the only thing that can occupy and fill eternity  In the infinite 
the inexhaustible is requisite 


Love participates of the soul itself  It is of the same nature  Like
it  it is the divine spark  like it  it is incorruptible  indivisible 
imperishable  It is a point of fire that exists within us  which is
immortal and infinite  which nothing can confine  and which nothing can
extinguish  We feel it burning even to the very marrow of our bones  and
we see it beaming in the very depths of heaven 


Oh Love  Adorations  voluptuousness of two minds which understand each
other  of two hearts which exchange with each other  of two glances
which penetrate each other  You will come to me  will you not  bliss 
strolls by twos in the solitudes  Blessed and radiant days  I have
sometimes dreamed that from time to time hours detached themselves from
the lives of the angels and came here below to traverse the destinies of
men 


God can add nothing to the happiness of those who love  except to give
them endless duration  After a life of love  an eternity of love is  in
fact  an augmentation  but to increase in intensity even the ineffable
felicity which love bestows on the soul even in this world  is
impossible  even to God  God is the plenitude of heaven  love is the
plenitude of man 


You look at a star for two reasons  because it is luminous  and because
it is impenetrable  You have beside you a sweeter radiance and a greater
mystery  woman 


All of us  whoever we may be  have our respirable beings  We lack
air and we stifle  Then we die  To die for lack of love is horrible 
Suffocation of the soul 


When love has fused and mingled two beings in a sacred and angelic
unity  the secret of life has been discovered so far as they are
concerned  they are no longer anything more than the two boundaries of
the same destiny  they are no longer anything but the two wings of the
same spirit  Love  soar 


On the day when a woman as she passes before you emits light as she
walks  you are lost  you love  But one thing remains for you to do  to
think of her so intently that she is constrained to think of you 


What love commences can be finished by God alone 


True love is in despair and is enchanted over a glove lost or a
handkerchief found  and eternity is required for its devotion and its
hopes  It is composed both of the infinitely great and the infinitely
little 


If you are a stone  be adamant  if you are a plant  be the sensitive
plant  if you are a man  be love 


Nothing suffices for love  We have happiness  we desire paradise  we
possess paradise  we desire heaven 

Oh ye who love each other  all this is contained in love  Understand
how to find it there  Love has contemplation as well as heaven  and more
than heaven  it has voluptuousness 


 Does she still come to the Luxembourg    No  sir    This is the church
where she attends mass  is it not    She no longer comes here    Does
she still live in this house    She has moved away    Where has she gone
to dwell  

 She did not say  

What a melancholy thing not to know the address of one s soul 

Love has its childishness  other passions have their pettinesses  Shame
on the passions which belittle man  Honor to the one which makes a child
of him 


There is one strange thing  do you know it  I dwell in the night  There
is a being who carried off my sky when she went away 


Oh  would that we were lying side by side in the same grave  hand
in hand  and from time to time  in the darkness  gently caressing a
finger   that would suffice for my eternity 


Ye who suffer because ye love  love yet more  To die of love  is to live
in it 


Love  A sombre and starry transfiguration is mingled with this torture 
There is ecstasy in agony 


Oh joy of the birds  It is because they have nests that they sing 


Love is a celestial respiration of the air of paradise 


Deep hearts  sage minds  take life as God has made it  it is a long
trial  an incomprehensible preparation for an unknown destiny  This
destiny  the true one  begins for a man with the first step inside the
tomb  Then something appears to him  and he begins to distinguish the
definitive  The definitive  meditate upon that word  The living perceive
the infinite  the definitive permits itself to be seen only by the dead 
In the meanwhile  love and suffer  hope and contemplate  Woe  alas  to
him who shall have loved only bodies  forms  appearances  Death will
deprive him of all  Try to love souls  you will find them again 


I encountered in the street  a very poor young man who was in love  His
hat was old  his coat was worn  his elbows were in holes  water trickled
through his shoes  and the stars through his soul 


What a grand thing it is to be loved  What a far grander thing it is
to love  The heart becomes heroic  by dint of passion  It is no longer
composed of anything but what is pure  it no longer rests on anything
that is not elevated and great  An unworthy thought can no more
germinate in it  than a nettle on a glacier  The serene and lofty soul 
inaccessible to vulgar passions and emotions  dominating the clouds
and the shades of this world  its follies  its lies  its hatreds  its
vanities  its miseries  inhabits the blue of heaven  and no longer feels
anything but profound and subterranean shocks of destiny  as the crests
of mountains feel the shocks of earthquake 


If there did not exist some one who loved  the sun would become extinct 




CHAPTER V  COSETTE AFTER THE LETTER

As Cosette read  she gradually fell into thought  At the very moment
when she raised her eyes from the last line of the note book  the
handsome officer passed triumphantly in front of the gate   it was his
hour  Cosette thought him hideous 

She resumed her contemplation of the book  It was written in the most
charming of chirography  thought Cosette  in the same hand  but with
divers inks  sometimes very black  again whitish  as when ink has been
added to the inkstand  and consequently on different days  It was 
then  a mind which had unfolded itself there  sigh by sigh  irregularly 
without order  without choice  without object  hap hazard  Cosette
had never read anything like it  This manuscript  in which she already
perceived more light than obscurity  produced upon her the effect of a
half open sanctuary  Each one of these mysterious lines shone before
her eyes and inundated her heart with a strange radiance  The education
which she had received had always talked to her of the soul  and never
of love  very much as one might talk of the firebrand and not of the
flame  This manuscript of fifteen pages suddenly and sweetly revealed
to her all of love  sorrow  destiny  life  eternity  the beginning 
the end  It was as if a hand had opened and suddenly flung upon her
a handful of rays of light  In these few lines she felt a passionate 
ardent  generous  honest nature  a sacred will  an immense sorrow  and
an immense despair  a suffering heart  an ecstasy fully expanded  What
was this manuscript  A letter  A letter without name  without address 
without date  without signature  pressing and disinterested  an enigma
composed of truths  a message of love made to be brought by an angel and
read by a virgin  an appointment made beyond the bounds of earth  the
love letter of a phantom to a shade  It was an absent one  tranquil and
dejected  who seemed ready to take refuge in death and who sent to the
absent love  his lady  the secret of fate  the key of life  love  This
had been written with one foot in the grave and one finger in heaven 
These lines  which had fallen one by one on the paper  were what might
be called drops of soul 

Now  from whom could these pages come  Who could have penned them 

Cosette did not hesitate a moment  One man only 

He 

Day had dawned once more in her spirit  all had reappeared  She felt an
unheard of joy  and a profound anguish  It was he  he who had written 
he was there  it was he whose arm had been thrust through that railing 
While she was forgetful of him  he had found her again  But had she
forgotten him  No  never  She was foolish to have thought so for a
single moment  She had always loved him  always adored him  The fire had
been smothered  and had smouldered for a time  but she saw all plainly
now  it had but made headway  and now it had burst forth afresh  and
had inflamed her whole being  This note book was like a spark which
had fallen from that other soul into hers  She felt the conflagration
starting up once more 

She imbued herself thoroughly with every word of the manuscript   Oh
yes   said she   how perfectly I recognize all that  That is what I had
already read in his eyes   As she was finishing it for the third time 
Lieutenant Theodule passed the gate once more  and rattled his spurs
upon the pavement  Cosette was forced to raise her eyes  She thought him
insipid  silly  stupid  useless  foppish  displeasing  impertinent  and
extremely ugly  The officer thought it his duty to smile at her 

She turned away as in shame and indignation  She would gladly have
thrown something at his head 

She fled  re entered the house  and shut herself up in her chamber to
peruse the manuscript once more  to learn it by heart  and to dream 
When she had thoroughly mastered it she kissed it and put it in her
bosom 

All was over  Cosette had fallen back into deep  seraphic love  The
abyss of Eden had yawned once more 

All day long  Cosette remained in a sort of bewilderment  She scarcely
thought  her ideas were in the state of a tangled skein in her brain 
she could not manage to conjecture anything  she hoped through a tremor 
what  vague things  She dared make herself no promises  and she did
not wish to refuse herself anything  Flashes of pallor passed over her
countenance  and shivers ran through her frame  It seemed to her  at
intervals  that she was entering the land of chimaeras  she said to
herself   Is this reality   Then she felt of the dear paper within her
bosom under her gown  she pressed it to her heart  she felt its angles
against her flesh  and if Jean Valjean had seen her at the moment  he
would have shuddered in the presence of that luminous and unknown joy 
which overflowed from beneath her eyelids    Oh yes   she thought   it
is certainly he  This comes from him  and is for me  

And she told herself that an intervention of the angels  a celestial
chance  had given him back to her 

Oh transfiguration of love  Oh dreams  That celestial chance  that
intervention of the angels  was a pellet of bread tossed by one thief to
another thief  from the Charlemagne Courtyard to the Lion s Ditch  over
the roofs of La Force 




CHAPTER VI  OLD PEOPLE ARE MADE TO GO OUT OPPORTUNELY

When evening came  Jean Valjean went out  Cosette dressed herself  She
arranged her hair in the most becoming manner  and she put on a dress
whose bodice had received one snip of the scissors too much  and which 
through this slope  permitted a view of the beginning of her throat  and
was  as young girls say   a trifle indecent   It was not in the least
indecent  but it was prettier than usual  She made her toilet thus
without knowing why she did so 

Did she mean to go out  No 

Was she expecting a visitor  No 

At dusk  she went down to the garden  Toussaint was busy in her kitchen 
which opened on the back yard 

She began to stroll about under the trees  thrusting aside the branches
from time to time with her hand  because there were some which hung very
low 

In this manner she reached the bench 

The stone was still there 

She sat down  and gently laid her white hand on this stone as though she
wished to caress and thank it 

All at once  she experienced that indefinable impression which one
undergoes when there is some one standing behind one  even when she does
not see the person 

She turned her head and rose to her feet 

It was he 

His head was bare  He appeared to have grown thin and pale  His black
clothes were hardly discernible  The twilight threw a wan light on
his fine brow  and covered his eyes in shadows  Beneath a veil of
incomparable sweetness  he had something about him that suggested death
and night  His face was illuminated by the light of the dying day  and
by the thought of a soul that is taking flight 

He seemed to be not yet a ghost  and he was no longer a man 

He had flung away his hat in the thicket  a few paces distant 

Cosette  though ready to swoon  uttered no cry  She retreated slowly 
for she felt herself attracted  He did not stir  By virtue of something
ineffable and melancholy which enveloped him  she felt the look in his
eyes which she could not see 

Cosette  in her retreat  encountered a tree and leaned against it  Had
it not been for this tree  she would have fallen 

Then she heard his voice  that voice which she had really never heard 
barely rising above the rustle of the leaves  and murmuring   

 Pardon me  here I am  My heart is full  I could not live on as I was
living  and I have come  Have you read what I placed there on the bench 
Do you recognize me at all  Have no fear of me  It is a long time  you
remember the day  since you looked at me at the Luxembourg  near the
Gladiator  And the day when you passed before me  It was on the 16th of
June and the 2d of July  It is nearly a year ago  I have not seen you
for a long time  I inquired of the woman who let the chairs  and she
told me that she no longer saw you  You lived in the Rue de l Ouest  on
the third floor  in the front apartments of a new house   you see that
I know  I followed you  What else was there for me to do  And then you
disappeared  I thought I saw you pass once  while I was reading the
newspapers under the arcade of the Odeon  I ran after you  But no  It
was a person who had a bonnet like yours  At night I came hither  Do
not be afraid  no one sees me  I come to gaze upon your windows near
at hand  I walk very softly  so that you may not hear  for you might be
alarmed  The other evening I was behind you  you turned round  I fled 
Once  I heard you singing  I was happy  Did it affect you because I
heard you singing through the shutters  That could not hurt you  No 
it is not so  You see  you are my angel  Let me come sometimes  I think
that I am going to die  If you only knew  I adore you  Forgive me  I
speak to you  but I do not know what I am saying  I may have displeased
you  have I displeased you  

 Oh  my mother   said she 

And she sank down as though on the point of death 

He grasped her  she fell  he took her in his arms  he pressed her close 
without knowing what he was doing  He supported her  though he was
tottering himself  It was as though his brain were full of smoke 
lightnings darted between his lips  his ideas vanished  it seemed to him
that he was accomplishing some religious act  and that he was committing
a profanation  Moreover  he had not the least passion for this lovely
woman whose force he felt against his breast  He was beside himself with
love 

She took his hand and laid it on her heart  He felt the paper there  he
stammered   

 You love me  then  

She replied in a voice so low that it was no longer anything more than a
barely audible breath   

 Hush  Thou knowest it  

And she hid her blushing face on the breast of the superb and
intoxicated young man 

He fell upon the bench  and she beside him  They had no words more  The
stars were beginning to gleam  How did it come to pass that their lips
met  How comes it to pass that the birds sing  that snow melts  that
the rose unfolds  that May expands  that the dawn grows white behind the
black trees on the shivering crest of the hills 

A kiss  and that was all 

Both started  and gazed into the darkness with sparkling eyes 

They felt neither the cool night  nor the cold stone  nor the damp
earth  nor the wet grass  they looked at each other  and their hearts
were full of thoughts  They had clasped hands unconsciously 

She did not ask him  she did not even wonder  how he had entered there 
and how he had made his way into the garden  It seemed so simple to her
that he should be there 

From time to time  Marius  knee touched Cosette s knee  and both
shivered 

At intervals  Cosette stammered a word  Her soul fluttered on her lips
like a drop of dew on a flower 

Little by little they began to talk to each other  Effusion followed
silence  which is fulness  The night was serene and splendid overhead 
These two beings  pure as spirits  told each other everything  their
dreams  their intoxications  their ecstasies  their chimaeras  their
weaknesses  how they had adored each other from afar  how they had
longed for each other  their despair when they had ceased to see each
other  They confided to each other in an ideal intimacy  which nothing
could augment  their most secret and most mysterious thoughts  They
related to each other  with candid faith in their illusions  all that
love  youth  and the remains of childhood which still lingered about
them  suggested to their minds  Their two hearts poured themselves out
into each other in such wise  that at the expiration of a quarter of an
hour  it was the young man who had the young girl s soul  and the young
girl who had the young man s soul  Each became permeated with the other 
they were enchanted with each other  they dazzled each other 

When they had finished  when they had told each other everything  she
laid her head on his shoulder and asked him   

 What is your name  

 My name is Marius   said he   And yours  

 My name is Cosette  




BOOK SIXTH   LITTLE GAVROCHE




CHAPTER I  THE MALICIOUS PLAYFULNESS OF THE WIND

Since 1823  when the tavern of Montfermeil was on the way to shipwreck
and was being gradually engulfed  not in the abyss of a bankruptcy  but
in the cesspool of petty debts  the Thenardier pair had had two other
children  both males  That made five  two girls and three boys 

Madame Thenardier had got rid of the last two  while they were still
young and very small  with remarkable luck 

Got rid of is the word  There was but a mere fragment of nature in that
woman  A phenomenon  by the way  of which there is more than one example
extant  Like the Marechale de La Mothe Houdancourt  the Thenardier was
a mother to her daughters only  There her maternity ended  Her hatred of
the human race began with her own sons  In the direction of her sons her
evil disposition was uncompromising  and her heart had a lugubrious wall
in that quarter  As the reader has seen  she detested the eldest  she
cursed the other two  Why  Because  The most terrible of motives  the
most unanswerable of retorts  Because   I have no need of a litter of
squalling brats   said this mother 

Let us explain how the Thenardiers had succeeded in getting rid of their
last two children  and even in drawing profit from the operation 

The woman Magnon  who was mentioned a few pages further back  was the
same one who had succeeded in making old Gillenormand support the two
children which she had had  She lived on the Quai des Celestins  at the
corner of this ancient street of the Petit Musc which afforded her the
opportunity of changing her evil repute into good odor  The reader will
remember the great epidemic of croup which ravaged the river districts
of the Seine in Paris thirty five years ago  and of which science took
advantage to make experiments on a grand scale as to the efficacy of
inhalations of alum  so beneficially replaced at the present day by the
external tincture of iodine  During this epidemic  the Magnon lost both
her boys  who were still very young  one in the morning  the other
in the evening of the same day  This was a blow  These children were
precious to their mother  they represented eighty francs a month  These
eighty francs were punctually paid in the name of M  Gillenormand  by
collector of his rents  M  Barge  a retired tip staff  in the Rue du
Roi de Sicile  The children dead  the income was at an end  The Magnon
sought an expedient  In that dark free masonry of evil of which she
formed a part  everything is known  all secrets are kept  and all lend
mutual aid  Magnon needed two children  the Thenardiers had two 
The same sex  the same age  A good arrangement for the one  a good
investment for the other  The little Thenardiers became little Magnons 
Magnon quitted the Quai des Celestins and went to live in the Rue
Clocheperce  In Paris  the identity which binds an individual to himself
is broken between one street and another 

The registry office being in no way warned  raised no objections  and
the substitution was effected in the most simple manner in the world 
Only  the Thenardier exacted for this loan of her children  ten francs a
month  which Magnon promised to pay  and which she actually did pay 
It is unnecessary to add that M  Gillenormand continued to perform
his compact  He came to see the children every six months  He did not
perceive the change   Monsieur   Magnon said to him   how much they
resemble you  

Thenardier  to whom avatars were easy  seized this occasion to become
Jondrette  His two daughters and Gavroche had hardly had time to
discover that they had two little brothers  When a certain degree
of misery is reached  one is overpowered with a sort of spectral
indifference  and one regards human beings as though they were spectres 
Your nearest relations are often no more for you than vague shadowy
forms  barely outlined against a nebulous background of life and easily
confounded again with the invisible 

On the evening of the day when she had handed over her two little
ones to Magnon  with express intention of renouncing them forever  the
Thenardier had felt  or had appeared to feel  a scruple  She said to her
husband   But this is abandoning our children   Thenardier  masterful
and phlegmatic  cauterized the scruple with this saying   Jean Jacques
Rousseau did even better   From scruples  the mother proceeded to
uneasiness   But what if the police were to annoy us  Tell me  Monsieur
Thenardier  is what we have done permissible   Thenardier replied 
 Everything is permissible  No one will see anything but true blue in
it  Besides  no one has any interest in looking closely after children
who have not a sou  

Magnon was a sort of fashionable woman in the sphere of crime  She was
careful about her toilet  She shared her lodgings  which were furnished
in an affected and wretched style  with a clever gallicized English
thief  This English woman  who had become a naturalized Parisienne 
recommended by very wealthy relations  intimately connected with the
medals in the Library and Mademoiselle Mar s diamonds  became celebrated
later on in judicial accounts  She was called Mamselle Miss 

The two little creatures who had fallen to Magnon had no reason to
complain of their lot  Recommended by the eighty francs  they were well
cared for  as is everything from which profit is derived  they were
neither badly clothed  nor badly fed  they were treated almost like
 little gentlemen    better by their false mother than by their real
one  Magnon played the lady  and talked no thieves  slang in their
presence 

Thus passed several years  Thenardier augured well from the fact  One
day  he chanced to say to Magnon as she handed him his monthly stipend
of ten francs   The father must give them some education  

All at once  these two poor children  who had up to that time been
protected tolerably well  even by their evil fate  were abruptly hurled
into life and forced to begin it for themselves 

A wholesale arrest of malefactors  like that in the Jondrette garret 
necessarily complicated by investigations and subsequent incarcerations 
is a veritable disaster for that hideous and occult counter society
which pursues its existence beneath public society  an adventure of this
description entails all sorts of catastrophes in that sombre world  The
Thenardier catastrophe involved the catastrophe of Magnon 


One day  a short time after Magnon had handed to Eponine the note
relating to the Rue Plumet  a sudden raid was made by the police in the
Rue Clocheperce  Magnon was seized  as was also Mamselle Miss  and all
the inhabitants of the house  which was of a suspicious character  were
gathered into the net  While this was going on  the two little boys were
playing in the back yard  and saw nothing of the raid  When they tried
to enter the house again  they found the door fastened and the house
empty  A cobbler opposite called them to him  and delivered to them a
paper which  their mother  had left for them  On this paper there was an
address  M  Barge  collector of rents  Rue du Roi de Sicile  No  8  The
proprietor of the stall said to them   You cannot live here any longer 
Go there  It is near by  The first street on the left  Ask your way from
this paper  

The children set out  the elder leading the younger  and holding in his
hand the paper which was to guide them  It was cold  and his benumbed
little fingers could not close very firmly  and they did not keep a very
good hold on the paper  At the corner of the Rue Clocheperce  a gust of
wind tore it from him  and as night was falling  the child was not able
to find it again 

They began to wander aimlessly through the streets 




CHAPTER II  IN WHICH LITTLE GAVROCHE EXTRACTS PROFIT FROM NAPOLEON THE
GREAT

Spring in Paris is often traversed by harsh and piercing breezes which
do not precisely chill but freeze one  these north winds which sadden
the most beautiful days produce exactly the effect of those puffs of
cold air which enter a warm room through the cracks of a badly fitting
door or window  It seems as though the gloomy door of winter had
remained ajar  and as though the wind were pouring through it  In the
spring of 1832  the epoch when the first great epidemic of this century
broke out in Europe  these north gales were more harsh and piercing
than ever  It was a door even more glacial than that of winter which
was ajar  It was the door of the sepulchre  In these winds one felt the
breath of the cholera 

From a meteorological point of view  these cold winds possessed this
peculiarity  that they did not preclude a strong electric tension 
Frequent storms  accompanied by thunder and lightning  burst forth at
this epoch 

One evening  when these gales were blowing rudely  to such a degree that
January seemed to have returned and that the bourgeois had resumed their
cloaks  Little Gavroche  who was always shivering gayly under his rags 
was standing as though in ecstasy before a wig maker s shop in the
vicinity of the Orme Saint Gervais  He was adorned with a woman s
woollen shawl  picked up no one knows where  and which he had converted
into a neck comforter  Little Gavroche appeared to be engaged in intent
admiration of a wax bride  in a low necked dress  and crowned with
orange flowers  who was revolving in the window  and displaying her
smile to passers by  between two argand lamps  but in reality  he was
taking an observation of the shop  in order to discover whether he
could not  prig  from the shop front a cake of soap  which he would then
proceed to sell for a sou to a  hair dresser  in the suburbs  He had
often managed to breakfast off of such a roll  He called his species of
work  for which he possessed special aptitude   shaving barbers  

While contemplating the bride  and eyeing the cake of soap  he muttered
between his teeth   Tuesday  It was not Tuesday  Was it Tuesday  Perhaps
it was Tuesday  Yes  it was Tuesday  

No one has ever discovered to what this monologue referred 

Yes  perchance  this monologue had some connection with the last
occasion on which he had dined  three days before  for it was now
Friday 

The barber in his shop  which was warmed by a good stove  was shaving
a customer and casting a glance from time to time at the enemy  that
freezing and impudent street urchin both of whose hands were in his
pockets  but whose mind was evidently unsheathed 

While Gavroche was scrutinizing the shop window and the cakes of windsor
soap  two children of unequal stature  very neatly dressed  and still
smaller than himself  one apparently about seven years of age  the other
five  timidly turned the handle and entered the shop  with a request for
something or other  alms possibly  in a plaintive murmur which resembled
a groan rather than a prayer  They both spoke at once  and their words
were unintelligible because sobs broke the voice of the younger  and the
teeth of the elder were chattering with cold  The barber wheeled round
with a furious look  and without abandoning his razor  thrust back the
elder with his left hand and the younger with his knee  and slammed
his door  saying   The idea of coming in and freezing everybody for
nothing  

The two children resumed their march in tears  In the meantime  a cloud
had risen  it had begun to rain 

Little Gavroche ran after them and accosted them   

 What s the matter with you  brats  

 We don t know where we are to sleep   replied the elder 

 Is that all   said Gavroche   A great matter  truly  The idea of
bawling about that  They must be greenies  

And adopting  in addition to his superiority  which was rather
bantering  an accent of tender authority and gentle patronage   

 Come along with me  young  uns  

 Yes  sir   said the elder 

And the two children followed him as they would have followed an
archbishop  They had stopped crying 

Gavroche led them up the Rue Saint Antoine in the direction of the
Bastille 

As Gavroche walked along  he cast an indignant backward glance at the
barber s shop 

 That fellow has no heart  the whiting   35  he muttered   He s an
Englishman  

A woman who caught sight of these three marching in a file  with
Gavroche at their head  burst into noisy laughter  This laugh was
wanting in respect towards the group 

 Good day  Mamselle Omnibus   said Gavroche to her 

An instant later  the wig maker occurred to his mind once more  and he
added   

 I am making a mistake in the beast  he s not a whiting  he s a serpent 
Barber  I ll go and fetch a locksmith  and I ll have a bell hung to your
tail  

This wig maker had rendered him aggressive  As he strode over a gutter 
he apostrophized a bearded portress who was worthy to meet Faust on the
Brocken  and who had a broom in her hand 

 Madam   said he   so you are going out with your horse  

And thereupon  he spattered the polished boots of a pedestrian 

 You scamp   shouted the furious pedestrian 

Gavroche elevated his nose above his shawl 

 Is Monsieur complaining  

 Of you   ejaculated the man 

 The office is closed   said Gavroche   I do not receive any more
complaints  

In the meanwhile  as he went on up the street  he perceived a
beggar girl  thirteen or fourteen years old  and clad in so short a
gown that her knees were visible  lying thoroughly chilled under a
porte cochere  The little girl was getting to be too old for such a
thing  Growth does play these tricks  The petticoat becomes short at the
moment when nudity becomes indecent 

 Poor girl   said Gavroche   She hasn t even trousers  Hold on  take
this  

And unwinding all the comfortable woollen which he had around his neck 
he flung it on the thin and purple shoulders of the beggar girl  where
the scarf became a shawl once more 

The child stared at him in astonishment  and received the shawl in
silence  When a certain stage of distress has been reached in his
misery  the poor man no longer groans over evil  no longer returns
thanks for good 

That done   Brrr   said Gavroche  who was shivering more than Saint
Martin  for the latter retained one half of his cloak 

At this brrr  the downpour of rain  redoubled in its spite  became
furious  The wicked skies punish good deeds 

 Ah  come now   exclaimed Gavroche   what s the meaning of this  It s
re raining  Good Heavens  if it goes on like this  I shall stop my
subscription  

And he set out on the march once more 

 It s all right   he resumed  casting a glance at the beggar girl  as
she coiled up under the shawl   she s got a famous peel  

And looking up at the clouds he exclaimed   

 Caught  

The two children followed close on his heels 

As they were passing one of these heavy grated lattices  which indicate
a baker s shop  for bread is put behind bars like gold  Gavroche turned
round   

 Ah  by the way  brats  have we dined  

 Monsieur   replied the elder   we have had nothing to eat since this
morning  

 So you have neither father nor mother   resumed Gavroche majestically 

 Excuse us  sir  we have a papa and a mamma  but we don t know where
they are  

 Sometimes that s better than knowing where they are   said Gavroche 
who was a thinker 

 We have been wandering about these two hours   continued the elder   we
have hunted for things at the corners of the streets  but we have found
nothing  

 I know   ejaculated Gavroche   it s the dogs who eat everything  

He went on  after a pause   

 Ah  we have lost our authors  We don t know what we have done with
them  This should not be  gamins  It s stupid to let old people stray
off like that  Come now  we must have a snooze all the same  

However  he asked them no questions  What was more simple than that they
should have no dwelling place 

The elder of the two children  who had almost entirely recovered the
prompt heedlessness of childhood  uttered this exclamation   

 It s queer  all the same  Mamma told us that she would take us to get a
blessed spray on Palm Sunday  

 Bosh   said Gavroche 

 Mamma   resumed the elder   is a lady who lives with Mamselle Miss  

 Tanflute   retorted Gavroche 

Meanwhile he had halted  and for the last two minutes he had been
feeling and fumbling in all sorts of nooks which his rags contained 

At last he tossed his head with an air intended to be merely satisfied 
but which was triumphant  in reality 

 Let us be calm  young  uns  Here s supper for three  

And from one of his pockets he drew forth a sou 

Without allowing the two urchins time for amazement  he pushed both of
them before him into the baker s shop  and flung his sou on the counter 
crying   

 Boy  five centimes  worth of bread  

The baker  who was the proprietor in person  took up a loaf and a knife 

 In three pieces  my boy   went on Gavroche 

And he added with dignity   

 There are three of us  

And seeing that the baker  after scrutinizing the three customers  had
taken down a black loaf  he thrust his finger far up his nose with
an inhalation as imperious as though he had had a pinch of the great
Frederick s snuff on the tip of his thumb  and hurled this indignant
apostrophe full in the baker s face   

 Keksekca  

Those of our readers who might be tempted to espy in this interpellation
of Gavroche s to the baker a Russian or a Polish word  or one of those
savage cries which the Yoways and the Botocudos hurl at each other from
bank to bank of a river  athwart the solitudes  are warned that it is a
word which they  our readers  utter every day  and which takes the place
of the phrase   Qu est ce que c est que cela   The baker understood
perfectly  and replied   

 Well  It s bread  and very good bread of the second quality  

 You mean larton brutal  black bread    retorted Gavroche  calmly and
coldly disdainful   White bread  boy  white bread  larton savonne   I m
standing treat  

The baker could not repress a smile  and as he cut the white bread he
surveyed them in a compassionate way which shocked Gavroche 

 Come  now  baker s boy   said he   what are you taking our measure like
that for  

All three of them placed end to end would have hardly made a measure 

When the bread was cut  the baker threw the sou into his drawer  and
Gavroche said to the two children   

 Grub away  

The little boys stared at him in surprise 

Gavroche began to laugh 

 Ah  hullo  that s so  they don t understand yet  they re too small  

And he repeated   

 Eat away  

At the same time  he held out a piece of bread to each of them 

And thinking that the elder  who seemed to him the more worthy of
his conversation  deserved some special encouragement and ought to be
relieved from all hesitation to satisfy his appetite  he added  as be
handed him the largest share   

 Ram that into your muzzle  

One piece was smaller than the others  he kept this for himself 

The poor children  including Gavroche  were famished  As they tore their
bread apart in big mouthfuls  they blocked up the shop of the baker 
who  now that they had paid their money  looked angrily at them 

 Let s go into the street again   said Gavroche 

They set off once more in the direction of the Bastille 

From time to time  as they passed the lighted shop windows  the smallest
halted to look at the time on a leaden watch which was suspended from
his neck by a cord 

 Well  he is a very green  un   said Gavroche 

Then  becoming thoughtful  he muttered between his teeth   

 All the same  if I had charge of the babes I d lock  em up better than
that  

Just as they were finishing their morsel of bread  and had reached the
angle of that gloomy Rue des Ballets  at the other end of which the low
and threatening wicket of La Force was visible   

 Hullo  is that you  Gavroche   said some one 

 Hullo  is that you  Montparnasse   said Gavroche 

A man had just accosted the street urchin  and the man was no other
than Montparnasse in disguise  with blue spectacles  but recognizable to
Gavroche 

 The bow wows   went on Gavroche   you ve got a hide the color of a
linseed plaster  and blue specs like a doctor  You re putting on style 
 pon my word  

 Hush   ejaculated Montparnasse   not so loud  

And he drew Gavroche hastily out of range of the lighted shops 

The two little ones followed mechanically  holding each other by the
hand 

When they were ensconced under the arch of a portecochere  sheltered
from the rain and from all eyes   

 Do you know where I m going   demanded Montparnasse 

 To the Abbey of Ascend with Regret   36  replied Gavroche 

 Joker  

And Montparnasse went on   

 I m going to find Babet  

 Ah   exclaimed Gavroche   so her name is Babet  

Montparnasse lowered his voice   

 Not she  he  

 Ah  Babet  

 Yes  Babet  

 I thought he was buckled  

 He has undone the buckle   replied Montparnasse 

And he rapidly related to the gamin how  on the morning of that very
day  Babet  having been transferred to La Conciergerie  had made his
escape  by turning to the left instead of to the right in  the police
office  

Gavroche expressed his admiration for this skill 

 What a dentist   he cried 

Montparnasse added a few details as to Babet s flight  and ended with   

 Oh  That s not all  

Gavroche  as he listened  had seized a cane that Montparnasse held in
his hand  and mechanically pulled at the upper part  and the blade of a
dagger made its appearance 

 Ah   he exclaimed  pushing the dagger back in haste   you have brought
along your gendarme disguised as a bourgeois  

Montparnasse winked 

 The deuce   resumed Gavroche   so you re going to have a bout with the
bobbies  

 You can t tell   replied Montparnasse with an indifferent air   It s
always a good thing to have a pin about one  

Gavroche persisted   

 What are you up to to night  

Again Montparnasse took a grave tone  and said  mouthing every syllable 
 Things  

And abruptly changing the conversation   

 By the way  

 What  

 Something happened t other day  Fancy  I meet a bourgeois  He makes
me a present of a sermon and his purse  I put it in my pocket  A minute
later  I feel in my pocket  There s nothing there  

 Except the sermon   said Gavroche 

 But you   went on Montparnasse   where are you bound for now  

Gavroche pointed to his two proteges  and said   

 I m going to put these infants to bed  

 Whereabouts is the bed  

 At my house  

 Where s your house  

 At my house  

 So you have a lodging  

 Yes  I have  

 And where is your lodging  

 In the elephant   said Gavroche 

Montparnasse  though not naturally inclined to astonishment  could not
restrain an exclamation 

 In the elephant  

 Well  yes  in the elephant   retorted Gavroche   Kekcaa  

This is another word of the language which no one writes  and which
every one speaks 

Kekcaa signifies  Quest que c est que cela a   What s the matter with
that  

The urchin s profound remark recalled Montparnasse to calmness and
good sense  He appeared to return to better sentiments with regard to
Gavroche s lodging 

 Of course   said he   yes  the elephant  Is it comfortable there  

 Very   said Gavroche   It s really bully there  There ain t any
draughts  as there are under the bridges  

 How do you get in  

 Oh  I get in  

 So there is a hole   demanded Montparnasse 

 Parbleu  I should say so  But you mustn t tell  It s between the fore
legs  The bobbies haven t seen it  

 And you climb up  Yes  I understand  

 A turn of the hand  cric  crac  and it s all over  no one there  

After a pause  Gavroche added   

 I shall have a ladder for these children  

Montparnasse burst out laughing   

 Where the devil did you pick up those young  uns  

Gavroche replied with great simplicity   

 They are some brats that a wig maker made me a present of  

Meanwhile  Montparnasse had fallen to thinking   

 You recognized me very readily   he muttered 

He took from his pocket two small objects which were nothing more than
two quills wrapped in cotton  and thrust one up each of his nostrils 
This gave him a different nose 

 That changes you   remarked Gavroche   you are less homely so  you
ought to keep them on all the time  

Montparnasse was a handsome fellow  but Gavroche was a tease 

 Seriously   demanded Montparnasse   how do you like me so  

The sound of his voice was different also  In a twinkling  Montparnasse
had become unrecognizable 

 Oh  Do play Porrichinelle for us   exclaimed Gavroche 

The two children  who had not been listening up to this point  being
occupied themselves in thrusting their fingers up their noses  drew
near at this name  and stared at Montparnasse with dawning joy and
admiration 

Unfortunately  Montparnasse was troubled 

He laid his hand on Gavroche s shoulder  and said to him  emphasizing
his words   Listen to what I tell you  boy  if I were on the square with
my dog  my knife  and my wife  and if you were to squander ten sous on
me  I wouldn t refuse to work  but this isn t Shrove Tuesday  

This odd phrase produced a singular effect on the gamin  He wheeled
round hastily  darted his little sparkling eyes about him with profound
attention  and perceived a police sergeant standing with his back to
them a few paces off  Gavroche allowed an   Ah  good   to escape him 
but immediately suppressed it  and shaking Montparnasse s hand   

 Well  good evening   said he   I m going off to my elephant with my
brats  Supposing that you should need me some night  you can come and
hunt me up there  I lodge on the entresol  There is no porter  You will
inquire for Monsieur Gavroche  

 Very good   said Montparnasse 

And they parted  Montparnasse betaking himself in the direction of
the Greve  and Gavroche towards the Bastille  The little one of five 
dragged along by his brother who was dragged by Gavroche  turned his
head back several times to watch  Porrichinelle  as he went 

The ambiguous phrase by means of which Montparnasse had warned Gavroche
of the presence of the policeman  contained no other talisman than
the assonance dig repeated five or six times in different forms  This
syllable  dig  uttered alone or artistically mingled with the words of
a phrase  means   Take care  we can no longer talk freely   There was
besides  in Montparnasse s sentence  a literary beauty which was
lost upon Gavroche  that is mon dogue  ma dague et ma digue  a slang
expression of the Temple  which signifies my dog  my knife  and my wife 
greatly in vogue among clowns and the red tails in the great century
when Moliere wrote and Callot drew 

Twenty years ago  there was still to be seen in the southwest corner of
the Place de la Bastille  near the basin of the canal  excavated in the
ancient ditch of the fortress prison  a singular monument  which has
already been effaced from the memories of Parisians  and which deserved
to leave some trace  for it was the idea of a  member of the Institute 
the General in chief of the army of Egypt  

We say monument  although it was only a rough model  But this model
itself  a marvellous sketch  the grandiose skeleton of an idea of
Napoleon s  which successive gusts of wind have carried away and thrown 
on each occasion  still further from us  had become historical and had
acquired a certain definiteness which contrasted with its provisional
aspect  It was an elephant forty feet high  constructed of timber and
masonry  bearing on its back a tower which resembled a house  formerly
painted green by some dauber  and now painted black by heaven  the wind 
and time  In this deserted and unprotected corner of the place  the
broad brow of the colossus  his trunk  his tusks  his tower  his
enormous crupper  his four feet  like columns produced  at night  under
the starry heavens  a surprising and terrible form  It was a sort of
symbol of popular force  It was sombre  mysterious  and immense  It was
some mighty  visible phantom  one knew not what  standing erect beside
the invisible spectre of the Bastille 

Few strangers visited this edifice  no passer by looked at it  It was
falling into ruins  every season the plaster which detached itself
from its sides formed hideous wounds upon it   The aediles   as the
expression ran in elegant dialect  had forgotten it ever since 1814 
There it stood in its corner  melancholy  sick  crumbling  surrounded
by a rotten palisade  soiled continually by drunken coachmen  cracks
meandered athwart its belly  a lath projected from its tail  tall grass
flourished between its legs  and  as the level of the place had been
rising all around it for a space of thirty years  by that slow and
continuous movement which insensibly elevates the soil of large towns 
it stood in a hollow  and it looked as though the ground were giving way
beneath it  It was unclean  despised  repulsive  and superb  ugly in the
eyes of the bourgeois  melancholy in the eyes of the thinker  There was
something about it of the dirt which is on the point of being swept out 
and something of the majesty which is on the point of being decapitated 
As we have said  at night  its aspect changed  Night is the real element
of everything that is dark  As soon as twilight descended  the old
elephant became transfigured  he assumed a tranquil and redoubtable
appearance in the formidable serenity of the shadows  Being of the past 
he belonged to night  and obscurity was in keeping with his grandeur 

This rough  squat  heavy  hard  austere  almost misshapen  but assuredly
majestic monument  stamped with a sort of magnificent and savage
gravity  has disappeared  and left to reign in peace  a sort of gigantic
stove  ornamented with its pipe  which has replaced the sombre fortress
with its nine towers  very much as the bourgeoisie replaces the feudal
classes  It is quite natural that a stove should be the symbol of an
epoch in which a pot contains power  This epoch will pass away  people
have already begun to understand that  if there can be force in a
boiler  there can be no force except in the brain  in other words 
that which leads and drags on the world  is not locomotives  but ideas 
Harness locomotives to ideas   that is well done  but do not mistake the
horse for the rider 

At all events  to return to the Place de la Bastille  the architect
of this elephant succeeded in making a grand thing out of plaster  the
architect of the stove has succeeded in making a pretty thing out of
bronze 

This stove pipe  which has been baptized by a sonorous name  and called
the column of July  this monument of a revolution that miscarried 
was still enveloped in 1832  in an immense shirt of woodwork  which we
regret  for our part  and by a vast plank enclosure  which completed the
task of isolating the elephant 

It was towards this corner of the place  dimly lighted by the reflection
of a distant street lamp  that the gamin guided his two  brats  

The reader must permit us to interrupt ourselves here and to remind him
that we are dealing with simple reality  and that twenty years ago  the
tribunals were called upon to judge  under the charge of vagabondage 
and mutilation of a public monument  a child who had been caught asleep
in this very elephant of the Bastille  This fact noted  we proceed 

On arriving in the vicinity of the colossus  Gavroche comprehended the
effect which the infinitely great might produce on the infinitely small 
and said   

 Don t be scared  infants  

Then he entered through a gap in the fence into the elephant s enclosure
and helped the young ones to clamber through the breach  The two
children  somewhat frightened  followed Gavroche without uttering a
word  and confided themselves to this little Providence in rags which
had given them bread and had promised them a shelter 

There  extended along the fence  lay a ladder which by day served
the laborers in the neighboring timber yard  Gavroche raised it with
remarkable vigor  and placed it against one of the elephant s forelegs 
Near the point where the ladder ended  a sort of black hole in the belly
of the colossus could be distinguished 

Gavroche pointed out the ladder and the hole to his guests  and said to
them   

 Climb up and go in  

The two little boys exchanged terrified glances 

 You re afraid  brats   exclaimed Gavroche 

And he added   

 You shall see  

He clasped the rough leg of the elephant  and in a twinkling  without
deigning to make use of the ladder  he had reached the aperture  He
entered it as an adder slips through a crevice  and disappeared within 
and an instant later  the two children saw his head  which looked pale 
appear vaguely  on the edge of the shadowy hole  like a wan and whitish
spectre 

 Well   he exclaimed   climb up  young  uns  You ll see how snug it is
here  Come up  you   he said to the elder   I ll lend you a hand  

The little fellows nudged each other  the gamin frightened and inspired
them with confidence at one and the same time  and then  it was raining
very hard  The elder one undertook the risk  The younger  on seeing his
brother climbing up  and himself left alone between the paws of this
huge beast  felt greatly inclined to cry  but he did not dare 

The elder lad climbed  with uncertain steps  up the rungs of the ladder 
Gavroche  in the meanwhile  encouraging him with exclamations like a
fencing master to his pupils  or a muleteer to his mules 

 Don t be afraid   That s it   Come on   Put your feet there   Give us
your hand here   Boldly  

And when the child was within reach  he seized him suddenly and
vigorously by the arm  and pulled him towards him 

 Nabbed   said he 

The brat had passed through the crack 

 Now   said Gavroche   wait for me  Be so good as to take a seat 
Monsieur  

And making his way out of the hole as he had entered it  he slipped down
the elephant s leg with the agility of a monkey  landed on his feet in
the grass  grasped the child of five round the body  and planted him
fairly in the middle of the ladder  then he began to climb up behind
him  shouting to the elder   

 I m going to boost him  do you tug  

And in another instant  the small lad was pushed  dragged  pulled 
thrust  stuffed into the hole  before he had time to recover himself 
and Gavroche  entering behind him  and repulsing the ladder with a kick
which sent it flat on the grass  began to clap his hands and to cry   

 Here we are  Long live General Lafayette  

This explosion over  he added   

 Now  young  uns  you are in my house  

Gavroche was at home  in fact 

Oh  unforeseen utility of the useless  Charity of great things  Goodness
of giants  This huge monument  which had embodied an idea of the
Emperor s  had become the box of a street urchin  The brat had been
accepted and sheltered by the colossus  The bourgeois decked out in
their Sunday finery who passed the elephant of the Bastille  were fond
of saying as they scanned it disdainfully with their prominent eyes 
 What s the good of that   It served to save from the cold  the frost 
the hail  and rain  to shelter from the winds of winter  to preserve
from slumber in the mud which produces fever  and from slumber in the
snow which produces death  a little being who had no father  no mother 
no bread  no clothes  no refuge  It served to receive the innocent whom
society repulsed  It served to diminish public crime  It was a lair
open to one against whom all doors were shut  It seemed as though the
miserable old mastodon  invaded by vermin and oblivion  covered with
warts  with mould  and ulcers  tottering  worm eaten  abandoned 
condemned  a sort of mendicant colossus  asking alms in vain with a
benevolent look in the midst of the cross roads  had taken pity on that
other mendicant  the poor pygmy  who roamed without shoes to his feet 
without a roof over his head  blowing on his fingers  clad in rags  fed
on rejected scraps  That was what the elephant of the Bastille was good
for  This idea of Napoleon  disdained by men  had been taken back by
God  That which had been merely illustrious  had become august  In order
to realize his thought  the Emperor should have had porphyry  brass 
iron  gold  marble  the old collection of planks  beams and plaster
sufficed for God  The Emperor had had the dream of a genius  in that
Titanic elephant  armed  prodigious  with trunk uplifted  bearing its
tower and scattering on all sides its merry and vivifying waters  he
wished to incarnate the people  God had done a grander thing with it  he
had lodged a child there 

The hole through which Gavroche had entered was a breach which was
hardly visible from the outside  being concealed  as we have stated 
beneath the elephant s belly  and so narrow that it was only cats and
homeless children who could pass through it 

 Let s begin   said Gavroche   by telling the porter that we are not at
home  

And plunging into the darkness with the assurance of a person who is
well acquainted with his apartments  he took a plank and stopped up the
aperture 

Again Gavroche plunged into the obscurity  The children heard the
crackling of the match thrust into the phosphoric bottle  The chemical
match was not yet in existence  at that epoch the Fumade steel
represented progress 

A sudden light made them blink  Gavroche had just managed to ignite one
of those bits of cord dipped in resin which are called cellar rats  The
cellar rat  which emitted more smoke than light  rendered the interior
of the elephant confusedly visible 

Gavroche s two guests glanced about them  and the sensation which they
experienced was something like that which one would feel if shut up in
the great tun of Heidelberg  or  better still  like what Jonah must have
felt in the biblical belly of the whale  An entire and gigantic skeleton
appeared enveloping them  Above  a long brown beam  whence started at
regular distances  massive  arching ribs  represented the vertebral
column with its sides  stalactites of plaster depended from them like
entrails  and vast spiders  webs stretching from side to side  formed
dirty diaphragms  Here and there  in the corners  were visible large
blackish spots which had the appearance of being alive  and which
changed places rapidly with an abrupt and frightened movement 

Fragments which had fallen from the elephant s back into his belly had
filled up the cavity  so that it was possible to walk upon it as on a
floor 

The smaller child nestled up against his brother  and whispered to
him   

 It s black  

This remark drew an exclamation from Gavroche  The petrified air of the
two brats rendered some shock necessary 

 What s that you are gabbling about there   he exclaimed   Are
you scoffing at me  Are you turning up your noses  Do you want the
tuileries  Are you brutes  Come  say  I warn you that I don t belong to
the regiment of simpletons  Ah  come now  are you brats from the Pope s
establishment  

A little roughness is good in cases of fear  It is reassuring  The two
children drew close to Gavroche 

Gavroche  paternally touched by this confidence  passed from grave to
gentle  and addressing the smaller   

 Stupid   said he  accenting the insulting word  with a caressing
intonation   it s outside that it is black  Outside it s raining  here
it does not rain  outside it s cold  here there s not an atom of wind 
outside there are heaps of people  here there s no one  outside there
ain t even the moon  here there s my candle  confound it  

The two children began to look upon the apartment with less terror  but
Gavroche allowed them no more time for contemplation 

 Quick   said he 

And he pushed them towards what we are very glad to be able to call the
end of the room 

There stood his bed 

Gavroche s bed was complete  that is to say  it had a mattress  a
blanket  and an alcove with curtains 

The mattress was a straw mat  the blanket a rather large strip of
gray woollen stuff  very warm and almost new  This is what the alcove
consisted of   

Three rather long poles  thrust into and consolidated  with the rubbish
which formed the floor  that is to say  the belly of the elephant  two
in front and one behind  and united by a rope at their summits  so as to
form a pyramidal bundle  This cluster supported a trellis work of brass
wire which was simply placed upon it  but artistically applied  and held
by fastenings of iron wire  so that it enveloped all three holes  A row
of very heavy stones kept this network down to the floor so that nothing
could pass under it  This grating was nothing else than a piece of the
brass screens with which aviaries are covered in menageries  Gavroche s
bed stood as in a cage  behind this net  The whole resembled an
Esquimaux tent 

This trellis work took the place of curtains 

Gavroche moved aside the stones which fastened the net down in front 
and the two folds of the net which lapped over each other fell apart 

 Down on all fours  brats   said Gavroche 

He made his guests enter the cage with great precaution  then he crawled
in after them  pulled the stones together  and closed the opening
hermetically again 

All three had stretched out on the mat  Gavroche still had the cellar
rat in his hand 

 Now   said he   go to sleep  I m going to suppress the candelabra  

 Monsieur   the elder of the brothers asked Gavroche  pointing to the
netting   what s that for  

 That   answered Gavroche gravely   is for the rats  Go to sleep  

Nevertheless  he felt obliged to add a few words of instruction for the
benefit of these young creatures  and he continued   

 It s a thing from the Jardin des Plantes  It s used for fierce animals 
There s a whole shopful of them there  All you ve got to do is to climb
over a wall  crawl through a window  and pass through a door  You can
get as much as you want  

As he spoke  he wrapped the younger one up bodily in a fold of the
blanket  and the little one murmured   

 Oh  how good that is  It s warm  

Gavroche cast a pleased eye on the blanket 

 That s from the Jardin des Plantes  too   said he   I took that from
the monkeys  

And  pointing out to the eldest the mat on which he was lying  a very
thick and admirably made mat  he added   

 That belonged to the giraffe  

After a pause he went on   

 The beasts had all these things  I took them away from them  It didn t
trouble them  I told them   It s for the elephant   

He paused  and then resumed   

 You crawl over the walls and you don t care a straw for the government 
So there now  

The two children gazed with timid and stupefied respect on this
intrepid and ingenious being  a vagabond like themselves  isolated
like themselves  frail like themselves  who had something admirable
and all powerful about him  who seemed supernatural to them  and whose
physiognomy was composed of all the grimaces of an old mountebank 
mingled with the most ingenuous and charming smiles 

 Monsieur   ventured the elder timidly   you are not afraid of the
police  then  

Gavroche contented himself with replying   

 Brat  Nobody says  police   they say  bobbies   

The smaller had his eyes wide open  but he said nothing  As he was on
the edge of the mat  the elder being in the middle  Gavroche tucked the
blanket round him as a mother might have done  and heightened the mat
under his head with old rags  in such a way as to form a pillow for the
child  Then he turned to the elder   

 Hey  We re jolly comfortable here  ain t we  

 Ah  yes   replied the elder  gazing at Gavroche with the expression of
a saved angel 

The two poor little children who had been soaked through  began to grow
warm once more 

 Ah  by the way   continued Gavroche   what were you bawling about  

And pointing out the little one to his brother   

 A mite like that  I ve nothing to say about  but the idea of a big
fellow like you crying  It s idiotic  you looked like a calf  

 Gracious   replied the child   we have no lodging  

 Bother   retorted Gavroche   you don t say  lodgings   you say  crib   

 And then  we were afraid of being alone like that at night  

 You don t say  night   you say  darkmans   

 Thank you  sir   said the child 

 Listen   went on Gavroche   you must never bawl again over anything 
I ll take care of you  You shall see what fun we ll have  In summer 
we ll go to the Glaciere with Navet  one of my pals  we ll bathe in
the Gare  we ll run stark naked in front of the rafts on the bridge at
Austerlitz   that makes the laundresses raging  They scream  they get
mad  and if you only knew how ridiculous they are  We ll go and see the
man skeleton  And then I ll take you to the play  I ll take you to see
Frederick Lemaitre  I have tickets  I know some of the actors  I even
played in a piece once  There were a lot of us fellers  and we ran
under a cloth  and that made the sea  I ll get you an engagement at my
theatre  We ll go to see the savages  They ain t real  those savages
ain t  They wear pink tights that go all in wrinkles  and you can see
where their elbows have been darned with white  Then  we ll go to the
Opera  We ll get in with the hired applauders  The Opera claque is well
managed  I wouldn t associate with the claque on the boulevard  At the
Opera  just fancy  some of them pay twenty sous  but they re ninnies 
They re called dishclouts  And then we ll go to see the guillotine work 
I ll show you the executioner  He lives in the Rue des Marais  Monsieur
Sanson  He has a letter box at his door  Ah  we ll have famous fun  

At that moment a drop of wax fell on Gavroche s finger  and recalled him
to the realities of life 

 The deuce   said he   there s the wick giving out  Attention  I can t
spend more than a sou a month on my lighting  When a body goes to bed 
he must sleep  We haven t the time to read M  Paul de Kock s
romances  And besides  the light might pass through the cracks of the
porte cochere  and all the bobbies need to do is to see it  

 And then   remarked the elder timidly   he alone dared talk to
Gavroche  and reply to him   a spark might fall in the straw  and we
must look out and not burn the house down  

 People don t say  burn the house down    remarked Gavroche   they say
 blaze the crib   

The storm increased in violence  and the heavy downpour beat upon the
back of the colossus amid claps of thunder   You re taken in  rain  
said Gavroche   It amuses me to hear the decanter run down the legs of
the house  Winter is a stupid  it wastes its merchandise  it loses
its labor  it can t wet us  and that makes it kick up a row  old
water carrier that it is  

This allusion to the thunder  all the consequences of which Gavroche  in
his character of a philosopher of the nineteenth century  accepted  was
followed by a broad flash of lightning  so dazzling that a hint of it
entered the belly of the elephant through the crack  Almost at the same
instant  the thunder rumbled with great fury  The two little creatures
uttered a shriek  and started up so eagerly that the network came near
being displaced  but Gavroche turned his bold face to them  and took
advantage of the clap of thunder to burst into a laugh 

 Calm down  children  Don t topple over the edifice  That s fine 
first class thunder  all right  That s no slouch of a streak of
lightning  Bravo for the good God  Deuce take it  It s almost as good as
it is at the Ambigu  

That said  he restored order in the netting  pushed the two children
gently down on the bed  pressed their knees  in order to stretch them
out at full length  and exclaimed   

 Since the good God is lighting his candle  I can blow out mine  Now 
babes  now  my young humans  you must shut your peepers  It s very bad
not to sleep  It ll make you swallow the strainer  or  as they say  in
fashionable society  stink in the gullet  Wrap yourself up well in the
hide  I m going to put out the light  Are you ready  

 Yes   murmured the elder   I m all right  I seem to have feathers under
my head  

 People don t say  head    cried Gavroche   they say  nut   

The two children nestled close to each other  Gavroche finished
arranging them on the mat  drew the blanket up to their very ears  then
repeated  for the third time  his injunction in the hieratical tongue   

 Shut your peepers  

And he snuffed out his tiny light 

Hardly had the light been extinguished  when a peculiar trembling began
to affect the netting under which the three children lay 

It consisted of a multitude of dull scratches which produced a metallic
sound  as if claws and teeth were gnawing at the copper wire  This was
accompanied by all sorts of little piercing cries 

The little five year old boy  on hearing this hubbub overhead  and
chilled with terror  jogged his brother s elbow  but the elder brother
had already shut his peepers  as Gavroche had ordered  Then the little
one  who could no longer control his terror  questioned Gavroche  but in
a very low tone  and with bated breath   

 Sir  

 Hey   said Gavroche  who had just closed his eyes 

 What is that  

 It s the rats   replied Gavroche 

And he laid his head down on the mat again 

The rats  in fact  who swarmed by thousands in the carcass of the
elephant  and who were the living black spots which we have already
mentioned  had been held in awe by the flame of the candle  so long as
it had been lighted  but as soon as the cavern  which was the same
as their city  had returned to darkness  scenting what the good
story teller Perrault calls  fresh meat   they had hurled themselves in
throngs on Gavroche s tent  had climbed to the top of it  and had begun
to bite the meshes as though seeking to pierce this new fangled trap 

Still the little one could not sleep 

 Sir   he began again 

 Hey   said Gavroche 

 What are rats  

 They are mice  

This explanation reassured the child a little  He had seen white mice in
the course of his life  and he was not afraid of them  Nevertheless  he
lifted up his voice once more 

 Sir  

 Hey   said Gavroche again 

 Why don t you have a cat  

 I did have one   replied Gavroche   I brought one here  but they ate
her  

This second explanation undid the work of the first  and the little
fellow began to tremble again 

The dialogue between him and Gavroche began again for the fourth time   

 Monsieur  

 Hey  

 Who was it that was eaten  

 The cat  

 And who ate the cat  

 The rats  

 The mice  

 Yes  the rats  

The child  in consternation  dismayed at the thought of mice which ate
cats  pursued   

 Sir  would those mice eat us  

 Wouldn t they just   ejaculated Gavroche 

The child s terror had reached its climax  But Gavroche added   

 Don t be afraid  They can t get in  And besides  I m here  Here  catch
hold of my hand  Hold your tongue and shut your peepers  

At the same time Gavroche grasped the little fellow s hand across his
brother  The child pressed the hand close to him  and felt reassured 
Courage and strength have these mysterious ways of communicating
themselves  Silence reigned round them once more  the sound of their
voices had frightened off the rats  at the expiration of a few minutes 
they came raging back  but in vain  the three little fellows were fast
asleep and heard nothing more 

The hours of the night fled away  Darkness covered the vast Place de la
Bastille  A wintry gale  which mingled with the rain  blew in gusts  the
patrol searched all the doorways  alleys  enclosures  and obscure nooks 
and in their search for nocturnal vagabonds they passed in silence
before the elephant  the monster  erect  motionless  staring open eyed
into the shadows  had the appearance of dreaming happily over his good
deed  and sheltered from heaven and from men the three poor sleeping
children 

In order to understand what is about to follow  the reader must
remember  that  at that epoch  the Bastille guard house was situated at
the other end of the square  and that what took place in the vicinity of
the elephant could neither be seen nor heard by the sentinel 

Towards the end of that hour which immediately precedes the dawn  a
man turned from the Rue Saint Antoine at a run  made the circuit of the
enclosure of the column of July  and glided between the palings until he
was underneath the belly of the elephant  If any light had illuminated
that man  it might have been divined from the thorough manner in which
he was soaked that he had passed the night in the rain  Arrived beneath
the elephant  he uttered a peculiar cry  which did not belong to any
human tongue  and which a paroquet alone could have imitated  Twice he
repeated this cry  of whose orthography the following barely conveys an
idea   

 Kirikikiou  

At the second cry  a clear  young  merry voice responded from the belly
of the elephant   

 Yes  

Almost immediately  the plank which closed the hole was drawn aside 
and gave passage to a child who descended the elephant s leg  and fell
briskly near the man  It was Gavroche  The man was Montparnasse 

As for his cry of Kirikikiou   that was  doubtless  what the child had
meant  when he said   

 You will ask for Monsieur Gavroche  

On hearing it  he had waked with a start  had crawled out of his
 alcove   pushing apart the netting a little  and carefully drawing it
together again  then he had opened the trap  and descended 

The man and the child recognized each other silently amid the gloom 
Montparnasse confined himself to the remark   

 We need you  Come  lend us a hand  

The lad asked for no further enlightenment 

 I m with you   said he 

And both took their way towards the Rue Saint Antoine  whence
Montparnasse had emerged  winding rapidly through the long file of
market gardeners  carts which descend towards the markets at that hour 

The market gardeners  crouching  half asleep  in their wagons  amid the
salads and vegetables  enveloped to their very eyes in their mufflers
on account of the beating rain  did not even glance at these strange
pedestrians 




CHAPTER III  THE VICISSITUDES OF FLIGHT

This is what had taken place that same night at the La Force   

An escape had been planned between Babet  Brujon  Guelemer  and
Thenardier  although Thenardier was in close confinement  Babet had
arranged the matter for his own benefit  on the same day  as the reader
has seen from Montparnasse s account to Gavroche  Montparnasse was to
help them from outside 

Brujon  after having passed a month in the punishment cell  had had
time  in the first place  to weave a rope  in the second  to mature a
plan  In former times  those severe places where the discipline of the
prison delivers the convict into his own hands  were composed of four
stone walls  a stone ceiling  a flagged pavement  a camp bed  a grated
window  and a door lined with iron  and were called dungeons  but the
dungeon was judged to be too terrible  nowadays they are composed of an
iron door  a grated window  a camp bed  a flagged pavement  four stone
walls  and a stone ceiling  and are called chambers of punishment  A
little light penetrates towards mid day  The inconvenient point about
these chambers which  as the reader sees  are not dungeons  is that they
allow the persons who should be at work to think 

So Brujon meditated  and he emerged from the chamber of punishment with
a rope  As he had the name of being very dangerous in the Charlemagne
courtyard  he was placed in the New Building  The first thing he found
in the New Building was Guelemer  the second was a nail  Guelemer  that
is to say  crime  a nail  that is to say  liberty  Brujon  of whom it
is high time that the reader should have a complete idea  was  with an
appearance of delicate health and a profoundly premeditated languor  a
polished  intelligent sprig  and a thief  who had a caressing glance 
and an atrocious smile  His glance resulted from his will  and his
smile from his nature  His first studies in his art had been directed
to roofs  He had made great progress in the industry of the men who tear
off lead  who plunder the roofs and despoil the gutters by the process
called double pickings 

The circumstance which put the finishing touch on the moment peculiarly
favorable for an attempt at escape  was that the roofers were re laying
and re jointing  at that very moment  a portion of the slates on the
prison  The Saint Bernard courtyard was no longer absolutely isolated
from the Charlemagne and the Saint Louis courts  Up above there were
scaffoldings and ladders  in other words  bridges and stairs in the
direction of liberty 

The New Building  which was the most cracked and decrepit thing to be
seen anywhere in the world  was the weak point in the prison  The walls
were eaten by saltpetre to such an extent that the authorities had been
obliged to line the vaults of the dormitories with a sheathing of wood 
because stones were in the habit of becoming detached and falling on
the prisoners in their beds  In spite of this antiquity  the authorities
committed the error of confining in the New Building the most
troublesome prisoners  of placing there  the hard cases   as they say in
prison parlance 

The New Building contained four dormitories  one above the other  and a
top story which was called the Bel Air  Fine Air   A large chimney flue 
probably from some ancient kitchen of the Dukes de la Force  started
from the groundfloor  traversed all four stories  cut the dormitories 
where it figured as a flattened pillar  into two portions  and finally
pierced the roof 

Guelemer and Brujon were in the same dormitory  They had been placed  by
way of precaution  on the lower story  Chance ordained that the heads of
their beds should rest against the chimney 

Thenardier was directly over their heads in the top story known as
Fine Air  The pedestrian who halts on the Rue Culture Sainte Catherine 
after passing the barracks of the firemen  in front of the porte cochere
of the bathing establishment  beholds a yard full of flowers and shrubs
in wooden boxes  at the extremity of which spreads out a little white
rotunda with two wings  brightened up with green shutters  the bucolic
dream of Jean Jacques 

Not more than ten years ago  there rose above that rotunda an enormous
black  hideous  bare wall by which it was backed up 

This was the outer wall of La Force 

This wall  beside that rotunda  was Milton viewed through Berquin 

Lofty as it was  this wall was overtopped by a still blacker roof  which
could be seen beyond  This was the roof of the New Building  There
one could descry four dormer windows  guarded with bars  they were the
windows of the Fine Air 

A chimney pierced the roof  this was the chimney which traversed the
dormitories 

The Bel Air  that top story of the New Building  was a sort of large
hall  with a Mansard roof  guarded with triple gratings and double doors
of sheet iron  which were studded with enormous bolts  When one entered
from the north end  one had on one s left the four dormer windows  on
one s right  facing the windows  at regular intervals  four square 
tolerably vast cages  separated by narrow passages  built of masonry
to about the height of the elbow  and the rest  up to the roof  of iron
bars 

Thenardier had been in solitary confinement in one of these cages since
the night of the 3d of February  No one was ever able to discover how 
and by what connivance  he succeeded in procuring  and secreting a
bottle of wine  invented  so it is said  by Desrues  with which
a narcotic is mixed  and which the band of the Endormeurs  or
Sleep compellers  rendered famous 

There are  in many prisons  treacherous employees  half jailers 
half thieves  who assist in escapes  who sell to the police an
unfaithful service  and who turn a penny whenever they can 

On that same night  then  when Little Gavroche picked up the two lost
children  Brujon and Guelemer  who knew that Babet  who had escaped that
morning  was waiting for them in the street as well as Montparnasse 
rose softly  and with the nail which Brujon had found  began to pierce
the chimney against which their beds stood  The rubbish fell on Brujon s
bed  so that they were not heard  Showers mingled with thunder shook
the doors on their hinges  and created in the prison a terrible and
opportune uproar  Those of the prisoners who woke  pretended to fall
asleep again  and left Guelemer and Brujon to their own devices  Brujon
was adroit  Guelemer was vigorous  Before any sound had reached the
watcher  who was sleeping in the grated cell which opened into the
dormitory  the wall had  been pierced  the chimney scaled  the iron
grating which barred the upper orifice of the flue forced  and the two
redoubtable ruffians were on the roof  The wind and rain redoubled  the
roof was slippery 

 What a good night to leg it   said Brujon 

An abyss six feet broad and eighty feet deep separated them from the
surrounding wall  At the bottom of this abyss  they could see the musket
of a sentinel gleaming through the gloom  They fastened one end of the
rope which Brujon had spun in his dungeon to the stumps of the iron bars
which they had just wrenched off  flung the other over the outer wall 
crossed the abyss at one bound  clung to the coping of the wall  got
astride of it  let themselves slip  one after the other  along the rope 
upon a little roof which touches the bath house  pulled their rope after
them  jumped down into the courtyard of the bath house  traversed it 
pushed open the porter s wicket  beside which hung his rope  pulled
this  opened the porte cochere  and found themselves in the street 

Three quarters of an hour had not elapsed since they had risen in bed in
the dark  nail in hand  and their project in their heads 

A few moments later they had joined Babet and Montparnasse  who were
prowling about the neighborhood 

They had broken their rope in pulling it after them  and a bit of it
remained attached to the chimney on the roof  They had sustained no
other damage  however  than that of scratching nearly all the skin off
their hands 

That night  Thenardier was warned  without any one being able to explain
how  and was not asleep 

Towards one o clock in the morning  the night being very dark  he saw
two shadows pass along the roof  in the rain and squalls  in front of
the dormer window which was opposite his cage  One halted at the window 
long enough to dart in a glance  This was Brujon 

Thenardier recognized him  and understood  This was enough 

Thenardier  rated as a burglar  and detained as a measure of precaution
under the charge of organizing a nocturnal ambush  with armed force  was
kept in sight  The sentry  who was relieved every two hours  marched
up and down in front of his cage with loaded musket  The Fine Air was
lighted by a skylight  The prisoner had on his feet fetters weighing
fifty pounds  Every day  at four o clock in the afternoon  a jailer 
escorted by two dogs   this was still in vogue at that time   entered
his cage  deposited beside his bed a loaf of black bread weighing two
pounds  a jug of water  a bowl filled with rather thin bouillon  in
which swam a few Mayagan beans  inspected his irons and tapped the bars 
This man and his dogs made two visits during the night 

Thenardier had obtained permission to keep a sort of iron bolt which he
used to spike his bread into a crack in the wall   in order to preserve
it from the rats   as he said  As Thenardier was kept in sight 
no objection had been made to this spike  Still  it was remembered
afterwards  that one of the jailers had said   It would be better to let
him have only a wooden spike  

At two o clock in the morning  the sentinel  who was an old soldier  was
relieved  and replaced by a conscript  A few moments later  the man with
the dogs paid his visit  and went off without noticing anything  except 
possibly  the excessive youth and  the rustic air  of the  raw recruit  
Two hours afterwards  at four o clock  when they came to relieve the
conscript  he was found asleep on the floor  lying like a log near
Thenardier s cage  As for Thenardier  he was no longer there  There was
a hole in the ceiling of his cage  and  above it  another hole in the
roof  One of the planks of his bed had been wrenched off  and probably
carried away with him  as it was not found  They also seized in his cell
a half empty bottle which contained the remains of the stupefying wine
with which the soldier had been drugged  The soldier s bayonet had
disappeared 

At the moment when this discovery was made  it was assumed that
Thenardier was out of reach  The truth is  that he was no longer in the
New Building  but that he was still in great danger 

Thenardier  on reaching the roof of the New Building  had found the
remains of Brujon s rope hanging to the bars of the upper trap of the
chimney  but  as this broken fragment was much too short  he had not
been able to escape by the outer wall  as Brujon and Guelemer had done 

When one turns from the Rue des Ballets into the Rue du Roi de Sicile 
one almost immediately encounters a repulsive ruin  There stood on
that spot  in the last century  a house of which only the back wall now
remains  a regular wall of masonry  which rises to the height of the
third story between the adjoining buildings  This ruin can be recognized
by two large square windows which are still to be seen there  the middle
one  that nearest the right gable  is barred with a worm eaten beam
adjusted like a prop  Through these windows there was formerly visible a
lofty and lugubrious wall  which was a fragment of the outer wall of La
Force 

The empty space on the street left by the demolished house is
half filled by a fence of rotten boards  shored up by five stone posts 
In this recess lies concealed a little shanty which leans against the
portion of the ruin which has remained standing  The fence has a gate 
which  a few years ago  was fastened only by a latch 

It was the crest of this ruin that Thenardier had succeeded in reaching 
a little after one o clock in the morning 

How had he got there  That is what no one has ever been able to explain
or understand  The lightning must  at the same time  have hindered
and helped him  Had he made use of the ladders and scaffoldings of the
slaters to get from roof to roof  from enclosure to enclosure  from
compartment to compartment  to the buildings of the Charlemagne court 
then to the buildings of the Saint Louis court  to the outer wall  and
thence to the hut on the Rue du Roi de Sicile  But in that itinerary
there existed breaks which seemed to render it an impossibility  Had
he placed the plank from his bed like a bridge from the roof of the
Fine Air to the outer wall  and crawled flat  on his belly on the coping
of the outer wall the whole distance round the prison as far as the hut 
But the outer wall of La Force formed a crenellated and unequal line 
it mounted and descended  it dropped at the firemen s barracks  it rose
towards the bath house  it was cut in twain by buildings  it was not
even of the same height on the Hotel Lamoignon as on the Rue Pavee 
everywhere occurred falls and right angles  and then  the sentinels must
have espied the dark form of the fugitive  hence  the route taken by
Thenardier still remains rather inexplicable  In two manners  flight was
impossible  Had Thenardier  spurred on by that thirst for liberty which
changes precipices into ditches  iron bars into wattles of osier  a
legless man into an athlete  a gouty man into a bird  stupidity into
instinct  instinct into intelligence  and intelligence into genius  had
Thenardier invented a third mode  No one has ever found out 

The marvels of escape cannot always be accounted for  The man who makes
his escape  we repeat  is inspired  there is something of the star and
of the lightning in the mysterious gleam of flight  the effort towards
deliverance is no less surprising than the flight towards the sublime 
and one says of the escaped thief   How did he contrive to scale that
wall   in the same way that one says of Corneille   Where did he find
the means of dying  

At all events  dripping with perspiration  drenched with rain  with his
clothes hanging in ribbons  his hands flayed  his elbows bleeding  his
knees torn  Thenardier had reached what children  in their figurative
language  call the edge of the wall of the ruin  there he had stretched
himself out at full length  and there his strength had failed him  A
steep escarpment three stories high separated him from the pavement of
the street 

The rope which he had was too short 

There he waited  pale  exhausted  desperate with all the despair which
he had undergone  still hidden by the night  but telling himself that
the day was on the point of dawning  alarmed at the idea of hearing the
neighboring clock of Saint Paul strike four within a few minutes  an
hour when the sentinel was relieved and when the latter would be found
asleep under the pierced roof  staring in horror at a terrible depth  at
the light of the street lanterns  the wet  black pavement  that pavement
longed for yet frightful  which meant death  and which meant liberty 

He asked himself whether his three accomplices in flight had succeeded 
if they had heard him  and if they would come to his assistance  He
listened  With the exception of the patrol  no one had passed through
the street since he had been there  Nearly the whole of the descent of
the market gardeners from Montreuil  from Charonne  from Vincennes 
and from Bercy to the markets was accomplished through the Rue
Saint Antoine 

Four o clock struck  Thenardier shuddered  A few moments later  that
terrified and confused uproar which follows the discovery of an escape
broke forth in the prison  The sound of doors opening and shutting  the
creaking of gratings on their hinges  a tumult in the guard house  the
hoarse shouts of the turnkeys  the shock of musket butts on the pavement
of the courts  reached his ears  Lights ascended and descended past the
grated windows of the dormitories  a torch ran along the ridge pole of
the top story of the New Building  the firemen belonging in the barracks
on the right had been summoned  Their helmets  which the torch lighted
up in the rain  went and came along the roofs  At the same time 
Thenardier perceived in the direction of the Bastille a wan whiteness
lighting up the edge of the sky in doleful wise 

He was on top of a wall ten inches wide  stretched out under the heavy
rains  with two gulfs to right and left  unable to stir  subject to the
giddiness of a possible fall  and to the horror of a certain arrest 
and his thoughts  like the pendulum of a clock  swung from one of these
ideas to the other   Dead if I fall  caught if I stay   In the midst of
this anguish  he suddenly saw  the street being still dark  a man who
was gliding along the walls and coming from the Rue Pavee  halt in the
recess above which Thenardier was  as it were  suspended  Here this
man was joined by a second  who walked with the same caution  then by
a third  then by a fourth  When these men were re united  one of them
lifted the latch of the gate in the fence  and all four entered
the enclosure in which the shanty stood  They halted directly under
Thenardier  These men had evidently chosen this vacant space in order
that they might consult without being seen by the passers by or by the
sentinel who guards the wicket of La Force a few paces distant  It
must be added  that the rain kept this sentinel blocked in his box 
Thenardier  not being able to distinguish their visages  lent an ear to
their words with the desperate attention of a wretch who feels himself
lost 

Thenardier saw something resembling a gleam of hope flash before his
eyes   these men conversed in slang 

The first said in a low but distinct voice   

 Let s cut  What are we up to here  

The second replied   It s raining hard enough to put out the very
devil s fire  And the bobbies will be along instanter  There s a soldier
on guard yonder  We shall get nabbed here  

These two words  icigo and icicaille  both of which mean ici  and which
belong  the first to the slang of the barriers  the second to the slang
of the Temple  were flashes of light for Thenardier  By the icigo he
recognized Brujon  who was a prowler of the barriers  by the icicaille
he knew Babet  who  among his other trades  had been an old clothes
broker at the Temple 

The antique slang of the great century is no longer spoken except in
the Temple  and Babet was really the only person who spoke it in all
its purity  Had it not been for the icicaille  Thenardier would not have
recognized him  for he had entirely changed his voice 

In the meanwhile  the third man had intervened 

 There s no hurry yet  let s wait a bit  How do we know that he doesn t
stand in need of us  

By this  which was nothing but French  Thenardier recognized
Montparnasse  who made it a point in his elegance to understand all
slangs and to speak none of them 

As for the fourth  he held his peace  but his huge shoulders betrayed
him  Thenardier did not hesitate  It was Guelemer 

Brujon replied almost impetuously but still in a low tone   

 What are you jabbering about  The tavern keeper hasn t managed to cut
his stick  He don t tumble to the racket  that he don t  You have to be
a pretty knowing cove to tear up your shirt  cut up your sheet to make
a rope  punch holes in doors  get up false papers  make false keys  file
your irons  hang out your cord  hide yourself  and disguise yourself 
The old fellow hasn t managed to play it  he doesn t understand how to
work the business  

Babet added  still in that classical slang which was spoken by
Poulailler and Cartouche  and which is to the bold  new  highly colored
and risky argot used by Brujon what the language of Racine is to the
language of Andre Chenier   

 Your tavern keeper must have been nabbed in the act  You have to be
knowing  He s only a greenhorn  He must have let himself be taken in
by a bobby  perhaps even by a sheep who played it on him as his pal 
Listen  Montparnasse  do you hear those shouts in the prison  You have
seen all those lights  He s recaptured  there  He ll get off with twenty
years  I ain t afraid  I ain t a coward  but there ain t anything more
to do  or otherwise they d lead us a dance  Don t get mad  come with us 
let s go drink a bottle of old wine together  

 One doesn t desert one s friends in a scrape   grumbled Montparnasse 

 I tell you he s nabbed   retorted Brujon   At the present moment  the
inn keeper ain t worth a ha penny  We can t do nothing for him  Let s be
off  Every minute I think a bobby has got me in his fist  

Montparnasse no longer offered more than a feeble resistance  the fact
is  that these four men  with the fidelity of ruffians who never abandon
each other  had prowled all night long about La Force  great as was
their peril  in the hope of seeing Thenardier make his appearance on the
top of some wall  But the night  which was really growing too fine   for
the downpour was such as to render all the streets deserted   the cold
which was overpowering them  their soaked garments  their hole ridden
shoes  the alarming noise which had just burst forth in the prison  the
hours which had elapsed  the patrol which they had encountered  the
hope which was vanishing  all urged them to beat a retreat  Montparnasse
himself  who was  perhaps  almost Thenardier s son in law  yielded  A
moment more  and they would be gone  Thenardier was panting on his wall
like the shipwrecked sufferers of the Meduse on their raft when they
beheld the vessel which had appeared in sight vanish on the horizon 

He dared not call to them  a cry might be heard and ruin everything  An
idea occurred to him  a last idea  a flash of inspiration  he drew from
his pocket the end of Brujon s rope  which he had detached from the
chimney of the New Building  and flung it into the space enclosed by the
fence 

This rope fell at their feet 

 A widow   37  said Babet 

 My tortouse   38  said Brujon 

 The tavern keeper is there   said Montparnasse 

They raised their eyes  Thenardier thrust out his head a very little 

 Quick   said Montparnasse   have you the other end of the rope 
Brujon  

 Yes  

 Knot the two pieces together  we ll fling him the rope  he can fasten
it to the wall  and he ll have enough of it to get down with  

Thenardier ran the risk  and spoke   

 I am paralyzed with cold  

 We ll warm you up  

 I can t budge  

 Let yourself slide  we ll catch you  

 My hands are benumbed  

 Only fasten the rope to the wall  

 I can t  

 Then one of us must climb up   said Montparnasse 

 Three stories   ejaculated Brujon 

An ancient plaster flue  which had served for a stove that had been used
in the shanty in former times  ran along the wall and mounted almost
to the very spot where they could see Thenardier  This flue  then much
damaged and full of cracks  has since fallen  but the marks of it are
still visible 

It was very narrow 

 One might get up by the help of that   said Montparnasse 

 By that flue   exclaimed Babet   a grown up cove  never  it would take
a brat  

 A brat must be got   resumed Brujon 

 Where are we to find a young  un   said Guelemer 

 Wait   said Montparnasse   I ve got the very article  

He opened the gate of the fence very softly  made sure that no one was
passing along the street  stepped out cautiously  shut the gate behind
him  and set off at a run in the direction of the Bastille 

Seven or eight minutes elapsed  eight thousand centuries to Thenardier 
Babet  Brujon  and Guelemer did not open their lips  at last the gate
opened once more  and Montparnasse appeared  breathless  and followed by
Gavroche  The rain still rendered the street completely deserted 

Little Gavroche entered the enclosure and gazed at the forms of these
ruffians with a tranquil air  The water was dripping from his hair 
Guelemer addressed him   

 Are you a man  young  un  

Gavroche shrugged his shoulders  and replied   

 A young  un like me s a man  and men like you are babes  

 The brat s tongue s well hung   exclaimed Babet 

 The Paris brat ain t made of straw   added Brujon 

 What do you want   asked Gavroche 

Montparnasse answered   

 Climb up that flue  

 With this rope   said Babet 

 And fasten it   continued Brujon 

 To the top of the wall   went on Babet 

 To the cross bar of the window   added Brujon 

 And then   said Gavroche 

 There   said Guelemer 

The gamin examined the rope  the flue  the wall  the windows  and made
that indescribable and disdainful noise with his lips which signifies   

 Is that all  

 There s a man up there whom you are to save   resumed Montparnasse 

 Will you   began Brujon again 

 Greenhorn   replied the lad  as though the question appeared a most
unprecedented one to him 

And he took off his shoes 

Guelemer seized Gavroche by one arm  set him on the roof of the shanty 
whose worm eaten planks bent beneath the urchin s weight  and handed
him the rope which Brujon had knotted together during Montparnasse s
absence  The gamin directed his steps towards the flue  which it was
easy to enter  thanks to a large crack which touched the roof  At the
moment when he was on the point of ascending  Thenardier  who saw life
and safety approaching  bent over the edge of the wall  the first light
of dawn struck white upon his brow dripping with sweat  upon his livid
cheek bones  his sharp and savage nose  his bristling gray beard  and
Gavroche recognized him 

 Hullo  it s my father  Oh  that won t hinder  

And taking the rope in his teeth  he resolutely began the ascent 

He reached the summit of the hut  bestrode the old wall as though it had
been a horse  and knotted the rope firmly to the upper cross bar of the
window 

A moment later  Thenardier was in the street 

As soon as he touched the pavement  as soon as he found himself out
of danger  he was no longer either weary  or chilled or trembling  the
terrible things from which he had escaped vanished like smoke  all that
strange and ferocious mind awoke once more  and stood erect and free 
ready to march onward 

These were this man s first words   

 Now  whom are we to eat  

It is useless to explain the sense of this frightfully transparent
remark  which signifies both to kill  to assassinate  and to plunder  To
eat  true sense  to devour 

 Let s get well into a corner   said Brujon   Let s settle it in three
words  and part at once  There was an affair that promised well in the
Rue Plumet  a deserted street  an isolated house  an old rotten gate on
a garden  and lone women  

 Well  why not   demanded Thenardier 

 Your girl  Eponine  went to see about the matter   replied Babet 

 And she brought a biscuit to Magnon   added Guelemer   Nothing to be
made there  

 The girl s no fool   said Thenardier   Still  it must be seen to  

 Yes  yes   said Brujon   it must be looked up  

In the meanwhile  none of the men seemed to see Gavroche  who  during
this colloquy  had seated himself on one of the fence posts  he waited
a few moments  thinking that perhaps his father would turn towards him 
then he put on his shoes again  and said   

 Is that all  You don t want any more  my men  Now you re out of your
scrape  I m off  I must go and get my brats out of bed  

And off he went 

The five men emerged  one after another  from the enclosure 

When Gavroche had disappeared at the corner of the Rue des Ballets 
Babet took Thenardier aside 

 Did you take a good look at that young  un   he asked 

 What young  un  

 The one who climbed the wall and carried you the rope  

 Not particularly  

 Well  I don t know  but it strikes me that it was your son  

 Bah   said Thenardier   do you think so  




BOOK SEVENTH   SLANG

 Illustration  Slang b7 1 slang 




CHAPTER I  ORIGIN

Pigritia is a terrible word 

It engenders a whole world  la pegre  for which read theft  and a hell 
la pegrenne  for which read hunger 

Thus  idleness is the mother 

She has a son  theft  and a daughter  hunger 

Where are we at this moment  In the land of slang 

What is slang  It is at one and the same time  a nation and a dialect 
it is theft in its two kinds  people and language 

When  four and thirty years ago  the narrator of this grave and sombre
history introduced into a work written with the same aim as this 39  a
thief who talked argot  there arose amazement and clamor    What  How 
Argot  Why  argot is horrible  It is the language of prisons  galleys 
convicts  of everything that is most abominable in society   etc   etc 

We have never understood this sort of objections 

Since that time  two powerful romancers  one of whom is a profound
observer of the human heart  the other an intrepid friend of the people 
Balzac and Eugene Sue  having represented their ruffians as talking
their natural language  as the author of The Last Day of a Condemned
Man did in 1828  the same objections have been raised  People repeated 
 What do authors mean by that revolting dialect  Slang is odious  Slang
makes one shudder  

Who denies that  Of course it does 

When it is a question of probing a wound  a gulf  a society  since when
has it been considered wrong to go too far  to go to the bottom  We have
always thought that it was sometimes a courageous act  and  at least  a
simple and useful deed  worthy of the sympathetic attention which duty
accepted and fulfilled merits  Why should one not explore everything 
and study everything  Why should one halt on the way  The halt is a
matter depending on the sounding line  and not on the leadsman 

Certainly  too  it is neither an attractive nor an easy task to
undertake an investigation into the lowest depths of the social order 
where terra firma comes to an end and where mud begins  to rummage in
those vague  murky waves  to follow up  to seize and to fling  still
quivering  upon the pavement that abject dialect which is dripping with
filth when thus brought to the light  that pustulous vocabulary each
word of which seems an unclean ring from a monster of the mire and the
shadows  Nothing is more lugubrious than the contemplation thus in
its nudity  in the broad light of thought  of the horrible swarming of
slang  It seems  in fact  to be a sort of horrible beast made for the
night which has just been torn from its cesspool  One thinks one beholds
a frightful  living  and bristling thicket which quivers  rustles 
wavers  returns to shadow  threatens and glares  One word resembles a
claw  another an extinguished and bleeding eye  such and such a phrase
seems to move like the claw of a crab  All this is alive with
the hideous vitality of things which have been organized out of
disorganization 

Now  when has horror ever excluded study  Since when has malady banished
medicine  Can one imagine a naturalist refusing to study the viper  the
bat  the scorpion  the centipede  the tarantula  and one who would
cast them back into their darkness  saying   Oh  how ugly that is   The
thinker who should turn aside from slang would resemble a surgeon
who should avert his face from an ulcer or a wart  He would be like
a philologist refusing to examine a fact in language  a philosopher
hesitating to scrutinize a fact in humanity  For  it must be stated
to those who are ignorant of the case  that argot is both a literary
phenomenon and a social result  What is slang  properly speaking  It is
the language of wretchedness 

We may be stopped  the fact may be put to us in general terms  which is
one way of attenuating it  we may be told  that all trades  professions 
it may be added  all the accidents of the social hierarchy and all
forms of intelligence  have their own slang  The merchant who says 
 Montpellier not active  Marseilles fine quality   the broker on  change
who says   Assets at end of current month   the gambler who says   Tiers
et tout  refait de pique   the sheriff of the Norman Isles who says 
 The holder in fee reverting to his landed estate cannot claim the
fruits of that estate during the hereditary seizure of the real estate
by the mortgagor   the playwright who says   The piece was hissed  
the comedian who says   I ve made a hit   the philosopher who says 
 Phenomenal triplicity   the huntsman who says   Voileci allais 
Voileci fuyant   the phrenologist who says   Amativeness  combativeness 
secretiveness   the infantry soldier who says   My shooting iron   the
cavalry man who says   My turkey cock   the fencing master who says 
 Tierce  quarte  break   the printer who says   My shooting stick and
galley    all  printer  fencing master  cavalry dragoon  infantry man 
phrenologist  huntsman  philosopher  comedian  playwright  sheriff 
gambler  stock broker  and merchant  speak slang  The painter who says 
 My grinder   the notary who says   My Skip the Gutter   the hairdresser
who says   My mealyback   the cobbler who says   My cub   talks slang 
Strictly speaking  if one absolutely insists on the point  all the
different fashions of saying the right and the left  the sailor s port
and starboard  the scene shifter s court side  and garden side  the
beadle s Gospel side and Epistle side  are slang  There is the slang of
the affected lady as well as of the precieuses  The Hotel Rambouillet
nearly adjoins the Cour des Miracles  There is a slang of duchesses 
witness this phrase contained in a love letter from a very great lady
and a very pretty woman of the Restoration   You will find in this
gossip a fultitude of reasons why I should libertize   40  Diplomatic
ciphers are slang  the pontifical chancellery by using 26 for Rome 
grkztntgzyal for despatch  and abfxustgrnogrkzu tu XI  for the Due de
Modena  speaks slang  The physicians of the Middle Ages who  for
carrot  radish  and turnip  said Opoponach  perfroschinum 
reptitalmus  dracatholicum  angelorum  postmegorum  talked slang  The
sugar manufacturer who says   Loaf  clarified  lumps  bastard  common 
burnt    this honest manufacturer talks slang  A certain school of
criticism twenty years ago  which used to say   Half of the works of
Shakespeare consists of plays upon words and puns    talked slang  The
poet  and the artist who  with profound understanding  would designate
M  de Montmorency as  a bourgeois   if he were not a judge of verses and
statues  speak slang  The classic Academician who calls flowers  Flora  
fruits   Pomona   the sea   Neptune   love   fires   beauty   charms  
a horse   a courser   the white or tricolored cockade   the rose of
Bellona   the three cornered hat   Mars  triangle    that classical
Academician talks slang  Algebra  medicine  botany  have each their
slang  The tongue which is employed on board ship  that wonderful
language of the sea  which is so complete and so picturesque  which was
spoken by Jean Bart  Duquesne  Suffren  and Duperre  which mingles with
the whistling of the rigging  the sound of the speaking trumpets  the
shock of the boarding irons  the roll of the sea  the wind  the gale 
the cannon  is wholly a heroic and dazzling slang  which is to the
fierce slang of the thieves what the lion is to the jackal 

No doubt  But say what we will  this manner of understanding the word
slang is an extension which every one will not admit  For our part 
we reserve to the word its ancient and precise  circumscribed and
determined significance  and we restrict slang to slang  The veritable
slang and the slang that is pre eminently slang  if the two words can be
coupled thus  the slang immemorial which was a kingdom  is nothing
else  we repeat  than the homely  uneasy  crafty  treacherous  venomous 
cruel  equivocal  vile  profound  fatal tongue of wretchedness  There
exists  at the extremity of all abasement and all misfortunes  a last
misery which revolts and makes up its mind to enter into conflict
with the whole mass of fortunate facts and reigning rights  a fearful
conflict  where  now cunning  now violent  unhealthy and ferocious
at one and the same time  it attacks the social order with pin pricks
through vice  and with club blows through crime  To meet the needs of
this conflict  wretchedness has invented a language of combat  which is
slang 

To keep afloat and to rescue from oblivion  to hold above the gulf  were
it but a fragment of some language which man has spoken and which would 
otherwise  be lost  that is to say  one of the elements  good or bad  of
which civilization is composed  or by which it is complicated  to extend
the records of social observation  is to serve civilization itself  This
service Plautus rendered  consciously or unconsciously  by making two
Carthaginian soldiers talk Phoenician  that service Moliere rendered 
by making so many of his characters talk Levantine and all sorts of
dialects  Here objections spring up afresh  Phoenician  very good 
Levantine  quite right  Even dialect  let that pass  They are tongues
which have belonged to nations or provinces  but slang  What is the use
of preserving slang  What is the good of assisting slang  to survive  

To this we reply in one word  only  Assuredly  if the tongue which a
nation or a province has spoken is worthy of interest  the language
which has been spoken by a misery is still more worthy of attention and
study 

It is the language which has been spoken  in France  for example  for
more than four centuries  not only by a misery  but by every possible
human misery 

And then  we insist upon it  the study of social deformities and
infirmities  and the task of pointing them out with a view to remedy 
is not a business in which choice is permitted  The historian of manners
and ideas has no less austere a mission than the historian of events 
The latter has the surface of civilization  the conflicts of crowns  the
births of princes  the marriages of kings  battles  assemblages  great
public men  revolutions in the daylight  everything on the exterior 
the other historian has the interior  the depths  the people who toil 
suffer  wait  the oppressed woman  the agonizing child  the secret war
between man and man  obscure ferocities  prejudices  plotted
iniquities  the subterranean  the indistinct tremors of multitudes  the
die of hunger  the counter blows of the law  the secret evolution of
souls  the go bare foot  the bare armed  the disinherited  the orphans 
the unhappy  and the infamous  all the forms which roam through the
darkness  He must descend with his heart full of charity  and severity
at the same time  as a brother and as a judge  to those impenetrable
casemates where crawl  pell mell  those who bleed and those who deal the
blow  those who weep and those who curse  those who fast and those
who devour  those who endure evil and those who inflict it  Have these
historians of hearts and souls duties at all inferior to the historians
of external facts  Does any one think that Alighieri has any fewer
things to say than Machiavelli  Is the under side of civilization any
less important than the upper side merely because it is deeper and more
sombre  Do we really know the mountain well when we are not acquainted
with the cavern 

Let us say  moreover  parenthetically  that from a few words of what
precedes a marked separation might be inferred between the two classes
of historians which does not exist in our mind  No one is a good
historian of the patent  visible  striking  and public life of peoples 
if he is not  at the same time  in a certain measure  the historian
of their deep and hidden life  and no one is a good historian of the
interior unless he understands how  at need  to be the historian of the
exterior also  The history of manners and ideas permeates the history
of events  and this is true reciprocally  They constitute two different
orders of facts which correspond to each other  which are always
interlaced  and which often bring forth results  All the lineaments
which providence traces on the surface of a nation have their parallels 
sombre but distinct  in their depths  and all convulsions of the depths
produce ebullitions on the surface  True history being a mixture of all
things  the true historian mingles in everything 

Man is not a circle with a single centre  he is an ellipse with a double
focus  Facts form one of these  and ideas the other 

Slang is nothing but a dressing room where the tongue having some
bad action to perform  disguises itself  There it clothes itself in
word masks  in metaphor rags  In this guise it becomes horrible 

One finds it difficult to recognize  Is it really the French tongue  the
great human tongue  Behold it ready to step upon the stage and to retort
upon crime  and prepared for all the employments of the repertory of
evil  It no longer walks  it hobbles  it limps on the crutch of the
Court of Miracles  a crutch metamorphosable into a club  it is called
vagrancy  every sort of spectre  its dressers  have painted its face  it
crawls and rears  the double gait of the reptile  Henceforth  it is apt
at all roles  it is made suspicious by the counterfeiter  covered with
verdigris by the forger  blacked by the soot of the incendiary  and the
murderer applies its rouge 

When one listens  by the side of honest men  at the portals of society 
one overhears the dialogues of those who are on the outside 
One distinguishes questions and replies  One perceives  without
understanding it  a hideous murmur  sounding almost like human accents 
but more nearly resembling a howl than an articulate word  It is slang 
The words are misshapen and stamped with an indescribable and fantastic
bestiality  One thinks one hears hydras talking 

It is unintelligible in the dark  It gnashes and whispers  completing
the gloom with mystery  It is black in misfortune  it is blacker still
in crime  these two blacknesses amalgamated  compose slang  Obscurity
in the atmosphere  obscurity in acts  obscurity in voices  Terrible 
toad like tongue which goes and comes  leaps  crawls  slobbers  and
stirs about in monstrous wise in that immense gray fog composed of rain
and night  of hunger  of vice  of falsehood  of injustice  of nudity  of
suffocation  and of winter  the high noonday of the miserable 

Let us have compassion on the chastised  Alas  Who are we ourselves  Who
am I who now address you  Who are you who are listening to me  And are
you very sure that we have done nothing before we were born  The earth
is not devoid of resemblance to a jail  Who knows whether man is not a
recaptured offender against divine justice  Look closely at life  It is
so made  that everywhere we feel the sense of punishment 

Are you what is called a happy man  Well  you are sad every day  Each
day has its own great grief or its little care  Yesterday you were
trembling for a health that is dear to you  to day you fear for your
own  to morrow it will be anxiety about money  the day after to morrow
the diatribe of a slanderer  the day after that  the misfortune of some
friend  then the prevailing weather  then something that has been broken
or lost  then a pleasure with which your conscience and your vertebral
column reproach you  again  the course of public affairs  This without
reckoning in the pains of the heart  And so it goes on  One cloud is
dispelled  another forms  There is hardly one day out of a hundred which
is wholly joyous and sunny  And you belong to that small class who are
happy  As for the rest of mankind  stagnating night rests upon them 

Thoughtful minds make but little use of the phrase  the fortunate and
the unfortunate  In this world  evidently the vestibule of another 
there are no fortunate 

The real human division is this  the luminous and the shady  To diminish
the number of the shady  to augment the number of the luminous   that
is the object  That is why we cry  Education  science  To teach reading 
means to light the fire  every syllable spelled out sparkles 

However  he who says light does not  necessarily  say joy  People suffer
in the light  excess burns  The flame is the enemy of the wing  To burn
without ceasing to fly   therein lies the marvel of genius 

When you shall have learned to know  and to love  you will still suffer 
The day is born in tears  The luminous weep  if only over those in
darkness 




CHAPTER II  ROOTS

Slang is the tongue of those who sit in darkness 

Thought is moved in its most sombre depths  social philosophy is bidden
to its most poignant meditations  in the presence of that enigmatic
dialect at once so blighted and rebellious  Therein lies chastisement
made visible  Every syllable has an air of being marked  The words of
the vulgar tongue appear therein wrinkled and shrivelled  as it were 
beneath the hot iron of the executioner  Some seem to be still smoking 
Such and such a phrase produces upon you the effect of the shoulder of a
thief branded with the fleur de lys  which has suddenly been laid bare 
Ideas almost refuse to be expressed in these substantives which are
fugitives from justice  Metaphor is sometimes so shameless  that one
feels that it has worn the iron neck fetter 

Moreover  in spite of all this  and because of all this  this strange
dialect has by rights  its own compartment in that great impartial case
of pigeon holes where there is room for the rusty farthing as well as
for the gold medal  and which is called literature  Slang  whether the
public admit the fact or not has its syntax and its poetry  It is a
language  Yes  by the deformity of certain terms  we recognize the
fact that it was chewed by Mandrin  and by the splendor of certain
metonymies  we feel that Villon spoke it 

That exquisite and celebrated verse  

          Mais ou sont les neiges d antan 
          But where are the snows of years gone by 

is a verse of slang  Antam  ante annum  is a word of Thunes slang  which
signified the past year  and by extension  formerly  Thirty five years
ago  at the epoch of the departure of the great chain gang  there could
be read in one of the cells at Bicetre  this maxim engraved with a
nail on the wall by a king of Thunes condemned to the galleys  Les dabs
d antan trimaient siempre pour la pierre du Coesre  This means Kings in
days gone by always went and had themselves anointed  In the opinion of
that king  anointment meant the galleys 

The word decarade  which expresses the departure of heavy vehicles at
a gallop  is attributed to Villon  and it is worthy of him  This word 
which strikes fire with all four of its feet  sums up in a masterly
onomatopoeia the whole of La Fontaine s admirable verse   

          Six forts chevaux tiraient un coche 
          Six stout horses drew a coach 


From a purely literary point of view  few studies would prove more
curious and fruitful than the study of slang  It is a whole language
within a language  a sort of sickly excrescence  an unhealthy graft
which has produced a vegetation  a parasite which has its roots in the
old Gallic trunk  and whose sinister foliage crawls all over one side of
the language  This is what may be called the first  the vulgar aspect of
slang  But  for those who study the tongue as it should be studied  that
is to say  as geologists study the earth  slang appears like a veritable
alluvial deposit  According as one digs a longer or shorter distance
into it  one finds in slang  below the old popular French  Provencal 
Spanish  Italian  Levantine  that language of the Mediterranean ports 
English and German  the Romance language in its three varieties  French 
Italian  and Romance Romance  Latin  and finally Basque and Celtic  A
profound and unique formation  A subterranean edifice erected in common
by all the miserable  Each accursed race has deposited its layer  each
suffering has dropped its stone there  each heart has contributed its
pebble  A throng of evil  base  or irritated souls  who have traversed
life and have vanished into eternity  linger there almost entirely
visible still beneath the form of some monstrous word 

Do you want Spanish  The old Gothic slang abounded in it  Here is
boffete  a box on the ear  which is derived from bofeton  vantane 
window  later on vanterne   which comes from vantana  gat  cat  which
comes from gato  acite  oil  which comes from aceyte  Do you want
Italian  Here is spade  sword  which comes from spada  carvel  boat 
which comes from caravella  Do you want English  Here is bichot  which
comes from bishop  raille  spy  which comes from rascal  rascalion 
pilche  a case  which comes from pilcher  a sheath  Do you want German 
Here is the caleur  the waiter  kellner  the hers  the master  herzog
 duke   Do you want Latin  Here is frangir  to break  frangere  affurer 
to steal  fur  cadene  chain  catena  There is one word which crops up
in every language of the continent  with a sort of mysterious power and
authority  It is the word magnus  the Scotchman makes of it his mac 
which designates the chief of the clan  Mac Farlane  Mac Callumore  the
great Farlane  the great Callumore 41   slang turns it into meck and
later le meg  that is to say  God  Would you like Basque  Here is
gahisto  the devil  which comes from gaiztoa  evil  sorgabon  good
night  which comes from gabon  good evening  Do you want Celtic  Here is
blavin  a handkerchief  which comes from blavet  gushing water  menesse 
a woman  in a bad sense   which comes from meinec  full of stones 
barant  brook  from baranton  fountain  goffeur  locksmith  from goff 
blacksmith  guedouze  death  which comes from guenn du  black white 
Finally  would you like history  Slang calls crowns les malteses  a
souvenir of the coin in circulation on the galleys of Malta 

In addition to the philological origins just indicated  slang possesses
other and still more natural roots  which spring  so to speak  from the
mind of man itself 

In the first place  the direct creation of words  Therein lies the
mystery of tongues  To paint with words  which contains figures
one knows not how or why  is the primitive foundation of all human
languages  what may be called their granite 

Slang abounds in words of this description  immediate words  words
created instantaneously no one knows either where or by whom  without
etymology  without analogies  without derivatives  solitary  barbarous 
sometimes hideous words  which at times possess a singular power of
expression and which live  The executioner  le taule  the forest 
le sabri  fear  flight  taf  the lackey  le larbin  the mineral 
the prefect  the minister  pharos  the devil  le rabouin  Nothing is
stranger than these words which both mask and reveal  Some  le rabouin 
for example  are at the same time grotesque and terrible  and produce on
you the effect of a cyclopean grimace 

In the second place  metaphor  The peculiarity of a language which is
desirous of saying all yet concealing all is that it is rich in figures 
Metaphor is an enigma  wherein the thief who is plotting a stroke 
the prisoner who is arranging an escape  take refuge  No idiom is more
metaphorical than slang  devisser le coco  to unscrew the nut   to twist
the neck  tortiller  to wriggle   to eat  etre gerbe  to be tried  a
rat  a bread thief  il lansquine  it rains  a striking  ancient figure
which partly bears its date about it  which assimilates long oblique
lines of rain  with the dense and slanting pikes of the lancers  and
which compresses into a single word the popular expression  it rains
halberds  Sometimes  in proportion as slang progresses from the first
epoch to the second  words pass from the primitive and savage sense to
the metaphorical sense  The devil ceases to be le rabouin  and becomes
le boulanger  the baker   who puts the bread into the oven  This is
more witty  but less grand  something like Racine after Corneille  like
Euripides after AEschylus  Certain slang phrases which participate
in the two epochs and have at once the barbaric character and the
metaphorical character resemble phantasmagories  Les sorgueuers vont
solliciter des gails a la lune  the prowlers are going to steal horses
by night   this passes before the mind like a group of spectres  One
knows not what one sees 

In the third place  the expedient  Slang lives on the language  It uses
it in accordance with its fancy  it dips into it hap hazard  and it
often confines itself  when occasion arises  to alter it in a gross and
summary fashion  Occasionally  with the ordinary words thus deformed and
complicated with words of pure slang  picturesque phrases are formed  in
which there can be felt the mixture of the two preceding elements  the
direct creation and the metaphor  le cab jaspine  je marronne que la
roulotte de Pantin trime dans le sabri  the dog is barking  I suspect
that the diligence for Paris is passing through the woods  Le dab est
sinve  la dabuge est merloussiere  la fee est bative  the bourgeois is
stupid  the bourgeoise is cunning  the daughter is pretty  Generally 
to throw listeners off the track  slang confines itself to adding to
all the words of the language without distinction  an ignoble tail  a
termination in aille  in orgue  in iergue  or in uche  Thus  Vousiergue
trouvaille bonorgue ce gigotmuche  Do you think that leg of mutton
good  A phrase addressed by Cartouche to a turnkey in order to find out
whether the sum offered for his escape suited him 

The termination in mar has been added recently 

Slang  being the dialect of corruption  quickly becomes corrupted
itself  Besides this  as it is always seeking concealment  as soon as
it feels that it is understood  it changes its form  Contrary to what
happens with every other vegetation  every ray of light which falls
upon it kills whatever it touches  Thus slang is in constant process of
decomposition and recomposition  an obscure and rapid work which never
pauses  It passes over more ground in ten years than a language in ten
centuries  Thus le larton  bread  becomes le lartif  le gail  horse 
becomes le gaye  la fertanche  straw  becomes la fertille  le momignard
 brat   le momacque  les fiques  duds   frusques  la chique  the
church   l egrugeoir  le colabre  neck   le colas  The devil is at
first  gahisto  then le rabouin  then the baker  the priest is a
ratichon  then the boar  le sanglier   the dagger is le vingt deux
 twenty two   then le surin  then le lingre  the police are railles 
then roussins  then rousses  then marchands de lacets  dealers in
stay laces   then coquers  then cognes  the executioner is le taule 
then Charlot  l atigeur  then le becquillard  In the seventeenth
century  to fight was  to give each other snuff   in the nineteenth
it is  to chew each other s throats   There have been twenty different
phrases between these two extremes  Cartouche s talk would have been
Hebrew to Lacenaire  All the words of this language are perpetually
engaged in flight like the men who utter them 

Still  from time to time  and in consequence of this very movement 
the ancient slang crops up again and becomes new once more  It has its
headquarters where it maintains its sway  The Temple preserved the slang
of the seventeenth century  Bicetre  when it was a prison  preserved the
slang of Thunes  There one could hear the termination in anche of
the old Thuneurs  Boyanches tu  bois tu   do you drink  But perpetual
movement remains its law  nevertheless 

If the philosopher succeeds in fixing  for a moment  for purposes of
observation  this language which is incessantly evaporating  he falls
into doleful and useful meditation  No study is more efficacious and
more fecund in instruction  There is not a metaphor  not an analogy  in
slang  which does not contain a lesson  Among these men  to beat means
to feign  one beats a malady  ruse is their strength 

For them  the idea of the man is not separated from the idea of
darkness  The night is called la sorgue  man  l orgue  Man is a
derivative of the night 

They have taken up the practice of considering society in the light
of an atmosphere which kills them  of a fatal force  and they speak of
their liberty as one would speak of his health  A man under arrest is a
sick man  one who is condemned is a dead man 

The most terrible thing for the prisoner within the four walls in which
he is buried  is a sort of glacial chastity  and he calls the dungeon
the castus  In that funereal place  life outside always presents itself
under its most smiling aspect  The prisoner has irons on his feet  you
think  perhaps  that his thought is that it is with the feet that one
walks  No  he is thinking that it is with the feet that one dances  so 
when he has succeeded in severing his fetters  his first idea is that
now he can dance  and he calls the saw the bastringue  public house
ball    A name is a centre  profound assimilation   The ruffian has two
heads  one of which reasons out his actions and leads him all his life
long  and the other which he has upon his shoulders on the day of his
death  he calls the head which counsels him in crime la sorbonne 
and the head which expiates it la tronche   When a man has no longer
anything but rags upon his body and vices in his heart  when he has
arrived at that double moral and material degradation which the word
blackguard characterizes in its two acceptations  he is ripe for crime 
he is like a well whetted knife  he has two cutting edges  his
distress and his malice  so slang does not say a blackguard  it says
un reguise   What are the galleys  A brazier of damnation  a hell  The
convict calls himself a fagot   And finally  what name do malefactors
give to their prison  The college  A whole penitentiary system can be
evolved from that word 

Does the reader wish to know where the majority of the songs of the
galleys  those refrains called in the special vocabulary lirlonfa  have
had their birth 

Let him listen to what follows   

There existed at the Chatelet in Paris a large and long cellar  This
cellar was eight feet below the level of the Seine  It had neither
windows nor air holes  its only aperture was the door  men could enter
there  air could not  This vault had for ceiling a vault of stone  and
for floor ten inches of mud  It was flagged  but the pavement had rotted
and cracked under the oozing of the water  Eight feet above the floor 
a long and massive beam traversed this subterranean excavation from side
to side  from this beam hung  at short distances apart  chains three
feet long  and at the end of these chains there were rings for the
neck  In this vault  men who had been condemned to the galleys were
incarcerated until the day of their departure for Toulon  They were
thrust under this beam  where each one found his fetters swinging in the
darkness and waiting for him 

The chains  those pendant arms  and the necklets  those open hands 
caught the unhappy wretches by the throat  They were rivetted and
left there  As the chain was too short  they could not lie down  They
remained motionless in that cavern  in that night  beneath that beam 
almost hanging  forced to unheard of efforts to reach their bread  jug 
or their vault overhead  mud even to mid leg  filth flowing to their
very calves  broken asunder with fatigue  with thighs and knees giving
way  clinging fast to the chain with their hands in order to obtain some
rest  unable to sleep except when standing erect  and awakened every
moment by the strangling of the collar  some woke no more  In order to
eat  they pushed the bread  which was flung to them in the mud  along
their leg with their heel until it reached their hand 

How long did they remain thus  One month  two months  six months
sometimes  one stayed a year  It was the antechamber of the galleys 
Men were put there for stealing a hare from the king  In this
sepulchre hell  what did they do  What man can do in a sepulchre  they
went through the agonies of death  and what can man do in hell  they
sang  for song lingers where there is no longer any hope  In the waters
of Malta  when a galley was approaching  the song could be heard before
the sound of the oars  Poor Survincent  the poacher  who had gone
through the prison cellar of the Chatelet  said   It was the rhymes that
kept me up   Uselessness of poetry  What is the good of rhyme 

It is in this cellar that nearly all the slang songs had their birth 
It is from the dungeon of the Grand Chatelet of Paris that comes
the melancholy refrain of the Montgomery galley   Timaloumisaine 
timaloumison   The majority of these

       Icicaille est la theatre        Here is the theatre
       Du petit dardant                Of the little archer  Cupid  


Do what you will  you cannot annihilate that eternal relic in the heart
of man  love 

In this world of dismal deeds  people keep their secrets  The secret is
the thing above all others  The secret  in the eyes of these wretches 
is unity which serves as a base of union  To betray a secret is to
tear from each member of this fierce community something of his own
personality  To inform against  in the energetic slang dialect  is
called   to eat the bit   As though the informer drew to himself a
little of the substance of all and nourished himself on a bit of each
one s flesh 

What does it signify to receive a box on the ear  Commonplace metaphor
replies   It is to see thirty six candles  

Here slang intervenes and takes it up  Candle  camoufle  Thereupon  the
ordinary tongue gives camouflet 42  as the synonym for soufflet  Thus 
by a sort of infiltration from below upwards  with the aid of metaphor 
that incalculable  trajectory slang mounts from the cavern to the
Academy  and Poulailler saying   I light my camoufle   causes Voltaire
to write   Langleviel La Beaumelle deserves a hundred camouflets  

Researches in slang mean discoveries at every step  Study and
investigation of this strange idiom lead to the mysterious point of
intersection of regular society with society which is accursed 

The thief also has his food for cannon  stealable matter  you  I 
whoever passes by  le pantre   Pan  everybody  

Slang is language turned convict 

That the thinking principle of man be thrust down ever so low  that it
can be dragged and pinioned there by obscure tyrannies of fatality 
that it can be bound by no one knows what fetters in that abyss  is
sufficient to create consternation 

Oh  poor thought of miserable wretches 

Alas  will no one come to the succor of the human soul in that darkness 
Is it her destiny there to await forever the mind  the liberator  the
immense rider of Pegasi and hippo griffs  the combatant of heroes of
the dawn who shall descend from the azure between two wings  the radiant
knight of the future  Will she forever summon in vain to her assistance
the lance of light of the ideal  Is she condemned to hear the fearful
approach of Evil through the density of the gulf  and to catch glimpses 
nearer and nearer at hand  beneath the hideous water of that dragon s
head  that maw streaked with foam  and that writhing undulation of
claws  swellings  and rings  Must it remain there  without a gleam
of light  without hope  given over to that terrible approach  vaguely
scented out by the monster  shuddering  dishevelled  wringing its arms 
forever chained to the rock of night  a sombre Andromeda white and naked
amid the shadows 




CHAPTER III  SLANG WHICH WEEPS AND SLANG WHICH LAUGHS

As the reader perceives  slang in its entirety  slang of four hundred
years ago  like the slang of to day  is permeated with that sombre 
symbolical spirit which gives to all words a mien which is now mournful 
now menacing  One feels in it the wild and ancient sadness of those
vagrants of the Court of Miracles who played at cards with packs of
their own  some of which have come down to us  The eight of clubs  for
instance  represented a huge tree bearing eight enormous trefoil leaves 
a sort of fantastic personification of the forest  At the foot of this
tree a fire was burning  over which three hares were roasting a huntsman
on a spit  and behind him  on another fire  hung a steaming pot  whence
emerged the head of a dog  Nothing can be more melancholy than these
reprisals in painting  by a pack of cards  in the presence of stakes
for the roasting of smugglers and of the cauldron for the boiling of
counterfeiters  The diverse forms assumed by thought in the realm
of slang  even song  even raillery  even menace  all partook of this
powerless and dejected character  All the songs  the melodies of some
of which have been collected  were humble and lamentable to the point of
evoking tears  The pegre is always the poor pegre  and he is always
the hare in hiding  the fugitive mouse  the flying bird  He hardly
complains  he contents himself with sighing  one of his moans has come
down to us   I do not understand how God  the father of men  can torture
his children and his grandchildren and hear them cry  without himself
suffering torture   43  The wretch  whenever he has time to think  makes
himself small before the low  and frail in the presence of society 
he lies down flat on his face  he entreats  he appeals to the side of
compassion  we feel that he is conscious of his guilt 

Towards the middle of the last century a change took place  prison songs
and thieves  ritournelles assumed  so to speak  an insolent and jovial
mien  The plaintive malure was replaced by the larifla  We find in the
eighteenth century  in nearly all the songs of the galleys and prisons 
a diabolical and enigmatical gayety  We hear this strident and lilting
refrain which we should say had been lighted up by a phosphorescent
gleam  and which seems to have been flung into the forest by a
will o  the wisp playing the fife   

                    Miralabi suslababo
                    Mirliton ribonribette
                    Surlababi mirlababo
                    Mirliton ribonribo 


This was sung in a cellar or in a nook of the forest while cutting a
man s throat 

A serious symptom  In the eighteenth century  the ancient melancholy of
the dejected classes vanishes  They began to laugh  They rally the grand
meg and the grand dab  Given Louis XV  they call the King of France  le
Marquis de Pantin   And behold  they are almost gay  A sort of gleam
proceeds from these miserable wretches  as though their consciences were
not heavy within them any more  These lamentable tribes of darkness have
no longer merely the desperate audacity of actions  they possess the
heedless audacity of mind  A sign that they are losing the sense of
their criminality  and that they feel  even among thinkers and dreamers 
some indefinable support which the latter themselves know not of  A
sign that theft and pillage are beginning to filter into doctrines and
sophisms  in such a way as to lose somewhat of their ugliness  while
communicating much of it to sophisms and doctrines  A sign  in short  of
some outbreak which is prodigious and near unless some diversion shall
arise 

Let us pause a moment  Whom are we accusing here  Is it the eighteenth
century  Is it philosophy  Certainly not  The work of the eighteenth
century is healthy and good and wholesome  The encyclopedists  Diderot
at their head  the physiocrates  Turgot at their head  the philosophers 
Voltaire at their head  the Utopians  Rousseau at their head   these are
four sacred legions  Humanity s immense advance towards the light is due
to them  They are the four vanguards of the human race  marching towards
the four cardinal points of progress  Diderot towards the beautiful 
Turgot towards the useful  Voltaire towards the true  Rousseau towards
the just  But by the side of and above the philosophers  there were the
sophists  a venomous vegetation mingled with a healthy growth  hemlock
in the virgin forest  While the executioner was burning the great
books of the liberators of the century on the grand staircase of the
court house  writers now forgotten were publishing  with the King s
sanction  no one knows what strangely disorganizing writings  which were
eagerly read by the unfortunate  Some of these publications  odd to
say  which were patronized by a prince  are to be found in the Secret
Library  These facts  significant but unknown  were imperceptible on the
surface  Sometimes  in the very obscurity of a fact lurks its danger 
It is obscure because it is underhand  Of all these writers  the one
who probably then excavated in the masses the most unhealthy gallery was
Restif de La Bretonne 

This work  peculiar to the whole of Europe  effected more ravages in
Germany than anywhere else  In Germany  during a given period  summed up
by Schiller in his famous drama The Robbers  theft and pillage rose up
in protest against property and labor  assimilated certain specious and
false elementary ideas  which  though just in appearance  were absurd in
reality  enveloped themselves in these ideas  disappeared within them 
after a fashion  assumed an abstract name  passed into the state of
theory  and in that shape circulated among the laborious  suffering  and
honest masses  unknown even to the imprudent chemists who had prepared
the mixture  unknown even to the masses who accepted it  Whenever a fact
of this sort presents itself  the case is grave  Suffering engenders
wrath  and while the prosperous classes blind themselves or fall asleep 
which is the same thing as shutting one s eyes  the hatred of the
unfortunate classes lights its torch at some aggrieved or ill made
spirit which dreams in a corner  and sets itself to the scrutiny of
society  The scrutiny of hatred is a terrible thing 

Hence  if the ill fortune of the times so wills it  those fearful
commotions which were formerly called jacqueries  beside which purely
political agitations are the merest child s play  which are no longer
the conflict of the oppressed and the oppressor  but the revolt of
discomfort against comfort  Then everything crumbles 

Jacqueries are earthquakes of the people 

It is this peril  possibly imminent towards the close of the eighteenth
century  which the French Revolution  that immense act of probity  cut
short 

The French Revolution  which is nothing else than the idea armed with
the sword  rose erect  and  with the same abrupt movement  closed the
door of ill and opened the door of good 

It put a stop to torture  promulgated the truth  expelled miasma 
rendered the century healthy  crowned the populace 

It may be said of it that it created man a second time  by giving him a
second soul  the right 

The nineteenth century has inherited and profited by its work  and
to day  the social catastrophe to which we lately alluded is simply
impossible  Blind is he who announces it  Foolish is he who fears it 
Revolution is the vaccine of Jacquerie 

Thanks to the Revolution  social conditions have changed  Feudal and
monarchical maladies no longer run in our blood  There is no more of
the Middle Ages in our constitution  We no longer live in the days when
terrible swarms within made irruptions  when one heard beneath his feet
the obscure course of a dull rumble  when indescribable elevations from
mole like tunnels appeared on the surface of civilization  where the
soil cracked open  where the roofs of caverns yawned  and where one
suddenly beheld monstrous heads emerging from the earth 

The revolutionary sense is a moral sense  The sentiment of right  once
developed  develops the sentiment of duty  The law of all is
liberty  which ends where the liberty of others begins  according to
Robespierre s admirable definition  Since  89  the whole people has
been dilating into a sublime individual  there is not a poor man  who 
possessing his right  has not his ray of sun  the die of hunger feels
within him the honesty of France  the dignity of the citizen is an
internal armor  he who is free is scrupulous  he who votes reigns  Hence
incorruptibility  hence the miscarriage of unhealthy lusts  hence eyes
heroically lowered before temptations  The revolutionary wholesomeness
is such  that on a day of deliverance  a 14th of July  a 10th of August 
there is no longer any populace  The first cry of the enlightened and
increasing throngs is  death to thieves  Progress is an honest man  the
ideal and the absolute do not filch pocket handkerchiefs  By whom were
the wagons containing the wealth of the Tuileries escorted in 1848  By
the rag pickers of the Faubourg Saint Antoine  Rags mounted guard over
the treasure  Virtue rendered these tatterdemalions resplendent  In
those wagons in chests  hardly closed  and some  even  half open  amid a
hundred dazzling caskets  was that ancient crown of France  studded with
diamonds  surmounted by the carbuncle of royalty  by the Regent diamond 
which was worth thirty millions  Barefooted  they guarded that crown 

Hence  no more Jacquerie  I regret it for the sake of the skilful  The
old fear has produced its last effects in that quarter  and henceforth
it can no longer be employed in politics  The principal spring of the
red spectre is broken  Every one knows it now  The scare crow scares
no longer  The birds take liberties with the mannikin  foul creatures
alight upon it  the bourgeois laugh at it 




CHAPTER IV  THE TWO DUTIES  TO WATCH AND TO HOPE

This being the case  is all social danger dispelled  Certainly not 
There is no Jacquerie  society may rest assured on that point  blood
will no longer rush to its head  But let society take heed to the manner
in which it breathes  Apoplexy is no longer to be feared  but phthisis
is there  Social phthisis is called misery 

One can perish from being undermined as well as from being struck by
lightning 

Let us not weary of repeating  and sympathetic souls must not forget
that this is the first of fraternal obligations  and selfish hearts must
understand that the first of political necessities consists in thinking
first of all of the disinherited and sorrowing throngs  in solacing 
airing  enlightening  loving them  in enlarging their horizon to a
magnificent extent  in lavishing upon them education in every form  in
offering them the example of labor  never the example of idleness 
in diminishing the individual burden by enlarging the notion of the
universal aim  in setting a limit to poverty without setting a limit
to wealth  in creating vast fields of public and popular activity  in
having  like Briareus  a hundred hands to extend in all directions to
the oppressed and the feeble  in employing the collective power for that
grand duty of opening workshops for all arms  schools for all aptitudes 
and laboratories for all degrees of intelligence  in augmenting
salaries  diminishing trouble  balancing what should be and what is 
that is to say  in proportioning enjoyment to effort and a glut to need 
in a word  in evolving from the social apparatus more light and more
comfort for the benefit of those who suffer and those who are ignorant 

And  let us say it  all this is but the beginning  The true question is
this  labor cannot be a law without being a right 

We will not insist upon this point  this is not the proper place for
that 

If nature calls itself Providence  society should call itself foresight 

Intellectual and moral growth is no less indispensable than material
improvement  To know is a sacrament  to think is the prime necessity 
truth is nourishment as well as grain  A reason which fasts from science
and wisdom grows thin  Let us enter equal complaint against stomachs and
minds which do not eat  If there is anything more heart breaking than
a body perishing for lack of bread  it is a soul which is dying from
hunger for the light 

The whole of progress tends in the direction of solution  Some day we
shall be amazed  As the human race mounts upward  the deep layers emerge
naturally from the zone of distress  The obliteration of misery will be
accomplished by a simple elevation of level 

We should do wrong were we to doubt this blessed consummation 

The past is very strong  it is true  at the present moment  It censures 
This rejuvenation of a corpse is surprising  Behold  it is walking and
advancing  It seems a victor  this dead body is a conqueror  He arrives
with his legions  superstitions  with his sword  despotism  with his
banner  ignorance  a while ago  he won ten battles  He advances  he
threatens  he laughs  he is at our doors  Let us not despair  on our
side  Let us sell the field on which Hannibal is encamped 

What have we to fear  we who believe 

No such thing as a back flow of ideas exists any more than there exists
a return of a river on its course 

But let those who do not desire a future reflect on this matter  When
they say  no  to progress  it is not the future but themselves that
they are condemning  They are giving themselves a sad malady  they are
inoculating themselves with the past  There is but one way of rejecting
To morrow  and that is to die 

Now  no death  that of the body as late as possible  that of the soul
never   this is what we desire 

Yes  the enigma will utter its word  the sphinx will speak  the problem
will be solved 

Yes  the people  sketched out by the eighteenth century  will be
finished by the nineteenth  He who doubts this is an idiot  The future
blossoming  the near blossoming forth of universal well being  is a
divinely fatal phenomenon 

Immense combined propulsions direct human affairs and conduct them
within a given time to a logical state  that is to say  to a state of
equilibrium  that is to say  to equity  A force composed of earth and
heaven results from humanity and governs it  this force is a worker
of miracles  marvellous issues are no more difficult to it than
extraordinary vicissitudes  Aided by science  which comes from one man 
and by the event  which comes from another  it is not greatly alarmed
by these contradictions in the attitude of problems  which seem
impossibilities to the vulgar herd  It is no less skilful at causing a
solution to spring forth from the reconciliation of ideas  than a lesson
from the reconciliation of facts  and we may expect anything from that
mysterious power of progress  which brought the Orient and the Occident
face to face one fine day  in the depths of a sepulchre  and made the
imaums converse with Bonaparte in the interior of the Great Pyramid 

In the meantime  let there be no halt  no hesitation  no pause in the
grandiose onward march of minds  Social philosophy consists essentially
in science and peace  Its object is  and its result must be  to dissolve
wrath by the study of antagonisms  It examines  it scrutinizes  it
analyzes  then it puts together once more  it proceeds by means of
reduction  discarding all hatred 

More than once  a society has been seen to give way before the wind
which is let loose upon mankind  history is full of the shipwrecks of
nations and empires  manners  customs  laws  religions   and some fine
day that unknown force  the hurricane  passes by and bears them all
away  The civilizations of India  of Chaldea  of Persia  of Syria  of
Egypt  have disappeared one after the other  Why  We know not  What are
the causes of these disasters  We do not know  Could these societies
have been saved  Was it their fault  Did they persist in the fatal vice
which destroyed them  What is the amount of suicide in these terrible
deaths of a nation and a race  Questions to which there exists no reply 
Darkness enwraps condemned civilizations  They sprung a leak  then they
sank  We have nothing more to say  and it is with a sort of terror that
we look on  at the bottom of that sea which is called the past  behind
those colossal waves  at the shipwreck of those immense vessels 
Babylon  Nineveh  Tarsus  Thebes  Rome  beneath the fearful gusts which
emerge from all the mouths of the shadows  But shadows are there  and
light is here  We are not acquainted with the maladies of these ancient
civilizations  we do not know the infirmities of our own  Everywhere
upon it we have the right of light  we contemplate its beauties  we
lay bare its defects  Where it is ill  we probe  and the sickness once
diagnosed  the study of the cause leads to the discovery of the remedy 
Our civilization  the work of twenty centuries  is its law and its
prodigy  it is worth the trouble of saving  It will be saved  It is
already much to have solaced it  its enlightenment is yet another point 
All the labors of modern social philosophies must converge towards
this point  The thinker of to day has a great duty  to auscultate
civilization 

We repeat  that this auscultation brings encouragement  it is by this
persistence in encouragement that we wish to conclude these pages  an
austere interlude in a mournful drama  Beneath the social mortality  we
feel human imperishableness  The globe does not perish  because it has
these wounds  craters  eruptions  sulphur pits  here and there  nor
because of a volcano which ejects its pus  The maladies of the people do
not kill man 

And yet  any one who follows the course of social clinics shakes his
head at times  The strongest  the tenderest  the most logical have their
hours of weakness 

Will the future arrive  It seems as though we might almost put
this question  when we behold so much terrible darkness  Melancholy
face to face encounter of selfish and wretched  On the part of
the selfish  the prejudices  shadows of costly education  appetite
increasing through intoxication  a giddiness of prosperity which dulls 
a fear of suffering which  in some  goes as far as an aversion for the
suffering  an implacable satisfaction  the I so swollen that it bars the
soul  on the side of the wretched covetousness  envy  hatred of seeing
others enjoy  the profound impulses of the human beast towards assuaging
its desires  hearts full of mist  sadness  need  fatality  impure and
simple ignorance 

Shall we continue to raise our eyes to heaven  is the luminous point
which we distinguish there one of those which vanish  The ideal
is frightful to behold  thus lost in the depths  small  isolated 
imperceptible  brilliant  but surrounded by those great  black menaces 
monstrously heaped around it  yet no more in danger than a star in the
maw of the clouds 




BOOK EIGHTH   ENCHANTMENTS AND DESOLATIONS




CHAPTER I  FULL LIGHT

The reader has probably understood that Eponine  having recognized
through the gate  the inhabitant of that Rue Plumet whither Magnon had
sent her  had begun by keeping the ruffians away from the Rue Plumet 
and had then conducted Marius thither  and that  after many days spent
in ecstasy before that gate  Marius  drawn on by that force which draws
the iron to the magnet and a lover towards the stones of which is built
the house of her whom he loves  had finally entered Cosette s garden as
Romeo entered the garden of Juliet  This had even proved easier for him
than for Romeo  Romeo was obliged to scale a wall  Marius had only
to use a little force on one of the bars of the decrepit gate which
vacillated in its rusty recess  after the fashion of old people s teeth 
Marius was slender and readily passed through 

As there was never any one in the street  and as Marius never entered
the garden except at night  he ran no risk of being seen 

Beginning with that blessed and holy hour when a kiss betrothed these
two souls  Marius was there every evening  If  at that period of
her existence  Cosette had fallen in love with a man in the least
unscrupulous or debauched  she would have been lost  for there are
generous natures which yield themselves  and Cosette was one of them 
One of woman s magnanimities is to yield  Love  at the height where it
is absolute  is complicated with some indescribably celestial blindness
of modesty  But what dangers you run  O noble souls  Often you give the
heart  and we take the body  Your heart remains with you  you gaze upon
it in the gloom with a shudder  Love has no middle course  it either
ruins or it saves  All human destiny lies in this dilemma  This dilemma 
ruin  or safety  is set forth no more inexorably by any fatality than
by love  Love is life  if it is not death  Cradle  also coffin  The same
sentiment says  yes  and  no  in the human heart  Of all the things that
God has made  the human heart is the one which sheds the most light 
alas  and the most darkness 

God willed that Cosette s love should encounter one of the loves which
save 

Throughout the whole of the month of May of that year 1832  there were
there  in every night  in that poor  neglected garden  beneath that
thicket which grew thicker and more fragrant day by day  two beings
composed of all chastity  all innocence  overflowing with all the
felicity of heaven  nearer to the archangels than to mankind  pure 
honest  intoxicated  radiant  who shone for each other amid the shadows 
It seemed to Cosette that Marius had a crown  and to Marius that Cosette
had a nimbus  They touched each other  they gazed at each other  they
clasped each other s hands  they pressed close to each other  but there
was a distance which they did not pass  Not that they respected it 
they did not know of its existence  Marius was conscious of a barrier 
Cosette s innocence  and Cosette of a support  Marius  loyalty  The
first kiss had also been the last  Marius  since that time  had not gone
further than to touch Cosette s hand  or her kerchief  or a lock of her
hair  with his lips  For him  Cosette was a perfume and not a woman 
He inhaled her  She refused nothing  and he asked nothing  Cosette was
happy  and Marius was satisfied  They lived in this ecstatic state which
can be described as the dazzling of one soul by another soul  It was
the ineffable first embrace of two maiden souls in the ideal  Two swans
meeting on the Jungfrau 

At that hour of love  an hour when voluptuousness is absolutely mute 
beneath the omnipotence of ecstasy  Marius  the pure and seraphic
Marius  would rather have gone to a woman of the town than have raised
Cosette s robe to the height of her ankle  Once  in the moonlight 
Cosette stooped to pick up something on the ground  her bodice fell
apart and permitted a glimpse of the beginning of her throat  Marius
turned away his eyes 

What took place between these two beings  Nothing  They adored each
other 

At night  when they were there  that garden seemed a living and a sacred
spot  All flowers unfolded around them and sent them incense  and they
opened their souls and scattered them over the flowers  The wanton and
vigorous vegetation quivered  full of strength and intoxication  around
these two innocents  and they uttered words of love which set the trees
to trembling 

What words were these  Breaths  Nothing more  These breaths sufficed to
trouble and to touch all nature round about  Magic power which we
should find it difficult to understand were we to read in a book these
conversations which are made to be borne away and dispersed like smoke
wreaths by the breeze beneath the leaves  Take from those murmurs of two
lovers that melody which proceeds from the soul and which accompanies
them like a lyre  and what remains is nothing more than a shade  you
say   What  is that all   eh  yes  childish prattle  repetitions 
laughter at nothing  nonsense  everything that is deepest and most
sublime in the world  The only things which are worth the trouble of
saying and hearing 

The man who has never heard  the man who has never uttered these
absurdities  these paltry remarks  is an imbecile and a malicious
fellow  Cosette said to Marius   

 Dost thou know    

 In all this and athwart this celestial maidenliness  and without either
of them being able to say how it had come about  they had begun to call
each other thou  

 Dost thou know  My name is Euphrasie  

 Euphrasie  Why  no  thy name is Cosette  

 Oh  Cosette is a very ugly name that was given to me when I was
a little thing  But my real name is Euphrasie  Dost thou like that
name  Euphrasie  

 Yes  But Cosette is not ugly  

 Do you like it better than Euphrasie  

 Why  yes  

 Then I like it better too  Truly  it is pretty  Cosette  Call me
Cosette  

And the smile that she added made of this dialogue an idyl worthy of a
grove situated in heaven  On another occasion she gazed intently at him
and exclaimed   

 Monsieur  you are handsome  you are good looking  you are witty  you
are not at all stupid  you are much more learned than I am  but I bid
you defiance with this word  I love you  

And Marius  in the very heavens  thought he heard a strain sung by a
star 

Or she bestowed on him a gentle tap because he coughed  and she said to
him   

 Don t cough  sir  I will not have people cough on my domain without my
permission  It s very naughty to cough and to disturb me  I want you to
be well  because  in the first place  if you were not well  I should be
very unhappy  What should I do then  

And this was simply divine 

Once Marius said to Cosette   

 Just imagine  I thought at one time that your name was Ursule  

This made both of them laugh the whole evening 

In the middle of another conversation  he chanced to exclaim   

 Oh  One day  at the Luxembourg  I had a good mind to finish breaking
up a veteran   But he stopped short  and went no further  He would have
been obliged to speak to Cosette of her garter  and that was impossible 
This bordered on a strange theme  the flesh  before which that immense
and innocent love recoiled with a sort of sacred fright 

Marius pictured life with Cosette to himself like this  without anything
else  to come every evening to the Rue Plumet  to displace the old and
accommodating bar of the chief justice s gate  to sit elbow to elbow
on that bench  to gaze through the trees at the scintillation of the
on coming night  to fit a fold of the knee of his trousers into the
ample fall of Cosette s gown  to caress her thumb nail  to call her
thou  to smell of the same flower  one after the other  forever 
indefinitely  During this time  clouds passed above their heads  Every
time that the wind blows it bears with it more of the dreams of men than
of the clouds of heaven 

This chaste  almost shy love was not devoid of gallantry  by any means 
To pay compliments to the woman whom a man loves is the first method of
bestowing caresses  and he is half audacious who tries it  A compliment
is something like a kiss through a veil  Voluptuousness mingles there
with its sweet tiny point  while it hides itself  The heart draws back
before voluptuousness only to love the more  Marius  blandishments  all
saturated with fancy  were  so to speak  of azure hue  The birds when
they fly up yonder  in the direction of the angels  must hear such
words  There were mingled with them  nevertheless  life  humanity  all
the positiveness of which Marius was capable  It was what is said in
the bower  a prelude to what will be said in the chamber  a lyrical
effusion  strophe and sonnet intermingled  pleasing hyperboles of
cooing  all the refinements of adoration arranged in a bouquet and
exhaling a celestial perfume  an ineffable twitter of heart to heart 

 Oh   murmured Marius   how beautiful you are  I dare not look at you 
It is all over with me when I contemplate you  You are a grace  I know
not what is the matter with me  The hem of your gown  when the tip of
your shoe peeps from beneath  upsets me  And then  what an enchanted
gleam when you open your thought even but a little  You talk
astonishingly good sense  It seems to me at times that you are a
dream  Speak  I listen  I admire  Oh Cosette  how strange it is and how
charming  I am really beside myself  You are adorable  Mademoiselle  I
study your feet with the microscope and your soul with the telescope  

And Cosette answered   

 I have been loving a little more all the time that has passed since
this morning  

Questions and replies took care of themselves in this dialogue  which
always turned with mutual consent upon love  as the little pith figures
always turn on their peg 

Cosette s whole person was ingenuousness  ingenuity  transparency 
whiteness  candor  radiance  It might have been said of Cosette that she
was clear  She produced on those who saw her the sensation of April
and dawn  There was dew in her eyes  Cosette was a condensation of the
auroral light in the form of a woman 

It was quite simple that Marius should admire her  since he adored her 
But the truth is  that this little school girl  fresh from the convent 
talked with exquisite penetration and uttered  at times  all sorts of
true and delicate sayings  Her prattle was conversation  She never made
a mistake about anything  and she saw things justly  The woman feels and
speaks with the tender instinct of the heart  which is infallible 

No one understands so well as a woman  how to say things that are  at
once  both sweet and deep  Sweetness and depth  they are the whole of
woman  in them lies the whole of heaven 

In this full felicity  tears welled up to their eyes every instant  A
crushed lady bug  a feather fallen from a nest  a branch of hawthorn
broken  aroused their pity  and their ecstasy  sweetly mingled with
melancholy  seemed to ask nothing better than to weep  The most
sovereign symptom of love is a tenderness that is  at times  almost
unbearable 

And  in addition to this   all these contradictions are the lightning
play of love   they were fond of laughing  they laughed readily and with
a delicious freedom  and so familiarly that they sometimes presented the
air of two boys 

Still  though unknown to hearts intoxicated with purity  nature is
always present and will not be forgotten  She is there with her brutal
and sublime object  and however great may be the innocence of souls  one
feels in the most modest private interview  the adorable and mysterious
shade which separates a couple of lovers from a pair of friends 

They idolized each other 

The permanent and the immutable are persistent  People live  they smile 
they laugh  they make little grimaces with the tips of their lips  they
interlace their fingers  they call each other thou  and that does not
prevent eternity 

Two lovers hide themselves in the evening  in the twilight  in the
invisible  with the birds  with the roses  they fascinate each other in
the darkness with their hearts which they throw into their eyes  they
murmur  they whisper  and in the meantime  immense librations of the
planets fill the infinite universe 




CHAPTER II  THE BEWILDERMENT OF PERFECT HAPPINESS

They existed vaguely  frightened at their happiness  They did not notice
the cholera which decimated Paris precisely during that very month  They
had confided in each other as far as possible  but this had not extended
much further than their names  Marius had told Cosette that he was an
orphan  that his name was Marius Pontmercy  that he was a lawyer  that
he lived by writing things for publishers  that his father had been a
colonel  that the latter had been a hero  and that he  Marius  was on
bad terms with his grandfather who was rich  He had also hinted at being
a baron  but this had produced no effect on Cosette  She did not
know the meaning of the word  Marius was Marius  On her side  she
had confided to him that she had been brought up at the Petit Picpus
convent  that her mother  like his own  was dead  that her father s name
was M  Fauchelevent  that he was very good  that he gave a great deal
to the poor  but that he was poor himself  and that he denied himself
everything though he denied her nothing 

Strange to say  in the sort of symphony which Marius had lived since he
had been in the habit of seeing Cosette  the past  even the most recent
past  had become so confused and distant to him  that what Cosette told
him satisfied him completely  It did not even occur to him to tell her
about the nocturnal adventure in the hovel  about Thenardier  about the
burn  and about the strange attitude and singular flight of her father 
Marius had momentarily forgotten all this  in the evening he did not
even know that there had been a morning  what he had done  where he had
breakfasted  nor who had spoken to him  he had songs in his ears which
rendered him deaf to every other thought  he only existed at the hours
when he saw Cosette  Then  as he was in heaven  it was quite natural
that he should forget earth  Both bore languidly the indefinable burden
of immaterial pleasures  Thus lived these somnambulists who are called
lovers 

Alas  Who is there who has not felt all these things  Why does there
come an hour when one emerges from this azure  and why does life go on
afterwards 

Loving almost takes the place of thinking  Love is an ardent
forgetfulness of all the rest  Then ask logic of passion if you will 
There is no more absolute logical sequence in the human heart than there
is a perfect geometrical figure in the celestial mechanism  For Cosette
and Marius nothing existed except Marius and Cosette  The universe
around them had fallen into a hole  They lived in a golden minute  There
was nothing before them  nothing behind  It hardly occurred to Marius
that Cosette had a father  His brain was dazzled and obliterated  Of
what did these lovers talk then  We have seen  of the flowers  and
the swallows  the setting sun and the rising moon  and all sorts of
important things  They had told each other everything except everything 
The everything of lovers is nothing  But the father  the realities  that
lair  the ruffians  that adventure  to what purpose  And was he very
sure that this nightmare had actually existed  They were two  and they
adored each other  and beyond that there was nothing  Nothing else
existed  It is probable that this vanishing of hell in our rear is
inherent to the arrival of paradise  Have we beheld demons  Are there
any  Have we trembled  Have we suffered  We no longer know  A rosy cloud
hangs over it 

So these two beings lived in this manner  high aloft  with all that
improbability which is in nature  neither at the nadir nor at the
zenith  between man and seraphim  above the mire  below the ether  in
the clouds  hardly flesh and blood  soul and ecstasy from head to foot 
already too sublime to walk the earth  still too heavily charged with
humanity to disappear in the blue  suspended like atoms which are
waiting to be precipitated  apparently beyond the bounds of destiny 
ignorant of that rut  yesterday  to day  to morrow  amazed  rapturous 
floating  soaring  at times so light that they could take their flight
out into the infinite  almost prepared to soar away to all eternity 
They slept wide awake  thus sweetly lulled  Oh  splendid lethargy of the
real overwhelmed by the ideal 

Sometimes  beautiful as Cosette was  Marius shut his eyes in her
presence  The best way to look at the soul is through closed eyes 

Marius and Cosette never asked themselves whither this was to lead them 
They considered that they had already arrived  It is a strange claim on
man s part to wish that love should lead to something 




CHAPTER III  THE BEGINNING OF SHADOW

Jean Valjean suspected nothing 

Cosette  who was rather less dreamy than Marius  was gay  and that
sufficed for Jean Valjean s happiness  The thoughts which Cosette
cherished  her tender preoccupations  Marius  image which filled her
heart  took away nothing from the incomparable purity of her beautiful 
chaste  and smiling brow  She was at the age when the virgin bears her
love as the angel his lily  So Jean Valjean was at ease  And then  when
two lovers have come to an understanding  things always go well  the
third party who might disturb their love is kept in a state of perfect
blindness by a restricted number of precautions which are always the
same in the case of all lovers  Thus  Cosette never objected to any of
Jean Valjean s proposals  Did she want to take a walk   Yes  dear little
father   Did she want to stay at home  Very good  Did he wish to pass
the evening with Cosette  She was delighted  As he always went to bed at
ten o clock  Marius did not come to the garden on such occasions until
after that hour  when  from the street  he heard Cosette open the long
glass door on the veranda  Of course  no one ever met Marius in the
daytime  Jean Valjean never even dreamed any longer that Marius was in
existence  Only once  one morning  he chanced to say to Cosette   Why 
you have whitewash on your back   On the previous evening  Marius  in a
transport  had pushed Cosette against the wall 

Old Toussaint  who retired early  thought of nothing but her sleep  and
was as ignorant of the whole matter as Jean Valjean 

Marius never set foot in the house  When he was with Cosette  they hid
themselves in a recess near the steps  in order that they might neither
be seen nor heard from the street  and there they sat  frequently
contenting themselves  by way of conversation  with pressing each
other s hands twenty times a minute as they gazed at the branches of the
trees  At such times  a thunderbolt might have fallen thirty paces from
them  and they would not have noticed it  so deeply was the revery of
the one absorbed and sunk in the revery of the other 

Limpid purity  Hours wholly white  almost all alike  This sort of love
is a recollection of lily petals and the plumage of the dove 

The whole extent of the garden lay between them and the street  Every
time that Marius entered and left  he carefully adjusted the bar of the
gate in such a manner that no displacement was visible 

He usually went away about midnight  and returned to Courfeyrac s
lodgings  Courfeyrac said to Bahorel   

 Would you believe it  Marius comes home nowadays at one o clock in the
morning  

Bahorel replied   

 What do you expect  There s always a petard in a seminary fellow  

At times  Courfeyrac folded his arms  assumed a serious air  and said to
Marius   

 You are getting irregular in your habits  young man  

Courfeyrac  being a practical man  did not take in good part this
reflection of an invisible paradise upon Marius  he was not much in the
habit of concealed passions  it made him impatient  and now and then he
called upon Marius to come back to reality 

One morning  he threw him this admonition   

 My dear fellow  you produce upon me the effect of being located in
the moon  the realm of dreams  the province of illusions  capital 
soap bubble  Come  be a good boy  what s her name  

But nothing could induce Marius  to talk   They might have torn out his
nails before one of the two sacred syllables of which that ineffable
name  Cosette  was composed  True love is as luminous as the dawn and as
silent as the tomb  Only  Courfeyrac saw this change in Marius  that his
taciturnity was of the beaming order 

During this sweet month of May  Marius and Cosette learned to know these
immense delights  To dispute and to say you for thou  simply that they
might say thou the better afterwards  To talk at great length with very
minute details  of persons in whom they took not the slightest interest
in the world  another proof that in that ravishing opera called love 
the libretto counts for almost nothing 

For Marius  to listen to Cosette discussing finery 

For Cosette  to listen to Marius talk in politics 

To listen  knee pressed to knee  to the carriages rolling along the Rue
de Babylone 

To gaze upon the same planet in space  or at the same glowworm gleaming
in the grass 

To hold their peace together  a still greater delight than conversation 

Etc   etc 

In the meantime  divers complications were approaching 

One evening  Marius was on his way to the rendezvous  by way of the
Boulevard des Invalides  He habitually walked with drooping head  As he
was on the point of turning the corner of the Rue Plumet  he heard some
one quite close to him say   

 Good evening  Monsieur Marius  

He raised his head and recognized Eponine 

This produced a singular effect upon him  He had not thought of that
girl a single time since the day when she had conducted him to the Rue
Plumet  he had not seen her again  and she had gone completely out of
his mind  He had no reasons for anything but gratitude towards her  he
owed her his happiness  and yet  it was embarrassing to him to meet her 

It is an error to think that passion  when it is pure and happy  leads
man to a state of perfection  it simply leads him  as we have noted  to
a state of oblivion  In this situation  man forgets to be bad  but
he also forgets to be good  Gratitude  duty  matters essential and
important to be remembered  vanish  At any other time  Marius would have
behaved quite differently to Eponine  Absorbed in Cosette  he had not
even clearly put it to himself that this Eponine was named Eponine
Thenardier  and that she bore the name inscribed in his father s will 
that name  for which  but a few months before  he would have so ardently
sacrificed himself  We show Marius as he was  His father himself was
fading out of his soul to some extent  under the splendor of his love 

He replied with some embarrassment   

 Ah  so it s you  Eponine  

 Why do you call me you  Have I done anything to you  

 No   he answered 

Certainly  he had nothing against her  Far from it  Only  he felt that
he could not do otherwise  now that he used thou to Cosette  than say
you to Eponine 

As he remained silent  she exclaimed   

 Say   

Then she paused  It seemed as though words failed that creature formerly
so heedless and so bold  She tried to smile and could not  Then she
resumed   

 Well  

Then she paused again  and remained with downcast eyes 

 Good evening  Mr  Marius   said she suddenly and abruptly  and away she
went 




CHAPTER IV  A CAB RUNS IN ENGLISH AND BARKS IN SLANG

The following day was the 3d of June  1832  a date which it is necessary
to indicate on account of the grave events which at that epoch hung on
the horizon of Paris in the state of lightning charged clouds  Marius 
at nightfall  was pursuing the same road as on the preceding evening 
with the same thoughts of delight in his heart  when he caught sight
of Eponine approaching  through the trees of the boulevard  Two days
in succession  this was too much  He turned hastily aside  quitted the
boulevard  changed his course and went to the Rue Plumet through the Rue
Monsieur 

This caused Eponine to follow him to the Rue Plumet  a thing which
she had not yet done  Up to that time  she had contented herself with
watching him on his passage along the boulevard without ever seeking to
encounter him  It was only on the evening before that she had attempted
to address him 

So Eponine followed him  without his suspecting the fact  She saw him
displace the bar and slip into the garden 

She approached the railing  felt of the bars one after the other  and
readily recognized the one which Marius had moved 

She murmured in a low voice and in gloomy accents   

 None of that  Lisette  

She seated herself on the underpinning of the railing  close beside the
bar  as though she were guarding it  It was precisely at the point where
the railing touched the neighboring wall  There was a dim nook there  in
which Eponine was entirely concealed 

She remained thus for more than an hour  without stirring and without
breathing  a prey to her thoughts 

Towards ten o clock in the evening  one of the two or three persons who
passed through the Rue Plumet  an old  belated bourgeois who was making
haste to escape from this deserted spot of evil repute  as he skirted
the garden railings and reached the angle which it made with the wall 
heard a dull and threatening voice saying   

 I m no longer surprised that he comes here every evening  

The passer by cast a glance around him  saw no one  dared not peer into
the black niche  and was greatly alarmed  He redoubled his pace 

This passer by had reason to make haste  for a very few instants later 
six men  who were marching separately and at some distance from each
other  along the wall  and who might have been taken for a gray patrol 
entered the Rue Plumet 

The first to arrive at the garden railing halted  and waited for the
others  a second later  all six were reunited 

These men began to talk in a low voice 

 This is the place   said one of them 

 Is there a cab  dog  in the garden   asked another 

 I don t know  In any case  I have fetched a ball that we ll make him
eat  

 Have you some putty to break the pane with  

 Yes  

 The railing is old   interpolated a fifth  who had the voice of a
ventriloquist 

 So much the better   said the second who had spoken   It won t screech
under the saw  and it won t be hard to cut  

The sixth  who had not yet opened his lips  now began to inspect
the gate  as Eponine had done an hour earlier  grasping each bar in
succession  and shaking them cautiously 

Thus he came to the bar which Marius had loosened  As he was on the
point of grasping this bar  a hand emerged abruptly from the darkness 
fell upon his arm  he felt himself vigorously thrust aside by a push
in the middle of his breast  and a hoarse voice said to him  but not
loudly   

 There s a dog  

At the same moment  he perceived a pale girl standing before him 

The man underwent that shock which the unexpected always brings  He
bristled up in hideous wise  nothing is so formidable to behold as
ferocious beasts who are uneasy  their terrified air evokes terror 

He recoiled and stammered   

 What jade is this  

 Your daughter  

It was  in fact  Eponine  who had addressed Thenardier 

At the apparition of Eponine  the other five  that is to say 
Claquesous  Guelemer  Babet  Brujon  and Montparnasse had noiselessly
drawn near  without precipitation  without uttering a word  with the
sinister slowness peculiar to these men of the night 

Some indescribable but hideous tools were visible in their hands 
Guelemer held one of those pairs of curved pincers which prowlers call
fanchons 

 Ah  see here  what are you about there  What do you want with us  Are
you crazy   exclaimed Thenardier  as loudly as one can exclaim and still
speak low   what have you come here to hinder our work for  

Eponine burst out laughing  and threw herself on his neck 

 I am here  little father  because I am here  Isn t a person allowed to
sit on the stones nowadays  It s you who ought not to be here  What
have you come here for  since it s a biscuit  I told Magnon so  There s
nothing to be done here  But embrace me  my good little father  It s a
long time since I ve seen you  So you re out  

Thenardier tried to disentangle himself from Eponine s arms  and
grumbled   

 That s good  You ve embraced me  Yes  I m out  I m not in  Now  get
away with you  

But Eponine did not release her hold  and redoubled her caresses 

 But how did you manage it  little pa  You must have been very clever to
get out of that  Tell me about it  And my mother  Where is mother  Tell
me about mamma  

Thenardier replied   

 She s well  I don t know  let me alone  and be off  I tell you  

 I won t go  so there now   pouted Eponine like a spoiled child   you
send me off  and it s four months since I saw you  and I ve hardly had
time to kiss you  

And she caught her father round the neck again 

 Come  now  this is stupid   said Babet 

 Make haste   said Guelemer   the cops may pass  

The ventriloquist s voice repeated his distich   


      Nous n  sommes pas le jour de l an 
                               This isn t New Year s day
     A becoter papa  maman  
                               To peck at pa and ma  


Eponine turned to the five ruffians 

 Why  it s Monsieur Brujon  Good day  Monsieur Babet  Good day 
Monsieur Claquesous  Don t you know me  Monsieur Guelemer  How goes it 
Montparnasse  

 Yes  they know you   ejaculated Thenardier   But good day  good
evening  sheer off  leave us alone  

 It s the hour for foxes  not for chickens   said Montparnasse 

 You see the job we have on hand here   added Babet 

Eponine caught Montparnasse s hand 

 Take care   said he   you ll cut yourself  I ve a knife open  

 My little Montparnasse   responded Eponine very gently   you must have
confidence in people  I am the daughter of my father  perhaps  Monsieur
Babet  Monsieur Guelemer  I m the person who was charged to investigate
this matter  

It is remarkable that Eponine did not talk slang  That frightful tongue
had become impossible to her since she had known Marius 

She pressed in her hand  small  bony  and feeble as that of a skeleton 
Guelemer s huge  coarse fingers  and continued   

 You know well that I m no fool  Ordinarily  I am believed  I have
rendered you service on various occasions  Well  I have made inquiries 
you will expose yourselves to no purpose  you see  I swear to you that
there is nothing in this house  

 There are lone women   said Guelemer 

 No  the persons have moved away  

 The candles haven t  anyway   ejaculated Babet 

And he pointed out to Eponine  across the tops of the trees  a light
which was wandering about in the mansard roof of the pavilion  It was
Toussaint  who had stayed up to spread out some linen to dry 

Eponine made a final effort 

 Well   said she   they re very poor folks  and it s a hovel where there
isn t a sou  

 Go to the devil   cried Thenardier   When we ve turned the house upside
down and put the cellar at the top and the attic below  we ll tell
you what there is inside  and whether it s francs or sous or
half farthings  

And he pushed her aside with the intention of entering 

 My good friend  Mr  Montparnasse   said Eponine   I entreat you  you
are a good fellow  don t enter  

 Take care  you ll cut yourself   replied Montparnasse 

Thenardier resumed in his decided tone   

 Decamp  my girl  and leave men to their own affairs  

Eponine released Montparnasse s hand  which she had grasped again  and
said   

 So you mean to enter this house  

 Rather   grinned the ventriloquist 

Then she set her back against the gate  faced the six ruffians who were
armed to the teeth  and to whom the night lent the visages of demons 
and said in a firm  low voice   

 Well  I don t mean that you shall  

They halted in amazement  The ventriloquist  however  finished his grin 
She went on   

 Friends  Listen well  This is not what you want  Now I m talking  In
the first place  if you enter this garden  if you lay a hand on this
gate  I ll scream  I ll beat on the door  I ll rouse everybody  I ll
have the whole six of you seized  I ll call the police  

 She d do it  too   said Thenardier in a low tone to Brujon and the
ventriloquist 

She shook her head and added   

 Beginning with my father  

Thenardier stepped nearer 

 Not so close  my good man   said she 

He retreated  growling between his teeth   

 Why  what s the matter with her  

And he added   

 Bitch  

She began to laugh in a terrible way   

 As you like  but you shall not enter here  I m not the daughter of
a dog  since I m the daughter of a wolf  There are six of you  what
matters that to me  You are men  Well  I m a woman  You don t frighten
me  I tell you that you shan t enter this house  because it doesn t suit
me  If you approach  I ll bark  I told you  I m the dog  and I don t
care a straw for you  Go your way  you bore me  Go where you please  but
don t come here  I forbid it  You can use your knives  I ll use kicks 
it s all the same to me  come on  

She advanced a pace nearer the ruffians  she was terrible  she burst out
laughing   

 Pardine  I m not afraid  I shall be hungry this summer  and I shall be
cold this winter  Aren t they ridiculous  these ninnies of men  to think
they can scare a girl  What  Scare  Oh  yes  much  Because you have
finical poppets of mistresses who hide under the bed when you put on a
big voice  forsooth  I ain t afraid of anything  that I ain t  

She fastened her intent gaze upon Thenardier and said   

 Not even of you  father  

Then she continued  as she cast her blood shot  spectre like eyes upon
the ruffians in turn   

 What do I care if I m picked up to morrow morning on the pavement of
the Rue Plumet  killed by the blows of my father s club  or whether I m
found a year from now in the nets at Saint Cloud or the Isle of Swans in
the midst of rotten old corks and drowned dogs  

She was forced to pause  she was seized by a dry cough  her breath came
from her weak and narrow chest like the death rattle 

She resumed   

 I have only to cry out  and people will come  and then slap  bang 
There are six of you  I represent the whole world  

Thenardier made a movement towards her 

 Don t approach   she cried 

He halted  and said gently   

 Well  no  I won t approach  but don t speak so loud  So you intend to
hinder us in our work  my daughter  But we must earn our living all the
same  Have you no longer any kind feeling for your father  

 You bother me   said Eponine 

 But we must live  we must eat   

 Burst  

So saying  she seated herself on the underpinning of the fence and
hummed   

        Mon bras si dodu              My arm so plump 
        Ma jambe bien faite           My leg well formed 
        Et le temps perdu             And time wasted  


She had set her elbow on her knee and her chin in her hand  and she
swung her foot with an air of indifference  Her tattered gown permitted
a view of her thin shoulder blades  The neighboring street lantern
illuminated her profile and her attitude  Nothing more resolute and more
surprising could be seen 

The six rascals  speechless and gloomy at being held in check by a girl 
retreated beneath the shadow cast by the lantern  and held counsel with
furious and humiliated shrugs 

In the meantime she stared at them with a stern but peaceful air 

 There s something the matter with her   said Babet   A reason  Is she
in love with the dog  It s a shame to miss this  anyway  Two women  an
old fellow who lodges in the back yard  and curtains that ain t so bad
at the windows  The old cove must be a Jew  I think the job s a good
one  

 Well  go in  then  the rest of you   exclaimed Montparnasse   Do the
job  I ll stay here with the girl  and if she fails us   

He flashed the knife  which he held open in his hand  in the light of
the lantern 

Thenardier said not a word  and seemed ready for whatever the rest
pleased 

Brujon  who was somewhat of an oracle  and who had  as the reader knows 
 put up the job   had not as yet spoken  He seemed thoughtful  He had
the reputation of not sticking at anything  and it was known that he
had plundered a police post simply out of bravado  Besides this he made
verses and songs  which gave him great authority 

Babet interrogated him   

 You say nothing  Brujon  

Brujon remained silent an instant longer  then he shook his head in
various ways  and finally concluded to speak   

 See here  this morning I came across two sparrows fighting  this
evening I jostled a woman who was quarrelling  All that s bad  Let s
quit  

They went away 

As they went  Montparnasse muttered   

 Never mind  if they had wanted  I d have cut her throat  

Babet responded

 I wouldn t  I don t hit a lady  

At the corner of the street they halted and exchanged the following
enigmatical dialogue in a low tone   

 Where shall we go to sleep to night  

 Under Pantin  Paris   

 Have you the key to the gate  Thenardier  

 Pardi  

Eponine  who never took her eyes off of them  saw them retreat by the
road by which they had come  She rose and began to creep after them
along the walls and the houses  She followed them thus as far as the
boulevard 

There they parted  and she saw these six men plunge into the gloom 
where they appeared to melt away 




CHAPTER V  THINGS OF THE NIGHT

After the departure of the ruffians  the Rue Plumet resumed its
tranquil  nocturnal aspect  That which had just taken place in this
street would not have astonished a forest  The lofty trees  the copses 
the heaths  the branches rudely interlaced  the tall grass  exist in
a sombre manner  the savage swarming there catches glimpses of sudden
apparitions of the invisible  that which is below man distinguishes 
through the mists  that which is beyond man  and the things of which we
living beings are ignorant there meet face to face in the night  Nature 
bristling and wild  takes alarm at certain approaches in which she
fancies that she feels the supernatural  The forces of the gloom know
each other  and are strangely balanced by each other  Teeth and claws
fear what they cannot grasp  Blood drinking bestiality  voracious
appetites  hunger in search of prey  the armed instincts of nails
and jaws which have for source and aim the belly  glare and smell out
uneasily the impassive spectral forms straying beneath a shroud  erect
in its vague and shuddering robe  and which seem to them to live with
a dead and terrible life  These brutalities  which are only matter 
entertain a confused fear of having to deal with the immense obscurity
condensed into an unknown being  A black figure barring the way stops
the wild beast short  That which emerges from the cemetery intimidates
and disconcerts that which emerges from the cave  the ferocious fear the
sinister  wolves recoil when they encounter a ghoul 




CHAPTER VI  MARIUS BECOMES PRACTICAL ONCE MORE TO THE EXTENT OF GIVING
COSETTE HIS ADDRESS

While this sort of a dog with a human face was mounting guard over the
gate  and while the six ruffians were yielding to a girl  Marius was by
Cosette s side 

Never had the sky been more studded with stars and more charming  the
trees more trembling  the odor of the grass more penetrating  never had
the birds fallen asleep among the leaves with a sweeter noise  never had
all the harmonies of universal serenity responded more thoroughly to the
inward music of love  never had Marius been more captivated  more happy 
more ecstatic 

But he had found Cosette sad  Cosette had been weeping  Her eyes were
red 

This was the first cloud in that wonderful dream 

Marius  first word had been   What is the matter  

And she had replied   This  

Then she had seated herself on the bench near the steps  and while he
tremblingly took his place beside her  she had continued   

 My father told me this morning to hold myself in readiness  because he
has business  and we may go away from here  

Marius shivered from head to foot 

When one is at the end of one s life  to die means to go away  when one
is at the beginning of it  to go away means to die 

For the last six weeks  Marius had little by little  slowly  by degrees 
taken possession of Cosette each day  As we have already explained  in
the case of first love  the soul is taken long before the body  later
on  one takes the body long before the soul  sometimes one does not take
the soul at all  the Faublas and the Prudhommes add   Because there is
none   but the sarcasm is  fortunately  a blasphemy  So Marius possessed
Cosette  as spirits possess  but he enveloped her with all his soul  and
seized her jealously with incredible conviction  He possessed her smile 
her breath  her perfume  the profound radiance of her blue eyes  the
sweetness of her skin when he touched her hand  the charming mark which
she had on her neck  all her thoughts  Therefore  he possessed all
Cosette s dreams 

He incessantly gazed at  and he sometimes touched lightly with his
breath  the short locks on the nape of her neck  and he declared to
himself that there was not one of those short hairs which did not belong
to him  Marius  He gazed upon and adored the things that she wore  her
knot of ribbon  her gloves  her sleeves  her shoes  her cuffs  as sacred
objects of which he was the master  He dreamed that he was the lord of
those pretty shell combs which she wore in her hair  and he even said to
himself  in confused and suppressed stammerings of voluptuousness which
did not make their way to the light  that there was not a ribbon of her
gown  not a mesh in her stockings  not a fold in her bodice  which was
not his  Beside Cosette he felt himself beside his own property  his
own thing  his own despot and his slave  It seemed as though they had
so intermingled their souls  that it would have been impossible to tell
them apart had they wished to take them back again    This is mine  
 No  it is mine    I assure you that you are mistaken  This is my
property    What you are taking as your own is myself    Marius was
something that made a part of Cosette  and Cosette was something which
made a part of Marius  Marius felt Cosette within him  To have Cosette 
to possess Cosette  this  to him  was not to be distinguished from
breathing  It was in the midst of this faith  of this intoxication  of
this virgin possession  unprecedented and absolute  of this sovereignty 
that these words   We are going away   fell suddenly  at a blow  and
that the harsh voice of reality cried to him   Cosette is not yours  

Marius awoke  For six weeks Marius had been living  as we have said 
outside of life  those words  going away  caused him to re enter it
harshly 

He found not a word to say  Cosette merely felt that his hand was very
cold  She said to him in her turn   What is the matter  

He replied in so low a tone that Cosette hardly heard him   

 I did not understand what you said  

She began again   

 This morning my father told me to settle all my little affairs and to
hold myself in readiness  that he would give me his linen to put in a
trunk  that he was obliged to go on a journey  that we were to go away 
that it is necessary to have a large trunk for me and a small one for
him  and that all is to be ready in a week from now  and that we might
go to England  

 But this is outrageous   exclaimed Marius 

It is certain  that  at that moment  no abuse of power  no violence  not
one of the abominations of the worst tyrants  no action of Busiris  of
Tiberius  or of Henry VIII   could have equalled this in atrocity 
in the opinion of Marius  M  Fauchelevent taking his daughter off to
England because he had business there 

He demanded in a weak voice   

 And when do you start  

 He did not say when  

 And when shall you return  

 He did not say when  

Marius rose and said coldly   

 Cosette  shall you go  

Cosette turned toward him her beautiful eyes  all filled with anguish 
and replied in a sort of bewilderment   

 Where  

 To England  Shall you go  

 Why do you say you to me  

 I ask you whether you will go  

 What do you expect me to do   she said  clasping her hands 

 So  you will go  

 If my father goes  

 So  you will go  

Cosette took Marius  hand  and pressed it without replying 

 Very well   said Marius   then I will go elsewhere  

Cosette felt rather than understood the meaning of these words 
She turned so pale that her face shone white through the gloom  She
stammered   

 What do you mean  

Marius looked at her  then raised his eyes to heaven  and answered 
 Nothing  

When his eyes fell again  he saw Cosette smiling at him  The smile of a
woman whom one loves possesses a visible radiance  even at night 

 How silly we are  Marius  I have an idea  

 What is it  

 If we go away  do you go too  I will tell you where  Come and join me
wherever I am  

Marius was now a thoroughly roused man  He had fallen back into reality 
He cried to Cosette   

 Go away with you  Are you mad  Why  I should have to have money  and I
have none  Go to England  But I am in debt now  I owe  I don t know how
much  more than ten louis to Courfeyrac  one of my friends with whom you
are not acquainted  I have an old hat which is not worth three francs 
I have a coat which lacks buttons in front  my shirt is all ragged  my
elbows are torn  my boots let in the water  for the last six weeks I
have not thought about it  and I have not told you about it  You only
see me at night  and you give me your love  if you were to see me in the
daytime  you would give me a sou  Go to England  Eh  I haven t enough to
pay for a passport  

He threw himself against a tree which was close at hand  erect  his brow
pressed close to the bark  feeling neither the wood which flayed his
skin  nor the fever which was throbbing in his temples  and there he
stood motionless  on the point of falling  like the statue of despair 

He remained a long time thus  One could remain for eternity in such
abysses  At last he turned round  He heard behind him a faint stifled
noise  which was sweet yet sad 

It was Cosette sobbing 

She had been weeping for more than two hours beside Marius as he
meditated 

He came to her  fell at her knees  and slowly prostrating himself  he
took the tip of her foot which peeped out from beneath her robe  and
kissed it 

She let him have his way in silence  There are moments when a woman
accepts  like a sombre and resigned goddess  the religion of love 

 Do not weep   he said 

She murmured   

 Not when I may be going away  and you cannot come  

He went on   

 Do you love me  

She replied  sobbing  by that word from paradise which is never more
charming than amid tears   

 I adore you  

He continued in a tone which was an indescribable caress   

 Do not weep  Tell me  will you do this for me  and cease to weep  

 Do you love me   said she 

He took her hand 

 Cosette  I have never given my word of honor to any one  because my
word of honor terrifies me  I feel that my father is by my side  Well  I
give you my most sacred word of honor  that if you go away I shall die  

In the tone with which he uttered these words there lay a melancholy so
solemn and so tranquil  that Cosette trembled  She felt that chill which
is produced by a true and gloomy thing as it passes by  The shock made
her cease weeping 

 Now  listen   said he   do not expect me to morrow  

 Why  

 Do not expect me until the day after to morrow  

 Oh  Why  

 You will see  

 A day without seeing you  But that is impossible  

 Let us sacrifice one day in order to gain our whole lives  perhaps  

And Marius added in a low tone and in an aside   

 He is a man who never changes his habits  and he has never received any
one except in the evening  

 Of what man are you speaking   asked Cosette 

 I  I said nothing  

 What do you hope  then  

 Wait until the day after to morrow  

 You wish it  

 Yes  Cosette  

She took his head in both her hands  raising herself on tiptoe in order
to be on a level with him  and tried to read his hope in his eyes 

Marius resumed   

 Now that I think of it  you ought to know my address  something might
happen  one never knows  I live with that friend named Courfeyrac  Rue
de la Verrerie  No  16  

He searched in his pocket  pulled out his penknife  and with the blade
he wrote on the plaster of the wall   

 16 Rue de la Verrerie  

In the meantime  Cosette had begun to gaze into his eyes once more 

 Tell me your thought  Marius  you have some idea  Tell it to me  Oh 
tell me  so that I may pass a pleasant night  

 This is my idea  that it is impossible that God should mean to part us 
Wait  expect me the day after to morrow  

 What shall I do until then   said Cosette   You are outside  you go 
and come  How happy men are  I shall remain entirely alone  Oh  How sad
I shall be  What is it that you are going to do to morrow evening  tell
me  

 I am going to try something  

 Then I will pray to God and I will think of you here  so that you may
be successful  I will question you no further  since you do not wish it 
You are my master  I shall pass the evening to morrow in singing that
music from Euryanthe that you love  and that you came one evening to
listen to  outside my shutters  But day after to morrow you will come
early  I shall expect you at dusk  at nine o clock precisely  I warn
you  Mon Dieu  how sad it is that the days are so long  On the stroke of
nine  do you understand  I shall be in the garden  

 And I also  

And without having uttered it  moved by the same thought  impelled by
those electric currents which place lovers in continual communication 
both being intoxicated with delight even in their sorrow  they fell into
each other s arms  without perceiving that their lips met while their
uplifted eyes  overflowing with rapture and full of tears  gazed upon
the stars 

When Marius went forth  the street was deserted  This was the moment
when Eponine was following the ruffians to the boulevard 

While Marius had been dreaming with his head pressed to the tree  an
idea had crossed his mind  an idea  alas  that he himself judged to be
senseless and impossible  He had come to a desperate decision 




CHAPTER VII  THE OLD HEART AND THE YOUNG HEART IN THE PRESENCE OF EACH
OTHER

At that epoch  Father Gillenormand was well past his ninety first
birthday  He still lived with Mademoiselle Gillenormand in the Rue des
Filles du Calvaire  No  6  in the old house which he owned  He was  as
the reader will remember  one of those antique old men who await death
perfectly erect  whom age bears down without bending  and whom even
sorrow cannot curve 

Still  his daughter had been saying for some time   My father is
sinking   He no longer boxed the maids  ears  he no longer thumped
the landing place so vigorously with his cane when Basque was slow in
opening the door  The Revolution of July had exasperated him for the
space of barely six months  He had viewed  almost tranquilly  that
coupling of words  in the Moniteur  M  Humblot Conte  peer of France 
The fact is  that the old man was deeply dejected  He did not bend  he
did not yield  this was no more a characteristic of his physical than
of his moral nature  but he felt himself giving way internally  For four
years he had been waiting for Marius  with his foot firmly planted  that
is the exact word  in the conviction that that good for nothing young
scamp would ring at his door some day or other  now he had reached
the point  where  at certain gloomy hours  he said to himself  that
if Marius made him wait much longer  It was not death that was
insupportable to him  it was the idea that perhaps he should never see
Marius again  The idea of never seeing Marius again had never entered
his brain until that day  now the thought began to recur to him  and
it chilled him  Absence  as is always the case in genuine and natural
sentiments  had only served to augment the grandfather s love for the
ungrateful child  who had gone off like a flash  It is during December
nights  when the cold stands at ten degrees  that one thinks oftenest of
the son 

M  Gillenormand was  or thought himself  above all things  incapable
of taking a single step  he  the grandfather  towards his grandson   I
would die rather   he said to himself  He did not consider himself
as the least to blame  but he thought of Marius only with profound
tenderness  and the mute despair of an elderly  kindly old man who is
about to vanish in the dark 

He began to lose his teeth  which added to his sadness 

M  Gillenormand  without however acknowledging it to himself  for it
would have rendered him furious and ashamed  had never loved a mistress
as he loved Marius 

He had had placed in his chamber  opposite the head of his bed  so that
it should be the first thing on which his eyes fell on waking  an
old portrait of his other daughter  who was dead  Madame Pontmercy 
a portrait which had been taken when she was eighteen  He gazed
incessantly at that portrait  One day  he happened to say  as he gazed
upon it   

 I think the likeness is strong  

 To my sister   inquired Mademoiselle Gillenormand   Yes  certainly  

 The old man added   

 And to him also  

Once as he sat with his knees pressed together  and his eyes almost
closed  in a despondent attitude  his daughter ventured to say to him   

 Father  are you as angry with him as ever  

She paused  not daring to proceed further 

 With whom   he demanded 

 With that poor Marius  

He raised his aged head  laid his withered and emaciated fist on the
table  and exclaimed in his most irritated and vibrating tone   

 Poor Marius  do you say  That gentleman is a knave  a wretched
scoundrel  a vain little ingrate  a heartless  soulless  haughty  and
wicked man  

And he turned away so that his daughter might not see the tear that
stood in his eye 

Three days later he broke a silence which had lasted four hours  to say
to his daughter point blank   

 I had the honor to ask Mademoiselle Gillenormand never to mention him
to me  

Aunt Gillenormand renounced every effort  and pronounced this acute
diagnosis   My father never cared very much for my sister after her
folly  It is clear that he detests Marius  

 After her folly  meant   after she had married the colonel  

However  as the reader has been able to conjecture  Mademoiselle
Gillenormand had failed in her attempt to substitute her favorite  the
officer of lancers  for Marius  The substitute  Theodule  had not been a
success  M  Gillenormand had not accepted the quid pro quo  A vacancy
in the heart does not accommodate itself to a stop gap  Theodule  on his
side  though he scented the inheritance  was disgusted at the task
of pleasing  The goodman bored the lancer  and the lancer shocked the
goodman  Lieutenant Theodule was gay  no doubt  but a chatter box 
frivolous  but vulgar  a high liver  but a frequenter of bad company  he
had mistresses  it is true  and he had a great deal to say about them 
it is true also  but he talked badly  All his good qualities had a
defect  M  Gillenormand was worn out with hearing him tell about the
love affairs that he had in the vicinity of the barracks in the Rue
de Babylone  And then  Lieutenant Gillenormand sometimes came in his
uniform  with the tricolored cockade  This rendered him downright
intolerable  Finally  Father Gillenormand had said to his daughter 
 I ve had enough of that Theodule  I haven t much taste for warriors
in time of peace  Receive him if you choose  I don t know but I prefer
slashers to fellows that drag their swords  The clash of blades in
battle is less dismal  after all  than the clank of the scabbard on
the pavement  And then  throwing out your chest like a bully and
lacing yourself like a girl  with stays under your cuirass  is doubly
ridiculous  When one is a veritable man  one holds equally aloof
from swagger and from affected airs  He is neither a blusterer nor a
finnicky hearted man  Keep your Theodule for yourself  

It was in vain that his daughter said to him   But he is your
grandnephew  nevertheless    it turned out that M  Gillenormand  who
was a grandfather to the very finger tips  was not in the least a
grand uncle 

In fact  as he had good sense  and as he had compared the two  Theodule
had only served to make him regret Marius all the more 

One evening   it was the 24th of June  which did not prevent Father
Gillenormand having a rousing fire on the hearth   he had dismissed his
daughter  who was sewing in a neighboring apartment  He was alone in
his chamber  amid its pastoral scenes  with his feet propped on the
andirons  half enveloped in his huge screen of coromandel lacquer  with
its nine leaves  with his elbow resting on a table where burned two
candles under a green shade  engulfed in his tapestry armchair  and in
his hand a book which he was not reading  He was dressed  according
to his wont  like an incroyable  and resembled an antique portrait by
Garat  This would have made people run after him in the street  had not
his daughter covered him up  whenever he went out  in a vast bishop s
wadded cloak  which concealed his attire  At home  he never wore a
dressing gown  except when he rose and retired   It gives one a look of
age   said he 

Father Gillenormand was thinking of Marius lovingly and bitterly  and 
as usual  bitterness predominated  His tenderness once soured always
ended by boiling and turning to indignation  He had reached the point
where a man tries to make up his mind and to accept that which rends his
heart  He was explaining to himself that there was no longer any reason
why Marius should return  that if he intended to return  he should
have done it long ago  that he must renounce the idea  He was trying to
accustom himself to the thought that all was over  and that he should
die without having beheld  that gentleman  again  But his whole nature
revolted  his aged paternity would not consent to this   Well   said
he   this was his doleful refrain    he will not return   His bald head
had fallen upon his breast  and he fixed a melancholy and irritated gaze
upon the ashes on his hearth 

In the very midst of his revery  his old servant Basque entered  and
inquired   

 Can Monsieur receive M  Marius  

The old man sat up erect  pallid  and like a corpse which rises under
the influence of a galvanic shock  All his blood had retreated to his
heart  He stammered   

 M  Marius what  

 I don t know   replied Basque  intimidated and put out of countenance
by his master s air   I have not seen him  Nicolette came in and said to
me   There s a young man here  say that it is M  Marius   

Father Gillenormand stammered in a low voice   

 Show him in  

And he remained in the same attitude  with shaking head  and his eyes
fixed on the door  It opened once more  A young man entered  It was
Marius 

Marius halted at the door  as though waiting to be bidden to enter 

His almost squalid attire was not perceptible in the obscurity caused by
the shade  Nothing could be seen but his calm  grave  but strangely sad
face 

It was several minutes before Father Gillenormand  dulled with amazement
and joy  could see anything except a brightness as when one is in the
presence of an apparition  He was on the point of swooning  he saw
Marius through a dazzling light  It certainly was he  it certainly was
Marius 

At last  After the lapse of four years  He grasped him entire  so to
speak  in a single glance  He found him noble  handsome  distinguished 
well grown  a complete man  with a suitable mien and a charming air  He
felt a desire to open his arms  to call him  to fling himself forward 
his heart melted with rapture  affectionate words swelled and overflowed
his breast  at length all his tenderness came to the light and reached
his lips  and  by a contrast which constituted the very foundation of
his nature  what came forth was harshness  He said abruptly   

 What have you come here for  

Marius replied with embarrassment   

 Monsieur   

M  Gillenormand would have liked to have Marius throw himself into his
arms  He was displeased with Marius and with himself  He was conscious
that he was brusque  and that Marius was cold  It caused the goodman
unendurable and irritating anxiety to feel so tender and forlorn
within  and only to be able to be hard outside  Bitterness returned  He
interrupted Marius in a peevish tone   

 Then why did you come  

That  then  signified  If you do not come to embrace me  Marius looked
at his grandfather  whose pallor gave him a face of marble 

 Monsieur   

 Have you come to beg my pardon  Do you acknowledge your faults  

He thought he was putting Marius on the right road  and that  the child 
would yield  Marius shivered  it was the denial of his father that was
required of him  he dropped his eyes and replied   

 No  sir  

 Then   exclaimed the old man impetuously  with a grief that was
poignant and full of wrath   what do you want of me  

Marius clasped his hands  advanced a step  and said in a feeble and
trembling voice   

 Sir  have pity on me  

These words touched M  Gillenormand  uttered a little sooner  they would
have rendered him tender  but they came too late  The grandfather rose 
he supported himself with both hands on his cane  his lips were white 
his brow wavered  but his lofty form towered above Marius as he bowed 

 Pity on you  sir  It is youth demanding pity of the old man of
ninety one  You are entering into life  I am leaving it  you go to the
play  to balls  to the cafe  to the billiard hall  you have wit  you
please the women  you are a handsome fellow  as for me  I spit on my
brands in the heart of summer  you are rich with the only riches that
are really such  I possess all the poverty of age  infirmity  isolation 
You have your thirty two teeth  a good digestion  bright eyes  strength 
appetite  health  gayety  a forest of black hair  I have no longer even
white hair  I have lost my teeth  I am losing my legs  I am losing my
memory  there are three names of streets that I confound incessantly 
the Rue Charlot  the Rue du Chaume  and the Rue Saint Claude  that
is what I have come to  you have before you the whole future  full of
sunshine  and I am beginning to lose my sight  so far am I advancing
into the night  you are in love  that is a matter of course  I am
beloved by no one in all the world  and you ask pity of me  Parbleu 
Moliere forgot that  If that is the way you jest at the courthouse 
Messieurs the lawyers  I sincerely compliment you  You are droll  

And the octogenarian went on in a grave and angry voice   

 Come  now  what do you want of me  

 Sir   said Marius   I know that my presence is displeasing to you  but
I have come merely to ask one thing of you  and then I shall go away
immediately  

 You are a fool   said the old man   Who said that you were to go away  

This was the translation of the tender words which lay at the bottom of
his heart   

 Ask my pardon  Throw yourself on my neck  

M  Gillenormand felt that Marius would leave him in a few moments  that
his harsh reception had repelled the lad  that his hardness was driving
him away  he said all this to himself  and it augmented his grief  and
as his grief was straightway converted into wrath  it increased his
harshness  He would have liked to have Marius understand  and Marius did
not understand  which made the goodman furious 

He began again   

 What  you deserted me  your grandfather  you left my house to go no
one knows whither  you drove your aunt to despair  you went off  it is
easily guessed  to lead a bachelor life  it s more convenient  to play
the dandy  to come in at all hours  to amuse yourself  you have given me
no signs of life  you have contracted debts without even telling me to
pay them  you have become a smasher of windows and a blusterer  and  at
the end of four years  you come to me  and that is all you have to say
to me  

This violent fashion of driving a grandson to tenderness was productive
only of silence on the part of Marius  M  Gillenormand folded his arms 
a gesture which with him was peculiarly imperious  and apostrophized
Marius bitterly   

 Let us make an end of this  You have come to ask something of me  you
say  Well  what  What is it  Speak  

 Sir   said Marius  with the look of a man who feels that he is falling
over a precipice   I have come to ask your permission to marry  

M  Gillenormand rang the bell  Basque opened the door half way 

 Call my daughter  

A second later  the door was opened once more  Mademoiselle Gillenormand
did not enter  but showed herself  Marius was standing  mute  with
pendant arms and the face of a criminal  M  Gillenormand was pacing back
and forth in the room  He turned to his daughter and said to her   

 Nothing  It is Monsieur Marius  Say good day to him  Monsieur wishes to
marry  That s all  Go away  

The curt  hoarse sound of the old man s voice announced a strange degree
of excitement  The aunt gazed at Marius with a frightened air  hardly
appeared to recognize him  did not allow a gesture or a syllable to
escape her  and disappeared at her father s breath more swiftly than a
straw before the hurricane 

In the meantime  Father Gillenormand had returned and placed his back
against the chimney piece once more 

 You marry  At one and twenty  You have arranged that  You have only
a permission to ask  a formality  Sit down  sir  Well  you have had a
revolution since I had the honor to see you last  The Jacobins got the
upper hand  You must have been delighted  Are you not a Republican since
you are a Baron  You can make that agree  The Republic makes a good
sauce for the barony  Are you one of those decorated by July  Have you
taken the Louvre at all  sir  Quite near here  in the Rue Saint Antoine 
opposite the Rue des Nonamdieres  there is a cannon ball incrusted in
the wall of the third story of a house with this inscription   July
28th  1830   Go take a look at that  It produces a good effect  Ah 
those friends of yours do pretty things  By the way  aren t they
erecting a fountain in the place of the monument of M  le Duc de Berry 
So you want to marry  Whom  Can one inquire without indiscretion  

He paused  and  before Marius had time to answer  he added violently   

 Come now  you have a profession  A fortune made  How much do you earn
at your trade of lawyer  

 Nothing   said Marius  with a sort of firmness and resolution that was
almost fierce 

 Nothing  Then all that you have to live upon is the twelve hundred
livres that I allow you  

Marius did not reply  M  Gillenormand continued   

 Then I understand the girl is rich  

 As rich as I am  

 What  No dowry  

 No  

 Expectations  

 I think not  

 Utterly naked  What s the father  

 I don t know  

 And what s her name  

 Mademoiselle Fauchelevent  

 Fauchewhat  

 Fauchelevent  

 Pttt   ejaculated the old gentleman 

 Sir   exclaimed Marius 

M  Gillenormand interrupted him with the tone of a man who is speaking
to himself   

 That s right  one and twenty years of age  no profession  twelve
hundred livres a year  Madame la Baronne de Pontmercy will go and
purchase a couple of sous  worth of parsley from the fruiterer  

 Sir   repeated Marius  in the despair at the last hope  which was
vanishing   I entreat you  I conjure you in the name of Heaven  with
clasped hands  sir  I throw myself at your feet  permit me to marry
her  

The old man burst into a shout of strident and mournful laughter 
coughing and laughing at the same time 

 Ah  ah  ah  You said to yourself   Pardine  I ll go hunt up that old
blockhead  that absurd numskull  What a shame that I m not twenty five 
How I d treat him to a nice respectful summons  How nicely I d get along
without him  It s nothing to me  I d say to him   You re only too happy
to see me  you old idiot  I want to marry  I desire to wed Mamselle
No matter whom  daughter of Monsieur No matter what  I have no shoes 
she has no chemise  that just suits  I want to throw my career  my
future  my youth  my life to the dogs  I wish to take a plunge into
wretchedness with a woman around my neck  that s an idea  and you must
consent to it   and the old fossil will consent   Go  my lad  do as
you like  attach your paving stone  marry your Pousselevent  your
Coupelevent  Never  sir  never  

 Father   

 Never  

At the tone in which that  never  was uttered  Marius lost all hope  He
traversed the chamber with slow steps  with bowed head  tottering and
more like a dying man than like one merely taking his departure  M 
Gillenormand followed him with his eyes  and at the moment when the
door opened  and Marius was on the point of going out  he advanced four
paces  with the senile vivacity of impetuous and spoiled old gentlemen 
seized Marius by the collar  brought him back energetically into the
room  flung him into an armchair and said to him   

 Tell me all about it  

 It was that single word  father  which had effected this revolution 

Marius stared at him in bewilderment  M  Gillenormand s mobile face was
no longer expressive of anything but rough and ineffable good nature 
The grandsire had given way before the grandfather 

 Come  see here  speak  tell me about your love affairs  jabber  tell me
everything  Sapristi  how stupid young folks are  

 Father    repeated Marius 

The old man s entire countenance lighted up with indescribable radiance 

 Yes  that s right  call me father  and you ll see  

There was now something so kind  so gentle  so openhearted  and so
paternal in this brusqueness  that Marius  in the sudden transition from
discouragement to hope  was stunned and intoxicated by it  as it were 
He was seated near the table  the light from the candles brought out
the dilapidation of his costume  which Father Gillenormand regarded with
amazement 

 Well  father    said Marius 

 Ah  by the way   interrupted M  Gillenormand   you really have not a
penny then  You are dressed like a pickpocket  

He rummaged in a drawer  drew forth a purse  which he laid on the table 
 Here are a hundred louis  buy yourself a hat  

 Father   pursued Marius   my good father  if you only knew  I love her 
You cannot imagine it  the first time I saw her was at the Luxembourg 
she came there  in the beginning  I did not pay much heed to her  and
then  I don t know how it came about  I fell in love with her  Oh  how
unhappy that made me  Now  at last  I see her every day  at her own
home  her father does not know it  just fancy  they are going away  it
is in the garden that we meet  in the evening  her father means to take
her to England  then I said to myself   I ll go and see my grandfather
and tell him all about the affair  I should go mad first  I should die 
I should fall ill  I should throw myself into the water  I absolutely
must marry her  since I should go mad otherwise   This is the whole
truth  and I do not think that I have omitted anything  She lives in a
garden with an iron fence  in the Rue Plumet  It is in the neighborhood
of the Invalides  

Father Gillenormand had seated himself  with a beaming countenance 
beside Marius  As he listened to him and drank in the sound of his
voice  he enjoyed at the same time a protracted pinch of snuff  At
the words  Rue Plumet  he interrupted his inhalation and allowed the
remainder of his snuff to fall upon his knees 

 The Rue Plumet  the Rue Plumet  did you say   Let us see   Are there
not barracks in that vicinity   Why  yes  that s it  Your cousin
Theodule has spoken to me about it  The lancer  the officer  A gay girl 
my good friend  a gay girl   Pardieu  yes  the Rue Plumet  It is what
used to be called the Rue Blomet   It all comes back to me now  I have
heard of that little girl of the iron railing in the Rue Plumet  In a
garden  a Pamela  Your taste is not bad  She is said to be a very tidy
creature  Between ourselves  I think that simpleton of a lancer has been
courting her a bit  I don t know where he did it  However  that s not
to the purpose  Besides  he is not to be believed  He brags  Marius  I
think it quite proper that a young man like you should be in love  It s
the right thing at your age  I like you better as a lover than as a
Jacobin  I like you better in love with a petticoat  sapristi  with
twenty petticoats  than with M  de Robespierre  For my part  I will do
myself the justice to say  that in the line of sans culottes  I have
never loved any one but women  Pretty girls are pretty girls  the deuce 
There s no objection to that  As for the little one  she receives you
without her father s knowledge  That s in the established order of
things  I have had adventures of that same sort myself  More than one 
Do you know what is done then  One does not take the matter ferociously 
one does not precipitate himself into the tragic  one does not make
one s mind to marriage and M  le Maire with his scarf  One simply
behaves like a fellow of spirit  One shows good sense  Slip along 
mortals  don t marry  You come and look up your grandfather  who is a
good natured fellow at bottom  and who always has a few rolls of louis
in an old drawer  you say to him   See here  grandfather   And the
grandfather says   That s a simple matter  Youth must amuse itself  and
old age must wear out  I have been young  you will be old  Come  my boy 
you shall pass it on to your grandson  Here are two hundred pistoles 
Amuse yourself  deuce take it   Nothing better  That s the way the
affair should be treated  You don t marry  but that does no harm  You
understand me  

Marius  petrified and incapable of uttering a syllable  made a sign with
his head that he did not 

The old man burst out laughing  winked his aged eye  gave him a slap on
the knee  stared him full in the face with a mysterious and beaming air 
and said to him  with the tenderest of shrugs of the shoulder   

 Booby  make her your mistress  

Marius turned pale  He had understood nothing of what his grandfather
had just said  This twaddle about the Rue Blomet  Pamela  the barracks 
the lancer  had passed before Marius like a dissolving view  Nothing of
all that could bear any reference to Cosette  who was a lily  The good
man was wandering in his mind  But this wandering terminated in words
which Marius did understand  and which were a mortal insult to Cosette 
Those words   make her your mistress   entered the heart of the strict
young man like a sword 

He rose  picked up his hat which lay on the floor  and walked to the
door with a firm  assured step  There he turned round  bowed deeply to
his grandfather  raised his head erect again  and said   

 Five years ago you insulted my father  to day you have insulted my
wife  I ask nothing more of you  sir  Farewell  

Father Gillenormand  utterly confounded  opened his mouth  extended his
arms  tried to rise  and before he could utter a word  the door closed
once more  and Marius had disappeared 

The old man remained for several minutes motionless and as though
struck by lightning  without the power to speak or breathe  as though
a clenched fist grasped his throat  At last he tore himself from his
arm chair  ran  so far as a man can run at ninety one  to the door 
opened it  and cried   

 Help  Help  

His daughter made her appearance  then the domestics  He began again 
with a pitiful rattle   Run after him  Bring him back  What have I done
to him  He is mad  He is going away  Ah  my God  Ah  my God  This time
he will not come back  

He went to the window which looked out on the street  threw it open with
his aged and palsied hands  leaned out more than half way  while Basque
and Nicolette held him behind  and shouted   

 Marius  Marius  Marius  Marius  

But Marius could no longer hear him  for at that moment he was turning
the corner of the Rue Saint Louis 

The octogenarian raised his hands to his temples two or three times
with an expression of anguish  recoiled tottering  and fell back into an
arm chair  pulseless  voiceless  tearless  with quivering head and lips
which moved with a stupid air  with nothing in his eyes and nothing
any longer in his heart except a gloomy and profound something which
resembled night 




BOOK NINTH   WHITHER ARE THEY GOING 




CHAPTER I  JEAN VALJEAN

That same day  towards four o clock in the afternoon  Jean Valjean was
sitting alone on the back side of one of the most solitary slopes in the
Champ de Mars  Either from prudence  or from a desire to meditate  or
simply in consequence of one of those insensible changes of habit which
gradually introduce themselves into the existence of every one  he now
rarely went out with Cosette  He had on his workman s waistcoat 
and trousers of gray linen  and his long visored cap concealed his
countenance 

He was calm and happy now beside Cosette  that which had  for a time 
alarmed and troubled him had been dissipated  but for the last week or
two  anxieties of another nature had come up  One day  while walking
on the boulevard  he had caught sight of Thenardier  thanks to his
disguise  Thenardier had not recognized him  but since that day  Jean
Valjean had seen him repeatedly  and he was now certain that Thenardier
was prowling about in their neighborhood 

This had been sufficient to make him come to a decision 

Moreover  Paris was not tranquil  political troubles presented this
inconvenient feature  for any one who had anything to conceal in his
life  that the police had grown very uneasy and very suspicious  and
that while seeking to ferret out a man like Pepin or Morey  they might
very readily discover a man like Jean Valjean 

Jean Valjean had made up his mind to quit Paris  and even France  and go
over to England 

He had warned Cosette  He wished to set out before the end of the week 

He had seated himself on the slope in the Champ de Mars  turning over
all sorts of thoughts in his mind   Thenardier  the police  the journey 
and the difficulty of procuring a passport 

He was troubled from all these points of view 

Last of all  an inexplicable circumstance which had just attracted his
attention  and from which he had not yet recovered  had added to his
state of alarm 

On the morning of that very day  when he alone of the household was
stirring  while strolling in the garden before Cosette s shutters
were open  he had suddenly perceived on the wall  the following line 
engraved  probably with a nail   

16 Rue de la Verrerie 

This was perfectly fresh  the grooves in the ancient black mortar were
white  a tuft of nettles at the foot of the wall was powdered with the
fine  fresh plaster 

This had probably been written on the preceding night 

What was this  A signal for others  A warning for himself 

In any case  it was evident that the garden had been violated  and that
strangers had made their way into it 

He recalled the odd incidents which had already alarmed the household 

His mind was now filling in this canvas 

He took good care not to speak to Cosette of the line written on the
wall  for fear of alarming her 

In the midst of his preoccupations  he perceived  from a shadow cast by
the sun  that some one had halted on the crest of the slope immediately
behind him 

He was on the point of turning round  when a paper folded in four fell
upon his knees as though a hand had dropped it over his head 

He took the paper  unfolded it  and read these words written in large
characters  with a pencil   

 MOVE AWAY FROM YOUR HOUSE  

Jean Valjean sprang hastily to his feet  there was no one on the slope 
he gazed all around him and perceived a creature larger than a
child  not so large as a man  clad in a gray blouse and trousers of
dust colored cotton velvet  who was jumping over the parapet and who
slipped into the moat of the Champde Mars 

Jean Valjean returned home at once  in a very thoughtful mood 




CHAPTER II  MARIUS

Marius had left M  Gillenormand in despair  He had entered the house
with very little hope  and quitted it with immense despair 

However  and those who have observed the depths of the human heart will
understand this  the officer  the lancer  the ninny  Cousin Theodule 
had left no trace in his mind  Not the slightest  The dramatic poet
might  apparently  expect some complications from this revelation made
point blank by the grandfather to the grandson  But what the drama would
gain thereby  truth would lose  Marius was at an age when one believes
nothing in the line of evil  later on comes the age when one believes
everything  Suspicions are nothing else than wrinkles  Early youth
has none of them  That which overwhelmed Othello glides innocuous over
Candide  Suspect Cosette  There are hosts of crimes which Marius could
sooner have committed 

He began to wander about the streets  the resource of those who suffer 
He thought of nothing  so far as he could afterwards remember  At two
o clock in the morning he returned to Courfeyrac s quarters and flung
himself  without undressing  on his mattress  The sun was shining
brightly when he sank into that frightful leaden slumber which permits
ideas to go and come in the brain  When he awoke  he saw Courfeyrac 
Enjolras  Feuilly  and Combeferre standing in the room with their hats
on and all ready to go out 

Courfeyrac said to him   

 Are you coming to General Lamarque s funeral  

It seemed to him that Courfeyrac was speaking Chinese 

He went out some time after them  He put in his pocket the pistols which
Javert had given him at the time of the adventure on the 3d of February 
and which had remained in his hands  These pistols were still loaded  It
would be difficult to say what vague thought he had in his mind when he
took them with him 

All day long he prowled about  without knowing where he was going  it
rained at times  he did not perceive it  for his dinner  he purchased a
penny roll at a baker s  put it in his pocket and forgot it  It appears
that he took a bath in the Seine without being aware of it  There are
moments when a man has a furnace within his skull  Marius was passing
through one of those moments  He no longer hoped for anything  this
step he had taken since the preceding evening  He waited for night with
feverish impatience  he had but one idea clearly before his mind   this
was  that at nine o clock he should see Cosette  This last happiness
now constituted his whole future  after that  gloom  At intervals  as
he roamed through the most deserted boulevards  it seemed to him that he
heard strange noises in Paris  He thrust his head out of his revery and
said   Is there fighting on hand  

At nightfall  at nine o clock precisely  as he had promised Cosette 
he was in the Rue Plumet  When he approached the grating he forgot
everything  It was forty eight hours since he had seen Cosette  he was
about to behold her once more  every other thought was effaced  and
he felt only a profound and unheard of joy  Those minutes in which one
lives centuries always have this sovereign and wonderful property  that
at the moment when they are passing they fill the heart completely 

Marius displaced the bar  and rushed headlong into the garden  Cosette
was not at the spot where she ordinarily waited for him  He traversed
the thicket  and approached the recess near the flight of steps   She
is waiting for me there   said he  Cosette was not there  He raised his
eyes  and saw that the shutters of the house were closed  He made the
tour of the garden  the garden was deserted  Then he returned to
the house  and  rendered senseless by love  intoxicated  terrified 
exasperated with grief and uneasiness  like a master who returns home at
an evil hour  he tapped on the shutters  He knocked and knocked again 
at the risk of seeing the window open  and her father s gloomy face
make its appearance  and demand   What do you want   This was nothing in
comparison with what he dimly caught a glimpse of  When he had rapped 
he lifted up his voice and called Cosette    Cosette   he cried 
 Cosette   he repeated imperiously  There was no reply  All was over  No
one in the garden  no one in the house 

Marius fixed his despairing eyes on that dismal house  which was as
black and as silent as a tomb and far more empty  He gazed at the stone
seat on which he had passed so many adorable hours with Cosette  Then he
seated himself on the flight of steps  his heart filled with sweetness
and resolution  he blessed his love in the depths of his thought  and
he said to himself that  since Cosette was gone  all that there was left
for him was to die 

All at once he heard a voice which seemed to proceed from the street 
and which was calling to him through the trees   

 Mr  Marius  

He started to his feet 

 Hey   said he 

 Mr  Marius  are you there  

 Yes  

 Mr  Marius   went on the voice   your friends are waiting for you at
the barricade of the Rue de la Chanvrerie  

This voice was not wholly unfamiliar to him  It resembled the hoarse 
rough voice of Eponine  Marius hastened to the gate  thrust aside the
movable bar  passed his head through the aperture  and saw some one who
appeared to him to be a young man  disappearing at a run into the gloom 




CHAPTER III  M  MABEUF

Jean Valjean s purse was of no use to M  Mabeuf  M  Mabeuf  in his
venerable  infantile austerity  had not accepted the gift of the stars 
he had not admitted that a star could coin itself into louis d or  He
had not divined that what had fallen from heaven had come from Gavroche 
He had taken the purse to the police commissioner of the quarter  as
a lost article placed by the finder at the disposal of claimants  The
purse was actually lost  It is unnecessary to say that no one claimed
it  and that it did not succor M  Mabeuf 

Moreover  M  Mabeuf had continued his downward course 

His experiments on indigo had been no more successful in the Jardin des
Plantes than in his garden at Austerlitz  The year before he had owed
his housekeeper s wages  now  as we have seen  he owed three quarters
of his rent  The pawnshop had sold the plates of his Flora after the
expiration of thirteen months  Some coppersmith had made stewpans of
them  His copper plates gone  and being unable to complete even the
incomplete copies of his Flora which were in his possession  he had
disposed of the text  at a miserable price  as waste paper  to a
second hand bookseller  Nothing now remained to him of his life s work 
He set to work to eat up the money for these copies  When he saw that
this wretched resource was becoming exhausted  he gave up his garden
and allowed it to run to waste  Before this  a long time before  he had
given up his two eggs and the morsel of beef which he ate from time
to time  He dined on bread and potatoes  He had sold the last of his
furniture  then all duplicates of his bedding  his clothing and his
blankets  then his herbariums and prints  but he still retained his most
precious books  many of which were of the greatest rarity  among others 
Les Quadrins Historiques de la Bible  edition of 1560  La Concordance
des Bibles  by Pierre de Besse  Les Marguerites de la Marguerite  of
Jean de La Haye  with a dedication to the Queen of Navarre  the book de
la Charge et Dignite de l Ambassadeur  by the Sieur de Villiers
Hotman  a Florilegium Rabbinicum of 1644  a Tibullus of 1567  with this
magnificent inscription  Venetiis  in aedibus Manutianis  and lastly  a
Diogenes Laertius  printed at Lyons in 1644  which contained the famous
variant of the manuscript 411  thirteenth century  of the Vatican  and
those of the two manuscripts of Venice  393 and 394  consulted with
such fruitful results by Henri Estienne  and all the passages in Doric
dialect which are only found in the celebrated manuscript of the twelfth
century belonging to the Naples Library  M  Mabeuf never had any fire
in his chamber  and went to bed at sundown  in order not to consume
any candles  It seemed as though he had no longer any neighbors  people
avoided him when he went out  he perceived the fact  The wretchedness of
a child interests a mother  the wretchedness of a young man interests a
young girl  the wretchedness of an old man interests no one  It is  of
all distresses  the coldest  Still  Father Mabeuf had not entirely lost
his childlike serenity  His eyes acquired some vivacity when they rested
on his books  and he smiled when he gazed at the Diogenes Laertius 
which was a unique copy  His bookcase with glass doors was the
only piece of furniture which he had kept beyond what was strictly
indispensable 

One day  Mother Plutarque said to him   

 I have no money to buy any dinner  

What she called dinner was a loaf of bread and four or five potatoes 

 On credit   suggested M  Mabeuf 

 You know well that people refuse me  

M  Mabeuf opened his bookcase  took a long look at all his books  one
after another  as a father obliged to decimate his children would gaze
upon them before making a choice  then seized one hastily  put it
in under his arm and went out  He returned two hours later  without
anything under his arm  laid thirty sous on the table  and said   

 You will get something for dinner  

From that moment forth  Mother Plutarque saw a sombre veil  which was
never more lifted  descend over the old man s candid face 

On the following day  on the day after  and on the day after that  it
had to be done again 

M  Mabeuf went out with a book and returned with a coin  As the
second hand dealers perceived that he was forced to sell  they purchased
of him for twenty sous that for which he had paid twenty francs 
sometimes at those very shops  Volume by volume  the whole library
went the same road  He said at times   But I am eighty   as though he
cherished some secret hope that he should arrive at the end of his days
before reaching the end of his books  His melancholy increased  Once 
however  he had a pleasure  He had gone out with a Robert Estienne 
which he had sold for thirty five sous under the Quai Malaquais  and he
returned with an Aldus which he had bought for forty sous in the Rue des
Gres    I owe five sous   he said  beaming on Mother Plutarque  That day
he had no dinner 

He belonged to the Horticultural Society  His destitution became known
there  The president of the society came to see him  promised to
speak to the Minister of Agriculture and Commerce about him  and did
so    Why  what   exclaimed the Minister   I should think so  An old
savant  a botanist  an inoffensive man  Something must be done for him  
On the following day  M  Mabeuf received an invitation to dine with the
Minister  Trembling with joy  he showed the letter to Mother Plutarque 
 We are saved   said he  On the day appointed  he went to the Minister s
house  He perceived that his ragged cravat  his long  square coat  and
his waxed shoes astonished the ushers  No one spoke to him  not even the
Minister  About ten o clock in the evening  while he was still waiting
for a word  he heard the Minister s wife  a beautiful woman in a
low necked gown whom he had not ventured to approach  inquire   Who is
that old gentleman   He returned home on foot at midnight  in a driving
rain storm  He had sold an Elzevir to pay for a carriage in which to go
thither 

He had acquired the habit of reading a few pages in his Diogenes
Laertius every night  before he went to bed  He knew enough Greek to
enjoy the peculiarities of the text which he owned  He had now no other
enjoyment  Several weeks passed  All at once  Mother Plutarque fell ill 
There is one thing sadder than having no money with which to buy bread
at the baker s and that is having no money to purchase drugs at the
apothecary s  One evening  the doctor had ordered a very expensive
potion  And the malady was growing worse  a nurse was required  M 
Mabeuf opened his bookcase  there was nothing there  The last volume had
taken its departure  All that was left to him was Diogenes Laertius 
He put this unique copy under his arm  and went out  It was the 4th of
June  1832  he went to the Porte Saint Jacques  to Royal s successor 
and returned with one hundred francs  He laid the pile of five franc
pieces on the old serving woman s nightstand  and returned to his
chamber without saying a word 

On the following morning  at dawn  he seated himself on the overturned
post in his garden  and he could be seen over the top of the hedge 
sitting the whole morning motionless  with drooping head  his eyes
vaguely fixed on the withered flower beds  It rained at intervals  the
old man did not seem to perceive the fact 

In the afternoon  extraordinary noises broke out in Paris  They
resembled shots and the clamors of a multitude 

Father Mabeuf raised his head  He saw a gardener passing  and
inquired   

 What is it  

The gardener  spade on back  replied in the most unconcerned tone   

 It is the riots  

 What riots  

 Yes  they are fighting  

 Why are they fighting  

 Ah  good Heavens   ejaculated the gardener 

 In what direction   went on M  Mabeuf 

 In the neighborhood of the Arsenal  

Father Mabeuf went to his room  took his hat  mechanically sought for a
book to place under his arm  found none  said   Ah  truly   and went off
with a bewildered air 




BOOK TENTH   THE 5TH OF JUNE  1832




CHAPTER I  THE SURFACE OF THE QUESTION

Of what is revolt composed  Of nothing and of everything  Of an
electricity disengaged  little by little  of a flame suddenly darting
forth  of a wandering force  of a passing breath  This breath encounters
heads which speak  brains which dream  souls which suffer  passions
which burn  wretchedness which howls  and bears them away 

Whither 

At random  Athwart the state  the laws  athwart prosperity and the
insolence of others 

Irritated convictions  embittered enthusiasms  agitated indignations 
instincts of war which have been repressed  youthful courage which has
been exalted  generous blindness  curiosity  the taste for change 
the thirst for the unexpected  the sentiment which causes one to
take pleasure in reading the posters for the new play  and love 
the prompter s whistle  at the theatre  the vague hatreds  rancors 
disappointments  every vanity which thinks that destiny has bankrupted
it  discomfort  empty dreams  ambitious that are hedged about  whoever
hopes for a downfall  some outcome  in short  at the very bottom  the
rabble  that mud which catches fire   such are the elements of revolt 
That which is grandest and that which is basest  the beings who prowl
outside of all bounds  awaiting an occasion  bohemians  vagrants 
vagabonds of the cross roads  those who sleep at night in a desert of
houses with no other roof than the cold clouds of heaven  those who 
each day  demand their bread from chance and not from toil  the unknown
of poverty and nothingness  the bare armed  the bare footed  belong to
revolt  Whoever cherishes in his soul a secret revolt against any deed
whatever on the part of the state  of life or of fate  is ripe for riot 
and  as soon as it makes its appearance  he begins to quiver  and to
feel himself borne away with the whirlwind 

Revolt is a sort of waterspout in the social atmosphere which forms
suddenly in certain conditions of temperature  and which  as it eddies
about  mounts  descends  thunders  tears  razes  crushes  demolishes 
uproots  bearing with it great natures and small  the strong man and the
feeble mind  the tree trunk and the stalk of straw  Woe to him whom it
bears away as well as to him whom it strikes  It breaks the one against
the other 

It communicates to those whom it seizes an indescribable and
extraordinary power  It fills the first comer with the force of events 
it converts everything into projectiles  It makes a cannon ball of a
rough stone  and a general of a porter 

If we are to believe certain oracles of crafty political views  a little
revolt is desirable from the point of view of power  System  revolt
strengthens those governments which it does not overthrow  It puts
the army to the test  it consecrates the bourgeoisie  it draws out
the muscles of the police  it demonstrates the force of the social
framework  It is an exercise in gymnastics  it is almost hygiene  Power
is in better health after a revolt  as a man is after a good rubbing
down 

Revolt  thirty years ago  was regarded from still other points of view 

There is for everything a theory  which proclaims itself  good sense  
Philintus against Alcestis  mediation offered between the false and the
true  explanation  admonition  rather haughty extenuation which  because
it is mingled with blame and excuse  thinks itself wisdom  and is often
only pedantry  A whole political school called  the golden mean  has
been the outcome of this  As between cold water and hot water  it is
the lukewarm water party  This school with its false depth  all on the
surface  which dissects effects without going back to first causes 
chides from its height of a demi science  the agitation of the public
square 

If we listen to this school   The riots which complicated the affair
of 1830 deprived that great event of a portion of its purity  The
Revolution of July had been a fine popular gale  abruptly followed
by blue sky  They made the cloudy sky reappear  They caused that
revolution  at first so remarkable for its unanimity  to degenerate into
a quarrel  In the Revolution of July  as in all progress accomplished by
fits and starts  there had been secret fractures  these riots rendered
them perceptible  It might have been said   Ah  this is broken   After
the Revolution of July  one was sensible only of deliverance  after the
riots  one was conscious of a catastrophe 

 All revolt closes the shops  depresses the funds  throws the Exchange
into consternation  suspends commerce  clogs business  precipitates
failures  no more money  private fortunes rendered uneasy  public credit
shaken  industry disconcerted  capital withdrawing  work at a discount 
fear everywhere  counter shocks in every town  Hence gulfs  It has been
calculated that the first day of a riot costs France twenty millions 
the second day forty  the third sixty  a three days  uprising costs
one hundred and twenty millions  that is to say  if only the financial
result be taken into consideration  it is equivalent to a disaster  a
shipwreck or a lost battle  which should annihilate a fleet of sixty
ships of the line 

 No doubt  historically  uprisings have their beauty  the war of the
pavements is no less grandiose  and no less pathetic  than the war of
thickets  in the one there is the soul of forests  in the other the
heart of cities  the one has Jean Chouan  the other has a Jeanne 
Revolts have illuminated with a red glare all the most original points
of the Parisian character  generosity  devotion  stormy gayety  students
proving that bravery forms part of intelligence  the National Guard
invincible  bivouacs of shopkeepers  fortresses of street urchins 
contempt of death on the part of passers by  Schools and legions clashed
together  After all  between the combatants  there was only a difference
of age  the race is the same  it is the same stoical men who died at the
age of twenty for their ideas  at forty for their families  The
army  always a sad thing in civil wars  opposed prudence to audacity 
Uprisings  while proving popular intrepidity  also educated the courage
of the bourgeois 

 This is well  But is all this worth the bloodshed  And to the bloodshed
add the future darkness  progress compromised  uneasiness among the
best men  honest liberals in despair  foreign absolutism happy in these
wounds dealt to revolution by its own hand  the vanquished of 1830
triumphing and saying   We told you so   Add Paris enlarged  possibly 
but France most assuredly diminished  Add  for all must needs be told 
the massacres which have too often dishonored the victory of order grown
ferocious over liberty gone mad  To sum up all  uprisings have been
disastrous  

Thus speaks that approximation to wisdom with which the bourgeoisie 
that approximation to the people  so willingly contents itself 

For our parts  we reject this word uprisings as too large  and
consequently as too convenient  We make a distinction between one
popular movement and another popular movement  We do not inquire whether
an uprising costs as much as a battle  Why a battle  in the first place 
Here the question of war comes up  Is war less of a scourge than an
uprising is of a calamity  And then  are all uprisings calamities  And
what if the revolt of July did cost a hundred and twenty millions  The
establishment of Philip V  in Spain cost France two milliards  Even at
the same price  we should prefer the 14th of July  However  we reject
these figures  which appear to be reasons and which are only words  An
uprising being given  we examine it by itself  In all that is said by
the doctrinarian objection above presented  there is no question of
anything but effect  we seek the cause 

We will be explicit 




CHAPTER II  THE ROOT OF THE MATTER

There is such a thing as an uprising  and there is such a thing as
insurrection  these are two separate phases of wrath  one is in the
wrong  the other is in the right  In democratic states  the only ones
which are founded on justice  it sometimes happens that the fraction
usurps  then the whole rises and the necessary claim of its rights may
proceed as far as resort to arms  In all questions which result from
collective sovereignty  the war of the whole against the fraction is
insurrection  the attack of the fraction against the whole is revolt 
according as the Tuileries contain a king or the Convention  they
are justly or unjustly attacked  The same cannon  pointed against the
populace  is wrong on the 10th of August  and right on the 14th of
Vendemiaire  Alike in appearance  fundamentally different in reality 
the Swiss defend the false  Bonaparte defends the true  That which
universal suffrage has effected in its liberty and in its sovereignty
cannot be undone by the street  It is the same in things pertaining
purely to civilization  the instinct of the masses  clear sighted
to day  may be troubled to morrow  The same fury legitimate when
directed against Terray and absurd when directed against Turgot  The
destruction of machines  the pillage of warehouses  the breaking of
rails  the demolition of docks  the false routes of multitudes  the
refusal by the people of justice to progress  Ramus assassinated by
students  Rousseau driven out of Switzerland and stoned   that is
revolt  Israel against Moses  Athens against Phocian  Rome against
Cicero   that is an uprising  Paris against the Bastille   that is
insurrection  The soldiers against Alexander  the sailors against
Christopher Columbus   this is the same revolt  impious revolt 
why  Because Alexander is doing for Asia with the sword that which
Christopher Columbus is doing for America with the compass  Alexander
like Columbus  is finding a world  These gifts of a world to
civilization are such augmentations of light  that all resistance in
that case is culpable  Sometimes the populace counterfeits fidelity to
itself  The masses are traitors to the people  Is there  for example 
anything stranger than that long and bloody protest of dealers in
contraband salt  a legitimate chronic revolt  which  at the decisive
moment  on the day of salvation  at the very hour of popular victory 
espouses the throne  turns into chouannerie  and  from having been an
insurrection against  becomes an uprising for  sombre masterpieces of
ignorance  The contraband salt dealer escapes the royal gibbets  and
with a rope s end round his neck  mounts the white cockade   Death to
the salt duties   brings forth   Long live the King   The assassins of
Saint Barthelemy  the cut throats of September  the manslaughterers of
Avignon  the assassins of Coligny  the assassins of Madam Lamballe  the
assassins of Brune  Miquelets  Verdets  Cadenettes  the companions of
Jehu  the chevaliers of Brassard   behold an uprising  La Vendee is
a grand  catholic uprising  The sound of right in movement is
recognizable  it does not always proceed from the trembling of excited
masses  there are mad rages  there are cracked bells  all tocsins do not
give out the sound of bronze  The brawl of passions and ignorances
is quite another thing from the shock of progress  Show me in what
direction you are going  Rise  if you will  but let it be that you may
grow great  There is no insurrection except in a forward direction  Any
other sort of rising is bad  every violent step towards the rear is a
revolt  to retreat is to commit a deed of violence against the human
race  Insurrection is a fit of rage on the part of truth  the pavements
which the uprising disturbs give forth the spark of right  These
pavements bequeath to the uprising only their mud  Danton against Louis
XIV  is insurrection  Hebert against Danton is revolt 

Hence it results that if insurrection in given cases may be  as
Lafayette says  the most holy of duties  an uprising may be the most
fatal of crimes 

There is also a difference in the intensity of heat  insurrection is
often a volcano  revolt is often only a fire of straw 

Revolt  as we have said  is sometimes found among those in power 
Polignac is a rioter  Camille Desmoulins is one of the governing powers 

Insurrection is sometimes resurrection 

The solution of everything by universal suffrage being an absolutely
modern fact  and all history anterior to this fact being  for the space
of four thousand years  filled with violated right  and the suffering of
peoples  each epoch of history brings with it that protest of which it
is capable  Under the Caesars  there was no insurrection  but there was
Juvenal 

The facit indignatio replaces the Gracchi 

Under the Caesars  there is the exile to Syene  there is also the man of
the Annales  We do not speak of the immense exile of Patmos who  on his
part also  overwhelms the real world with a protest in the name of the
ideal world  who makes of his vision an enormous satire and casts on
Rome Nineveh  on Rome Babylon  on Rome Sodom  the flaming reflection of
the Apocalypse  John on his rock is the sphinx on its pedestal  we may
understand him  he is a Jew  and it is Hebrew  but the man who writes
the Annales is of the Latin race  let us rather say he is a Roman 

As the Neros reign in a black way  they should be painted to match  The
work of the graving tool alone would be too pale  there must be poured
into the channel a concentrated prose which bites 

Despots count for something in the question of philosophers  A word that
is chained is a terrible word  The writer doubles and trebles his style
when silence is imposed on a nation by its master  From this silence
there arises a certain mysterious plenitude which filters into thought
and there congeals into bronze  The compression of history produces
conciseness in the historian  The granite solidity of such and such a
celebrated prose is nothing but the accumulation effected by the tyrant 

Tyranny constrains the writer to conditions of diameter which are
augmentations of force  The Ciceronian period  which hardly sufficed
for Verres  would be blunted on Caligula  The less spread of sail in
the phrase  the more intensity in the blow  Tacitus thinks with all his
might 

The honesty of a great heart  condensed in justice and truth  overwhelms
as with lightning 

Be it remarked  in passing  that Tacitus is not historically superposed
upon Caesar  The Tiberii were reserved for him  Caesar and Tacitus
are two successive phenomena  a meeting between whom seems to be
mysteriously avoided  by the One who  when He sets the centuries on the
stage  regulates the entrances and the exits  Caesar is great  Tacitus
is great  God spares these two greatnesses by not allowing them to clash
with one another  The guardian of justice  in striking Caesar  might
strike too hard and be unjust  God does not will it  The great wars
of Africa and Spain  the pirates of Sicily destroyed  civilization
introduced into Gaul  into Britanny  into Germany   all this glory
covers the Rubicon  There is here a sort of delicacy of the divine
justice  hesitating to let loose upon the illustrious usurper the
formidable historian  sparing Caesar Tacitus  and according extenuating
circumstances to genius 

Certainly  despotism remains despotism  even under the despot of genius 
There is corruption under all illustrious tyrants  but the moral pest is
still more hideous under infamous tyrants  In such reigns  nothing veils
the shame  and those who make examples  Tacitus as well as Juvenal 
slap this ignominy which cannot reply  in the face  more usefully in the
presence of all humanity 

Rome smells worse under Vitellius than under Sylla  Under Claudius and
under Domitian  there is a deformity of baseness corresponding to the
repulsiveness of the tyrant  The villainy of slaves is a direct product
of the despot  a miasma exhales from these cowering consciences wherein
the master is reflected  public powers are unclean  hearts are small 
consciences are dull  souls are like vermin  thus it is under Caracalla 
thus it is under Commodus  thus it is under Heliogabalus  while  from
the Roman Senate  under Caesar  there comes nothing but the odor of the
dung which is peculiar to the eyries of the eagles 

Hence the advent  apparently tardy  of the Tacituses and the Juvenals 
it is in the hour for evidence  that the demonstrator makes his
appearance 

But Juvenal and Tacitus  like Isaiah in Biblical times  like Dante in
the Middle Ages  is man  riot and insurrection are the multitude  which
is sometimes right and sometimes wrong 

In the majority of cases  riot proceeds from a material fact 
insurrection is always a moral phenomenon  Riot is Masaniello 
insurrection  Spartacus  Insurrection borders on mind  riot on the
stomach  Gaster grows irritated  but Gaster  assuredly  is not always in
the wrong  In questions of famine  riot  Buzancais  for example  holds a
true  pathetic  and just point of departure  Nevertheless  it remains
a riot  Why  It is because  right at bottom  it was wrong in form  Shy
although in the right  violent although strong  it struck at random  it
walked like a blind elephant  it left behind it the corpses of old
men  of women  and of children  it wished the blood of inoffensive and
innocent persons without knowing why  The nourishment of the people is a
good object  to massacre them is a bad means 

All armed protests  even the most legitimate  even that of the 10th of
August  even that of July 14th  begin with the same troubles  Before
the right gets set free  there is foam and tumult  In the beginning  the
insurrection is a riot  just as a river is a torrent  Ordinarily it ends
in that ocean  revolution  Sometimes  however  coming from those lofty
mountains which dominate the moral horizon  justice  wisdom  reason 
right  formed of the pure snow of the ideal  after a long fall from
rock to rock  after having reflected the sky in its transparency and
increased by a hundred affluents in the majestic mien of triumph 
insurrection is suddenly lost in some quagmire  as the Rhine is in a
swamp 

All this is of the past  the future is another thing  Universal suffrage
has this admirable property  that it dissolves riot in its inception 
and  by giving the vote to insurrection  it deprives it of its arms 
The disappearance of wars  of street wars as well as of wars on the
frontiers  such is the inevitable progression  Whatever To day may be 
To morrow will be peace 

However  insurrection  riot  and points of difference between the former
and the latter   the bourgeois  properly speaking  knows nothing of such
shades  In his mind  all is sedition  rebellion pure and simple  the
revolt of the dog against his master  an attempt to bite whom must be
punished by the chain and the kennel  barking  snapping  until such day
as the head of the dog  suddenly enlarged  is outlined vaguely in the
gloom face to face with the lion 

Then the bourgeois shouts   Long live the people  

This explanation given  what does the movement of June  1832  signify 
so far as history is concerned  Is it a revolt  Is it an insurrection 

It may happen to us  in placing this formidable event on the stage  to
say revolt now and then  but merely to distinguish superficial facts 
and always preserving the distinction between revolt  the form  and
insurrection  the foundation 

This movement of 1832 had  in its rapid outbreak and in its melancholy
extinction  so much grandeur  that even those who see in it only an
uprising  never refer to it otherwise than with respect  For them  it
is like a relic of 1830  Excited imaginations  say they  are not to be
calmed in a day  A revolution cannot be cut off short  It must needs
undergo some undulations before it returns to a state of rest  like a
mountain sinking into the plain  There are no Alps without their Jura 
nor Pyrenees without the Asturias 

This pathetic crisis of contemporary history which the memory of
Parisians calls  the epoch of the riots   is certainly a characteristic
hour amid the stormy hours of this century  A last word  before we enter
on the recital 

The facts which we are about to relate belong to that dramatic and
living reality  which the historian sometimes neglects for lack of time
and space  There  nevertheless  we insist upon it  is life  palpitation 
human tremor  Petty details  as we think we have already said  are  so
to speak  the foliage of great events  and are lost in the distance of
history  The epoch  surnamed  of the riots   abounds in details of
this nature  Judicial inquiries have not revealed  and perhaps have not
sounded the depths  for another reason than history  We shall therefore
bring to light  among the known and published peculiarities  things
which have not heretofore been known  about facts over which have passed
the forgetfulness of some  and the death of others  The majority of the
actors in these gigantic scenes have disappeared  beginning with the
very next day they held their peace  but of what we shall relate  we
shall be able to say   We have seen this   We alter a few names  for
history relates and does not inform against  but the deed which we shall
paint will be genuine  In accordance with the conditions of the book
which we are now writing  we shall show only one side and one episode 
and certainly  the least known at that  of the two days  the 5th and the
6th of June  1832  but we shall do it in such wise that the reader may
catch a glimpse  beneath the gloomy veil which we are about to lift  of
the real form of this frightful public adventure 




CHAPTER III  A BURIAL  AN OCCASION TO BE BORN AGAIN

In the spring of 1832  although the cholera had been chilling all
minds for the last three months and had cast over their agitation an
indescribable and gloomy pacification  Paris had already long been ripe
for commotion  As we have said  the great city resembles a piece of
artillery  when it is loaded  it suffices for a spark to fall  and the
shot is discharged  In June  1832  the spark was the death of General
Lamarque 

Lamarque was a man of renown and of action  He had had in succession 
under the Empire and under the Restoration  the sorts of bravery
requisite for the two epochs  the bravery of the battle field and the
bravery of the tribune  He was as eloquent as he had been valiant  a
sword was discernible in his speech  Like Foy  his predecessor  after
upholding the command  he upheld liberty  he sat between the left and
the extreme left  beloved of the people because he accepted the chances
of the future  beloved of the populace because he had served the
Emperor well  he was  in company with Comtes Gerard and Drouet  one
of Napoleon s marshals in petto  The treaties of 1815 removed him as
a personal offence  He hated Wellington with a downright hatred which
pleased the multitude  and  for seventeen years  he majestically
preserved the sadness of Waterloo  paying hardly any attention to
intervening events  In his death agony  at his last hour  he clasped to
his breast a sword which had been presented to him by the officers of
the Hundred Days  Napoleon had died uttering the word army  Lamarque
uttering the word country 

His death  which was expected  was dreaded by the people as a loss  and
by the government as an occasion  This death was an affliction  Like
everything that is bitter  affliction may turn to revolt  This is what
took place 

On the preceding evening  and on the morning of the 5th of June  the day
appointed for Lamarque s burial  the Faubourg Saint Antoine  which the
procession was to touch at  assumed a formidable aspect  This tumultuous
network of streets was filled with rumors  They armed themselves as best
they might  Joiners carried off door weights of their establishment
 to break down doors   One of them had made himself a dagger of a
stocking weaver s hook by breaking off the hook and sharpening the
stump  Another  who was in a fever  to attack   slept wholly dressed
for three days  A carpenter named Lombier met a comrade  who asked him 
 Whither are you going    Eh  well  I have no weapons    What then  
 I m going to my timber yard to get my compasses    What for    I don t
know   said Lombier  A certain Jacqueline  an expeditious man  accosted
some passing artisans   Come here  you   He treated them to ten sous 
worth of wine and said   Have you work    No    Go to Filspierre 
between the Barriere Charonne and the Barriere Montreuil  and you will
find work   At Filspierre s they found cartridges and arms  Certain
well known leaders were going the rounds  that is to say  running from
one house to another  to collect their men  At Barthelemy s  near the
Barriere du Trone  at Capel s  near the Petit Chapeau  the drinkers
accosted each other with a grave air  They were heard to say   Have you
your pistol    Under my blouse    And you    Under my shirt   In the
Rue Traversiere  in front of the Bland workshop  and in the yard of
the Maison Brulee  in front of tool maker Bernier s  groups whispered
together  Among them was observed a certain Mavot  who never remained
more than a week in one shop  as the masters always discharged him
 because they were obliged to dispute with him every day   Mavot was
killed on the following day at the barricade of the Rue Menilmontant 
Pretot  who was destined to perish also in the struggle  seconded Mavot 
and to the question   What is your object   he replied   Insurrection  
Workmen assembled at the corner of the Rue de Bercy  waited for a
certain Lemarin  the revolutionary agent for the Faubourg Saint Marceau 
Watchwords were exchanged almost publicly 

On the 5th of June  accordingly  a day of mingled rain and sun  General
Lamarque s funeral procession traversed Paris with official military
pomp  somewhat augmented through precaution  Two battalions  with draped
drums and reversed arms  ten thousand National Guards  with their swords
at their sides  escorted the coffin  The hearse was drawn by young men 
The officers of the Invalides came immediately behind it  bearing laurel
branches  Then came an innumerable  strange  agitated multitude  the
sectionaries of the Friends of the People  the Law School  the Medical
School  refugees of all nationalities  and Spanish  Italian  German 
and Polish flags  tricolored horizontal banners  every possible sort of
banner  children waving green boughs  stone cutters and carpenters who
were on strike at the moment  printers who were recognizable by their
paper caps  marching two by two  three by three  uttering cries  nearly
all of them brandishing sticks  some brandishing sabres  without order
and yet with a single soul  now a tumultuous rout  again a column 
Squads chose themselves leaders  a man armed with a pair of pistols in
full view  seemed to pass the host in review  and the files separated
before him  On the side alleys of the boulevards  in the branches of the
trees  on balconies  in windows  on the roofs  swarmed the heads of men 
women  and children  all eyes were filled with anxiety  An armed throng
was passing  and a terrified throng looked on 

The Government  on its side  was taking observations  It observed with
its hand on its sword  Four squadrons of carabineers could be seen in
the Place Louis XV  in their saddles  with their trumpets at their head 
cartridge boxes filled and muskets loaded  all in readiness to march 
in the Latin country and at the Jardin des Plantes  the Municipal Guard
echelonned from street to street  at the Halle aux Vins  a squadron of
dragoons  at the Greve half of the 12th Light Infantry  the other
half being at the Bastille  the 6th Dragoons at the Celestins  and the
courtyard of the Louvre full of artillery  The remainder of the troops
were confined to their barracks  without reckoning the regiments of the
environs of Paris  Power being uneasy  held suspended over the menacing
multitude twenty four thousand soldiers in the city and thirty thousand
in the banlieue 

Divers reports were in circulation in the cortege  Legitimist tricks
were hinted at  they spoke of the Duc de Reichstadt  whom God had marked
out for death at that very moment when the populace were designating
him for the Empire  One personage  whose name has remained unknown 
announced that at a given hour two overseers who had been won over 
would throw open the doors of a factory of arms to the people  That
which predominated on the uncovered brows of the majority of those
present was enthusiasm mingled with dejection  Here and there  also  in
that multitude given over to such violent but noble emotions  there were
visible genuine visages of criminals and ignoble mouths which said   Let
us plunder   There are certain agitations which stir up the bottoms of
marshes and make clouds of mud rise through the water  A phenomenon to
which  well drilled  policemen are no strangers 

The procession proceeded  with feverish slowness  from the house of the
deceased  by way of the boulevards as far as the Bastille  It rained
from time to time  the rain mattered nothing to that throng  Many
incidents  the coffin borne round the Vendome column  stones thrown at
the Duc de Fitz James  who was seen on a balcony with his hat on his
head  the Gallic cock torn from a popular flag and dragged in the mire 
a policeman wounded with a blow from a sword at the Porte Saint Martin 
an officer of the 12th Light Infantry saying aloud   I am a Republican  
the Polytechnic School coming up unexpectedly against orders to remain
at home  the shouts of   Long live the Polytechnique  Long live the
Republic   marked the passage of the funeral train  At the Bastille 
long files of curious and formidable people who descended from the
Faubourg Saint Antoine  effected a junction with the procession  and a
certain terrible seething began to agitate the throng 

One man was heard to say to another   Do you see that fellow with a
red beard  he s the one who will give the word when we are to fire   It
appears that this red beard was present  at another riot  the Quenisset
affair  entrusted with this same function 

The hearse passed the Bastille  traversed the small bridge  and reached
the esplanade of the bridge of Austerlitz  There it halted  The crowd 
surveyed at that moment with a bird seye view  would have presented the
aspect of a comet whose head was on the esplanade and whose tail spread
out over the Quai Bourdon  covered the Bastille  and was prolonged on
the boulevard as far as the Porte Saint Martin  A circle was traced
around the hearse  The vast rout held their peace  Lafayette spoke and
bade Lamarque farewell  This was a touching and august instant  all
heads uncovered  all hearts beat high 

All at once  a man on horseback  clad in black  made his appearance
in the middle of the group with a red flag  others say  with a pike
surmounted with a red liberty cap  Lafayette turned aside his head 
Exelmans quitted the procession 

This red flag raised a storm  and disappeared in the midst of it  From
the Boulevard Bourdon to the bridge of Austerlitz one of those clamors
which resemble billows stirred the multitude  Two prodigious shouts went
up   Lamarque to the Pantheon   Lafayette to the Town hall   Some young
men  amid the declamations of the throng  harnessed themselves and
began to drag Lamarque in the hearse across the bridge of Austerlitz and
Lafayette in a hackney coach along the Quai Morland 

In the crowd which surrounded and cheered Lafayette  it was noticed
that a German showed himself named Ludwig Snyder  who died a centenarian
afterwards  who had also been in the war of 1776  and who had fought at
Trenton under Washington  and at Brandywine under Lafayette 

In the meantime  the municipal cavalry on the left bank had been set
in motion  and came to bar the bridge  on the right bank the dragoons
emerged from the Celestins and deployed along the Quai Morland  The men
who were dragging Lafayette suddenly caught sight of them at the corner
of the quay and shouted   The dragoons   The dragoons advanced at a
walk  in silence  with their pistols in their holsters  their swords in
their scabbards  their guns slung in their leather sockets  with an air
of gloomy expectation 

They halted two hundred paces from the little bridge  The carriage in
which sat Lafayette advanced to them  their ranks opened and allowed it
to pass  and then closed behind it  At that moment the dragoons and the
crowd touched  The women fled in terror  What took place during that
fatal minute  No one can say  It is the dark moment when two clouds come
together  Some declare that a blast of trumpets sounding the charge was
heard in the direction of the Arsenal others that a blow from a dagger
was given by a child to a dragoon  The fact is  that three shots were
suddenly discharged  the first killed Cholet  chief of the squadron 
the second killed an old deaf woman who was in the act of closing her
window  the third singed the shoulder of an officer  a woman screamed 
 They are beginning too soon   and all at once  a squadron of dragoons
which had remained in the barracks up to this time  was seen to debouch
at a gallop with bared swords  through the Rue Bassompierre and the
Boulevard Bourdon  sweeping all before them 

Then all is said  the tempest is loosed  stones rain down  a fusillade
breaks forth  many precipitate themselves to the bottom of the bank  and
pass the small arm of the Seine  now filled in  the timber yards of the
Isle Louviers  that vast citadel ready to hand  bristle with combatants 
stakes are torn up  pistol shots fired  a barricade begun  the young men
who are thrust back pass the Austerlitz bridge with the hearse at a run 
and the municipal guard  the carabineers rush up  the dragoons ply their
swords  the crowd disperses in all directions  a rumor of war flies to
all four quarters of Paris  men shout   To arms   they run  tumble down 
flee  resist  Wrath spreads abroad the riot as wind spreads a fire 




CHAPTER IV  THE EBULLITIONS OF FORMER DAYS

Nothing is more extraordinary than the first breaking out of a riot 
Everything bursts forth everywhere at once  Was it foreseen  Yes  Was it
prepared  No  Whence comes it  From the pavements  Whence falls it  From
the clouds  Here insurrection assumes the character of a plot  there
of an improvisation  The first comer seizes a current of the throng
and leads it whither he wills  A beginning full of terror  in which is
mingled a sort of formidable gayety  First come clamors  the shops are
closed  the displays of the merchants disappear  then come isolated
shots  people flee  blows from gun stocks beat against portes cocheres 
servants can be heard laughing in the courtyards of houses and saying 
 There s going to be a row  

A quarter of an hour had not elapsed when this is what was taking place
at twenty different spots in Paris at once 

In the Rue Sainte Croix de la Bretonnerie  twenty young men  bearded and
with long hair  entered a dram shop and emerged a moment later  carrying
a horizontal tricolored flag covered with crape  and having at their
head three men armed  one with a sword  one with a gun  and the third
with a pike 

In the Rue des Nonaindieres  a very well dressed bourgeois  who had a
prominent belly  a sonorous voice  a bald head  a lofty brow  a black
beard  and one of these stiff mustaches which will not lie flat  offered
cartridges publicly to passers by 

In the Rue Saint Pierre Montmartre  men with bare arms carried about a
black flag  on which could be read in white letters this inscription 
 Republic or Death   In the Rue des Jeuneurs  Rue du Cadran  Rue
Montorgueil  Rue Mandar  groups appeared waving flags on which could be
distinguished in gold letters  the word section with a number  One of
these flags was red and blue with an almost imperceptible stripe of
white between 

They pillaged a factory of small arms on the Boulevard Saint Martin  and
three armorers  shops  the first in the Rue Beaubourg  the second in the
Rue Michel le Comte  the other in the Rue du Temple  In a few minutes 
the thousand hands of the crowd had seized and carried off two hundred
and thirty guns  nearly all double barrelled  sixty four swords  and
eighty three pistols  In order to provide more arms  one man took the
gun  the other the bayonet 

Opposite the Quai de la Greve  young men armed with muskets installed
themselves in the houses of some women for the purpose of firing  One
of them had a flint lock  They rang  entered  and set about making
cartridges  One of these women relates   I did not know what cartridges
were  it was my husband who told me  

One cluster broke into a curiosity shop in the Rue des Vielles
Haudriettes  and seized yataghans and Turkish arms 

The body of a mason who had been killed by a gun shot lay in the Rue de
la Perle 

And then on the right bank  the left bank  on the quays  on the
boulevards  in the Latin country  in the quarter of the Halles  panting
men  artisans  students  members of sections read proclamations and
shouted   To arms   broke street lanterns  unharnessed carriages 
unpaved the streets  broke in the doors of houses  uprooted trees 
rummaged cellars  rolled out hogsheads  heaped up paving stones  rough
slabs  furniture and planks  and made barricades 

They forced the bourgeois to assist them in this  They entered the
dwellings of women  they forced them to hand over the swords and guns
of their absent husbands  and they wrote on the door  with whiting   The
arms have been delivered   some signed  their names  to receipts for
the guns and swords and said   Send for them to morrow at the Mayor s
office   They disarmed isolated sentinels and National Guardsmen in
the streets on their way to the Townhall  They tore the epaulets from
officers  In the Rue du Cimitiere Saint Nicholas  an officer of the
National Guard  on being pursued by a crowd armed with clubs and foils 
took refuge with difficulty in a house  whence he was only able to
emerge at nightfall and in disguise 

In the Quartier Saint Jacques  the students swarmed out of their
hotels and ascended the Rue Saint Hyacinthe to the Cafe du Progress 
or descended to the Cafe des Sept Billards  in the Rue des Mathurins 
There  in front of the door  young men mounted on the stone
corner posts  distributed arms  They plundered the timber yard in the
Rue Transnonain in order to obtain material for barricades  On a single
point the inhabitants resisted  at the corner of the Rue Sainte Avoye
and the Rue Simon Le Franc  where they destroyed the barricade with
their own hands  At a single point the insurgents yielded  they
abandoned a barricade begun in the Rue de Temple after having fired on
a detachment of the National Guard  and fled through the Rue de la
Corderie  The detachment picked up in the barricade a red flag  a
package of cartridges  and three hundred pistol balls  The National
Guardsmen tore up the flag  and carried off its tattered remains on the
points of their bayonets 

All that we are here relating slowly and successively took place
simultaneously at all points of the city in the midst of a vast tumult 
like a mass of tongues of lightning in one clap of thunder  In less than
an hour  twenty seven barricades sprang out of the earth in the quarter
of the Halles alone  In the centre was that famous house No  50  which
was the fortress of Jeanne and her six hundred companions  and which 
flanked on the one hand by a barricade at Saint Merry  and on the other
by a barricade of the Rue Maubuee  commanded three streets  the Rue
des Arcis  the Rue Saint Martin  and the Rue Aubry le Boucher  which
it faced  The barricades at right angles fell back  the one of the
Rue Montorgueil on the Grande Truanderie  the other of the Rue
Geoffroy Langevin on the Rue Sainte Avoye  Without reckoning innumerable
barricades in twenty other quarters of Paris  in the Marais  at
Mont Sainte Genevieve  one in the Rue Menilmontant  where was visible
a porte cochere torn from its hinges  another near the little bridge of
the Hotel Dieu made with an  ecossais   which had been unharnessed and
overthrown  three hundred paces from the Prefecture of Police 

At the barricade of the Rue des Menetriers  a well dressed man
distributed money to the workmen  At the barricade of the Rue Grenetat 
a horseman made his appearance and handed to the one who seemed to be
the commander of the barricade what had the appearance of a roll of
silver   Here   said he   this is to pay expenses  wine  et caetera  
A light haired young man  without a cravat  went from barricade to
barricade  carrying pass words  Another  with a naked sword  a blue
police cap on his head  placed sentinels  In the interior  beyond the
barricades  the wine shops and porters  lodges were converted into
guard houses  Otherwise the riot was conducted after the most scientific
military tactics  The narrow  uneven  sinuous streets  full of angles
and turns  were admirably chosen  the neighborhood of the Halles  in
particular  a network of streets more intricate than a forest  The
Society of the Friends of the People had  it was said  undertaken to
direct the insurrection in the Quartier Sainte Avoye  A man killed in
the Rue du Ponceau who was searched had on his person a plan of Paris 

That which had really undertaken the direction of the uprising was a
sort of strange impetuosity which was in the air  The insurrection
had abruptly built barricades with one hand  and with the other seized
nearly all the posts of the garrison  In less than three hours  like a
train of powder catching fire  the insurgents had invaded and occupied 
on the right bank  the Arsenal  the Mayoralty of the Place Royale  the
whole of the Marais  the Popincourt arms manufactory  la Galiote  the
Chateau d Eau  and all the streets near the Halles  on the left bank 
the barracks of the Veterans  Sainte Pelagie  the Place Maubert  the
powder magazine of the Deux Moulins  and all the barriers  At five
o clock in the evening  they were masters of the Bastille  of the
Lingerie  of the Blancs Manteaux  their scouts had reached the Place
des Victoires  and menaced the Bank  the Petits Peres barracks  and the
Post Office  A third of Paris was in the hands of the rioters 

The conflict had been begun on a gigantic scale at all points  and  as a
result of the disarming domiciliary visits  and armorers  shops hastily
invaded  was  that the combat which had begun with the throwing of
stones was continued with gun shots 

About six o clock in the evening  the Passage du Saumon became the field
of battle  The uprising was at one end  the troops were at the other 
They fired from one gate to the other  An observer  a dreamer  the
author of this book  who had gone to get a near view of this volcano 
found himself in the passage between the two fires  All that he had to
protect him from the bullets was the swell of the two half columns which
separate the shops  he remained in this delicate situation for nearly
half an hour 

Meanwhile the call to arms was beaten  the National Guard armed in
haste  the legions emerged from the Mayoralities  the regiments from
their barracks  Opposite the passage de l Ancre a drummer received a
blow from a dagger  Another  in the Rue du Cygne  was assailed by thirty
young men who broke his instrument  and took away his sword  Another was
killed in the Rue Grenier Saint Lazare  In the Rue Michelle Comte  three
officers fell dead one after the other  Many of the Municipal Guards  on
being wounded  in the Rue des Lombards  retreated 

In front of the Cour Batave  a detachment of National Guards found a red
flag bearing the following inscription  Republican revolution  No  127 
Was this a revolution  in fact 

The insurrection had made of the centre of Paris a sort of inextricable 
tortuous  colossal citadel 

There was the hearth  there  evidently  was the question  All the rest
was nothing but skirmishes  The proof that all would be decided there
lay in the fact that there was no fighting going on there as yet 

In some regiments  the soldiers were uncertain  which added to the
fearful uncertainty of the crisis  They recalled the popular ovation
which had greeted the neutrality of the 53d of the Line in July  1830 
Two intrepid men  tried in great wars  the Marshal Lobau and General
Bugeaud  were in command  Bugeaud under Lobau  Enormous patrols 
composed of battalions of the Line  enclosed in entire companies of the
National Guard  and preceded by a commissary of police wearing his scarf
of office  went to reconnoitre the streets in rebellion  The insurgents 
on their side  placed videttes at the corners of all open spaces  and
audaciously sent their patrols outside the barricades  Each side was
watching the other  The Government  with an army in its hand  hesitated 
the night was almost upon them  and the Saint Merry tocsin began to make
itself heard  The Minister of War at that time  Marshal Soult  who had
seen Austerlitz  regarded this with a gloomy air 

These old sailors  accustomed to correct manoeuvres and having as
resource and guide only tactics  that compass of battles  are utterly
disconcerted in the presence of that immense foam which is called public
wrath 

The National Guards of the suburbs rushed up in haste and disorder  A
battalion of the 12th Light came at a run from Saint Denis  the 14th of
the Line arrived from Courbevoie  the batteries of the Military School
had taken up their position on the Carrousel  cannons were descending
from Vincennes 

Solitude was formed around the Tuileries  Louis Philippe was perfectly
serene 




CHAPTER V  ORIGINALITY OF PARIS

During the last two years  as we have said  Paris had witnessed more
than one insurrection  Nothing is  generally  more singularly calm than
the physiognomy of Paris during an uprising beyond the bounds of
the rebellious quarters  Paris very speedily accustoms herself to
anything   it is only a riot   and Paris has so many affairs on hand 
that she does not put herself out for so small a matter  These colossal
cities alone can offer such spectacles  These immense enclosures alone
can contain at the same time civil war and an odd and indescribable
tranquillity  Ordinarily  when an insurrection commences  when the
shop keeper hears the drum  the call to arms  the general alarm  he
contents himself with the remark   

 There appears to be a squabble in the Rue Saint Martin  

Or   

 In the Faubourg Saint Antoine  

Often he adds carelessly   

 Or somewhere in that direction  

Later on  when the heart rending and mournful hubbub of musketry and
firing by platoons becomes audible  the shopkeeper says   

 It s getting hot  Hullo  it s getting hot  

A moment later  the riot approaches and gains in force  he shuts up his
shop precipitately  hastily dons his uniform  that is to say  he places
his merchandise in safety and risks his own person 

Men fire in a square  in a passage  in a blind alley  they take and
re take the barricade  blood flows  the grape shot riddles the fronts
of the houses  the balls kill people in their beds  corpses encumber the
streets  A few streets away  the shock of billiard balls can be heard in
the cafes 

The theatres open their doors and present vaudevilles  the curious laugh
and chat a couple of paces distant from these streets filled with
war  Hackney carriages go their way  passers by are going to a dinner
somewhere in town  Sometimes in the very quarter where the fighting is
going on 

In 1831  a fusillade was stopped to allow a wedding party to pass 

At the time of the insurrection of 1839  in the Rue Saint Martin a
little  infirm old man  pushing a hand cart surmounted by a tricolored
rag  in which he had carafes filled with some sort of liquid  went and
came from barricade to troops and from troops to the barricade  offering
his glasses of cocoa impartially   now to the Government  now to
anarchy 

Nothing can be stranger  and this is the peculiar character of uprisings
in Paris  which cannot be found in any other capital  To this end  two
things are requisite  the size of Paris and its gayety  The city of
Voltaire and Napoleon is necessary 

On this occasion  however  in the resort to arms of June 25th  1832  the
great city felt something which was  perhaps  stronger than itself  It
was afraid 

Closed doors  windows  and shutters were to be seen everywhere  in the
most distant and most  disinterested  quarters  The courageous took to
arms  the poltroons hid  The busy and heedless passer by disappeared 
Many streets were empty at four o clock in the morning 

Alarming details were hawked about  fatal news was disseminated   that
they were masters of the Bank   that there were six hundred of them
in the Cloister of Saint Merry alone  entrenched and embattled in the
church  that the line was not to be depended on  that Armand Carrel
had been to see Marshal Clausel and that the Marshal had said   Get a
regiment first   that Lafayette was ill  but that he had said to them 
nevertheless   I am with you  I will follow you wherever there is room
for a chair   that one must be on one s guard  that at night there would
be people pillaging isolated dwellings in the deserted corners of Paris
 there the imagination of the police  that Anne Radcliffe mixed up with
the Government was recognizable   that a battery had been established
in the Rue Aubry le Boucher  that Lobau and Bugeaud were putting their
heads together  and that  at midnight  or at daybreak at latest  four
columns would march simultaneously on the centre of the uprising  the
first coming from the Bastille  the second from the Porte Saint Martin 
the third from the Greve  the fourth from the Halles  that perhaps 
also  the troops would evacuate Paris and withdraw to the Champ de Mars 
that no one knew what would happen  but that this time  it certainly was
serious 

People busied themselves over Marshal Soult s hesitations  Why did not
he attack at once  It is certain that he was profoundly absorbed  The
old lion seemed to scent an unknown monster in that gloom 

Evening came  the theatres did not open  the patrols circulated with
an air of irritation  passers by were searched  suspicious persons were
arrested  By nine o clock  more than eight hundred persons had been
arrested  the Prefecture of Police was encumbered with them  so was the
Conciergerie  so was La Force 

At the Conciergerie in particular  the long vault which is called the
Rue de Paris was littered with trusses of straw upon which lay a heap
of prisoners  whom the man of Lyons  Lagrange  harangued valiantly 
All that straw rustled by all these men  produced the sound of a heavy
shower  Elsewhere prisoners slept in the open air in the meadows  piled
on top of each other 

Anxiety reigned everywhere  and a certain tremor which was not habitual
with Paris 

People barricaded themselves in their houses  wives and mothers were
uneasy  nothing was to be heard but this   Ah  my God  He has not come
home   There was hardly even the distant rumble of a vehicle to be
heard 

People listened on their thresholds  to the rumors  the shouts  the
tumult  the dull and indistinct sounds  to the things that were
said   It is cavalry   or   Those are the caissons galloping   to the
trumpets  the drums  the firing  and  above all  to that lamentable
alarm peal from Saint Merry 

They waited for the first cannon shot  Men sprang up at the corners of
the streets and disappeared  shouting   Go home   And people made haste
to bolt their doors  They said   How will all this end   From moment to
moment  in proportion as the darkness descended  Paris seemed to take on
a more mournful hue from the formidable flaming of the revolt 




BOOK ELEVENTH   THE ATOM FRATERNIZES WITH THE HURRICANE




CHAPTER I  SOME EXPLANATIONS WITH REGARD TO THE ORIGIN OF GAVROCHE S
POETRY  THE INFLUENCE OF AN ACADEMICIAN ON THIS POETRY

At the instant when the insurrection  arising from the shock of the
populace and the military in front of the Arsenal  started a movement
in advance and towards the rear in the multitude which was following the
hearse and which  through the whole length of the boulevards  weighed 
so to speak  on the head of the procession  there arose a frightful ebb 
The rout was shaken  their ranks were broken  all ran  fled  made their
escape  some with shouts of attack  others with the pallor of flight 
The great river which covered the boulevards divided in a twinkling 
overflowed to right and left  and spread in torrents over two hundred
streets at once with the roar of a sewer that has broken loose 

At that moment  a ragged child who was coming down through the Rue
Menilmontant  holding in his hand a branch of blossoming laburnum which
he had just plucked on the heights of Belleville  caught sight of an old
holster pistol in the show window of a bric a brac merchant s shop 

 Mother What s your name  I m going to borrow your machine  

And off he ran with the pistol 

Two minutes later  a flood of frightened bourgeois who were fleeing
through the Rue Amelot and the Rue Basse  encountered the lad
brandishing his pistol and singing   

               La nuit on ne voit rien 
               Le jour on voit tres bien 
               D un ecrit apocrypha
               Le bourgeois s ebouriffe 
               Pratiquez la vertu 
               Tutu  chapeau pointu  44 


It was little Gavroche on his way to the wars 

On the boulevard he noticed that the pistol had no trigger 

Who was the author of that couplet which served to punctuate his march 
and of all the other songs which he was fond of singing on occasion  We
know not  Who does know  Himself  perhaps  However  Gavroche was well
up in all the popular tunes in circulation  and he mingled with them his
own chirpings  An observing urchin and a rogue  he made a potpourri of
the voices of nature and the voices of Paris  He combined the repertory
of the birds with the repertory of the workshops  He was acquainted with
thieves  a tribe contiguous to his own  He had  it appears  been
for three months apprenticed to a printer  He had one day executed a
commission for M  Baour Lormian  one of the Forty  Gavroche was a gamin
of letters 

Moreover  Gavroche had no suspicion of the fact that when he had offered
the hospitality of his elephant to two brats on that villainously
rainy night  it was to his own brothers that he had played the part of
Providence  His brothers in the evening  his father in the morning 
that is what his night had been like  On quitting the Rue des Ballets
at daybreak  he had returned in haste to the elephant  had artistically
extracted from it the two brats  had shared with them some sort of
breakfast which he had invented  and had then gone away  confiding
them to that good mother  the street  who had brought him up  almost
entirely  On leaving them  he had appointed to meet them at the same
spot in the evening  and had left them this discourse by way of a
farewell   I break a cane  otherwise expressed  I cut my stick  or  as
they say at the court  I file off  If you don t find papa and mamma 
young  uns  come back here this evening  I ll scramble you up some
supper  and I ll give you a shakedown   The two children  picked up by
some policeman and placed in the refuge  or stolen by some mountebank 
or having simply strayed off in that immense Chinese puzzle of a Paris 
did not return  The lowest depths of the actual social world are full of
these lost traces  Gavroche did not see them again  Ten or twelve weeks
had elapsed since that night  More than once he had scratched the back
of his head and said   Where the devil are my two children  

In the meantime  he had arrived  pistol in hand  in the Rue du
Pont aux Choux  He noticed that there was but one shop open in that
street  and  a matter worthy of reflection  that was a pastry cook s
shop  This presented a providential occasion to eat another
apple turnover before entering the unknown  Gavroche halted  fumbled in
his fob  turned his pocket inside out  found nothing  not even a sou 
and began to shout   Help  

It is hard to miss the last cake 

Nevertheless  Gavroche pursued his way 

Two minutes later he was in the Rue Saint Louis  While traversing the
Rue du Parc Royal  he felt called upon to make good the loss of the
apple turnover which had been impossible  and he indulged himself in the
immense delight of tearing down the theatre posters in broad daylight 

A little further on  on catching sight of a group of comfortable looking
persons  who seemed to be landed proprietors  he shrugged his shoulders
and spit out at random before him this mouthful of philosophical bile as
they passed 

 How fat those moneyed men are  They re drunk  They just wallow in good
dinners  Ask  em what they do with their money  They don t know  They
eat it  that s what they do  As much as their bellies will hold  




CHAPTER II  GAVROCHE ON THE MARCH

The brandishing of a triggerless pistol  grasped in one s hand in the
open street  is so much of a public function that Gavroche felt his
fervor increasing with every moment  Amid the scraps of the Marseillaise
which he was singing  he shouted   

 All goes well  I suffer a great deal in my left paw  I m all broken
up with rheumatism  but I m satisfied  citizens  All that the bourgeois
have to do is to bear themselves well  I ll sneeze them out subversive
couplets  What are the police spies  Dogs  And I d just like to have
one of them at the end of my pistol  I m just from the boulevard  my
friends  It s getting hot there  it s getting into a little boil  it s
simmering  It s time to skim the pot  Forward march  men  Let an impure
blood inundate the furrows  I give my days to my country  I shall never
see my concubine more  Nini  finished  yes  Nini  But never mind  Long
live joy  Let s fight  crebleu  I ve had enough of despotism  

At that moment  the horse of a lancer of the National Guard having
fallen  Gavroche laid his pistol on the pavement  and picked up the
man  then he assisted in raising the horse  After which he picked up his
pistol and resumed his way  In the Rue de Thorigny  all was peace and
silence  This apathy  peculiar to the Marais  presented a contrast with
the vast surrounding uproar  Four gossips were chatting in a doorway 

Scotland has trios of witches  Paris has quartettes of old gossiping
hags  and the  Thou shalt be King  could be quite as mournfully hurled
at Bonaparte in the Carrefour Baudoyer as at Macbeth on the heath of
Armuyr  The croak would be almost identical 

The gossips of the Rue de Thorigny busied themselves only with their own
concerns  Three of them were portresses  and the fourth was a rag picker
with her basket on her back 

All four of them seemed to be standing at the four corners of old age 
which are decrepitude  decay  ruin  and sadness 

The rag picker was humble  In this open air society  it is the
rag picker who salutes and the portress who patronizes  This is caused
by the corner for refuse  which is fat or lean  according to the will of
the portresses  and after the fancy of the one who makes the heap  There
may be kindness in the broom 

This rag picker was a grateful creature  and she smiled  with what a
smile  on the three portresses  Things of this nature were said   

 Ah  by the way  is your cat still cross  

 Good gracious  cats are naturally the enemies of dogs  you know  It s
the dogs who complain  

 And people also  

 But the fleas from a cat don t go after people  

 That s not the trouble  dogs are dangerous  I remember one year
when there were so many dogs that it was necessary to put it in the
newspapers  That was at the time when there were at the Tuileries great
sheep that drew the little carriage of the King of Rome  Do you remember
the King of Rome  

 I liked the Duc de Bordeau better  

 I knew Louis XVIII  I prefer Louis XVIII  

 Meat is awfully dear  isn t it  Mother Patagon  

 Ah  don t mention it  the butcher s shop is a horror  A horrible
horror  one can t afford anything but the poor cuts nowadays  

Here the rag picker interposed   

 Ladies  business is dull  The refuse heaps are miserable  No one throws
anything away any more  They eat everything  

 There are poorer people than you  la Vargouleme  

 Ah  that s true   replied the rag picker  with deference   I have a
profession  

A pause succeeded  and the rag picker  yielding to that necessity for
boasting which lies at the bottom of man  added   

 In the morning  on my return home  I pick over my basket  I sort my
things  This makes heaps in my room  I put the rags in a basket  the
cores and stalks in a bucket  the linen in my cupboard  the woollen
stuff in my commode  the old papers in the corner of the window 
the things that are good to eat in my bowl  the bits of glass in my
fireplace  the old shoes behind my door  and the bones under my bed  

Gavroche had stopped behind her and was listening 

 Old ladies   said he   what do you mean by talking politics  

He was assailed by a broadside  composed of a quadruple howl 

 Here s another rascal  

 What s that he s got in his paddle  A pistol  

 Well  I d like to know what sort of a beggar s brat this is  

 That sort of animal is never easy unless he s overturning the
authorities  

Gavroche disdainfully contented himself  by way of reprisal  with
elevating the tip of his nose with his thumb and opening his hand wide 

The rag picker cried   

 You malicious  bare pawed little wretch  

The one who answered to the name of Patagon clapped her hands together
in horror 

 There s going to be evil doings  that s certain  The errand boy next
door has a little pointed beard  I have seen him pass every day with a
young person in a pink bonnet on his arm  to day I saw him pass  and
he had a gun on his arm  Mame Bacheux says  that last week there was a
revolution at  at  at  where s the calf   at Pontoise  And then  there
you see him  that horrid scamp  with his pistol  It seems that the
Celestins are full of pistols  What do you suppose the Government can
do with good for nothings who don t know how to do anything but contrive
ways of upsetting the world  when we had just begun to get a little
quiet after all the misfortunes that have happened  good Lord  to that
poor queen whom I saw pass in the tumbril  And all this is going to
make tobacco dearer  It s infamous  And I shall certainly go to see him
beheaded on the guillotine  the wretch  

 You ve got the sniffles  old lady   said Gavroche   Blow your
promontory  

And he passed on  When he was in the Rue Pavee  the rag picker occurred
to his mind  and he indulged in this soliloquy   

 You re in the wrong to insult the revolutionists  Mother
Dust Heap Corner  This pistol is in your interests  It s so that you may
have more good things to eat in your basket  

All at once  he heard a shout behind him  it was the portress Patagon
who had followed him  and who was shaking her fist at him in the
distance and crying   

 You re nothing but a bastard  

 Oh  Come now   said Gavroche   I don t care a brass farthing for that  

Shortly afterwards  he passed the Hotel Lamoignon  There he uttered this
appeal   

 Forward march to the battle  

And he was seized with a fit of melancholy  He gazed at his pistol with
an air of reproach which seemed an attempt to appease it   

 I m going off   said he   but you won t go off  

One dog may distract the attention from another dog  45  A very gaunt
poodle came along at the moment  Gavroche felt compassion for him 

 My poor doggy   said he   you must have gone and swallowed a cask  for
all the hoops are visible  

Then he directed his course towards l Orme Saint Gervais 




CHAPTER III  JUST INDIGNATION OF A HAIR DRESSER

The worthy hair dresser who had chased from his shop the two little
fellows to whom Gavroche had opened the paternal interior of the
elephant was at that moment in his shop engaged in shaving an old
soldier of the legion who had served under the Empire  They were
talking  The hair dresser had  naturally  spoken to the veteran of the
riot  then of General Lamarque  and from Lamarque they had passed to
the Emperor  Thence sprang up a conversation between barber and
soldier which Prudhomme  had he been present  would have enriched with
arabesques  and which he would have entitled   Dialogue between the
razor and the sword  

 How did the Emperor ride  sir   said the barber 

 Badly  He did not know how to fall  so he never fell  

 Did he have fine horses  He must have had fine horses  

 On the day when he gave me my cross  I noticed his beast  It was a
racing mare  perfectly white  Her ears were very wide apart  her saddle
deep  a fine head marked with a black star  a very long neck  strongly
articulated knees  prominent ribs  oblique shoulders and a powerful
crupper  A little more than fifteen hands in height  

 A pretty horse   remarked the hair dresser 

 It was His Majesty s beast  

The hair dresser felt  that after this observation  a short silence
would be fitting  so he conformed himself to it  and then went on   

 The Emperor was never wounded but once  was he  sir  

The old soldier replied with the calm and sovereign tone of a man who
had been there   

 In the heel  At Ratisbon  I never saw him so well dressed as on that
day  He was as neat as a new sou  

 And you  Mr  Veteran  you must have been often wounded  

 I   said the soldier   ah  not to amount to anything  At Marengo  I
received two sabre blows on the back of my neck  a bullet in the right
arm at Austerlitz  another in the left hip at Jena  At Friedland 
a thrust from a bayonet  there   at the Moskowa seven or eight
lance thrusts  no matter where  at Lutzen a splinter of a shell crushed
one of my fingers  Ah  and then at Waterloo  a ball from a biscaien in
the thigh  that s all  

 How fine that is   exclaimed the hair dresser  in Pindaric accents   to
die on the field of battle  On my word of honor  rather than die in bed 
of an illness  slowly  a bit by bit each day  with drugs  cataplasms 
syringes  medicines  I should prefer to receive a cannon ball in my
belly  

 You re not over fastidious   said the soldier 

He had hardly spoken when a fearful crash shook the shop  The
show window had suddenly been fractured 

The wig maker turned pale 

 Ah  good God   he exclaimed   it s one of them  

 What  

 A cannon ball  

 Here it is   said the soldier 

And he picked up something that was rolling about the floor  It was a
pebble 

The hair dresser ran to the broken window and beheld Gavroche fleeing
at the full speed  towards the Marche Saint Jean  As he passed the
hair dresser s shop Gavroche  who had the two brats still in his mind 
had not been able to resist the impulse to say good day to him  and had
flung a stone through his panes 

 You see   shrieked the hair dresser  who from white had turned blue 
 that fellow returns and does mischief for the pure pleasure of it  What
has any one done to that gamin  




CHAPTER IV  THE CHILD IS AMAZED AT THE OLD MAN

In the meantime  in the Marche Saint Jean  where the post had already
been disarmed  Gavroche had just  effected a junction  with a band led
by Enjolras  Courfeyrac  Combeferre  and Feuilly  They were armed after
a fashion  Bahorel and Jean Prouvaire had found them and swelled the
group  Enjolras had a double barrelled hunting gun  Combeferre the gun
of a National Guard bearing the number of his legion  and in his belt 
two pistols which his unbuttoned coat allowed to be seen  Jean Prouvaire
an old cavalry musket  Bahorel a rifle  Courfeyrac was brandishing an
unsheathed sword cane  Feuilly  with a naked sword in his hand  marched
at their head shouting   Long live Poland  

They reached the Quai Morland  Cravatless  hatless  breathless  soaked
by the rain  with lightning in their eyes  Gavroche accosted them
calmly   

 Where are we going  

 Come along   said Courfeyrac 

Behind Feuilly marched  or rather bounded  Bahorel  who was like a fish
in water in a riot  He wore a scarlet waistcoat  and indulged in
the sort of words which break everything  His waistcoat astounded a
passer by  who cried in bewilderment   

 Here are the reds  

 The reds  the reds   retorted Bahorel   A queer kind of fear 
bourgeois  For my part I don t tremble before a poppy  the little red
hat inspires me with no alarm  Take my advice  bourgeois  let s leave
fear of the red to horned cattle  

He caught sight of a corner of the wall on which was placarded the
most peaceable sheet of paper in the world  a permission to eat eggs  a
Lenten admonition addressed by the Archbishop of Paris to his  flock  

Bahorel exclaimed   

  Flock   a polite way of saying geese  

And he tore the charge from the nail  This conquered Gavroche  From that
instant Gavroche set himself to study Bahorel 

 Bahorel   observed Enjolras   you are wrong  You should have let that
charge alone  he is not the person with whom we have to deal  you are
wasting your wrath to no purpose  Take care of your supply  One does not
fire out of the ranks with the soul any more than with a gun  

 Each one in his own fashion  Enjolras   retorted Bahorel   This
bishop s prose shocks me  I want to eat eggs without being permitted 
Your style is the hot and cold  I am amusing myself  Besides  I m not
wasting myself  I m getting a start  and if I tore down that charge 
Hercle   twas only to whet my appetite  

This word  Hercle  struck Gavroche  He sought all occasions for
learning  and that tearer down of posters possessed his esteem  He
inquired of him   

 What does Hercle mean  

Bahorel answered   

 It means cursed name of a dog  in Latin  

Here Bahorel recognized at a window a pale young man with a black beard
who was watching them as they passed  probably a Friend of the A B C  He
shouted to him   

 Quick  cartridges  para bellum  

 A fine man  that s true   said Gavroche  who now understood Latin 

A tumultuous retinue accompanied them   students  artists  young men
affiliated to the Cougourde of Aix  artisans  longshoremen  armed with
clubs and bayonets  some  like Combeferre  with pistols thrust into
their trousers 

An old man  who appeared to be extremely aged  was walking in the band 

He had no arms  and he made great haste  so that he might not be left
behind  although he had a thoughtful air 

Gavroche caught sight of him   

 Keksekca   said he to Courfeyrac 

 He s an old duffer  

It was M  Mabeuf 




CHAPTER V  THE OLD MAN

Let us recount what had taken place 

Enjolras and his friends had been on the Boulevard Bourdon  near the
public storehouses  at the moment when the dragoons had made their
charge  Enjolras  Courfeyrac  and Combeferre were among those who had
taken to the Rue Bassompierre  shouting   To the barricades   In the Rue
Lesdiguieres they had met an old man walking along  What had attracted
their attention was that the goodman was walking in a zig zag  as though
he were intoxicated  Moreover  he had his hat in his hand  although it
had been raining all the morning  and was raining pretty briskly at the
very time  Courfeyrac had recognized Father Mabeuf  He knew him through
having many times accompanied Marius as far as his door  As he was
acquainted with the peaceful and more than timid habits of the old
beadle book collector  and was amazed at the sight of him in the midst
of that uproar  a couple of paces from the cavalry charges  almost in
the midst of a fusillade  hatless in the rain  and strolling about among
the bullets  he had accosted him  and the following dialogue had been
exchanged between the rioter of fire and the octogenarian   

 M  Mabeuf  go to your home  

 Why  

 There s going to be a row  

 That s well  

 Thrusts with the sword and firing  M  Mabeuf  

 That is well  

 Firing from cannon  

 That is good  Where are the rest of you going  

 We are going to fling the government to the earth  

 That is good  

And he had set out to follow them  From that moment forth he had not
uttered a word  His step had suddenly become firm  artisans had offered
him their arms  he had refused with a sign of the head  He advanced
nearly to the front rank of the column  with the movement of a man who
is marching and the countenance of a man who is sleeping 

 What a fierce old fellow   muttered the students  The rumor spread
through the troop that he was a former member of the Convention   an old
regicide  The mob had turned in through the Rue de la Verrerie 

Little Gavroche marched in front with that deafening song which made of
him a sort of trumpet 

He sang         Voici la lune qui paratt 
        Quand irons nous dans la foret 
        Demandait Charlot a Charlotte 

             Tou tou tou
             Pour Chatou 
        Je n ai qu un Dieu  qu un roi  qu un liard  et qu une botte 

         Pour avoir bu de grand matin
         La rosee a meme le thym 
         Deux moineaux etaient en ribotte 

             Zi zi zi
             Pour Passy 
        Je n ai qu un Dieu  qu un roi  qu un liard  et qu une botte 

        Et ces deux pauvres petits loups 
        Comme deux grives estaient souls 
        Une tigre en riait dans sa grotte 

             Don don don
             Pour Meudon 
        Je n ai qu un Dieu  qu un roi  qu un liard  et qu une botte 

        L un jurait et l autre sacrait 
        Quand irons nous dans la foret 
        Demandait Charlot a Charlotte 

             Tin tin tin
             Pour Pantin 
         Je n ai qu un Dieu  qu un roi  qu un liard  et qu une botte   46 

They directed their course towards Saint Merry 




CHAPTER VI  RECRUITS

The band augmented every moment  Near the Rue des Billettes  a man of
lofty stature  whose hair was turning gray  and whose bold and daring
mien was remarked by Courfeyrac  Enjolras  and Combeferre  but whom
none of them knew  joined them  Gavroche  who was occupied in singing 
whistling  humming  running on ahead and pounding on the shutters of the
shops with the butt of his triggerless pistol  paid no attention to this
man 

It chanced that in the Rue de la Verrerie  they passed in front of
Courfeyrac s door 

 This happens just right   said Courfeyrac   I have forgotten my purse 
and I have lost my hat  

He quitted the mob and ran up to his quarters at full speed  He seized
an old hat and his purse 

He also seized a large square coffer  of the dimensions of a large
valise  which was concealed under his soiled linen 

As he descended again at a run  the portress hailed him   

 Monsieur de Courfeyrac  

 What s your name  portress  

The portress stood bewildered 

 Why  you know perfectly well  I m the concierge  my name is Mother
Veuvain  

 Well  if you call me Monsieur de Courfeyrac again  I shall call you
Mother de Veuvain  Now speak  what s the matter  What do you want  

 There is some one who wants to speak with you  

 Who is it  

 I don t know  

 Where is he  

 In my lodge  

 The devil   ejaculated Courfeyrac 

 But the person has been waiting your return for over an hour   said the
portress 

At the same time  a sort of pale  thin  small  freckled  and youthful
artisan  clad in a tattered blouse and patched trousers of ribbed
velvet  and who had rather the air of a girl accoutred as a man than of
a man  emerged from the lodge and said to Courfeyrac in a voice which
was not the least in the world like a woman s voice   

 Monsieur Marius  if you please  

 He is not here  

 Will he return this evening  

 I know nothing about it  

And Courfeyrac added   

 For my part  I shall not return  

The young man gazed steadily at him and said   

 Why not  

 Because  

 Where are you going  then  

 What business is that of yours  

 Would you like to have me carry your coffer for you  

 I am going to the barricades  

 Would you like to have me go with you  

 If you like   replied Courfeyrac   The street is free  the pavements
belong to every one  

And he made his escape at a run to join his friends  When he had
rejoined them  he gave the coffer to one of them to carry  It was only
a quarter of an hour after this that he saw the young man  who had
actually followed them 

A mob does not go precisely where it intends  We have explained that
a gust of wind carries it away  They overshot Saint Merry and found
themselves  without precisely knowing how  in the Rue Saint Denis 




BOOK TWELFTH   CORINTHE




CHAPTER I  HISTORY OF CORINTHE FROM ITS FOUNDATION

The Parisians who nowadays on entering on the Rue Rambuteau at the end
near the Halles  notice on their right  opposite the Rue Mondetour  a
basket maker s shop having for its sign a basket in the form of Napoleon
the Great with this inscription   

                    NAPOLEON IS MADE
                    WHOLLY OF WILLOW 

have no suspicion of the terrible scenes which this very spot witnessed
hardly thirty years ago 

It was there that lay the Rue de la Chanvrerie  which ancient deeds
spell Chanverrerie  and the celebrated public house called Corinthe 

The reader will remember all that has been said about the barricade
effected at this point  and eclipsed  by the way  by the barricade
Saint Merry  It was on this famous barricade of the Rue de la
Chanvrerie  now fallen into profound obscurity  that we are about to
shed a little light 

May we be permitted to recur  for the sake of clearness in the recital 
to the simple means which we have already employed in the case of
Waterloo  Persons who wish to picture to themselves in a tolerably exact
manner the constitution of the houses which stood at that epoch near the
Pointe Saint Eustache  at the northeast angle of the Halles of Paris 
where to day lies the embouchure of the Rue Rambuteau  have only to
imagine an N touching the Rue Saint Denis with its summit and the Halles
with its base  and whose two vertical bars should form the Rue de la
Grande Truanderie  and the Rue de la Chanvrerie  and whose transverse
bar should be formed by the Rue de la Petite Truanderie  The old Rue
Mondetour cut the three strokes of the N at the most crooked angles  So
that the labyrinthine confusion of these four streets sufficed to
form  on a space three fathoms square  between the Halles and the Rue
Saint Denis on the one hand  and between the Rue du Cygne and the Rue
des Precheurs on the other  seven islands of houses  oddly cut up  of
varying sizes  placed crosswise and hap hazard  and barely separated 
like the blocks of stone in a dock  by narrow crannies 

We say narrow crannies  and we can give no more just idea of those dark 
contracted  many angled alleys  lined with eight story buildings  These
buildings were so decrepit that  in the Rue de la Chanvrerie and the Rue
de la Petite Truanderie  the fronts were shored up with beams running
from one house to another  The street was narrow and the gutter broad 
the pedestrian there walked on a pavement that was always wet  skirting
little stalls resembling cellars  big posts encircled with iron hoops 
excessive heaps of refuse  and gates armed with enormous  century old
gratings  The Rue Rambuteau has devastated all that 

The name of Mondetour paints marvellously well the sinuosities of that
whole set of streets  A little further on  they are found still better
expressed by the Rue Pirouette  which ran into the Rue Mondetour 

The passer by who got entangled from the Rue Saint Denis in the Rue de
la Chanvrerie beheld it gradually close in before him as though he had
entered an elongated funnel  At the end of this street  which was very
short  he found further passage barred in the direction of the Halles
by a tall row of houses  and he would have thought himself in a blind
alley  had he not perceived on the right and left two dark cuts through
which he could make his escape  This was the Rue Mondetour  which on
one side ran into the Rue de Precheurs  and on the other into the Rue
du Cygne and the Petite Truanderie  At the bottom of this sort of
cul de sac  at the angle of the cutting on the right  there was to be
seen a house which was not so tall as the rest  and which formed a sort
of cape in the street  It is in this house  of two stories only  that
an illustrious wine shop had been merrily installed three hundred years
before  This tavern created a joyous noise in the very spot which old
Theophilus described in the following couplet   

               La branle le squelette horrible
               D un pauvre amant qui se pendit  47 


The situation was good  and tavern keepers succeeded each other there 
from father to son 

In the time of Mathurin Regnier  this cabaret was called the
Pot aux Roses  and as the rebus was then in fashion  it had for its
sign board  a post  poteau  painted rose color  In the last century  the
worthy Natoire  one of the fantastic masters nowadays despised by the
stiff school  having got drunk many times in this wine shop at the
very table where Regnier had drunk his fill  had painted  by way of
gratitude  a bunch of Corinth grapes on the pink post  The keeper of the
cabaret  in his joy  had changed his device and had caused to be placed
in gilt letters beneath the bunch these words   At the Bunch of Corinth
Grapes    Au Raisin de Corinthe    Hence the name of Corinthe  Nothing
is more natural to drunken men than ellipses  The ellipsis is the
zig zag of the phrase  Corinthe gradually dethroned the Pot aux Roses 
The last proprietor of the dynasty  Father Hucheloup  no longer
acquainted even with the tradition  had the post painted blue 

A room on the ground floor  where the bar was situated  one on the first
floor containing a billiard table  a wooden spiral staircase piercing
the ceiling  wine on the tables  smoke on the walls  candles in broad
daylight   this was the style of this cabaret  A staircase with a
trap door in the lower room led to the cellar  On the second floor were
the lodgings of the Hucheloup family  They were reached by a staircase
which was a ladder rather than a staircase  and had for their entrance
only a private door in the large room on the first floor  Under the
roof  in two mansard attics  were the nests for the servants  The
kitchen shared the ground floor with the tap room 

Father Hucheloup had  possibly  been born a chemist  but the fact is
that he was a cook  people did not confine themselves to drinking alone
in his wine shop  they also ate there  Hucheloup had invented a capital
thing which could be eaten nowhere but in his house  stuffed carps 
which he called carpes au gras  These were eaten by the light of a
tallow candle or of a lamp of the time of Louis XVI   on tables to which
were nailed waxed cloths in lieu of table cloths  People came thither
from a distance  Hucheloup  one fine morning  had seen fit to notify
passers by of this  specialty   he had dipped a brush in a pot of black
paint  and as he was an orthographer on his own account  as well as
a cook after his own fashion  he had improvised on his wall this
remarkable inscription   

                    CARPES HO GRAS 


One winter  the rain storms and the showers had taken a fancy to
obliterate the S which terminated the first word  and the G which began
the third  this is what remained   

                      CARPE HO RAS 


Time and rain assisting  a humble gastronomical announcement had become
a profound piece of advice 

In this way it came about  that though he knew no French  Father
Hucheloup understood Latin  that he had evoked philosophy from his
kitchen  and that  desirous simply of effacing Lent  he had equalled
Horace  And the striking thing about it was  that that also meant 
 Enter my wine shop  

Nothing of all this is in existence now  The Mondetour labyrinth was
disembowelled and widely opened in 1847  and probably no longer exists
at the present moment  The Rue de la Chanvrerie and Corinthe have
disappeared beneath the pavement of the Rue Rambuteau 

As we have already said  Corinthe was the meeting place if not the
rallying point  of Courfeyrac and his friends  It was Grantaire who had
discovered Corinthe  He had entered it on account of the Carpe horas 
and had returned thither on account of the Carpes au gras  There they
drank  there they ate  there they shouted  they did not pay much  they
paid badly  they did not pay at all  but they were always welcome 
Father Hucheloup was a jovial host 

Hucheloup  that amiable man  as was just said  was a wine shop keeper
with a mustache  an amusing variety  He always had an ill tempered air 
seemed to wish to intimidate his customers  grumbled at the people who
entered his establishment  and had rather the mien of seeking a quarrel
with them than of serving them with soup  And yet  we insist upon
the word  people were always welcome there  This oddity had attracted
customers to his shop  and brought him young men  who said to each
other   Come hear Father Hucheloup growl   He had been a fencing master 
All of a sudden  he would burst out laughing  A big voice  a good
fellow  He had a comic foundation under a tragic exterior  he asked
nothing better than to frighten you  very much like those snuff boxes
which are in the shape of a pistol  The detonation makes one sneeze 

Mother Hucheloup  his wife  was a bearded and a very homely creature 

About 1830  Father Hucheloup died  With him disappeared the secret of
stuffed carps  His inconsolable widow continued to keep the wine shop 
But the cooking deteriorated  and became execrable  the wine  which had
always been bad  became fearfully bad  Nevertheless  Courfeyrac and his
friends continued to go to Corinthe   out of pity  as Bossuet said 

The Widow Hucheloup was breathless and misshapen and given to rustic
recollections  She deprived them of their flatness by her pronunciation 
She had a way of her own of saying things  which spiced her
reminiscences of the village and of her springtime  It had formerly been
her delight  so she affirmed  to hear the loups de gorge  rouges gorges 
chanter dans les ogrepines  aubepines   to hear the redbreasts sing in
the hawthorn trees 

The hall on the first floor  where  the restaurant  was situated  was
a large and long apartment encumbered with stools  chairs  benches  and
tables  and with a crippled  lame  old billiard table  It was reached
by a spiral staircase which terminated in the corner of the room at a
square hole like the hatchway of a ship 

This room  lighted by a single narrow window  and by a lamp that was
always burning  had the air of a garret  All the four footed furniture
comported itself as though it had but three legs  the whitewashed walls
had for their only ornament the following quatrain in honor of Mame
Hucheloup   

          Elle etonne a dix pas  elle epouvente a deux 
          Une verrue habite en son nez hasardeux 
          On tremble a chaque instant qu elle ne vous la mouche
          Et qu un beau jour son nez ne tombe dans sa bouche  48 


This was scrawled in charcoal on the wall 

Mame Hucheloup  a good likeness  went and came from morning till
night before this quatrain with the most perfect tranquillity  Two
serving maids  named Matelote and Gibelotte  49  and who had never been
known by any other names  helped Mame Hucheloup to set on the tables
the jugs of poor wine  and the various broths which were served to the
hungry patrons in earthenware bowls  Matelote  large  plump  redhaired 
and noisy  the favorite ex sultana of the defunct Hucheloup  was
homelier than any mythological monster  be it what it may  still  as it
becomes the servant to always keep in the rear of the mistress  she was
less homely than Mame Hucheloup  Gibelotte  tall  delicate  white with a
lymphatic pallor  with circles round her eyes  and drooping lids  always
languid and weary  afflicted with what may be called chronic lassitude 
the first up in the house and the last in bed  waited on every one  even
the other maid  silently and gently  smiling through her fatigue with a
vague and sleepy smile 

Before entering the restaurant room  the visitor read on the door the
following line written there in chalk by Courfeyrac   

          Regale si tu peux et mange si tu l oses  50 




CHAPTER II  PRELIMINARY GAYETIES

Laigle de Meaux  as the reader knows  lived more with Joly than
elsewhere  He had a lodging  as a bird has one on a branch  The
two friends lived together  ate together  slept together  They had
everything in common  even Musichetta  to some extent  They were  what
the subordinate monks who accompany monks are called  bini  On the
morning of the 5th of June  they went to Corinthe to breakfast  Joly 
who was all stuffed up  had a catarrh which Laigle was beginning to
share  Laigle s coat was threadbare  but Joly was well dressed 

It was about nine o clock in the morning  when they opened the door of
Corinthe 

They ascended to the first floor 

Matelote and Gibelotte received them 

 Oysters  cheese  and ham   said Laigle 

And they seated themselves at a table 

The wine shop was empty  there was no one there but themselves 

Gibelotte  knowing Joly and Laigle  set a bottle of wine on the table 

While they were busy with their first oysters  a head appeared at the
hatchway of the staircase  and a voice said   

 I am passing by  I smell from the street a delicious odor of Brie
cheese  I enter   It was Grantaire 

Grantaire took a stool and drew up to the table 

At the sight of Grantaire  Gibelotte placed two bottles of wine on the
table 

That made three 

 Are you going to drink those two bottles   Laigle inquired of
Grantaire 

Grantaire replied   

 All are ingenious  thou alone art ingenuous  Two bottles never yet
astonished a man  

The others had begun by eating  Grantaire began by drinking  Half a
bottle was rapidly gulped down 

 So you have a hole in your stomach   began Laigle again 

 You have one in your elbow   said Grantaire 

And after having emptied his glass  he added   

 Ah  by the way  Laigle of the funeral oration  your coat is old  

 I should hope so   retorted Laigle   That s why we get on well
together  my coat and I  It has acquired all my folds  it does not bind
me anywhere  it is moulded on my deformities  it falls in with all my
movements  I am only conscious of it because it keeps me warm  Old coats
are just like old friends  

 That s true   ejaculated Joly  striking into the dialogue   an old goat
is an old abi   ami  friend  

 Especially in the mouth of a man whose head is stuffed up   said
Grantaire 

 Grantaire   demanded Laigle   have you just come from the boulevard  

 No  

 We have just seen the head of the procession pass  Joly and I  

 It s a marvellous sight   said Joly 

 How quiet this street is   exclaimed Laigle   Who would suspect that
Paris was turned upside down  How plainly it is to be seen that in
former days there were nothing but convents here  In this neighborhood 
Du Breul and Sauval give a list of them  and so does the Abbe Lebeuf 
They were all round here  they fairly swarmed  booted and barefooted 
shaven  bearded  gray  black  white  Franciscans  Minims  Capuchins 
Carmelites  Little Augustines  Great Augustines  old Augustines  there
was no end of them  

 Don t let s talk of monks   interrupted Grantaire   it makes one want
to scratch one s self  

Then he exclaimed   

 Bouh  I ve just swallowed a bad oyster  Now hypochondria is taking
possession of me again  The oysters are spoiled  the servants are ugly 
I hate the human race  I just passed through the Rue Richelieu  in front
of the big public library  That pile of oyster shells which is called
a library is disgusting even to think of  What paper  What ink  What
scrawling  And all that has been written  What rascal was it who said
that man was a featherless biped  51  And then  I met a pretty girl of
my acquaintance  who is as beautiful as the spring  worthy to be called
Floreal  and who is delighted  enraptured  as happy as the angels 
because a wretch yesterday  a frightful banker all spotted with
small pox  deigned to take a fancy to her  Alas  woman keeps on the
watch for a protector as much as for a lover  cats chase mice as well
as birds  Two months ago that young woman was virtuous in an attic  she
adjusted little brass rings in the eyelet holes of corsets  what do
you call it  She sewed  she had a camp bed  she dwelt beside a pot
of flowers  she was contented  Now here she is a bankeress  This
transformation took place last night  I met the victim this morning in
high spirits  The hideous point about it is  that the jade is as pretty
to day as she was yesterday  Her financier did not show in her face 
Roses have this advantage or disadvantage over women  that the traces
left upon them by caterpillars are visible  Ah  there is no morality on
earth  I call to witness the myrtle  the symbol of love  the laurel 
the symbol of air  the olive  that ninny  the symbol of peace  the
apple tree which came nearest rangling Adam with its pips  and the
fig tree  the grandfather of petticoats  As for right  do you know what
right is  The Gauls covet Clusium  Rome protects Clusium  and demands
what wrong Clusium has done to them  Brennus answers   The wrong that
Alba did to you  the wrong that Fidenae did to you  the wrong that the
Eques  the Volsci  and the Sabines have done to you  They were your
neighbors  The Clusians are ours  We understand neighborliness just as
you do  You have stolen Alba  we shall take Clusium   Rome said   You
shall not take Clusium   Brennus took Rome  Then he cried   Vae victis  
That is what right is  Ah  what beasts of prey there are in this world 
What eagles  It makes my flesh creep  

He held out his glass to Joly  who filled it  then he drank and went on 
having hardly been interrupted by this glass of wine  of which no one 
not even himself  had taken any notice   

 Brennus  who takes Rome  is an eagle  the banker who takes the grisette
is an eagle  There is no more modesty in the one case than in the other 
So we believe in nothing  There is but one reality  drink  Whatever your
opinion may be in favor of the lean cock  like the Canton of Uri  or
in favor of the fat cock  like the Canton of Glaris  it matters little 
drink  You talk to me of the boulevard  of that procession  et caetera 
et caetera  Come now  is there going to be another revolution  This
poverty of means on the part of the good God astounds me  He has to keep
greasing the groove of events every moment  There is a hitch  it won t
work  Quick  a revolution  The good God has his hands perpetually black
with that cart grease  If I were in his place  I d be perfectly simple
about it  I would not wind up my mechanism every minute  I d lead the
human race in a straightforward way  I d weave matters mesh by mesh 
without breaking the thread  I would have no provisional arrangements 
I would have no extraordinary repertory  What the rest of you call
progress advances by means of two motors  men and events  But  sad to
say  from time to time  the exceptional becomes necessary  The ordinary
troupe suffices neither for event nor for men  among men geniuses are
required  among events revolutions  Great accidents are the law  the
order of things cannot do without them  and  judging from the apparition
of comets  one would be tempted to think that Heaven itself finds actors
needed for its performance  At the moment when one expects it the least 
God placards a meteor on the wall of the firmament  Some queer star
turns up  underlined by an enormous tail  And that causes the death
of Caesar  Brutus deals him a blow with a knife  and God a blow with a
comet  Crac  and behold an aurora borealis  behold a revolution  behold
a great man   93 in big letters  Napoleon on guard  the comet of 1811
at the head of the poster  Ah  what a beautiful blue theatre all studded
with unexpected flashes  Boum  Boum  extraordinary show  Raise your
eyes  boobies  Everything is in disorder  the star as well as the drama 
Good God  it is too much and not enough  These resources  gathered from
exception  seem magnificence and poverty  My friends  Providence has
come down to expedients  What does a revolution prove  That God is in a
quandry  He effects a coup d etat because he  God  has not been able to
make both ends meet  In fact  this confirms me in my conjectures as
to Jehovah s fortune  and when I see so much distress in heaven and on
earth  from the bird who has not a grain of millet to myself without a
hundred thousand livres of income  when I see human destiny  which is
very badly worn  and even royal destiny  which is threadbare  witness
the Prince de Conde hung  when I see winter  which is nothing but a rent
in the zenith through which the wind blows  when I see so many rags even
in the perfectly new purple of the morning on the crests of hills  when
I see the drops of dew  those mock pearls  when I see the frost  that
paste  when I see humanity ripped apart and events patched up  and so
many spots on the sun and so many holes in the moon  when I see so
much misery everywhere  I suspect that God is not rich  The appearance
exists  it is true  but I feel that he is hard up  He gives a revolution
as a tradesman whose money box is empty gives a ball  God must not be
judged from appearances  Beneath the gilding of heaven I perceive
a poverty stricken universe  Creation is bankrupt  That is why I am
discontented  Here it is the 4th of June  it is almost night  ever since
this morning I have been waiting for daylight to come  it has not come 
and I bet that it won t come all day  This is the inexactness of an
ill paid clerk  Yes  everything is badly arranged  nothing fits anything
else  this old world is all warped  I take my stand on the opposition 
everything goes awry  the universe is a tease  It s like children  those
who want them have none  and those who don t want them have them  Total 
I m vexed  Besides  Laigle de Meaux  that bald head  offends my sight 
It humiliates me to think that I am of the same age as that baldy 
However  I criticise  but I do not insult  The universe is what it is 
I speak here without evil intent and to ease my conscience  Receive 
Eternal Father  the assurance of my distinguished consideration  Ah 
by all the saints of Olympus and by all the gods of paradise  I was not
intended to be a Parisian  that is to say  to rebound forever  like a
shuttlecock between two battledores  from the group of the loungers to
the group of the roysterers  I was made to be a Turk  watching oriental
houris all day long  executing those exquisite Egyptian dances  as
sensuous as the dream of a chaste man  or a Beauceron peasant  or a
Venetian gentleman surrounded by gentlewoman  or a petty German prince 
furnishing the half of a foot soldier to the Germanic confederation  and
occupying his leisure with drying his breeches on his hedge  that is to
say  his frontier  Those are the positions for which I was born  Yes  I
have said a Turk  and I will not retract  I do not understand how people
can habitually take Turks in bad part  Mohammed had his good points 
respect for the inventor of seraglios with houris and paradises with
odalisques  Let us not insult Mohammedanism  the only religion which is
ornamented with a hen roost  Now  I insist on a drink  The earth is a
great piece of stupidity  And it appears that they are going to fight 
all those imbeciles  and to break each other s profiles and to massacre
each other in the heart of summer  in the month of June  when they might
go off with a creature on their arm  to breathe the immense heaps of
new mown hay in the meadows  Really  people do commit altogether
too many follies  An old broken lantern which I have just seen at a
bric a brac merchant s suggests a reflection to my mind  it is time to
enlighten the human race  Yes  behold me sad again  That s what comes
of swallowing an oyster and a revolution the wrong way  I am growing
melancholy once more  Oh  frightful old world  People strive  turn each
other out  prostitute themselves  kill each other  and get used to it  

And Grantaire  after this fit of eloquence  had a fit of coughing  which
was well earned 

 A propos of revolution   said Joly   it is decidedly abberent that
Barius is in lub  

 Does any one know with whom   demanded Laigle 

 Do  

 No  

 Do  I tell you  

 Marius  love affairs   exclaimed Grantaire   I can imagine it  Marius
is a fog  and he must have found a vapor  Marius is of the race of
poets  He who says poet  says fool  madman  Tymbraeus Apollo  Marius and
his Marie  or his Marion  or his Maria  or his Mariette  They must make
a queer pair of lovers  I know just what it is like  Ecstasies in which
they forget to kiss  Pure on earth  but joined in heaven  They are souls
possessed of senses  They lie among the stars  

Grantaire was attacking his second bottle and  possibly  his second
harangue  when a new personage emerged from the square aperture of the
stairs  It was a boy less than ten years of age  ragged  very small 
yellow  with an odd phiz  a vivacious eye  an enormous amount of hair
drenched with rain  and wearing a contented air 

The child unhesitatingly making his choice among the three  addressed
himself to Laigle de Meaux 

 Are you Monsieur Bossuet  

 That is my nickname   replied Laigle   What do you want with me  

 This  A tall blonde fellow on the boulevard said to me   Do you know
Mother Hucheloup   I said   Yes  Rue Chanvrerie  the old man s widow  
he said to me   Go there  There you will find M  Bossuet  Tell him from
me   A B C    It s a joke that they re playing on you  isn t it  He gave
me ten sous  

 Joly  lend me ten sous   said Laigle  and  turning to Grantaire 
 Grantaire  lend me ten sous  

This made twenty sous  which Laigle handed to the lad 

 Thank you  sir   said the urchin 

 What is your name   inquired Laigle 

 Navet  Gavroche s friend  

 Stay with us   said Laigle 

 Breakfast with us   said Grantaire 

The child replied   

 I can t  I belong in the procession  I m the one to shout  Down with
Polignac   

And executing a prolonged scrape of his foot behind him  which is the
most respectful of all possible salutes  he took his departure 

The child gone  Grantaire took the word   

 That is the pure bred gamin  There are a great many varieties of the
gamin species  The notary s gamin is called Skip the Gutter  the cook s
gamin is called a scullion  the baker s gamin is called a mitron 
the lackey s gamin is called a groom  the marine gamin is called the
cabin boy  the soldier s gamin is called the drummer boy  the painter s
gamin is called paint grinder  the tradesman s gamin is called an
errand boy  the courtesan gamin is called the minion  the kingly gamin
is called the dauphin  the god gamin is called the bambino  

In the meantime  Laigle was engaged in reflection  he said half aloud   

 A B C  that is to say  the burial of Lamarque  

 The tall blonde   remarked Grantaire   is Enjolras  who is sending you
a warning  

 Shall we go   ejaculated Bossuet 

 It s raiding   said Joly   I have sworn to go through fire  but not
through water  I don t wand to ged a gold  

 I shall stay here   said Grantaire   I prefer a breakfast to a hearse  

 Conclusion  we remain   said Laigle   Well  then  let us drink 
Besides  we might miss the funeral without missing the riot  

 Ah  the riot  I am with you   cried Joly 

Laigle rubbed his hands 

 Now we re going to touch up the revolution of 1830  As a matter of
fact  it does hurt the people along the seams  

 I don t think much of your revolution   said Grantaire   I don t
execrate this Government  It is the crown tempered by the cotton
night cap  It is a sceptre ending in an umbrella  In fact  I think
that to day  with the present weather  Louis Philippe might utilize his
royalty in two directions  he might extend the tip of the sceptre end
against the people  and open the umbrella end against heaven  

The room was dark  large clouds had just finished the extinction of
daylight  There was no one in the wine shop  or in the street  every one
having gone off  to watch events  

 Is it mid day or midnight   cried Bossuet   You can t see your hand
before your face  Gibelotte  fetch a light  

Grantaire was drinking in a melancholy way 

 Enjolras disdains me   he muttered   Enjolras said   Joly is ill 
Grantaire is drunk   It was to Bossuet that he sent Navet  If he had
come for me  I would have followed him  So much the worse for Enjolras 
I won t go to his funeral  

This resolution once arrived at  Bossuet  Joly  and Grantaire did not
stir from the wine shop  By two o clock in the afternoon  the table at
which they sat was covered with empty bottles  Two candles were burning
on it  one in a flat copper candlestick which was perfectly green  the
other in the neck of a cracked carafe  Grantaire had seduced Joly and
Bossuet to wine  Bossuet and Joly had conducted Grantaire back towards
cheerfulness 

As for Grantaire  he had got beyond wine  that merely moderate
inspirer of dreams  ever since mid day  Wine enjoys only a conventional
popularity with serious drinkers  There is  in fact  in the matter
of inebriety  white magic and black magic  wine is only white magic 
Grantaire was a daring drinker of dreams  The blackness of a terrible
fit of drunkenness yawning before him  far from arresting him  attracted
him  He had abandoned the bottle and taken to the beerglass  The
beer glass is the abyss  Having neither opium nor hashish on hand  and
being desirous of filling his brain with twilight  he had had recourse
to that fearful mixture of brandy  stout  absinthe  which produces the
most terrible of lethargies  It is of these three vapors  beer  brandy 
and absinthe  that the lead of the soul is composed  They are three
grooms  the celestial butterfly is drowned in them  and there are formed
there in a membranous smoke  vaguely condensed into the wing of the bat 
three mute furies  Nightmare  Night  and Death  which hover about the
slumbering Psyche 

Grantaire had not yet reached that lamentable phase  far from it  He was
tremendously gay  and Bossuet and Joly retorted  They clinked glasses 
Grantaire added to the eccentric accentuation of words and ideas 
a peculiarity of gesture  he rested his left fist on his knee with
dignity  his arm forming a right angle  and  with cravat untied  seated
astride a stool  his full glass in his right hand  he hurled solemn
words at the big maid servant Matelote   

 Let the doors of the palace be thrown open  Let every one be a member
of the French Academy and have the right to embrace Madame Hucheloup 
Let us drink  

And turning to Madame Hucheloup  he added   

 Woman ancient and consecrated by use  draw near that I may contemplate
thee  

And Joly exclaimed   

 Matelote and Gibelotte  dod t gib Grantaire anything more to drink 
He has already devoured  since this bording  in wild prodigality  two
francs and ninety five centibes  

And Grantaire began again   

 Who has been unhooking the stars without my permission  and putting
them on the table in the guise of candles  

Bossuet  though very drunk  preserved his equanimity 

He was seated on the sill of the open window  wetting his back in the
falling rain  and gazing at his two friends 

All at once  he heard a tumult behind him  hurried footsteps  cries of
 To arms   He turned round and saw in the Rue Saint Denis  at the end
of the Rue de la Chanvrerie  Enjolras passing  gun in hand  and Gavroche
with his pistol  Feuilly with his sword  Courfeyrac with his sword  and
Jean Prouvaire with his blunderbuss  Combeferre with his gun  Bahorel
with his gun  and the whole armed and stormy rabble which was following
them 

The Rue de la Chanvrerie was not more than a gunshot long  Bossuet
improvised a speaking trumpet from his two hands placed around his
mouth  and shouted   

 Courfeyrac  Courfeyrac  Hohee  

Courfeyrac heard the shout  caught sight of Bossuet  and advanced a few
paces into the Rue de la Chanvrerie  shouting   What do you want   which
crossed a  Where are you going  

 To make a barricade   replied Courfeyrac 

 Well  here  This is a good place  Make it here  

 That s true  Aigle   said Courfeyrac 

And at a signal from Courfeyrac  the mob flung themselves into the Rue
de la Chanvrerie 




CHAPTER III  NIGHT BEGINS TO DESCEND UPON GRANTAIRE

The spot was  in fact  admirably adapted  the entrance to the street
widened out  the other extremity narrowed together into a pocket
without exit  Corinthe created an obstacle  the Rue Mondetour was easily
barricaded on the right and the left  no attack was possible except
from the Rue Saint Denis  that is to say  in front  and in full sight 
Bossuet had the comprehensive glance of a fasting Hannibal 

Terror had seized on the whole street at the irruption of the mob  There
was not a passer by who did not get out of sight  In the space of a
flash of lightning  in the rear  to right and left  shops  stables 
area doors  windows  blinds  attic skylights  shutters of every
description were closed  from the ground floor to the roof  A terrified
old woman fixed a mattress in front of her window on two clothes poles
for drying linen  in order to deaden the effect of musketry  The
wine shop alone remained open  and that for a very good reason  that the
mob had rushed into it    Ah my God  Ah my God   sighed Mame Hucheloup 

Bossuet had gone down to meet Courfeyrac 

Joly  who had placed himself at the window  exclaimed   

 Courfeyrac  you ought to have brought an umbrella  You will gatch
gold  

In the meantime  in the space of a few minutes  twenty iron bars had
been wrenched from the grated front of the wine shop  ten fathoms of
street had been unpaved  Gavroche and Bahorel had seized in its passage 
and overturned  the dray of a lime dealer named Anceau  this dray
contained three barrels of lime  which they placed beneath the piles
of paving stones  Enjolras raised the cellar trap  and all the widow
Hucheloup s empty casks were used to flank the barrels of lime  Feuilly 
with his fingers skilled in painting the delicate sticks of fans  had
backed up the barrels and the dray with two massive heaps of blocks of
rough stone  Blocks which were improvised like the rest and procured
no one knows where  The beams which served as props were torn from
the neighboring house fronts and laid on the casks  When Bossuet and
Courfeyrac turned round  half the street was already barred with
a rampart higher than a man  There is nothing like the hand of the
populace for building everything that is built by demolishing 

Matelote and Gibelotte had mingled with the workers  Gibelotte went and
came loaded with rubbish  Her lassitude helped on the barricade  She
served the barricade as she would have served wine  with a sleepy air 

An omnibus with two white horses passed the end of the street 

Bossuet strode over the paving stones  ran to it  stopped the driver 
made the passengers alight  offered his hand to  the ladies   dismissed
the conductor  and returned  leading the vehicle and the horses by the
bridle 

 Omnibuses   said he   do not pass the Corinthe  Non licet omnibus adire
Corinthum  

An instant later  the horses were unharnessed and went off at their
will  through the Rue Mondetour  and the omnibus lying on its side
completed the bar across the street 

Mame Hucheloup  quite upset  had taken refuge in the first story 

Her eyes were vague  and stared without seeing anything  and she cried
in a low tone  Her terrified shrieks did not dare to emerge from her
throat 

 The end of the world has come   she muttered 

Joly deposited a kiss on Mame Hucheloup s fat  red  wrinkled neck  and
said to Grantaire   My dear fellow  I have always regarded a woman s
neck as an infinitely delicate thing  

But Grantaire attained to the highest regions of dithryamb  Matelote
had mounted to the first floor once more  Grantaire seized her round her
waist  and gave vent to long bursts of laughter at the window 

 Matelote is homely   he cried   Matelote is of a dream of ugliness 
Matelote is a chimaera  This is the secret of her birth  a Gothic
Pygmalion  who was making gargoyles for cathedrals  fell in love with
one of them  the most horrible  one fine morning  He besought Love to
give it life  and this produced Matelote  Look at her  citizens  She has
chromate of lead colored hair  like Titian s mistress  and she is a good
girl  I guarantee that she will fight well  Every good girl contains
a hero  As for Mother Hucheloup  she s an old warrior  Look at her
moustaches  She inherited them from her husband  A hussar indeed  She
will fight too  These two alone will strike terror to the heart of the
banlieue  Comrades  we shall overthrow the government as true as there
are fifteen intermediary acids between margaric acid and formic acid 
however  that is a matter of perfect indifference to me  Gentlemen  my
father always detested me because I could not understand mathematics 
I understand only love and liberty  I am Grantaire  the good fellow 
Having never had any money  I never acquired the habit of it  and the
result is that I have never lacked it  but  if I had been rich  there
would have been no more poor people  You would have seen  Oh  if the
kind hearts only had fat purses  how much better things would go  I
picture myself Jesus Christ with Rothschild s fortune  How much good he
would do  Matelote  embrace me  You are voluptuous and timid  You have
cheeks which invite the kiss of a sister  and lips which claim the kiss
of a lover  

 Hold your tongue  you cask   said Courfeyrac 

Grantaire retorted   

 I am the capitoul 52  and the master of the floral games  

Enjolras  who was standing on the crest of the barricade  gun in hand 
raised his beautiful  austere face  Enjolras  as the reader knows  had
something of the Spartan and of the Puritan in his composition  He would
have perished at Thermopylae with Leonidas  and burned at Drogheda with
Cromwell 

 Grantaire   he shouted   go get rid of the fumes of your wine somewhere
else than here  This is the place for enthusiasm  not for drunkenness 
Don t disgrace the barricade  

This angry speech produced a singular effect on Grantaire  One would
have said that he had had a glass of cold water flung in his face  He
seemed to be rendered suddenly sober 

He sat down  put his elbows on a table near the window  looked at
Enjolras with indescribable gentleness  and said to him   

 Let me sleep here  

 Go and sleep somewhere else   cried Enjolras 

But Grantaire  still keeping his tender and troubled eyes fixed on him 
replied   

 Let me sleep here   until I die  

Enjolras regarded him with disdainful eyes   

 Grantaire  you are incapable of believing  of thinking  of willing  of
living  and of dying  

Grantaire replied in a grave tone   

 You will see  

He stammered a few more unintelligible words  then his head fell heavily
on the table  and  as is the usual effect of the second period of
inebriety  into which Enjolras had roughly and abruptly thrust him  an
instant later he had fallen asleep 




CHAPTER IV  AN ATTEMPT TO CONSOLE THE WIDOW HUCHELOUP

Bahorel  in ecstasies over the barricade  shouted   

 Here s the street in its low necked dress  How well it looks  

Courfeyrac  as he demolished the wine shop to some extent  sought to
console the widowed proprietress 

 Mother Hucheloup  weren t you complaining the other day because you
had had a notice served on you for infringing the law  because Gibelotte
shook a counterpane out of your window  

 Yes  my good Monsieur Courfeyrac  Ah  good Heavens  are you going
to put that table of mine in your horror  too  And it was for the
counterpane  and also for a pot of flowers which fell from the attic
window into the street  that the government collected a fine of a
hundred francs  If that isn t an abomination  what is  

 Well  Mother Hucheloup  we are avenging you  

Mother Hucheloup did not appear to understand very clearly the benefit
which she was to derive from these reprisals made on her account  She
was satisfied after the manner of that Arab woman  who  having received
a box on the ear from her husband  went to complain to her father  and
cried for vengeance  saying   Father  you owe my husband affront for
affront   The father asked   On which cheek did you receive the blow  
 On the left cheek   The father slapped her right cheek and said   Now
you are satisfied  Go tell your husband that he boxed my daughter s
ears  and that I have accordingly boxed his wife s  

The rain had ceased  Recruits had arrived  Workmen had brought under
their blouses a barrel of powder  a basket containing bottles of
vitriol  two or three carnival torches  and a basket filled with
fire pots   left over from the King s festival   This festival was very
recent  having taken place on the 1st of May  It was said that these
munitions came from a grocer in the Faubourg Saint Antoine named Pepin 
They smashed the only street lantern in the Rue de la Chanvrerie 
the lantern corresponding to one in the Rue Saint Denis  and all
the lanterns in the surrounding streets  de Mondetour  du Cygne  des
Precheurs  and de la Grande and de la Petite Truanderie 

Enjolras  Combeferre  and Courfeyrac directed everything  Two barricades
were now in process of construction at once  both of them resting on the
Corinthe house and forming a right angle  the larger shut off the Rue
de la Chanvrerie  the other closed the Rue Mondetour  on the side of
the Rue de Cygne  This last barricade  which was very narrow  was
constructed only of casks and paving stones  There were about fifty
workers on it  thirty were armed with guns  for  on their way  they had
effected a wholesale loan from an armorer s shop 

Nothing could be more bizarre and at the same time more motley than this
troop  One had a round jacket  a cavalry sabre  and two holster pistols 
another was in his shirt sleeves  with a round hat  and a powder horn
slung at his side  a third wore a plastron of nine sheets of gray paper
and was armed with a saddler s awl  There was one who was shouting 
 Let us exterminate them to the last man and die at the point of our
bayonet   This man had no bayonet  Another spread out over his coat the
cross belt and cartridge box of a National Guardsman  the cover of the
cartridge box being ornamented with this inscription in red worsted 
Public Order  There were a great many guns bearing the numbers of the
legions  few hats  no cravats  many bare arms  some pikes  Add to
this  all ages  all sorts of faces  small  pale young men  and bronzed
longshoremen  All were in haste  and as they helped each other  they
discussed the possible chances  That they would receive succor about
three o clock in the morning  that they were sure of one regiment  that
Paris would rise  Terrible sayings with which was mingled a sort of
cordial joviality  One would have pronounced them brothers  but they did
not know each other s names  Great perils have this fine characteristic 
that they bring to light the fraternity of strangers  A fire had been
lighted in the kitchen  and there they were engaged in moulding into
bullets  pewter mugs  spoons  forks  and all the brass table ware of
the establishment  In the midst of it all  they drank  Caps and
buckshot were mixed pell mell on the tables with glasses of wine  In
the billiard hall  Mame Hucheloup  Matelote  and Gibelotte  variously
modified by terror  which had stupefied one  rendered another
breathless  and roused the third  were tearing up old dish cloths and
making lint  three insurgents were assisting them  three bushy haired 
jolly blades with beards and moustaches  who plucked away at the linen
with the fingers of seamstresses and who made them tremble 

The man of lofty stature whom Courfeyrac  Combeferre  and Enjolras had
observed at the moment when he joined the mob at the corner of the
Rue des Billettes  was at work on the smaller barricade and was making
himself useful there  Gavroche was working on the larger one  As for the
young man who had been waiting for Courfeyrac at his lodgings  and who
had inquired for M  Marius  he had disappeared at about the time when
the omnibus had been overturned 

Gavroche  completely carried away and radiant  had undertaken to get
everything in readiness  He went  came  mounted  descended  re mounted 
whistled  and sparkled  He seemed to be there for the encouragement of
all  Had he any incentive  Yes  certainly  his poverty  had he wings 
yes  certainly  his joy  Gavroche was a whirlwind  He was constantly
visible  he was incessantly audible  He filled the air  as he was
everywhere at once  He was a sort of almost irritating ubiquity  no halt
was possible with him  The enormous barricade felt him on its haunches 
He troubled the loungers  he excited the idle  he reanimated the weary 
he grew impatient over the thoughtful  he inspired gayety in some 
and breath in others  wrath in others  movement in all  now pricking
a student  now biting an artisan  he alighted  paused  flew off again 
hovered over the tumult  and the effort  sprang from one party to
another  murmuring and humming  and harassed the whole company  a fly on
the immense revolutionary coach 

Perpetual motion was in his little arms and perpetual clamor in his
little lungs 

 Courage  more paving stones  more casks  more machines  Where are you
now  A hod of plaster for me to stop this hole with  Your barricade
is very small  It must be carried up  Put everything on it  fling
everything there  stick it all in  Break down the house  A barricade is
Mother Gibou s tea  Hullo  here s a glass door  

This elicited an exclamation from the workers 

 A glass door  what do you expect us to do with a glass door  tubercle  

 Hercules yourselves   retorted Gavroche   A glass door is an excellent
thing in a barricade  It does not prevent an attack  but it prevents the
enemy taking it  So you ve never prigged apples over a wall where there
were broken bottles  A glass door cuts the corns of the National Guard
when they try to mount on the barricade  Pardi  glass is a treacherous
thing  Well  you haven t a very wildly lively imagination  comrades  

However  he was furious over his triggerless pistol  He went from one to
another  demanding   A gun  I want a gun  Why don t you give me a gun  

 Give you a gun   said Combeferre 

 Come now   said Gavroche   why not  I had one in 1830 when we had a
dispute with Charles X  

Enjolras shrugged his shoulders 

 When there are enough for the men  we will give some to the children  

Gavroche wheeled round haughtily  and answered   

 If you are killed before me  I shall take yours  

 Gamin   said Enjolras 

 Greenhorn   said Gavroche 

A dandy who had lost his way and who lounged past the end of the street
created a diversion  Gavroche shouted to him   

 Come with us  young fellow  well now  don t we do anything for this old
country of ours  

The dandy fled 




CHAPTER V  PREPARATIONS

The journals of the day which said that that nearly impregnable
structure  of the barricade of the Rue de la Chanvrerie  as they call
it  reached to the level of the first floor  were mistaken  The fact is 
that it did not exceed an average height of six or seven feet  It was
built in such a manner that the combatants could  at their will  either
disappear behind it or dominate the barrier and even scale its crest by
means of a quadruple row of paving stones placed on top of each other
and arranged as steps in the interior  On the outside  the front of the
barricade  composed of piles of paving stones and casks bound together
by beams and planks  which were entangled in the wheels of Anceau s dray
and of the overturned omnibus  had a bristling and inextricable aspect 

An aperture large enough to allow a man to pass through had been made
between the wall of the houses and the extremity of the barricade which
was furthest from the wine shop  so that an exit was possible at this
point  The pole of the omnibus was placed upright and held up with
ropes  and a red flag  fastened to this pole  floated over the
barricade 

The little Mondetour barricade  hidden behind the wine shop building 
was not visible  The two barricades united formed a veritable redoubt 
Enjolras and Courfeyrac had not thought fit to barricade the other
fragment of the Rue Mondetour which opens through the Rue des Precheurs
an issue into the Halles  wishing  no doubt  to preserve a possible
communication with the outside  and not entertaining much fear of
an attack through the dangerous and difficult street of the Rue des
Precheurs 

With the exception of this issue which was left free  and which
constituted what Folard in his strategical style would have termed a
branch and taking into account  also  the narrow cutting arranged on the
Rue de la Chanvrerie  the interior of the barricade  where the wine shop
formed a salient angle  presented an irregular square  closed on all
sides  There existed an interval of twenty paces between the grand
barrier and the lofty houses which formed the background of the street 
so that one might say that the barricade rested on these houses  all
inhabited  but closed from top to bottom 

All this work was performed without any hindrance  in less than an hour 
and without this handful of bold men seeing a single bear skin cap or
a single bayonet make their appearance  The very bourgeois who still
ventured at this hour of riot to enter the Rue Saint Denis cast a
glance at the Rue de la Chanvrerie  caught sight of the barricade  and
redoubled their pace 

The two barricades being finished  and the flag run up  a table was
dragged out of the wine shop  and Courfeyrac mounted on the table 
Enjolras brought the square coffer  and Courfeyrac opened it  This
coffer was filled with cartridges  When the mob saw the cartridges  a
tremor ran through the bravest  and a momentary silence ensued 

Courfeyrac distributed them with a smile 

Each one received thirty cartridges  Many had powder  and set about
making others with the bullets which they had run  As for the barrel of
powder  it stood on a table on one side  near the door  and was held in
reserve 

The alarm beat which ran through all Paris  did not cease  but it had
finally come to be nothing more than a monotonous noise to which they no
longer paid any attention  This noise retreated at times  and again drew
near  with melancholy undulations 

They loaded the guns and carbines  all together  without haste  with
solemn gravity  Enjolras went and stationed three sentinels outside the
barricades  one in the Rue de la Chanvrerie  the second in the Rue des
Precheurs  the third at the corner of the Rue de la Petite Truanderie 

Then  the barricades having been built  the posts assigned  the guns
loaded  the sentinels stationed  they waited  alone in those redoubtable
streets through which no one passed any longer  surrounded by those
dumb houses which seemed dead and in which no human movement palpitated 
enveloped in the deepening shades of twilight which was drawing on 
in the midst of that silence through which something could be felt
advancing  and which had about it something tragic and terrifying 
isolated  armed  determined  and tranquil 




CHAPTER VI  WAITING

During those hours of waiting  what did they do 

We must needs tell  since this is a matter of history 

While the men made bullets and the women lint  while a large saucepan
of melted brass and lead  destined to the bullet mould smoked over a
glowing brazier  while the sentinels watched  weapon in hand  on the
barricade  while Enjolras  whom it was impossible to divert  kept an
eye on the sentinels  Combeferre  Courfeyrac  Jean Prouvaire  Feuilly 
Bossuet  Joly  Bahorel  and some others  sought each other out and
united as in the most peaceful days of their conversations in their
student life  and  in one corner of this wine shop which had been
converted into a casement  a couple of paces distant from the redoubt
which they had built  with their carbines loaded and primed resting
against the backs of their chairs  these fine young fellows  so close to
a supreme hour  began to recite love verses 

What verses  These   

               Vous rappelez vous notre douce vie 
                 Lorsque nous etions si jeunes tous deux 
               Et que nous n avions au coeur d autre envie
                 Que d etre bien mis et d etre amoureux 

               Lorsqu en ajoutant votre age a mon age 
                 Nous ne comptions pas a deux quarante ans 
               Et que  dans notre humble et petit menage 
                 Tout  meme l hiver  nous etait printemps 

               Beaux jours  Manuel etait fier et sage 
                 Paris s asseyait a de saints banquets 
               Foy lancait la foudre  et votre corsage
                 Avait une epingle ou je me piquais 

               Tout vous contemplait  Avocat sans causes 
                 Quand je vous menais au Prado diner 
               Vous etiez jolie au point que les roses
                 Me faisaient l effet de se retourner 

               Je les entendais dire  Est elle belle 
                 Comme elle sent bon   Quels cheveux a flots 
               Sous son mantelet elle cache une aile 
                 Son bonnet charmant est a peine eclos 

               J errais avec toi  pressant ton bras souple 
                 Les passants crovaient que l amour charme
               Avait marie  dans notre heureux couple 
                 Le doux mois d avril au beau mois de mai 

               Nous vivions caches  contents  porte close 
                 Devorant l amour  bon fruit defendu 
               Ma bouche n avait pas dit une chose
                 Que deja ton coeur avait repondu 

               La Sorbonne etait l endroit bucolique
                 Ou je t adorais du soir au matin 
               C est ainsi qu une ame amoureuse applique
                 La carte du Tendre au pays Latin 

               O place Maubert  o place Dauphine 
                 Quand  dans le taudis frais et printanier 
               Tu tirais ton bas sur ton jambe fine 
                 Je voyais un astre au fond du grenier 

               J ai fort lu Platon  mais rien ne m en reste 
                 Mieux que Malebranche et que Lamennais 
               Tu me demontrais la bonte celeste
                 Avec une fleur que tu me donnais 

               Je t obeissais  tu m  etais soumise 
                 O grenier dore  te lacer  te voir
               Aller et venir des l aube en chemise 
                 Mirant ton jeune front a ton vieux miroir 

               Et qui done pourrait perde la memoire
                 De ces temps d aurore et de firmament 
               De rubans  de fleurs  de gaze et de moire 
                 Ou l amour begaye un argot charmant 

               Nos jardins etaient un pot de tulipe 
                 Tu masquais la vitre avec un jupon 
               Je prenais le bol de terre de pipe 
                 Et je te donnais le tasse en japon 

               Et ces grands malheurs qui nous faisaient rire 
                 Ton manchon brule  ton boa perdu 
               Et ce cher portrait du divin Shakespeare
                 Qu un soir pour souper nons avons vendu 

               J etais mendiant et toi charitable 
                 Je baisais au vol tes bras frais et ronds 
               Dante in folio nous servait de table
                 Pour manger gaiment un cent de marrons 

               La premiere fois qu en mon joyeux bouge
                 Je pris un baiser a ton levre en feu 
               Quand tu t en allais decoiffee et rouge 
                 Je restai tout pale et je crus en Dieu 

               Te rappelles tu nos bonheurs sans nombre 
                 Et tous ces fichus changes en chiffons 
               Oh que de soupirs  de nos coeurs pleins d ombre 
                 Se sont envoles dans les cieux profonds  53 


The hour  the spot  these souvenirs of youth recalled  a few stars
which began to twinkle in the sky  the funeral repose of those deserted
streets  the imminence of the inexorable adventure  which was in
preparation  gave a pathetic charm to these verses murmured in a low
tone in the dusk by Jean Prouvaire  who  as we have said  was a gentle
poet 

In the meantime  a lamp had been lighted in the small barricade  and in
the large one  one of those wax torches such as are to be met with on
Shrove Tuesday in front of vehicles loaded with masks  on their way
to la Courtille  These torches  as the reader has seen  came from the
Faubourg Saint Antoine 

The torch had been placed in a sort of cage of paving stones closed on
three sides to shelter it from the wind  and disposed in such a fashion
that all the light fell on the flag  The street and the barricade
remained sunk in gloom  and nothing was to be seen except the red flag
formidably illuminated as by an enormous dark lantern 

This light enhanced the scarlet of the flag  with an indescribable and
terrible purple 




CHAPTER VII  THE MAN RECRUITED IN THE RUE DES BILLETTES

Night was fully come  nothing made its appearance  All that they heard
was confused noises  and at intervals  fusillades  but these were rare 
badly sustained and distant  This respite  which was thus prolonged 
was a sign that the Government was taking its time  and collecting its
forces  These fifty men were waiting for sixty thousand 

Enjolras felt attacked by that impatience which seizes on strong souls
on the threshold of redoubtable events  He went in search of Gavroche 
who had set to making cartridges in the tap room  by the dubious light
of two candles placed on the counter by way of precaution  on account of
the powder which was scattered on the tables  These two candles cast no
gleam outside  The insurgents had  moreover  taken pains not to have any
light in the upper stories 

Gavroche was deeply preoccupied at that moment  but not precisely with
his cartridges  The man of the Rue des Billettes had just entered
the tap room and had seated himself at the table which was the least
lighted  A musket of large model had fallen to his share  and he held it
between his legs  Gavroche  who had been  up to that moment  distracted
by a hundred  amusing  things  had not even seen this man 

When he entered  Gavroche followed him mechanically with his eyes 
admiring his gun  then  all at once  when the man was seated  the street
urchin sprang to his feet  Any one who had spied upon that man up to
that moment  would have seen that he was observing everything in the
barricade and in the band of insurgents  with singular attention  but 
from the moment when he had entered this room  he had fallen into a sort
of brown study  and no longer seemed to see anything that was going on 
The gamin approached this pensive personage  and began to step around
him on tiptoe  as one walks in the vicinity of a person whom one is
afraid of waking  At the same time  over his childish countenance which
was  at once so impudent and so serious  so giddy and so profound  so
gay and so heart breaking  passed all those grimaces of an old man which
signify  Ah bah  impossible  My sight is bad  I am dreaming  can this
be  no  it is not  but yes  why  no  etc  Gavroche balanced on his
heels  clenched both fists in his pockets  moved his neck around like a
bird  expended in a gigantic pout all the sagacity of his lower lip  He
was astounded  uncertain  incredulous  convinced  dazzled  He had the
mien of the chief of the eunuchs in the slave mart  discovering a
Venus among the blowsy females  and the air of an amateur recognizing
a Raphael in a heap of daubs  His whole being was at work  the instinct
which scents out  and the intelligence which combines  It was evident
that a great event had happened in Gavroche s life 

It was at the most intense point of this preoccupation that Enjolras
accosted him 

 You are small   said Enjolras   you will not be seen  Go out of the
barricade  slip along close to the houses  skirmish about a bit in the
streets  and come back and tell me what is going on  

Gavroche raised himself on his haunches 

 So the little chaps are good for something  that s very lucky  I ll
go  In the meanwhile  trust to the little fellows  and distrust the big
ones   And Gavroche  raising his head and lowering his voice  added 
as he indicated the man of the Rue des Billettes   Do you see that big
fellow there  

 Well  

 He s a police spy  

 Are you sure of it  

 It isn t two weeks since he pulled me off the cornice of the Port
Royal  where I was taking the air  by my ear  

Enjolras hastily quitted the urchin and murmured a few words in a very
low tone to a longshoreman from the winedocks who chanced to be at hand 
The man left the room  and returned almost immediately  accompanied by
three others  The four men  four porters with broad shoulders  went
and placed themselves without doing anything to attract his attention 
behind the table on which the man of the Rue des Billettes was leaning
with his elbows  They were evidently ready to hurl themselves upon him 

Then Enjolras approached the man and demanded of him   

 Who are you  

At this abrupt query  the man started  He plunged his gaze deep into
Enjolras  clear eyes and appeared to grasp the latter s meaning  He
smiled with a smile than which nothing more disdainful  more energetic 
and more resolute could be seen in the world  and replied with haughty
gravity   

 I see what it is  Well  yes  

 You are a police spy  

 I am an agent of the authorities  

 And your name  

 Javert  

Enjolras made a sign to the four men  In the twinkling of an eye  before
Javert had time to turn round  he was collared  thrown down  pinioned
and searched 

They found on him a little round card pasted between two pieces of
glass  and bearing on one side the arms of France  engraved  and with
this motto  Supervision and vigilance  and on the other this note 
 JAVERT  inspector of police  aged fifty two   and the signature of the
Prefect of Police of that day  M  Gisquet 

Besides this  he had his watch and his purse  which contained several
gold pieces  They left him his purse and his watch  Under the watch 
at the bottom of his fob  they felt and seized a paper in an envelope 
which Enjolras unfolded  and on which he read these five lines  written
in the very hand of the Prefect of Police   

 As soon as his political mission is accomplished  Inspector Javert
will make sure  by special supervision  whether it is true that the
malefactors have instituted intrigues on the right bank of the Seine 
near the Jena bridge  

The search ended  they lifted Javert to his feet  bound his arms behind
his back  and fastened him to that celebrated post in the middle of the
room which had formerly given the wine shop its name 

Gavroche  who had looked on at the whole of this scene and had approved
of everything with a silent toss of his head  stepped up to Javert and
said to him   

 It s the mouse who has caught the cat  

All this was so rapidly executed  that it was all over when those about
the wine shop noticed it 

Javert had not uttered a single cry 

At the sight of Javert bound to the post  Courfeyrac  Bossuet  Joly 
Combeferre  and the men scattered over the two barricades came running
up 

Javert  with his back to the post  and so surrounded with ropes that he
could not make a movement  raised his head with the intrepid serenity of
the man who has never lied 

 He is a police spy   said Enjolras 

And turning to Javert   You will be shot ten minutes before the
barricade is taken  

Javert replied in his most imperious tone   

 Why not at once  

 We are saving our powder  

 Then finish the business with a blow from a knife  

 Spy   said the handsome Enjolras   we are judges and not assassins  

Then he called Gavroche   

 Here you  go about your business  Do what I told you  

 I m going   cried Gavroche 

And halting as he was on the point of setting out   

 By the way  you will give me his gun   and he added   I leave you the
musician  but I want the clarionet  

The gamin made the military salute and passed gayly through the opening
in the large barricade 




CHAPTER VIII  MANY INTERROGATION POINTS WITH REGARD TO A CERTAIN LE
CABUC WHOSE NAME MAY NOT HAVE BEEN LE CABUC

The tragic picture which we have undertaken would not be complete  the
reader would not see those grand moments of social birth pangs in a
revolutionary birth  which contain convulsion mingled with effort 
in their exact and real relief  were we to omit  in the sketch here
outlined  an incident full of epic and savage horror which occurred
almost immediately after Gavroche s departure 

Mobs  as the reader knows  are like a snowball  and collect as they
roll along  a throng of tumultuous men  These men do not ask each other
whence they come  Among the passers by who had joined the rabble led by
Enjolras  Combeferre  and Courfeyrac  there had been a person wearing
the jacket of a street porter  which was very threadbare on the
shoulders  who gesticulated and vociferated  and who had the look of a
drunken savage  This man  whose name or nickname was Le Cabuc  and who
was  moreover  an utter stranger to those who pretended to know him 
was very drunk  or assumed the appearance of being so  and had seated
himself with several others at a table which they had dragged outside
of the wine shop  This Cabuc  while making those who vied with him drunk
seemed to be examining with a thoughtful air the large house at the
extremity of the barricade  whose five stories commanded the whole
street and faced the Rue Saint Denis  All at once he exclaimed   

 Do you know  comrades  it is from that house yonder that we must fire 
When we are at the windows  the deuce is in it if any one can advance
into the street  

 Yes  but the house is closed   said one of the drinkers 

 Let us knock  

 They will not open  

 Let us break in the door  

Le Cabuc runs to the door  which had a very massive knocker  and knocks 
The door opens not  He strikes a second blow  No one answers  A third
stroke  The same silence 

 Is there any one here   shouts Cabuc 

Nothing stirs 

Then he seizes a gun and begins to batter the door with the butt end 

It was an ancient alley door  low  vaulted  narrow  solid  entirely of
oak  lined on the inside with a sheet of iron and iron stays  a genuine
prison postern  The blows from the butt end of the gun made the house
tremble  but did not shake the door 

Nevertheless  it is probable that the inhabitants were disturbed  for a
tiny  square window was finally seen to open on the third story  and at
this aperture appeared the reverend and terrified face of a gray haired
old man  who was the porter  and who held a candle 

The man who was knocking paused 

 Gentlemen   said the porter   what do you want  

 Open   said Cabuc 

 That cannot be  gentlemen  

 Open  nevertheless  

 Impossible  gentlemen  

Le Cabuc took his gun and aimed at the porter  but as he was below  and
as it was very dark  the porter did not see him 

 Will you open  yes or no  

 No  gentlemen  

 Do you say no  

 I say no  my goo   

The porter did not finish  The shot was fired  the ball entered under
his chin and came out at the nape of his neck  after traversing the
jugular vein 

The old man fell back without a sigh  The candle fell and was
extinguished  and nothing more was to be seen except a motionless head
lying on the sill of the small window  and a little whitish smoke which
floated off towards the roof 

 There   said Le Cabuc  dropping the butt end of his gun to the
pavement 

He had hardly uttered this word  when he felt a hand laid on his
shoulder with the weight of an eagle s talon  and he heard a voice
saying to him   

 On your knees  

The murderer turned round and saw before him Enjolras  cold  white face 

Enjolras held a pistol in his hand 

He had hastened up at the sound of the discharge 

He had seized Cabuc s collar  blouse  shirt  and suspender with his left
hand 

 On your knees   he repeated 

And  with an imperious motion  the frail young man of twenty years bent
the thickset and sturdy porter like a reed  and brought him to his knees
in the mire 

Le Cabuc attempted to resist  but he seemed to have been seized by a
superhuman hand 

Enjolras  pale  with bare neck and dishevelled hair  and his woman s
face  had about him at that moment something of the antique Themis 
His dilated nostrils  his downcast eyes  gave to his implacable Greek
profile that expression of wrath and that expression of Chastity which 
as the ancient world viewed the matter  befit Justice 

The whole barricade hastened up  then all ranged themselves in a circle
at a distance  feeling that it was impossible to utter a word in the
presence of the thing which they were about to behold 

Le Cabuc  vanquished  no longer tried to struggle  and trembled in every
limb 

Enjolras released him and drew out his watch 

 Collect yourself   said he   Think or pray  You have one minute  

 Mercy   murmured the murderer  then he dropped his head and stammered a
few inarticulate oaths 

Enjolras never took his eyes off of him  he allowed a minute to pass 
then he replaced his watch in his fob  That done  he grasped Le Cabuc
by the hair  as the latter coiled himself into a ball at his knees and
shrieked  and placed the muzzle of the pistol to his ear  Many of those
intrepid men  who had so tranquilly entered upon the most terrible of
adventures  turned aside their heads 

An explosion was heard  the assassin fell to the pavement face
downwards 

Enjolras straightened himself up  and cast a convinced and severe glance
around him  Then he spurned the corpse with his foot and said   

 Throw that outside  

Three men raised the body of the unhappy wretch  which was still
agitated by the last mechanical convulsions of the life that had fled 
and flung it over the little barricade into the Rue Mondetour 

Enjolras was thoughtful  It is impossible to say what grandiose shadows
slowly spread over his redoubtable serenity  All at once he raised his
voice 

A silence fell upon them 

 Citizens   said Enjolras   what that man did is frightful  what I have
done is horrible  He killed  therefore I killed him  I had to do it 
because insurrection must have its discipline  Assassination is even
more of a crime here than elsewhere  we are under the eyes of the
Revolution  we are the priests of the Republic  we are the victims of
duty  and must not be possible to slander our combat  I have  therefore 
tried that man  and condemned him to death  As for myself  constrained
as I am to do what I have done  and yet abhorring it  I have judged
myself also  and you shall soon see to what I have condemned myself  

Those who listened to him shuddered 

 We will share thy fate   cried Combeferre 

 So be it   replied Enjolras   One word more  In executing this man 
I have obeyed necessity  but necessity is a monster of the old world 
necessity s name is Fatality  Now  the law of progress is  that monsters
shall disappear before the angels  and that Fatality shall vanish before
Fraternity  It is a bad moment to pronounce the word love  No matter  I
do pronounce it  And I glorify it  Love  the future is thine  Death  I
make use of thee  but I hate thee  Citizens  in the future there will
be neither darkness nor thunderbolts  neither ferocious ignorance  nor
bloody retaliation  As there will be no more Satan  there will be no
more Michael  In the future no one will kill any one else  the earth
will beam with radiance  the human race will love  The day will come 
citizens  when all will be concord  harmony  light  joy and life  it
will come  and it is in order that it may come that we are about to
die  

Enjolras ceased  His virgin lips closed  and he remained for some time
standing on the spot where he had shed blood  in marble immobility  His
staring eye caused those about him to speak in low tones 

Jean Prouvaire and Combeferre pressed each other s hands silently  and 
leaning against each other in an angle of the barricade  they watched
with an admiration in which there was some compassion  that grave young
man  executioner and priest  composed of light  like crystal  and also
of rock 

Let us say at once that later on  after the action  when the bodies were
taken to the morgue and searched  a police agent s card was found on Le
Cabuc  The author of this book had in his hands  in 1848  the special
report on this subject made to the Prefect of Police in 1832 

We will add  that if we are to believe a tradition of the police  which
is strange but probably well founded  Le Cabuc was Claquesous  The fact
is  that dating from the death of Le Cabuc  there was no longer any
question of Claquesous  Claquesous had nowhere left any trace of his
disappearance  he would seem to have amalgamated himself with the
invisible  His life had been all shadows  his end was night 

The whole insurgent group was still under the influence of the emotion
of that tragic case which had been so quickly tried and so quickly
terminated  when Courfeyrac again beheld on the barricade  the small
young man who had inquired of him that morning for Marius 

This lad  who had a bold and reckless air  had come by night to join the
insurgents 




BOOK THIRTEENTH   MARIUS ENTERS THE SHADOW




CHAPTER I  FROM THE RUE PLUMET TO THE QUARTIER SAINT DENIS

The voice which had summoned Marius through the twilight to the
barricade of the Rue de la Chanvrerie  had produced on him the effect
of the voice of destiny  He wished to die  the opportunity presented
itself  he knocked at the door of the tomb  a hand in the darkness
offered him the key  These melancholy openings which take place in the
gloom before despair  are tempting  Marius thrust aside the bar which
had so often allowed him to pass  emerged from the garden  and said   I
will go  

Mad with grief  no longer conscious of anything fixed or solid in his
brain  incapable of accepting anything thenceforth of fate after those
two months passed in the intoxication of youth and love  overwhelmed at
once by all the reveries of despair  he had but one desire remaining  to
make a speedy end of all 

He set out at rapid pace  He found himself most opportunely armed  as he
had Javert s pistols with him 

The young man of whom he thought that he had caught a glimpse  had
vanished from his sight in the street 

Marius  who had emerged from the Rue Plumet by the boulevard  traversed
the Esplanade and the bridge of the Invalides  the Champs Elysees  the
Place Louis XV   and reached the Rue de Rivoli  The shops were open
there  the gas was burning under the arcades  women were making their
purchases in the stalls  people were eating ices in the Cafe Laiter 
and nibbling small cakes at the English pastry cook s shop  Only a few
posting chaises were setting out at a gallop from the Hotel des Princes
and the Hotel Meurice 

Marius entered the Rue Saint Honore through the Passage Delorme  There
the shops were closed  the merchants were chatting in front of their
half open doors  people were walking about  the street lanterns were
lighted  beginning with the first floor  all the windows were lighted as
usual  There was cavalry on the Place du Palais Royal 

Marius followed the Rue Saint Honore  In proportion as he left the
Palais Royal behind him  there were fewer lighted windows  the shops
were fast shut  no one was chatting on the thresholds  the street grew
sombre  and  at the same time  the crowd increased in density  For the
passers by now amounted to a crowd  No one could be seen to speak in
this throng  and yet there arose from it a dull  deep murmur 

Near the fountain of the Arbre Sec  there were  assemblages   motionless
and gloomy groups which were to those who went and came as stones in the
midst of running water 

At the entrance to the Rue des Prouvaires  the crowd no longer walked 
It formed a resisting  massive  solid  compact  almost impenetrable
block of people who were huddled together  and conversing in low tones 
There were hardly any black coats or round hats now  but smock frocks 
blouses  caps  and bristling and cadaverous heads  This multitude
undulated confusedly in the nocturnal gloom  Its whisperings had the
hoarse accent of a vibration  Although not one of them was walking  a
dull trampling was audible in the mire  Beyond this dense portion of
the throng  in the Rue du Roule  in the Rue des Prouvaires  and in the
extension of the Rue Saint Honore  there was no longer a single window
in which a candle was burning  Only the solitary and diminishing rows
of lanterns could be seen vanishing into the street in the distance  The
lanterns of that date resembled large red stars  hanging to ropes  and
shed upon the pavement a shadow which had the form of a huge spider 
These streets were not deserted  There could be descried piles of guns 
moving bayonets  and troops bivouacking  No curious observer passed that
limit  There circulation ceased  There the rabble ended and the army
began 

Marius willed with the will of a man who hopes no more  He had been
summoned  he must go  He found a means to traverse the throng and to
pass the bivouac of the troops  he shunned the patrols  he avoided the
sentinels  He made a circuit  reached the Rue de Bethisy  and directed
his course towards the Halles  At the corner of the Rue des Bourdonnais 
there were no longer any lanterns 

After having passed the zone of the crowd  he had passed the limits of
the troops  he found himself in something startling  There was no longer
a passer by  no longer a soldier  no longer a light  there was no one 
solitude  silence  night  I know not what chill which seized hold upon
one  Entering a street was like entering a cellar 

He continued to advance 

He took a few steps  Some one passed close to him at a run  Was it a
man  Or a woman  Were there many of them  he could not have told  It had
passed and vanished 

Proceeding from circuit to circuit  he reached a lane which he judged
to be the Rue de la Poterie  near the middle of this street  he came in
contact with an obstacle  He extended his hands  It was an overturned
wagon  his foot recognized pools of water  gullies  and paving stones
scattered and piled up  A barricade had been begun there and abandoned 
He climbed over the stones and found himself on the other side of the
barrier  He walked very near the street posts  and guided himself along
the walls of the houses  A little beyond the barricade  it seemed to him
that he could make out something white in front of him  He approached 
it took on a form  It was two white horses  the horses of the omnibus
harnessed by Bossuet in the morning  who had been straying at random all
day from street to street  and had finally halted there  with the weary
patience of brutes who no more understand the actions of men  than man
understands the actions of Providence 

Marius left the horses behind him  As he was approaching a street which
seemed to him to be the Rue du Contrat Social  a shot coming no one
knows whence  and traversing the darkness at random  whistled close by
him  and the bullet pierced a brass shaving dish suspended above his
head over a hairdresser s shop  This pierced shaving dish was still
to be seen in 1848  in the Rue du Contrat Social  at the corner of the
pillars of the market 

This shot still betokened life  From that instant forth he encountered
nothing more 

The whole of this itinerary resembled a descent of black steps 

Nevertheless  Marius pressed forward 




CHAPTER II  AN OWL S VIEW OF PARIS

A being who could have hovered over Paris that night with the wing of
the bat or the owl would have had beneath his eyes a gloomy spectacle 

All that old quarter of the Halles  which is like a city within a
city  through which run the Rues Saint Denis and Saint Martin  where a
thousand lanes cross  and of which the insurgents had made their
redoubt and their stronghold  would have appeared to him like a dark and
enormous cavity hollowed out in the centre of Paris  There the glance
fell into an abyss  Thanks to the broken lanterns  thanks to the closed
windows  there all radiance  all life  all sound  all movement ceased 
The invisible police of the insurrection were on the watch everywhere 
and maintained order  that is to say  night  The necessary tactics of
insurrection are to drown small numbers in a vast obscurity  to multiply
every combatant by the possibilities which that obscurity contains  At
dusk  every window where a candle was burning received a shot  The light
was extinguished  sometimes the inhabitant was killed  Hence nothing was
stirring  There was nothing but fright  mourning  stupor in the houses 
and in the streets  a sort of sacred horror  Not even the long rows of
windows and stores  the indentations of the chimneys  and the roofs 
and the vague reflections which are cast back by the wet and muddy
pavements  were visible  An eye cast upward at that mass of shadows
might  perhaps  have caught a glimpse here and there  at intervals 
of indistinct gleams which brought out broken and eccentric lines  and
profiles of singular buildings  something like the lights which go and
come in ruins  it was at such points that the barricades were situated 
The rest was a lake of obscurity  foggy  heavy  and funereal  above
which  in motionless and melancholy outlines  rose the tower of
Saint Jacques  the church of Saint Merry  and two or three more of those
grand edifices of which man makes giants and the night makes phantoms 

All around this deserted and disquieting labyrinth  in the quarters
where the Parisian circulation had not been annihilated  and where a
few street lanterns still burned  the aerial observer might have
distinguished the metallic gleam of swords and bayonets  the dull rumble
of artillery  and the swarming of silent battalions whose ranks were
swelling from minute to minute  a formidable girdle which was slowly
drawing in and around the insurrection 

The invested quarter was no longer anything more than a monstrous
cavern  everything there appeared to be asleep or motionless  and  as we
have just seen  any street which one might come to offered nothing but
darkness 

A wild darkness  full of traps  full of unseen and formidable shocks 
into which it was alarming to penetrate  and in which it was terrible to
remain  where those who entered shivered before those whom they awaited 
where those who waited shuddered before those who were coming  Invisible
combatants were entrenched at every corner of the street  snares of the
sepulchre concealed in the density of night  All was over  No more
light was to be hoped for  henceforth  except the lightning of guns 
no further encounter except the abrupt and rapid apparition of death 
Where  How  When  No one knew  but it was certain and inevitable  In
this place which had been marked out for the struggle  the Government
and the insurrection  the National Guard  and popular societies  the
bourgeois and the uprising  groping their way  were about to come into
contact  The necessity was the same for both  The only possible issue
thenceforth was to emerge thence killed or conquerors  A situation so
extreme  an obscurity so powerful  that the most timid felt themselves
seized with resolution  and the most daring with terror 

Moreover  on both sides  the fury  the rage  and the determination were
equal  For the one party  to advance meant death  and no one dreamed of
retreating  for the other  to remain meant death  and no one dreamed of
flight 

It was indispensable that all should be ended on the following day  that
triumph should rest either here or there  that the insurrection should
prove itself a revolution or a skirmish  The Government understood this
as well as the parties  the most insignificant bourgeois felt it  Hence
a thought of anguish which mingled with the impenetrable gloom of this
quarter where all was at the point of being decided  hence a redoubled
anxiety around that silence whence a catastrophe was on the point of
emerging  Here only one sound was audible  a sound as heart rending
as the death rattle  as menacing as a malediction  the tocsin of
Saint Merry  Nothing could be more blood curdling than the clamor of
that wild and desperate bell  wailing amid the shadows 

As it often happens  nature seemed to have fallen into accord with what
men were about to do  Nothing disturbed the harmony of the whole effect 
The stars had disappeared  heavy clouds filled the horizon with their
melancholy folds  A black sky rested on these dead streets  as though an
immense winding sheet were being outspread over this immense tomb 

While a battle that was still wholly political was in preparation in the
same locality which had already witnessed so many revolutionary events 
while youth  the secret associations  the schools  in the name of
principles  and the middle classes  in the name of interests  were
approaching preparatory to dashing themselves together  clasping and
throwing each other  while each one hastened and invited the last and
decisive hour of the crisis  far away and quite outside of this fatal
quarter  in the most profound depths of the unfathomable cavities of
that wretched old Paris which disappears under the splendor of happy
and opulent Paris  the sombre voice of the people could be heard giving
utterance to a dull roar 

A fearful and sacred voice which is composed of the roar of the brute
and of the word of God  which terrifies the weak and which warns the
wise  which comes both from below like the voice of the lion  and from
on high like the voice of the thunder 




CHAPTER III  THE EXTREME EDGE

Marius had reached the Halles 

There everything was still calmer  more obscure and more motionless than
in the neighboring streets  One would have said that the glacial peace
of the sepulchre had sprung forth from the earth and had spread over the
heavens 

Nevertheless  a red glow brought out against this black background the
lofty roofs of the houses which barred the Rue de la Chanvrerie on
the Saint Eustache side  It was the reflection of the torch which was
burning in the Corinthe barricade  Marius directed his steps towards
that red light  It had drawn him to the Marche aux Poirees  and he
caught a glimpse of the dark mouth of the Rue des Precheurs  He entered
it  The insurgents  sentinel  who was guarding the other end  did not
see him  He felt that he was very close to that which he had come in
search of  and he walked on tiptoe  In this manner he reached the elbow
of that short section of the Rue Mondetour which was  as the reader will
remember  the only communication which Enjolras had preserved with the
outside world  At the corner of the last house  on his left  he thrust
his head forward  and looked into the fragment of the Rue Mondetour 

A little beyond the angle of the lane and the Rue de la Chanvrerie which
cast a broad curtain of shadow  in which he was himself engulfed 
he perceived some light on the pavement  a bit of the wine shop  and
beyond  a flickering lamp within a sort of shapeless wall  and men
crouching down with guns on their knees  All this was ten fathoms
distant from him  It was the interior of the barricade 

The houses which bordered the lane on the right concealed the rest of
the wine shop  the large barricade  and the flag from him 

Marius had but a step more to take 

Then the unhappy young man seated himself on a post  folded his arms 
and fell to thinking about his father 

He thought of that heroic Colonel Pontmercy  who had been so proud a
soldier  who had guarded the frontier of France under the Republic  and
had touched the frontier of Asia under Napoleon  who had beheld Genoa 
Alexandria  Milan  Turin  Madrid  Vienna  Dresden  Berlin  Moscow  who
had left on all the victorious battle fields of Europe drops of that
same blood  which he  Marius  had in his veins  who had grown gray
before his time in discipline and command  who had lived with his
sword belt buckled  his epaulets falling on his breast  his cockade
blackened with powder  his brow furrowed with his helmet  in barracks 
in camp  in the bivouac  in ambulances  and who  at the expiration of
twenty years  had returned from the great wars with a scarred cheek  a
smiling countenance  tranquil  admirable  pure as a child  having done
everything for France and nothing against her 

He said to himself that his day had also come now  that his hour had
struck  that following his father  he too was about to show himself
brave  intrepid  bold  to run to meet the bullets  to offer his breast
to bayonets  to shed his blood  to seek the enemy  to seek death  that
he was about to wage war in his turn and descend to the field of battle 
and that the field of battle upon which he was to descend was the
street  and that the war in which he was about to engage was civil war 

He beheld civil war laid open like a gulf before him  and into this he
was about to fall  Then he shuddered 

He thought of his father s sword  which his grandfather had sold to a
second hand dealer  and which he had so mournfully regretted  He said to
himself that that chaste and valiant sword had done well to escape from
him  and to depart in wrath into the gloom  that if it had thus fled  it
was because it was intelligent and because it had foreseen the future 
that it had had a presentiment of this rebellion  the war of the
gutters  the war of the pavements  fusillades through cellar windows 
blows given and received in the rear  it was because  coming from
Marengo and Friedland  it did not wish to go to the Rue de la
Chanvrerie  it was because  after what it had done with the father  it
did not wish to do this for the son  He told himself that if that sword
were there  if after taking possession of it at his father s pillow 
he had dared to take it and carry it off for this combat of darkness
between Frenchmen in the streets  it would assuredly have scorched his
hands and burst out aflame before his eyes  like the sword of the angel 
He told himself that it was fortunate that it was not there and that
it had disappeared  that that was well  that that was just  that his
grandfather had been the true guardian of his father s glory  and that
it was far better that the colonel s sword should be sold at auction 
sold to the old clothes man  thrown among the old junk  than that it
should  to day  wound the side of his country 

And then he fell to weeping bitterly 

This was horrible  But what was he to do  Live without Cosette he could
not  Since she was gone  he must needs die  Had he not given her his
word of honor that he would die  She had gone knowing that  this meant
that it pleased her that Marius should die  And then  it was clear that
she no longer loved him  since she had departed thus without warning 
without a word  without a letter  although she knew his address  What
was the good of living  and why should he live now  And then  what 
should he retreat after going so far  should he flee from danger after
having approached it  should he slip away after having come and peeped
into the barricade  slip away  all in a tremble  saying   After all  I
have had enough of it as it is  I have seen it  that suffices  this is
civil war  and I shall take my leave   Should he abandon his friends who
were expecting him  Who were in need of him possibly  who were a mere
handful against an army  Should he be untrue at once to his love  to
country  to his word  Should he give to his cowardice the pretext of
patriotism  But this was impossible  and if the phantom of his father
was there in the gloom  and beheld him retreating  he would beat him on
the loins with the flat of his sword  and shout to him   March on  you
poltroon  

Thus a prey to the conflicting movements of his thoughts  he dropped his
head 

All at once he raised it  A sort of splendid rectification had just been
effected in his mind  There is a widening of the sphere of thought which
is peculiar to the vicinity of the grave  it makes one see clearly to
be near death  The vision of the action into which he felt that he
was  perhaps  on the point of entering  appeared to him no more
as lamentable  but as superb  The war of the street was suddenly
transfigured by some unfathomable inward working of his soul  before the
eye of his thought  All the tumultuous interrogation points of revery
recurred to him in throngs  but without troubling him  He left none of
them unanswered 

Let us see  why should his father be indignant  Are there not cases
where insurrection rises to the dignity of duty  What was there that was
degrading for the son of Colonel Pontmercy in the combat which was about
to begin  It is no longer Montmirail nor Champaubert  it is something
quite different  The question is no longer one of sacred territory   but
of a holy idea  The country wails  that may be  but humanity applauds 
But is it true that the country does wail  France bleeds  but liberty
smiles  and in the presence of liberty s smile  France forgets her
wound  And then if we look at things from a still more lofty point of
view  why do we speak of civil war 

Civil war  what does that mean  Is there a foreign war  Is not all war
between men  war between brothers  War is qualified only by its object 
There is no such thing as foreign or civil war  there is only just and
unjust war  Until that day when the grand human agreement is concluded 
war  that at least which is the effort of the future  which is hastening
on against the past  which is lagging in the rear  may be necessary 
What have we to reproach that war with  War does not become a disgrace 
the sword does not become a disgrace  except when it is used for
assassinating the right  progress  reason  civilization  truth  Then
war  whether foreign or civil  is iniquitous  it is called crime 
Outside the pale of that holy thing  justice  by what right does
one form of man despise another  By what right should the sword of
Washington disown the pike of Camille Desmoulins  Leonidas against the
stranger  Timoleon against the tyrant  which is the greater  the one is
the defender  the other the liberator  Shall we brand every appeal
to arms within a city s limits without taking the object into a
consideration  Then note the infamy of Brutus  Marcel  Arnould von
Blankenheim  Coligny  Hedgerow war  War of the streets  Why not  That
was the war of Ambiorix  of Artevelde  of Marnix  of Pelagius  But
Ambiorix fought against Rome  Artevelde against France  Marnix against
Spain  Pelagius against the Moors  all against the foreigner  Well  the
monarchy is a foreigner  oppression is a stranger  the right divine is
a stranger  Despotism violates the moral frontier  an invasion violates
the geographical frontier  Driving out the tyrant or driving out the
English  in both cases  regaining possession of one s own territory 
There comes an hour when protestation no longer suffices  after
philosophy  action is required  live force finishes what the idea
has sketched out  Prometheus chained begins  Arostogeiton ends  the
encyclopedia enlightens souls  the 10th of August electrifies them 
After AEschylus  Thrasybulus  after Diderot  Danton  Multitudes have
a tendency to accept the master  Their mass bears witness to apathy 
A crowd is easily led as a whole to obedience  Men must be stirred up 
pushed on  treated roughly by the very benefit of their deliverance 
their eyes must be wounded by the true  light must be hurled at them
in terrible handfuls  They must be a little thunderstruck themselves at
their own well being  this dazzling awakens them  Hence the necessity
of tocsins and wars  Great combatants must rise  must enlighten nations
with audacity  and shake up that sad humanity which is covered
with gloom by the right divine  Caesarian glory  force  fanaticism 
irresponsible power  and absolute majesty  a rabble stupidly occupied in
the contemplation  in their twilight splendor  of these sombre triumphs
of the night  Down with the tyrant  Of whom are you speaking  Do you
call Louis Philippe the tyrant  No  no more than Louis XVI  Both of them
are what history is in the habit of calling good kings  but principles
are not to be parcelled out  the logic of the true is rectilinear  the
peculiarity of truth is that it lacks complaisance  no concessions 
then  all encroachments on man should be repressed  There is a divine
right in Louis XVI   there is because a Bourbon in Louis Philippe  both
represent in a certain measure the confiscation of right  and  in order
to clear away universal insurrection  they must be combated  it must
be done  France being always the one to begin  When the master falls
in France  he falls everywhere  In short  what cause is more just  and
consequently  what war is greater  than that which re establishes
social truth  restores her throne to liberty  restores the people to the
people  restores sovereignty to man  replaces the purple on the head of
France  restores equity and reason in their plenitude  suppresses every
germ of antagonism by restoring each one to himself  annihilates the
obstacle which royalty presents to the whole immense universal concord 
and places the human race once more on a level with the right  These
wars build up peace  An enormous fortress of prejudices  privileges 
superstitions  lies  exactions  abuses  violences  iniquities  and
darkness still stands erect in this world  with its towers of hatred 
It must be cast down  This monstrous mass must be made to crumble  To
conquer at Austerlitz is grand  to take the Bastille is immense 

There is no one who has not noticed it in his own case  the soul   and
therein lies the marvel of its unity complicated with ubiquity  has
a strange aptitude for reasoning almost coldly in the most violent
extremities  and it often happens that heartbroken passion and profound
despair in the very agony of their blackest monologues  treat subjects
and discuss theses  Logic is mingled with convulsion  and the thread
of the syllogism floats  without breaking  in the mournful storm of
thought  This was the situation of Marius  mind 

As he meditated thus  dejected but resolute  hesitating in every
direction  and  in short  shuddering at what he was about to do  his
glance strayed to the interior of the barricade  The insurgents
were here conversing in a low voice  without moving  and there
was perceptible that quasi silence which marks the last stage of
expectation  Overhead  at the small window in the third story Marius
descried a sort of spectator who appeared to him to be singularly
attentive  This was the porter who had been killed by Le Cabuc  Below 
by the lights of the torch  which was thrust between the paving stones 
this head could be vaguely distinguished  Nothing could be stranger  in
that sombre and uncertain gleam  than that livid  motionless  astonished
face  with its bristling hair  its eyes fixed and staring  and its
yawning mouth  bent over the street in an attitude of curiosity  One
would have said that the man who was dead was surveying those who were
about to die  A long trail of blood which had flowed from that head 
descended in reddish threads from the window to the height of the first
floor  where it stopped 




BOOK FOURTEENTH   THE GRANDEURS OF DESPAIR

 Illustration  The Grandeurs of Despair 4b 14 1 despair 




CHAPTER I  THE FLAG  ACT FIRST

As yet  nothing had come  Ten o clock had sounded from Saint Merry 
Enjolras and Combeferre had gone and seated themselves  carbines in
hand  near the outlet of the grand barricade  They no longer addressed
each other  they listened  seeking to catch even the faintest and most
distant sound of marching 

Suddenly  in the midst of the dismal calm  a clear  gay  young voice 
which seemed to come from the Rue Saint Denis  rose and began to sing
distinctly  to the old popular air of  By the Light of the Moon   this
bit of poetry  terminated by a cry like the crow of a cock   

               Mon nez est en larmes 
               Mon ami Bugeaud 
               Prete moi tes gendarmes
               Pour leur dire un mot 

                  En capote bleue 
                  La poule au shako 
                  Voici la banlieue 
                  Co cocorico  54 


They pressed each other s hands 

 That is Gavroche   said Enjolras 

 He is warning us   said Combeferre 

A hasty rush troubled the deserted street  they beheld a being more
agile than a clown climb over the omnibus  and Gavroche bounded into the
barricade  all breathless  saying   

 My gun  Here they are  

An electric quiver shot through the whole barricade  and the sound of
hands seeking their guns became audible 

 Would you like my carbine   said Enjolras to the lad 

 I want a big gun   replied Gavroche 

And he seized Javert s gun 

Two sentinels had fallen back  and had come in almost at the same moment
as Gavroche  They were the sentinels from the end of the street  and the
vidette of the Rue de la Petite Truanderie  The vidette of the Lane des
Precheurs had remained at his post  which indicated that nothing was
approaching from the direction of the bridges and Halles 

The Rue de la Chanvrerie  of which a few paving stones alone were dimly
visible in the reflection of the light projected on the flag  offered
to the insurgents the aspect of a vast black door vaguely opened into a
smoke 

Each man had taken up his position for the conflict 

Forty three insurgents  among whom were Enjolras  Combeferre 
Courfeyrac  Bossuet  Joly  Bahorel  and Gavroche  were kneeling inside
the large barricade  with their heads on a level with the crest of the
barrier  the barrels of their guns and carbines aimed on the stones as
though at loop holes  attentive  mute  ready to fire  Six  commanded
by Feuilly  had installed themselves  with their guns levelled at their
shoulders  at the windows of the two stories of Corinthe 

Several minutes passed thus  then a sound of footsteps  measured  heavy 
and numerous  became distinctly audible in the direction of Saint Leu 
This sound  faint at first  then precise  then heavy and sonorous 
approached slowly  without halt  without intermission  with a tranquil
and terrible continuity  Nothing was to be heard but this  It was that
combined silence and sound  of the statue of the commander  but this
stony step had something indescribably enormous and multiple about it
which awakened the idea of a throng  and  at the same time  the idea
of a spectre  One thought one heard the terrible statue Legion marching
onward  This tread drew near  it drew still nearer  and stopped  It
seemed as though the breathing of many men could be heard at the end of
the street  Nothing was to be seen  however  but at the bottom of that
dense obscurity there could be distinguished a multitude of metallic
threads  as fine as needles and almost imperceptible  which moved about
like those indescribable phosphoric networks which one sees beneath
one s closed eyelids  in the first mists of slumber at the moment
when one is dropping off to sleep  These were bayonets and gun barrels
confusedly illuminated by the distant reflection of the torch 

A pause ensued  as though both sides were waiting  All at once  from the
depths of this darkness  a voice  which was all the more sinister  since
no one was visible  and which appeared to be the gloom itself speaking 
shouted   

 Who goes there  

At the same time  the click of guns  as they were lowered into position 
was heard 

Enjolras replied in a haughty and vibrating tone   

 The French Revolution  

 Fire   shouted the voice 

A flash empurpled all the facades in the street as though the door of a
furnace had been flung open  and hastily closed again 

A fearful detonation burst forth on the barricade  The red flag fell 
The discharge had been so violent and so dense that it had cut the
staff  that is to say  the very tip of the omnibus pole 

Bullets which had rebounded from the cornices of the houses penetrated
the barricade and wounded several men 

The impression produced by this first discharge was freezing  The attack
had been rough  and of a nature to inspire reflection in the boldest 
It was evident that they had to deal with an entire regiment at the very
least 

 Comrades   shouted Courfeyrac   let us not waste our powder  Let us
wait until they are in the street before replying  

 And  above all   said Enjolras   let us raise the flag again  

He picked up the flag  which had fallen precisely at his feet 

Outside  the clatter of the ramrods in the guns could be heard  the
troops were re loading their arms 

Enjolras went on   

 Who is there here with a bold heart  Who will plant the flag on the
barricade again  

Not a man responded  To mount on the barricade at the very moment when 
without any doubt  it was again the object of their aim  was simply
death  The bravest hesitated to pronounce his own condemnation  Enjolras
himself felt a thrill  He repeated   

 Does no one volunteer  




CHAPTER II  THE FLAG  ACT SECOND

Since they had arrived at Corinthe  and had begun the construction of
the barricade  no attention had been paid to Father Mabeuf  M  Mabeuf
had not quitted the mob  however  he had entered the ground floor of the
wine shop and had seated himself behind the counter  There he had  so to
speak  retreated into himself  He no longer seemed to look or to think 
Courfeyrac and others had accosted him two or three times  warning him
of his peril  beseeching him to withdraw  but he did not hear them 
When they were not speaking to him  his mouth moved as though he were
replying to some one  and as soon as he was addressed  his lips became
motionless and his eyes no longer had the appearance of being alive 

Several hours before the barricade was attacked  he had assumed an
attitude which he did not afterwards abandon  with both fists planted
on his knees and his head thrust forward as though he were gazing over a
precipice  Nothing had been able to move him from this attitude  it did
not seem as though his mind were in the barricade  When each had gone
to take up his position for the combat  there remained in the tap room
where Javert was bound to the post  only a single insurgent with a naked
sword  watching over Javert  and himself  Mabeuf  At the moment of the
attack  at the detonation  the physical shock had reached him and had 
as it were  awakened him  he started up abruptly  crossed the room 
and at the instant when Enjolras repeated his appeal   Does no one
volunteer   the old man was seen to make his appearance on the threshold
of the wine shop  His presence produced a sort of commotion in the
different groups  A shout went up   

 It is the voter  It is the member of the Convention  It is the
representative of the people  

It is probable that he did not hear them 

He strode straight up to Enjolras  the insurgents withdrawing before him
with a religious fear  he tore the flag from Enjolras  who recoiled in
amazement and then  since no one dared to stop or to assist him  this
old man of eighty  with shaking head but firm foot  began slowly to
ascend the staircase of paving stones arranged in the barricade  This
was so melancholy and so grand that all around him cried   Off with your
hats   At every step that he mounted  it was a frightful spectacle  his
white locks  his decrepit face  his lofty  bald  and wrinkled brow 
his amazed and open mouth  his aged arm upholding the red banner  rose
through the gloom and were enlarged in the bloody light of the torch 
and the bystanders thought that they beheld the spectre of  93 emerging
from the earth  with the flag of terror in his hand 

When he had reached the last step  when this trembling and terrible
phantom  erect on that pile of rubbish in the presence of twelve hundred
invisible guns  drew himself up in the face of death and as though
he were more powerful than it  the whole barricade assumed amid the
darkness  a supernatural and colossal form 

There ensued one of those silences which occur only in the presence of
prodigies  In the midst of this silence  the old man waved the red flag
and shouted   

 Long live the Revolution  Long live the Republic  Fraternity  Equality 
and Death  

Those in the barricade heard a low and rapid whisper  like the murmur
of a priest who is despatching a prayer in haste  It was probably the
commissary of police who was making the legal summons at the other end
of the street 

Then the same piercing voice which had shouted   Who goes there  
shouted   

 Retire  

M  Mabeuf  pale  haggard  his eyes lighted up with the mournful flame of
aberration  raised the flag above his head and repeated   

 Long live the Republic  

 Fire   said the voice 

A second discharge  similar to the first  rained down upon the
barricade 

The old man fell on his knees  then rose again  dropped the flag
and fell backwards on the pavement  like a log  at full length  with
outstretched arms 

Rivulets of blood flowed beneath him  His aged head  pale and sad 
seemed to be gazing at the sky 

One of those emotions which are superior to man  which make him forget
even to defend himself  seized upon the insurgents  and they approached
the body with respectful awe 

 What men these regicides were   said Enjolras 

Courfeyrac bent down to Enjolras  ear   

 This is for yourself alone  I do not wish to dampen the enthusiasm  But
this man was anything rather than a regicide  I knew him  His name was
Father Mabeuf  I do not know what was the matter with him to day  But he
was a brave blockhead  Just look at his head  

 The head of a blockhead and the heart of a Brutus   replied Enjolras 

Then he raised his voice   

 Citizens  This is the example which the old give to the young  We
hesitated  he came  We were drawing back  he advanced  This is what
those who are trembling with age teach to those who tremble with fear 
This aged man is august in the eyes of his country  He has had a long
life and a magnificent death  Now  let us place the body under cover 
that each one of us may defend this old man dead as he would his
father living  and may his presence in our midst render the barricade
impregnable  

A murmur of gloomy and energetic assent followed these words 

Enjolras bent down  raised the old man s head  and fierce as he was  he
kissed him on the brow  then  throwing wide his arms  and handling this
dead man with tender precaution  as though he feared to hurt it  he
removed his coat  showed the bloody holes in it to all  and said   

 This is our flag now  




CHAPTER III  GAVROCHE WOULD HAVE DONE BETTER TO ACCEPT ENJOLRAS  CARBINE

They threw a long black shawl of Widow Hucheloup s over Father Mabeuf 
Six men made a litter of their guns  on this they laid the body  and
bore it  with bared heads  with solemn slowness  to the large table in
the tap room 

These men  wholly absorbed in the grave and sacred task in which they
were engaged  thought no more of the perilous situation in which they
stood 

When the corpse passed near Javert  who was still impassive  Enjolras
said to the spy   

 It will be your turn presently  

During all this time  Little Gavroche  who alone had not quitted his
post  but had remained on guard  thought he espied some men stealthily
approaching the barricade  All at once he shouted   

 Look out  

Courfeyrac  Enjolras  Jean Prouvaire  Combeferre  Joly  Bahorel 
Bossuet  and all the rest ran tumultuously from the wine shop  It was
almost too late  They saw a glistening density of bayonets undulating
above the barricade  Municipal guards of lofty stature were making
their way in  some striding over the omnibus  others through the cut 
thrusting before them the urchin  who retreated  but did not flee 

The moment was critical  It was that first  redoubtable moment of
inundation  when the stream rises to the level of the levee and when the
water begins to filter through the fissures of dike  A second more and
the barricade would have been taken 

Bahorel dashed upon the first municipal guard who was entering  and
killed him on the spot with a blow from his gun  the second killed
Bahorel with a blow from his bayonet  Another had already overthrown
Courfeyrac  who was shouting   Follow me   The largest of all  a sort of
colossus  marched on Gavroche with his bayonet fixed  The urchin took in
his arms Javert s immense gun  levelled it resolutely at the giant  and
fired  No discharge followed  Javert s gun was not loaded  The municipal
guard burst into a laugh and raised his bayonet at the child 

Before the bayonet had touched Gavroche  the gun slipped from the
soldier s grasp  a bullet had struck the municipal guardsman in the
centre of the forehead  and he fell over on his back  A second bullet
struck the other guard  who had assaulted Courfeyrac in the breast  and
laid him low on the pavement 

This was the work of Marius  who had just entered the barricade 




CHAPTER IV  THE BARREL OF POWDER

Marius  still concealed in the turn of the Rue Mondetour  had witnessed 
shuddering and irresolute  the first phase of the combat  But he had not
long been able to resist that mysterious and sovereign vertigo which may
be designated as the call of the abyss  In the presence of the imminence
of the peril  in the presence of the death of M  Mabeuf  that melancholy
enigma  in the presence of Bahorel killed  and Courfeyrac shouting 
 Follow me   of that child threatened  of his friends to succor or to
avenge  all hesitation had vanished  and he had flung himself into the
conflict  his two pistols in hand  With his first shot he had saved
Gavroche  and with the second delivered Courfeyrac 

Amid the sound of the shots  amid the cries of the assaulted guards 
the assailants had climbed the entrenchment  on whose summit Municipal
Guards  soldiers of the line and National Guards from the suburbs could
now be seen  gun in hand  rearing themselves to more than half the
height of their bodies 

They already covered more than two thirds of the barrier  but they did
not leap into the enclosure  as though wavering in the fear of some
trap  They gazed into the dark barricade as one would gaze into a lion s
den  The light of the torch illuminated only their bayonets  their
bear skin caps  and the upper part of their uneasy and angry faces 

Marius had no longer any weapons  he had flung away his discharged
pistols after firing them  but he had caught sight of the barrel of
powder in the tap room  near the door 

As he turned half round  gazing in that direction  a soldier took aim at
him  At the moment when the soldier was sighting Marius  a hand was laid
on the muzzle of the gun and obstructed it  This was done by some one
who had darted forward   the young workman in velvet trousers  The shot
sped  traversed the hand and possibly  also  the workman  since he fell 
but the ball did not strike Marius  All this  which was rather to be
apprehended than seen through the smoke  Marius  who was entering the
tap room  hardly noticed  Still  he had  in a confused way  perceived
that gun barrel aimed at him  and the hand which had blocked it  and he
had heard the discharge  But in moments like this  the things which one
sees vacillate and are precipitated  and one pauses for nothing  One
feels obscurely impelled towards more darkness still  and all is cloud 

The insurgents  surprised but not terrified  had rallied  Enjolras had
shouted   Wait  Don t fire at random   In the first confusion  they
might  in fact  wound each other  The majority of them had ascended
to the window on the first story and to the attic windows  whence they
commanded the assailants 

The most determined  with Enjolras  Courfeyrac  Jean Prouvaire  and
Combeferre  had proudly placed themselves with their backs against the
houses at the rear  unsheltered and facing the ranks of soldiers and
guards who crowned the barricade 

All this was accomplished without haste  with that strange and
threatening gravity which precedes engagements  They took aim  point
blank  on both sides  they were so close that they could talk together
without raising their voices 

When they had reached this point where the spark is on the brink of
darting forth  an officer in a gorget extended his sword and said   

 Lay down your arms  

 Fire   replied Enjolras 

The two discharges took place at the same moment  and all disappeared in
smoke 

An acrid and stifling smoke in which dying and wounded lay with weak 
dull groans  When the smoke cleared away  the combatants on both sides
could be seen to be thinned out  but still in the same positions 
reloading in silence  All at once  a thundering voice was heard 
shouting   

 Be off with you  or I ll blow up the barricade  

All turned in the direction whence the voice proceeded 

Marius had entered the tap room  and had seized the barrel of powder 
then he had taken advantage of the smoke  and the sort of obscure mist
which filled the entrenched enclosure  to glide along the barricade as
far as that cage of paving stones where the torch was fixed  To tear
it from the torch  to replace it by the barrel of powder  to thrust the
pile of stones under the barrel  which was instantly staved in  with
a sort of horrible obedience   all this had cost Marius but the time
necessary to stoop and rise again  and now all  National Guards 
Municipal Guards  officers  soldiers  huddled at the other extremity of
the barricade  gazed stupidly at him  as he stood with his foot on the
stones  his torch in his hand  his haughty face illuminated by a fatal
resolution  drooping the flame of the torch towards that redoubtable
pile where they could make out the broken barrel of powder  and giving
vent to that startling cry   

 Be off with you  or I ll blow up the barricade  

Marius on that barricade after the octogenarian was the vision of the
young revolution after the apparition of the old 

 Blow up the barricade   said a sergeant   and yourself with it  

Marius retorted   And myself also  

And he dropped the torch towards the barrel of powder 

But there was no longer any one on the barrier  The assailants 
abandoning their dead and wounded  flowed back pell mell and in disorder
towards the extremity of the street  and there were again lost in the
night  It was a headlong flight 

The barricade was free 




CHAPTER V  END OF THE VERSES OF JEAN PROUVAIRE

All flocked around Marius  Courfeyrac flung himself on his neck 

 Here you are  

 What luck   said Combeferre 

 You came in opportunely   ejaculated Bossuet 

 If it had not been for you  I should have been dead   began Courfeyrac
again 

 If it had not been for you  I should have been gobbled up   added
Gavroche 

Marius asked   

 Where is the chief  

 You are he   said Enjolras 

Marius had had a furnace in his brain all day long  now it was a
whirlwind  This whirlwind which was within him  produced on him the
effect of being outside of him and of bearing him away  It seemed to him
that he was already at an immense distance from life  His two luminous
months of joy and love  ending abruptly at that frightful precipice 
Cosette lost to him  that barricade  M  Mabeuf getting himself killed
for the Republic  himself the leader of the insurgents   all these
things appeared to him like a tremendous nightmare  He was obliged to
make a mental effort to recall the fact that all that surrounded him was
real  Marius had already seen too much of life not to know that nothing
is more imminent than the impossible  and that what it is always
necessary to foresee is the unforeseen  He had looked on at his own
drama as a piece which one does not understand 

In the mists which enveloped his thoughts  he did not recognize Javert 
who  bound to his post  had not so much as moved his head during the
whole of the attack on the barricade  and who had gazed on the revolt
seething around him with the resignation of a martyr and the majesty of
a judge  Marius had not even seen him 

In the meanwhile  the assailants did not stir  they could be heard
marching and swarming through at the end of the street but they did not
venture into it  either because they were awaiting orders or because
they were awaiting reinforcements before hurling themselves afresh on
this impregnable redoubt  The insurgents had posted sentinels  and some
of them  who were medical students  set about caring for the wounded 

They had thrown the tables out of the wine shop  with the exception of
the two tables reserved for lint and cartridges  and of the one on
which lay Father Mabeuf  they had added them to the barricade  and had
replaced them in the tap room with mattresses from the bed of the
widow Hucheloup and her servants  On these mattresses they had laid the
wounded  As for the three poor creatures who inhabited Corinthe  no one
knew what had become of them  They were finally found  however  hidden
in the cellar 

A poignant emotion clouded the joy of the disencumbered barricade 

The roll was called  One of the insurgents was missing  And who was
it  One of the dearest  One of the most valiant  Jean Prouvaire  He
was sought among the wounded  he was not there  He was sought among the
dead  he was not there  He was evidently a prisoner  Combeferre said to
Enjolras   

 They have our friend  we have their agent  Are you set on the death of
that spy  

 Yes   replied Enjolras   but less so than on the life of Jean
Prouvaire  

This took place in the tap room near Javert s post 

 Well   resumed Combeferre   I am going to fasten my handkerchief to
my cane  and go as a flag of truce  to offer to exchange our man for
theirs  

 Listen   said Enjolras  laying his hand on Combeferre s arm 

At the end of the street there was a significant clash of arms 

They heard a manly voice shout   

 Vive la France  Long live France  Long live the future  

They recognized the voice of Prouvaire 

A flash passed  a report rang out 

Silence fell again 

 They have killed him   exclaimed Combeferre 

Enjolras glanced at Javert  and said to him   

 Your friends have just shot you  




CHAPTER VI  THE AGONY OF DEATH AFTER THE AGONY OF LIFE

A peculiarity of this species of war is  that the attack of the
barricades is almost always made from the front  and that the assailants
generally abstain from turning the position  either because they
fear ambushes  or because they are afraid of getting entangled in the
tortuous streets  The insurgents  whole attention had been directed 
therefore  to the grand barricade  which was  evidently  the spot always
menaced  and there the struggle would infallibly recommence  But Marius
thought of the little barricade  and went thither  It was deserted and
guarded only by the fire pot which trembled between the paving stones 
Moreover  the Mondetour alley  and the branches of the Rue de la Petite
Truanderie and the Rue du Cygne were profoundly calm 

As Marius was withdrawing  after concluding his inspection  he heard his
name pronounced feebly in the darkness 

 Monsieur Marius  

He started  for he recognized the voice which had called to him two
hours before through the gate in the Rue Plumet 

Only  the voice now seemed to be nothing more than a breath 

He looked about him  but saw no one 

Marius thought he had been mistaken  that it was an illusion added by
his mind to the extraordinary realities which were clashing around
him  He advanced a step  in order to quit the distant recess where the
barricade lay 

 Monsieur Marius   repeated the voice 

This time he could not doubt that he had heard it distinctly  he looked
and saw nothing 

 At your feet   said the voice 

He bent down  and saw in the darkness a form which was dragging itself
towards him 

It was crawling along the pavement  It was this that had spoken to him 

The fire pot allowed him to distinguish a blouse  torn trousers of
coarse velvet  bare feet  and something which resembled a pool of blood 
Marius indistinctly made out a pale head which was lifted towards him
and which was saying to him   

 You do not recognize me  

 No  

 Eponine  

Marius bent hastily down  It was  in fact  that unhappy child  She was
dressed in men s clothes 

 How come you here  What are you doing here  

 I am dying   said she 

There are words and incidents which arouse dejected beings  Marius cried
out with a start   

 You are wounded  Wait  I will carry you into the room  They will attend
to you there  Is it serious  How must I take hold of you in order not
to hurt you  Where do you suffer  Help  My God  But why did you come
hither  

And he tried to pass his arm under her  in order to raise her 

She uttered a feeble cry 

 Have I hurt you   asked Marius 

 A little  

 But I only touched your hand  

She raised her hand to Marius  and in the middle of that hand Marius saw
a black hole 

 What is the matter with your hand   said he 

 It is pierced  

 Pierced  

 Yes  

 What with  

 A bullet  

 How  

 Did you see a gun aimed at you  

 Yes  and a hand stopping it  

 It was mine  

Marius was seized with a shudder 

 What madness  Poor child  But so much the better  if that is all  it is
nothing  let me carry you to a bed  They will dress your wound  one does
not die of a pierced hand  

She murmured   

 The bullet traversed my hand  but it came out through my back  It is
useless to remove me from this spot  I will tell you how you can care
for me better than any surgeon  Sit down near me on this stone  

He obeyed  she laid her head on Marius  knees  and  without looking at
him  she said   

 Oh  How good this is  How comfortable this is  There  I no longer
suffer  

She remained silent for a moment  then she turned her face with an
effort  and looked at Marius 

 Do you know what  Monsieur Marius  It puzzled me because you entered
that garden  it was stupid  because it was I who showed you that house 
and then  I ought to have said to myself that a young man like you   

She paused  and overstepping the sombre transitions that undoubtedly
existed in her mind  she resumed with a heartrending smile   

 You thought me ugly  didn t you  

She continued   

 You see  you are lost  Now  no one can get out of the barricade  It was
I who led you here  by the way  You are going to die  I count upon that 
And yet  when I saw them taking aim at you  I put my hand on the muzzle
of the gun  How queer it is  But it was because I wanted to die before
you  When I received that bullet  I dragged myself here  no one saw
me  no one picked me up  I was waiting for you  I said   So he is not
coming   Oh  if you only knew  I bit my blouse  I suffered so  Now I am
well  Do you remember the day I entered your chamber and when I
looked at myself in your mirror  and the day when I came to you on the
boulevard near the washerwomen  How the birds sang  That was a long time
ago  You gave me a hundred sous  and I said to you   I don t want your
money   I hope you picked up your coin  You are not rich  I did not
think to tell you to pick it up  The sun was shining bright  and it was
not cold  Do you remember  Monsieur Marius  Oh  How happy I am  Every
one is going to die  

She had a mad  grave  and heart breaking air  Her torn blouse disclosed
her bare throat 

As she talked  she pressed her pierced hand to her breast  where there
was another hole  and whence there spurted from moment to moment a
stream of blood  like a jet of wine from an open bung hole 

Marius gazed at this unfortunate creature with profound compassion 

 Oh   she resumed   it is coming again  I am stifling  

She caught up her blouse and bit it  and her limbs stiffened on the
pavement 

At that moment the young cock s crow executed by little Gavroche
resounded through the barricade 

The child had mounted a table to load his gun  and was singing gayly the
song then so popular   


    En voyant Lafayette               On beholding Lafayette 
    Le gendarme repete                The gendarme repeats   
    Sauvons nous  sauvons nous        Let us flee  let us flee 
          sauvons nous                       let us flee 


Eponine raised herself and listened  then she murmured   

 It is he  

And turning to Marius   

 My brother is here  He must not see me  He would scold me  

 Your brother   inquired Marius  who was meditating in the most bitter
and sorrowful depths of his heart on the duties to the Thenardiers which
his father had bequeathed to him   who is your brother  

 That little fellow  

 The one who is singing  

 Yes  

Marius made a movement 

 Oh  don t go away   said she   it will not be long now  

She was sitting almost upright  but her voice was very low and broken by
hiccoughs 

At intervals  the death rattle interrupted her  She put her face as near
that of Marius as possible  She added with a strange expression   

 Listen  I do not wish to play you a trick  I have a letter in my pocket
for you  I was told to put it in the post  I kept it  I did not want to
have it reach you  But perhaps you will be angry with me for it when we
meet again presently  Take your letter  

She grasped Marius  hand convulsively with her pierced hand  but she no
longer seemed to feel her sufferings  She put Marius  hand in the pocket
of her blouse  There  in fact  Marius felt a paper 

 Take it   said she 

Marius took the letter 

She made a sign of satisfaction and contentment 

 Now  for my trouble  promise me   

And she stopped 

 What   asked Marius 

 Promise me  

 I promise  

 Promise to give me a kiss on my brow when I am dead   I shall feel it  

She dropped her head again on Marius  knees  and her eyelids closed  He
thought the poor soul had departed  Eponine remained motionless  All
at once  at the very moment when Marius fancied her asleep forever  she
slowly opened her eyes in which appeared the sombre profundity of death 
and said to him in a tone whose sweetness seemed already to proceed from
another world   

 And by the way  Monsieur Marius  I believe that I was a little bit in
love with you  

She tried to smile once more and expired 




CHAPTER VII  GAVROCHE AS A PROFOUND CALCULATOR OF DISTANCES

Marius kept his promise  He dropped a kiss on that livid brow  where the
icy perspiration stood in beads 

This was no infidelity to Cosette  it was a gentle and pensive farewell
to an unhappy soul 

It was not without a tremor that he had taken the letter which Eponine
had given him  He had immediately felt that it was an event of weight 
He was impatient to read it  The heart of man is so constituted that the
unhappy child had hardly closed her eyes when Marius began to think of
unfolding this paper 

He laid her gently on the ground  and went away  Something told him that
he could not peruse that letter in the presence of that body 

He drew near to a candle in the tap room  It was a small note  folded
and sealed with a woman s elegant care  The address was in a woman s
hand and ran   

 To Monsieur  Monsieur Marius Pontmercy  at M  Courfeyrac s  Rue de la
Verrerie  No  16  

He broke the seal and read   

  My dearest  alas  my father insists on our setting out immediately 
 We shall be this evening in the Rue de l Homme Arme  No  7 
 In a week we shall be in England   COSETTE   June 4th  

Such was the innocence of their love that Marius was not even acquainted
with Cosette s handwriting 

What had taken place may be related in a few words  Eponine had been
the cause of everything  After the evening of the 3d of June she had
cherished a double idea  to defeat the projects of her father and the
ruffians on the house of the Rue Plumet  and to separate Marius and
Cosette  She had exchanged rags with the first young scamp she came
across who had thought it amusing to dress like a woman  while Eponine
disguised herself like a man  It was she who had conveyed to Jean
Valjean in the Champ de Mars the expressive warning   Leave your house  
Jean Valjean had  in fact  returned home  and had said to Cosette 
 We set out this evening and we go to the Rue de l Homme Arme with
Toussaint  Next week  we shall be in London   Cosette  utterly
overwhelmed by this unexpected blow  had hastily penned a couple of
lines to Marius  But how was she to get the letter to the post  She
never went out alone  and Toussaint  surprised at such a commission 
would certainly show the letter to M  Fauchelevent  In this dilemma 
Cosette had caught sight through the fence of Eponine in man s clothes 
who now prowled incessantly around the garden  Cosette had called to
 this young workman  and had handed him five francs and the letter 
saying   Carry this letter immediately to its address   Eponine had put
the letter in her pocket  The next day  on the 5th of June  she went
to Courfeyrac s quarters to inquire for Marius  not for the purpose of
delivering the letter  but   a thing which every jealous and loving soul
will comprehend    to see   There she had waited for Marius  or at least
for Courfeyrac  still for the purpose of seeing  When Courfeyrac had
told her   We are going to the barricades   an idea flashed through her
mind  to fling herself into that death  as she would have done into any
other  and to thrust Marius into it also  She had followed Courfeyrac 
had made sure of the locality where the barricade was in process of
construction  and  quite certain  since Marius had received no warning 
and since she had intercepted the letter  that he would go at dusk to
his trysting place for every evening  she had betaken herself to the Rue
Plumet  had there awaited Marius  and had sent him  in the name of his
friends  the appeal which would  she thought  lead him to the barricade 
She reckoned on Marius  despair when he should fail to find Cosette  she
was not mistaken  She had returned to the Rue de la Chanvrerie herself 
What she did there the reader has just seen  She died with the tragic
joy of jealous hearts who drag the beloved being into their own death 
and who say   No one shall have him  

Marius covered Cosette s letter with kisses  So she loved him  For one
moment the idea occurred to him that he ought not to die now  Then
he said to himself   She is going away  Her father is taking her to
England  and my grandfather refuses his consent to the marriage  Nothing
is changed in our fates   Dreamers like Marius are subject to supreme
attacks of dejection  and desperate resolves are the result  The fatigue
of living is insupportable  death is sooner over with  Then he reflected
that he had still two duties to fulfil  to inform Cosette of his
death and send her a final farewell  and to save from the impending
catastrophe which was in preparation  that poor child  Eponine s brother
and Thenardier s son 

He had a pocket book about him  the same one which had contained
the note book in which he had inscribed so many thoughts of love for
Cosette  He tore out a leaf and wrote on it a few lines in pencil   

 Our marriage was impossible  I asked my grandfather  he refused  I have
no fortune  neither hast thou  I hastened to thee  thou wert no longer
there  Thou knowest the promise that I gave thee  I shall keep it  I
die  I love thee  When thou readest this  my soul will be near thee  and
thou wilt smile  

Having nothing wherewith to seal this letter  he contented himself with
folding the paper in four  and added the address   

 To Mademoiselle Cosette Fauchelevent  at M  Fauchelevent s  Rue de
l Homme Arme  No  7  

Having folded the letter  he stood in thought for a moment  drew out
his pocket book again  opened it  and wrote  with the same pencil  these
four lines on the first page   

 My name is Marius Pontmercy  Carry my body to my grandfather  M 
Gillenormand  Rue des Filles du Calvaire  No  6  in the Marais  

He put his pocketbook back in his pocket  then he called Gavroche 

The gamin  at the sound of Marius  voice  ran up to him with his merry
and devoted air 

 Will you do something for me  

 Anything   said Gavroche   Good God  if it had not been for you  I
should have been done for  

 Do you see this letter  

 Yes  

 Take it  Leave the barricade instantly   Gavroche began to scratch his
ear uneasily   and to morrow morning  you will deliver it at its address
to Mademoiselle Cosette  at M  Fauchelevent s  Rue de l Homme Arme  No 
7  

The heroic child replied

 Well  but  in the meanwhile the barricade will be taken  and I shall
not be there  

 The barricade will not be attacked until daybreak  according to all
appearances  and will not be taken before to morrow noon  

The fresh respite which the assailants were granting to the barricade
had  in fact  been prolonged  It was one of those intermissions which
frequently occur in nocturnal combats  which are always followed by an
increase of rage 

 Well   said Gavroche   what if I were to go and carry your letter
to morrow  

 It will be too late  The barricade will probably be blockaded  all
the streets will be guarded  and you will not be able to get out  Go at
once  

Gavroche could think of no reply to this  and stood there in indecision 
scratching his ear sadly 

All at once  he took the letter with one of those birdlike movements
which were common with him 

 All right   said he 

And he started off at a run through Mondetour lane 

An idea had occurred to Gavroche which had brought him to a decision 
but he had not mentioned it for fear that Marius might offer some
objection to it 

This was the idea   

 It is barely midnight  the Rue de l Homme Arme is not far off  I will
go and deliver the letter at once  and I shall get back in time  




BOOK FIFTEENTH   THE RUE DE L HOMME ARME




CHAPTER I  A DRINKER IS A BABBLER

What are the convulsions of a city in comparison with the insurrections
of the soul  Man is a depth still greater than the people  Jean Valjean
at that very moment was the prey of a terrible upheaval  Every sort of
gulf had opened again within him  He also was trembling  like Paris 
on the brink of an obscure and formidable revolution  A few hours
had sufficed to bring this about  His destiny and his conscience had
suddenly been covered with gloom  Of him also  as well as of Paris  it
might have been said   Two principles are face to face  The white angel
and the black angel are about to seize each other on the bridge of the
abyss  Which of the two will hurl the other over  Who will carry the
day  

On the evening preceding this same 5th of June  Jean Valjean 
accompanied by Cosette and Toussaint had installed himself in the Rue de
l Homme Arme  A change awaited him there 

Cosette had not quitted the Rue Plumet without making an effort at
resistance  For the first time since they had lived side by side 
Cosette s will and the will of Jean Valjean had proved to be distinct 
and had been in opposition  at least  if they had not clashed  There had
been objections on one side and inflexibility on the other  The abrupt
advice   Leave your house   hurled at Jean Valjean by a stranger  had
alarmed him to the extent of rendering him peremptory  He thought that
he had been traced and followed  Cosette had been obliged to give way 

Both had arrived in the Rue de l Homme Arme without opening their lips 
and without uttering a word  each being absorbed in his own personal
preoccupation  Jean Valjean so uneasy that he did not notice Cosette s
sadness  Cosette so sad that she did not notice Jean Valjean s
uneasiness 

Jean Valjean had taken Toussaint with him  a thing which he had never
done in his previous absences  He perceived the possibility of not
returning to the Rue Plumet  and he could neither leave Toussaint behind
nor confide his secret to her  Besides  he felt that she was devoted and
trustworthy  Treachery between master and servant begins in curiosity 
Now Toussaint  as though she had been destined to be Jean Valjean s
servant  was not curious  She stammered in her peasant dialect of
Barneville   I am made so  I do my work  the rest is no affair of mine  

In this departure from the Rue Plumet  which had been almost a flight 
Jean Valjean had carried away nothing but the little embalmed valise 
baptized by Cosette  the inseparable   Full trunks would have required
porters  and porters are witnesses  A fiacre had been summoned to the
door on the Rue de Babylone  and they had taken their departure 

It was with difficulty that Toussaint had obtained permission to pack up
a little linen and clothes and a few toilet articles  Cosette had taken
only her portfolio and her blotting book 

Jean Valjean  with a view to augmenting the solitude and the mystery of
this departure  had arranged to quit the pavilion of the Rue Plumet only
at dusk  which had allowed Cosette time to write her note to Marius 
They had arrived in the Rue de l Homme Arme after night had fully
fallen 

They had gone to bed in silence 

The lodgings in the Rue de l Homme Arme were situated on a back
court  on the second floor  and were composed of two sleeping rooms  a
dining room and a kitchen adjoining the dining room  with a garret
where there was a folding bed  and which fell to Toussaint s share  The
dining room was an antechamber as well  and separated the two bedrooms 
The apartment was provided with all necessary utensils 

People re acquire confidence as foolishly as they lose it  human nature
is so constituted  Hardly had Jean Valjean reached the Rue de l Homme
Arme when his anxiety was lightened and by degrees dissipated  There
are soothing spots which act in some sort mechanically on the mind 
An obscure street  peaceable inhabitants  Jean Valjean experienced an
indescribable contagion of tranquillity in that alley of ancient Paris 
which is so narrow that it is barred against carriages by a transverse
beam placed on two posts  which is deaf and dumb in the midst of the
clamorous city  dimly lighted at mid day  and is  so to speak  incapable
of emotions between two rows of lofty houses centuries old  which hold
their peace like ancients as they are  There was a touch of stagnant
oblivion in that street  Jean Valjean drew his breath once more there 
How could he be found there 

His first care was to place the inseparable beside him 

He slept well  Night brings wisdom  we may add  night soothes  On the
following morning he awoke in a mood that was almost gay  He thought the
dining room charming  though it was hideous  furnished with an old round
table  a long sideboard surmounted by a slanting mirror  a dilapidated
arm chair  and several plain chairs which were encumbered with
Toussaint s packages  In one of these packages Jean Valjean s uniform of
a National Guard was visible through a rent 

As for Cosette  she had had Toussaint take some broth to her room  and
did not make her appearance until evening 

About five o clock  Toussaint  who was going and coming and busying
herself with the tiny establishment  set on the table a cold chicken 
which Cosette  out of deference to her father  consented to glance at 

That done  Cosette  under the pretext of an obstinate sick headache 
had bade Jean Valjean good night and had shut herself up in her chamber 
Jean Valjean had eaten a wing of the chicken with a good appetite  and
with his elbows on the table  having gradually recovered his serenity 
had regained possession of his sense of security 

While he was discussing this modest dinner  he had  twice or thrice 
noticed in a confused way  Toussaint s stammering words as she said
to him   Monsieur  there is something going on  they are fighting in
Paris   But absorbed in a throng of inward calculations  he had paid no
heed to it  To tell the truth  he had not heard her  He rose and began
to pace from the door to the window and from the window to the door 
growing ever more serene 

With this calm  Cosette  his sole anxiety  recurred to his thoughts  Not
that he was troubled by this headache  a little nervous crisis  a young
girl s fit of sulks  the cloud of a moment  there would be nothing left
of it in a day or two  but he meditated on the future  and  as was his
habit  he thought of it with pleasure  After all  he saw no obstacle to
their happy life resuming its course  At certain hours  everything seems
impossible  at others everything appears easy  Jean Valjean was in the
midst of one of these good hours  They generally succeed the bad
ones  as day follows night  by virtue of that law of succession and
of contrast which lies at the very foundation of nature  and which
superficial minds call antithesis  In this peaceful street where he had
taken refuge  Jean Valjean got rid of all that had been troubling him
for some time past  This very fact  that he had seen many shadows  made
him begin to perceive a little azure  To have quitted the Rue
Plumet without complications or incidents was one good step already
accomplished  Perhaps it would be wise to go abroad  if only for a few
months  and to set out for London  Well  they would go  What difference
did it make to him whether he was in France or in England  provided he
had Cosette beside him  Cosette was his nation  Cosette sufficed for
his happiness  the idea that he  perhaps  did not suffice for Cosette s
happiness  that idea which had formerly been the cause of his fever
and sleeplessness  did not even present itself to his mind  He was in a
state of collapse from all his past sufferings  and he was fully entered
on optimism  Cosette was by his side  she seemed to be his  an optical
illusion which every one has experienced  He arranged in his own mind 
with all sorts of felicitous devices  his departure for England with
Cosette  and he beheld his felicity reconstituted wherever he pleased 
in the perspective of his revery 

As he paced to and fro with long strides  his glance suddenly
encountered something strange 

In the inclined mirror facing him which surmounted the sideboard  he saw
the four lines which follow   

 My dearest  alas  my father insists on our setting out immediately  We
shall be this evening in the Rue de l Homme Arme  No  7  In a week we
shall be in England  COSETTE  June 4th  

Jean Valjean halted  perfectly haggard 

Cosette on her arrival had placed her blotting book on the sideboard in
front of the mirror  and  utterly absorbed in her agony of grief  had
forgotten it and left it there  without even observing that she had left
it wide open  and open at precisely the page on which she had laid to
dry the four lines which she had penned  and which she had given in
charge of the young workman in the Rue Plumet  The writing had been
printed off on the blotter 

The mirror reflected the writing 

The result was  what is called in geometry  the symmetrical image  so
that the writing  reversed on the blotter  was righted in the mirror and
presented its natural appearance  and Jean Valjean had beneath his eyes
the letter written by Cosette to Marius on the preceding evening 

It was simple and withering 

Jean Valjean stepped up to the mirror  He read the four lines again  but
he did not believe them  They produced on him the effect of appearing in
a flash of lightning  It was a hallucination  it was impossible  It was
not so 

Little by little  his perceptions became more precise  he looked at
Cosette s blotting book  and the consciousness of the reality returned
to him  He caught up the blotter and said   It comes from there  
He feverishly examined the four lines imprinted on the blotter  the
reversal of the letters converted into an odd scrawl  and he saw no
sense in it  Then he said to himself   But this signifies nothing  there
is nothing written here   And he drew a long breath with inexpressible
relief  Who has not experienced those foolish joys in horrible instants 
The soul does not surrender to despair until it has exhausted all
illusions 

He held the blotter in his hand and contemplated it in stupid delight 
almost ready to laugh at the hallucination of which he had been the
dupe  All at once his eyes fell upon the mirror again  and again he
beheld the vision  There were the four lines outlined with inexorable
clearness  This time it was no mirage  The recurrence of a vision is a
reality  it was palpable  it was the writing restored in the mirror  He
understood 

Jean Valjean tottered  dropped the blotter  and fell into the old
arm chair beside the buffet  with drooping head  and glassy eyes  in
utter bewilderment  He told himself that it was plain  that the light of
the world had been eclipsed forever  and that Cosette had written that
to some one  Then he heard his soul  which had become terrible once
more  give vent to a dull roar in the gloom  Try then the effect of
taking from the lion the dog which he has in his cage 

Strange and sad to say  at that very moment  Marius had not yet received
Cosette s letter  chance had treacherously carried it to Jean Valjean
before delivering it to Marius  Up to that day  Jean Valjean had not
been vanquished by trial  He had been subjected to fearful proofs  no
violence of bad fortune had been spared him  the ferocity of fate  armed
with all vindictiveness and all social scorn  had taken him for her prey
and had raged against him  He had accepted every extremity when it had
been necessary  he had sacrificed his inviolability as a reformed man 
had yielded up his liberty  risked his head  lost everything  suffered
everything  and he had remained disinterested and stoical to such a
point that he might have been thought to be absent from himself like a
martyr  His conscience inured to every assault of destiny  might have
appeared to be forever impregnable  Well  any one who had beheld his
spiritual self would have been obliged to concede that it weakened at
that moment  It was because  of all the tortures which he had undergone
in the course of this long inquisition to which destiny had doomed him 
this was the most terrible  Never had such pincers seized him hitherto 
He felt the mysterious stirring of all his latent sensibilities  He felt
the plucking at the strange chord  Alas  the supreme trial  let us say
rather  the only trial  is the loss of the beloved being 

Poor old Jean Valjean certainly did not love Cosette otherwise than as
a father  but we have already remarked  above  that into this paternity
the widowhood of his life had introduced all the shades of love  he
loved Cosette as his daughter  and he loved her as his mother  and he
loved her as his sister  and  as he had never had either a woman to
love or a wife  as nature is a creditor who accepts no protest  that
sentiment also  the most impossible to lose  was mingled with the
rest  vague  ignorant  pure with the purity of blindness  unconscious 
celestial  angelic  divine  less like a sentiment than like an instinct 
less like an instinct than like an imperceptible and invisible but real
attraction  and love  properly speaking  was  in his immense tenderness
for Cosette  like the thread of gold in the mountain  concealed and
virgin 

Let the reader recall the situation of heart which we have already
indicated  No marriage was possible between them  not even that of
souls  and yet  it is certain that their destinies were wedded  With the
exception of Cosette  that is to say  with the exception of a childhood 
Jean Valjean had never  in the whole of his long life  known anything of
that which may be loved  The passions and loves which succeed each other
had not produced in him those successive green growths  tender green or
dark green  which can be seen in foliage which passes through the winter
and in men who pass fifty  In short  and we have insisted on it more
than once  all this interior fusion  all this whole  of which the sum
total was a lofty virtue  ended in rendering Jean Valjean a father to
Cosette  A strange father  forged from the grandfather  the son  the
brother  and the husband  that existed in Jean Valjean  a father in whom
there was included even a mother  a father who loved Cosette and adored
her  and who held that child as his light  his home  his family  his
country  his paradise 

Thus when he saw that the end had absolutely come  that she was escaping
from him  that she was slipping from his hands  that she was gliding
from him  like a cloud  like water  when he had before his eyes this
crushing proof   another is the goal of her heart  another is the wish
of her life  there is a dearest one  I am no longer anything but her
father  I no longer exist   when he could no longer doubt  when he
said to himself   She is going away from me   the grief which he felt
surpassed the bounds of possibility  To have done all that he had done
for the purpose of ending like this  And the very idea of being nothing 
Then  as we have just said  a quiver of revolt ran through him from
head to foot  He felt  even in the very roots of his hair  the immense
reawakening of egotism  and the  I  in this man s abyss howled 

There is such a thing as the sudden giving way of the inward subsoil  A
despairing certainty does not make its way into a man without thrusting
aside and breaking certain profound elements which  in some cases  are
the very man himself  Grief  when it attains this shape  is a headlong
flight of all the forces of the conscience  These are fatal crises  Few
among us emerge from them still like ourselves and firm in duty  When
the limit of endurance is overstepped  the most imperturbable virtue is
disconcerted  Jean Valjean took the blotter again  and convinced himself
afresh  he remained bowed and as though petrified and with staring eyes 
over those four unobjectionable lines  and there arose within him such
a cloud that one might have thought that everything in this soul was
crumbling away 

He examined this revelation  athwart the exaggerations of revery  with
an apparent and terrifying calmness  for it is a fearful thing when a
man s calmness reaches the coldness of the statue 

He measured the terrible step which his destiny had taken without his
having a suspicion of the fact  he recalled his fears of the preceding
summer  so foolishly dissipated  he recognized the precipice  it was
still the same  only  Jean Valjean was no longer on the brink  he was at
the bottom of it 

The unprecedented and heart rending thing about it was that he had
fallen without perceiving it  All the light of his life had departed 
while he still fancied that he beheld the sun 

His instinct did not hesitate  He put together certain circumstances 
certain dates  certain blushes and certain pallors on Cosette s part 
and he said to himself   It is he  

The divination of despair is a sort of mysterious bow which never misses
its aim  He struck Marius with his first conjecture  He did not know the
name  but he found the man instantly  He distinctly perceived  in the
background of the implacable conjuration of his memories  the unknown
prowler of the Luxembourg  that wretched seeker of love adventures  that
idler of romance  that idiot  that coward  for it is cowardly to come
and make eyes at young girls who have beside them a father who loves
them 

After he had thoroughly verified the fact that this young man was at
the bottom of this situation  and that everything proceeded from that
quarter  he  Jean Valjean  the regenerated man  the man who had so
labored over his soul  the man who had made so many efforts to resolve
all life  all misery  and all unhappiness into love  looked into his own
breast and there beheld a spectre  Hate 

Great griefs contain something of dejection  They discourage one with
existence  The man into whom they enter feels something within him
withdraw from him  In his youth  their visits are lugubrious  later on
they are sinister  Alas  if despair is a fearful thing when the blood is
hot  when the hair is black  when the head is erect on the body like
the flame on the torch  when the roll of destiny still retains its full
thickness  when the heart  full of desirable love  still possesses beats
which can be returned to it  when one has time for redress  when all
women and all smiles and all the future and all the horizon are before
one  when the force of life is complete  what is it in old age  when
the years hasten on  growing ever paler  to that twilight hour when one
begins to behold the stars of the tomb 

While he was meditating  Toussaint entered  Jean Valjean rose and asked
her   

 In what quarter is it  Do you know  

Toussaint was struck dumb  and could only answer him   

 What is it  sir  

Jean Valjean began again   Did you not tell me that just now that there
is fighting going on  

 Ah  yes  sir   replied Toussaint   It is in the direction of
Saint Merry  

There is a mechanical movement which comes to us  unconsciously  from
the most profound depths of our thought  It was  no doubt  under
the impulse of a movement of this sort  and of which he was hardly
conscious  that Jean Valjean  five minutes later  found himself in the
street 

Bareheaded  he sat upon the stone post at the door of his house  He
seemed to be listening 

Night had come 




CHAPTER II  THE STREET URCHIN AN ENEMY OF LIGHT

How long did he remain thus  What was the ebb and flow of this tragic
meditation  Did he straighten up  Did he remain bowed  Had he been
bent to breaking  Could he still rise and regain his footing in his
conscience upon something solid  He probably would not have been able to
tell himself 

The street was deserted  A few uneasy bourgeois  who were rapidly
returning home  hardly saw him  Each one for himself in times of peril 
The lamp lighter came as usual to light the lantern which was situated
precisely opposite the door of No  7  and then went away  Jean Valjean
would not have appeared like a living man to any one who had examined
him in that shadow  He sat there on the post of his door  motionless as
a form of ice  There is congealment in despair  The alarm bells and
a vague and stormy uproar were audible  In the midst of all these
convulsions of the bell mingled with the revolt  the clock of Saint Paul
struck eleven  gravely and without haste  for the tocsin is man  the
hour is God  The passage of the hour produced no effect on Jean Valjean 
Jean Valjean did not stir  Still  at about that moment  a brusque report
burst forth in the direction of the Halles  a second yet more violent
followed  it was probably that attack on the barricade in the Rue de la
Chanvrerie which we have just seen repulsed by Marius  At this double
discharge  whose fury seemed augmented by the stupor of the night  Jean
Valjean started  he rose  turning towards the quarter whence the noise
proceeded  then he fell back upon the post again  folded his arms  and
his head slowly sank on his bosom again 

He resumed his gloomy dialogue with himself 

All at once  he raised his eyes  some one was walking in the street  he
heard steps near him  He looked  and by the light of the lanterns  in
the direction of the street which ran into the Rue aux Archives  he
perceived a young  livid  and beaming face 

Gavroche had just arrived in the Rue l Homme Arme 

Gavroche was staring into the air  apparently in search of something  He
saw Jean Valjean perfectly well but he took no notice of him 

Gavroche after staring into the air  stared below  he raised himself on
tiptoe  and felt of the doors and windows of the ground floor  they were
all shut  bolted  and padlocked  After having authenticated the fronts
of five or six barricaded houses in this manner  the urchin shrugged his
shoulders  and took himself to task in these terms   

 Pardi  

Then he began to stare into the air again 

Jean Valjean  who  an instant previously  in his then state of mind 
would not have spoken to or even answered any one  felt irresistibly
impelled to accost that child 

 What is the matter with you  my little fellow   he said 

 The matter with me is that I am hungry   replied Gavroche frankly  And
he added   Little fellow yourself  

Jean Valjean fumbled in his fob and pulled out a five franc piece 

But Gavroche  who was of the wagtail species  and who skipped
vivaciously from one gesture to another  had just picked up a stone  He
had caught sight of the lantern 

 See here   said he   you still have your lanterns here  You are
disobeying the regulations  my friend  This is disorderly  Smash that
for me  

And he flung the stone at the lantern  whose broken glass fell with
such a clatter that the bourgeois in hiding behind their curtains in the
opposite house cried   There is  Ninety three  come again  

The lantern oscillated violently  and went out  The street had suddenly
become black 

 That s right  old street   ejaculated Gavroche   put on your
night cap  

And turning to Jean Valjean   

 What do you call that gigantic monument that you have there at the end
of the street  It s the Archives  isn t it  I must crumble up those big
stupids of pillars a bit and make a nice barricade out of them  

Jean Valjean stepped up to Gavroche 

 Poor creature   he said in a low tone  and speaking to himself   he is
hungry  

And he laid the hundred sou piece in his hand 

Gavroche raised his face  astonished at the size of this sou  he stared
at it in the darkness  and the whiteness of the big sou dazzled him 
He knew five franc pieces by hearsay  their reputation was agreeable to
him  he was delighted to see one close to  He said   

 Let us contemplate the tiger  

He gazed at it for several minutes in ecstasy  then  turning to Jean
Valjean  he held out the coin to him  and said majestically to him   

 Bourgeois  I prefer to smash lanterns  Take back your ferocious beast 
You can t bribe me  That has got five claws  but it doesn t scratch me  

 Have you a mother   asked Jean Valjean 

Gavroche replied   

 More than you have  perhaps  

 Well   returned Jean Valjean   keep the money for your mother  

Gavroche was touched  Moreover  he had just noticed that the man who was
addressing him had no hat  and this inspired him with confidence 

 Truly   said he   so it wasn t to keep me from breaking the lanterns  

 Break whatever you please  

 You re a fine man   said Gavroche 

And he put the five franc piece into one of his pockets 

His confidence having increased  he added   

 Do you belong in this street  

 Yes  why  

 Can you tell me where No  7 is  

 What do you want with No  7  

Here the child paused  he feared that he had said too much  he thrust
his nails energetically into his hair and contented himself with
replying   

 Ah  Here it is  

An idea flashed through Jean Valjean s mind  Anguish does have these
gleams  He said to the lad   

 Are you the person who is bringing a letter that I am expecting  

 You   said Gavroche   You are not a woman  

 The letter is for Mademoiselle Cosette  is it not  

 Cosette   muttered Gavroche   Yes  I believe that is the queer name  

 Well   resumed Jean Valjean   I am the person to whom you are to
deliver the letter  Give it here  

 In that case  you must know that I was sent from the barricade  

 Of course   said Jean Valjean 

Gavroche engulfed his hand in another of his pockets and drew out a
paper folded in four 

Then he made the military salute 

 Respect for despatches   said he   It comes from the Provisional
Government  

 Give it to me   said Jean Valjean 

Gavroche held the paper elevated above his head 

 Don t go and fancy it s a love letter  It is for a woman  but it s for
the people  We men fight and we respect the fair sex  We are not as
they are in fine society  where there are lions who send chickens 55  to
camels  

 Give it to me  

 After all   continued Gavroche   you have the air of an honest man  

 Give it to me quick  

 Catch hold of it  

And he handed the paper to Jean Valjean 

 And make haste  Monsieur What s your name  for Mamselle Cosette is
waiting  

Gavroche was satisfied with himself for having produced this remark 

Jean Valjean began again   

 Is it to Saint Merry that the answer is to be sent  

 There you are making some of those bits of pastry vulgarly called
brioches  blunders   This letter comes from the barricade of the Rue de
la Chanvrerie  and I m going back there  Good evening  citizen  

That said  Gavroche took himself off  or  to describe it more exactly 
fluttered away in the direction whence he had come with a flight like
that of an escaped bird  He plunged back into the gloom as though he
made a hole in it  with the rigid rapidity of a projectile  the alley of
l Homme Arme became silent and solitary once more  in a twinkling  that
strange child  who had about him something of the shadow and of the
dream  had buried himself in the mists of the rows of black houses  and
was lost there  like smoke in the dark  and one might have thought that
he had dissipated and vanished  had there not taken place  a few minutes
after his disappearance  a startling shiver of glass  and had not the
magnificent crash of a lantern rattling down on the pavement once more
abruptly awakened the indignant bourgeois  It was Gavroche upon his way
through the Rue du Chaume 




CHAPTER III  WHILE COSETTE AND TOUSSAINT ARE ASLEEP

Jean Valjean went into the house with Marius  letter 

He groped his way up the stairs  as pleased with the darkness as an owl
who grips his prey  opened and shut his door softly  listened to see
whether he could hear any noise   made sure that  to all appearances 
Cosette and Toussaint were asleep  and plunged three or four matches
into the bottle of the Fumade lighter before he could evoke a spark  so
greatly did his hand tremble  What he had just done smacked of theft  At
last the candle was lighted  he leaned his elbows on the table  unfolded
the paper  and read 

In violent emotions  one does not read  one flings to the earth  so to
speak  the paper which one holds  one clutches it like a victim  one
crushes it  one digs into it the nails of one s wrath  or of one s joy 
one hastens to the end  one leaps to the beginning  attention is at
fever heat  it takes up in the gross  as it were  the essential points 
it seizes on one point  and the rest disappears  In Marius  note to
Cosette  Jean Valjean saw only these words   

 I die  When thou readest this  my soul will be near thee  

In the presence of these two lines  he was horribly dazzled  he remained
for a moment  crushed  as it were  by the change of emotion which
was taking place within him  he stared at Marius  note with a sort of
intoxicated amazement  he had before his eyes that splendor  the death
of a hated individual 

He uttered a frightful cry of inward joy  So it was all over  The
catastrophe had arrived sooner than he had dared to hope  The being who
obstructed his destiny was disappearing  That man had taken himself off
of his own accord  freely  willingly  This man was going to his death 
and he  Jean Valjean  had had no hand in the matter  and it was through
no fault of his  Perhaps  even  he is already dead  Here his fever
entered into calculations  No  he is not dead yet  The letter had
evidently been intended for Cosette to read on the following morning 
after the two discharges that were heard between eleven o clock and
midnight  nothing more has taken place  the barricade will not be
attacked seriously until daybreak  but that makes no difference  from
the moment when  that man  is concerned in this war  he is lost  he is
caught in the gearing  Jean Valjean felt himself delivered  So he was
about to find himself alone with Cosette once more  The rivalry would
cease  the future was beginning again  He had but to keep this note in
his pocket  Cosette would never know what had become of that man  All
that there requires to be done is to let things take their own course 
This man cannot escape  If he is not already dead  it is certain that he
is about to die  What good fortune 

Having said all this to himself  he became gloomy 

Then he went down stairs and woke up the porter 

About an hour later  Jean Valjean went out in the complete costume of
a National Guard  and with his arms  The porter had easily found in the
neighborhood the wherewithal to complete his equipment  He had a loaded
gun and a cartridge box filled with cartridges 

He strode off in the direction of the markets 




CHAPTER IV  GAVROCHE S EXCESS OF ZEAL

In the meantime  Gavroche had had an adventure 

Gavroche  after having conscientiously stoned the lantern in the Rue du
Chaume  entered the Rue des Vielles Haudriettes  and not seeing  even a
cat  there  he thought the opportunity a good one to strike up all the
song of which he was capable  His march  far from being retarded by his
singing  was accelerated by it  He began to sow along the sleeping or
terrified houses these incendiary couplets   

                L oiseau medit dans les charmilles 
               Et pretend qu hier Atala
               Avec un Russe s en alla 
                    Ou vont les belles filles 
                         Lon la 

                Mon ami Pierrot  tu babilles 
               Parce que l autre jour Mila
               Cogna sa vitre et m appela 
                    Ou vont les belles filles 
                         Lon la 

                Les drolesses sont fort gentilles 
               Leur poison qui m ensorcela
               Griserait Monsieur Orfila 
                    Ou vont les belles filles 
                         Lon la 

                J aime l amour et les bisbilles 
               J aime Agnes  j aime Pamela 
               Lisa en m allumant se brula 
                    Ou vont les belles filles 
                         Lon la 

                Jadis  quand je vis les mantilles
               De Suzette et de Zeila 
               Mon ame aleurs plis se mela 
                    Ou vont les belles filles 
                         Lon la 

                Amour  quand dans l ombre ou tu brilles 
                Tu coiffes de roses Lola 
               Je me damnerais pour cela 
                    Ou vont les belles filles 
                         Lon la 

                Jeanne a ton miroir tu t habilles 
               Mon coeur un beau jour s envola 
               Je crois que c est Jeanne qui l a 
                    Ou vont les belles filles 
                         Lon la 

                Le soir  en sortant des quadrilles 
               Je montre aux etoiles Stella 
               Et je leur dis   Regardez la  
                    Ou vont les belles filles 
                         Lon la   56 

Gavroche  as he sang  was lavish of his pantomime  Gesture is the strong
point of the refrain  His face  an inexhaustible repertory of masks 
produced grimaces more convulsing and more fantastic than the rents of a
cloth torn in a high gale  Unfortunately  as he was alone  and as it was
night  this was neither seen nor even visible  Such wastes of riches do
occur 

All at once  he stopped short 

 Let us interrupt the romance   said he 

His feline eye had just descried  in the recess of a carriage door 
what is called in painting  an ensemble  that is to say  a person and
a thing  the thing was a hand cart  the person was a man from Auvergene
who was sleeping therein 

The shafts of the cart rested on the pavement  and the Auvergnat s head
was supported against the front of the cart  His body was coiled up on
this inclined plane and his feet touched the ground 

Gavroche  with his experience of the things of this world  recognized
a drunken man  He was some corner errand man who had drunk too much and
was sleeping too much 

 There now   thought Gavroche   that s what the summer nights are good
for  We ll take the cart for the Republic  and leave the Auvergnat for
the Monarchy  

His mind had just been illuminated by this flash of light   

 How bully that cart would look on our barricade  

The Auvergnat was snoring 

Gavroche gently tugged at the cart from behind  and at the Auvergnat
from the front  that is to say  by the feet  and at the expiration of
another minute the imperturbable Auvergnat was reposing flat on the
pavement 

The cart was free 

Gavroche  habituated to facing the unexpected in all quarters  had
everything about him  He fumbled in one of his pockets  and pulled from
it a scrap of paper and a bit of red pencil filched from some carpenter 

He wrote   

                          French Republic  

     Received thy cart  

    And he signed it    GAVROCHE  

That done  he put the paper in the pocket of the still snoring
Auvergnat s velvet vest  seized the cart shafts in both hands  and set
off in the direction of the Halles  pushing the cart before him at a
hard gallop with a glorious and triumphant uproar 

This was perilous  There was a post at the Royal Printing Establishment 
Gavroche did not think of this  This post was occupied by the National
Guards of the suburbs  The squad began to wake up  and heads were raised
from camp beds  Two street lanterns broken in succession  that ditty
sung at the top of the lungs  This was a great deal for those cowardly
streets  which desire to go to sleep at sunset  and which put the
extinguisher on their candles at such an early hour  For the last hour 
that boy had been creating an uproar in that peaceable arrondissement 
the uproar of a fly in a bottle  The sergeant of the banlieue lent an
ear  He waited  He was a prudent man 

The mad rattle of the cart  filled to overflowing the possible measure
of waiting  and decided the sergeant to make a reconnaisance 

 There s a whole band of them there   said he   let us proceed gently  

It was clear that the hydra of anarchy had emerged from its box and that
it was stalking abroad through the quarter 

And the sergeant ventured out of the post with cautious tread 

All at once  Gavroche  pushing his cart in front of him  and at the very
moment when he was about to turn into the Rue des Vielles Haudriettes 
found himself face to face with a uniform  a shako  a plume  and a gun 

For the second time  he stopped short 

 Hullo   said he   it s him  Good day  public order  

Gavroche s amazement was always brief and speedily thawed 

 Where are you going  you rascal   shouted the sergeant 

 Citizen   retorted Gavroche   I haven t called you  bourgeois  yet  Why
do you insult me  

 Where are you going  you rogue  

 Monsieur   retorted Gavroche   perhaps you were a man of wit yesterday 
but you have degenerated this morning  

 I ask you where are you going  you villain  

Gavroche replied   

 You speak prettily  Really  no one would suppose you as old as you are 
You ought to sell all your hair at a hundred francs apiece  That would
yield you five hundred francs  

 Where are you going  Where are you going  Where are you going  bandit  

Gavroche retorted again   

 What villainous words  You must wipe your mouth better the first time
that they give you suck  

The sergeant lowered his bayonet 

 Will you tell me where you are going  you wretch  

 General   said Gavroche  I m on my way to look for a doctor for my wife
who is in labor  

 To arms   shouted the sergeant 

The master stroke of strong men consists in saving themselves by the
very means that have ruined them  Gavroche took in the whole situation
at a glance  It was the cart which had told against him  it was the
cart s place to protect him 

At the moment when the sergeant was on the point of making his descent
on Gavroche  the cart  converted into a projectile and launched with all
the latter s might  rolled down upon him furiously  and the sergeant 
struck full in the stomach  tumbled over backwards into the gutter while
his gun went off in the air 

The men of the post had rushed out pell mell at the sergeant s shout 
the shot brought on a general random discharge  after which they
reloaded their weapons and began again 

This blind man s buff musketry lasted for a quarter of an hour and
killed several panes of glass 

In the meanwhile  Gavroche  who had retraced his steps at full speed 
halted five or six streets distant and seated himself  panting  on the
stone post which forms the corner of the Enfants Rouges 

He listened 

After panting for a few minutes  he turned in the direction where the
fusillade was raging  lifted his left hand to a level with his nose and
thrust it forward three times  as he slapped the back of his head with
his right hand  an imperious gesture in which Parisian street urchindom
has condensed French irony  and which is evidently efficacious  since it
has already lasted half a century 

This gayety was troubled by one bitter reflection 

 Yes   said he   I m splitting with laughter  I m twisting with
delight  I abound in joy  but I m losing my way  I shall have to take a
roundabout way  If I only reach the barricade in season  

Thereupon he set out again on a run 

And as he ran   

 Ah  by the way  where was I   said he 

And he resumed his ditty  as he plunged rapidly through the streets  and
this is what died away in the gloom   

                Mais il reste encore des bastilles 
               Et je vais mettre le hola
               Dans l orde public que voila 
                    Ou vont les belles filles 
                         Lon la 

                Quelqu un veut il jouer aux quilles 
               Tout l ancien monde s ecroula
               Quand la grosse boule roula 
                    Ou vont les belles filles 
                         Lon la 

                Vieux bon peuple  a coups de bequilles 
               Cassons ce Louvre ou s etala
               La monarchie en falbala 
                    Ou vont les belles filles 
                         Lon la 

                Nous en avons force les grilles 
               Le roi Charles Dix ce jour la 
               Tenait mal et se decolla 
                    Ou vont les belles filles 
                         Lon la   57 

The post s recourse to arms was not without result  The cart was
conquered  the drunken man was taken prisoner  The first was put in the
pound  the second was later on somewhat harassed before the councils
of war as an accomplice  The public ministry of the day proved its
indefatigable zeal in the defence of society  in this instance 

Gavroche s adventure  which has lingered as a tradition in the quarters
of the Temple  is one of the most terrible souvenirs of the elderly
bourgeois of the Marais  and is entitled in their memories   The
nocturnal attack by the post of the Royal Printing Establishment  


 THE END OF VOLUME IV   SAINT DENIS  






VOLUME V  JEAN VALJEAN

 Illustration  Frontispiece Volume Five  

 Illustration  Titlepage Volume Five  




BOOK FIRST   THE WAR BETWEEN FOUR WALLS




CHAPTER I  THE CHARYBDIS OF THE FAUBOURG SAINT ANTOINE AND THE SCYLLA OF
THE FAUBOURG DU TEMPLE

The two most memorable barricades which the observer of social maladies
can name do not belong to the period in which the action of this work
is laid  These two barricades  both of them symbols  under two different
aspects  of a redoubtable situation  sprang from the earth at the time
of the fatal insurrection of June  1848  the greatest war of the streets
that history has ever beheld 

It sometimes happens that  even contrary to principles  even contrary to
liberty  equality  and fraternity  even contrary to the universal vote 
even contrary to the government  by all for all  from the depths of its
anguish  of its discouragements and its destitutions  of its fevers  of
its distresses  of its miasmas  of its ignorances  of its darkness  that
great and despairing body  the rabble  protests against  and that the
populace wages battle against  the people 

Beggars attack the common right  the ochlocracy rises against demos 

These are melancholy days  for there is always a certain amount of night
even in this madness  there is suicide in this duel  and those words
which are intended to be insults  beggars  canaille  ochlocracy 
populace  exhibit  alas  rather the fault of those who reign than the
fault of those who suffer  rather the fault of the privileged than the
fault of the disinherited 

For our own part  we never pronounce those words without pain and
without respect  for when philosophy fathoms the facts to which they
correspond  it often finds many a grandeur beside these miseries  Athens
was an ochlocracy  the beggars were the making of Holland  the populace
saved Rome more than once  and the rabble followed Jesus Christ 

There is no thinker who has not at times contemplated the magnificences
of the lower classes 

It was of this rabble that Saint Jerome was thinking  no doubt  and of
all these poor people and all these vagabonds and all these miserable
people whence sprang the apostles and the martyrs  when he uttered this
mysterious saying   Fex urbis  lex orbis    the dregs of the city  the
law of the earth 

The exasperations of this crowd which suffers and bleeds  its violences
contrary to all sense  directed against the principles which are its
life  its masterful deeds against the right  are its popular coups
d etat and should be repressed  The man of probity sacrifices himself 
and out of his very love for this crowd  he combats it  But how
excusable he feels it even while holding out against it  How he
venerates it even while resisting it  This is one of those rare moments
when  while doing that which it is one s duty to do  one feels something
which disconcerts one  and which would dissuade one from proceeding
further  one persists  it is necessary  but conscience  though
satisfied  is sad  and the accomplishment of duty is complicated with a
pain at the heart 

June  1848  let us hasten to say  was an exceptional fact  and almost
impossible of classification  in the philosophy of history  All the
words which we have just uttered  must be discarded  when it becomes
a question of this extraordinary revolt  in which one feels the holy
anxiety of toil claiming its rights  It was necessary to combat it  and
this was a duty  for it attacked the republic  But what was June  1848 
at bottom  A revolt of the people against itself 

Where the subject is not lost sight of  there is no digression  may we 
then  be permitted to arrest the reader s attention for a moment on the
two absolutely unique barricades of which we have just spoken and which
characterized this insurrection 

One blocked the entrance to the Faubourg Saint Antoine  the other
defended the approach to the Faubourg du Temple  those before whom these
two fearful masterpieces of civil war reared themselves beneath the
brilliant blue sky of June  will never forget them 

The Saint Antoine barricade was tremendous  it was three stories high 
and seven hundred feet wide  It barred the vast opening of the faubourg 
that is to say  three streets  from angle to angle  ravined  jagged 
cut up  divided  crenelated  with an immense rent  buttressed with piles
that were bastions in themselves throwing out capes here and there 
powerfully backed up by two great promontories of houses of the
faubourg  it reared itself like a cyclopean dike at the end of the
formidable place which had seen the 14th of July  Nineteen barricades
were ranged  one behind the other  in the depths of the streets
behind this principal barricade  At the very sight of it  one felt the
agonizing suffering in the immense faubourg  which had reached that
point of extremity when a distress may become a catastrophe  Of what was
that barricade made  Of the ruins of three six story houses demolished
expressly  said some  Of the prodigy of all wraths  said others  It wore
the lamentable aspect of all constructions of hatred  ruin  It might be
asked  Who built this  It might also be said  Who destroyed this  It was
the improvisation of the ebullition  Hold  take this door  this grating 
this penthouse  this chimney piece  this broken brazier  this cracked
pot  Give all  cast away all  Push this roll  dig  dismantle  overturn 
ruin everything  It was the collaboration of the pavement  the block of
stone  the beam  the bar of iron  the rag  the scrap  the broken pane 
the unseated chair  the cabbage stalk  the tatter  the rag  and the
malediction  It was grand and it was petty  It was the abyss parodied
on the public place by hubbub  The mass beside the atom  the strip of
ruined wall and the broken bowl   threatening fraternization of
every sort of rubbish  Sisyphus had thrown his rock there and Job his
potsherd  Terrible  in short  It was the acropolis of the barefooted 
Overturned carts broke the uniformity of the slope  an immense dray was
spread out there crossways  its axle pointing heavenward  and seemed a
scar on that tumultuous facade  an omnibus hoisted gayly  by main force 
to the very summit of the heap  as though the architects of this bit of
savagery had wished to add a touch of the street urchin humor to their
terror  presented its horseless  unharnessed pole to no one knows what
horses of the air  This gigantic heap  the alluvium of the revolt 
figured to the mind an Ossa on Pelion of all revolutions   93 on  89 
the 9th of Thermidor on the 10th of August  the 18th of Brumaire on the
11th of January  Vendemiaire on Prairial  1848 on 1830  The situation
deserved the trouble and this barricade was worthy to figure on the very
spot whence the Bastille had disappeared  If the ocean made dikes  it
is thus that it would build  The fury of the flood was stamped upon this
shapeless mass  What flood  The crowd  One thought one beheld hubbub
petrified  One thought one heard humming above this barricade as though
there had been over their hive  enormous  dark bees of violent progress 
Was it a thicket  Was it a bacchanalia  Was it a fortress  Vertigo
seemed to have constructed it with blows of its wings  There was
something of the cess pool in that redoubt and something Olympian in
that confusion  One there beheld in a pell mell full of despair  the
rafters of roofs  bits of garret windows with their figured paper 
window sashes with their glass planted there in the ruins awaiting
the cannon  wrecks of chimneys  cupboards  tables  benches  howling
topsyturveydom  and those thousand poverty stricken things  the very
refuse of the mendicant  which contain at the same time fury and
nothingness  One would have said that it was the tatters of a people 
rags of wood  of iron  of bronze  of stone  and that the Faubourg Saint
Antoine had thrust it there at its door  with a colossal flourish of the
broom making of its misery its barricade  Blocks resembling headsman s
blocks  dislocated chains  pieces of woodwork with brackets having
the form of gibbets  horizontal wheels projecting from the rubbish 
amalgamated with this edifice of anarchy the sombre figure of the old
tortures endured by the people  The barricade Saint Antoine converted
everything into a weapon  everything that civil war could throw at the
head of society proceeded thence  it was not combat  it was a paroxysm 
the carbines which defended this redoubt  among which there were some
blunderbusses  sent bits of earthenware bones  coat buttons  even the
casters from night stands  dangerous projectiles on account of
the brass  This barricade was furious  it hurled to the clouds an
inexpressible clamor  at certain moments  when provoking the army  it
was covered with throngs and tempest  a tumultuous crowd of flaming
heads crowned it  a swarm filled it  it had a thorny crest of guns  of
sabres  of cudgels  of axes  of pikes and of bayonets  a vast red flag
flapped in the wind  shouts of command  songs of attack  the roll of
drums  the sobs of women and bursts of gloomy laughter from the starving
were to be heard there  It was huge and living  and  like the back of an
electric beast  there proceeded from it little flashes of lightning  The
spirit of revolution covered with its cloud this summit where rumbled
that voice of the people which resembles the voice of God  a strange
majesty was emitted by this titanic basket of rubbish  It was a heap of
filth and it was Sinai 

As we have said previously  it attacked in the name of the
revolution  what  The revolution  It  that barricade  chance  hazard 
disorder  terror  misunderstanding  the unknown  had facing it the
Constituent Assembly  the sovereignty of the people  universal suffrage 
the nation  the republic  and it was the Carmagnole bidding defiance to
the Marseillaise 

Immense but heroic defiance  for the old faubourg is a hero 

The faubourg and its redoubt lent each other assistance  The faubourg
shouldered the redoubt  the redoubt took its stand under cover of the
faubourg  The vast barricade spread out like a cliff against which
the strategy of the African generals dashed itself  Its caverns  its
excrescences  its warts  its gibbosities  grimaced  so to speak  and
grinned beneath the smoke  The mitraille vanished in shapelessness  the
bombs plunged into it  bullets only succeeded in making holes in it 
what was the use of cannonading chaos  and the regiments  accustomed to
the fiercest visions of war  gazed with uneasy eyes on that species of
redoubt  a wild beast in its boar like bristling and a mountain by its
enormous size 

A quarter of a league away  from the corner of the Rue du Temple which
debouches on the boulevard near the Chateaud Eau  if one thrust one s
head bodily beyond the point formed by the front of the Dallemagne shop 
one perceived in the distance  beyond the canal  in the street which
mounts the slopes of Belleville at the culminating point of the rise  a
strange wall reaching to the second story of the house fronts  a sort
of hyphen between the houses on the right and the houses on the left  as
though the street had folded back on itself its loftiest wall in order
to close itself abruptly  This wall was built of paving stones  It was
straight  correct  cold  perpendicular  levelled with the square  laid
out by rule and line  Cement was lacking  of course  but  as in the case
of certain Roman walls  without interfering with its rigid architecture 
The entablature was mathematically parallel with the base  From distance
to distance  one could distinguish on the gray surface  almost invisible
loopholes which resembled black threads  These loopholes were separated
from each other by equal spaces  The street was deserted as far as the
eye could reach  All windows and doors were closed  In the background
rose this barrier  which made a blind thoroughfare of the street  a
motionless and tranquil wall  no one was visible  nothing was audible 
not a cry  not a sound  not a breath  A sepulchre 

The dazzling sun of June inundated this terrible thing with light 

It was the barricade of the Faubourg of the Temple 

As soon as one arrived on the spot  and caught sight of it  it was
impossible  even for the boldest  not to become thoughtful before
this mysterious apparition  It was adjusted  jointed  imbricated 
rectilinear  symmetrical and funereal  Science and gloom met there  One
felt that the chief of this barricade was a geometrician or a spectre 
One looked at it and spoke low 

From time to time  if some soldier  an officer or representative of the
people  chanced to traverse the deserted highway  a faint  sharp whistle
was heard  and the passer by fell dead or wounded  or  if he escaped the
bullet  sometimes a biscaien was seen to ensconce itself in some closed
shutter  in the interstice between two blocks of stone  or in the
plaster of a wall  For the men in the barricade had made themselves two
small cannons out of two cast iron lengths of gas pipe  plugged up at
one end with tow and fire clay  There was no waste of useless powder 
Nearly every shot told  There were corpses here and there  and pools of
blood on the pavement  I remember a white butterfly which went and came
in the street  Summer does not abdicate 

In the neighborhood  the spaces beneath the portes cocheres were
encumbered with wounded 

One felt oneself aimed at by some person whom one did not see  and one
understood that guns were levelled at the whole length of the street 

Massed behind the sort of sloping ridge which the vaulted canal forms
at the entrance to the Faubourg du Temple  the soldiers of the attacking
column  gravely and thoughtfully  watched this dismal redoubt  this
immobility  this passivity  whence sprang death  Some crawled flat on
their faces as far as the crest of the curve of the bridge  taking care
that their shakos did not project beyond it 

The valiant Colonel Monteynard admired this barricade with a
shudder    How that is built   he said to a Representative   Not one
paving stone projects beyond its neighbor  It is made of porcelain    At
that moment  a bullet broke the cross on his breast  and he fell 

 The cowards   people said   Let them show themselves  Let us see them 
They dare not  They are hiding  

The barricade of the Faubourg du Temple  defended by eighty men 
attacked by ten thousand  held out for three days  On the fourth  they
did as at Zaatcha  as at Constantine  they pierced the houses  they came
over the roofs  the barricade was taken  Not one of the eighty cowards
thought of flight  all were killed there with the exception of the
leader  Barthelemy  of whom we shall speak presently 

The Saint Antoine barricade was the tumult of thunders  the barricade
of the Temple was silence  The difference between these two redoubts
was the difference between the formidable and the sinister  One seemed a
maw  the other a mask 

Admitting that the gigantic and gloomy insurrection of June was composed
of a wrath and of an enigma  one divined in the first barricade the
dragon  and behind the second the sphinx 

These two fortresses had been erected by two men named  the one 
Cournet  the other  Barthelemy  Cournet made the Saint Antoine
barricade  Barthelemy the barricade of the Temple  Each was the image of
the man who had built it 

Cournet was a man of lofty stature  he had broad shoulders  a red face 
a crushing fist  a bold heart  a loyal soul  a sincere and terrible eye 
Intrepid  energetic  irascible  stormy  the most cordial of men  the
most formidable of combatants  War  strife  conflict  were the very air
he breathed and put him in a good humor  He had been an officer in the
navy  and  from his gestures and his voice  one divined that he sprang
from the ocean  and that he came from the tempest  he carried the
hurricane on into battle  With the exception of the genius  there was
in Cournet something of Danton  as  with the exception of the divinity 
there was in Danton something of Hercules 

Barthelemy  thin  feeble  pale  taciturn  was a sort of tragic street
urchin  who  having had his ears boxed by a policeman  lay in wait for
him  and killed him  and at seventeen was sent to the galleys  He came
out and made this barricade 

Later on  fatal circumstance  in London  proscribed by all  Barthelemy
slew Cournet  It was a funereal duel  Some time afterwards  caught in
the gearing of one of those mysterious adventures in which passion
plays a part  a catastrophe in which French justice sees extenuating
circumstances  and in which English justice sees only death  Barthelemy
was hanged  The sombre social construction is so made that  thanks to
material destitution  thanks to moral obscurity  that unhappy being
who possessed an intelligence  certainly firm  possibly great  began
in France with the galleys  and ended in England with the gallows 
Barthelemy  on occasion  flew but one flag  the black flag 




CHAPTER II  WHAT IS TO BE DONE IN THE ABYSS IF ONE DOES NOT CONVERSE

Sixteen years count in the subterranean education of insurrection  and
June  1848  knew a great deal more about it than June  1832  So the
barricade of the Rue de la Chanvrerie was only an outline  and an embryo
compared to the two colossal barricades which we have just sketched  but
it was formidable for that epoch 

The insurgents under the eye of Enjolras  for Marius no longer looked
after anything  had made good use of the night  The barricade had been
not only repaired  but augmented  They had raised it two feet  Bars
of iron planted in the pavement resembled lances in rest  All sorts of
rubbish brought and added from all directions complicated the external
confusion  The redoubt had been cleverly made over  into a wall on the
inside and a thicket on the outside 

The staircase of paving stones which permitted one to mount it like the
wall of a citadel had been reconstructed 

The barricade had been put in order  the tap room disencumbered  the
kitchen appropriated for the ambulance  the dressing of the wounded
completed  the powder scattered on the ground and on the tables had been
gathered up  bullets run  cartridges manufactured  lint scraped  the
fallen weapons re distributed  the interior of the redoubt cleaned  the
rubbish swept up  corpses removed 

They laid the dead in a heap in the Mondetour lane  of which they were
still the masters  The pavement was red for a long time at that spot 
Among the dead there were four National Guardsmen of the suburbs 
Enjolras had their uniforms laid aside 

Enjolras had advised two hours of sleep  Advice from Enjolras was a
command  Still  only three or four took advantage of it 

Feuilly employed these two hours in engraving this inscription on the
wall which faced the tavern   

                     LONG LIVE THE PEOPLES 

These four words  hollowed out in the rough stone with a nail  could be
still read on the wall in 1848 

The three women had profited by the respite of the night to vanish
definitely  which allowed the insurgents to breathe more freely 

They had found means of taking refuge in some neighboring house 

The greater part of the wounded were able  and wished  to fight still 
On a litter of mattresses and trusses of straw in the kitchen  which had
been converted into an ambulance  there were five men gravely wounded 
two of whom were municipal guardsmen  The municipal guardsmen were
attended to first 

In the tap room there remained only Mabeuf under his black cloth and
Javert bound to his post 

 This is the hall of the dead   said Enjolras 

In the interior of this hall  barely lighted by a candle at one end  the
mortuary table being behind the post like a horizontal bar  a sort of
vast  vague cross resulted from Javert erect and Mabeuf lying prone 

The pole of the omnibus  although snapped off by the fusillade  was
still sufficiently upright to admit of their fastening the flag to it 

Enjolras  who possessed that quality of a leader  of always doing what
he said  attached to this staff the bullet ridden and bloody coat of the
old man s 

No repast had been possible  There was neither bread nor meat  The fifty
men in the barricade had speedily exhausted the scanty provisions of
the wine shop during the sixteen hours which they had passed there  At a
given moment  every barricade inevitably becomes the raft of la Meduse 
They were obliged to resign themselves to hunger  They had then reached
the first hours of that Spartan day of the 6th of June when  in the
barricade Saint Merry  Jeanne  surrounded by the insurgents who demanded
bread  replied to all combatants crying   Something to eat   with   Why 
It is three o clock  at four we shall be dead  

As they could no longer eat  Enjolras forbade them to drink  He
interdicted wine  and portioned out the brandy 

They had found in the cellar fifteen full bottles hermetically sealed 
Enjolras and Combeferre examined them  Combeferre when he came up again
said    It s the old stock of Father Hucheloup  who began business as
a grocer     It must be real wine   observed Bossuet   It s lucky that
Grantaire is asleep  If he were on foot  there would be a good deal of
difficulty in saving those bottles    Enjolras  in spite of all murmurs 
placed his veto on the fifteen bottles  and  in order that no one might
touch them  he had them placed under the table on which Father Mabeuf
was lying 

About two o clock in the morning  they reckoned up their strength  There
were still thirty seven of them 

The day began to dawn  The torch  which had been replaced in its
cavity in the pavement  had just been extinguished  The interior of the
barricade  that species of tiny courtyard appropriated from the street 
was bathed in shadows  and resembled  athwart the vague  twilight
horror  the deck of a disabled ship  The combatants  as they went
and came  moved about there like black forms  Above that terrible
nesting place of gloom the stories of the mute houses were lividly
outlined  at the very top  the chimneys stood palely out  The sky was of
that charming  undecided hue  which may be white and may be blue  Birds
flew about in it with cries of joy  The lofty house which formed the
back of the barricade  being turned to the East  had upon its roof a
rosy reflection  The morning breeze ruffled the gray hair on the head of
the dead man at the third story window 

 I am delighted that the torch has been extinguished   said Courfeyrac
to Feuilly   That torch flickering in the wind annoyed me  It had the
appearance of being afraid  The light of torches resembles the wisdom of
cowards  it gives a bad light because it trembles  

Dawn awakens minds as it does the birds  all began to talk 

Joly  perceiving a cat prowling on a gutter  extracted philosophy from
it 

 What is the cat   he exclaimed   It is a corrective  The good God 
having made the mouse  said   Hullo  I have committed a blunder   And
so he made the cat  The cat is the erratum of the mouse  The mouse  plus
the cat  is the proof of creation revised and corrected  

Combeferre  surrounded by students and artisans  was speaking of the
dead  of Jean Prouvaire  of Bahorel  of Mabeuf  and even of Cabuc  and
of Enjolras  sad severity  He said   

 Harmodius and Aristogiton  Brutus  Chereas  Stephanus  Cromwell 
Charlotte Corday  Sand  have all had their moment of agony when it was
too late  Our hearts quiver so  and human life is such a mystery that 
even in the case of a civic murder  even in a murder for liberation  if
there be such a thing  the remorse for having struck a man surpasses the
joy of having served the human race  

And  such are the windings of the exchange of speech  that  a moment
later  by a transition brought about through Jean Prouvaire s verses 
Combeferre was comparing the translators of the Georgics  Raux with
Cournand  Cournand with Delille  pointing out the passages translated
by Malfilatre  particularly the prodigies of Caesar s death  and at that
word  Caesar  the conversation reverted to Brutus 

 Caesar   said Combeferre   fell justly  Cicero was severe towards
Caesar  and he was right  That severity is not diatribe  When Zoilus
insults Homer  when Maevius insults Virgil  when Vise insults Moliere 
when Pope insults Shakspeare  when Frederic insults Voltaire  it is an
old law of envy and hatred which is being carried out  genius attracts
insult  great men are always more or less barked at  But Zoilus and
Cicero are two different persons  Cicero is an arbiter in thought  just
as Brutus is an arbiter by the sword  For my own part  I blame that last
justice  the blade  but  antiquity admitted it  Caesar  the violator
of the Rubicon  conferring  as though they came from him  the dignities
which emanated from the people  not rising at the entrance of the
senate  committed the acts of a king and almost of a tyrant  regia ac
pene tyrannica  He was a great man  so much the worse  or so much the
better  the lesson is but the more exalted  His twenty three wounds
touch me less than the spitting in the face of Jesus Christ  Caesar is
stabbed by the senators  Christ is cuffed by lackeys  One feels the God
through the greater outrage  

Bossuet  who towered above the interlocutors from the summit of a heap
of paving stones  exclaimed  rifle in hand   

 Oh Cydathenaeum  Oh Myrrhinus  Oh Probalinthus  Oh graces of the
AEantides  Oh  Who will grant me to pronounce the verses of Homer like a
Greek of Laurium or of Edapteon  




CHAPTER III  LIGHT AND SHADOW

Enjolras had been to make a reconnaissance  He had made his way out
through Mondetour lane  gliding along close to the houses 

The insurgents  we will remark  were full of hope  The manner in which
they had repulsed the attack of the preceding night had caused them to
almost disdain in advance the attack at dawn  They waited for it with
a smile  They had no more doubt as to their success than as to their
cause  Moreover  succor was  evidently  on the way to them  They
reckoned on it  With that facility of triumphant prophecy which is one
of the sources of strength in the French combatant  they divided the
day which was at hand into three distinct phases  At six o clock in the
morning a regiment  which had been labored with   would turn  at noon 
the insurrection of all Paris  at sunset  revolution 

They heard the alarm bell of Saint Merry  which had not been silent for
an instant since the night before  a proof that the other barricade  the
great one  Jeanne s  still held out 

All these hopes were exchanged between the different groups in a sort of
gay and formidable whisper which resembled the warlike hum of a hive of
bees 

Enjolras reappeared  He returned from his sombre eagle flight into outer
darkness  He listened for a moment to all this joy with folded arms  and
one hand on his mouth  Then  fresh and rosy in the growing whiteness of
the dawn  he said 

 The whole army of Paris is to strike  A third of the army is bearing
down upon the barricades in which you now are  There is the National
Guard in addition  I have picked out the shakos of the fifth of the
line  and the standard bearers of the sixth legion  In one hour you will
be attacked  As for the populace  it was seething yesterday  to day
it is not stirring  There is nothing to expect  nothing to hope for 
Neither from a faubourg nor from a regiment  You are abandoned  

These words fell upon the buzzing of the groups  and produced on them
the effect caused on a swarm of bees by the first drops of a storm  A
moment of indescribable silence ensued  in which death might have been
heard flitting by 

This moment was brief 

A voice from the obscurest depths of the groups shouted to Enjolras 

 So be it  Let us raise the barricade to a height of twenty feet  and
let us all remain in it  Citizens  let us offer the protests of corpses 
Let us show that  if the people abandon the republicans  the republicans
do not abandon the people  

These words freed the thought of all from the painful cloud of
individual anxieties  It was hailed with an enthusiastic acclamation 

No one ever has known the name of the man who spoke thus  he was some
unknown blouse wearer  a stranger  a man forgotten  a passing hero  that
great anonymous  always mingled in human crises and in social geneses
who  at a given moment  utters in a supreme fashion the decisive word 
and who vanishes into the shadows after having represented for a minute 
in a lightning flash  the people and God 

This inexorable resolution so thoroughly impregnated the air of the
6th of June  1832  that  almost at the very same hour  on the barricade
Saint Merry  the insurgents were raising that clamor which has become a
matter of history and which has been consigned to the documents in the
case    What matters it whether they come to our assistance or not  Let
us get ourselves killed here  to the very last man  

As the reader sees  the two barricades  though materially isolated  were
in communication with each other 




CHAPTER IV  MINUS FIVE  PLUS ONE

After the man who decreed the  protest of corpses  had spoken  and had
given this formula of their common soul  there issued from all mouths a
strangely satisfied and terrible cry  funereal in sense and triumphant
in tone 

 Long live death  Let us all remain here  

 Why all   said Enjolras 

 All  All  

Enjolras resumed 

 The position is good  the barricade is fine  Thirty men are enough  Why
sacrifice forty  

They replied 

 Because not one will go away  

 Citizens   cried Enjolras  and there was an almost irritated vibration
in his voice   this republic is not rich enough in men to indulge in
useless expenditure of them  Vain glory is waste  If the duty of some is
to depart  that duty should be fulfilled like any other  

Enjolras  the man principle  had over his co religionists that sort of
omnipotent power which emanates from the absolute  Still  great as was
this omnipotence  a murmur arose  A leader to the very finger tips 
Enjolras  seeing that they murmured  insisted  He resumed haughtily 

 Let those who are afraid of not numbering more than thirty say so  

The murmurs redoubled 

 Besides   observed a voice in one group   it is easy enough to talk
about leaving  The barricade is hemmed in  

 Not on the side of the Halles   said Enjolras   The Rue Mondetour is
free  and through the Rue des Precheurs one can reach the Marche des
Innocents  

 And there   went on another voice   you would be captured  You would
fall in with some grand guard of the line or the suburbs  they will spy
a man passing in blouse and cap   Whence come you    Don t you belong to
the barricade   And they will look at your hands  You smell of powder 
Shot  

Enjolras  without making any reply  touched Combeferre s shoulder  and
the two entered the tap room 

They emerged thence a moment later  Enjolras held in his outstretched
hands the four uniforms which he had laid aside  Combeferre followed 
carrying the shoulder belts and the shakos 

 With this uniform   said Enjolras   you can mingle with the ranks and
escape  here is enough for four   And he flung on the ground  deprived
of its pavement  the four uniforms 

No wavering took place in his stoical audience  Combeferre took the
word 

 Come   said he   you must have a little pity  Do you know what the
question is here  It is a question of women  See here  Are there
women or are there not  Are there children or are there not  Are there
mothers  yes or no  who rock cradles with their foot and who have a lot
of little ones around them  Let that man of you who has never beheld a
nurse s breast raise his hand  Ah  you want to get yourselves killed  so
do I  I  who am speaking to you  but I do not want to feel the phantoms
of women wreathing their arms around me  Die  if you will  but
don t make others die  Suicides like that which is on the brink of
accomplishment here are sublime  but suicide is narrow  and does not
admit of extension  and as soon as it touches your neighbors  suicide
is murder  Think of the little blond heads  think of the white locks 
Listen  Enjolras has just told me that he saw at the corner of the Rue
du Cygne a lighted casement  a candle in a poor window  on the fifth
floor  and on the pane the quivering shadow of the head of an old woman 
who had the air of having spent the night in watching  Perhaps she is
the mother of some one of you  Well  let that man go  and make haste  to
say to his mother   Here I am  mother   Let him feel at ease  the task
here will be performed all the same  When one supports one s relatives
by one s toil  one has not the right to sacrifice one s self  That
is deserting one s family  And those who have daughters  what are you
thinking of  You get yourselves killed  you are dead  that is well  And
tomorrow  Young girls without bread  that is a terrible thing  Man begs 
woman sells  Ah  those charming and gracious beings  so gracious and so
sweet  who have bonnets of flowers  who fill the house with purity  who
sing and prattle  who are like a living perfume  who prove the existence
of angels in heaven by the purity of virgins on earth  that Jeanne 
that Lise  that Mimi  those adorable and honest creatures who are your
blessings and your pride  ah  good God  they will suffer hunger  What do
you want me to say to you  There is a market for human flesh  and it
is not with your shadowy hands  shuddering around them  that you
will prevent them from entering it  Think of the street  think of the
pavement covered with passers by  think of the shops past which women
go and come with necks all bare  and through the mire  These women 
too  were pure once  Think of your sisters  those of you who have them 
Misery  prostitution  the police  Saint Lazare  that is what those
beautiful  delicate girls  those fragile marvels of modesty  gentleness
and loveliness  fresher than lilacs in the month of May  will come to 
Ah  you have got yourselves killed  You are no longer on hand  That
is well  you have wished to release the people from Royalty  and you
deliver over your daughters to the police  Friends  have a care  have
mercy  Women  unhappy women  we are not in the habit of bestowing much
thought on them  We trust to the women not having received a man s
education  we prevent their reading  we prevent their thinking  we
prevent their occupying themselves with politics  will you prevent them
from going to the dead house this evening  and recognizing your bodies 
Let us see  those who have families must be tractable  and shake hands
with us and take themselves off  and leave us here alone to attend to
this affair  I know well that courage is required to leave  that it is
hard  but the harder it is  the more meritorious  You say   I have a
gun  I am at the barricade  so much the worse  I shall remain there   So
much the worse is easily said  My friends  there is a morrow  you will
not be here to morrow  but your families will  and what sufferings  See 
here is a pretty  healthy child  with cheeks like an apple  who babbles 
prattles  chatters  who laughs  who smells sweet beneath your kiss   and
do you know what becomes of him when he is abandoned  I have seen one 
a very small creature  no taller than that  His father was dead  Poor
people had taken him in out of charity  but they had bread only for
themselves  The child was always hungry  It was winter  He did not cry 
You could see him approach the stove  in which there was never any fire 
and whose pipe  you know  was of mastic and yellow clay  His breathing
was hoarse  his face livid  his limbs flaccid  his belly prominent  He
said nothing  If you spoke to him  he did not answer  He is dead  He was
taken to the Necker Hospital  where I saw him  I was house surgeon in
that hospital  Now  if there are any fathers among you  fathers whose
happiness it is to stroll on Sundays holding their child s tiny hand in
their robust hand  let each one of those fathers imagine that this child
is his own  That poor brat  I remember  and I seem to see him now  when
he lay nude on the dissecting table  how his ribs stood out on his skin
like the graves beneath the grass in a cemetery  A sort of mud was found
in his stomach  There were ashes in his teeth  Come  let us examine
ourselves conscientiously and take counsel with our heart  Statistics
show that the mortality among abandoned children is fifty five per cent 
I repeat  it is a question of women  it concerns mothers  it concerns
young girls  it concerns little children  Who is talking to you of
yourselves  We know well what you are  we know well that you are all
brave  parbleu  we know well that you all have in your souls the joy and
the glory of giving your life for the great cause  we know well that you
feel yourselves elected to die usefully and magnificently  and that each
one of you clings to his share in the triumph  Very well  But you are
not alone in this world  There are other beings of whom you must think 
You must not be egoists  

All dropped their heads with a gloomy air 

Strange contradictions of the human heart at its most sublime moments 
Combeferre  who spoke thus  was not an orphan  He recalled the mothers
of other men  and forgot his own  He was about to get himself killed  He
was  an egoist  

Marius  fasting  fevered  having emerged in succession from all hope 
and having been stranded in grief  the most sombre of shipwrecks  and
saturated with violent emotions and conscious that the end was near 
had plunged deeper and deeper into that visionary stupor which always
precedes the fatal hour voluntarily accepted 

A physiologist might have studied in him the growing symptoms of that
febrile absorption known to  and classified by  science  and which is
to suffering what voluptuousness is to pleasure  Despair  also  has its
ecstasy  Marius had reached this point  He looked on at everything as
from without  as we have said  things which passed before him seemed far
away  he made out the whole  but did not perceive the details  He beheld
men going and coming as through a flame  He heard voices speaking as at
the bottom of an abyss 

But this moved him  There was in this scene a point which pierced and
roused even him  He had but one idea now  to die  and he did not wish to
be turned aside from it  but he reflected  in his gloomy somnambulism 
that while destroying himself  he was not prohibited from saving some
one else 

He raised his voice 

 Enjolras and Combeferre are right   said he   no unnecessary sacrifice 
I join them  and you must make haste  Combeferre has said convincing
things to you  There are some among you who have families  mothers 
sisters  wives  children  Let such leave the ranks  

No one stirred 

 Married men and the supporters of families  step out of the ranks  
repeated Marius 

His authority was great  Enjolras was certainly the head of the
barricade  but Marius was its savior 

 I order it   cried Enjolras 

 I entreat you   said Marius 

Then  touched by Combeferre s words  shaken by Enjolras  order  touched
by Marius  entreaty  these heroic men began to denounce each other    It
is true   said one young man to a full grown man   you are the father
of a family  Go     It is your duty rather   retorted the man   you have
two sisters whom you maintain    And an unprecedented controversy broke
forth  Each struggled to determine which should not allow himself to be
placed at the door of the tomb 

 Make haste   said Courfeyrac   in another quarter of an hour it will be
too late  

 Citizens   pursued Enjolras   this is the Republic  and universal
suffrage reigns  Do you yourselves designate those who are to go  

They obeyed  After the expiration of a few minutes  five were
unanimously selected and stepped out of the ranks 

 There are five of them   exclaimed Marius 

There were only four uniforms 

 Well   began the five   one must stay behind  

And then a struggle arose as to who should remain  and who should find
reasons for the others not remaining  The generous quarrel began afresh 

 You have a wife who loves you     You have your aged mother      You
have neither father nor mother  and what is to become of your three
little brothers     You are the father of five children     You have a
right to live  you are only seventeen  it is too early for you to die  

These great revolutionary barricades were assembling points for heroism 
The improbable was simple there  These men did not astonish each other 

 Be quick   repeated Courfeyrac 

Men shouted to Marius from the groups 

 Do you designate who is to remain  

 Yes   said the five   choose  We will obey you  

Marius did not believe that he was capable of another emotion  Still 
at this idea  that of choosing a man for death  his blood rushed back
to his heart  He would have turned pale  had it been possible for him to
become any paler 

He advanced towards the five  who smiled upon him  and each  with his
eyes full of that grand flame which one beholds in the depths of history
hovering over Thermopylae  cried to him 

 Me  me  me  

And Marius stupidly counted them  there were still five of them  Then
his glance dropped to the four uniforms 

At that moment  a fifth uniform fell  as if from heaven  upon the other
four 

The fifth man was saved 

Marius raised his eyes and recognized M  Fauchelevent 

Jean Valjean had just entered the barricade 

He had arrived by way of Mondetour lane  whither by dint of inquiries
made  or by instinct  or chance  Thanks to his dress of a National
Guardsman  he had made his way without difficulty 

The sentinel stationed by the insurgents in the Rue Mondetour had no
occasion to give the alarm for a single National Guardsman  and he had
allowed the latter to entangle himself in the street  saying to himself 
 Probably it is a reinforcement  in any case it is a prisoner   The
moment was too grave to admit of the sentinel abandoning his duty and
his post of observation 

At the moment when Jean Valjean entered the redoubt  no one had noticed
him  all eyes being fixed on the five chosen men and the four uniforms 
Jean Valjean also had seen and heard  and he had silently removed his
coat and flung it on the pile with the rest 

The emotion aroused was indescribable 

 Who is this man   demanded Bossuet 

 He is a man who saves others   replied Combeferre 

Marius added in a grave voice 

 I know him  

This guarantee satisfied every one 

Enjolras turned to Jean Valjean 

 Welcome  citizen  

And he added 

 You know that we are about to die  

Jean Valjean  without replying  helped the insurgent whom he was saving
to don his uniform 




CHAPTER V  THE HORIZON WHICH ONE BEHOLDS FROM THE SUMMIT OF A BARRICADE

The situation of all in that fatal hour and that pitiless place  had as
result and culminating point Enjolras  supreme melancholy 

Enjolras bore within him the plenitude of the revolution  he was
incomplete  however  so far as the absolute can be so  he had too much
of Saint Just about him  and not enough of Anacharsis Cloots  still 
his mind  in the society of the Friends of the A B C  had ended by
undergoing a certain polarization from Combeferre s ideas  for some time
past  he had been gradually emerging from the narrow form of dogma  and
had allowed himself to incline to the broadening influence of progress 
and he had come to accept  as a definitive and magnificent evolution 
the transformation of the great French Republic  into the immense
human republic  As far as the immediate means were concerned  a violent
situation being given  he wished to be violent  on that point  he never
varied  and he remained of that epic and redoubtable school which is
summed up in the words   Eighty three   Enjolras was standing erect on
the staircase of paving stones  one elbow resting on the stock of
his gun  He was engaged in thought  he quivered  as at the passage of
prophetic breaths  places where death is have these effects of tripods 
A sort of stifled fire darted from his eyes  which were filled with an
inward look  All at once he threw back his head  his blond locks fell
back like those of an angel on the sombre quadriga made of stars  they
were like the mane of a startled lion in the flaming of an halo  and
Enjolras cried 

 Citizens  do you picture the future to yourselves  The streets of
cities inundated with light  green branches on the thresholds  nations
sisters  men just  old men blessing children  the past loving the
present  thinkers entirely at liberty  believers on terms of full
equality  for religion heaven  God the direct priest  human conscience
become an altar  no more hatreds  the fraternity of the workshop and the
school  for sole penalty and recompense fame  work for all  right for
all  peace over all  no more bloodshed  no more wars  happy mothers  To
conquer matter is the first step  to realize the ideal is the second 
Reflect on what progress has already accomplished  Formerly  the
first human races beheld with terror the hydra pass before their eyes 
breathing on the waters  the dragon which vomited flame  the griffin who
was the monster of the air  and who flew with the wings of an eagle
and the talons of a tiger  fearful beasts which were above man  Man 
nevertheless  spread his snares  consecrated by intelligence  and
finally conquered these monsters  We have vanquished the hydra  and
it is called the locomotive  we are on the point of vanquishing the
griffin  we already grasp it  and it is called the balloon  On the day
when this Promethean task shall be accomplished  and when man shall have
definitely harnessed to his will the triple Chimaera of antiquity  the
hydra  the dragon and the griffin  he will be the master of water  fire 
and of air  and he will be for the rest of animated creation that which
the ancient gods formerly were to him  Courage  and onward  Citizens 
whither are we going  To science made government  to the force of things
become the sole public force  to the natural law  having in itself its
sanction and its penalty and promulgating itself by evidence  to a dawn
of truth corresponding to a dawn of day  We are advancing to the union
of peoples  we are advancing to the unity of man  No more fictions 
no more parasites  The real governed by the true  that is the goal 
Civilization will hold its assizes at the summit of Europe  and 
later on  at the centre of continents  in a grand parliament of the
intelligence  Something similar has already been seen  The amphictyons
had two sittings a year  one at Delphos the seat of the gods  the other
at Thermopylae  the place of heroes  Europe will have her amphictyons 
the globe will have its amphictyons  France bears this sublime future in
her breast  This is the gestation of the nineteenth century  That which
Greece sketched out is worthy of being finished by France  Listen to me 
you  Feuilly  valiant artisan  man of the people  I revere you  Yes  you
clearly behold the future  yes  you are right  You had neither father
nor mother  Feuilly  you adopted humanity for your mother and right
for your father  You are about to die  that is to say to triumph  here 
Citizens  whatever happens to day  through our defeat as well as
through our victory  it is a revolution that we are about to create 
As conflagrations light up a whole city  so revolutions illuminate the
whole human race  And what is the revolution that we shall cause  I have
just told you  the Revolution of the True  From a political point of
view  there is but a single principle  the sovereignty of man over
himself  This sovereignty of myself over myself is called Liberty  Where
two or three of these sovereignties are combined  the state begins  But
in that association there is no abdication  Each sovereignty concedes a
certain quantity of itself  for the purpose of forming the common right 
This quantity is the same for all of us  This identity of concession
which each makes to all  is called Equality  Common right is nothing
else than the protection of all beaming on the right of each  This
protection of all over each is called Fraternity  The point of
intersection of all these assembled sovereignties is called society 
This intersection being a junction  this point is a knot  Hence what
is called the social bond  Some say social contract  which is the same
thing  the word contract being etymologically formed with the idea of a
bond  Let us come to an understanding about equality  for  if liberty
is the summit  equality is the base  Equality  citizens  is not wholly a
surface vegetation  a society of great blades of grass and tiny oaks  a
proximity of jealousies which render each other null and void  legally
speaking  it is all aptitudes possessed of the same opportunity 
politically  it is all votes possessed of the same weight  religiously 
it is all consciences possessed of the same right  Equality has an
organ  gratuitous and obligatory instruction  The right to the alphabet 
that is where the beginning must be made  The primary school imposed
on all  the secondary school offered to all  that is the law  From an
identical school  an identical society will spring  Yes  instruction 
light  light  everything comes from light  and to it everything returns 
Citizens  the nineteenth century is great  but the twentieth century
will be happy  Then  there will be nothing more like the history of old 
we shall no longer  as to day  have to fear a conquest  an invasion 
a usurpation  a rivalry of nations  arms in hand  an interruption of
civilization depending on a marriage of kings  on a birth in hereditary
tyrannies  a partition of peoples by a congress  a dismemberment because
of the failure of a dynasty  a combat of two religions meeting face
to face  like two bucks in the dark  on the bridge of the infinite  we
shall no longer have to fear famine  farming out  prostitution arising
from distress  misery from the failure of work and the scaffold and the
sword  and battles and the ruffianism of chance in the forest of events 
One might almost say  There will be no more events  We shall be happy 
The human race will accomplish its law  as the terrestrial globe
accomplishes its law  harmony will be re established between the soul
and the star  the soul will gravitate around the truth  as the planet
around the light  Friends  the present hour in which I am addressing
you  is a gloomy hour  but these are terrible purchases of the future 
A revolution is a toll  Oh  the human race will be delivered  raised up 
consoled  We affirm it on this barrier  Whence should proceed that cry
of love  if not from the heights of sacrifice  Oh my brothers  this is
the point of junction  of those who think and of those who suffer  this
barricade is not made of paving stones  nor of joists  nor of bits of
iron  it is made of two heaps  a heap of ideas  and a heap of woes  Here
misery meets the ideal  The day embraces the night  and says to it   I
am about to die  and thou shalt be born again with me   From the embrace
of all desolations faith leaps forth  Sufferings bring hither their
agony and ideas their immortality  This agony and this immortality are
about to join and constitute our death  Brothers  he who dies here dies
in the radiance of the future  and we are entering a tomb all flooded
with the dawn  

Enjolras paused rather than became silent  his lips continued to move
silently  as though he were talking to himself  which caused them all
to gaze attentively at him  in the endeavor to hear more  There was no
applause  but they whispered together for a long time  Speech being a
breath  the rustling of intelligences resembles the rustling of leaves 




CHAPTER VI  MARIUS HAGGARD  JAVERT LACONIC

Let us narrate what was passing in Marius  thoughts 

Let the reader recall the state of his soul  We have just recalled it 
everything was a vision to him now  His judgment was disturbed  Marius 
let us insist on this point  was under the shadow of the great  dark
wings which are spread over those in the death agony  He felt that he
had entered the tomb  it seemed to him that he was already on the other
side of the wall  and he no longer beheld the faces of the living except
with the eyes of one dead 

How did M  Fauchelevent come there  Why was he there  What had he come
there to do  Marius did not address all these questions to himself 
Besides  since our despair has this peculiarity  that it envelops others
as well as ourselves  it seemed logical to him that all the world should
come thither to die 

Only  he thought of Cosette with a pang at his heart 

However  M  Fauchelevent did not speak to him  did not look at him  and
had not even the air of hearing him  when Marius raised his voice to
say   I know him  

As far as Marius was concerned  this attitude of M  Fauchelevent was
comforting  and  if such a word can be used for such impressions 
we should say that it pleased him  He had always felt the absolute
impossibility of addressing that enigmatical man  who was  in his eyes 
both equivocal and imposing  Moreover  it had been a long time since
he had seen him  and this still further augmented the impossibility for
Marius  timid and reserved nature 

The five chosen men left the barricade by way of Mondetour lane  they
bore a perfect resemblance to members of the National Guard  One of them
wept as he took his leave  Before setting out  they embraced those who
remained 

When the five men sent back to life had taken their departure  Enjolras
thought of the man who had been condemned to death 

He entered the tap room  Javert  still bound to the post  was engaged in
meditation 

 Do you want anything   Enjolras asked him 

Javert replied   When are you going to kill me  

 Wait  We need all our cartridges just at present  

 Then give me a drink   said Javert 

Enjolras himself offered him a glass of water  and  as Javert was
pinioned  he helped him to drink 

 Is that all   inquired Enjolras 

 I am uncomfortable against this post   replied Javert   You are not
tender to have left me to pass the night here  Bind me as you please 
but you surely might lay me out on a table like that other man  

And with a motion of the head  he indicated the body of M  Mabeuf 

There was  as the reader will remember  a long  broad table at the
end of the room  on which they had been running bullets and making
cartridges  All the cartridges having been made  and all the powder
used  this table was free 

At Enjolras  command  four insurgents unbound Javert from the post 
While they were loosing him  a fifth held a bayonet against his breast 

Leaving his arms tied behind his back  they placed about his feet a
slender but stout whip cord  as is done to men on the point of mounting
the scaffold  which allowed him to take steps about fifteen inches in
length  and made him walk to the table at the end of the room  where
they laid him down  closely bound about the middle of the body 

By way of further security  and by means of a rope fastened to his neck 
they added to the system of ligatures which rendered every attempt
at escape impossible  that sort of bond which is called in prisons a
martingale  which  starting at the neck  forks on the stomach  and meets
the hands  after passing between the legs 

While they were binding Javert  a man standing on the threshold was
surveying him with singular attention  The shadow cast by this man made
Javert turn his head  He raised his eyes  and recognized Jean Valjean 
He did not even start  but dropped his lids proudly and confined himself
to the remark   It is perfectly simple  




CHAPTER VII  THE SITUATION BECOMES AGGRAVATED

The daylight was increasing rapidly  Not a window was opened  not a door
stood ajar  it was the dawn but not the awaking  The end of the Rue de
la Chanvrerie  opposite the barricade  had been evacuated by the
troops  as we have stated it seemed to be free  and presented itself to
passers by with a sinister tranquillity  The Rue Saint Denis was as
dumb as the avenue of Sphinxes at Thebes  Not a living being in the
cross roads  which gleamed white in the light of the sun  Nothing is so
mournful as this light in deserted streets  Nothing was to be seen  but
there was something to be heard  A mysterious movement was going on at
a certain distance  It was evident that the critical moment was
approaching  As on the previous evening  the sentinels had come in  but
this time all had come 

The barricade was stronger than on the occasion of the first attack 
Since the departure of the five  they had increased its height still
further 

On the advice of the sentinel who had examined the region of the
Halles  Enjolras  for fear of a surprise in the rear  came to a serious
decision  He had the small gut of the Mondetour lane  which had been
left open up to that time  barricaded  For this purpose  they tore up
the pavement for the length of several houses more  In this manner 
the barricade  walled on three streets  in front on the Rue de
la Chanvrerie  to the left on the Rues du Cygne and de la Petite
Truanderie  to the right on the Rue Mondetour  was really almost
impregnable  it is true that they were fatally hemmed in there  It
had three fronts  but no exit    A fortress but a rat hole too   said
Courfeyrac with a laugh 

Enjolras had about thirty paving stones  torn up in excess   said
Bossuet  piled up near the door of the wine shop 

The silence was now so profound in the quarter whence the attack must
needs come  that Enjolras had each man resume his post of battle 

An allowance of brandy was doled out to each 

Nothing is more curious than a barricade preparing for an assault  Each
man selects his place as though at the theatre  They jostle  and elbow
and crowd each other  There are some who make stalls of paving stones 
Here is a corner of the wall which is in the way  it is removed  here
is a redan which may afford protection  they take shelter behind it 
Left handed men are precious  they take the places that are inconvenient
to the rest  Many arrange to fight in a sitting posture  They wish to be
at ease to kill  and to die comfortably  In the sad war of June  1848 
an insurgent who was a formidable marksman  and who was firing from the
top of a terrace upon a roof  had a reclining chair brought there for
his use  a charge of grape shot found him out there 

As soon as the leader has given the order to clear the decks for action 
all disorderly movements cease  there is no more pulling from one
another  there are no more coteries  no more asides  there is no more
holding aloof  everything in their spirits converges in  and changes
into  a waiting for the assailants  A barricade before the arrival of
danger is chaos  in danger  it is discipline itself  Peril produces
order 

As soon as Enjolras had seized his double barrelled rifle  and had
placed himself in a sort of embrasure which he had reserved for himself 
all the rest held their peace  A series of faint  sharp noises resounded
confusedly along the wall of paving stones  It was the men cocking their
guns 

Moreover  their attitudes were prouder  more confident than ever  the
excess of sacrifice strengthens  they no longer cherished any hope 
but they had despair  despair   the last weapon  which sometimes gives
victory  Virgil has said so  Supreme resources spring from extreme
resolutions  To embark in death is sometimes the means of escaping a
shipwreck  and the lid of the coffin becomes a plank of safety 

As on the preceding evening  the attention of all was directed  we
might almost say leaned upon  the end of the street  now lighted up and
visible 

They had not long to wait  A stir began distinctly in the Saint Leu
quarter  but it did not resemble the movement of the first attack  A
clashing of chains  the uneasy jolting of a mass  the click of brass
skipping along the pavement  a sort of solemn uproar  announced that
some sinister construction of iron was approaching  There arose a tremor
in the bosoms of these peaceful old streets  pierced and built for the
fertile circulation of interests and ideas  and which are not made for
the horrible rumble of the wheels of war 

The fixity of eye in all the combatants upon the extremity of the street
became ferocious 

A cannon made its appearance 

Artillery men were pushing the piece  it was in firing trim  the
fore carriage had been detached  two upheld the gun carriage  four were
at the wheels  others followed with the caisson  They could see the
smoke of the burning lint stock 

 Fire   shouted Enjolras 

The whole barricade fired  the report was terrible  an avalanche of
smoke covered and effaced both cannon and men  after a few seconds  the
cloud dispersed  and the cannon and men re appeared  the gun crew had
just finished rolling it slowly  correctly  without haste  into position
facing the barricade  Not one of them had been struck  Then the captain
of the piece  bearing down upon the breech in order to raise the muzzle 
began to point the cannon with the gravity of an astronomer levelling a
telescope 

 Bravo for the cannoneers   cried Bossuet 

And the whole barricade clapped their hands 

A moment later  squarely planted in the very middle of the street 
astride of the gutter  the piece was ready for action  A formidable pair
of jaws yawned on the barricade 

 Come  merrily now   ejaculated Courfeyrac   That s the brutal part of
it  After the fillip on the nose  the blow from the fist  The army is
reaching out its big paw to us  The barricade is going to be severely
shaken up  The fusillade tries  the cannon takes  

 It is a piece of eight  new model  brass   added Combeferre   Those
pieces are liable to burst as soon as the proportion of ten parts of tin
to one hundred of brass is exceeded  The excess of tin renders them too
tender  Then it comes to pass that they have caves and chambers when
looked at from the vent hole  In order to obviate this danger  and
to render it possible to force the charge  it may become necessary
to return to the process of the fourteenth century  hooping  and to
encircle the piece on the outside with a series of unwelded steel bands 
from the breech to the trunnions  In the meantime  they remedy this
defect as best they may  they manage to discover where the holes are
located in the vent of a cannon  by means of a searcher  But there is a
better method  with Gribeauval s movable star  

 In the sixteenth century   remarked Bossuet   they used to rifle
cannon  

 Yes   replied Combeferre   that augments the projectile force  but
diminishes the accuracy of the firing  In firing at short range 
the trajectory is not as rigid as could be desired  the parabola is
exaggerated  the line of the projectile is no longer sufficiently
rectilinear to allow of its striking intervening objects  which is 
nevertheless  a necessity of battle  the importance of which increases
with the proximity of the enemy and the precipitation of the discharge 
This defect of the tension of the curve of the projectile in the rifled
cannon of the sixteenth century arose from the smallness of the charge 
small charges for that sort of engine are imposed by the ballistic
necessities  such  for instance  as the preservation of the
gun carriage  In short  that despot  the cannon  cannot do all that
it desires  force is a great weakness  A cannon ball only travels
six hundred leagues an hour  light travels seventy thousand leagues a
second  Such is the superiority of Jesus Christ over Napoleon  

 Reload your guns   said Enjolras 

How was the casing of the barricade going to behave under the
cannon balls  Would they effect a breach  That was the question  While
the insurgents were reloading their guns  the artillery men were loading
the cannon 

The anxiety in the redoubt was profound 

The shot sped the report burst forth 

 Present   shouted a joyous voice 

And Gavroche flung himself into the barricade just as the ball dashed
against it 

He came from the direction of the Rue du Cygne  and he had nimbly
climbed over the auxiliary barricade which fronted on the labyrinth of
the Rue de la Petite Truanderie 

Gavroche produced a greater sensation in the barricade than the
cannon ball 

The ball buried itself in the mass of rubbish  At the most there was an
omnibus wheel broken  and the old Anceau cart was demolished  On seeing
this  the barricade burst into a laugh 

 Go on   shouted Bossuet to the artillerists 




CHAPTER VIII  THE ARTILLERY MEN COMPEL PEOPLE TO TAKE THEM SERIOUSLY

They flocked round Gavroche  But he had no time to tell anything  Marius
drew him aside with a shudder 

 What are you doing here  

 Hullo   said the child   what are you doing here yourself  

And he stared at Marius intently with his epic effrontery  His eyes grew
larger with the proud light within them 

It was with an accent of severity that Marius continued 

 Who told you to come back  Did you deliver my letter at the address  

Gavroche was not without some compunctions in the matter of that letter 
In his haste to return to the barricade  he had got rid of it rather
than delivered it  He was forced to acknowledge to himself that he had
confided it rather lightly to that stranger whose face he had not been
able to make out  It is true that the man was bareheaded  but that was
not sufficient  In short  he had been administering to himself little
inward remonstrances and he feared Marius  reproaches  In order to
extricate himself from the predicament  he took the simplest course  he
lied abominably 

 Citizen  I delivered the letter to the porter  The lady was asleep  She
will have the letter when she wakes up  

Marius had had two objects in sending that letter  to bid farewell to
Cosette and to save Gavroche  He was obliged to content himself with the
half of his desire 

The despatch of his letter and the presence of M  Fauchelevent in the
barricade  was a coincidence which occurred to him  He pointed out M 
Fauchelevent to Gavroche 

 Do you know that man  

 No   said Gavroche 

Gavroche had  in fact  as we have just mentioned  seen Jean Valjean only
at night 

The troubled and unhealthy conjectures which had outlined themselves in
Marius  mind were dissipated  Did he know M  Fauchelevent s opinions 
Perhaps M  Fauchelevent was a republican  Hence his very natural
presence in this combat 

In the meanwhile  Gavroche was shouting  at the other end of the
barricade   My gun  

Courfeyrac had it returned to him 

Gavroche warned  his comrades  as he called them  that the barricade was
blocked  He had had great difficulty in reaching it  A battalion of the
line whose arms were piled in the Rue de la Petite Truanderie was on
the watch on the side of the Rue du Cygne  on the opposite side  the
municipal guard occupied the Rue des Precheurs  The bulk of the army was
facing them in front 

This information given  Gavroche added 

 I authorize you to hit  em a tremendous whack  

Meanwhile  Enjolras was straining his ears and watching at his
embrasure 

The assailants  dissatisfied  no doubt  with their shot  had not
repeated it 

A company of infantry of the line had come up and occupied the end of
the street behind the piece of ordnance  The soldiers were tearing up
the pavement and constructing with the stones a small  low wall  a
sort of side work not more than eighteen inches high  and facing the
barricade  In the angle at the left of this epaulement  there was
visible the head of the column of a battalion from the suburbs massed in
the Rue Saint Denis 

Enjolras  on the watch  thought he distinguished the peculiar sound
which is produced when the shells of grape shot are drawn from the
caissons  and he saw the commander of the piece change the elevation
and incline the mouth of the cannon slightly to the left  Then the
cannoneers began to load the piece  The chief seized the lint stock
himself and lowered it to the vent 

 Down with your heads  hug the wall   shouted Enjolras   and all on your
knees along the barricade  

The insurgents who were straggling in front of the wine shop  and
who had quitted their posts of combat on Gavroche s arrival  rushed
pell mell towards the barricade  but before Enjolras  order could be
executed  the discharge took place with the terrifying rattle of a round
of grape shot  This is what it was  in fact 

The charge had been aimed at the cut in the redoubt  and had there
rebounded from the wall  and this terrible rebound had produced two dead
and three wounded 

If this were continued  the barricade was no longer tenable  The
grape shot made its way in 

A murmur of consternation arose 

 Let us prevent the second discharge   said Enjolras 

And  lowering his rifle  he took aim at the captain of the gun  who  at
that moment  was bearing down on the breach of his gun and rectifying
and definitely fixing its pointing 

The captain of the piece was a handsome sergeant of artillery  very
young  blond  with a very gentle face  and the intelligent air peculiar
to that predestined and redoubtable weapon which  by dint of perfecting
itself in horror  must end in killing war 

Combeferre  who was standing beside Enjolras  scrutinized this young
man 

 What a pity   said Combeferre   What hideous things these butcheries
are  Come  when there are no more kings  there will be no more war 
Enjolras  you are taking aim at that sergeant  you are not looking at
him  Fancy  he is a charming young man  he is intrepid  it is evident
that he is thoughtful  those young artillery men are very well educated 
he has a father  a mother  a family  he is probably in love  he is not
more than five and twenty at the most  he might be your brother  

 He is   said Enjolras 

 Yes   replied Combeferre   he is mine too  Well  let us not kill him  

 Let me alone  It must be done  

And a tear trickled slowly down Enjolras  marble cheek 

At the same moment  he pressed the trigger of his rifle  The flame
leaped forth  The artillery man turned round twice  his arms extended in
front of him  his head uplifted  as though for breath  then he fell with
his side on the gun  and lay there motionless  They could see his back 
from the centre of which there flowed directly a stream of blood  The
ball had traversed his breast from side to side  He was dead 

He had to be carried away and replaced by another  Several minutes were
thus gained  in fact 




CHAPTER IX  EMPLOYMENT OF THE OLD TALENTS OF A POACHER AND THAT
INFALLIBLE MARKSMANSHIP WHICH INFLUENCED THE CONDEMNATION OF 1796

Opinions were exchanged in the barricade  The firing from the gun was
about to begin again  Against that grape shot  they could not hold out
a quarter of an hour longer  It was absolutely necessary to deaden the
blows 

Enjolras issued this command 

 We must place a mattress there  

 We have none   said Combeferre   the wounded are lying on them  

Jean Valjean  who was seated apart on a stone post  at the corner of the
tavern  with his gun between his knees  had  up to that moment  taken
no part in anything that was going on  He did not appear to hear the
combatants saying around him   Here is a gun that is doing nothing  

At the order issued by Enjolras  he rose 

It will be remembered that  on the arrival of the rabble in the Rue
de la Chanvrerie  an old woman  foreseeing the bullets  had placed her
mattress in front of her window  This window  an attic window  was on
the roof of a six story house situated a little beyond the barricade 
The mattress  placed cross wise  supported at the bottom on two poles
for drying linen  was upheld at the top by two ropes  which  at that
distance  looked like two threads  and which were attached to two nails
planted in the window frames  These ropes were distinctly visible  like
hairs  against the sky 

 Can some one lend me a double barrelled rifle   said Jean Valjean 

Enjolras  who had just re loaded his  handed it to him 

Jean Valjean took aim at the attic window and fired 

One of the mattress ropes was cut 

The mattress now hung by one thread only 

Jean Valjean fired the second charge  The second rope lashed the panes
of the attic window  The mattress slipped between the two poles and fell
into the street 

The barricade applauded 

All voices cried 

 Here is a mattress  

 Yes   said Combeferre   but who will go and fetch it  

The mattress had  in fact  fallen outside the barricade  between
besiegers and besieged  Now  the death of the sergeant of artillery
having exasperated the troop  the soldiers had  for several minutes 
been lying flat on their stomachs behind the line of paving stones which
they had erected  and  in order to supply the forced silence of
the piece  which was quiet while its service was in course of
reorganization  they had opened fire on the barricade  The insurgents
did not reply to this musketry  in order to spare their ammunition The
fusillade broke against the barricade  but the street  which it filled 
was terrible 

Jean Valjean stepped out of the cut  entered the street  traversed the
storm of bullets  walked up to the mattress  hoisted it upon his back 
and returned to the barricade 

He placed the mattress in the cut with his own hands  He fixed it there
against the wall in such a manner that the artillery men should not see
it 

That done  they awaited the next discharge of grape shot 

It was not long in coming 

The cannon vomited forth its package of buck shot with a roar  But there
was no rebound  The effect which they had foreseen had been attained 
The barricade was saved 

 Citizen   said Enjolras to Jean Valjean   the Republic thanks you  

Bossuet admired and laughed  He exclaimed 

 It is immoral that a mattress should have so much power  Triumph of
that which yields over that which strikes with lightning  But never
mind  glory to the mattress which annuls a cannon  




CHAPTER X  DAWN

At that moment  Cosette awoke 

Her chamber was narrow  neat  unobtrusive  with a long sash window 
facing the East on the back court yard of the house 

Cosette knew nothing of what was going on in Paris  She had not been
there on the preceding evening  and she had already retired to her
chamber when Toussaint had said 

 It appears that there is a row  

Cosette had slept only a few hours  but soundly  She had had sweet
dreams  which possibly arose from the fact that her little bed was very
white  Some one  who was Marius  had appeared to her in the light  She
awoke with the sun in her eyes  which  at first  produced on her the
effect of being a continuation of her dream  Her first thought on
emerging from this dream was a smiling one  Cosette felt herself
thoroughly reassured  Like Jean Valjean  she had  a few hours
previously  passed through that reaction of the soul which absolutely
will not hear of unhappiness  She began to cherish hope  with all her
might  without knowing why  Then she felt a pang at her heart  It was
three days since she had seen Marius  But she said to herself that he
must have received her letter  that he knew where she was  and that
he was so clever that he would find means of reaching her   And that
certainly to day  and perhaps that very morning   It was broad daylight 
but the rays of light were very horizontal  she thought that it was very
early  but that she must rise  nevertheless  in order to receive Marius 

She felt that she could not live without Marius  and that  consequently 
that was sufficient and that Marius would come  No objection was valid 
All this was certain  It was monstrous enough already to have suffered
for three days  Marius absent three days  this was horrible on the part
of the good God  Now  this cruel teasing from on high had been gone
through with  Marius was about to arrive  and he would bring good news 
Youth is made thus  it quickly dries its eyes  it finds sorrow useless
and does not accept it  Youth is the smile of the future in the presence
of an unknown quantity  which is itself  It is natural to it to be
happy  It seems as though its respiration were made of hope 

Moreover  Cosette could not remember what Marius had said to her on
the subject of this absence which was to last only one day  and what
explanation of it he had given her  Every one has noticed with what
nimbleness a coin which one has dropped on the ground rolls away and
hides  and with what art it renders itself undiscoverable  There are
thoughts which play us the same trick  they nestle away in a corner of
our brain  that is the end of them  they are lost  it is impossible to
lay the memory on them  Cosette was somewhat vexed at the useless little
effort made by her memory  She told herself  that it was very naughty
and very wicked of her  to have forgotten the words uttered by Marius 

She sprang out of bed and accomplished the two ablutions of soul and
body  her prayers and her toilet 

One may  in a case of exigency  introduce the reader into a nuptial
chamber  not into a virginal chamber  Verse would hardly venture it 
prose must not 

It is the interior of a flower that is not yet unfolded  it is whiteness
in the dark  it is the private cell of a closed lily  which must not be
gazed upon by man so long as the sun has not gazed upon it  Woman in the
bud is sacred  That innocent bud which opens  that adorable half nudity
which is afraid of itself  that white foot which takes refuge in a
slipper  that throat which veils itself before a mirror as though
a mirror were an eye  that chemise which makes haste to rise up and
conceal the shoulder for a creaking bit of furniture or a passing
vehicle  those cords tied  those clasps fastened  those laces drawn 
those tremors  those shivers of cold and modesty  that exquisite
affright in every movement  that almost winged uneasiness where there
is no cause for alarm  the successive phases of dressing  as charming as
the clouds of dawn   it is not fitting that all this should be narrated 
and it is too much to have even called attention to it 

The eye of man must be more religious in the presence of the rising of a
young girl than in the presence of the rising of a star  The possibility
of hurting should inspire an augmentation of respect  The down on the
peach  the bloom on the plum  the radiated crystal of the snow  the wing
of the butterfly powdered with feathers  are coarse compared to that
chastity which does not even know that it is chaste  The young girl is
only the flash of a dream  and is not yet a statue  Her bed chamber is
hidden in the sombre part of the ideal  The indiscreet touch of a glance
brutalizes this vague penumbra  Here  contemplation is profanation 

We shall  therefore  show nothing of that sweet little flutter of
Cosette s rising 

An oriental tale relates how the rose was made white by God  but that
Adam looked upon her when she was unfolding  and she was ashamed and
turned crimson  We are of the number who fall speechless in the presence
of young girls and flowers  since we think them worthy of veneration 

Cosette dressed herself very hastily  combed and dressed her hair  which
was a very simple matter in those days  when women did not swell out
their curls and bands with cushions and puffs  and did not put crinoline
in their locks  Then she opened the window and cast her eyes around her
in every direction  hoping to descry some bit of the street  an angle of
the house  an edge of pavement  so that she might be able to watch for
Marius there  But no view of the outside was to be had  The back court
was surrounded by tolerably high walls  and the outlook was only on
several gardens  Cosette pronounced these gardens hideous  for the first
time in her life  she found flowers ugly  The smallest scrap of the
gutter of the street would have met her wishes better  She decided to
gaze at the sky  as though she thought that Marius might come from that
quarter 

All at once  she burst into tears  Not that this was fickleness of
soul  but hopes cut in twain by dejection  that was her case  She had a
confused consciousness of something horrible  Thoughts were rife in the
air  in fact  She told herself that she was not sure of anything  that
to withdraw herself from sight was to be lost  and the idea that Marius
could return to her from heaven appeared to her no longer charming but
mournful 

Then  as is the nature of these clouds  calm returned to her  and hope
and a sort of unconscious smile  which yet indicated trust in God 

Every one in the house was still asleep  A country like silence reigned 
Not a shutter had been opened  The porter s lodge was closed  Toussaint
had not risen  and Cosette  naturally  thought that her father was
asleep  She must have suffered much  and she must have still been
suffering greatly  for she said to herself  that her father had been
unkind  but she counted on Marius  The eclipse of such a light was
decidedly impossible  Now and then  she heard sharp shocks in the
distance  and she said   It is odd that people should be opening and
shutting their carriage gates so early   They were the reports of the
cannon battering the barricade 

A few feet below Cosette s window  in the ancient and perfectly black
cornice of the wall  there was a martin s nest  the curve of this nest
formed a little projection beyond the cornice  so that from above it
was possible to look into this little paradise  The mother was there 
spreading her wings like a fan over her brood  the father fluttered
about  flew away  then came back  bearing in his beak food and kisses 
The dawning day gilded this happy thing  the great law   Multiply   lay
there smiling and august  and that sweet mystery unfolded in the
glory of the morning  Cosette  with her hair in the sunlight  her
soul absorbed in chimeras  illuminated by love within and by the dawn
without  bent over mechanically  and almost without daring to avow to
herself that she was thinking at the same time of Marius  began to gaze
at these birds  at this family  at that male and female  that mother and
her little ones  with the profound trouble which a nest produces on a
virgin 




CHAPTER XI  THE SHOT WHICH MISSES NOTHING AND KILLS NO ONE

The assailants  fire continued  Musketry and grape shot alternated  but
without committing great ravages  to tell the truth  The top alone of
the Corinthe facade suffered  the window on the first floor  and the
attic window in the roof  riddled with buck shot and biscaiens  were
slowly losing their shape  The combatants who had been posted there had
been obliged to withdraw  However  this is according to the tactics
of barricades  to fire for a long while  in order to exhaust the
insurgents  ammunition  if they commit the mistake of replying  When it
is perceived  from the slackening of their fire  that they have no more
powder and ball  the assault is made  Enjolras had not fallen into this
trap  the barricade did not reply 

At every discharge by platoons  Gavroche puffed out his cheek with his
tongue  a sign of supreme disdain 

 Good for you   said he   rip up the cloth  We want some lint  

Courfeyrac called the grape shot to order for the little effect which it
produced  and said to the cannon 

 You are growing diffuse  my good fellow  

One gets puzzled in battle  as at a ball  It is probable that this
silence on the part of the redoubt began to render the besiegers uneasy 
and to make them fear some unexpected incident  and that they felt the
necessity of getting a clear view behind that heap of paving stones  and
of knowing what was going on behind that impassable wall which received
blows without retorting  The insurgents suddenly perceived a helmet
glittering in the sun on a neighboring roof  A fireman had placed his
back against a tall chimney  and seemed to be acting as sentinel  His
glance fell directly down into the barricade 

 There s an embarrassing watcher   said Enjolras 

Jean Valjean had returned Enjolras  rifle  but he had his own gun 

Without saying a word  he took aim at the fireman  and  a second later 
the helmet  smashed by a bullet  rattled noisily into the street  The
terrified soldier made haste to disappear  A second observer took his
place  This one was an officer  Jean Valjean  who had re loaded his
gun  took aim at the newcomer and sent the officer s casque to join the
soldier s  The officer did not persist  and retired speedily  This time
the warning was understood  No one made his appearance thereafter on
that roof  and the idea of spying on the barricade was abandoned 

 Why did you not kill the man   Bossuet asked Jean Valjean 

Jean Valjean made no reply 




CHAPTER XII  DISORDER A PARTISAN OF ORDER

Bossuet muttered in Combeferre s ear 

 He did not answer my question  

 He is a man who does good by gun shots   said Combeferre 

Those who have preserved some memory of this already distant epoch
know that the National Guard from the suburbs was valiant against
insurrections  It was particularly zealous and intrepid in the days of
June  1832  A certain good dram shop keeper of Pantin des Vertus or
la Cunette  whose  establishment  had been closed by the riots  became
leonine at the sight of his deserted dance hall  and got himself killed
to preserve the order represented by a tea garden  In that bourgeois and
heroic time  in the presence of ideas which had their knights  interests
had their paladins  The prosiness of the originators detracted nothing
from the bravery of the movement  The diminution of a pile of crowns
made bankers sing the Marseillaise  They shed their blood lyrically for
the counting house  and they defended the shop  that immense diminutive
of the fatherland  with Lacedaemonian enthusiasm 

At bottom  we will observe  there was nothing in all this that was not
extremely serious  It was social elements entering into strife  while
awaiting the day when they should enter into equilibrium 

Another sign of the times was the anarchy mingled with governmentalism
 the barbarous name of the correct party   People were for order in
combination with lack of discipline 

The drum suddenly beat capricious calls  at the command of such or
such a Colonel of the National Guard  such and such a captain went into
action through inspiration  such and such National Guardsmen fought 
 for an idea   and on their own account  At critical moments  on  days 
they took counsel less of their leaders than of their instincts  There
existed in the army of order  veritable guerilleros  some of the sword 
like Fannicot  others of the pen  like Henri Fonfrede 

Civilization  unfortunately  represented at this epoch rather by an
aggregation of interests than by a group of principles  was or thought
itself  in peril  it set up the cry of alarm  each  constituting himself
a centre  defended it  succored it  and protected it with his own head 
and the first comer took it upon himself to save society 

Zeal sometimes proceeded to extermination  A platoon of the National
Guard would constitute itself on its own authority a private council of
war  and judge and execute a captured insurgent in five minutes  It
was an improvisation of this sort that had slain Jean Prouvaire  Fierce
Lynch law  with which no one party had any right to reproach the rest 
for it has been applied by the Republic in America  as well as by the
monarchy in Europe  This Lynch law was complicated with mistakes  On one
day of rioting  a young poet  named Paul Aime Garnier  was pursued
in the Place Royale  with a bayonet at his loins  and only escaped by
taking refuge under the porte cochere of No  6  They shouted    There s
another of those Saint Simonians   and they wanted to kill him  Now  he
had under his arm a volume of the memoirs of the Duc de Saint Simon 
A National Guard had read the words Saint Simon on the book  and had
shouted   Death  

On the 6th of June  1832  a company of the National Guards from the
suburbs  commanded by the Captain Fannicot  above mentioned  had itself
decimated in the Rue de la Chanvrerie out of caprice and its own good
pleasure  This fact  singular though it may seem  was proved at the
judicial investigation opened in consequence of the insurrection of
1832  Captain Fannicot  a bold and impatient bourgeois  a sort of
condottiere of the order of those whom we have just characterized 
a fanatical and intractable governmentalist  could not resist the
temptation to fire prematurely  and the ambition of capturing the
barricade alone and unaided  that is to say  with his company 
Exasperated by the successive apparition of the red flag and the old
coat which he took for the black flag  he loudly blamed the generals and
chiefs of the corps  who were holding council and did not think that the
moment for the decisive assault had arrived  and who were allowing  the
insurrection to fry in its own fat   to use the celebrated expression
of one of them  For his part  he thought the barricade ripe  and as that
which is ripe ought to fall  he made the attempt 

He commanded men as resolute as himself   raging fellows   as a witness
said  His company  the same which had shot Jean Prouvaire the poet  was
the first of the battalion posted at the angle of the street  At the
moment when they were least expecting it  the captain launched his men
against the barricade  This movement  executed with more good will than
strategy  cost the Fannicot company dear  Before it had traversed two
thirds of the street it was received by a general discharge from the
barricade  Four  the most audacious  who were running on in front 
were mown down point blank at the very foot of the redoubt  and this
courageous throng of National Guards  very brave men but lacking in
military tenacity  were forced to fall back  after some hesitation 
leaving fifteen corpses on the pavement  This momentary hesitation gave
the insurgents time to re load their weapons  and a second and very
destructive discharge struck the company before it could regain the
corner of the street  its shelter  A moment more  and it was caught
between two fires  and it received the volley from the battery piece
which  not having received the order  had not discontinued its firing 

The intrepid and imprudent Fannicot was one of the dead from this
grape shot  He was killed by the cannon  that is to say  by order 

This attack  which was more furious than serious  irritated
Enjolras    The fools   said he   They are getting their own men killed
and they are using up our ammunition for nothing  

Enjolras spoke like the real general of insurrection which he
was  Insurrection and repression do not fight with equal weapons 
Insurrection  which is speedily exhausted  has only a certain number
of shots to fire and a certain number of combatants to expend  An empty
cartridge box  a man killed  cannot be replaced  As repression has the
army  it does not count its men  and  as it has Vincennes  it does not
count its shots  Repression has as many regiments as the barricade has
men  and as many arsenals as the barricade has cartridge boxes  Thus
they are struggles of one against a hundred  which always end in
crushing the barricade  unless the revolution  uprising suddenly 
flings into the balance its flaming archangel s sword  This does happen
sometimes  Then everything rises  the pavements begin to seethe  popular
redoubts abound  Paris quivers supremely  the quid divinum is given
forth  a 10th of August is in the air  a 29th of July is in the air  a
wonderful light appears  the yawning maw of force draws back  and the
army  that lion  sees before it  erect and tranquil  that prophet 
France 




CHAPTER XIII  PASSING GLEAMS

In the chaos of sentiments and passions which defend a barricade  there
is a little of everything  there is bravery  there is youth  honor 
enthusiasm  the ideal  conviction  the rage of the gambler  and  above
all  intermittences of hope 

One of these intermittences  one of these vague quivers of hope suddenly
traversed the barricade of the Rue de la Chanvrerie at the moment when
it was least expected 

 Listen   suddenly cried Enjolras  who was still on the watch   it seems
to me that Paris is waking up  

It is certain that  on the morning of the 6th of June  the insurrection
broke out afresh for an hour or two  to a certain extent  The obstinacy
of the alarm peal of Saint Merry reanimated some fancies  Barricades
were begun in the Rue du Poirier and the Rue des Gravilliers  In front
of the Porte Saint Martin  a young man  armed with a rifle  attacked
alone a squadron of cavalry  In plain sight  on the open boulevard  he
placed one knee on the ground  shouldered his weapon  fired  killed the
commander of the squadron  and turned away  saying   There s another who
will do us no more harm  

He was put to the sword  In the Rue Saint Denis  a woman fired on the
National Guard from behind a lowered blind  The slats of the blind could
be seen to tremble at every shot  A child fourteen years of age
was arrested in the Rue de la Cossonerie  with his pockets full of
cartridges  Many posts were attacked  At the entrance to the Rue
Bertin Poiree  a very lively and utterly unexpected fusillade welcomed
a regiment of cuirrassiers  at whose head marched Marshal General
Cavaignac de Barague  In the Rue Planche Mibray  they threw old pieces
of pottery and household utensils down on the soldiers from the roofs  a
bad sign  and when this matter was reported to Marshal Soult  Napoleon s
old lieutenant grew thoughtful  as he recalled Suchet s saying at
Saragossa   We are lost when the old women empty their pots de chambre
on our heads  

These general symptoms which presented themselves at the moment when
it was thought that the uprising had been rendered local  this fever
of wrath  these sparks which flew hither and thither above those deep
masses of combustibles which are called the faubourgs of Paris   all
this  taken together  disturbed the military chiefs  They made haste to
stamp out these beginnings of conflagration 

They delayed the attack on the barricades Maubuee  de la Chanvrerie and
Saint Merry until these sparks had been extinguished  in order that they
might have to deal with the barricades only and be able to finish
them at one blow  Columns were thrown into the streets where there was
fermentation  sweeping the large  sounding the small  right and left 
now slowly and cautiously  now at full charge  The troops broke in
the doors of houses whence shots had been fired  at the same time 
manoeuvres by the cavalry dispersed the groups on the boulevards  This
repression was not effected without some commotion  and without that
tumultuous uproar peculiar to collisions between the army and the
people  This was what Enjolras had caught in the intervals of the
cannonade and the musketry  Moreover  he had seen wounded men passing
the end of the street in litters  and he said to Courfeyrac    Those
wounded do not come from us  

Their hope did not last long  the gleam was quickly eclipsed  In less
than half an hour  what was in the air vanished  it was a flash of
lightning unaccompanied by thunder  and the insurgents felt that sort of
leaden cope  which the indifference of the people casts over obstinate
and deserted men  fall over them once more 

The general movement  which seemed to have assumed a vague outline  had
miscarried  and the attention of the minister of war and the strategy of
the generals could now be concentrated on the three or four barricades
which still remained standing 

The sun was mounting above the horizon 

An insurgent hailed Enjolras 

 We are hungry here  Are we really going to die like this  without
anything to eat  

Enjolras  who was still leaning on his elbows at his embrasure  made an
affirmative sign with his head  but without taking his eyes from the end
of the street 




CHAPTER XIV  WHEREIN WILL APPEAR THE NAME OF ENJOLRAS  MISTRESS

Courfeyrac  seated on a paving stone beside Enjolras  continued to
insult the cannon  and each time that that gloomy cloud of projectiles
which is called grape shot passed overhead with its terrible sound he
assailed it with a burst of irony 

 You are wearing out your lungs  poor  brutal  old fellow  you pain me 
you are wasting your row  That s not thunder  it s a cough  

And the bystanders laughed 

Courfeyrac and Bossuet  whose brave good humor increased with the peril 
like Madame Scarron  replaced nourishment with pleasantry  and  as wine
was lacking  they poured out gayety to all 

 I admire Enjolras   said Bossuet   His impassive temerity astounds
me  He lives alone  which renders him a little sad  perhaps  Enjolras
complains of his greatness  which binds him to widowhood  The rest of us
have mistresses  more or less  who make us crazy  that is to say  brave 
When a man is as much in love as a tiger  the least that he can do is to
fight like a lion  That is one way of taking our revenge for the capers
that mesdames our grisettes play on us  Roland gets himself killed for
Angelique  all our heroism comes from our women  A man without a woman
is a pistol without a trigger  it is the woman that sets the man off 
Well  Enjolras has no woman  He is not in love  and yet he manages to be
intrepid  It is a thing unheard of that a man should be as cold as ice
and as bold as fire  

Enjolras did not appear to be listening  but had any one been near him 
that person would have heard him mutter in a low voice   Patria  

Bossuet was still laughing when Courfeyrac exclaimed 

 News  

And assuming the tone of an usher making an announcement  he added 

 My name is Eight Pounder  

In fact  a new personage had entered on the scene  This was a second
piece of ordnance 

The artillery men rapidly performed their manoeuvres in force and placed
this second piece in line with the first 

This outlined the catastrophe 

A few minutes later  the two pieces  rapidly served  were firing
point blank at the redoubt  the platoon firing of the line and of the
soldiers from the suburbs sustained the artillery 

Another cannonade was audible at some distance  At the same time that
the two guns were furiously attacking the redoubt from the Rue de la
Chanvrerie  two other cannons  trained one from the Rue Saint Denis 
the other from the Rue Aubry le Boucher  were riddling the Saint Merry
barricade  The four cannons echoed each other mournfully 

The barking of these sombre dogs of war replied to each other 

One of the two pieces which was now battering the barricade on the Rue
de la Chanvrerie was firing grape shot  the other balls 

The piece which was firing balls was pointed a little high  and the aim
was calculated so that the ball struck the extreme edge of the upper
crest of the barricade  and crumbled the stone down upon the insurgents 
mingled with bursts of grape shot 

The object of this mode of firing was to drive the insurgents from
the summit of the redoubt  and to compel them to gather close in the
interior  that is to say  this announced the assault 

The combatants once driven from the crest of the barricade by balls 
and from the windows of the cabaret by grape shot  the attacking columns
could venture into the street without being picked off  perhaps  even 
without being seen  could briskly and suddenly scale the redoubt  as on
the preceding evening  and  who knows  take it by surprise 

 It is absolutely necessary that the inconvenience of those guns
should be diminished   said Enjolras  and he shouted   Fire on the
artillery men  

All were ready  The barricade  which had long been silent  poured forth
a desperate fire  seven or eight discharges followed  with a sort of
rage and joy  the street was filled with blinding smoke  and  at the end
of a few minutes  athwart this mist all streaked with flame  two thirds
of the gunners could be distinguished lying beneath the wheels of the
cannons  Those who were left standing continued to serve the pieces with
severe tranquillity  but the fire had slackened 

 Things are going well now   said Bossuet to Enjolras   Success  

Enjolras shook his head and replied 

 Another quarter of an hour of this success  and there will not be any
cartridges left in the barricade  

It appears that Gavroche overheard this remark 




CHAPTER XV  GAVROCHE OUTSIDE

Courfeyrac suddenly caught sight of some one at the base of the
barricade  outside in the street  amid the bullets 

Gavroche had taken a bottle basket from the wine shop  had made his
way out through the cut  and was quietly engaged in emptying the full
cartridge boxes of the National Guardsmen who had been killed on the
slope of the redoubt  into his basket 

 What are you doing there   asked Courfeyrac 

Gavroche raised his face   

 I m filling my basket  citizen  

 Don t you see the grape shot  

Gavroche replied 

 Well  it is raining  What then  

Courfeyrac shouted    Come in  

 Instanter   said Gavroche 

And with a single bound he plunged into the street 

It will be remembered that Fannicot s company had left behind it a trail
of bodies  Twenty corpses lay scattered here and there on the pavement 
through the whole length of the street  Twenty cartouches for Gavroche
meant a provision of cartridges for the barricade 

The smoke in the street was like a fog  Whoever has beheld a cloud which
has fallen into a mountain gorge between two peaked escarpments can
imagine this smoke rendered denser and thicker by two gloomy rows of
lofty houses  It rose gradually and was incessantly renewed  hence a
twilight which made even the broad daylight turn pale  The combatants
could hardly see each other from one end of the street to the other 
short as it was 

This obscurity  which had probably been desired and calculated on by the
commanders who were to direct the assault on the barricade  was useful
to Gavroche 

Beneath the folds of this veil of smoke  and thanks to his small size 
he could advance tolerably far into the street without being seen  He
rifled the first seven or eight cartridge boxes without much danger 

He crawled flat on his belly  galloped on all fours  took his basket
in his teeth  twisted  glided  undulated  wound from one dead body to
another  and emptied the cartridge box or cartouche as a monkey opens a
nut 

They did not dare to shout to him to return from the barricade  which
was quite near  for fear of attracting attention to him 

On one body  that of a corporal  he found a powder flask 

 For thirst   said he  putting it in his pocket 

By dint of advancing  he reached a point where the fog of the fusillade
became transparent  So that the sharpshooters of the line ranged on
the outlook behind their paving stone dike and the sharpshooters of the
banlieue massed at the corner of the street suddenly pointed out to each
other something moving through the smoke 

At the moment when Gavroche was relieving a sergeant  who was lying near
a stone door post  of his cartridges  a bullet struck the body 

 Fichtre   ejaculated Gavroche   They are killing my dead men for me  

A second bullet struck a spark from the pavement beside him   A third
overturned his basket 

Gavroche looked and saw that this came from the men of the banlieue 

He sprang to his feet  stood erect  with his hair flying in the wind 
his hands on his hips  his eyes fixed on the National Guardsmen who were
firing  and sang 

       On est laid a Nanterre         Men are ugly at Nanterre 
       C est la faute a Voltaire       Tis the  fault of Voltaire 
       Et bete a Palaiseau            And dull at Palaiseau 
       C est la faute a Rousseau       Tis the fault of Rousseau  


Then he picked up his basket  replaced the cartridges which had fallen
from it  without missing a single one  and  advancing towards the
fusillade  set about plundering another cartridge box  There a fourth
bullet missed him  again  Gavroche sang 

        Je ne suis pas notaire        I am not a notary 
        C est la faute a Voltaire      Tis the fault of Voltaire 
        Je suis un petit oiseau       I m a little bird 
        C est la faute a Rousseau      Tis the fault of Rousseau  

A fifth bullet only succeeded in drawing from him a third couplet 

        Joie est mon caractere        Joy is my character 
        C est la faute a Voltaire      Tis the fault of Voltaire 
        Misere est mon trousseau      Misery is my trousseau 
        C est la faute a Rousseau      Tis the fault of Rousseau  


Thus it went on for some time 

It was a charming and terrible sight  Gavroche  though shot at  was
teasing the fusillade  He had the air of being greatly diverted  It was
the sparrow pecking at the sportsmen  To each discharge he retorted
with a couplet  They aimed at him constantly  and always missed him  The
National Guardsmen and the soldiers laughed as they took aim at him  He
lay down  sprang to his feet  hid in the corner of a doorway  then made
a bound  disappeared  re appeared  scampered away  returned  replied to
the grape shot with his thumb at his nose  and  all the while  went on
pillaging the cartouches  emptying the cartridge boxes  and filling his
basket  The insurgents  panting with anxiety  followed him with their
eyes  The barricade trembled  he sang  He was not a child  he was not
a man  he was a strange gamin fairy  He might have been called the
invulnerable dwarf of the fray  The bullets flew after him  he was more
nimble than they  He played a fearful game of hide and seek with death 
every time that the flat nosed face of the spectre approached  the
urchin administered to it a fillip 

One bullet  however  better aimed or more treacherous than the rest 
finally struck the will o  the wisp of a child  Gavroche was seen to
stagger  then he sank to the earth  The whole barricade gave vent to a
cry  but there was something of Antaeus in that pygmy  for the gamin
to touch the pavement is the same as for the giant to touch the earth 
Gavroche had fallen only to rise again  he remained in a sitting
posture  a long thread of blood streaked his face  he raised both arms
in the air  glanced in the direction whence the shot had come  and began
to sing 


       Je suis tombe par terre       I have fallen to the earth 
       C est la faute a Voltaire      Tis the fault of Voltaire 
       Le nez dans le ruisseau       With my nose in the gutter 
       C est la faute a               Tis the fault of        


He did not finish  A second bullet from the same marksman stopped him
short  This time he fell face downward on the pavement  and moved no
more  This grand little soul had taken its flight 




CHAPTER XVI  HOW FROM A BROTHER ONE BECOMES A FATHER

At that same moment  in the garden of the Luxembourg   for the gaze of
the drama must be everywhere present   two children were holding each
other by the hand  One might have been seven years old  the other five 
The rain having soaked them  they were walking along the paths on
the sunny side  the elder was leading the younger  they were pale and
ragged  they had the air of wild birds  The smaller of them said   I am
very hungry  

The elder  who was already somewhat of a protector  was leading his
brother with his left hand and in his right he carried a small stick 

They were alone in the garden  The garden was deserted  the gates had
been closed by order of the police  on account of the insurrection  The
troops who had been bivouacking there had departed for the exigencies of
combat 

How did those children come there  Perhaps they had escaped from some
guard house which stood ajar  perhaps there was in the vicinity  at
the Barriere d Enfer  or on the Esplanade de l Observatoire  or in the
neighboring carrefour  dominated by the pediment on which could be read 
Invenerunt parvulum pannis involutum  some mountebank s booth from which
they had fled  perhaps they had  on the preceding evening  escaped the
eye of the inspectors of the garden at the hour of closing  and had
passed the night in some one of those sentry boxes where people read the
papers  The fact is  they were stray lambs and they seemed free  To be
astray and to seem free is to be lost  These poor little creatures were 
in fact  lost 

These two children were the same over whom Gavroche had been put to
some trouble  as the reader will recollect  Children of the Thenardiers 
leased out to Magnon  attributed to M  Gillenormand  and now leaves
fallen from all these rootless branches  and swept over the ground by
the wind  Their clothing  which had been clean in Magnon s day  and
which had served her as a prospectus with M  Gillenormand  had been
converted into rags 

Henceforth these beings belonged to the statistics as  Abandoned
children   whom the police take note of  collect  mislay and find again
on the pavements of Paris 

It required the disturbance of a day like that to account for these
miserable little creatures being in that garden  If the superintendents
had caught sight of them  they would have driven such rags forth  Poor
little things do not enter public gardens  still  people should reflect
that  as children  they have a right to flowers 

These children were there  thanks to the locked gates  They were there
contrary to the regulations  They had slipped into the garden and there
they remained  Closed gates do not dismiss the inspectors  oversight
is supposed to continue  but it grows slack and reposes  and the
inspectors  moved by the public anxiety and more occupied with the
outside than the inside  no longer glanced into the garden  and had not
seen the two delinquents 

It had rained the night before  and even a little in the morning  But
in June  showers do not count for much  An hour after a storm  it can
hardly be seen that the beautiful blonde day has wept  The earth  in
summer  is as quickly dried as the cheek of a child  At that period of
the solstice  the light of full noonday is  so to speak  poignant  It
takes everything  It applies itself to the earth  and superposes itself
with a sort of suction  One would say that the sun was thirsty  A shower
is but a glass of water  a rainstorm is instantly drunk up  In the
morning everything was dripping  in the afternoon everything is powdered
over 

Nothing is so worthy of admiration as foliage washed by the rain and
wiped by the rays of sunlight  it is warm freshness  The gardens and
meadows  having water at their roots  and sun in their flowers  become
perfuming pans of incense  and smoke with all their odors at
once  Everything smiles  sings and offers itself  One feels gently
intoxicated  The springtime is a provisional paradise  the sun helps man
to have patience 

There are beings who demand nothing further  mortals  who  having
the azure of heaven  say   It is enough   dreamers absorbed in the
wonderful  dipping into the idolatry of nature  indifferent to good and
evil  contemplators of cosmos and radiantly forgetful of man  who do not
understand how people can occupy themselves with the hunger of these 
and the thirst of those  with the nudity of the poor in winter  with the
lymphatic curvature of the little spinal column  with the pallet  the
attic  the dungeon  and the rags of shivering young girls  when they
can dream beneath the trees  peaceful and terrible spirits they  and
pitilessly satisfied  Strange to say  the infinite suffices them  That
great need of man  the finite  which admits of embrace  they ignore 
The finite which admits of progress and sublime toil  they do not
think about  The indefinite  which is born from the human and divine
combination of the infinite and the finite  escapes them  Provided that
they are face to face with immensity  they smile  Joy never  ecstasy
forever  Their life lies in surrendering their personality in
contemplation  The history of humanity is for them only a detailed
plan  All is not there  the true All remains without  what is the use
of busying oneself over that detail  man  Man suffers  that is quite
possible  but look at Aldebaran rising  The mother has no more milk  the
new born babe is dying  I know nothing about that  but just look at this
wonderful rosette which a slice of wood cells of the pine presents under
the microscope  Compare the most beautiful Mechlin lace to that if you
can  These thinkers forget to love  The zodiac thrives with them to such
a point that it prevents their seeing the weeping child  God eclipses
their souls  This is a family of minds which are  at once  great and
petty  Horace was one of them  so was Goethe  La Fontaine perhaps 
magnificent egoists of the infinite  tranquil spectators of sorrow  who
do not behold Nero if the weather be fair  for whom the sun conceals the
funeral pile  who would look on at an execution by the guillotine in the
search for an effect of light  who hear neither the cry nor the sob  nor
the death rattle  nor the alarm peal  for whom everything is well  since
there is a month of May  who  so long as there are clouds of purple
and gold above their heads  declare themselves content  and who are
determined to be happy until the radiance of the stars and the songs of
the birds are exhausted 

These are dark radiances  They have no suspicion that they are to be
pitied  Certainly they are so  He who does not weep does not see  They
are to be admired and pitied  as one would both pity and admire a being
at once night and day  without eyes beneath his lashes but with a star
on his brow 

The indifference of these thinkers  is  according to some  a superior
philosophy  That may be  but in this superiority there is some
infirmity  One may be immortal and yet limp  witness Vulcan  One may
be more than man and less than man  There is incomplete immensity in
nature  Who knows whether the sun is not a blind man 

But then  what  In whom can we trust  Solem quis dicere falsum audeat 
Who shall dare to say that the sun is false  Thus certain geniuses 
themselves  certain Very Lofty mortals  man stars  may be mistaken  That
which is on high at the summit  at the crest  at the zenith  that which
sends down so much light on the earth  sees but little  sees badly  sees
not at all  Is not this a desperate state of things  No  But what is
there  then  above the sun  The god 

On the 6th of June  1832  about eleven o clock in the morning  the
Luxembourg  solitary and depopulated  was charming  The quincunxes and
flower beds shed forth balm and dazzling beauty into the sunlight  The
branches  wild with the brilliant glow of midday  seemed endeavoring
to embrace  In the sycamores there was an uproar of linnets  sparrows
triumphed  woodpeckers climbed along the chestnut trees  administering
little pecks on the bark  The flower beds accepted the legitimate
royalty of the lilies  the most august of perfumes is that which
emanates from whiteness  The peppery odor of the carnations was
perceptible  The old crows of Marie de Medici were amorous in the tall
trees  The sun gilded  empurpled  set fire to and lighted up the tulips 
which are nothing but all the varieties of flame made into flowers  All
around the banks of tulips the bees  the sparks of these flame flowers 
hummed  All was grace and gayety  even the impending rain  this relapse 
by which the lilies of the valley and the honeysuckles were destined to
profit  had nothing disturbing about it  the swallows indulged in the
charming threat of flying low  He who was there aspired to happiness 
life smelled good  all nature exhaled candor  help  assistance 
paternity  caress  dawn  The thoughts which fell from heaven were as
sweet as the tiny hand of a baby when one kisses it 

The statues under the trees  white and nude  had robes of shadow pierced
with light  these goddesses were all tattered with sunlight  rays hung
from them on all sides  Around the great fountain  the earth was already
dried up to the point of being burnt  There was sufficient breeze to
raise little insurrections of dust here and there  A few yellow leaves 
left over from the autumn  chased each other merrily  and seemed to be
playing tricks on each other 

This abundance of light had something indescribably reassuring about it 
Life  sap  heat  odors overflowed  one was conscious  beneath creation 
of the enormous size of the source  in all these breaths permeated with
love  in this interchange of reverberations and reflections  in this
marvellous expenditure of rays  in this infinite outpouring of liquid
gold  one felt the prodigality of the inexhaustible  and  behind this
splendor as behind a curtain of flame  one caught a glimpse of God  that
millionaire of stars 

Thanks to the sand  there was not a speck of mud  thanks to the rain 
there was not a grain of ashes  The clumps of blossoms had just been
bathed  every sort of velvet  satin  gold and varnish  which springs
from the earth in the form of flowers  was irreproachable  This
magnificence was cleanly  The grand silence of happy nature filled the
garden  A celestial silence that is compatible with a thousand sorts of
music  the cooing of nests  the buzzing of swarms  the flutterings of
the breeze  All the harmony of the season was complete in one gracious
whole  the entrances and exits of spring took place in proper order  the
lilacs ended  the jasmines began  some flowers were tardy  some insects
in advance of their time  the van guard of the red June butterflies
fraternized with the rear guard of the white butterflies of May  The
plantain trees were getting their new skins  The breeze hollowed out
undulations in the magnificent enormity of the chestnut trees  It
was splendid  A veteran from the neighboring barracks  who was gazing
through the fence  said   Here is the Spring presenting arms and in full
uniform  

All nature was breakfasting  creation was at table  this was its hour 
the great blue cloth was spread in the sky  and the great green cloth
on earth  the sun lighted it all up brilliantly  God was serving
the universal repast  Each creature had his pasture or his mess  The
ring dove found his hemp seed  the chaffinch found his millet  the
goldfinch found chickweed  the red breast found worms  the green finch
found flies  the fly found infusoriae  the bee found flowers  They ate
each other somewhat  it is true  which is the misery of evil mixed with
good  but not a beast of them all had an empty stomach 

The two little abandoned creatures had arrived in the vicinity of the
grand fountain  and  rather bewildered by all this light  they tried to
hide themselves  the instinct of the poor and the weak in the presence
of even impersonal magnificence  and they kept behind the swans  hutch 

Here and there  at intervals  when the wind blew  shouts  clamor  a sort
of tumultuous death rattle  which was the firing  and dull blows  which
were discharges of cannon  struck the ear confusedly  Smoke hung over
the roofs in the direction of the Halles  A bell  which had the air of
an appeal  was ringing in the distance 

These children did not appear to notice these noises  The little one
repeated from time to time   I am hungry  

Almost at the same instant with the children  another couple approached
the great basin  They consisted of a goodman  about fifty years of age 
who was leading by the hand a little fellow of six  No doubt  a father
and his son  The little man of six had a big brioche 

At that epoch  certain houses abutting on the river  in the Rues Madame
and d Enfer  had keys to the Luxembourg garden  of which the lodgers
enjoyed the use when the gates were shut  a privilege which was
suppressed later on  This father and son came from one of these houses 
no doubt 

The two poor little creatures watched  that gentleman  approaching  and
hid themselves a little more thoroughly 

He was a bourgeois  The same person  perhaps  whom Marius had one day
heard  through his love fever  near the same grand basin  counselling
his son  to avoid excesses   He had an affable and haughty air  and a
mouth which was always smiling  since it did not shut  This mechanical
smile  produced by too much jaw and too little skin  shows the teeth
rather than the soul  The child  with his brioche  which he had bitten
into but had not finished eating  seemed satiated  The child was dressed
as a National Guardsman  owing to the insurrection  and the father had
remained clad as a bourgeois out of prudence 

Father and son halted near the fountain where two swans were sporting 
This bourgeois appeared to cherish a special admiration for the swans 
He resembled them in this sense  that he walked like them 

For the moment  the swans were swimming  which is their principal
talent  and they were superb 

If the two poor little beings had listened and if they had been of an
age to understand  they might have gathered the words of this grave man 
The father was saying to his son 

 The sage lives content with little  Look at me  my son  I do not love
pomp  I am never seen in clothes decked with gold lace and stones  I
leave that false splendor to badly organized souls  

Here the deep shouts which proceeded from the direction of the Halles
burst out with fresh force of bell and uproar 

 What is that   inquired the child 

The father replied 

 It is the Saturnalia  

All at once  he caught sight of the two little ragged boys behind the
green swan hutch 

 There is the beginning   said he 

And  after a pause  he added 

 Anarchy is entering this garden  

In the meanwhile  his son took a bite of his brioche  spit it out  and 
suddenly burst out crying 

 What are you crying about   demanded his father 

 I am not hungry any more   said the child 

The father s smile became more accentuated 

 One does not need to be hungry in order to eat a cake  

 My cake tires me  It is stale  

 Don t you want any more of it  

 No  

The father pointed to the swans 

 Throw it to those palmipeds  

The child hesitated  A person may not want any more of his cake  but
that is no reason for giving it away 

The father went on 

 Be humane  You must have compassion on animals  

And  taking the cake from his son  he flung it into the basin 

The cake fell very near the edge 

The swans were far away  in the centre of the basin  and busy with some
prey  They had seen neither the bourgeois nor the brioche 

The bourgeois  feeling that the cake was in danger of being wasted  and
moved by this useless shipwreck  entered upon a telegraphic agitation 
which finally attracted the attention of the swans 

They perceived something floating  steered for the edge like ships  as
they are  and slowly directed their course toward the brioche  with the
stupid majesty which befits white creatures 

 The swans  cygnes  understand signs  signes    said the bourgeois 
delighted to make a jest 

At that moment  the distant tumult of the city underwent another sudden
increase  This time it was sinister  There are some gusts of wind which
speak more distinctly than others  The one which was blowing at that
moment brought clearly defined drum beats  clamors  platoon firing  and
the dismal replies of the tocsin and the cannon  This coincided with a
black cloud which suddenly veiled the sun 

The swans had not yet reached the brioche 

 Let us return home   said the father   they are attacking the
Tuileries  

He grasped his son s hand again  Then he continued 

 From the Tuileries to the Luxembourg  there is but the distance which
separates Royalty from the peerage  that is not far  Shots will soon
rain down  

He glanced at the cloud 

 Perhaps it is rain itself that is about to shower down  the sky
is joining in  the younger branch is condemned  Let us return home
quickly  

 I should like to see the swans eat the brioche   said the child 

The father replied 

 That would be imprudent  

And he led his little bourgeois away 

The son  regretting the swans  turned his head back toward the basin
until a corner of the quincunxes concealed it from him 

In the meanwhile  the two little waifs had approached the brioche at
the same time as the swans  It was floating on the water  The smaller of
them stared at the cake  the elder gazed after the retreating bourgeois 

Father and son entered the labyrinth of walks which leads to the grand
flight of steps near the clump of trees on the side of the Rue Madame 

As soon as they had disappeared from view  the elder child hastily
flung himself flat on his stomach on the rounding curb of the basin  and
clinging to it with his left hand  and leaning over the water  on the
verge of falling in  he stretched out his right hand with his stick
towards the cake  The swans  perceiving the enemy  made haste  and in so
doing  they produced an effect of their breasts which was of service to
the little fisher  the water flowed back before the swans  and one of
these gentle concentric undulations softly floated the brioche towards
the child s wand  Just as the swans came up  the stick touched the cake 
The child gave it a brisk rap  drew in the brioche  frightened away the
swans  seized the cake  and sprang to his feet  The cake was wet 
but they were hungry and thirsty  The elder broke the cake into two
portions  a large one and a small one  took the small one for himself 
gave the large one to his brother  and said to him 

 Ram that into your muzzle  




CHAPTER XVII  MORTUUS PATER FILIUM MORITURUM EXPECTAT

Marius dashed out of the barricade  Combeferre followed him  But he
was too late  Gavroche was dead  Combeferre brought back the basket of
cartridges  Marius bore the child 

 Alas   he thought   that which the father had done for his father  he
was requiting to the son  only  Thenardier had brought back his father
alive  he was bringing back the child dead  

When Marius re entered the redoubt with Gavroche in his arms  his face 
like the child  was inundated with blood 

At the moment when he had stooped to lift Gavroche  a bullet had grazed
his head  he had not noticed it 

Courfeyrac untied his cravat and with it bandaged Marius  brow 

They laid Gavroche on the same table with Mabeuf  and spread over the
two corpses the black shawl  There was enough of it for both the old man
and the child 

Combeferre distributed the cartridges from the basket which he had
brought in 

This gave each man fifteen rounds to fire 

Jean Valjean was still in the same place  motionless on his stone post 
When Combeferre offered him his fifteen cartridges  he shook his head 

 Here s a rare eccentric   said Combeferre in a low voice to Enjolras 
 He finds a way of not fighting in this barricade  

 Which does not prevent him from defending it   responded Enjolras 

 Heroism has its originals   resumed Combeferre 

And Courfeyrac  who had overheard  added 

 He is another sort from Father Mabeuf  

One thing which must be noted is  that the fire which was battering the
barricade hardly disturbed the interior  Those who have never traversed
the whirlwind of this sort of war can form no idea of the singular
moments of tranquillity mingled with these convulsions  Men go and
come  they talk  they jest  they lounge  Some one whom we know heard a
combatant say to him in the midst of the grape shot   We are here as
at a bachelor breakfast   The redoubt of the Rue de la Chanvrerie  we
repeat  seemed very calm within  All mutations and all phases had been 
or were about to be  exhausted  The position  from critical  had become
menacing  and  from menacing  was probably about to become desperate  In
proportion as the situation grew gloomy  the glow of heroism empurpled
the barricade more and more  Enjolras  who was grave  dominated it 
in the attitude of a young Spartan sacrificing his naked sword to the
sombre genius  Epidotas 

Combeferre  wearing an apron  was dressing the wounds  Bossuet and
Feuilly were making cartridges with the powder flask picked up by
Gavroche on the dead corporal  and Bossuet said to Feuilly   We are soon
to take the diligence for another planet   Courfeyrac was disposing and
arranging on some paving stones which he had reserved for himself near
Enjolras  a complete arsenal  his sword cane  his gun  two holster
pistols  and a cudgel  with the care of a young girl setting a small
dunkerque in order  Jean Valjean stared silently at the wall opposite
him  An artisan was fastening Mother Hucheloup s big straw hat on his
head with a string   for fear of sun stroke   as he said  The young
men from the Cougourde d Aix were chatting merrily among themselves 
as though eager to speak patois for the last time  Joly  who had taken
Widow Hucheloup s mirror from the wall  was examining his tongue in it 
Some combatants  having discovered a few crusts of rather mouldy bread 
in a drawer  were eagerly devouring them  Marius was disturbed with
regard to what his father was about to say to him 




CHAPTER XVIII  THE VULTURE BECOME PREY

We must insist upon one psychological fact peculiar to barricades 
Nothing which is characteristic of that surprising war of the streets
should be omitted 

Whatever may have been the singular inward tranquillity which we have
just mentioned  the barricade  for those who are inside it  remains 
none the less  a vision 

There is something of the apocalypse in civil war  all the mists of the
unknown are commingled with fierce flashes  revolutions are sphinxes 
and any one who has passed through a barricade thinks he has traversed a
dream 

The feelings to which one is subject in these places we have pointed out
in the case of Marius  and we shall see the consequences  they are both
more and less than life  On emerging from a barricade  one no longer
knows what one has seen there  One has been terrible  but one knows
it not  One has been surrounded with conflicting ideas which had human
faces  one s head has been in the light of the future  There were
corpses lying prone there  and phantoms standing erect  The hours were
colossal and seemed hours of eternity  One has lived in death  Shadows
have passed by  What were they 

One has beheld hands on which there was blood  there was a deafening
horror  there was also a frightful silence  there were open mouths which
shouted  and other open mouths which held their peace  one was in the
midst of smoke  of night  perhaps  One fancied that one had touched the
sinister ooze of unknown depths  one stares at something red on one s
finger nails  One no longer remembers anything 

Let us return to the Rue de la Chanvrerie 

All at once  between two discharges  the distant sound of a clock
striking the hour became audible 

 It is midday   said Combeferre 

The twelve strokes had not finished striking when Enjolras sprang to his
feet  and from the summit of the barricade hurled this thundering shout 

 Carry stones up into the houses  line the windowsills and the
roofs with them  Half the men to their guns  the other half to the
paving stones  There is not a minute to be lost  

A squad of sappers and miners  axe on shoulder  had just made their
appearance in battle array at the end of the street 

This could only be the head of a column  and of what column  The
attacking column  evidently  the sappers charged with the demolition of
the barricade must always precede the soldiers who are to scale it 

They were  evidently  on the brink of that moment which M 
Clermont Tonnerre  in 1822  called  the tug of war  

Enjolras  order was executed with the correct haste which is peculiar
to ships and barricades  the only two scenes of combat where escape
is impossible  In less than a minute  two thirds of the stones which
Enjolras had had piled up at the door of Corinthe had been carried up to
the first floor and the attic  and before a second minute had elapsed 
these stones  artistically set one upon the other  walled up the
sash window on the first floor and the windows in the roof to half their
height  A few loop holes carefully planned by Feuilly  the principal
architect  allowed of the passage of the gun barrels  This armament of
the windows could be effected all the more easily since the firing of
grape shot had ceased  The two cannons were now discharging ball
against the centre of the barrier in order to make a hole there  and  if
possible  a breach for the assault 

When the stones destined to the final defence were in place  Enjolras
had the bottles which he had set under the table where Mabeuf lay 
carried to the first floor 

 Who is to drink that   Bossuet asked him 

 They   replied Enjolras 

Then they barricaded the window below  and held in readiness the iron
cross bars which served to secure the door of the wine shop at night 

The fortress was complete  The barricade was the rampart  the wine shop
was the dungeon  With the stones which remained they stopped up the
outlet 

As the defenders of a barricade are always obliged to be sparing of
their ammunition  and as the assailants know this  the assailants
combine their arrangements with a sort of irritating leisure  expose
themselves to fire prematurely  though in appearance more than in
reality  and take their ease  The preparations for attack are always
made with a certain methodical deliberation  after which  the lightning
strikes 

This deliberation permitted Enjolras to take a review of everything and
to perfect everything  He felt that  since such men were to die  their
death ought to be a masterpiece 

He said to Marius   We are the two leaders  I will give the last orders
inside  Do you remain outside and observe  

Marius posted himself on the lookout upon the crest of the barricade 

Enjolras had the door of the kitchen  which was the ambulance  as the
reader will remember  nailed up 

 No splashing of the wounded   he said 

He issued his final orders in the tap room in a curt  but profoundly
tranquil tone  Feuilly listened and replied in the name of all 

 On the first floor  hold your axes in readiness to cut the staircase 
Have you them  

 Yes   said Feuilly 

 How many  

 Two axes and a pole axe  

 That is good  There are now twenty six combatants of us on foot  How
many guns are there  

 Thirty four  

 Eight too many  Keep those eight guns loaded like the rest and at
hand  Swords and pistols in your belts  Twenty men to the barricade  Six
ambushed in the attic windows  and at the window on the first floor to
fire on the assailants through the loop holes in the stones  Let not a
single worker remain inactive here  Presently  when the drum beats the
assault  let the twenty below stairs rush to the barricade  The first to
arrive will have the best places  

These arrangements made  he turned to Javert and said 

 I am not forgetting you  

And  laying a pistol on the table  he added 

 The last man to leave this room will smash the skull of this spy  

 Here   inquired a voice 

 No  let us not mix their corpses with our own  The little barricade of
the Mondetour lane can be scaled  It is only four feet high  The man is
well pinioned  He shall be taken thither and put to death  

There was some one who was more impassive at that moment than Enjolras 
it was Javert  Here Jean Valjean made his appearance 

He had been lost among the group of insurgents  He stepped forth and
said to Enjolras 

 You are the commander  

 Yes  

 You thanked me a while ago  

 In the name of the Republic  The barricade has two saviors  Marius
Pontmercy and yourself  

 Do you think that I deserve a recompense  

 Certainly  

 Well  I request one  

 What is it  

 That I may blow that man s brains out  

Javert raised his head  saw Jean Valjean  made an almost imperceptible
movement  and said 

 That is just  

As for Enjolras  he had begun to re load his rifle  he cut his eyes
about him 

 No objections  

And he turned to Jean Valjean 

 Take the spy  

Jean Valjean did  in fact  take possession of Javert  by seating
himself on the end of the table  He seized the pistol  and a faint click
announced that he had cocked it 

Almost at the same moment  a blast of trumpets became audible 

 Take care   shouted Marius from the top of the barricade 

Javert began to laugh with that noiseless laugh which was peculiar to
him  and gazing intently at the insurgents  he said to them 

 You are in no better case than I am  

 All out   shouted Enjolras 

The insurgents poured out tumultuously  and  as they went  received in
the back   may we be permitted the expression   this sally of Javert s 

 We shall meet again shortly  




CHAPTER XIX  JEAN VALJEAN TAKES HIS REVENGE

When Jean Valjean was left alone with Javert  he untied the rope which
fastened the prisoner across the middle of the body  and the knot of
which was under the table  After this he made him a sign to rise 

Javert obeyed with that indefinable smile in which the supremacy of
enchained authority is condensed 

Jean Valjean took Javert by the martingale  as one would take a beast of
burden by the breast band  and  dragging the latter after him  emerged
from the wine shop slowly  because Javert  with his impeded limbs  could
take only very short steps 

Jean Valjean had the pistol in his hand 

In this manner they crossed the inner trapezium of the barricade  The
insurgents  all intent on the attack  which was imminent  had their
backs turned to these two 

Marius alone  stationed on one side  at the extreme left of the
barricade  saw them pass  This group of victim and executioner was
illuminated by the sepulchral light which he bore in his own soul 

Jean Valjean with some difficulty  but without relaxing his hold for
a single instant  made Javert  pinioned as he was  scale the little
entrenchment in the Mondetour lane 

When they had crossed this barrier  they found themselves alone in the
lane  No one saw them  Among the heap they could distinguish a livid
face  streaming hair  a pierced hand and the half nude breast of a
woman  It was Eponine  The corner of the houses hid them from the
insurgents  The corpses carried away from the barricade formed a
terrible pile a few paces distant 

Javert gazed askance at this body  and  profoundly calm  said in a low
tone 

 It strikes me that I know that girl  

Then he turned to Jean Valjean 

Jean Valjean thrust the pistol under his arm and fixed on Javert a look
which it required no words to interpret   Javert  it is I  

Javert replied 

 Take your revenge  

Jean Valjean drew from his pocket a knife  and opened it 

 A clasp knife   exclaimed Javert   you are right  That suits you
better  

Jean Valjean cut the martingale which Javert had about his neck  then he
cut the cords on his wrists  then  stooping down  he cut the cord on his
feet  and  straightening himself up  he said to him 

 You are free  

Javert was not easily astonished  Still  master of himself though
he was  he could not repress a start  He remained open mouthed and
motionless 

Jean Valjean continued 

 I do not think that I shall escape from this place  But if  by chance 
I do  I live  under the name of Fauchelevent  in the Rue de l Homme
Arme  No  7  

Javert snarled like a tiger  which made him half open one corner of his
mouth  and he muttered between his teeth 

 Have a care  

 Go   said Jean Valjean 

Javert began again 

 Thou saidst Fauchelevent  Rue de l Homme Arme  

 Number 7  

Javert repeated in a low voice    Number 7  

He buttoned up his coat once more  resumed the military stiffness
between his shoulders  made a half turn  folded his arms and  supporting
his chin on one of his hands  he set out in the direction of the Halles 
Jean Valjean followed him with his eyes 

A few minutes later  Javert turned round and shouted to Jean Valjean 

 You annoy me  Kill me  rather  

Javert himself did not notice that he no longer addressed Jean Valjean
as  thou  

 Be off with you   said Jean Valjean 

Javert retreated slowly  A moment later he turned the corner of the Rue
des Precheurs 

When Javert had disappeared  Jean Valjean fired his pistol in the air 

Then he returned to the barricade and said 

 It is done  

In the meanwhile  this is what had taken place 

Marius  more intent on the outside than on the interior  had not  up to
that time  taken a good look at the pinioned spy in the dark background
of the tap room 

When he beheld him in broad daylight  striding over the barricade in
order to proceed to his death  he recognized him  Something suddenly
recurred to his mind  He recalled the inspector of the Rue de Pontoise 
and the two pistols which the latter had handed to him and which he 
Marius  had used in this very barricade  and not only did he recall his
face  but his name as well 

This recollection was misty and troubled  however  like all his ideas 

It was not an affirmation that he made  but a question which he put to
himself 

 Is not that the inspector of police who told me that his name was
Javert  

Perhaps there was still time to intervene in behalf of that man  But  in
the first place  he must know whether this was Javert 

Marius called to Enjolras  who had just stationed himself at the other
extremity of the barricade 

 Enjolras  

 What  

 What is the name of yonder man  

 What man  

 The police agent  Do you know his name  

 Of course  He told us  

 What is it  

 Javert  

Marius sprang to his feet 

At that moment  they heard the report of the pistol 

Jean Valjean re appeared and cried   It is done  

A gloomy chill traversed Marius  heart 




CHAPTER XX  THE DEAD ARE IN THE RIGHT AND THE LIVING ARE NOT IN THE
WRONG

The death agony of the barricade was about to begin 

Everything contributed to its tragic majesty at that supreme moment  a
thousand mysterious crashes in the air  the breath of armed masses set
in movement in the streets which were not visible  the intermittent
gallop of cavalry  the heavy shock of artillery on the march  the firing
by squads  and the cannonades crossing each other in the labyrinth
of Paris  the smokes of battle mounting all gilded above the roofs 
indescribable and vaguely terrible cries  lightnings of menace
everywhere  the tocsin of Saint Merry  which now had the accents of a
sob  the mildness of the weather  the splendor of the sky filled with
sun and clouds  the beauty of the day  and the alarming silence of the
houses 

For  since the preceding evening  the two rows of houses in the Rue
de la Chanvrerie had become two walls  ferocious walls  doors closed 
windows closed  shutters closed 

In those days  so different from those in which we live  when the hour
was come  when the people wished to put an end to a situation  which had
lasted too long  with a charter granted or with a legal country  when
universal wrath was diffused in the atmosphere  when the city consented
to the tearing up of the pavements  when insurrection made the
bourgeoisie smile by whispering its password in its ear  then the
inhabitant  thoroughly penetrated with the revolt  so to speak  was
the auxiliary of the combatant  and the house fraternized with the
improvised fortress which rested on it  When the situation was not
ripe  when the insurrection was not decidedly admitted  when the masses
disowned the movement  all was over with the combatants  the city was
changed into a desert around the revolt  souls grew chilled  refuges
were nailed up  and the street turned into a defile to help the army to
take the barricade 

A people cannot be forced  through surprise  to walk more quickly than
it chooses  Woe to whomsoever tries to force its hand  A people does not
let itself go at random  Then it abandons the insurrection to itself 
The insurgents become noxious  infected with the plague  A house is an
escarpment  a door is a refusal  a facade is a wall  This wall hears 
sees and will not  It might open and save you  No  This wall is a judge 
It gazes at you and condemns you  What dismal things are closed houses 
They seem dead  they are living  Life which is  as it were  suspended
there  persists there  No one has gone out of them for four and twenty
hours  but no one is missing from them  In the interior of that rock 
people go and come  go to bed and rise again  they are a family party
there  there they eat and drink  they are afraid  a terrible thing  Fear
excuses this fearful lack of hospitality  terror is mixed with it  an
extenuating circumstance  Sometimes  even  and this has been actually
seen  fear turns to passion  fright may change into fury  as prudence
does into rage  hence this wise saying   The enraged moderates   There
are outbursts of supreme terror  whence springs wrath like a mournful
smoke    What do these people want  What have they come there to do 
Let them get out of the scrape  So much the worse for them  It is their
fault  They are only getting what they deserve  It does not concern
us  Here is our poor street all riddled with balls  They are a pack of
rascals  Above all things  don t open the door    And the house assumes
the air of a tomb  The insurgent is in the death throes in front of
that house  he sees the grape shot and naked swords drawing near  if
he cries  he knows that they are listening to him  and that no one will
come  there stand walls which might protect him  there are men who might
save him  and these walls have ears of flesh  and these men have bowels
of stone 

Whom shall he reproach 

No one and every one 

The incomplete times in which we live 

It is always at its own risk and peril that Utopia is converted into
revolution  and from philosophical protest becomes an armed protest  and
from Minerva turns to Pallas 

The Utopia which grows impatient and becomes revolt knows what awaits
it  it almost always comes too soon  Then it becomes resigned  and
stoically accepts catastrophe in lieu of triumph  It serves those who
deny it without complaint  even excusing them  and even disculpates
them  and its magnanimity consists in consenting to abandonment  It is
indomitable in the face of obstacles and gentle towards ingratitude 

Is this ingratitude  however 

Yes  from the point of view of the human race 

No  from the point of view of the individual 

Progress is man s mode of existence  The general life of the human race
is called Progress  the collective stride of the human race is called
Progress  Progress advances  it makes the great human and terrestrial
journey towards the celestial and the divine  it has its halting
places where it rallies the laggard troop  it has its stations where it
meditates  in the presence of some splendid Canaan suddenly unveiled
on its horizon  it has its nights when it sleeps  and it is one of the
poignant anxieties of the thinker that he sees the shadow resting on the
human soul  and that he gropes in darkness without being able to awaken
that slumbering Progress 

 God is dead  perhaps   said Gerard de Nerval one day to the writer of
these lines  confounding progress with God  and taking the interruption
of movement for the death of Being 

He who despairs is in the wrong  Progress infallibly awakes  and  in
short  we may say that it marches on  even when it is asleep  for it has
increased in size  When we behold it erect once more  we find it taller 
To be always peaceful does not depend on progress any more than it does
on the stream  erect no barriers  cast in no boulders  obstacles make
water froth and humanity boil  Hence arise troubles  but after these
troubles  we recognize the fact that ground has been gained  Until
order  which is nothing else than universal peace  has been established 
until harmony and unity reign  progress will have revolutions as its
halting places 

What  then  is progress  We have just enunciated it  the permanent life
of the peoples 

Now  it sometimes happens  that the momentary life of individuals offers
resistance to the eternal life of the human race 

Let us admit without bitterness  that the individual has his distinct
interests  and can  without forfeiture  stipulate for his interest  and
defend it  the present has its pardonable dose of egotism  momentary
life has its rights  and is not bound to sacrifice itself constantly to
the future  The generation which is passing in its turn over the earth 
is not forced to abridge it for the sake of the generations  its equal 
after all  who will have their turn later on    I exist   murmurs that
some one whose name is All   I am young and in love  I am old and I
wish to repose  I am the father of a family  I toil  I prosper  I am
successful in business  I have houses to lease  I have money in the
government funds  I am happy  I have a wife and children  I have all
this  I desire to live  leave me in peace    Hence  at certain hours  a
profound cold broods over the magnanimous vanguard of the human race 

Utopia  moreover  we must admit  quits its radiant sphere when it makes
war  It  the truth of to morrow  borrows its mode of procedure  battle 
from the lie of yesterday  It  the future  behaves like the past  It 
pure idea  becomes a deed of violence  It complicates its heroism with
a violence for which it is just that it should be held to answer  a
violence of occasion and expedient  contrary to principle  and for which
it is fatally punished  The Utopia  insurrection  fights with the old
military code in its fist  it shoots spies  it executes traitors  it
suppresses living beings and flings them into unknown darkness  It makes
use of death  a serious matter  It seems as though Utopia had no longer
any faith in radiance  its irresistible and incorruptible force  It
strikes with the sword  Now  no sword is simple  Every blade has two
edges  he who wounds with the one is wounded with the other 

Having made this reservation  and made it with all severity  it is
impossible for us not to admire  whether they succeed or not  those the
glorious combatants of the future  the confessors of Utopia  Even when
they miscarry  they are worthy of veneration  and it is  perhaps  in
failure  that they possess the most majesty  Victory  when it is in
accord with progress  merits the applause of the people  but a heroic
defeat merits their tender compassion  The one is magnificent  the other
sublime  For our own part  we prefer martyrdom to success  John Brown is
greater than Washington  and Pisacane is greater than Garibaldi 

It certainly is necessary that some one should take the part of the
vanquished 

We are unjust towards these great men who attempt the future  when they
fail 

Revolutionists are accused of sowing fear abroad  Every barricade seems
a crime  Their theories are incriminated  their aim suspected  their
ulterior motive is feared  their conscience denounced  They are
reproached with raising  erecting  and heaping up  against the reigning
social state  a mass of miseries  of griefs  of iniquities  of wrongs 
of despairs  and of tearing from the lowest depths blocks of shadow
in order therein to embattle themselves and to combat  People shout
to them   You are tearing up the pavements of hell   They might reply 
 That is because our barricade is made of good intentions  

The best thing  assuredly  is the pacific solution  In short  let us
agree that when we behold the pavement  we think of the bear  and it is
a good will which renders society uneasy  But it depends on society
to save itself  it is to its own good will that we make our appeal 
No violent remedy is necessary  To study evil amiably  to prove its
existence  then to cure it  It is to this that we invite it 

However that may be  even when fallen  above all when fallen  these men 
who at every point of the universe  with their eyes fixed on France  are
striving for the grand work with the inflexible logic of the ideal 
are august  they give their life a free offering to progress  they
accomplish the will of providence  they perform a religious act  At the
appointed hour  with as much disinterestedness as an actor who answers
to his cue  in obedience to the divine stage manager  they enter the
tomb  And this hopeless combat  this stoical disappearance they accept
in order to bring about the supreme and universal consequences  the
magnificent and irresistibly human movement begun on the 14th of July 
1789  these soldiers are priests  The French revolution is an act of
God 

Moreover  there are  and it is proper to add this distinction to the
distinctions already pointed out in another chapter   there are accepted
revolutions  revolutions which are called revolutions  there are refused
revolutions  which are called riots 

An insurrection which breaks out  is an idea which is passing its
examination before the people  If the people lets fall a black ball  the
idea is dried fruit  the insurrection is a mere skirmish 

Waging war at every summons and every time that Utopia desires it  is
not the thing for the peoples  Nations have not always and at every hour
the temperament of heroes and martyrs 

They are positive  A priori  insurrection is repugnant to them  in the
first place  because it often results in a catastrophe  in the second
place  because it always has an abstraction as its point of departure 

Because  and this is a noble thing  it is always for the ideal  and for
the ideal alone  that those who sacrifice themselves do thus sacrifice
themselves  An insurrection is an enthusiasm  Enthusiasm may wax wroth 
hence the appeal to arms  But every insurrection  which aims at a
government or a regime  aims higher  Thus  for instance  and we
insist upon it  what the chiefs of the insurrection of 1832  and  in
particular  the young enthusiasts of the Rue de la Chanvrerie were
combating  was not precisely Louis Philippe  The majority of them 
when talking freely  did justice to this king who stood midway between
monarchy and revolution  no one hated him  But they attacked the younger
branch of the divine right in Louis Philippe as they had attacked its
elder branch in Charles X   and that which they wished to overturn in
overturning royalty in France  was  as we have explained  the usurpation
of man over man  and of privilege over right in the entire universe 
Paris without a king has as result the world without despots  This is
the manner in which they reasoned  Their aim was distant no doubt 
vague perhaps  and it retreated in the face of their efforts  but it was
great 

Thus it is  And we sacrifice ourselves for these visions  which are
almost always illusions for the sacrificed  but illusions with which 
after all  the whole of human certainty is mingled  We throw ourselves
into these tragic affairs and become intoxicated with that which we are
about to do  Who knows  We may succeed  We are few in number  we have a
whole army arrayed against us  but we are defending right  the natural
law  the sovereignty of each one over himself from which no abdication
is possible  justice and truth  and in case of need  we die like the
three hundred Spartans  We do not think of Don Quixote but of Leonidas 
And we march straight before us  and once pledged  we do not draw
back  and we rush onwards with head held low  cherishing as our hope an
unprecedented victory  revolution completed  progress set free again 
the aggrandizement of the human race  universal deliverance  and in the
event of the worst  Thermopylae 

These passages of arms for the sake of progress often suffer shipwreck 
and we have just explained why  The crowd is restive in the presence of
the impulses of paladins  Heavy masses  the multitudes which are fragile
because of their very weight  fear adventures  and there is a touch of
adventure in the ideal 

Moreover  and we must not forget this  interests which are not very
friendly to the ideal and the sentimental are in the way  Sometimes the
stomach paralyzes the heart 

The grandeur and beauty of France lies in this  that she takes less from
the stomach than other nations  she more easily knots the rope about her
loins  She is the first awake  the last asleep  She marches forwards 
She is a seeker 

This arises from the fact that she is an artist 

The ideal is nothing but the culminating point of logic  the same as the
beautiful is nothing but the summit of the true  Artistic peoples are
also consistent peoples  To love beauty is to see the light  That is why
the torch of Europe  that is to say of civilization  was first borne by
Greece  who passed it on to Italy  who handed it on to France  Divine 
illuminating nations of scouts  Vitaelampada tradunt 

It is an admirable thing that the poetry of a people is the element of
its progress  The amount of civilization is measured by the quantity
of imagination  Only  a civilizing people should remain a manly people 
Corinth  yes  Sybaris  no  Whoever becomes effeminate makes himself a
bastard  He must be neither a dilettante nor a virtuoso  but he must be
artistic  In the matter of civilization  he must not refine  but he must
sublime  On this condition  one gives to the human race the pattern of
the ideal 

The modern ideal has its type in art  and its means is science  It is
through science that it will realize that august vision of the poets 
the socially beautiful  Eden will be reconstructed by A B  At the point
which civilization has now reached  the exact is a necessary element
of the splendid  and the artistic sentiment is not only served  but
completed by the scientific organ  dreams must be calculated  Art  which
is the conqueror  should have for support science  which is the walker 
the solidity of the creature which is ridden is of importance  The
modern spirit is the genius of Greece with the genius of India as its
vehicle  Alexander on the elephant 

Races which are petrified in dogma or demoralized by lucre are unfit to
guide civilization  Genuflection before the idol or before money wastes
away the muscles which walk and the will which advances  Hieratic or
mercantile absorption lessens a people s power of radiance  lowers its
horizon by lowering its level  and deprives it of that intelligence 
at once both human and divine of the universal goal  which makes
missionaries of nations  Babylon has no ideal  Carthage has no ideal 
Athens and Rome have and keep  throughout all the nocturnal darkness of
the centuries  halos of civilization 

France is in the same quality of race as Greece and Italy  She is
Athenian in the matter of beauty  and Roman in her greatness  Moreover 
she is good  She gives herself  Oftener than is the case with other
races  is she in the humor for self devotion and sacrifice  Only  this
humor seizes upon her  and again abandons her  And therein lies the
great peril for those who run when she desires only to walk  or who walk
on when she desires to halt  France has her relapses into materialism 
and  at certain instants  the ideas which obstruct that sublime brain
have no longer anything which recalls French greatness and are of the
dimensions of a Missouri or a South Carolina  What is to be done in
such a case  The giantess plays at being a dwarf  immense France has her
freaks of pettiness  That is all 

To this there is nothing to say  Peoples  like planets  possess the
right to an eclipse  And all is well  provided that the light
returns and that the eclipse does not degenerate into night  Dawn and
resurrection are synonymous  The reappearance of the light is identical
with the persistence of the  I  

Let us state these facts calmly  Death on the barricade or the tomb in
exile  is an acceptable occasion for devotion  The real name of
devotion is disinterestedness  Let the abandoned allow themselves to
be abandoned  let the exiled allow themselves to be exiled  and let us
confine ourselves to entreating great nations not to retreat too far 
when they do retreat  One must not push too far in descent under pretext
of a return to reason 

Matter exists  the minute exists  interest exists  the stomach exists 
but the stomach must not be the sole wisdom  The life of the moment has
its rights  we admit  but permanent life has its rights also  Alas  the
fact that one is mounted does not preclude a fall  This can be seen in
history more frequently than is desirable  A nation is great  it tastes
the ideal  then it bites the mire  and finds it good  and if it be asked
how it happens that it has abandoned Socrates for Falstaff  it replies 
 Because I love statesmen  

One word more before returning to our subject  the conflict 

A battle like the one which we are engaged in describing is nothing else
than a convulsion towards the ideal  Progress trammelled is sickly  and
is subject to these tragic epilepsies  With that malady of progress 
civil war  we have been obliged to come in contact in our passage  This
is one of the fatal phases  at once act and entr acte of that drama
whose pivot is a social condemnation  and whose veritable title is
Progress 

Progress 

The cry to which we frequently give utterance is our whole thought  and 
at the point of this drama which we have now reached  the idea which it
contains having still more than one trial to undergo  it is  perhaps 
permitted to us  if not to lift the veil from it  to at least allow its
light to shine through 

The book which the reader has under his eye at this moment is  from
one end to the other  as a whole and in detail  whatever may be its
intermittences  exceptions and faults  the march from evil to good  from
the unjust to the just  from night to day  from appetite to conscience 
from rottenness to life  from hell to heaven  from nothingness to God 
Point of departure  matter  point of arrival  the soul  The hydra at the
beginning  the angel at the end 




CHAPTER XXI  THE HEROES

All at once  the drum beat the charge 

The attack was a hurricane  On the evening before  in the darkness 
the barricade had been approached silently  as by a boa  Now  in broad
daylight  in that widening street  surprise was decidedly impossible 
rude force had  moreover  been unmasked  the cannon had begun the
roar  the army hurled itself on the barricade  Fury now became skill 
A powerful detachment of infantry of the line  broken at regular
intervals  by the National Guard and the Municipal Guard on foot 
and supported by serried masses which could be heard though not seen 
debauched into the street at a run  with drums beating  trumpets
braying  bayonets levelled  the sappers at their head  and 
imperturbable under the projectiles  charged straight for the barricade
with the weight of a brazen beam against a wall 

The wall held firm 

The insurgents fired impetuously  The barricade once scaled had a mane
of lightning flashes  The assault was so furious  that for one moment 
it was inundated with assailants  but it shook off the soldiers as the
lion shakes off the dogs  and it was only covered with besiegers as
the cliff is covered with foam  to re appear  a moment later  beetling 
black and formidable 

The column  forced to retreat  remained massed in the street 
unprotected but terrible  and replied to the redoubt with a terrible
discharge of musketry  Any one who has seen fireworks will recall the
sheaf formed of interlacing lightnings which is called a bouquet  Let
the reader picture to himself this bouquet  no longer vertical but
horizontal  bearing a bullet  buck shot or a biscaien at the tip of each
one of its jets of flame  and picking off dead men one after another
from its clusters of lightning  The barricade was underneath it 

On both sides  the resolution was equal  The bravery exhibited there
was almost barbarous and was complicated with a sort of heroic ferocity
which began by the sacrifice of self 

This was the epoch when a National Guardsman fought like a Zouave 
The troop wished to make an end of it  insurrection was desirous of
fighting  The acceptance of the death agony in the flower of youth and
in the flush of health turns intrepidity into frenzy  In this fray  each
one underwent the broadening growth of the death hour  The street was
strewn with corpses 

The barricade had Enjolras at one of its extremities and Marius at the
other  Enjolras  who carried the whole barricade in his head  reserved
and sheltered himself  three soldiers fell  one after the other  under
his embrasure  without having even seen him  Marius fought unprotected 
He made himself a target  He stood with more than half his body above
the breastworks  There is no more violent prodigal than the avaricious
man who takes the bit in his teeth  there is no man more terrible in
action than a dreamer  Marius was formidable and pensive  In battle he
was as in a dream  One would have pronounced him a phantom engaged in
firing a gun 

The insurgents  cartridges were giving out  but not their sarcasms  In
this whirlwind of the sepulchre in which they stood  they laughed 

Courfeyrac was bare headed 

 What have you done with your hat   Bossuet asked him 

Courfeyrac replied 

 They have finally taken it away from me with cannon balls  

Or they uttered haughty comments 

 Can any one understand   exclaimed Feuilly bitterly   those men    and
he cited names  well known names  even celebrated names  some belonging
to the old army   who had promised to join us  and taken an oath to aid
us  and who had pledged their honor to it  and who are our generals  and
who abandon us  

And Combeferre restricted himself to replying with a grave smile 

 There are people who observe the rules of honor as one observes the
stars  from a great distance  

The interior of the barricade was so strewn with torn cartridges that
one would have said that there had been a snowstorm 

The assailants had numbers in their favor  the insurgents had position 
They were at the top of a wall  and they thundered point blank upon
the soldiers tripping over the dead and wounded and entangled in
the escarpment  This barricade  constructed as it was and admirably
buttressed  was really one of those situations where a handful of men
hold a legion in check  Nevertheless  the attacking column  constantly
recruited and enlarged under the shower of bullets  drew inexorably
nearer  and now  little by little  step by step  but surely  the army
closed in around the barricade as the vice grasps the wine press 

One assault followed another  The horror of the situation kept
increasing 

Then there burst forth on that heap of paving stones  in that Rue de la
Chanvrerie  a battle worthy of a wall of Troy  These haggard  ragged 
exhausted men  who had had nothing to eat for four and twenty hours  who
had not slept  who had but a few more rounds to fire  who were fumbling
in their pockets which had been emptied of cartridges  nearly all
of whom were wounded  with head or arm bandaged with black and
blood stained linen  with holes in their clothes from which the blood
trickled  and who were hardly armed with poor guns and notched swords 
became Titans  The barricade was ten times attacked  approached 
assailed  scaled  and never captured 

In order to form an idea of this struggle  it is necessary to imagine
fire set to a throng of terrible courages  and then to gaze at the
conflagration  It was not a combat  it was the interior of a furnace 
there mouths breathed the flame  there countenances were extraordinary 
The human form seemed impossible there  the combatants flamed forth
there  and it was formidable to behold the going and coming in that red
glow of those salamanders of the fray 

The successive and simultaneous scenes of this grand slaughter we
renounce all attempts at depicting  The epic alone has the right to fill
twelve thousand verses with a battle 

One would have pronounced this that hell of Brahmanism  the most
redoubtable of the seventeen abysses  which the Veda calls the Forest of
Swords 

They fought hand to hand  foot to foot  with pistol shots  with blows of
the sword  with their fists  at a distance  close at hand  from above 
from below  from everywhere  from the roofs of the houses  from the
windows of the wine shop  from the cellar windows  whither some had
crawled  They were one against sixty 

The facade of Corinthe  half demolished  was hideous  The window 
tattooed with grape shot  had lost glass and frame and was nothing now
but a shapeless hole  tumultuously blocked with paving stones 

Bossuet was killed  Feuilly was killed  Courfeyrac was killed 
Combeferre  transfixed by three blows from a bayonet in the breast at
the moment when he was lifting up a wounded soldier  had only time to
cast a glance to heaven when he expired 

Marius  still fighting  was so riddled with wounds  particularly in the
head  that his countenance disappeared beneath the blood  and one would
have said that his face was covered with a red kerchief 

Enjolras alone was not struck  When he had no longer any weapon  he
reached out his hands to right and left and an insurgent thrust some arm
or other into his fist  All he had left was the stumps of four swords 
one more than Francois I  at Marignan  Homer says   Diomedes cuts
the throat of Axylus  son of Teuthranis  who dwelt in happy Arisba 
Euryalus  son of Mecistaeus  exterminates Dresos and Opheltios 
Esepius  and that Pedasus whom the naiad Abarbarea bore to the blameless
Bucolion  Ulysses overthrows Pidytes of Percosius  Antilochus  Ablerus 
Polypaetes  Astyalus  Polydamas  Otos  of Cyllene  and Teucer  Aretaon 
Meganthios dies under the blows of Euripylus  pike  Agamemnon  king
of the heroes  flings to earth Elatos  born in the rocky city which
is laved by the sounding river Satnois   In our old poems of exploits 
Esplandian attacks the giant marquis Swantibore with a cobbler s
shoulder stick of fire  and the latter defends himself by stoning the
hero with towers which he plucks up by the roots  Our ancient mural
frescoes show us the two Dukes of Bretagne and Bourbon  armed 
emblazoned and crested in war like guise  on horseback and approaching
each other  their battle axes in hand  masked with iron  gloved with
iron  booted with iron  the one caparisoned in ermine  the other draped
in azure  Bretagne with his lion between the two horns of his crown 
Bourbon helmeted with a monster fleur de lys on his visor  But  in order
to be superb  it is not necessary to wear  like Yvon  the ducal morion 
to have in the fist  like Esplandian  a living flame  or  like Phyles 
father of Polydamas  to have brought back from Ephyra a good suit of
mail  a present from the king of men  Euphetes  it suffices to give
one s life for a conviction or a loyalty  This ingenuous little
soldier  yesterday a peasant of Bauce or Limousin  who prowls with his
clasp knife by his side  around the children s nurses in the Luxembourg
garden  this pale young student bent over a piece of anatomy or a book 
a blond youth who shaves his beard with scissors   take both of them 
breathe upon them with a breath of duty  place them face to face in the
Carrefour Boucherat or in the blind alley Planche Mibray  and let the
one fight for his flag  and the other for his ideal  and let both of
them imagine that they are fighting for their country  the struggle will
be colossal  and the shadow which this raw recruit and this sawbones
in conflict will produce in that grand epic field where humanity
is striving  will equal the shadow cast by Megaryon  King of Lycia 
tiger filled  crushing in his embrace the immense body of Ajax  equal to
the gods 




CHAPTER XXII  FOOT TO FOOT

When there were no longer any of the leaders left alive  except Enjolras
and Marius at the two extremities of the barricade  the centre  which
had so long sustained Courfeyrac  Joly  Bossuet  Feuilly and Combeferre 
gave way  The cannon  though it had not effected a practicable breach 
had made a rather large hollow in the middle of the redoubt  there  the
summit of the wall had disappeared before the balls  and had crumbled
away  and the rubbish which had fallen  now inside  now outside  had 
as it accumulated  formed two piles in the nature of slopes on the two
sides of the barrier  one on the inside  the other on the outside  The
exterior slope presented an inclined plane to the attack 

A final assault was there attempted  and this assault succeeded  The
mass bristling with bayonets and hurled forward at a run  came up with
irresistible force  and the serried front of battle of the attacking
column made its appearance through the smoke on the crest of the
battlements  This time  it was decisive  The group of insurgents who
were defending the centre retreated in confusion 

Then the gloomy love of life awoke once more in some of them  Many 
finding themselves under the muzzles of this forest of guns  did not
wish to die  This is a moment when the instinct of self preservation
emits howls  when the beast re appears in men  They were hemmed in by
the lofty  six story house which formed the background of their redoubt 
This house might prove their salvation  The building was barricaded  and
walled  as it were  from top to bottom  Before the troops of the line
had reached the interior of the redoubt  there was time for a door to
open and shut  the space of a flash of lightning was sufficient for
that  and the door of that house  suddenly opened a crack and closed
again instantly  was life for these despairing men  Behind this house 
there were streets  possible flight  space  They set to knocking at that
door with the butts of their guns  and with kicks  shouting  calling 
entreating  wringing their hands  No one opened  From the little window
on the third floor  the head of the dead man gazed down upon them 

But Enjolras and Marius  and the seven or eight rallied about them 
sprang forward and protected them  Enjolras had shouted to the soldiers 
 Don t advance   and as an officer had not obeyed  Enjolras had killed
the officer  He was now in the little inner court of the redoubt  with
his back planted against the Corinthe building  a sword in one hand 
a rifle in the other  holding open the door of the wine shop which he
barred against assailants  He shouted to the desperate men    There is
but one door open  this one    And shielding them with his body  and
facing an entire battalion alone  he made them pass in behind him  All
precipitated themselves thither  Enjolras  executing with his rifle 
which he now used like a cane  what single stick players call a  covered
rose  round his head  levelled the bayonets around and in front of him 
and was the last to enter  and then ensued a horrible moment  when the
soldiers tried to make their way in  and the insurgents strove to bar
them out  The door was slammed with such violence  that  as it fell back
into its frame  it showed the five fingers of a soldier who had been
clinging to it  cut off and glued to the post 

Marius remained outside  A shot had just broken his collar bone  he
felt that he was fainting and falling  At that moment  with eyes already
shut  he felt the shock of a vigorous hand seizing him  and the swoon
in which his senses vanished  hardly allowed him time for the thought 
mingled with a last memory of Cosette    I am taken prisoner  I shall be
shot  

Enjolras  not seeing Marius among those who had taken refuge in the
wine shop  had the same idea  But they had reached a moment when each
man has not the time to meditate on his own death  Enjolras fixed the
bar across the door  and bolted it  and double locked it with key and
chain  while those outside were battering furiously at it  the soldiers
with the butts of their muskets  the sappers with their axes  The
assailants were grouped about that door  The siege of the wine shop was
now beginning 

The soldiers  we will observe  were full of wrath 

The death of the artillery sergeant had enraged them  and then  a still
more melancholy circumstance  During the few hours which had preceded
the attack  it had been reported among them that the insurgents were
mutilating their prisoners  and that there was the headless body of
a soldier in the wine shop  This sort of fatal rumor is the usual
accompaniment of civil wars  and it was a false report of this kind
which  later on  produced the catastrophe of the Rue Transnonain 

When the door was barricaded  Enjolras said to the others 

 Let us sell our lives dearly  

Then he approached the table on which lay Mabeuf and Gavroche  Beneath
the black cloth two straight and rigid forms were visible  one large 
the other small  and the two faces were vaguely outlined beneath the
cold folds of the shroud  A hand projected from beneath the winding
sheet and hung near the floor  It was that of the old man 

Enjolras bent down and kissed that venerable hand  just as he had kissed
his brow on the preceding evening 

These were the only two kisses which he had bestowed in the course of
his life 

Let us abridge the tale  The barricade had fought like a gate of Thebes 
the wine shop fought like a house of Saragossa  These resistances are
dogged  No quarter  No flag of truce possible  Men are willing to die 
provided their opponent will kill them 

When Suchet says    Capitulate    Palafox replies   After the war with
cannon  the war with knives   Nothing was lacking in the capture by
assault of the Hucheloup wine shop  neither paving stones raining from
the windows and the roof on the besiegers and exasperating the soldiers
by crushing them horribly  nor shots fired from the attic windows and
the cellar  nor the fury of attack  nor  finally  when the door yielded 
the frenzied madness of extermination  The assailants  rushing into the
wine shop  their feet entangled in the panels of the door which had been
beaten in and flung on the ground  found not a single combatant there 
The spiral staircase  hewn asunder with the axe  lay in the middle of
the tap room  a few wounded men were just breathing their last  every
one who was not killed was on the first floor  and from there  through
the hole in the ceiling  which had formed the entrance of the stairs 
a terrific fire burst forth  It was the last of their cartridges  When
they were exhausted  when these formidable men on the point of death had
no longer either powder or ball  each grasped in his hands two of the
bottles which Enjolras had reserved  and of which we have spoken  and
held the scaling party in check with these frightfully fragile clubs 
They were bottles of aquafortis 

We relate these gloomy incidents of carnage as they occurred  The
besieged man  alas  converts everything into a weapon  Greek fire did
not disgrace Archimedes  boiling pitch did not disgrace Bayard  All war
is a thing of terror  and there is no choice in it  The musketry of the
besiegers  though confined and embarrassed by being directed from below
upwards  was deadly  The rim of the hole in the ceiling was speedily
surrounded by heads of the slain  whence dripped long  red and smoking
streams  the uproar was indescribable  a close and burning smoke almost
produced night over this combat  Words are lacking to express horror
when it has reached this pitch  There were no longer men in this
conflict  which was now infernal  They were no longer giants matched
with colossi  It resembled Milton and Dante rather than Homer  Demons
attacked  spectres resisted 

It was heroism become monstrous 




CHAPTER XXIII  ORESTES FASTING AND PYLADES DRUNK

At length  by dint of mounting on each other s backs  aiding themselves
with the skeleton of the staircase  climbing up the walls  clinging to
the ceiling  slashing away at the very brink of the trap door  the last
one who offered resistance  a score of assailants  soldiers  National
Guardsmen  municipal guardsmen  in utter confusion  the majority
disfigured by wounds in the face during that redoubtable ascent  blinded
by blood  furious  rendered savage  made an irruption into the apartment
on the first floor  There they found only one man still on his feet 
Enjolras  Without cartridges  without sword  he had nothing in his hand
now but the barrel of his gun whose stock he had broken over the head
of those who were entering  He had placed the billiard table between his
assailants and himself  he had retreated into the corner of the room 
and there  with haughty eye  and head borne high  with this stump of a
weapon in his hand  he was still so alarming as to speedily create an
empty space around him  A cry arose 

 He is the leader  It was he who slew the artillery man  It is well that
he has placed himself there  Let him remain there  Let us shoot him down
on the spot  

 Shoot me   said Enjolras 

And flinging away his bit of gun barrel  and folding his arms  he
offered his breast 

The audacity of a fine death always affects men  As soon as Enjolras
folded his arms and accepted his end  the din of strife ceased in
the room  and this chaos suddenly stilled into a sort of sepulchral
solemnity  The menacing majesty of Enjolras disarmed and motionless 
appeared to oppress this tumult  and this young man  haughty  bloody 
and charming  who alone had not a wound  who was as indifferent as an
invulnerable being  seemed  by the authority of his tranquil glance  to
constrain this sinister rabble to kill him respectfully  His beauty  at
that moment augmented by his pride  was resplendent  and he was fresh
and rosy after the fearful four and twenty hours which had just elapsed 
as though he could no more be fatigued than wounded  It was of him 
possibly  that a witness spoke afterwards  before the council of
war   There was an insurgent whom I heard called Apollo   A National
Guardsman who had taken aim at Enjolras  lowered his gun  saying   It
seems to me that I am about to shoot a flower  

Twelve men formed into a squad in the corner opposite Enjolras  and
silently made ready their guns 

Then a sergeant shouted 

 Take aim  

An officer intervened 

 Wait  

And addressing Enjolras 

 Do you wish to have your eyes bandaged  

 No  

 Was it you who killed the artillery sergeant  

 Yes  

Grantaire had waked up a few moments before 

Grantaire  it will be remembered  had been asleep ever since the
preceding evening in the upper room of the wine shop  seated on a chair
and leaning on the table 

He realized in its fullest sense the old metaphor of  dead drunk   The
hideous potion of absinthe porter and alcohol had thrown him into a
lethargy  His table being small  and not suitable for the barricade 
he had been left in possession of it  He was still in the same posture 
with his breast bent over the table  his head lying flat on his arms 
surrounded by glasses  beer jugs and bottles  His was the overwhelming
slumber of the torpid bear and the satiated leech  Nothing had had any
effect upon it  neither the fusillade  nor the cannon balls  nor the
grape shot which had made its way through the window into the room where
he was  Nor the tremendous uproar of the assault  He merely replied to
the cannonade  now and then  by a snore  He seemed to be waiting there
for a bullet which should spare him the trouble of waking  Many corpses
were strewn around him  and  at the first glance  there was nothing to
distinguish him from those profound sleepers of death 

Noise does not rouse a drunken man  silence awakens him  The fall
of everything around him only augmented Grantaire s prostration  the
crumbling of all things was his lullaby  The sort of halt which the
tumult underwent in the presence of Enjolras was a shock to this heavy
slumber  It had the effect of a carriage going at full speed  which
suddenly comes to a dead stop  The persons dozing within it wake up 
Grantaire rose to his feet with a start  stretched out his arms  rubbed
his eyes  stared  yawned  and understood 

A fit of drunkenness reaching its end resembles a curtain which is torn
away  One beholds  at a single glance and as a whole  all that it has
concealed  All suddenly presents itself to the memory  and the drunkard
who has known nothing of what has been taking place during the last
twenty four hours  has no sooner opened his eyes than he is perfectly
informed  Ideas recur to him with abrupt lucidity  the obliteration
of intoxication  a sort of steam which has obscured the brain  is
dissipated  and makes way for the clear and sharply outlined importunity
of realities 

Relegated  as he was  to one corner  and sheltered behind the
billiard table  the soldiers whose eyes were fixed on Enjolras  had not
even noticed Grantaire  and the sergeant was preparing to repeat his
order   Take aim   when all at once  they heard a strong voice shout
beside them 

 Long live the Republic  I m one of them  

Grantaire had risen  The immense gleam of the whole combat which he
had missed  and in which he had had no part  appeared in the brilliant
glance of the transfigured drunken man 

He repeated   Long live the Republic   crossed the room with a firm
stride and placed himself in front of the guns beside Enjolras 

 Finish both of us at one blow   said he 

And turning gently to Enjolras  he said to him 

 Do you permit it  

Enjolras pressed his hand with a smile 

This smile was not ended when the report resounded 

Enjolras  pierced by eight bullets  remained leaning against the wall 
as though the balls had nailed him there  Only  his head was bowed 

Grantaire fell at his feet  as though struck by a thunderbolt 

A few moments later  the soldiers dislodged the last remaining
insurgents  who had taken refuge at the top of the house  They fired
into the attic through a wooden lattice  They fought under the very
roof  They flung bodies  some of them still alive  out through the
windows  Two light infantrymen  who tried to lift the shattered omnibus 
were slain by two shots fired from the attic  A man in a blouse was
flung down from it  with a bayonet wound in the abdomen  and breathed
his last on the ground  A soldier and an insurgent slipped together
on the sloping slates of the roof  and  as they would not release each
other  they fell  clasped in a ferocious embrace  A similar conflict
went on in the cellar  Shouts  shots  a fierce trampling  Then silence 
The barricade was captured 

The soldiers began to search the houses round about  and to pursue the
fugitives 




CHAPTER XXIV  PRISONER

Marius was  in fact  a prisoner 

The hand which had seized him from behind and whose grasp he had felt
at the moment of his fall and his loss of consciousness was that of Jean
Valjean 

Jean Valjean had taken no other part in the combat than to expose
himself in it  Had it not been for him  no one  in that supreme phase
of agony  would have thought of the wounded  Thanks to him  everywhere
present in the carnage  like a providence  those who fell were picked
up  transported to the tap room  and cared for  In the intervals  he
reappeared on the barricade  But nothing which could resemble a blow 
an attack or even personal defence proceeded from his hands  He held his
peace and lent succor  Moreover he had received only a few scratches 
The bullets would have none of him  If suicide formed part of what he
had meditated on coming to this sepulchre  to that spot  he had
not succeeded  But we doubt whether he had thought of suicide  an
irreligious act 

Jean Valjean  in the thick cloud of the combat  did not appear to see
Marius  the truth is  that he never took his eyes from the latter  When
a shot laid Marius low  Jean Valjean leaped forward with the agility of
a tiger  fell upon him as on his prey  and bore him off 

The whirlwind of the attack was  at that moment  so violently
concentrated upon Enjolras and upon the door of the wine shop  that
no one saw Jean Valjean sustaining the fainting Marius in his arms 
traverse the unpaved field of the barricade and disappear behind the
angle of the Corinthe building 

The reader will recall this angle which formed a sort of cape on the
street  it afforded shelter from the bullets  the grape shot  and all
eyes  and a few square feet of space  There is sometimes a chamber
which does not burn in the midst of a conflagration  and in the midst of
raging seas  beyond a promontory or at the extremity of a blind alley
of shoals  a tranquil nook  It was in this sort of fold in the interior
trapezium of the barricade  that Eponine had breathed her last 

There Jean Valjean halted  let Marius slide to the ground  placed his
back against the wall  and cast his eyes about him 

The situation was alarming 

For an instant  for two or three perhaps  this bit of wall was a
shelter  but how was he to escape from this massacre  He recalled the
anguish which he had suffered in the Rue Polonceau eight years before 
and in what manner he had contrived to make his escape  it was difficult
then  to day it was impossible  He had before him that deaf and
implacable house  six stories in height  which appeared to be inhabited
only by a dead man leaning out of his window  he had on his right the
rather low barricade  which shut off the Rue de la Petite Truanderie 
to pass this obstacle seemed easy  but beyond the crest of the barrier a
line of bayonets was visible  The troops of the line were posted on the
watch behind that barricade  It was evident  that to pass the barricade
was to go in quest of the fire of the platoon  and that any head which
should run the risk of lifting itself above the top of that wall of
stones would serve as a target for sixty shots  On his left he had the
field of battle  Death lurked round the corner of that wall 

What was to be done 

Only a bird could have extricated itself from this predicament 

And it was necessary to decide on the instant  to devise some expedient 
to come to some decision  Fighting was going on a few paces away 
fortunately  all were raging around a single point  the door of the
wine shop  but if it should occur to one soldier  to one single soldier 
to turn the corner of the house  or to attack him on the flank  all was
over 

Jean Valjean gazed at the house facing him  he gazed at the barricade at
one side of him  then he looked at the ground  with the violence of the
last extremity  bewildered  and as though he would have liked to pierce
a hole there with his eyes 

By dint of staring  something vaguely striking in such an agony began
to assume form and outline at his feet  as though it had been a power
of glance which made the thing desired unfold  A few paces distant he
perceived  at the base of the small barrier so pitilessly guarded and
watched on the exterior  beneath a disordered mass of paving stones
which partly concealed it  an iron grating  placed flat and on a level
with the soil  This grating  made of stout  transverse bars  was about
two feet square  The frame of paving stones which supported it had been
torn up  and it was  as it were  unfastened 

Through the bars a view could be had of a dark aperture  something like
the flue of a chimney  or the pipe of a cistern  Jean Valjean darted
forward  His old art of escape rose to his brain like an illumination 
To thrust aside the stones  to raise the grating  to lift Marius  who
was as inert as a dead body  upon his shoulders  to descend  with this
burden on his loins  and with the aid of his elbows and knees into that
sort of well  fortunately not very deep  to let the heavy trap  upon
which the loosened stones rolled down afresh  fall into its place behind
him  to gain his footing on a flagged surface three metres below the
surface   all this was executed like that which one does in dreams  with
the strength of a giant and the rapidity of an eagle  this took only a
few minutes 

Jean Valjean found himself with Marius  who was still unconscious  in a
sort of long  subterranean corridor 

There reigned profound peace  absolute silence  night 

The impression which he had formerly experienced when falling from the
wall into the convent recurred to him  Only  what he was carrying to day
was not Cosette  it was Marius  He could barely hear the formidable
tumult in the wine shop  taken by assault  like a vague murmur overhead 




BOOK SECOND   THE INTESTINE OF THE LEVIATHAN




CHAPTER I  THE LAND IMPOVERISHED BY THE SEA

Paris casts twenty five millions yearly into the water  And this without
metaphor  How  and in what manner  Day and night  With what object  With
no object  With what intention  With no intention  Why  For no
reason  By means of what organ  By means of its intestine  What is its
intestine  The sewer 

Twenty five millions is the most moderate approximative figure which the
valuations of special science have set upon it 

Science  after having long groped about  now knows that the most
fecundating and the most efficacious of fertilizers is human manure 
The Chinese  let us confess it to our shame  knew it before us  Not
a Chinese peasant  it is Eckberg who says this   goes to town without
bringing back with him  at the two extremities of his bamboo pole  two
full buckets of what we designate as filth  Thanks to human dung  the
earth in China is still as young as in the days of Abraham  Chinese
wheat yields a hundred fold of the seed  There is no guano comparable
in fertility with the detritus of a capital  A great city is the most
mighty of dung makers  Certain success would attend the experiment
of employing the city to manure the plain  If our gold is manure  our
manure  on the other hand  is gold 

What is done with this golden manure  It is swept into the abyss 

Fleets of vessels are despatched  at great expense  to collect the dung
of petrels and penguins at the South Pole  and the incalculable element
of opulence which we have on hand  we send to the sea  All the human and
animal manure which the world wastes  restored to the land instead of
being cast into the water  would suffice to nourish the world 

Those heaps of filth at the gate posts  those tumbrils of mud which
jolt through the street by night  those terrible casks of the street
department  those fetid drippings of subterranean mire  which the
pavements hide from you   do you know what they are  They are the meadow
in flower  the green grass  wild thyme  thyme and sage  they are game 
they are cattle  they are the satisfied bellows of great oxen in the
evening  they are perfumed hay  they are golden wheat  they are the
bread on your table  they are the warm blood in your veins  they are
health  they are joy  they are life  This is the will of that mysterious
creation which is transformation on earth and transfiguration in heaven 

Restore this to the great crucible  your abundance will flow forth from
it  The nutrition of the plains furnishes the nourishment of men 

You have it in your power to lose this wealth  and to consider me
ridiculous to boot  This will form the master piece of your ignorance 

Statisticians have calculated that France alone makes a deposit of
half a milliard every year  in the Atlantic  through the mouths of her
rivers  Note this  with five hundred millions we could pay one quarter
of the expenses of our budget  The cleverness of man is such that he
prefers to get rid of these five hundred millions in the gutter  It is
the very substance of the people that is carried off  here drop by
drop  there wave after wave  the wretched outpour of our sewers into the
rivers  and the gigantic collection of our rivers into the ocean  Every
hiccough of our sewers costs us a thousand francs  From this spring two
results  the land impoverished  and the water tainted  Hunger arising
from the furrow  and disease from the stream 

It is notorious  for example  that at the present hour  the Thames is
poisoning London 

So far as Paris is concerned  it has become indispensable of late  to
transport the mouths of the sewers down stream  below the last bridge 

A double tubular apparatus  provided with valves and sluices  sucking up
and driving back  a system of elementary drainage  simple as the lungs
of a man  and which is already in full working order in many communities
in England  would suffice to conduct the pure water of the fields into
our cities  and to send back to the fields the rich water of the cities 
and this easy exchange  the simplest in the world  would retain among us
the five hundred millions now thrown away  People are thinking of other
things 

The process actually in use does evil  with the intention of doing good 
The intention is good  the result is melancholy  Thinking to purge the
city  the population is blanched like plants raised in cellars  A sewer
is a mistake  When drainage  everywhere  with its double function 
restoring what it takes  shall have replaced the sewer  which is a
simple impoverishing washing  then  this being combined with the data
of a now social economy  the product of the earth will be increased
tenfold  and the problem of misery will be singularly lightened  Add the
suppression of parasitism  and it will be solved 

In the meanwhile  the public wealth flows away to the river  and leakage
takes place  Leakage is the word  Europe is being ruined in this manner
by exhaustion 

As for France  we have just cited its figures  Now  Paris contains one
twenty fifth of the total population of France  and Parisian guano being
the richest of all  we understate the truth when we value the loss on
the part of Paris at twenty five millions in the half milliard which
France annually rejects  These twenty five millions  employed in
assistance and enjoyment  would double the splendor of Paris  The
city spends them in sewers  So that we may say that Paris s great
prodigality  its wonderful festival  its Beaujon folly  its orgy  its
stream of gold from full hands  its pomp  its luxury  its magnificence 
is its sewer system 

It is in this manner that  in the blindness of a poor political economy 
we drown and allow to float down stream and to be lost in the gulfs the
well being of all  There should be nets at Saint Cloud for the public
fortune 

Economically considered  the matter can be summed up thus  Paris is
a spendthrift  Paris  that model city  that patron of well arranged
capitals  of which every nation strives to possess a copy  that
metropolis of the ideal  that august country of the initiative  of
impulse and of effort  that centre and that dwelling of minds  that
nation city  that hive of the future  that marvellous combination of
Babylon and Corinth  would make a peasant of the Fo Kian shrug his
shoulders  from the point of view which we have just indicated 

Imitate Paris and you will ruin yourselves 

Moreover  and particularly in this immemorial and senseless waste  Paris
is itself an imitator 

These surprising exhibitions of stupidity are not novel  this is no
young folly  The ancients did like the moderns   The sewers of Rome  
says Liebig   have absorbed all the well being of the Roman peasant  
When the Campagna of Rome was ruined by the Roman sewer  Rome exhausted
Italy  and when she had put Italy in her sewer  she poured in Sicily 
then Sardinia  then Africa  The sewer of Rome has engulfed the world 
This cess pool offered its engulfment to the city and the universe  Urbi
et orbi  Eternal city  unfathomable sewer 

Rome sets the example for these things as well as for others 

Paris follows this example with all the stupidity peculiar to
intelligent towns 

For the requirements of the operation upon the subject of which we have
just explained our views  Paris has beneath it another Paris  a Paris
of sewers  which has its streets  its cross roads  its squares  its
blind alleys  its arteries  and its circulation  which is of mire and
minus the human form 

For nothing must be flattered  not even a great people  where there
is everything there is also ignominy by the side of sublimity  and 
if Paris contains Athens  the city of light  Tyre  the city of might 
Sparta  the city of virtue  Nineveh  the city of marvels  it also
contains Lutetia  the city of mud 

However  the stamp of its power is there also  and the Titanic sink of
Paris realizes  among monuments  that strange ideal realized in humanity
by some men like Macchiavelli  Bacon and Mirabeau  grandiose vileness 

The sub soil of Paris  if the eye could penetrate its surface  would
present the aspect of a colossal madrepore  A sponge has no more
partitions and ducts than the mound of earth for a circuit of six
leagues round about  on which rests the great and ancient city  Not to
mention its catacombs  which are a separate cellar  not to mention
the inextricable trellis work of gas pipes  without reckoning the vast
tubular system for the distribution of fresh water which ends in the
pillar fountains  the sewers alone form a tremendous  shadowy net work
under the two banks  a labyrinth which has its slope for its guiding
thread 

There appears  in the humid mist  the rat which seems the product to
which Paris has given birth 




CHAPTER II  ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE SEWER

Let the reader imagine Paris lifted off like a cover  the subterranean
net work of sewers  from a bird s eye view  will outline on the banks
a species of large branch grafted on the river  On the right bank  the
belt sewer will form the trunk of this branch  the secondary ducts will
form the branches  and those without exit the twigs 

This figure is but a summary one and half exact  the right angle  which
is the customary angle of this species of subterranean ramifications 
being very rare in vegetation 

A more accurate image of this strange geometrical plan can be formed
by supposing that one is viewing some eccentric oriental alphabet 
as intricate as a thicket  against a background of shadows  and the
misshapen letters should be welded one to another in apparent confusion 
and as at haphazard  now by their angles  again by their extremities 

Sinks and sewers played a great part in the Middle Ages  in the Lower
Empire and in the Orient of old  The masses regarded these beds of
decomposition  these monstrous cradles of death  with a fear that was
almost religious  The vermin ditch of Benares is no less conducive to
giddiness than the lions  ditch of Babylon  Teglath Phalasar  according
to the rabbinical books  swore by the sink of Nineveh  It was from the
sewer of Munster that John of Leyden produced his false moon  and it
was from the cess pool of Kekscheb that oriental menalchme  Mokanna  the
veiled prophet of Khorassan  caused his false sun to emerge 

The history of men is reflected in the history of sewers  The
Germoniae 58  narrated Rome  The sewer of Paris has been an ancient and
formidable thing  It has been a sepulchre  it has served as an asylum 
Crime  intelligence  social protest  liberty of conscience  thought 
theft  all that human laws persecute or have persecuted  is hidden in
that hole  the maillotins in the fourteenth century  the tire laine of
the fifteenth  the Huguenots in the sixteenth  Morin s illuminated in
the seventeenth  the chauffeurs  brigands  in the eighteenth  A
hundred years ago  the nocturnal blow of the dagger emerged thence  the
pickpocket in danger slipped thither  the forest had its cave  Paris had
its sewer  Vagrancy  that Gallic picareria  accepted the sewer as the
adjunct of the Cour des Miracles  and at evening  it returned thither 
fierce and sly  through the Maubuee outlet  as into a bed chamber 

It was quite natural  that those who had the blind alley Vide Gousset 
 Empty Pocket  or the Rue Coupe Gorge  Cut Throat   for the scene of
their daily labor  should have for their domicile by night the culvert
of the Chemin Vert  or the catch basin of Hurepoix  Hence a throng of
souvenirs  All sorts of phantoms haunt these long  solitary
corridors  everywhere is putrescence and miasma  here and there are
breathing holes  where Villon within converses with Rabelais without 

The sewer in ancient Paris is the rendezvous of all exhaustions and
of all attempts  Political economy therein spies a detritus  social
philosophy there beholds a residuum 

The sewer is the conscience of the city  Everything there converges
and confronts everything else  In that livid spot there are shades  but
there are no longer any secrets  Each thing bears its true form  or at
least  its definitive form  The mass of filth has this in its favor 
that it is not a liar  Ingenuousness has taken refuge there  The mask
of Basil is to be found there  but one beholds its cardboard and its
strings and the inside as well as the outside  and it is accentuated
by honest mud  Scapin s false nose is its next door neighbor  All the
uncleannesses of civilization  once past their use  fall into this
trench of truth  where the immense social sliding ends  They are
there engulfed  but they display themselves there  This mixture is a
confession  There  no more false appearances  no plastering over is
possible  filth removes its shirt  absolute denudation puts to the rout
all illusions and mirages  there is nothing more except what really
exists  presenting the sinister form of that which is coming to an end 
There  the bottom of a bottle indicates drunkenness  a basket handle
tells a tale of domesticity  there the core of an apple which has
entertained literary opinions becomes an apple core once more  the
effigy on the big sou becomes frankly covered with verdigris  Caiphas 
spittle meets Falstaff s puking  the louis d or which comes from
the gaming house jostles the nail whence hangs the rope s end of the
suicide  A livid foetus rolls along  enveloped in the spangles which
danced at the Opera last Shrove Tuesday  a cap which has pronounced
judgment on men wallows beside a mass of rottenness which was formerly
Margoton s petticoat  it is more than fraternization  it is equivalent
to addressing each other as thou  All which was formerly rouged  is
washed free  The last veil is torn away  A sewer is a cynic  It tells
everything 

The sincerity of foulness pleases us  and rests the soul  When one has
passed one s time in enduring upon earth the spectacle of the great airs
which reasons of state  the oath  political sagacity  human justice 
professional probity  the austerities of situation  incorruptible robes
all assume  it solaces one to enter a sewer and to behold the mire which
befits it 

This is instructive at the same time  We have just said that history
passes through the sewer  The Saint Barthelemys filter through there 
drop by drop  between the paving stones  Great public assassinations 
political and religious butcheries  traverse this underground passage
of civilization  and thrust their corpses there  For the eye of the
thinker  all historic murderers are to be found there  in that hideous
penumbra  on their knees  with a scrap of their winding sheet for
an apron  dismally sponging out their work  Louis XI  is there with
Tristan  Francois I  with Duprat  Charles IX  is there with his mother 
Richelieu is there with Louis XIII   Louvois is there  Letellier is
there  Hebert and Maillard are there  scratching the stones  and trying
to make the traces of their actions disappear  Beneath these vaults one
hears the brooms of spectres  One there breathes the enormous fetidness
of social catastrophes  One beholds reddish reflections in the corners 
There flows a terrible stream  in which bloody hands have been washed 

The social observer should enter these shadows  They form a part of
his laboratory  Philosophy is the microscope of the thought  Everything
desires to flee from it  but nothing escapes it  Tergiversation is
useless  What side of oneself does one display in evasions  the shameful
side  Philosophy pursues with its glance  probes the evil  and does
not permit it to escape into nothingness  In the obliteration of things
which disappear  in the watching of things which vanish  it recognizes
all  It reconstructs the purple from the rag  and the woman from the
scrap of her dress  From the cess pool  it re constitutes the city  from
mud  it reconstructs manners  from the potsherd it infers the amphora
or the jug  By the imprint of a finger nail on a piece of parchment  it
recognizes the difference which separates the Jewry of the Judengasse
from the Jewry of the Ghetto  It re discovers in what remains that
which has been  good  evil  the true  the blood stain of the palace 
the ink blot of the cavern  the drop of sweat from the brothel  trials
undergone  temptations welcomed  orgies cast forth  the turn which
characters have taken as they became abased  the trace of prostitution
in souls of which their grossness rendered them capable  and on the
vesture of the porters of Rome the mark of Messalina s elbowing 




CHAPTER III  BRUNESEAU

The sewer of Paris in the Middle Ages was legendary  In the sixteenth
century  Henri II  attempted a bore  which failed  Not a hundred years
ago  the cess pool  Mercier attests the fact  was abandoned to itself 
and fared as best it might 

Such was this ancient Paris  delivered over to quarrels  to indecision 
and to gropings  It was tolerably stupid for a long time  Later on   89
showed how understanding comes to cities  But in the good  old times 
the capital had not much head  It did not know how to manage its own
affairs either morally or materially  and could not sweep out filth
any better than it could abuses  Everything presented an obstacle 
everything raised a question  The sewer  for example  was refractory to
every itinerary  One could no more find one s bearings in the sewer
than one could understand one s position in the city  above the
unintelligible  below the inextricable  beneath the confusion of tongues
there reigned the confusion of caverns  Daedalus backed up Babel 

Sometimes the Paris sewer took a notion to overflow  as though this
misunderstood Nile were suddenly seized with a fit of rage  There
occurred  infamous to relate  inundations of the sewer  At times  that
stomach of civilization digested badly  the cess pool flowed back into
the throat of the city  and Paris got an after taste of her own filth 
These resemblances of the sewer to remorse had their good points  they
were warnings  very badly accepted  however  the city waxed indignant
at the audacity of its mire  and did not admit that the filth should
return  Drive it out better 

The inundation of 1802 is one of the actual memories of Parisians of
the age of eighty  The mud spread in cross form over the Place des
Victoires  where stands the statue of Louis XIV   it entered the Rue
Saint Honore by the two mouths to the sewer in the Champs Elysees 
the Rue Saint Florentin through the Saint Florentin sewer  the Rue
Pierre a Poisson through the sewer de la Sonnerie  the Rue Popincourt 
through the sewer of the Chemin Vert  the Rue de la Roquette  through
the sewer of the Rue de Lappe  it covered the drain of the Rue des
Champs Elysees to the height of thirty five centimetres  and  to the
South  through the vent of the Seine  performing its functions in
inverse sense  it penetrated the Rue Mazarine  the Rue de l Echaude  and
the Rue des Marais  where it stopped at a distance of one hundred and
nine metres  a few paces distant from the house in which Racine had
lived  respecting  in the seventeenth century  the poet more than the
King  It attained its maximum depth in the Rue Saint Pierre  where
it rose to the height of three feet above the flag stones of the
water spout  and its maximum length in the Rue Saint Sabin  where it
spread out over a stretch two hundred and thirty eight metres in length 

At the beginning of this century  the sewer of Paris was still a
mysterious place  Mud can never enjoy a good fame  but in this case its
evil renown reached the verge of the terrible  Paris knew  in a confused
way  that she had under her a terrible cavern  People talked of it as
of that monstrous bed of Thebes in which swarmed centipedes fifteen long
feet in length  and which might have served Behemoth for a bathtub 
The great boots of the sewermen never ventured further than certain
well known points  We were then very near the epoch when the scavenger s
carts  from the summit of which Sainte Foix fraternized with the Marquis
de Crequi  discharged their loads directly into the sewer  As for
cleaning out   that function was entrusted to the pouring rains which
encumbered rather than swept away  Rome left some poetry to her sewer 
and called it the Gemoniae  Paris insulted hers  and entitled it the
Polypus Hole  Science and superstition were in accord  in horror  The
Polypus hole was no less repugnant to hygiene than to legend  The goblin
was developed under the fetid covering of the Mouffetard sewer  the
corpses of the Marmousets had been cast into the sewer de la Barillerie 
Fagon attributed the redoubtable malignant fever of 1685 to the great
hiatus of the sewer of the Marais  which remained yawning until 1833 in
the Rue Saint Louis  almost opposite the sign of the Gallant Messenger 
The mouth of the sewer of the Rue de la Mortellerie was celebrated for
the pestilences which had their source there  with its grating of iron 
with points simulating a row of teeth  it was like a dragon s maw
in that fatal street  breathing forth hell upon men  The popular
imagination seasoned the sombre Parisian sink with some indescribably
hideous intermixture of the infinite  The sewer had no bottom  The sewer
was the lower world  The idea of exploring these leprous regions did not
even occur to the police  To try that unknown thing  to cast the plummet
into that shadow  to set out on a voyage of discovery in that abyss  who
would have dared  It was alarming  Nevertheless  some one did present
himself  The cess pool had its Christopher Columbus 

One day  in 1805  during one of the rare apparitions which the Emperor
made in Paris  the Minister of the Interior  some Decres or Cretet or
other  came to the master s intimate levee  In the Carrousel there was
audible the clanking of swords of all those extraordinary soldiers of
the great Republic  and of the great Empire  then Napoleon s door was
blocked with heroes  men from the Rhine  from the Escaut  from the
Adige  and from the Nile  companions of Joubert  of Desaix  of Marceau 
of Hoche  of Kleber  the aerostiers of Fleurus  the grenadiers of
Mayence  the pontoon builders of Genoa  hussars whom the Pyramids had
looked down upon  artillerists whom Junot s cannon ball had spattered
with mud  cuirassiers who had taken by assault the fleet lying at anchor
in the Zuyderzee  some had followed Bonaparte upon the bridge of Lodi 
others had accompanied Murat in the trenches of Mantua  others had
preceded Lannes in the hollow road of Montebello  The whole army of that
day was present there  in the court yard of the Tuileries  represented
by a squadron or a platoon  and guarding Napoleon in repose  and that
was the splendid epoch when the grand army had Marengo behind it and
Austerlitz before it    Sire   said the Minister of the Interior to
Napoleon   yesterday I saw the most intrepid man in your Empire     What
man is that   said the Emperor brusquely   and what has he done     He
wants to do something  Sire     What is it     To visit the sewers of
Paris  

This man existed and his name was Bruneseau 




CHAPTER IV  BRUNESEAU 

The visit took place  It was a formidable campaign  a nocturnal battle
against pestilence and suffocation  It was  at the same time  a voyage
of discovery  One of the survivors of this expedition  an intelligent
workingman  who was very young at the time  related curious details with
regard to it  several years ago  which Bruneseau thought himself obliged
to omit in his report to the prefect of police  as unworthy of official
style  The processes of disinfection were  at that epoch  extremely
rudimentary  Hardly had Bruneseau crossed the first articulations of
that subterranean network  when eight laborers out of the twenty refused
to go any further  The operation was complicated  the visit entailed the
necessity of cleaning  hence it was necessary to cleanse and at the same
time  to proceed  to note the entrances of water  to count the gratings
and the vents  to lay out in detail the branches  to indicate the
currents at the point where they parted  to define the respective bounds
of the divers basins  to sound the small sewers grafted on the principal
sewer  to measure the height under the key stone of each drain  and the
width  at the spring of the vaults as well as at the bottom  in order
to determine the arrangements with regard to the level of each
water entrance  either of the bottom of the arch  or on the soil of the
street  They advanced with toil  The lanterns pined away in the foul
atmosphere  From time to time  a fainting sewerman was carried out 
At certain points  there were precipices  The soil had given away  the
pavement had crumbled  the sewer had changed into a bottomless well 
they found nothing solid  a man disappeared suddenly  they had great
difficulty in getting him out again  On the advice of Fourcroy  they
lighted large cages filled with tow steeped in resin  from time to time 
in spots which had been sufficiently disinfected  In some places  the
wall was covered with misshapen fungi   one would have said tumors  the
very stone seemed diseased within this unbreathable atmosphere 

Bruneseau  in his exploration  proceeded down hill  At the point of
separation of the two water conduits of the Grand Hurleur  he deciphered
upon a projecting stone the date of 1550  this stone indicated the
limits where Philibert Delorme  charged by Henri II  with visiting the
subterranean drains of Paris  had halted  This stone was the mark of
the sixteenth century on the sewer  Bruneseau found the handiwork of
the seventeenth century once more in the Ponceau drain of the old Rue
Vielle du Temple  vaulted between 1600 and 1650  and the handiwork of
the eighteenth in the western section of the collecting canal  walled
and vaulted in 1740  These two vaults  especially the less ancient  that
of 1740  were more cracked and decrepit than the masonry of the belt
sewer  which dated from 1412  an epoch when the brook of fresh water of
Menilmontant was elevated to the dignity of the Grand Sewer of Paris  an
advancement analogous to that of a peasant who should become first valet
de chambre to the King  something like Gros Jean transformed into Lebel 

Here and there  particularly beneath the Court House  they thought they
recognized the hollows of ancient dungeons  excavated in the very sewer
itself  Hideous in pace  An iron neck collar was hanging in one of these
cells  They walled them all up  Some of their finds were singular  among
others  the skeleton of an ourang outan  who had disappeared from the
Jardin des Plantes in 1800  a disappearance probably connected with
the famous and indisputable apparition of the devil in the Rue des
Bernardins  in the last year of the eighteenth century  The poor devil
had ended by drowning himself in the sewer 

Beneath this long  arched drain which terminated at the Arche Marion 
a perfectly preserved rag picker s basket excited the admiration of all
connoisseurs  Everywhere  the mire  which the sewermen came to handle
with intrepidity  abounded in precious objects  jewels of gold and
silver  precious stones  coins  If a giant had filtered this cesspool 
he would have had the riches of centuries in his lair  At the point
where the two branches of the Rue du Temple and of the Rue Sainte Avoye
separate  they picked up a singular Huguenot medal in copper  bearing on
one side the pig hooded with a cardinal s hat  and on the other  a wolf
with a tiara on his head 

The most surprising rencounter was at the entrance to the Grand Sewer 
This entrance had formerly been closed by a grating of which nothing but
the hinges remained  From one of these hinges hung a dirty and shapeless
rag which  arrested there in its passage  no doubt  had floated there
in the darkness and finished its process of being torn apart  Bruneseau
held his lantern close to this rag and examined it  It was of very fine
batiste  and in one of the corners  less frayed than the rest  they
made out a heraldic coronet and embroidered above these seven letters 
LAVBESP  The crown was the coronet of a Marquis  and the seven letters
signified Laubespine  They recognized the fact  that what they had
before their eyes was a morsel of the shroud of Marat  Marat in his
youth had had amorous intrigues  This was when he was a member of the
household of the Comte d Artois  in the capacity of physician to the
Stables  From these love affairs  historically proved  with a great
lady  he had retained this sheet  As a waif or a souvenir  At his death 
as this was the only linen of any fineness which he had in his house 
they buried him in it  Some old women had shrouded him for the tomb in
that swaddling band in which the tragic Friend of the people had enjoyed
voluptuousness  Bruneseau passed on  They left that rag where it hung 
they did not put the finishing touch to it  Did this arise from scorn
or from respect  Marat deserved both  And then  destiny was there
sufficiently stamped to make them hesitate to touch it  Besides  the
things of the sepulchre must be left in the spot which they select  In
short  the relic was a strange one  A Marquise had slept in it  Marat
had rotted in it  it had traversed the Pantheon to end with the rats
of the sewer  This chamber rag  of which Watteau would formerly have
joyfully sketched every fold  had ended in becoming worthy of the fixed
gaze of Dante 

The whole visit to the subterranean stream of filth of Paris lasted
seven years  from 1805 to 1812  As he proceeded  Bruneseau drew 
directed  and completed considerable works  in 1808 he lowered the arch
of the Ponceau  and  everywhere creating new lines  he pushed the
sewer  in 1809  under the Rue Saint Denis as far as the fountain of
the Innocents  in 1810  under the Rue Froidmanteau and under the
Salpetriere  in 1811 under the Rue Neuve des Petits Peres  under the Rue
du Mail  under the Rue de l Echarpe  under the Place Royale  in 1812 
under the Rue de la Paix  and under the Chaussee d Antin  At the same
time  he had the whole net work disinfected and rendered healthful  In
the second year of his work  Bruneseau engaged the assistance of his
son in law Nargaud 

It was thus that  at the beginning of the century  ancient society
cleansed its double bottom  and performed the toilet of its sewer  There
was that much clean  at all events 

Tortuous  cracked  unpaved  full of fissures  intersected by gullies 
jolted by eccentric elbows  mounting and descending illogically  fetid 
wild  fierce  submerged in obscurity  with cicatrices on its pavements
and scars on its walls  terrible   such was  retrospectively viewed  the
antique sewer of Paris  Ramifications in every direction  crossings 
of trenches  branches  goose feet  stars  as in military mines  coecum 
blind alleys  vaults lined with saltpetre  pestiferous pools  scabby
sweats  on the walls  drops dripping from the ceilings  darkness 
nothing could equal the horror of this old  waste crypt  the digestive
apparatus of Babylon  a cavern  ditch  gulf pierced with streets  a
titanic mole burrow  where the mind seems to behold that enormous blind
mole  the past  prowling through the shadows  in the filth which has
been splendor 

This  we repeat  was the sewer of the past 




CHAPTER V  PRESENT PROGRESS

To day the sewer is clean  cold  straight  correct  It almost realizes
the ideal of what is understood in England by the word  respectable   It
is proper and grayish  laid out by rule and line  one might almost say
as though it came out of a bandbox  It resembles a tradesman who has
become a councillor of state  One can almost see distinctly there  The
mire there comports itself with decency  At first  one might readily
mistake it for one of those subterranean corridors  which were so common
in former days  and so useful in flights of monarchs and princes  in
those good old times   when the people loved their kings   The present
sewer is a beautiful sewer  the pure style reigns there  the classical
rectilinear alexandrine which  driven out of poetry  appears to have
taken refuge in architecture  seems mingled with all the stones of
that long  dark and whitish vault  each outlet is an arcade  the Rue de
Rivoli serves as pattern even in the sewer  However  if the geometrical
line is in place anywhere  it is certainly in the drainage trench of
a great city  There  everything should be subordinated to the shortest
road  The sewer has  nowadays  assumed a certain official aspect  The
very police reports  of which it sometimes forms the subject  no longer
are wanting in respect towards it  The words which characterize it in
administrative language are sonorous and dignified  What used to be
called a gut is now called a gallery  what used to be called a hole is
now called a surveying orifice  Villon would no longer meet with his
ancient temporary provisional lodging  This net work of cellars has its
immemorial population of prowlers  rodents  swarming in greater numbers
than ever  from time to time  an aged and veteran rat risks his head at
the window of the sewer and surveys the Parisians  but even these vermin
grow tame  so satisfied are they with their subterranean palace  The
cesspool no longer retains anything of its primitive ferocity  The rain 
which in former days soiled the sewer  now washes it  Nevertheless  do
not trust yourself too much to it  Miasmas still inhabit it  It is
more hypocritical than irreproachable  The prefecture of police and
the commission of health have done their best  But  in spite of all the
processes of disinfection  it exhales  a vague  suspicious odor like
Tartuffe after confession 

Let us confess  that  taking it all in all  this sweeping is a homage
which the sewer pays to civilization  and as  from this point of view 
Tartuffe s conscience is a progress over the Augean stables  it is
certain that the sewers of Paris have been improved 

It is more than progress  it is transmutation  Between the ancient
and the present sewer there is a revolution  What has effected this
revolution 

The man whom all the world forgets  and whom we have mentioned 
Bruneseau 




CHAPTER VI  FUTURE PROGRESS

The excavation of the sewer of Paris has been no slight task  The last
ten centuries have toiled at it without being able to bring it to a
termination  any more than they have been able to finish Paris  The
sewer  in fact  receives all the counter shocks of the growth of Paris 
Within the bosom of the earth  it is a sort of mysterious polyp with a
thousand antennae  which expands below as the city expands above  Every
time that the city cuts a street  the sewer stretches out an arm  The
old monarchy had constructed only twenty three thousand three hundred
metres of sewers  that was where Paris stood in this respect on the
first of January  1806  Beginning with this epoch  of which we shall
shortly speak  the work was usefully and energetically resumed and
prosecuted  Napoleon built  the figures are curious  four thousand eight
hundred and four metres  Louis XVIII   five thousand seven hundred
and nine  Charles X   ten thousand eight hundred and thirty six 
Louis Philippe  eighty nine thousand and twenty  the Republic of
1848  twenty three thousand three hundred and eighty one  the present
government  seventy thousand five hundred  in all  at the present time 
two hundred and twenty six thousand six hundred and ten metres 
sixty leagues of sewers  the enormous entrails of Paris  An obscure
ramification ever at work  a construction which is immense and ignored 

As the reader sees  the subterranean labyrinth of Paris is to day
more than ten times what it was at the beginning of the century  It is
difficult to form any idea of all the perseverance and the efforts which
have been required to bring this cess pool to the point of relative
perfection in which it now is  It was with great difficulty that the
ancient monarchical provostship and  during the last ten years of
the eighteenth century  the revolutionary mayoralty  had succeeded in
perforating the five leagues of sewer which existed previous to 1806 
All sorts of obstacles hindered this operation  some peculiar to the
soil  others inherent in the very prejudices of the laborious population
of Paris  Paris is built upon a soil which is singularly rebellious to
the pick  the hoe  the bore  and to human manipulation  There is nothing
more difficult to pierce and to penetrate than the geological formation
upon which is superposed the marvellous historical formation called
Paris  as soon as work in any form whatsoever is begun and adventures
upon this stretch of alluvium  subterranean resistances abound  There
are liquid clays  springs  hard rocks  and those soft and deep quagmires
which special science calls moutardes  59  The pick advances laboriously
through the calcareous layers alternating with very slender threads of
clay  and schistose beds in plates incrusted with oyster shells  the
contemporaries of the pre Adamite oceans  Sometimes a rivulet suddenly
bursts through a vault that has been begun  and inundates the laborers 
or a layer of marl is laid bare  and rolls down with the fury of a
cataract  breaking the stoutest supporting beams like glass  Quite
recently  at Villette  when it became necessary to pass the collecting
sewer under the Saint Martin canal without interrupting navigation or
emptying the canal  a fissure appeared in the basin of the canal  water
suddenly became abundant in the subterranean tunnel  which was beyond
the power of the pumping engines  it was necessary to send a diver to
explore the fissure which had been made in the narrow entrance of the
grand basin  and it was not without great difficulty that it was stopped
up  Elsewhere near the Seine  and even at a considerable distance
from the river  as for instance  at Belleville  Grand Rue and Lumiere
Passage  quicksands are encountered in which one sticks fast  and in
which a man sinks visibly  Add suffocation by miasmas  burial by slides 
and sudden crumbling of the earth  Add the typhus  with which the
workmen become slowly impregnated  In our own day  after having
excavated the gallery of Clichy  with a banquette to receive the
principal water conduit of Ourcq  a piece of work which was executed in
a trench ten metres deep  after having  in the midst of land slides  and
with the aid of excavations often putrid  and of shoring up  vaulted
the Bievre from the Boulevard de l Hopital  as far as the Seine  after
having  in order to deliver Paris from the floods of Montmartre and in
order to provide an outlet for that river like pool nine hectares in
extent  which crouched near the Barriere des Martyrs  after having  let
us state  constructed the line of sewers from the Barriere Blanche to
the road of Aubervilliers  in four months  working day and night  at a
depth of eleven metres  after having  a thing heretofore unseen  made a
subterranean sewer in the Rue Barre du Bec  without a trench  six
metres below the surface  the superintendent  Monnot  died  After having
vaulted three thousand metres of sewer in all quarters of the city  from
the Rue Traversiere Saint Antoine to the Rue de l Ourcine  after having
freed the Carrefour Censier Mouffetard from inundations of rain by means
of the branch of the Arbalete  after having built the Saint Georges
sewer  on rock and concrete in the fluid sands  after having directed
the formidable lowering of the flooring of the vault timber in the
Notre Dame de Nazareth branch  Duleau the engineer died  There are no
bulletins for such acts of bravery as these  which are more useful 
nevertheless  than the brutal slaughter of the field of battle 

The sewers of Paris in 1832 were far from being what they are to day 
Bruneseau had given the impulse  but the cholera was required to
bring about the vast reconstruction which took place later on  It is
surprising to say  for example  that in 1821  a part of the belt sewer 
called the Grand Canal  as in Venice  still stood stagnating uncovered
to the sky  in the Rue des Gourdes  It was only in 1821 that the city
of Paris found in its pocket the two hundred and sixty thousand eighty
francs and six centimes required for covering this mass of filth  The
three absorbing wells  of the Combat  the Cunette  and Saint Mande  with
their discharging mouths  their apparatus  their cesspools  and their
depuratory branches  only date from 1836  The intestinal sewer of Paris
has been made over anew  and  as we have said  it has been extended more
than tenfold within the last quarter of a century 

Thirty years ago  at the epoch of the insurrection of the 5th and 6th of
June  it was still  in many localities  nearly the same ancient sewer 
A very great number of streets which are now convex were then sunken
causeways  At the end of a slope  where the tributaries of a street or
cross roads ended  there were often to be seen large  square gratings
with heavy bars  whose iron  polished by the footsteps of the throng 
gleamed dangerous and slippery for vehicles  and caused horses to fall 
The official language of the Roads and Bridges gave to these gratings
the expressive name of Cassis  60 

In 1832  in a number of streets  in the Rue de l Etoile  the Rue
Saint Louis  the Rue du Temple  the Rue Vielle duTemple  the Rue
Notre Dame de Nazareth  the Rue Folie Mericourt  the Quai aux Fleurs 
the Rue du Petit Muse  the Rue du Normandie  the Rue Pont Aux Biches 
the Rue des Marais  the Faubourg Saint Martin  the Rue Notre Dame
des Victoires  the Faubourg Montmartre  the Rue Grange Bateliere  in the
Champs Elysees  the Rue Jacob  the Rue de Tournon  the ancient gothic
sewer still cynically displayed its maw  It consisted of enormous
voids of stone catch basins sometimes surrounded by stone posts  with
monumental effrontery 

Paris in 1806 still had nearly the same sewers numerically as stated in
1663  five thousand three hundred fathoms  After Bruneseau  on the 1st
of January  1832  it had forty thousand three hundred metres  Between
1806 and 1831  there had been built  on an average  seven hundred and
fifty metres annually  afterwards eight and even ten thousand metres of
galleries were constructed every year  in masonry  of small stones  with
hydraulic mortar which hardens under water  on a cement foundation  At
two hundred francs the metre  the sixty leagues of Paris  sewers of the
present day represent forty eight millions 

In addition to the economic progress which we have indicated at the
beginning  grave problems of public hygiene are connected with that
immense question  the sewers of Paris 

Paris is the centre of two sheets  a sheet of water and a sheet of air 
The sheet of water  lying at a tolerably great depth underground  but
already sounded by two bores  is furnished by the layer of green clay
situated between the chalk and the Jurassic lime stone  this layer may
be represented by a disk five and twenty leagues in circumference  a
multitude of rivers and brooks ooze there  one drinks the Seine  the
Marne  the Yonne  the Oise  the Aisne  the Cher  the Vienne and the
Loire in a glass of water from the well of Grenelle  The sheet of water
is healthy  it comes from heaven in the first place and next from the
earth  the sheet of air is unhealthy  it comes from the sewer  All the
miasms of the cess pool are mingled with the breath of the city  hence
this bad breath  The air taken from above a dung heap  as has been
scientifically proved  is purer than the air taken from above Paris  In
a given time  with the aid of progress  mechanisms become perfected  and
as light increases  the sheet of water will be employed to purify the
sheet of air  that is to say  to wash the sewer  The reader knows  that
by  washing the sewer  we mean  the restitution of the filth to the
earth  the return to the soil of dung and of manure to the fields 
Through this simple act  the entire social community will experience a
diminution of misery and an augmentation of health  At the present hour 
the radiation of diseases from Paris extends to fifty leagues around the
Louvre  taken as the hub of this pestilential wheel 

We might say that  for ten centuries  the cess pool has been the disease
of Paris  The sewer is the blemish which Paris has in her blood  The
popular instinct has never been deceived in it  The occupation of
sewermen was formerly almost as perilous  and almost as repugnant to the
people  as the occupation of knacker  which was so long held in horror
and handed over to the executioner  High wages were necessary to induce
a mason to disappear in that fetid mine  the ladder of the cess pool
cleaner hesitated to plunge into it  it was said  in proverbial form 
 to descend into the sewer is to enter the grave   and all sorts of
hideous legends  as we have said  covered this colossal sink with
terror  a dread sink hole which bears the traces of the revolutions
of the globe as of the revolutions of man  and where are to be found
vestiges of all cataclysms from the shells of the Deluge to the rag of
Marat 




BOOK THIRD   MUD BUT THE SOUL




CHAPTER I  THE SEWER AND ITS SURPRISES

It was in the sewers of Paris that Jean Valjean found himself 

Still another resemblance between Paris and the sea  As in the ocean 
the diver may disappear there 

The transition was an unheard of one  In the very heart of the city 
Jean Valjean had escaped from the city  and  in the twinkling of an eye 
in the time required to lift the cover and to replace it  he had passed
from broad daylight to complete obscurity  from midday to midnight  from
tumult to silence  from the whirlwind of thunders to the stagnation of
the tomb  and  by a vicissitude far more tremendous even than that of
the Rue Polonceau  from the most extreme peril to the most absolute
obscurity 

An abrupt fall into a cavern  a disappearance into the secret trap door
of Paris  to quit that street where death was on every side  for that
sort of sepulchre where there was life  was a strange instant  He
remained for several seconds as though bewildered  listening  stupefied 
The waste trap of safety had suddenly yawned beneath him  Celestial
goodness had  in a manner  captured him by treachery  Adorable
ambuscades of providence 

Only  the wounded man did not stir  and Jean Valjean did not know
whether that which he was carrying in that grave was a living being or a
dead corpse 

His first sensation was one of blindness  All of a sudden  he could see
nothing  It seemed to him too  that  in one instant  he had become deaf 
He no longer heard anything  The frantic storm of murder which had been
let loose a few feet above his head did not reach him  thanks to the
thickness of the earth which separated him from it  as we have said 
otherwise than faintly and indistinctly  and like a rumbling  in the
depths  He felt that the ground was solid under his feet  that was all 
but that was enough  He extended one arm and then the other  touched
the walls on both sides  and perceived that the passage was narrow  he
slipped  and thus perceived that the pavement was wet  He cautiously put
forward one foot  fearing a hole  a sink  some gulf  he discovered that
the paving continued  A gust of fetidness informed him of the place in
which he stood 

After the lapse of a few minutes  he was no longer blind  A little light
fell through the man hole through which he had descended  and his eyes
became accustomed to this cavern  He began to distinguish something  The
passage in which he had burrowed  no other word can better express the
situation  was walled in behind him  It was one of those blind alleys 
which the special jargon terms branches  In front of him there was
another wall  a wall like night  The light of the air hole died out ten
or twelve paces from the point where Jean Valjean stood  and barely cast
a wan pallor on a few metres of the damp walls of the sewer  Beyond 
the opaqueness was massive  to penetrate thither seemed horrible  an
entrance into it appeared like an engulfment  A man could  however 
plunge into that wall of fog and it was necessary so to do  Haste was
even requisite  It occurred to Jean Valjean that the grating which he
had caught sight of under the flag stones might also catch the eye of
the soldiery  and that everything hung upon this chance  They also might
descend into that well and search it  There was not a minute to be lost 
He had deposited Marius on the ground  he picked him up again   that is
the real word for it   placed him on his shoulders once more  and set
out  He plunged resolutely into the gloom 

The truth is  that they were less safe than Jean Valjean fancied  Perils
of another sort and no less serious were awaiting them  perchance  After
the lightning charged whirlwind of the combat  the cavern of miasmas and
traps  after chaos  the sewer  Jean Valjean had fallen from one circle
of hell into another 

When he had advanced fifty paces  he was obliged to halt  A problem
presented itself  The passage terminated in another gut which he
encountered across his path  There two ways presented themselves  Which
should he take  Ought he to turn to the left or to the right  How was he
to find his bearings in that black labyrinth  This labyrinth  to which
we have already called the reader s attention  has a clue  which is its
slope  To follow to the slope is to arrive at the river 

This Jean Valjean instantly comprehended 

He said to himself that he was probably in the sewer des Halles  that
if he were to choose the path to the left and follow the slope  he would
arrive  in less than a quarter of an hour  at some mouth on the Seine
between the Pont au Change and the Pont Neuf  that is to say  he would
make his appearance in broad daylight on the most densely peopled spot
in Paris  Perhaps he would come out on some man hole at the intersection
of streets  Amazement of the passers by at beholding two bleeding men
emerge from the earth at their feet  Arrival of the police  a call to
arms of the neighboring post of guards  Thus they would be seized before
they had even got out  It would be better to plunge into that labyrinth 
to confide themselves to that black gloom  and to trust to Providence
for the outcome 

He ascended the incline  and turned to the right 

When he had turned the angle of the gallery  the distant glimmer of an
air hole disappeared  the curtain of obscurity fell upon him once more 
and he became blind again  Nevertheless  he advanced as rapidly as
possible  Marius  two arms were passed round his neck  and the former s
feet dragged behind him  He held both these arms with one hand  and
groped along the wall with the other  Marius  cheek touched his  and
clung there  bleeding  He felt a warm stream which came from Marius
trickling down upon him and making its way under his clothes  But a
humid warmth near his ear  which the mouth of the wounded man touched 
indicated respiration  and consequently  life  The passage along which
Jean Valjean was now proceeding was not so narrow as the first  Jean
Valjean walked through it with considerable difficulty  The rain of the
preceding day had not  as yet  entirely run off  and it created a little
torrent in the centre of the bottom  and he was forced to hug the wall
in order not to have his feet in the water 

Thus he proceeded in the gloom  He resembled the beings of the night
groping in the invisible and lost beneath the earth in veins of shadow 

Still  little by little  whether it was that the distant air holes
emitted a little wavering light in this opaque gloom  or whether his
eyes had become accustomed to the obscurity  some vague vision returned
to him  and he began once more to gain a confused idea  now of the wall
which he touched  now of the vault beneath which he was passing  The
pupil dilates in the dark  and the soul dilates in misfortune and ends
by finding God there 

It was not easy to direct his course 

The line of the sewer re echoes  so to speak  the line of the streets
which lie above it  There were then in Paris two thousand two hundred
streets  Let the reader imagine himself beneath that forest of gloomy
branches which is called the sewer  The system of sewers existing at
that epoch  placed end to end  would have given a length of eleven
leagues  We have said above  that the actual net work  thanks to the
special activity of the last thirty years  was no less than sixty
leagues in extent 

Jean Valjean began by committing a blunder  He thought that he was
beneath the Rue Saint Denis  and it was a pity that it was not so  Under
the Rue Saint Denis there is an old stone sewer which dates from Louis
XIII  and which runs straight to the collecting sewer  called the Grand
Sewer  with but a single elbow  on the right  on the elevation of the
ancient Cour des Miracles  and a single branch  the Saint Martin sewer 
whose four arms describe a cross  But the gut of the Petite Truanderie
the entrance to which was in the vicinity of the Corinthe wine shop has
never communicated with the sewer of the Rue Saint Denis  it ended
at the Montmartre sewer  and it was in this that Jean Valjean was
entangled  There opportunities of losing oneself abound  The Montmartre
sewer is one of the most labyrinthine of the ancient network 
Fortunately  Jean Valjean had left behind him the sewer of the markets
whose geometrical plan presents the appearance of a multitude of
parrots  roosts piled on top of each other  but he had before him more
than one embarrassing encounter and more than one street corner  for
they are streets  presenting itself in the gloom like an interrogation
point  first  on his left  the vast sewer of the Platriere  a sort of
Chinese puzzle  thrusting out and entangling its chaos of Ts and Zs
under the Post Office and under the rotunda of the Wheat Market  as far
as the Seine  where it terminates in a Y  secondly  on his right  the
curving corridor of the Rue du Cadran with its three teeth  which
are also blind courts  thirdly  on his left  the branch of the
Mail  complicated  almost at its inception  with a sort of fork  and
proceeding from zig zag to zig zag until it ends in the grand crypt of
the outlet of the Louvre  truncated and ramified in every direction  and
lastly  the blind alley of a passage of the Rue des Jeuneurs  without
counting little ducts here and there  before reaching the belt sewer 
which alone could conduct him to some issue sufficiently distant to be
safe 

Had Jean Valjean had any idea of all that we have here pointed out  he
would speedily have perceived  merely by feeling the wall  that he was
not in the subterranean gallery of the Rue Saint Denis  Instead of the
ancient stone  instead of the antique architecture  haughty and royal
even in the sewer  with pavement and string courses of granite and
mortar costing eight hundred livres the fathom  he would have felt under
his hand contemporary cheapness  economical expedients  porous stone
filled with mortar on a concrete foundation  which costs two hundred
francs the metre  and the bourgeoise masonry known as a petits
materiaux  small stuff  but of all this he knew nothing 

He advanced with anxiety  but with calmness  seeing nothing  knowing
nothing  buried in chance  that is to say  engulfed in providence 

By degrees  we will admit  a certain horror seized upon him  The gloom
which enveloped him penetrated his spirit  He walked in an enigma  This
aqueduct of the sewer is formidable  it interlaces in a dizzy fashion 
It is a melancholy thing to be caught in this Paris of shadows  Jean
Valjean was obliged to find and even to invent his route without seeing
it  In this unknown  every step that he risked might be his last  How
was he to get out  should he find an issue  should he find it in time 
would that colossal subterranean sponge with its stone cavities  allow
itself to be penetrated and pierced  should he there encounter some
unexpected knot in the darkness  should he arrive at the inextricable
and the impassable  would Marius die there of hemorrhage and he of
hunger  should they end by both getting lost  and by furnishing two
skeletons in a nook of that night  He did not know  He put all these
questions to himself without replying to them  The intestines of Paris
form a precipice  Like the prophet  he was in the belly of the monster 

All at once  he had a surprise  At the most unforeseen moment  and
without having ceased to walk in a straight line  he perceived that he
was no longer ascending  the water of the rivulet was beating against
his heels  instead of meeting him at his toes  The sewer was now
descending  Why  Was he about to arrive suddenly at the Seine  This
danger was a great one  but the peril of retreating was still greater 
He continued to advance 

It was not towards the Seine that he was proceeding  The ridge which
the soil of Paris forms on its right bank empties one of its water sheds
into the Seine and the other into the Grand Sewer  The crest of this
ridge which determines the division of the waters describes a very
capricious line  The culminating point  which is the point of
separation of the currents  is in the Sainte Avoye sewer  beyond the Rue
Michelle Comte  in the sewer of the Louvre  near the boulevards  and
in the Montmartre sewer  near the Halles  It was this culminating point
that Jean Valjean had reached  He was directing his course towards the
belt sewer  he was on the right path  But he did not know it 

Every time that he encountered a branch  he felt of its angles  and if
he found that the opening which presented itself was smaller than the
passage in which he was  he did not enter but continued his route 
rightly judging that every narrower way must needs terminate in a blind
alley  and could only lead him further from his goal  that is to say 
the outlet  Thus he avoided the quadruple trap which was set for him in
the darkness by the four labyrinths which we have just enumerated 

At a certain moment  he perceived that he was emerging from beneath
the Paris which was petrified by the uprising  where the barricades had
suppressed circulation  and that he was entering beneath the living and
normal Paris  Overhead he suddenly heard a noise as of thunder  distant
but continuous  It was the rumbling of vehicles 

He had been walking for about half an hour  at least according to the
calculation which he made in his own mind  and he had not yet thought of
rest  he had merely changed the hand with which he was holding Marius 
The darkness was more profound than ever  but its very depth reassured
him 

All at once  he saw his shadow in front of him  It was outlined on
a faint  almost indistinct reddish glow  which vaguely empurpled the
flooring vault underfoot  and the vault overhead  and gilded to his
right and to his left the two viscous walls of the passage  Stupefied 
he turned round 

Behind him  in the portion of the passage which he had just passed
through  at a distance which appeared to him immense  piercing the dense
obscurity  flamed a sort of horrible star which had the air of surveying
him 

It was the gloomy star of the police which was rising in the sewer 

In the rear of that star eight or ten forms were moving about in a
confused way  black  upright  indistinct  horrible 




CHAPTER II  EXPLANATION

On the day of the sixth of June  a battue of the sewers had been
ordered  It was feared that the vanquished might have taken to them for
refuge  and Prefect Gisquet was to search occult Paris while General
Bugeaud swept public Paris  a double and connected operation which
exacted a double strategy on the part of the public force  represented
above by the army and below by the police  Three squads of agents and
sewermen explored the subterranean drain of Paris  the first on the
right bank  the second on the left bank  the third in the city  The
agents of police were armed with carabines  with bludgeons  swords and
poignards 

That which was directed at Jean Valjean at that moment  was the lantern
of the patrol of the right bank 

This patrol had just visited the curving gallery and the three blind
alleys which lie beneath the Rue du Cadran  While they were passing
their lantern through the depths of these blind alleys  Jean Valjean had
encountered on his path the entrance to the gallery  had perceived
that it was narrower than the principal passage and had not penetrated
thither  He had passed on  The police  on emerging from the gallery
du Cadran  had fancied that they heard the sound of footsteps in the
direction of the belt sewer  They were  in fact  the steps of Jean
Valjean  The sergeant in command of the patrol had raised his lantern 
and the squad had begun to gaze into the mist in the direction whence
the sound proceeded 

This was an indescribable moment for Jean Valjean 

Happily  if he saw the lantern well  the lantern saw him but ill  It
was light and he was shadow  He was very far off  and mingled with the
darkness of the place  He hugged the wall and halted  Moreover  he did
not understand what it was that was moving behind him  The lack of sleep
and food  and his emotions had caused him also to pass into the state of
a visionary  He beheld a gleam  and around that gleam  forms  What was
it  He did not comprehend 

Jean Valjean having paused  the sound ceased 

The men of the patrol listened  and heard nothing  they looked and saw
nothing  They held a consultation 

There existed at that epoch at this point of the Montmartre sewer a sort
of cross roads called de service  which was afterwards suppressed  on
account of the little interior lake which formed there  swallowing up
the torrent of rain in heavy storms  The patrol could form a cluster in
this open space  Jean Valjean saw these spectres form a sort of circle 
These bull dogs  heads approached each other closely and whispered
together 

The result of this council held by the watch dogs was  that they had
been mistaken  that there had been no noise  that it was useless to get
entangled in the belt sewer  that it would only be a waste of time 
but that they ought to hasten towards Saint Merry  that if there
was anything to do  and any  bousingot  to track out  it was in that
quarter 

From time to time  parties re sole their old insults  In 1832  the word
bousingot formed the interim between the word jacobin  which had become
obsolete  and the word demagogue which has since rendered such excellent
service 

The sergeant gave orders to turn to the left  towards the watershed of
the Seine 

If it had occurred to them to separate into two squads  and to go in
both directions  Jean Valjean would have been captured  All hung on
that thread  It is probable that the instructions of the prefecture 
foreseeing a possibility of combat and insurgents in force  had
forbidden the patrol to part company  The patrol resumed its march 
leaving Jean Valjean behind it  Of all this movement  Jean Valjean
perceived nothing  except the eclipse of the lantern which suddenly
wheeled round 

Before taking his departure  the Sergeant  in order to acquit his
policeman s conscience  discharged his gun in the direction of Jean
Valjean  The detonation rolled from echo to echo in the crypt  like the
rumbling of that titanic entrail  A bit of plaster which fell into the
stream and splashed up the water a few paces away from Jean Valjean 
warned him that the ball had struck the arch over his head 

Slow and measured steps resounded for some time on the timber work 
gradually dying away as they retreated to a greater distance  the group
of black forms vanished  a glimmer of light oscillated and floated 
communicating to the vault a reddish glow which grew fainter  then
disappeared  the silence became profound once more  the obscurity became
complete  blindness and deafness resumed possession of the shadows 
and Jean Valjean  not daring to stir as yet  remained for a long time
leaning with his back against the wall  with straining ears  and dilated
pupils  watching the disappearance of that phantom patrol 




CHAPTER III  THE  SPUN  MAN

This justice must be rendered to the police of that period  that even in
the most serious public junctures  it imperturbably fulfilled its duties
connected with the sewers and surveillance  A revolt was  in its eyes 
no pretext for allowing malefactors to take the bit in their own mouths 
and for neglecting society for the reason that the government was in
peril  The ordinary service was performed correctly in company with the
extraordinary service  and was not troubled by the latter  In the midst
of an incalculable political event already begun  under the pressure of
a possible revolution  a police agent   spun  a thief without allowing
himself to be distracted by insurrection and barricades 

It was something precisely parallel which took place on the afternoon
of the 6th of June on the banks of the Seine  on the slope of the right
shore  a little beyond the Pont des Invalides 

There is no longer any bank there now  The aspect of the locality has
changed 

On that bank  two men  separated by a certain distance  seemed to be
watching each other while mutually avoiding each other  The one who was
in advance was trying to get away  the one in the rear was trying to
overtake the other 

It was like a game of checkers played at a distance and in silence 
Neither seemed to be in any hurry  and both walked slowly  as though
each of them feared by too much haste to make his partner redouble his
pace 

One would have said that it was an appetite following its prey  and
purposely without wearing the air of doing so  The prey was crafty and
on its guard 

The proper relations between the hunted pole cat and the hunting dog
were observed  The one who was seeking to escape had an insignificant
mien and not an impressive appearance  the one who was seeking to seize
him was rude of aspect  and must have been rude to encounter 

The first  conscious that he was the more feeble  avoided the second 
but he avoided him in a manner which was deeply furious  any one who
could have observed him would have discerned in his eyes the sombre
hostility of flight  and all the menace that fear contains 

The shore was deserted  there were no passers by  not even a boatman nor
a lighter man was in the skiffs which were moored here and there 

It was not easy to see these two men  except from the quay opposite  and
to any person who had scrutinized them at that distance  the man who was
in advance would have appeared like a bristling  tattered  and equivocal
being  who was uneasy and trembling beneath a ragged blouse  and the
other like a classic and official personage  wearing the frock coat of
authority buttoned to the chin 

Perchance the reader might recognize these two men  if he were to see
them closer at hand 

What was the object of the second man 

Probably to succeed in clothing the first more warmly 

When a man clothed by the state pursues a man in rags  it is in order
to make of him a man who is also clothed by the state  Only  the whole
question lies in the color  To be dressed in blue is glorious  to be
dressed in red is disagreeable 

There is a purple from below 

It is probably some unpleasantness and some purple of this sort which
the first man is desirous of shirking 

If the other allowed him to walk on  and had not seized him as yet  it
was  judging from all appearances  in the hope of seeing him lead up to
some significant meeting place and to some group worth catching  This
delicate operation is called  spinning  

What renders this conjecture entirely probable is that the buttoned up
man  on catching sight from the shore of a hackney coach on the quay
as it was passing along empty  made a sign to the driver  the driver
understood  evidently recognized the person with whom he had to deal 
turned about and began to follow the two men at the top of the quay 
at a foot pace  This was not observed by the slouching and tattered
personage who was in advance 

The hackney coach rolled along the trees of the Champs Elysees  The
bust of the driver  whip in hand  could be seen moving along above the
parapet 

One of the secret instructions of the police authorities to their agents
contains this article   Always have on hand a hackney coach  in case of
emergency  

While these two men were manoeuvring  each on his own side  with
irreproachable strategy  they approached an inclined plane on the quay
which descended to the shore  and which permitted cab drivers arriving
from Passy to come to the river and water their horses  This inclined
plane was suppressed later on  for the sake of symmetry  horses may die
of thirst  but the eye is gratified 

It is probable that the man in the blouse had intended to ascend
this inclined plane  with a view to making his escape into the
Champs Elysees  a place ornamented with trees  but  in return  much
infested with policemen  and where the other could easily exercise
violence 

This point on the quay is not very far distant from the house brought to
Paris from Moret in 1824  by Colonel Brack  and designated as  the house
of Francois I   A guard house is situated close at hand 

To the great surprise of his watcher  the man who was being tracked did
not mount by the inclined plane for watering  He continued to advance
along the quay on the shore 

His position was visibly becoming critical 

What was he intending to do  if not to throw himself into the Seine 

Henceforth  there existed no means of ascending to the quay  there was
no other inclined plane  no staircase  and they were near the spot 
marked by the bend in the Seine towards the Pont de Jena  where the
bank  growing constantly narrower  ended in a slender tongue  and
was lost in the water  There he would inevitably find himself blocked
between the perpendicular wall on his right  the river on his left and
in front of him  and the authorities on his heels 

It is true that this termination of the shore was hidden from sight by a
heap of rubbish six or seven feet in height  produced by some demolition
or other  But did this man hope to conceal himself effectually behind
that heap of rubbish  which one need but skirt  The expedient would
have been puerile  He certainly was not dreaming of such a thing  The
innocence of thieves does not extend to that point 

The pile of rubbish formed a sort of projection at the water s edge 
which was prolonged in a promontory as far as the wall of the quay 

The man who was being followed arrived at this little mound and went
round it  so that he ceased to be seen by the other 

The latter  as he did not see  could not be seen  he took advantage of
this fact to abandon all dissimulation and to walk very rapidly  In a
few moments  he had reached the rubbish heap and passed round it  There
he halted in sheer amazement  The man whom he had been pursuing was no
longer there 

Total eclipse of the man in the blouse 

The shore  beginning with the rubbish heap  was only about thirty paces
long  then it plunged into the water which beat against the wall of the
quay  The fugitive could not have thrown himself into the Seine without
being seen by the man who was following him  What had become of him 

The man in the buttoned up coat walked to the extremity of the shore 
and remained there in thought for a moment  his fists clenched  his eyes
searching  All at once he smote his brow  He had just perceived  at the
point where the land came to an end and the water began  a large iron
grating  low  arched  garnished with a heavy lock and with three massive
hinges  This grating  a sort of door pierced at the base of the quay 
opened on the river as well as on the shore  A blackish stream passed
under it  This stream discharged into the Seine 

Beyond the heavy  rusty iron bars  a sort of dark and vaulted corridor
could be descried  The man folded his arms and stared at the grating
with an air of reproach 

As this gaze did not suffice  he tried to thrust it aside  he shook
it  it resisted solidly  It is probable that it had just been opened 
although no sound had been heard  a singular circumstance in so rusty a
grating  but it is certain that it had been closed again  This indicated
that the man before whom that door had just opened had not a hook but a
key 

This evidence suddenly burst upon the mind of the man who was trying to
move the grating  and evoked from him this indignant ejaculation 

 That is too much  A government key  

Then  immediately regaining his composure  he expressed a whole world
of interior ideas by this outburst of monosyllables accented almost
ironically   Come  Come  Come  Come  

That said  and in the hope of something or other  either that he should
see the man emerge or other men enter  he posted himself on the watch
behind a heap of rubbish  with the patient rage of a pointer 

The hackney coach  which regulated all its movements on his  had  in its
turn  halted on the quay above him  close to the parapet  The coachman 
foreseeing a prolonged wait  encased his horses  muzzles in the bag of
oats which is damp at the bottom  and which is so familiar to Parisians 
to whom  be it said in parenthesis  the Government sometimes applies it 
The rare passers by on the Pont de Jena turned their heads  before they
pursued their way  to take a momentary glance at these two motionless
items in the landscape  the man on the shore  the carriage on the quay 




CHAPTER IV  HE ALSO BEARS HIS CROSS

Jean Valjean had resumed his march and had not again paused 

This march became more and more laborious  The level of these vaults
varies  the average height is about five feet  six inches  and has been
calculated for the stature of a man  Jean Valjean was forced to bend
over  in order not to strike Marius against the vault  at every step
he had to bend  then to rise  and to feel incessantly of the wall  The
moisture of the stones  and the viscous nature of the timber framework
furnished but poor supports to which to cling  either for hand or foot 
He stumbled along in the hideous dung heap of the city  The intermittent
gleams from the air holes only appeared at very long intervals  and were
so wan that the full sunlight seemed like the light of the moon  all
the rest was mist  miasma  opaqueness  blackness  Jean Valjean was both
hungry and thirsty  especially thirsty  and this  like the sea  was a
place full of water where a man cannot drink  His strength  which was
prodigious  as the reader knows  and which had been but little decreased
by age  thanks to his chaste and sober life  began to give way 
nevertheless  Fatigue began to gain on him  and as his strength
decreased  it made the weight of his burden increase  Marius  who was 
perhaps  dead  weighed him down as inert bodies weigh  Jean Valjean
held him in such a manner that his chest was not oppressed  and so that
respiration could proceed as well as possible  Between his legs he felt
the rapid gliding of the rats  One of them was frightened to such a
degree that he bit him  From time to time  a breath of fresh air reached
him through the vent holes of the mouths of the sewer  and re animated
him 

It might have been three hours past midday when he reached the
belt sewer 

He was  at first  astonished at this sudden widening  He found himself 
all at once  in a gallery where his outstretched hands could not reach
the two walls  and beneath a vault which his head did not touch  The
Grand Sewer is  in fact  eight feet wide and seven feet high 

At the point where the Montmartre sewer joins the Grand Sewer  two other
subterranean galleries  that of the Rue de Provence  and that of the
Abattoir  form a square  Between these four ways  a less sagacious man
would have remained undecided  Jean Valjean selected the broadest  that
is to say  the belt sewer  But here the question again came up  should
he descend or ascend  He thought that the situation required haste  and
that he must now gain the Seine at any risk  In other terms  he must
descend  He turned to the left 

It was well that he did so  for it is an error to suppose that the
belt sewer has two outlets  the one in the direction of Bercy  the other
towards Passy  and that it is  as its name indicates  the subterranean
girdle of the Paris on the right bank  The Grand Sewer  which is  it
must be remembered  nothing else than the old brook of Menilmontant 
terminates  if one ascends it  in a blind sack  that is to say  at its
ancient point of departure which was its source  at the foot of the
knoll of Menilmontant  There is no direct communication with the
branch which collects the waters of Paris beginning with the Quartier
Popincourt  and which falls into the Seine through the Amelot sewer
above the ancient Isle Louviers  This branch  which completes the
collecting sewer  is separated from it  under the Rue Menilmontant
itself  by a pile which marks the dividing point of the waters  between
upstream and downstream  If Jean Valjean had ascended the gallery he
would have arrived  after a thousand efforts  and broken down with
fatigue  and in an expiring condition  in the gloom  at a wall  He would
have been lost 

In case of necessity  by retracing his steps a little way  and entering
the passage of the Filles du Calvaire  on condition that he did not
hesitate at the subterranean crossing of the Carrefour Boucherat  and by
taking the corridor Saint Louis  then the Saint Gilles gut on the left 
then turning to the right and avoiding the Saint Sebastian gallery  he
might have reached the Amelot sewer  and thence  provided that he did
not go astray in the sort of F which lies under the Bastille  he might
have attained the outlet on the Seine near the Arsenal  But in order
to do this  he must have been thoroughly familiar with the enormous
madrepore of the sewer in all its ramifications and in all its openings 
Now  we must again insist that he knew nothing of that frightful drain
which he was traversing  and had any one asked him in what he was  he
would have answered   In the night  

His instinct served him well  To descend was  in fact  possible safety 

He left on his right the two narrow passages which branch out in the
form of a claw under the Rue Laffitte and the Rue Saint Georges and the
long  bifurcated corridor of the Chaussee d Antin 

A little beyond an affluent  which was  probably  the Madeleine branch 
he halted  He was extremely weary  A passably large air hole  probably
the man hole in the Rue d Anjou  furnished a light that was almost
vivid  Jean Valjean  with the gentleness of movement which a brother
would exercise towards his wounded brother  deposited Marius on the
banquette of the sewer  Marius  blood stained face appeared under the
wan light of the air hole like the ashes at the bottom of a tomb  His
eyes were closed  his hair was plastered down on his temples like a
painter s brushes dried in red wash  his hands hung limp and dead  A
clot of blood had collected in the knot of his cravat  his limbs were
cold  and blood was clotted at the corners of his mouth  his shirt had
thrust itself into his wounds  the cloth of his coat was chafing the
yawning gashes in the living flesh  Jean Valjean  pushing aside the
garments with the tips of his fingers  laid his hand upon Marius 
breast  his heart was still beating  Jean Valjean tore up his shirt 
bandaged the young man s wounds as well as he was able and stopped the
flowing blood  then bending over Marius  who still lay unconscious
and almost without breathing  in that half light  he gazed at him with
inexpressible hatred 

On disarranging Marius  garments  he had found two things in his
pockets  the roll which had been forgotten there on the preceding
evening  and Marius  pocketbook  He ate the roll and opened the
pocketbook  On the first page he found the four lines written by Marius 
The reader will recall them 

 My name is Marius Pontmercy  Carry my body to my grandfather  M 
Gillenormand  Rue des Filles du Calvaire  No  6  in the Marais  

Jean Valjean read these four lines by the light of the air hole  and
remained for a moment as though absorbed in thought  repeating in a low
tone   Rue des Filles du Calvaire  number 6  Monsieur Gillenormand   He
replaced the pocketbook in Marius  pocket  He had eaten  his strength
had returned to him  he took Marius up once more upon his back  placed
the latter s head carefully on his right shoulder  and resumed his
descent of the sewer 

The Grand Sewer  directed according to the course of the valley of
Menilmontant  is about two leagues long  It is paved throughout a
notable portion of its extent 

This torch of the names of the streets of Paris  with which we are
illuminating for the reader Jean Valjean s subterranean march  Jean
Valjean himself did not possess  Nothing told him what zone of the city
he was traversing  nor what way he had made  Only the growing pallor of
the pools of light which he encountered from time to time indicated to
him that the sun was withdrawing from the pavement  and that the day
would soon be over  and the rolling of vehicles overhead  having become
intermittent instead of continuous  then having almost ceased  he
concluded that he was no longer under central Paris  and that he
was approaching some solitary region  in the vicinity of the outer
boulevards  or the extreme outer quays  Where there are fewer houses and
streets  the sewer has fewer air holes  The gloom deepened around Jean
Valjean  Nevertheless  he continued to advance  groping his way in the
dark 

Suddenly this darkness became terrible 




CHAPTER V  IN THE CASE OF SAND AS IN THAT OF WOMAN  THERE IS A FINENESS
WHICH IS TREACHEROUS

He felt that he was entering the water  and that he no longer had a
pavement under his feet  but only mud 

It sometimes happens  that on certain shores of Bretagne or Scotland a
man  either a traveller or a fisherman  while walking at low tide on the
beach far from shore  suddenly notices that for several minutes past 
he has been walking with some difficulty  The beach under foot is
like pitch  his soles stick fast to it  it is no longer sand  it is
bird lime  The strand is perfectly dry  but at every step that he takes 
as soon as the foot is raised  the print is filled with water  The
eye  however  has perceived no change  the immense beach is smooth and
tranquil  all the sand has the same aspect  nothing distinguishes the
soil that is solid from that which is not solid  the joyous little
cloud of sand lice continues to leap tumultuously under the feet of the
passer by 

The man pursues his way  he walks on  turns towards the land  endeavors
to approach the shore  He is not uneasy  Uneasy about what  Only he is
conscious that the heaviness of his feet seems to be increasing at every
step that he takes  All at once he sinks in  He sinks in two or three
inches  Decidedly  he is not on the right road  he halts to get his
bearings  Suddenly he glances at his feet  his feet have disappeared 
The sand has covered them  He draws his feet out of the sand  he tries
to retrace his steps  he turns back  he sinks in more deeply than
before  The sand is up to his ankles  he tears himself free from it
and flings himself to the left  the sand reaches to mid leg  he flings
himself to the right  the sand comes up to his knees  Then  with
indescribable terror  he recognizes the fact that he is caught in a
quicksand  and that he has beneath him that frightful medium in which
neither man can walk nor fish can swim  He flings away his burden  if he
have one  he lightens himself  like a ship in distress  it is too late 
the sand is above his knees 

He shouts  he waves his hat  or his handkerchief  the sand continually
gains on him  if the beach is deserted  if the land is too far away  if
the bank of sand is too ill famed  there is no hero in the neighborhood 
all is over  he is condemned to be engulfed  He is condemned to that
terrible interment  long  infallible  implacable  which it is impossible
to either retard or hasten  which lasts for hours  which will not come
to an end  which seizes you erect  free  in the flush of health  which
drags you down by the feet  which  at every effort that you attempt  at
every shout that you utter  draws you a little lower  which has the air
of punishing you for your resistance by a redoubled grasp  which forces
a man to return slowly to earth  while leaving him time to survey the
horizon  the trees  the verdant country  the smoke of the villages on
the plain  the sails of the ships on the sea  the birds which fly
and sing  the sun and the sky  This engulfment is the sepulchre which
assumes a tide  and which mounts from the depths of the earth towards
a living man  Each minute is an inexorable layer out of the dead  The
wretched man tries to sit down  to lie down  to climb  every movement
that he makes buries him deeper  he straightens himself up  he sinks  he
feels that he is being swallowed up  he shrieks  implores  cries to the
clouds  wrings his hands  grows desperate  Behold him in the sand up
to his belly  the sand reaches to his breast  he is only a bust now 
He uplifts his hands  utters furious groans  clenches his nails on the
beach  tries to cling fast to that ashes  supports himself on his elbows
in order to raise himself from that soft sheath  and sobs frantically 
the sand mounts higher  The sand has reached his shoulders  the sand
reaches to his throat  only his face is visible now  His mouth cries
aloud  the sand fills it  silence  His eyes still gaze forth  the sand
closes them  night  Then his brow decreases  a little hair quivers above
the sand  a hand projects  pierces the surface of the beach  waves and
disappears  Sinister obliteration of a man 

Sometimes a rider is engulfed with his horse  sometimes the carter is
swallowed up with his cart  all founders in that strand  It is shipwreck
elsewhere than in the water  It is the earth drowning a man  The earth 
permeated with the ocean  becomes a pitfall  It presents itself in the
guise of a plain  and it yawns like a wave  The abyss is subject to
these treacheries 

This melancholy fate  always possible on certain sea beaches  was also
possible  thirty years ago  in the sewers of Paris 

Before the important works  undertaken in 1833  the subterranean drain
of Paris was subject to these sudden slides 

The water filtered into certain subjacent strata  which were
particularly friable  the foot way  which was of flag stones  as in
the ancient sewers  or of cement on concrete  as in the new galleries 
having no longer an underpinning  gave way  A fold in a flooring of this
sort means a crack  means crumbling  The framework crumbled away for a
certain length  This crevice  the hiatus of a gulf of mire  was called a
fontis  in the special tongue  What is a fontis  It is the quicksands of
the seashore suddenly encountered under the surface of the earth  it is
the beach of Mont Saint Michel in a sewer  The soaked soil is in a
state of fusion  as it were  all its molecules are in suspension in soft
medium  it is not earth and it is not water  The depth is sometimes very
great  Nothing can be more formidable than such an encounter  If the
water predominates  death is prompt  the man is swallowed up  if earth
predominates  death is slow 

Can any one picture to himself such a death  If being swallowed by the
earth is terrible on the seashore  what is it in a cess pool  Instead of
the open air  the broad daylight  the clear horizon  those vast sounds 
those free clouds whence rains life  instead of those barks descried
in the distance  of that hope under all sorts of forms  of probable
passers by  of succor possible up to the very last moment   instead
of all this  deafness  blindness  a black vault  the inside of a tomb
already prepared  death in the mire beneath a cover  slow suffocation
by filth  a stone box where asphyxia opens its claw in the mire and
clutches you by the throat  fetidness mingled with the death rattle 
slime instead of the strand  sulfuretted hydrogen in place of the
hurricane  dung in place of the ocean  And to shout  to gnash one s
teeth  and to writhe  and to struggle  and to agonize  with that
enormous city which knows nothing of it all  over one s head 

Inexpressible is the horror of dying thus  Death sometimes redeems
his atrocity by a certain terrible dignity  On the funeral pile  in
shipwreck  one can be great  in the flames as in the foam  a superb
attitude is possible  one there becomes transfigured as one perishes 
But not here  Death is filthy  It is humiliating to expire  The supreme
floating visions are abject  Mud is synonymous with shame  It is
petty  ugly  infamous  To die in a butt of Malvoisie  like Clarence  is
permissible  in the ditch of a scavenger  like Escoubleau  is horrible 
To struggle therein is hideous  at the same time that one is going
through the death agony  one is floundering about  There are shadows
enough for hell  and mire enough to render it nothing but a slough  and
the dying man knows not whether he is on the point of becoming a spectre
or a frog 

Everywhere else the sepulchre is sinister  here it is deformed 

The depth of the fontis varied  as well as their length and their
density  according to the more or less bad quality of the sub soil 
Sometimes a fontis was three or four feet deep  sometimes eight or ten 
sometimes the bottom was unfathomable  Here the mire was almost solid 
there almost liquid  In the Luniere fontis  it would have taken a man a
day to disappear  while he would have been devoured in five minutes by
the Philippeaux slough  The mire bears up more or less  according to its
density  A child can escape where a man will perish  The first law of
safety is to get rid of every sort of load  Every sewerman who felt the
ground giving way beneath him began by flinging away his sack of tools 
or his back basket  or his hod 

The fontis were due to different causes  the friability of the soil 
some landslip at a depth beyond the reach of man  the violent summer
rains  the incessant flooding of winter  long  drizzling showers 
Sometimes the weight of the surrounding houses on a marly or sandy soil
forced out the vaults of the subterranean galleries and caused them to
bend aside  or it chanced that a flooring vault burst and split under
this crushing thrust  In this manner  the heaping up of the Parthenon 
obliterated  a century ago  a portion of the vaults of Saint Genevieve
hill  When a sewer was broken in under the pressure of the houses  the
mischief was sometimes betrayed in the street above by a sort of space 
like the teeth of a saw  between the paving stones  this crevice was
developed in an undulating line throughout the entire length of the
cracked vault  and then  the evil being visible  the remedy could be
promptly applied  It also frequently happened  that the interior ravages
were not revealed by any external scar  and in that case  woe to the
sewermen  When they entered without precaution into the sewer  they were
liable to be lost  Ancient registers make mention of several scavengers
who were buried in fontis in this manner  They give many names  among
others  that of the sewerman who was swallowed up in a quagmire under
the man hole of the Rue Careme Prenant  a certain Blaise Poutrain  this
Blaise Poutrain was the brother of Nicholas Poutrain  who was the last
grave digger of the cemetery called the Charnier des Innocents  in 1785 
the epoch when that cemetery expired 

There was also that young and charming Vicomte d Escoubleau  of whom we
have just spoken  one of the heroes of the siege of Lerida  where they
delivered the assault in silk stockings  with violins at their head 
D Escoubleau  surprised one night at his cousin s  the Duchess de
Sourdis   was drowned in a quagmire of the Beautreillis sewer  in which
he had taken refuge in order to escape from the Duke  Madame de Sourdis 
when informed of his death  demanded her smelling bottle  and forgot to
weep  through sniffling at her salts  In such cases  there is no love
which holds fast  the sewer extinguishes it  Hero refuses to wash the
body of Leander  Thisbe stops her nose in the presence of Pyramus and
says   Phew  




CHAPTER VI  THE FONTIS

Jean Valjean found himself in the presence of a fontis 

This sort of quagmire was common at that period in the subsoil of the
Champs Elysees  difficult to handle in the hydraulic works and a bad
preservative of the subterranean constructions  on account of its
excessive fluidity  This fluidity exceeds even the inconsistency of the
sands of the Quartier Saint Georges  which could only be conquered by
a stone construction on a concrete foundation  and the clayey strata 
infected with gas  of the Quartier des Martyrs  which are so liquid
that the only way in which a passage was effected under the gallery des
Martyrs was by means of a cast iron pipe  When  in 1836  the old stone
sewer beneath the Faubourg Saint Honore  in which we now see Jean
Valjean  was demolished for the purpose of reconstructing it  the
quicksand  which forms the subsoil of the Champs Elysees as far as the
Seine  presented such an obstacle  that the operation lasted nearly
six months  to the great clamor of the dwellers on the riverside 
particularly those who had hotels and carriages  The work was more than
unhealthy  it was dangerous  It is true that they had four months and a
half of rain  and three floods of the Seine 

The fontis which Jean Valjean had encountered was caused by the downpour
of the preceding day  The pavement  badly sustained by the subjacent
sand  had given way and had produced a stoppage of the water 
Infiltration had taken place  a slip had followed  The dislocated bottom
had sunk into the ooze  To what extent  Impossible to say  The obscurity
was more dense there than elsewhere  It was a pit of mire in a cavern of
night 

Jean Valjean felt the pavement vanishing beneath his feet  He entered
this slime  There was water on the surface  slime at the bottom  He must
pass it  To retrace his steps was impossible  Marius was dying  and Jean
Valjean exhausted  Besides  where was he to go  Jean Valjean advanced 
Moreover  the pit seemed  for the first few steps  not to be very deep 
But in proportion as he advanced  his feet plunged deeper  Soon he had
the slime up to his calves and water above his knees  He walked on 
raising Marius in his arms  as far above the water as he could  The mire
now reached to his knees  and the water to his waist  He could no longer
retreat  This mud  dense enough for one man  could not  obviously 
uphold two  Marius and Jean Valjean would have stood a chance of
extricating themselves singly  Jean Valjean continued to advance 
supporting the dying man  who was  perhaps  a corpse 

The water came up to his arm pits  he felt that he was sinking  it was
only with difficulty that he could move in the depth of ooze which
he had now reached  The density  which was his support  was also
an obstacle  He still held Marius on high  and with an unheard of
expenditure of force  he advanced still  but he was sinking  He had only
his head above the water now and his two arms holding up Marius  In the
old paintings of the deluge there is a mother holding her child thus 

He sank still deeper  he turned his face to the rear  to escape the
water  and in order that he might be able to breathe  anyone who had
seen him in that gloom would have thought that what he beheld was a
mask floating on the shadows  he caught a faint glimpse above him of the
drooping head and livid face of Marius  he made a desperate effort and
launched his foot forward  his foot struck something solid  a point of
support  It was high time 

He straightened himself up  and rooted himself upon that point of
support with a sort of fury  This produced upon him the effect of the
first step in a staircase leading back to life 

The point of support  thus encountered in the mire at the supreme
moment  was the beginning of the other water shed of the pavement  which
had bent but had not given way  and which had curved under the water
like a plank and in a single piece  Well built pavements form a vault
and possess this sort of firmness  This fragment of the vaulting  partly
submerged  but solid  was a veritable inclined plane  and  once on this
plane  he was safe  Jean Valjean mounted this inclined plane and reached
the other side of the quagmire 

As he emerged from the water  he came in contact with a stone and fell
upon his knees  He reflected that this was but just  and he remained
there for some time  with his soul absorbed in words addressed to God 

He rose to his feet  shivering  chilled  foul smelling  bowed beneath
the dying man whom he was dragging after him  all dripping with slime 
and his soul filled with a strange light 




CHAPTER VII  ONE SOMETIMES RUNS AGROUND WHEN ONE FANCIES THAT ONE IS
DISEMBARKING

He set out on his way once more 

However  although he had not left his life in the fontis  he seemed
to have left his strength behind him there  That supreme effort had
exhausted him  His lassitude was now such that he was obliged to pause
for breath every three or four steps  and lean against the wall  Once
he was forced to seat himself on the banquette in order to alter Marius 
position  and he thought that he should have to remain there  But if his
vigor was dead  his energy was not  He rose again 

He walked on desperately  almost fast  proceeded thus for a hundred
paces  almost without drawing breath  and suddenly came in contact with
the wall  He had reached an elbow of the sewer  and  arriving at the
turn with head bent down  he had struck the wall  He raised his eyes 
and at the extremity of the vault  far  very far away in front of him 
he perceived a light  This time it was not that terrible light  it was
good  white light  It was daylight  Jean Valjean saw the outlet 

A damned soul  who  in the midst of the furnace  should suddenly
perceive the outlet of Gehenna  would experience what Jean Valjean felt 
It would fly wildly with the stumps of its burned wings towards that
radiant portal  Jean Valjean was no longer conscious of fatigue  he no
longer felt Marius  weight  he found his legs once more of steel  he ran
rather than walked  As he approached  the outlet became more and more
distinctly defined  It was a pointed arch  lower than the vault  which
gradually narrowed  and narrower than the gallery  which closed in as
the vault grew lower  The tunnel ended like the interior of a funnel 
a faulty construction  imitated from the wickets of penitentiaries 
logical in a prison  illogical in a sewer  and which has since been
corrected 

Jean Valjean reached the outlet 

There he halted 

It certainly was the outlet  but he could not get out 

The arch was closed by a heavy grating  and the grating  which  to all
appearance  rarely swung on its rusty hinges  was clamped to its stone
jamb by a thick lock  which  red with rust  seemed like an enormous
brick  The keyhole could be seen  and the robust latch  deeply sunk in
the iron staple  The door was plainly double locked  It was one of those
prison locks which old Paris was so fond of lavishing 

Beyond the grating was the open air  the river  the daylight  the shore 
very narrow but sufficient for escape  The distant quays  Paris  that
gulf in which one so easily hides oneself  the broad horizon  liberty 
On the right  down stream  the bridge of Jena was discernible  on the
left  upstream  the bridge of the Invalides  the place would have been a
propitious one in which to await the night and to escape  It was one
of the most solitary points in Paris  the shore which faces the
Grand Caillou  Flies were entering and emerging through the bars of the
grating 

It might have been half past eight o clock in the evening  The day was
declining 

Jean Valjean laid Marius down along the wall  on the dry portion of the
vaulting  then he went to the grating and clenched both fists round the
bars  the shock which he gave it was frenzied  but it did not move  The
grating did not stir  Jean Valjean seized the bars one after the other 
in the hope that he might be able to tear away the least solid  and to
make of it a lever wherewith to raise the door or to break the lock  Not
a bar stirred  The teeth of a tiger are not more firmly fixed in their
sockets  No lever  no prying possible  The obstacle was invincible 
There was no means of opening the gate 

Must he then stop there  What was he to do  What was to become of him 
He had not the strength to retrace his steps  to recommence the journey
which he had already taken  Besides  how was he to again traverse that
quagmire whence he had only extricated himself as by a miracle  And
after the quagmire  was there not the police patrol  which assuredly
could not be twice avoided  And then  whither was he to go  What
direction should he pursue  To follow the incline would not conduct
him to his goal  If he were to reach another outlet  he would find it
obstructed by a plug or a grating  Every outlet was  undoubtedly  closed
in that manner  Chance had unsealed the grating through which he had
entered  but it was evident that all the other sewer mouths were barred 
He had only succeeded in escaping into a prison 

All was over  Everything that Jean Valjean had done was useless 
Exhaustion had ended in failure 

They were both caught in the immense and gloomy web of death  and Jean
Valjean felt the terrible spider running along those black strands and
quivering in the shadows  He turned his back to the grating  and fell
upon the pavement  hurled to earth rather than seated  close to Marius 
who still made no movement  and with his head bent between his knees 
This was the last drop of anguish 

Of what was he thinking during this profound depression  Neither of
himself nor of Marius  He was thinking of Cosette 




CHAPTER VIII  THE TORN COAT TAIL

In the midst of this prostration  a hand was laid on his shoulder  and a
low voice said to him 

 Half shares  

Some person in that gloom  Nothing so closely resembles a dream as
despair  Jean Valjean thought that he was dreaming  He had heard no
footsteps  Was it possible  He raised his eyes 

A man stood before him 

This man was clad in a blouse  his feet were bare  he held his shoes
in his left hand  he had evidently removed them in order to reach Jean
Valjean  without allowing his steps to be heard 

Jean Valjean did not hesitate for an instant  Unexpected as was this
encounter  this man was known to him  The man was Thenardier 

Although awakened  so to speak  with a start  Jean Valjean  accustomed
to alarms  and steeled to unforeseen shocks that must be promptly
parried  instantly regained possession of his presence of mind 
Moreover  the situation could not be made worse  a certain degree of
distress is no longer capable of a crescendo  and Thenardier himself
could add nothing to this blackness of this night 

A momentary pause ensued 

Thenardier  raising his right hand to a level with his forehead  formed
with it a shade  then he brought his eyelashes together  by screwing up
his eyes  a motion which  in connection with a slight contraction of the
mouth  characterizes the sagacious attention of a man who is endeavoring
to recognize another man  He did not succeed  Jean Valjean  as we have
just stated  had his back turned to the light  and he was  moreover 
so disfigured  so bemired  so bleeding that he would have been
unrecognizable in full noonday  On the contrary  illuminated by the
light from the grating  a cellar light  it is true  livid  yet precise
in its lividness  Thenardier  as the energetic popular metaphor
expresses it  immediately  leaped into  Jean Valjean s eyes  This
inequality of conditions sufficed to assure some advantage to Jean
Valjean in that mysterious duel which was on the point of beginning
between the two situations and the two men  The encounter took place
between Jean Valjean veiled and Thenardier unmasked 

Jean Valjean immediately perceived that Thenardier did not recognize
him 

They surveyed each other for a moment in that half gloom  as though
taking each other s measure  Thenardier was the first to break the
silence 

 How are you going to manage to get out  

Jean Valjean made no reply  Thenardier continued 

 It s impossible to pick the lock of that gate  But still you must get
out of this  

 That is true   said Jean Valjean 

 Well  half shares then  

 What do you mean by that  

 You have killed that man  that s all right  I have the key  

Thenardier pointed to Marius  He went on 

 I don t know you  but I want to help you  You must be a friend  

Jean Valjean began to comprehend  Thenardier took him for an assassin 

Thenardier resumed 

 Listen  comrade  You didn t kill that man without looking to see what
he had in his pockets  Give me my half  I ll open the door for you  

And half drawing from beneath his tattered blouse a huge key  he added 

 Do you want to see how a key to liberty is made  Look here  

Jean Valjean  remained stupid   the expression belongs to the elder
Corneille  to such a degree that he doubted whether what he beheld was
real  It was providence appearing in horrible guise  and his good angel
springing from the earth in the form of Thenardier 

Thenardier thrust his fist into a large pocket concealed under his
blouse  drew out a rope and offered it to Jean Valjean 

 Hold on   said he   I ll give you the rope to boot  

 What is the rope for  

 You will need a stone also  but you can find one outside  There s a
heap of rubbish  

 What am I to do with a stone  

 Idiot  you ll want to sling that stiff into the river  you ll need a
stone and a rope  otherwise it would float on the water  

Jean Valjean took the rope  There is no one who does not occasionally
accept in this mechanical way 

Thenardier snapped his fingers as though an idea had suddenly occurred
to him 

 Ah  see here  comrade  how did you contrive to get out of that slough
yonder  I haven t dared to risk myself in it  Phew  you don t smell
good  

After a pause he added 

 I m asking you questions  but you re perfectly right not to answer 
It s an apprenticeship against that cursed quarter of an hour before the
examining magistrate  And then  when you don t talk at all  you run no
risk of talking too loud  That s no matter  as I can t see your face and
as I don t know your name  you are wrong in supposing that I don t know
who you are and what you want  I twig  You ve broken up that gentleman
a bit  now you want to tuck him away somewhere  The river  that great
hider of folly  is what you want  I ll get you out of your scrape 
Helping a good fellow in a pinch is what suits me to a hair  

While expressing his approval of Jean Valjean s silence  he endeavored
to force him to talk  He jostled his shoulder in an attempt to catch a
sight of his profile  and he exclaimed  without  however  raising his
tone 

 Apropos of that quagmire  you re a hearty animal  Why didn t you toss
the man in there  

Jean Valjean preserved silence 

Thenardier resumed  pushing the rag which served him as a cravat to the
level of his Adam s apple  a gesture which completes the capable air of
a serious man 

 After all  you acted wisely  The workmen  when they come to morrow to
stop up that hole  would certainly have found the stiff abandoned there 
and it might have been possible  thread by thread  straw by straw  to
pick up the scent and reach you  Some one has passed through the sewer 
Who  Where did he get out  Was he seen to come out  The police are full
of cleverness  The sewer is treacherous and tells tales of you  Such a
find is a rarity  it attracts attention  very few people make use of
the sewers for their affairs  while the river belongs to everybody  The
river is the true grave  At the end of a month they fish up your man
in the nets at Saint Cloud  Well  what does one care for that  It s
carrion  Who killed that man  Paris  And justice makes no inquiries  You
have done well  

The more loquacious Thenardier became  the more mute was Jean Valjean 

Again Thenardier shook him by the shoulder 

 Now let s settle this business  Let s go shares  You have seen my key 
show me your money  

Thenardier was haggard  fierce  suspicious  rather menacing  yet
amicable 

There was one singular circumstance  Thenardier s manners were not
simple  he had not the air of being wholly at his ease  while affecting
an air of mystery  he spoke low  from time to time he laid his finger on
his mouth  and muttered   hush   It was difficult to divine why  There
was no one there except themselves  Jean Valjean thought that other
ruffians might possibly be concealed in some nook  not very far off  and
that Thenardier did not care to share with them 

Thenardier resumed 

 Let s settle up  How much did the stiff have in his bags  

Jean Valjean searched his pockets 

It was his habit  as the reader will remember  to always have some
money about him  The mournful life of expedients to which he had been
condemned imposed this as a law upon him  On this occasion  however 
he had been caught unprepared  When donning his uniform of a National
Guardsman on the preceding evening  he had forgotten  dolefully absorbed
as he was  to take his pocket book  He had only some small change in his
fob  He turned out his pocket  all soaked with ooze  and spread out on
the banquette of the vault one louis d or  two five franc pieces  and
five or six large sous 

Thenardier thrust out his lower lip with a significant twist of the
neck 

 You knocked him over cheap   said he 

He set to feeling the pockets of Jean Valjean and Marius  with the
greatest familiarity  Jean Valjean  who was chiefly concerned in keeping
his back to the light  let him have his way 

While handling Marius  coat  Thenardier  with the skill of a pickpocket 
and without being noticed by Jean Valjean  tore off a strip which he
concealed under his blouse  probably thinking that this morsel of
stuff might serve  later on  to identify the assassinated man and the
assassin  However  he found no more than the thirty francs 

 That s true   said he   both of you together have no more than that  

And  forgetting his motto   half shares   he took all 

He hesitated a little over the large sous  After due reflection  he took
them also  muttering 

 Never mind  You cut folks  throats too cheap altogether  

That done  he once more drew the big key from under his blouse 

 Now  my friend  you must leave  It s like the fair here  you pay when
you go out  You have paid  now clear out  

And he began to laugh 

Had he  in lending to this stranger the aid of his key  and in making
some other man than himself emerge from that portal  the pure and
disinterested intention of rescuing an assassin  We may be permitted to
doubt this 

Thenardier helped Jean Valjean to replace Marius on his shoulders  then
he betook himself to the grating on tiptoe  and barefooted  making Jean
Valjean a sign to follow him  looked out  laid his finger on his mouth 
and remained for several seconds  as though in suspense  his inspection
finished  he placed the key in the lock  The bolt slipped back and the
gate swung open  It neither grated nor squeaked  It moved very softly 

It was obvious that this gate and those hinges  carefully oiled  were
in the habit of opening more frequently than was supposed  This
softness was suspicious  it hinted at furtive goings and comings  silent
entrances and exits of nocturnal men  and the wolf like tread of crime 

The sewer was evidently an accomplice of some mysterious band  This
taciturn grating was a receiver of stolen goods 

Thenardier opened the gate a little way  allowing just sufficient space
for Jean Valjean to pass out  closed the grating again  gave the key
a double turn in the lock and plunged back into the darkness  without
making any more noise than a breath  He seemed to walk with the velvet
paws of a tiger 

A moment later  that hideous providence had retreated into the
invisibility 

Jean Valjean found himself in the open air 




CHAPTER IX  MARIUS PRODUCES ON SOME ONE WHO IS A JUDGE OF THE MATTER 
THE EFFECT OF BEING DEAD

He allowed Marius to slide down upon the shore 

They were in the open air 

The miasmas  darkness  horror lay behind him  The pure  healthful 
living  joyous air that was easy to breathe inundated him  Everywhere
around him reigned silence  but that charming silence when the sun has
set in an unclouded azure sky  Twilight had descended  night was drawing
on  the great deliverer  the friend of all those who need a mantle of
darkness that they may escape from an anguish  The sky presented itself
in all directions like an enormous calm  The river flowed to his feet
with the sound of a kiss  The aerial dialogue of the nests bidding each
other good night in the elms of the Champs Elysees was audible  A few
stars  daintily piercing the pale blue of the zenith  and visible to
revery alone  formed imperceptible little splendors amid the immensity 
Evening was unfolding over the head of Jean Valjean all the sweetness of
the infinite 

It was that exquisite and undecided hour which says neither yes nor no 
Night was already sufficiently advanced to render it possible to lose
oneself at a little distance and yet there was sufficient daylight to
permit of recognition at close quarters 

For several seconds  Jean Valjean was irresistibly overcome by that
august and caressing serenity  such moments of oblivion do come to men 
suffering refrains from harassing the unhappy wretch  everything is
eclipsed in the thoughts  peace broods over the dreamer like night  and 
beneath the twilight which beams and in imitation of the sky which is
illuminated  the soul becomes studded with stars  Jean Valjean could
not refrain from contemplating that vast  clear shadow which rested
over him  thoughtfully he bathed in the sea of ecstasy and prayer in the
majestic silence of the eternal heavens  Then he bent down swiftly
to Marius  as though the sentiment of duty had returned to him  and 
dipping up water in the hollow of his hand  he gently sprinkled a
few drops on the latter s face  Marius  eyelids did not open  but his
half open mouth still breathed 

Jean Valjean was on the point of dipping his hand in the river once
more  when  all at once  he experienced an indescribable embarrassment 
such as a person feels when there is some one behind him whom he does
not see 

We have already alluded to this impression  with which everyone is
familiar 

He turned round 

Some one was  in fact  behind him  as there had been a short while
before 

A man of lofty stature  enveloped in a long coat  with folded arms 
and bearing in his right fist a bludgeon of which the leaden head was
visible  stood a few paces in the rear of the spot where Jean Valjean
was crouching over Marius 

With the aid of the darkness  it seemed a sort of apparition  An
ordinary man would have been alarmed because of the twilight  a
thoughtful man on account of the bludgeon  Jean Valjean recognized
Javert 

The reader has divined  no doubt  that Thenardier s pursuer was no other
than Javert  Javert  after his unlooked for escape from the barricade 
had betaken himself to the prefecture of police  had rendered a
verbal account to the Prefect in person in a brief audience  had then
immediately gone on duty again  which implied  the note  the reader will
recollect  which had been captured on his person  a certain surveillance
of the shore on the right bank of the Seine near the Champs Elysees 
which had  for some time past  aroused the attention of the police 
There he had caught sight of Thenardier and had followed him  The reader
knows the rest 

Thus it will be easily understood that that grating  so obligingly
opened to Jean Valjean  was a bit of cleverness on Thenardier s part 
Thenardier intuitively felt that Javert was still there  the man spied
upon has a scent which never deceives him  it was necessary to fling
a bone to that sleuth hound  An assassin  what a godsend  Such an
opportunity must never be allowed to slip  Thenardier  by putting Jean
Valjean outside in his stead  provided a prey for the police  forced
them to relinquish his scent  made them forget him in a bigger
adventure  repaid Javert for his waiting  which always flatters a spy 
earned thirty francs  and counted with certainty  so far as he himself
was concerned  on escaping with the aid of this diversion 

Jean Valjean had fallen from one danger upon another 

These two encounters  this falling one after the other  from Thenardier
upon Javert  was a rude shock 

Javert did not recognize Jean Valjean  who  as we have stated  no longer
looked like himself  He did not unfold his arms  he made sure of his
bludgeon in his fist  by an imperceptible movement  and said in a curt 
calm voice 

 Who are you  

 I  

 Who is  I   

 Jean Valjean  

Javert thrust his bludgeon between his teeth  bent his knees  inclined
his body  laid his two powerful hands on the shoulders of Jean Valjean 
which were clamped within them as in a couple of vices  scrutinized
him  and recognized him  Their faces almost touched  Javert s look was
terrible 

Jean Valjean remained inert beneath Javert s grasp  like a lion
submitting to the claws of a lynx 

 Inspector Javert   said he   you have me in your power  Moreover  I
have regarded myself as your prisoner ever since this morning  I did not
give you my address with any intention of escaping from you  Take me 
Only grant me one favor  

Javert did not appear to hear him  He kept his eyes riveted on Jean
Valjean  His chin being contracted  thrust his lips upwards towards
his nose  a sign of savage revery  At length he released Jean Valjean 
straightened himself stiffly up without bending  grasped his bludgeon
again firmly  and  as though in a dream  he murmured rather than uttered
this question 

 What are you doing here  And who is this man  

He still abstained from addressing Jean Valjean as thou 

Jean Valjean replied  and the sound of his voice appeared to rouse
Javert 

 It is with regard to him that I desire to speak to you  Dispose of me
as you see fit  but first help me to carry him home  That is all that I
ask of you  

Javert s face contracted as was always the case when any one seemed to
think him capable of making a concession  Nevertheless  he did not say
 no  

Again he bent over  drew from his pocket a handkerchief which
he moistened in the water and with which he then wiped Marius 
blood stained brow 

 This man was at the barricade   said he in a low voice and as though
speaking to himself   He is the one they called Marius  

A spy of the first quality  who had observed everything  listened to
everything  and taken in everything  even when he thought that he was to
die  who had played the spy even in his agony  and who  with his elbows
leaning on the first step of the sepulchre  had taken notes 

He seized Marius  hand and felt his pulse 

 He is wounded   said Jean Valjean 

 He is a dead man   said Javert 

Jean Valjean replied 

 No  Not yet  

 So you have brought him thither from the barricade   remarked Javert 

His preoccupation must indeed have been very profound for him not to
insist on this alarming rescue through the sewer  and for him not to
even notice Jean Valjean s silence after his question 

Jean Valjean  on his side  seemed to have but one thought  He resumed 

 He lives in the Marais  Rue des Filles du Calvaire  with his
grandfather  I do not recollect his name  

Jean Valjean fumbled in Marius  coat  pulled out his pocket book  opened
it at the page which Marius had pencilled  and held it out to Javert 

There was still sufficient light to admit of reading  Besides this 
Javert possessed in his eye the feline phosphorescence of night
birds  He deciphered the few lines written by Marius  and muttered 
 Gillenormand  Rue des Filles du Calvaire  No  6  

Then he exclaimed   Coachman  

The reader will remember that the hackney coach was waiting in case of
need 

Javert kept Marius  pocket book 

A moment later  the carriage  which had descended by the inclined plane
of the watering place  was on the shore  Marius was laid upon the back
seat  and Javert seated himself on the front seat beside Jean Valjean 

The door slammed  and the carriage drove rapidly away  ascending the
quays in the direction of the Bastille 

They quitted the quays and entered the streets  The coachman  a black
form on his box  whipped up his thin horses  A glacial silence reigned
in the carriage  Marius  motionless  with his body resting in the
corner  and his head drooping on his breast  his arms hanging  his legs
stiff  seemed to be awaiting only a coffin  Jean Valjean seemed made of
shadow  and Javert of stone  and in that vehicle full of night  whose
interior  every time that it passed in front of a street lantern 
appeared to be turned lividly wan  as by an intermittent flash of
lightning  chance had united and seemed to be bringing face to face
the three forms of tragic immobility  the corpse  the spectre  and the
statue 




CHAPTER X  RETURN OF THE SON WHO WAS PRODIGAL OF HIS LIFE

At every jolt over the pavement  a drop of blood trickled from Marius 
hair 

Night had fully closed in when the carriage arrived at No  6  Rue des
Filles du Calvaire 

Javert was the first to alight  he made sure with one glance of the
number on the carriage gate  and  raising the heavy knocker of beaten
iron  embellished in the old style  with a male goat and a satyr
confronting each other  he gave a violent peal  The gate opened a little
way and Javert gave it a push  The porter half made his appearance
yawning  vaguely awake  and with a candle in his hand 

Everyone in the house was asleep  People go to bed betimes in the
Marais  especially on days when there is a revolt  This good  old
quarter  terrified at the Revolution  takes refuge in slumber  as
children  when they hear the Bugaboo coming  hide their heads hastily
under their coverlet 

In the meantime Jean Valjean and the coachman had taken Marius out of
the carriage  Jean Valjean supporting him under the armpits  and the
coachman under the knees 

As they thus bore Marius  Jean Valjean slipped his hand under the
latter s clothes  which were broadly rent  felt his breast  and assured
himself that his heart was still beating  It was even beating a little
less feebly  as though the movement of the carriage had brought about a
certain fresh access of life 

Javert addressed the porter in a tone befitting the government  and the
presence of the porter of a factious person 

 Some person whose name is Gillenormand  

 Here  What do you want with him  

 His son is brought back  

 His son   said the porter stupidly 

 He is dead  

Jean Valjean  who  soiled and tattered  stood behind Javert  and whom
the porter was surveying with some horror  made a sign to him with his
head that this was not so 

The porter did not appear to understand either Javert s words or Jean
Valjean s sign 

Javert continued 

 He went to the barricade  and here he is  

 To the barricade   ejaculated the porter 

 He has got himself killed  Go waken his father  

The porter did not stir 

 Go along with you   repeated Javert 

And he added 

 There will be a funeral here to morrow  

For Javert  the usual incidents of the public highway were categorically
classed  which is the beginning of foresight and surveillance  and each
contingency had its own compartment  all possible facts were arranged
in drawers  as it were  whence they emerged on occasion  in variable
quantities  in the street  uproar  revolt  carnival  and funeral 

The porter contented himself with waking Basque  Basque woke Nicolette 
Nicolette roused great aunt Gillenormand 

As for the grandfather  they let him sleep on  thinking that he would
hear about the matter early enough in any case 

Marius was carried up to the first floor  without any one in the other
parts of the house being aware of the fact  and deposited on an old sofa
in M  Gillenormand s antechamber  and while Basque went in search of a
physician  and while Nicolette opened the linen presses  Jean Valjean
felt Javert touch him on the shoulder  He understood and descended the
stairs  having behind him the step of Javert who was following him 

The porter watched them take their departure as he had watched their
arrival  in terrified somnolence 

They entered the carriage once more  and the coachman mounted his box 

 Inspector Javert   said Jean   grant me yet another favor  

 What is it   demanded Javert roughly 

 Let me go home for one instant  Then you shall do whatever you like
with me  

Javert remained silent for a few moments  with his chin drawn back into
the collar of his great coat  then he lowered the glass and front 

 Driver   said he   Rue de l Homme Arme  No  7  




CHAPTER XI  CONCUSSION IN THE ABSOLUTE

They did not open their lips again during the whole space of their ride 

What did Jean Valjean want  To finish what he had begun  to warn
Cosette  to tell her where Marius was  to give her  possibly  some other
useful information  to take  if he could  certain final measures  As
for himself  so far as he was personally concerned  all was over  he had
been seized by Javert and had not resisted  any other man than himself
in like situation would  perhaps  have had some vague thoughts connected
with the rope which Thenardier had given him  and of the bars of the
first cell that he should enter  but  let us impress it upon the
reader  after the Bishop  there had existed in Jean Valjean a profound
hesitation in the presence of any violence  even when directed against
himself 

Suicide  that mysterious act of violence against the unknown which may
contain  in a measure  the death of the soul  was impossible to Jean
Valjean 

At the entrance to the Rue de l Homme Arme  the carriage halted  the way
being too narrow to admit of the entrance of vehicles  Javert and Jean
Valjean alighted 

The coachman humbly represented to  monsieur l Inspecteur   that the
Utrecht velvet of his carriage was all spotted with the blood of the
assassinated man  and with mire from the assassin  That is the way he
understood it  He added that an indemnity was due him  At the same time 
drawing his certificate book from his pocket  he begged the inspector to
have the goodness to write him  a bit of an attestation  

Javert thrust aside the book which the coachman held out to him  and
said 

 How much do you want  including your time of waiting and the drive  

 It comes to seven hours and a quarter   replied the man   and my velvet
was perfectly new  Eighty francs  Mr  Inspector  

Javert drew four napoleons from his pocket and dismissed the carriage 

Jean Valjean fancied that it was Javert s intention to conduct him on
foot to the post of the Blancs Manteaux or to the post of the Archives 
both of which are close at hand 

They entered the street  It was deserted as usual  Javert followed Jean
Valjean  They reached No  7  Jean Valjean knocked  The door opened 

 It is well   said Javert   Go up stairs  

He added with a strange expression  and as though he were exerting an
effort in speaking in this manner 

 I will wait for you here  

Jean Valjean looked at Javert  This mode of procedure was but little in
accord with Javert s habits  However  he could not be greatly surprised
that Javert should now have a sort of haughty confidence in him  the
confidence of the cat which grants the mouse liberty to the length of
its claws  seeing that Jean Valjean had made up his mind to surrender
himself and to make an end of it  He pushed open the door  entered the
house  called to the porter who was in bed and who had pulled the cord
from his couch   It is I   and ascended the stairs 

On arriving at the first floor  he paused  All sorrowful roads
have their stations  The window on the landing place  which was a
sash window  was open  As in many ancient houses  the staircase got its
light from without and had a view on the street  The street lantern 
situated directly opposite  cast some light on the stairs  and thus
effected some economy in illumination 

Jean Valjean  either for the sake of getting the air  or mechanically 
thrust his head out of this window  He leaned out over the street  It
is short  and the lantern lighted it from end to end  Jean Valjean was
overwhelmed with amazement  there was no longer any one there 

Javert had taken his departure 




CHAPTER XII  THE GRANDFATHER

Basque and the porter had carried Marius into the drawing room  as he
still lay stretched out  motionless  on the sofa upon which he had been
placed on his arrival  The doctor who had been sent for had hastened
thither  Aunt Gillenormand had risen 

Aunt Gillenormand went and came  in affright  wringing her hands and
incapable of doing anything but saying   Heavens  is it possible   At
times she added   Everything will be covered with blood   When her first
horror had passed off  a certain philosophy of the situation penetrated
her mind  and took form in the exclamation   It was bound to end in this
way   She did not go so far as   I told you so   which is customary on
this sort of occasion  At the physician s orders  a camp bed had been
prepared beside the sofa  The doctor examined Marius  and after having
found that his pulse was still beating  that the wounded man had no very
deep wound on his breast  and that the blood on the corners of his lips
proceeded from his nostrils  he had him placed flat on the bed  without
a pillow  with his head on the same level as his body  and even a
trifle lower  and with his bust bare in order to facilitate respiration 
Mademoiselle Gillenormand  on perceiving that they were undressing
Marius  withdrew  She set herself to telling her beads in her own
chamber 

The trunk had not suffered any internal injury  a bullet  deadened by
the pocket book  had turned aside and made the tour of his ribs with a
hideous laceration  which was of no great depth  and consequently  not
dangerous  The long  underground journey had completed the dislocation
of the broken collar bone  and the disorder there was serious  The arms
had been slashed with sabre cuts  Not a single scar disfigured his face 
but his head was fairly covered with cuts  what would be the result of
these wounds on the head  Would they stop short at the hairy cuticle  or
would they attack the brain  As yet  this could not be decided  A grave
symptom was that they had caused a swoon  and that people do not always
recover from such swoons  Moreover  the wounded man had been exhausted
by hemorrhage  From the waist down  the barricade had protected the
lower part of the body from injury 

Basque and Nicolette tore up linen and prepared bandages  Nicolette
sewed them  Basque rolled them  As lint was lacking  the doctor  for
the time being  arrested the bleeding with layers of wadding  Beside
the bed  three candles burned on a table where the case of surgical
instruments lay spread out  The doctor bathed Marius  face and hair with
cold water  A full pail was reddened in an instant  The porter  candle
in hand  lighted them 

The doctor seemed to be pondering sadly  From time to time  he made a
negative sign with his head  as though replying to some question which
he had inwardly addressed to himself 

A bad sign for the sick man are these mysterious dialogues of the doctor
with himself 

At the moment when the doctor was wiping Marius  face  and lightly
touching his still closed eyes with his finger  a door opened at the end
of the drawing room  and a long  pallid figure made its appearance 

This was the grandfather 

The revolt had  for the past two days  deeply agitated  enraged and
engrossed the mind of M  Gillenormand  He had not been able to sleep
on the previous night  and he had been in a fever all day long  In the
evening  he had gone to bed very early  recommending that everything in
the house should be well barred  and he had fallen into a doze through
sheer fatigue 

Old men sleep lightly  M  Gillenormand s chamber adjoined the
drawing room  and in spite of all the precautions that had been taken 
the noise had awakened him  Surprised at the rift of light which he
saw under his door  he had risen from his bed  and had groped his way
thither 

He stood astonished on the threshold  one hand on the handle of the
half open door  with his head bent a little forward and quivering 
his body wrapped in a white dressing gown  which was straight and as
destitute of folds as a winding sheet  and he had the air of a phantom
who is gazing into a tomb 

He saw the bed  and on the mattress that young man  bleeding  white with
a waxen whiteness  with closed eyes and gaping mouth  and pallid lips 
stripped to the waist  slashed all over with crimson wounds  motionless
and brilliantly lighted up 

The grandfather trembled from head to foot as powerfully as ossified
limbs can tremble  his eyes  whose corneae were yellow on account of
his great age  were veiled in a sort of vitreous glitter  his whole
face assumed in an instant the earthy angles of a skull  his arms fell
pendent  as though a spring had broken  and his amazement was betrayed
by the outspreading of the fingers of his two aged hands  which quivered
all over  his knees formed an angle in front  allowing  through
the opening in his dressing gown  a view of his poor bare legs  all
bristling with white hairs  and he murmured 

 Marius  

 Sir   said Basque   Monsieur has just been brought back  He went to the
barricade  and       

 He is dead   cried the old man in a terrible voice   Ah  The rascal  

Then a sort of sepulchral transformation straightened up this
centenarian as erect as a young man 

 Sir   said he   you are the doctor  Begin by telling me one thing  He
is dead  is he not  

The doctor  who was at the highest pitch of anxiety  remained silent 

M  Gillenormand wrung his hands with an outburst of terrible laughter 

 He is dead  He is dead  He is dead  He has got himself killed on
the barricades  Out of hatred to me  He did that to spite me  Ah  You
blood drinker  This is the way he returns to me  Misery of my life  he
is dead  

He went to the window  threw it wide open as though he were stifling 
and  erect before the darkness  he began to talk into the street  to the
night 

 Pierced  sabred  exterminated  slashed  hacked in pieces  Just look at
that  the villain  He knew well that I was waiting for him  and that I
had had his room arranged  and that I had placed at the head of my bed
his portrait taken when he was a little child  He knew well that he had
only to come back  and that I had been recalling him for years  and that
I remained by my fireside  with my hands on my knees  not knowing what
to do  and that I was mad over it  You knew well  that you had but to
return and to say   It is I   and you would have been the master of the
house  and that I should have obeyed you  and that you could have done
whatever you pleased with your old numskull of a grandfather  you knew
that well  and you said 

 No  he is a Royalist  I will not go  And you went to the barricades 
and you got yourself killed out of malice  To revenge yourself for what
I said to you about Monsieur le Duc de Berry  It is infamous  Go to bed
then and sleep tranquilly  he is dead  and this is my awakening  

The doctor  who was beginning to be uneasy in both quarters  quitted
Marius for a moment  went to M  Gillenormand  and took his arm 
The grandfather turned round  gazed at him with eyes which seemed
exaggerated in size and bloodshot  and said to him calmly 

 I thank you  sir  I am composed  I am a man  I witnessed the death of
Louis XVI   I know how to bear events  One thing is terrible and that is
to think that it is your newspapers which do all the mischief  You will
have scribblers  chatterers  lawyers  orators  tribunes  discussions 
progress  enlightenment  the rights of man  the liberty of the press 
and this is the way that your children will be brought home to you  Ah 
Marius  It is abominable  Killed  Dead before me  A barricade  Ah  the
scamp  Doctor  you live in this quarter  I believe  Oh  I know you well 
I see your cabriolet pass my window  I am going to tell you  You are
wrong to think that I am angry  One does not fly into a rage against a
dead man  That would be stupid  This is a child whom I have reared 
I was already old while he was very young  He played in the Tuileries
garden with his little shovel and his little chair  and in order that
the inspectors might not grumble  I stopped up the holes that he made in
the earth with his shovel  with my cane  One day he exclaimed  Down with
Louis XVIII   and off he went  It was no fault of mine  He was all rosy
and blond  His mother is dead  Have you ever noticed that all little
children are blond  Why is it so  He is the son of one of those brigands
of the Loire  but children are innocent of their fathers  crimes 
I remember when he was no higher than that  He could not manage
to pronounce his Ds  He had a way of talking that was so sweet and
indistinct that you would have thought it was a bird chirping  I
remember that once  in front of the Hercules Farnese  people formed a
circle to admire him and marvel at him  he was so handsome  was that
child  He had a head such as you see in pictures  I talked in a deep
voice  and I frightened him with my cane  but he knew very well that it
was only to make him laugh  In the morning  when he entered my room  I
grumbled  but he was like the sunlight to me  all the same  One cannot
defend oneself against those brats  They take hold of you  they hold you
fast  they never let you go again  The truth is  that there never was a
cupid like that child  Now  what can you say for your Lafayettes  your
Benjamin Constants  and your Tirecuir de Corcelles who have killed him 
This cannot be allowed to pass in this fashion  

He approached Marius  who still lay livid and motionless  and to whom
the physician had returned  and began once more to wring his hands  The
old man s pallid lips moved as though mechanically  and permitted the
passage of words that were barely audible  like breaths in the death
agony 

 Ah  heartless lad  Ah  clubbist  Ah  wretch  Ah  Septembrist  

Reproaches in the low voice of an agonizing man  addressed to a corpse 

Little by little  as it is always indispensable that internal eruptions
should come to the light  the sequence of words returned  but the
grandfather appeared no longer to have the strength to utter them  his
voice was so weak  and extinct  that it seemed to come from the other
side of an abyss 

 It is all the same to me  I am going to die too  that I am  And
to think that there is not a hussy in Paris who would not have been
delighted to make this wretch happy  A scamp who  instead of amusing
himself and enjoying life  went off to fight and get himself shot down
like a brute  And for whom  Why  For the Republic  Instead of going to
dance at the Chaumiere  as it is the duty of young folks to do  What s
the use of being twenty years old  The Republic  a cursed pretty folly 
Poor mothers  beget fine boys  do  Come  he is dead  That will make two
funerals under the same carriage gate  So you have got yourself arranged
like this for the sake of General Lamarque s handsome eyes  What had
that General Lamarque done to you  A slasher  A chatter box  To get
oneself killed for a dead man  If that isn t enough to drive any one
mad  Just think of it  At twenty  And without so much as turning his
head to see whether he was not leaving something behind him  That s the
way poor  good old fellows are forced to die alone  now adays  Perish
in your corner  owl  Well  after all  so much the better  that is what
I was hoping for  this will kill me on the spot  I am too old  I am
a hundred years old  I am a hundred thousand years old  I ought  by
rights  to have been dead long ago  This blow puts an end to it  So all
is over  what happiness  What is the good of making him inhale ammonia
and all that parcel of drugs  You are wasting your trouble  you fool of
a doctor  Come  he s dead  completely dead  I know all about it  I
am dead myself too  He hasn t done things by half  Yes  this age is
infamous  infamous and that s what I think of you  of your ideas  of
your systems  of your masters  of your oracles  of your doctors  of your
scape graces of writers  of your rascally philosophers  and of all the
revolutions which  for the last sixty years  have been frightening
the flocks of crows in the Tuileries  But you were pitiless in getting
yourself killed like this  I shall not even grieve over your death  do
you understand  you assassin  

At that moment  Marius slowly opened his eyes  and his glance  still
dimmed by lethargic wonder  rested on M  Gillenormand 

 Marius   cried the old man   Marius  My little Marius  my child  my
well beloved son  You open your eyes  you gaze upon me  you are alive 
thanks  

And he fell fainting 




BOOK FOURTH   JAVERT DERAILED




CHAPTER I  JAVERT

Javert passed slowly down the Rue de l Homme Arme 

He walked with drooping head for the first time in his life  and
likewise  for the first time in his life  with his hands behind his
back 

Up to that day  Javert had borrowed from Napoleon s attitudes  only that
which is expressive of resolution  with arms folded across the chest 
that which is expressive of uncertainty  with the hands behind the
back  had been unknown to him  Now  a change had taken place  his whole
person  slow and sombre  was stamped with anxiety 

He plunged into the silent streets 

Nevertheless  he followed one given direction 

He took the shortest cut to the Seine  reached the Quai des Ormes 
skirted the quay  passed the Greve  and halted at some distance from
the post of the Place du Chatelet  at the angle of the Pont Notre Dame 
There  between the Notre Dame and the Pont au Change on the one hand 
and the Quai de la Megisserie and the Quai aux Fleurs on the other  the
Seine forms a sort of square lake  traversed by a rapid 

This point of the Seine is dreaded by mariners  Nothing is more
dangerous than this rapid  hemmed in  at that epoch  and irritated by
the piles of the mill on the bridge  now demolished  The two bridges 
situated thus close together  augment the peril  the water hurries in
formidable wise through the arches  It rolls in vast and terrible waves 
it accumulates and piles up there  the flood attacks the piles of the
bridges as though in an effort to pluck them up with great liquid ropes 
Men who fall in there never re appear  the best of swimmers are drowned
there 

Javert leaned both elbows on the parapet  his chin resting in both
hands  and  while his nails were mechanically twined in the abundance of
his whiskers  he meditated 

A novelty  a revolution  a catastrophe had just taken place in the
depths of his being  and he had something upon which to examine himself 

Javert was undergoing horrible suffering 

For several hours  Javert had ceased to be simple  He was troubled 
that brain  so limpid in its blindness  had lost its transparency  that
crystal was clouded  Javert felt duty divided within his conscience  and
he could not conceal the fact from himself  When he had so unexpectedly
encountered Jean Valjean on the banks of the Seine  there had been in
him something of the wolf which regains his grip on his prey  and of the
dog who finds his master again 

He beheld before him two paths  both equally straight  but he beheld
two  and that terrified him  him  who had never in all his life known
more than one straight line  And  the poignant anguish lay in this  that
the two paths were contrary to each other  One of these straight lines
excluded the other  Which of the two was the true one 

His situation was indescribable 

To owe his life to a malefactor  to accept that debt and to repay it  to
be  in spite of himself  on a level with a fugitive from justice  and to
repay his service with another service  to allow it to be said to him 
 Go   and to say to the latter in his turn   Be free   to sacrifice to
personal motives duty  that general obligation  and to be conscious 
in those personal motives  of something that was also general  and 
perchance  superior  to betray society in order to remain true to his
conscience  that all these absurdities should be realized and should
accumulate upon him   this was what overwhelmed him 

One thing had amazed him   this was that Jean Valjean should have done
him a favor  and one thing petrified him   that he  Javert  should have
done Jean Valjean a favor 

Where did he stand  He sought to comprehend his position  and could no
longer find his bearings 

What was he to do now  To deliver up Jean Valjean was bad  to leave Jean
Valjean at liberty was bad  In the first case  the man of authority fell
lower than the man of the galleys  in the second  a convict rose above
the law  and set his foot upon it  In both cases  dishonor for him 
Javert  There was disgrace in any resolution at which he might arrive 
Destiny has some extremities which rise perpendicularly from the
impossible  and beyond which life is no longer anything but a precipice 
Javert had reached one of those extremities 

One of his anxieties consisted in being constrained to think  The very
violence of all these conflicting emotions forced him to it  Thought was
something to which he was unused  and which was peculiarly painful 

In thought there always exists a certain amount of internal rebellion 
and it irritated him to have that within him 

Thought on any subject whatever  outside of the restricted circle of his
functions  would have been for him in any case useless and a fatigue 
thought on the day which had just passed was a torture  Nevertheless  it
was indispensable that he should take a look into his conscience  after
such shocks  and render to himself an account of himself 

What he had just done made him shudder  He  Javert  had seen fit to
decide  contrary to all the regulations of the police  contrary to the
whole social and judicial organization  contrary to the entire code 
upon a release  this had suited him  he had substituted his own affairs
for the affairs of the public  was not this unjustifiable  Every time
that he brought himself face to face with this deed without a name which
he had committed  he trembled from head to foot  Upon what should he
decide  One sole resource remained to him  to return in all haste to
the Rue de l Homme Arme  and commit Jean Valjean to prison  It was clear
that that was what he ought to do  He could not 

Something barred his way in that direction 

Something  What  Is there in the world  anything outside of the
tribunals  executory sentences  the police and the authorities  Javert
was overwhelmed 

A galley slave sacred  A convict who could not be touched by the law 
And that the deed of Javert 

Was it not a fearful thing that Javert and Jean Valjean  the man made to
proceed with vigor  the man made to submit   that these two men who were
both the things of the law  should have come to such a pass  that both
of them had set themselves above the law  What then  such enormities
were to happen and no one was to be punished  Jean Valjean  stronger
than the whole social order  was to remain at liberty  and he  Javert 
was to go on eating the government s bread 

His revery gradually became terrible 

He might  athwart this revery  have also reproached himself on
the subject of that insurgent who had been taken to the Rue des
Filles du Calvaire  but he never even thought of that  The lesser fault
was lost in the greater  Besides  that insurgent was  obviously  a dead
man  and  legally  death puts an end to pursuit 

Jean Valjean was the load which weighed upon his spirit 

Jean Valjean disconcerted him  All the axioms which had served him as
points of support all his life long  had crumbled away in the presence
of this man  Jean Valjean s generosity towards him  Javert  crushed him 
Other facts which he now recalled  and which he had formerly treated
as lies and folly  now recurred to him as realities  M  Madeleine
re appeared behind Jean Valjean  and the two figures were superposed in
such fashion that they now formed but one  which was venerable  Javert
felt that something terrible was penetrating his soul  admiration for
a convict  Respect for a galley slave  is that a possible thing  He
shuddered at it  yet could not escape from it  In vain did he struggle 
he was reduced to confess  in his inmost heart  the sublimity of that
wretch  This was odious 

A benevolent malefactor  merciful  gentle  helpful  clement  a convict 
returning good for evil  giving back pardon for hatred  preferring pity
to vengeance  preferring to ruin himself rather than to ruin his enemy 
saving him who had smitten him  kneeling on the heights of virtue  more
nearly akin to an angel than to a man  Javert was constrained to admit
to himself that this monster existed 

Things could not go on in this manner 

Certainly  and we insist upon this point  he had not yielded without
resistance to that monster  to that infamous angel  to that hideous
hero  who enraged almost as much as he amazed him  Twenty times  as he
sat in that carriage face to face with Jean Valjean  the legal tiger had
roared within him  A score of times he had been tempted to fling himself
upon Jean Valjean  to seize him and devour him  that is to say  to
arrest him  What more simple  in fact  To cry out at the first post that
they passed    Here is a fugitive from justice  who has broken his ban  
to summon the gendarmes and say to them   This man is yours   then to
go off  leaving that condemned man there  to ignore the rest and not to
meddle further in the matter  This man is forever a prisoner of the law 
the law may do with him what it will  What could be more just  Javert
had said all this to himself  he had wished to pass beyond  to act  to
apprehend the man  and then  as at present  he had not been able to do
it  and every time that his arm had been raised convulsively towards
Jean Valjean s collar  his hand had fallen back again  as beneath an
enormous weight  and in the depths of his thought he had heard a voice 
a strange voice crying to him    It is well  Deliver up your savior 
Then have the basin of Pontius Pilate brought and wash your claws  

Then his reflections reverted to himself and beside Jean Valjean
glorified he beheld himself  Javert  degraded 

A convict was his benefactor 

But then  why had he permitted that man to leave him alive  He had
the right to be killed in that barricade  He should have asserted that
right  It would have been better to summon the other insurgents to his
succor against Jean Valjean  to get himself shot by force 

His supreme anguish was the loss of certainty  He felt that he had been
uprooted  The code was no longer anything more than a stump in his hand 
He had to deal with scruples of an unknown species  There had taken
place within him a sentimental revelation entirely distinct from legal
affirmation  his only standard of measurement hitherto  To remain in his
former uprightness did not suffice  A whole order of unexpected facts
had cropped up and subjugated him  A whole new world was dawning on
his soul  kindness accepted and repaid  devotion  mercy  indulgence 
violences committed by pity on austerity  respect for persons  no more
definitive condemnation  no more conviction  the possibility of a tear
in the eye of the law  no one knows what justice according to God 
running in inverse sense to justice according to men  He perceived amid
the shadows the terrible rising of an unknown moral sun  it horrified
and dazzled him  An owl forced to the gaze of an eagle 

He said to himself that it was true that there were exceptional cases 
that authority might be put out of countenance  that the rule might
be inadequate in the presence of a fact  that everything could not
be framed within the text of the code  that the unforeseen compelled
obedience  that the virtue of a convict might set a snare for the virtue
of the functionary  that destiny did indulge in such ambushes  and
he reflected with despair that he himself had not even been fortified
against a surprise 

He was forced to acknowledge that goodness did exist  This convict had
been good  And he himself  unprecedented circumstance  had just been
good also  So he was becoming depraved 

He found that he was a coward  He conceived a horror of himself 

Javert s ideal  was not to be human  to be grand  to be sublime  it was
to be irreproachable 

Now  he had just failed in this 

How had he come to such a pass  How had all this happened  He could not
have told himself  He clasped his head in both hands  but in spite of
all that he could do  he could not contrive to explain it to himself 

He had certainly always entertained the intention of restoring Jean
Valjean to the law of which Jean Valjean was the captive  and of which
he  Javert  was the slave  Not for a single instant while he held him
in his grasp had he confessed to himself that he entertained the idea of
releasing him  It was  in some sort  without his consciousness  that his
hand had relaxed and had let him go free 

All sorts of interrogation points flashed before his eyes  He put
questions to himself  and made replies to himself  and his replies
frightened him  He asked himself   What has that convict done  that
desperate fellow  whom I have pursued even to persecution  and who has
had me under his foot  and who could have avenged himself  and who
owed it both to his rancor and to his safety  in leaving me my life  in
showing mercy upon me  His duty  No  Something more  And I in showing
mercy upon him in my turn  what have I done  My duty  No  Something
more  So there is something beyond duty   Here he took fright  his
balance became disjointed  one of the scales fell into the abyss  the
other rose heavenward  and Javert was no less terrified by the one which
was on high than by the one which was below  Without being in the least
in the world what is called Voltairian or a philosopher  or incredulous 
being  on the contrary  respectful by instinct  towards the established
church  he knew it only as an august fragment of the social whole  order
was his dogma  and sufficed for him  ever since he had attained to man s
estate and the rank of a functionary  he had centred nearly all his
religion in the police  Being   and here we employ words without the
least irony and in their most serious acceptation  being  as we have
said  a spy as other men are priests  He had a superior  M  Gisquet  up
to that day he had never dreamed of that other superior  God 

This new chief  God  he became unexpectedly conscious of  and he felt
embarrassed by him  This unforeseen presence threw him off his bearings 
he did not know what to do with this superior  he  who was not ignorant
of the fact that the subordinate is bound always to bow  that he must
not disobey  nor find fault  nor discuss  and that  in the presence of a
superior who amazes him too greatly  the inferior has no other resource
than that of handing in his resignation 

But how was he to set about handing in his resignation to God 

However things might stand   and it was to this point that he reverted
constantly   one fact dominated everything else for him  and that was 
that he had just committed a terrible infraction of the law  He had just
shut his eyes on an escaped convict who had broken his ban  He had just
set a galley slave at large  He had just robbed the laws of a man who
belonged to them  That was what he had done  He no longer understood
himself  The very reasons for his action escaped him  only their vertigo
was left with him  Up to that moment he had lived with that blind faith
which gloomy probity engenders  This faith had quitted him  this probity
had deserted him  All that he had believed in melted away  Truths which
he did not wish to recognize were besieging him  inexorably  Henceforth 
he must be a different man  He was suffering from the strange pains of
a conscience abruptly operated on for the cataract  He saw that which
it was repugnant to him to behold  He felt himself emptied  useless  put
out of joint with his past life  turned out  dissolved  Authority was
dead within him  He had no longer any reason for existing 

A terrible situation  to be touched 

To be granite and to doubt  to be the statue of Chastisement cast in one
piece in the mould of the law  and suddenly to become aware of the fact
that one cherishes beneath one s breast of bronze something absurd
and disobedient which almost resembles a heart  To come to the pass of
returning good for good  although one has said to oneself up to that day
that that good is evil  to be the watch dog  and to lick the intruder s
hand  to be ice and melt  to be the pincers and to turn into a hand 
to suddenly feel one s fingers opening  to relax one s grip   what a
terrible thing 

The man projectile no longer acquainted with his route and retreating 

To be obliged to confess this to oneself  infallibility is not
infallible  there may exist error in the dogma  all has not been said
when a code speaks  society is not perfect  authority is complicated
with vacillation  a crack is possible in the immutable  judges are but
men  the law may err  tribunals may make a mistake  to behold a rift in
the immense blue pane of the firmament 

That which was passing in Javert was the Fampoux of a rectilinear
conscience  the derailment of a soul  the crushing of a probity which
had been irresistibly launched in a straight line and was breaking
against God  It certainly was singular that the stoker of order  that
the engineer of authority  mounted on the blind iron horse with its
rigid road  could be unseated by a flash of light  that the immovable 
the direct  the correct  the geometrical  the passive  the perfect 
could bend  that there should exist for the locomotive a road to
Damascus 

God  always within man  and refractory  He  the true conscience  to the
false  a prohibition to the spark to die out  an order to the ray to
remember the sun  an injunction to the soul to recognize the veritable
absolute when confronted with the fictitious absolute  humanity
which cannot be lost  the human heart indestructible  that splendid
phenomenon  the finest  perhaps  of all our interior marvels  did Javert
understand this  Did Javert penetrate it  Did Javert account for it
to himself  Evidently he did not  But beneath the pressure of that
incontestable incomprehensibility he felt his brain bursting 

He was less the man transfigured than the victim of this prodigy  In all
this he perceived only the tremendous difficulty of existence  It seemed
to him that  henceforth  his respiration was repressed forever  He was
not accustomed to having something unknown hanging over his head 

Up to this point  everything above him had been  to his gaze  merely a
smooth  limpid and simple surface  there was nothing incomprehensible 
nothing obscure  nothing that was not defined  regularly disposed 
linked  precise  circumscribed  exact  limited  closed  fully provided
for  authority was a plane surface  there was no fall in it  no
dizziness in its presence  Javert had never beheld the unknown except
from below  The irregular  the unforeseen  the disordered opening of
chaos  the possible slip over a precipice  this was the work of the
lower regions  of rebels  of the wicked  of wretches  Now Javert threw
himself back  and he was suddenly terrified by this unprecedented
apparition  a gulf on high 

What  one was dismantled from top to bottom  one was disconcerted 
absolutely  In what could one trust  That which had been agreed upon was
giving way  What  the defect in society s armor could be discovered by
a magnanimous wretch  What  an honest servitor of the law could suddenly
find himself caught between two crimes  the crime of allowing a man to
escape and the crime of arresting him  everything was not settled in
the orders given by the State to the functionary  There might be
blind alleys in duty  What   all this was real  was it true that an
ex ruffian  weighed down with convictions  could rise erect and end by
being in the right  Was this credible  were there cases in which the law
should retire before transfigured crime  and stammer its excuses   Yes 
that was the state of the case  and Javert saw it  and Javert had
touched it  and not only could he not deny it  but he had taken part
in it  These were realities  It was abominable that actual facts could
reach such deformity  If facts did their duty  they would confine
themselves to being proofs of the law  facts  it is God who sends them 
Was anarchy  then  on the point of now descending from on high 

Thus   and in the exaggeration of anguish  and the optical illusion
of consternation  all that might have corrected and restrained this
impression was effaced  and society  and the human race  and the
universe were  henceforth  summed up in his eyes  in one simple and
terrible feature   thus the penal laws  the thing judged  the force due
to legislation  the decrees of the sovereign courts  the magistracy 
the government  prevention  repression  official cruelty  wisdom  legal
infallibility  the principle of authority  all the dogmas on which rest
political and civil security  sovereignty  justice  public truth  all
this was rubbish  a shapeless mass  chaos  he himself  Javert  the spy
of order  incorruptibility in the service of the police  the bull dog
providence of society  vanquished and hurled to earth  and  erect  at
the summit of all that ruin  a man with a green cap on his head and a
halo round his brow  this was the astounding confusion to which he had
come  this was the fearful vision which he bore within his soul 

Was this to be endured  No 

A violent state  if ever such existed  There were only two ways of
escaping from it  One was to go resolutely to Jean Valjean  and restore
to his cell the convict from the galleys  The other      

Javert quitted the parapet  and  with head erect this time  betook
himself  with a firm tread  towards the station house indicated by a
lantern at one of the corners of the Place du Chatelet 

On arriving there  he saw through the window a sergeant of police  and
he entered  Policemen recognize each other by the very way in which they
open the door of a station house  Javert mentioned his name  showed his
card to the sergeant  and seated himself at the table of the post on
which a candle was burning  On a table lay a pen  a leaden inkstand and
paper  provided in the event of possible reports and the orders of the
night patrols  This table  still completed by its straw seated chair 
is an institution  it exists in all police stations  it is invariably
ornamented with a box wood saucer filled with sawdust and a wafer box
of cardboard filled with red wafers  and it forms the lowest stage of
official style  It is there that the literature of the State has its
beginning 

Javert took a pen and a sheet of paper  and began to write  This is what
he wrote 

      A FEW OBSERVATIONS FOR THE GOOD OF THE SERVICE 


  In the first place   I beg Monsieur le Prefet to cast his eyes
 on this 

  Secondly   prisoners  on arriving after examination  take off
 their shoes and stand barefoot on the flagstones while they are
 being searched   Many of them cough on their return to prison 
 This entails hospital expenses 

  Thirdly   the mode of keeping track of a man with relays of police
 agents from distance to distance  is good  but  on important occasions 
 it is requisite that at least two agents should never lose sight
 of each other  so that  in case one agent should  for any cause 
 grow weak in his service  the other may supervise him and take
 his place 

  Fourthly   it is inexplicable why the special regulation of the prison
 of the Madelonettes interdicts the prisoner from having a chair 
 even by paying for it 

  Fifthly   in the Madelonettes there are only two bars to the canteen 
 so that the canteen woman can touch the prisoners with her hand 

  Sixthly   the prisoners called barkers  who summon the other
 prisoners to the parlor  force the prisoner to pay them two sous
 to call his name distinctly   This is a theft 

  Seventhly   for a broken thread ten sous are withheld in the
 weaving shop  this is an abuse of the contractor  since the cloth
 is none the worse for it 

  Eighthly   it is annoying for visitors to La Force to be
 obliged to traverse the boys  court in order to reach the parlor
 of Sainte Marie l Egyptienne 

  Ninthly   it is a fact that any day gendarmes can be overheard
 relating in the court yard of the prefecture the interrogations put
 by the magistrates to prisoners   For a gendarme  who should be
 sworn to secrecy  to repeat what he has heard in the examination
 room is a grave disorder 

  Tenthly   Mme  Henry is an honest woman  her canteen is very neat 
 but it is bad to have a woman keep the wicket to the mouse trap
 of the secret cells   This is unworthy of the Conciergerie of a
 great civilization  

 Javert wrote these lines in his calmest and most correct chirography 
 not omitting a single comma  and making the paper screech under his pen 
 Below the last line he signed 

                                                JAVERT 
                                     Inspector of the 1st class 
        The Post of the Place du Chatelet 
                  June 7th  1832  about one o clock in the morning  


Javert dried the fresh ink on the paper  folded it like a letter  sealed
it  wrote on the back  Note for the administration  left it on the
table  and quitted the post  The glazed and grated door fell to behind
him 

Again he traversed the Place du Chatelet diagonally  regained the quay 
and returned with automatic precision to the very point which he had
abandoned a quarter of an hour previously  leaned on his elbows and
found himself again in the same attitude on the same paving stone of the
parapet  He did not appear to have stirred 

The darkness was complete  It was the sepulchral moment which follows
midnight  A ceiling of clouds concealed the stars  Not a single light
burned in the houses of the city  no one was passing  all of the streets
and quays which could be seen were deserted  Notre Dame and the towers
of the Court House seemed features of the night  A street lantern
reddened the margin of the quay  The outlines of the bridges lay
shapeless in the mist one behind the other  Recent rains had swollen the
river 

The spot where Javert was leaning was  it will be remembered  situated
precisely over the rapids of the Seine  perpendicularly above that
formidable spiral of whirlpools which loose and knot themselves again
like an endless screw 

Javert bent his head and gazed  All was black  Nothing was to be
distinguished  A sound of foam was audible  but the river could not be
seen  At moments  in that dizzy depth  a gleam of light appeared  and
undulated vaguely  water possessing the power of taking light  no one
knows whence  and converting it into a snake  The light vanished  and
all became indistinct once more  Immensity seemed thrown open there 
What lay below was not water  it was a gulf  The wall of the quay 
abrupt  confused  mingled with the vapors  instantly concealed from
sight  produced the effect of an escarpment of the infinite  Nothing was
to be seen  but the hostile chill of the water and the stale odor of
the wet stones could be felt  A fierce breath rose from this abyss  The
flood in the river  divined rather than perceived  the tragic whispering
of the waves  the melancholy vastness of the arches of the bridge  the
imaginable fall into that gloomy void  into all that shadow was full of
horror 

Javert remained motionless for several minutes  gazing at this opening
of shadow  he considered the invisible with a fixity that resembled
attention  The water roared  All at once he took off his hat and placed
it on the edge of the quay  A moment later  a tall black figure  which
a belated passer by in the distance might have taken for a phantom 
appeared erect upon the parapet of the quay  bent over towards the
Seine  then drew itself up again  and fell straight down into the
shadows  a dull splash followed  and the shadow alone was in the secret
of the convulsions of that obscure form which had disappeared beneath
the water 




BOOK FIFTH   GRANDSON AND GRANDFATHER




CHAPTER I  IN WHICH THE TREE WITH THE ZINC PLASTER APPEARS AGAIN

Some time after the events which we have just recorded  Sieur
Boulatruelle experienced a lively emotion 

Sieur Boulatruelle was that road mender of Montfermeil whom the reader
has already seen in the gloomy parts of this book 

Boulatruelle  as the reader may  perchance  recall  was a man who
was occupied with divers and troublesome matters  He broke stones and
damaged travellers on the highway 

Road mender and thief as he was  he cherished one dream  he believed in
the treasures buried in the forest of Montfermeil  He hoped some day to
find the money in the earth at the foot of a tree  in the meanwhile  he
lived to search the pockets of passers by 

Nevertheless  for an instant  he was prudent  He had just escaped
neatly  He had been  as the reader is aware  picked up in Jondrette s
garret in company with the other ruffians  Utility of a vice  his
drunkenness had been his salvation  The authorities had never been able
to make out whether he had been there in the quality of a robber or a
man who had been robbed  An order of nolle prosequi  founded on his well
authenticated state of intoxication on the evening of the ambush  had
set him at liberty  He had taken to his heels  He had returned to his
road from Gagny to Lagny  to make  under administrative supervision 
broken stone for the good of the state  with downcast mien  in a very
pensive mood  his ardor for theft somewhat cooled  but he was addicted
none the less tenderly to the wine which had recently saved him 

As for the lively emotion which he had experienced a short time after
his return to his road mender s turf thatched cot  here it is 

One morning  Boulatruelle  while on his way as was his wont  to his
work  and possibly also to his ambush  a little before daybreak caught
sight  through the branches of the trees  of a man  whose back alone
he saw  but the shape of whose shoulders  as it seemed to him at that
distance and in the early dusk  was not entirely unfamiliar to him 
Boulatruelle  although intoxicated  had a correct and lucid memory  a
defensive arm that is indispensable to any one who is at all in conflict
with legal order 

 Where the deuce have I seen something like that man yonder   he said
to himself  But he could make himself no answer  except that the man
resembled some one of whom his memory preserved a confused trace 

However  apart from the identity which he could not manage to catch 
Boulatruelle put things together and made calculations  This man did
not belong in the country side  He had just arrived there  On foot 
evidently  No public conveyance passes through Montfermeil at that hour 
He had walked all night  Whence came he  Not from a very great distance 
for he had neither haversack  nor bundle  From Paris  no doubt  Why was
he in these woods  why was he there at such an hour  what had he come
there for 

Boulatruelle thought of the treasure  By dint of ransacking his memory 
he recalled in a vague way that he had already  many years before  had
a similar alarm in connection with a man who produced on him the effect
that he might well be this very individual 

 By the deuce   said Boulatruelle   I ll find him again  I ll discover
the parish of that parishioner  This prowler of Patron Minette has a
reason  and I ll know it  People can t have secrets in my forest if I
don t have a finger in the pie  

He took his pick axe which was very sharply pointed 

 There now   he grumbled   is something that will search the earth and a
man  

And  as one knots one thread to another thread  he took up the line of
march at his best pace in the direction which the man must follow  and
set out across the thickets 

When he had compassed a hundred strides  the day  which was already
beginning to break  came to his assistance  Footprints stamped in the
sand  weeds trodden down here and there  heather crushed  young branches
in the brushwood bent and in the act of straightening themselves up
again with the graceful deliberation of the arms of a pretty woman who
stretches herself when she wakes  pointed out to him a sort of track  He
followed it  then lost it  Time was flying  He plunged deeper into the
woods and came to a sort of eminence  An early huntsman who was passing
in the distance along a path  whistling the air of Guillery  suggested
to him the idea of climbing a tree  Old as he was  he was agile  There
stood close at hand a beech tree of great size  worthy of Tityrus and of
Boulatruelle  Boulatruelle ascended the beech as high as he was able 

The idea was a good one  On scrutinizing the solitary waste on the side
where the forest is thoroughly entangled and wild  Boulatruelle suddenly
caught sight of his man 

Hardly had he got his eye upon him when he lost sight of him 

The man entered  or rather  glided into  an open glade  at a
considerable distance  masked by large trees  but with which
Boulatruelle was perfectly familiar  on account of having noticed  near
a large pile of porous stones  an ailing chestnut tree bandaged with
a sheet of zinc nailed directly upon the bark  This glade was the one
which was formerly called the Blaru bottom  The heap of stones  destined
for no one knows what employment  which was visible there thirty years
ago  is doubtless still there  Nothing equals a heap of stones in
longevity  unless it is a board fence  They are temporary expedients 
What a reason for lasting 

Boulatruelle  with the rapidity of joy  dropped rather than descended
from the tree  The lair was unearthed  the question now was to seize the
beast  That famous treasure of his dreams was probably there 

It was no small matter to reach that glade  By the beaten paths  which
indulge in a thousand teasing zigzags  it required a good quarter of an
hour  In a bee line  through the underbrush  which is peculiarly dense 
very thorny  and very aggressive in that locality  a full half hour was
necessary  Boulatruelle committed the error of not comprehending this 
He believed in the straight line  a respectable optical illusion which
ruins many a man  The thicket  bristling as it was  struck him as the
best road 

 Let s take to the wolves  Rue de Rivoli   said he 

Boulatruelle  accustomed to taking crooked courses  was on this occasion
guilty of the fault of going straight 

He flung himself resolutely into the tangle of undergrowth 

He had to deal with holly bushes  nettles  hawthorns  eglantines 
thistles  and very irascible brambles  He was much lacerated 

At the bottom of the ravine he found water which he was obliged to
traverse 

At last he reached the Blaru bottom  after the lapse of forty minutes 
sweating  soaked  breathless  scratched  and ferocious 

There was no one in the glade  Boulatruelle rushed to the heap of
stones  It was in its place  It had not been carried off 

As for the man  he had vanished in the forest  He had made his escape 
Where  in what direction  into what thicket  Impossible to guess 

And  heartrending to say  there  behind the pile of stones  in front of
the tree with the sheet of zinc  was freshly turned earth  a pick axe 
abandoned or forgotten  and a hole 

The hole was empty 

 Thief   shrieked Boulatruelle  shaking his fist at the horizon 




CHAPTER II  MARIUS  EMERGING FROM CIVIL WAR  MAKES READY FOR DOMESTIC
WAR

For a long time  Marius was neither dead nor alive  For many weeks he
lay in a fever accompanied by delirium  and by tolerably grave cerebral
symptoms  caused more by the shocks of the wounds on the head than by
the wounds themselves 

He repeated Cosette s name for whole nights in the melancholy loquacity
of fever  and with the sombre obstinacy of agony  The extent of some of
the lesions presented a serious danger  the suppuration of large wounds
being always liable to become re absorbed  and consequently  to kill
the sick man  under certain atmospheric conditions  at every change of
weather  at the slightest storm  the physician was uneasy 

 Above all things   he repeated   let the wounded man be subjected to no
emotion   The dressing of the wounds was complicated and difficult 
the fixation of apparatus and bandages by cerecloths not having been
invented as yet  at that epoch  Nicolette used up a sheet  as big as the
ceiling   as she put it  for lint  It was not without difficulty
that the chloruretted lotions and the nitrate of silver overcame the
gangrene  As long as there was any danger  M  Gillenormand  seated in
despair at his grandson s pillow  was  like Marius  neither alive nor
dead 

Every day  sometimes twice a day  a very well dressed gentleman with
white hair   such was the description given by the porter   came to
inquire about the wounded man  and left a large package of lint for the
dressings 

Finally  on the 7th of September  four months to a day  after the
sorrowful night when he had been brought back to his grandfather in a
dying condition  the doctor declared that he would answer for Marius 
Convalescence began  But Marius was forced to remain for two months more
stretched out on a long chair  on account of the results called up by
the fracture of his collar bone  There always is a last wound like that
which will not close  and which prolongs the dressings indefinitely  to
the great annoyance of the sick person 

However  this long illness and this long convalescence saved him
from all pursuit  In France  there is no wrath  not even of a public
character  which six months will not extinguish  Revolts  in the present
state of society  are so much the fault of every one  that they are
followed by a certain necessity of shutting the eyes 

Let us add  that the inexcusable Gisquet order  which enjoined doctors
to lodge information against the wounded  having outraged public
opinion  and not opinion alone  but the King first of all  the wounded
were covered and protected by this indignation  and  with the exception
of those who had been made prisoners in the very act of combat  the
councils of war did not dare to trouble any one  So Marius was left in
peace 

M  Gillenormand first passed through all manner of anguish  and then
through every form of ecstasy  It was found difficult to prevent his
passing every night beside the wounded man  he had his big arm chair
carried to Marius  bedside  he required his daughter to take the
finest linen in the house for compresses and bandages  Mademoiselle
Gillenormand  like a sage and elderly person  contrived to spare the
fine linen  while allowing the grandfather to think that he was obeyed 
M  Gillenormand would not permit any one to explain to him  that for the
preparation of lint batiste is not nearly so good as coarse linen 
nor new linen as old linen  He was present at all the dressings of the
wounds from which Mademoiselle Gillenormand modestly absented herself 
When the dead flesh was cut away with scissors  he said   Aie  aie  
Nothing was more touching than to see him with his gentle  senile palsy 
offer the wounded man a cup of his cooling draught  He overwhelmed the
doctor with questions  He did not observe that he asked the same ones
over and over again 

On the day when the doctor announced to him that Marius was out of
danger  the good man was in a delirium  He made his porter a present of
three louis  That evening  on his return to his own chamber  he danced
a gavotte  using his thumb and forefinger as castanets  and he sang the
following song 

       Jeanne est nee a Fougere      Amour  tu vis en elle 
       Vrai nid d une bergere        Car c est dans sa prunelle
       J adore son jupon             Que tu mets ton carquois 
           Fripon                        Narquois 

                 Moi  je la chante  et j aime 
                 Plus que Diane meme 
                 Jeanne et ses durs tetons
                     Bretons   61 


 Love  thou dwellest in her  For  tis in her eyes that thou placest thy
quiver  sly scamp 

 As for me  I sing her  and I love  more than Diana herself  Jeanne and
her firm Breton breasts  


Then he knelt upon a chair  and Basque  who was watching him through the
half open door  made sure that he was praying 

Up to that time  he had not believed in God 

At each succeeding phase of improvement  which became more and more
pronounced  the grandfather raved  He executed a multitude of mechanical
actions full of joy  he ascended and descended the stairs  without
knowing why  A pretty female neighbor was amazed one morning at
receiving a big bouquet  it was M  Gillenormand who had sent it to
her  The husband made a jealous scene  M  Gillenormand tried to draw
Nicolette upon his knees  He called Marius   M  le Baron   He shouted 
 Long live the Republic  

Every moment  he kept asking the doctor   Is he no longer in danger  
He gazed upon Marius with the eyes of a grandmother  He brooded over him
while he ate  He no longer knew himself  he no longer rendered himself
an account of himself  Marius was the master of the house  there was
abdication in his joy  he was the grandson of his grandson 

In the state of joy in which he then was  he was the most venerable of
children  In his fear lest he might fatigue or annoy the convalescent 
he stepped behind him to smile  He was content  joyous  delighted 
charming  young  His white locks added a gentle majesty to the gay
radiance of his visage  When grace is mingled with wrinkles  it is
adorable  There is an indescribable aurora in beaming old age 

As for Marius  as he allowed them to dress his wounds and care for him 
he had but one fixed idea  Cosette 

After the fever and delirium had left him  he did not again pronounce
her name  and it might have been supposed that he no longer thought of
her  He held his peace  precisely because his soul was there 

He did not know what had become of Cosette  the whole affair of the
Rue de la Chanvrerie was like a cloud in his memory  shadows that were
almost indistinct  floated through his mind  Eponine  Gavroche  Mabeuf 
the Thenardiers  all his friends gloomily intermingled with the smoke
of the barricade  the strange passage of M  Fauchelevent through that
adventure produced on him the effect of a puzzle in a tempest  he
understood nothing connected with his own life  he did not know how nor
by whom he had been saved  and no one of those around him knew this  all
that they had been able to tell him was  that he had been brought home
at night in a hackney coach  to the Rue des Filles du Calvaire  past 
present  future were nothing more to him than the mist of a vague idea 
but in that fog there was one immovable point  one clear and precise
outline  something made of granite  a resolution  a will  to find
Cosette once more  For him  the idea of life was not distinct from the
idea of Cosette  He had decreed in his heart that he would not accept
the one without the other  and he was immovably resolved to exact of
any person whatever  who should desire to force him to live   from his
grandfather  from fate  from hell   the restitution of his vanished
Eden 

He did not conceal from himself the fact that obstacles existed 

Let us here emphasize one detail  he was not won over and was but little
softened by all the solicitude and tenderness of his grandfather  In
the first place  he was not in the secret  then  in his reveries of
an invalid  which were still feverish  possibly  he distrusted this
tenderness as a strange and novel thing  which had for its object his
conquest  He remained cold  The grandfather absolutely wasted his poor
old smile  Marius said to himself that it was all right so long as he 
Marius  did not speak  and let things take their course  but that when
it became a question of Cosette  he would find another face  and that
his grandfather s true attitude would be unmasked  Then there would
be an unpleasant scene  a recrudescence of family questions  a
confrontation of positions  every sort of sarcasm and all manner of
objections at one and the same time  Fauchelevent  Coupelevent  fortune 
poverty  a stone about his neck  the future  Violent resistance 
conclusion  a refusal  Marius stiffened himself in advance 

And then  in proportion as he regained life  the old ulcers of his
memory opened once more  he reflected again on the past  Colonel
Pontmercy placed himself once more between M  Gillenormand and him 
Marius  he told himself that he had no true kindness to expect from
a person who had been so unjust and so hard to his father  And
with health  there returned to him a sort of harshness towards his
grandfather  The old man was gently pained by this  M  Gillenormand 
without however allowing it to appear  observed that Marius  ever since
the latter had been brought back to him and had regained consciousness 
had not once called him father  It is true that he did not say
 monsieur  to him  but he contrived not to say either the one or the
other  by means of a certain way of turning his phrases  Obviously  a
crisis was approaching 

As almost always happens in such cases  Marius skirmished before giving
battle  by way of proving himself  This is called  feeling the ground  
One morning it came to pass that M  Gillenormand spoke slightingly of
the Convention  apropos of a newspaper which had fallen into his
hands  and gave vent to a Royalist harangue on Danton  Saint Juste and
Robespierre    The men of  93 were giants   said Marius with severity 
The old man held his peace  and uttered not a sound during the remainder
of that day 

Marius  who had always present to his mind the inflexible grandfather of
his early years  interpreted this silence as a profound concentration
of wrath  augured from it a hot conflict  and augmented his preparations
for the fray in the inmost recesses of his mind 

He decided that  in case of a refusal  he would tear off his bandages 
dislocate his collar bone  that he would lay bare all the wounds which
he had left  and would reject all food  His wounds were his munitions of
war  He would have Cosette or die 

He awaited the propitious moment with the crafty patience of the sick 

That moment arrived 




CHAPTER III  MARIUS ATTACKED

One day  M  Gillenormand  while his daughter was putting in order the
phials and cups on the marble of the commode  bent over Marius and said
to him in his tenderest accents   Look here  my little Marius  if I were
in your place  I would eat meat now in preference to fish  A fried sole
is excellent to begin a convalescence with  but a good cutlet is needed
to put a sick man on his feet  

Marius  who had almost entirely recovered his strength  collected
the whole of it  drew himself up into a sitting posture  laid his two
clenched fists on the sheets of his bed  looked his grandfather in the
face  assumed a terrible air  and said 

 This leads me to say something to you  

 What is it  

 That I wish to marry  

 Agreed   said his grandfather   And he burst out laughing 

 How agreed  

 Yes  agreed  You shall have your little girl  

Marius  stunned and overwhelmed with the dazzling shock  trembled in
every limb 

M  Gillenormand went on 

 Yes  you shall have her  that pretty little girl of yours  She comes
every day in the shape of an old gentleman to inquire after you  Ever
since you were wounded  she has passed her time in weeping and making
lint  I have made inquiries  She lives in the Rue de l Homme Arme  No 
7  Ah  There we have it  Ah  so you want her  Well  you shall have
her  You re caught  You had arranged your little plot  you had said to
yourself    I m going to signify this squarely to my grandfather  to
that mummy of the Regency and of the Directory  to that ancient beau 
to that Dorante turned Geronte  he has indulged in his frivolities also 
that he has  and he has had his love affairs  and his grisettes and his
Cosettes  he has made his rustle  he has had his wings  he has eaten of
the bread of spring  he certainly must remember it   Ah  you take the
cockchafer by the horns  That s good  I offer you a cutlet and you
answer me   By the way  I want to marry   There s a transition for
you  Ah  you reckoned on a bickering  You do not know that I am an old
coward  What do you say to that  You are vexed  You did not expect to
find your grandfather still more foolish than yourself  you are wasting
the discourse which you meant to bestow upon me  Mr  Lawyer  and that s
vexatious  Well  so much the worse  rage away  I ll do whatever
you wish  and that cuts you short  imbecile  Listen  I have made my
inquiries  I m cunning too  she is charming  she is discreet  it is not
true about the lancer  she has made heaps of lint  she s a jewel  she
adores you  if you had died  there would have been three of us  her
coffin would have accompanied mine  I have had an idea  ever since you
have been better  of simply planting her at your bedside  but it is only
in romances that young girls are brought to the bedsides of handsome
young wounded men who interest them  It is not done  What would your
aunt have said to it  You were nude three quarters of the time  my good
fellow  Ask Nicolette  who has not left you for a moment  if there was
any possibility of having a woman here  And then  what would the doctor
have said  A pretty girl does not cure a man of fever  In short  it s
all right  let us say no more about it  all s said  all s done  it s all
settled  take her  Such is my ferocity  You see  I perceived that you
did not love me  I said to myself   Here now  I have my little Cosette
right under my hand  I m going to give her to him  he will be obliged
to love me a little then  or he must tell the reason why   Ah  so you
thought that the old man was going to storm  to put on a big voice 
to shout no  and to lift his cane at all that aurora  Not a bit of it 
Cosette  so be it  love  so be it  I ask nothing better  Pray take the
trouble of getting married  sir  Be happy  my well beloved child  

That said  the old man burst forth into sobs 

And he seized Marius  head  and pressed it with both arms against his
breast  and both fell to weeping  This is one of the forms of supreme
happiness 

 Father   cried Marius 

 Ah  so you love me   said the old man 

An ineffable moment ensued  They were choking and could not speak 

At length the old man stammered 

 Come  his mouth is unstopped at last  He has said   Father  to me  

Marius disengaged his head from his grandfather s arms  and said gently 

 But  father  now that I am quite well  it seems to me that I might see
her  

 Agreed again  you shall see her to morrow  

 Father  

 What  

 Why not to day  

 Well  to day then  Let it be to day  You have called me  father  three
times  and it is worth it  I will attend to it  She shall be brought
hither  Agreed  I tell you  It has already been put into verse  This is
the ending of the elegy of the  Jeune Malade  by Andre Chenier  by Andre
Chenier whose throat was cut by the ras       by the giants of  93  

M  Gillenormand fancied that he detected a faint frown on the part of
Marius  who  in truth  as we must admit  was no longer listening to him 
and who was thinking far more of Cosette than of 1793 

The grandfather  trembling at having so inopportunely introduced Andre
Chenier  resumed precipitately 

 Cut his throat is not the word  The fact is that the great
revolutionary geniuses  who were not malicious  that is incontestable 
who were heroes  pardi  found that Andre Chenier embarrassed them
somewhat  and they had him guillot       that is to say  those great
men on the 7th of Thermidor  besought Andre Chenier  in the interests of
public safety  to be so good as to go       

M  Gillenormand  clutched by the throat by his own phrase  could not
proceed  Being able neither to finish it nor to retract it  while his
daughter arranged the pillow behind Marius  who was overwhelmed with so
many emotions  the old man rushed headlong  with as much rapidity as
his age permitted  from the bed chamber  shut the door behind him  and 
purple  choking and foaming at the mouth  his eyes starting from his
head  he found himself nose to nose with honest Basque  who was blacking
boots in the anteroom  He seized Basque by the collar  and shouted full
in his face in fury    By the hundred thousand Javottes of the devil 
those ruffians did assassinate him  

 Who  sir  

 Andre Chenier  

 Yes  sir   said Basque in alarm 




CHAPTER IV  MADEMOISELLE GILLENORMAND ENDS BY NO LONGER THINKING IT A
BAD THING THAT M  FAUCHELEVENT SHOULD HAVE ENTERED WITH SOMETHING UNDER
HIS ARM

Cosette and Marius beheld each other once more 

What that interview was like we decline to say  There are things which
one must not attempt to depict  the sun is one of them 

The entire family  including Basque and Nicolette  were assembled in
Marius  chamber at the moment when Cosette entered it 

Precisely at that moment  the grandfather was on the point of blowing
his nose  he stopped short  holding his nose in his handkerchief  and
gazing over it at Cosette 

She appeared on the threshold  it seemed to him that she was surrounded
by a glory 

 Adorable   he exclaimed 

Then he blew his nose noisily 

Cosette was intoxicated  delighted  frightened  in heaven  She was as
thoroughly alarmed as any one can be by happiness  She stammered all
pale  yet flushed  she wanted to fling herself into Marius  arms  and
dared not  Ashamed of loving in the presence of all these people  People
are pitiless towards happy lovers  they remain when the latter most
desire to be left alone  Lovers have no need of any people whatever 

With Cosette  and behind her  there had entered a man with white hair
who was grave yet smiling  though with a vague and heartrending smile 
It was  Monsieur Fauchelevent   it was Jean Valjean 

He was very well dressed  as the porter had said  entirely in black  in
perfectly new garments  and with a white cravat 

The porter was a thousand leagues from recognizing in this correct
bourgeois  in this probable notary  the fear inspiring bearer of the
corpse  who had sprung up at his door on the night of the 7th of June 
tattered  muddy  hideous  haggard  his face masked in blood and mire 
supporting in his arms the fainting Marius  still  his porter s scent
was aroused  When M  Fauchelevent arrived with Cosette  the porter had
not been able to refrain from communicating to his wife this aside   I
don t know why it is  but I can t help fancying that I ve seen that face
before  

M  Fauchelevent in Marius  chamber  remained apart near the door  He
had under his arm  a package which bore considerable resemblance to an
octavo volume enveloped in paper  The enveloping paper was of a greenish
hue  and appeared to be mouldy 

 Does the gentleman always have books like that under his arm  
Mademoiselle Gillenormand  who did not like books  demanded in a low
tone of Nicolette 

 Well   retorted M  Gillenormand  who had overheard her  in the same
tone   he s a learned man  What then  Is that his fault  Monsieur
Boulard  one of my acquaintances  never walked out without a book under
his arm either  and he always had some old volume hugged to his heart
like that  

And  with a bow  he said aloud 

 Monsieur Tranchelevent       

Father Gillenormand did not do it intentionally  but inattention to
proper names was an aristocratic habit of his 

 Monsieur Tranchelevent  I have the honor of asking you  on behalf of my
grandson  Baron Marius Pontmercy  for the hand of Mademoiselle  

Monsieur Tranchelevent bowed 

 That s settled   said the grandfather 

And  turning to Marius and Cosette  with both arms extended in blessing 
he cried 

 Permission to adore each other  

They did not require him to repeat it twice  So much the worse  the
chirping began  They talked low  Marius  resting on his elbow on his
reclining chair  Cosette standing beside him   Oh  heavens   murmured
Cosette   I see you once again  it is thou  it is you  The idea of going
and fighting like that  But why  It is horrible  I have been dead for
four months  Oh  how wicked it was of you to go to that battle  What had
I done to you  I pardon you  but you will never do it again  A little
while ago  when they came to tell us to come to you  I still thought
that I was about to die  but it was from joy  I was so sad  I have not
taken the time to dress myself  I must frighten people with my looks 
What will your relatives say to see me in a crumpled collar  Do speak 
You let me do all the talking  We are still in the Rue de l Homme Arme 
It seems that your shoulder was terrible  They told me that you could
put your fist in it  And then  it seems that they cut your flesh with
the scissors  That is frightful  I have cried till I have no eyes left 
It is queer that a person can suffer like that  Your grandfather has a
very kindly air  Don t disturb yourself  don t rise on your elbow  you
will injure yourself  Oh  how happy I am  So our unhappiness is over 
I am quite foolish  I had things to say to you  and I no longer know in
the least what they were  Do you still love me  We live in the Rue de
l Homme Arme  There is no garden  I made lint all the time  stay  sir 
look  it is your fault  I have a callous on my fingers  

 Angel   said Marius 

Angel is the only word in the language which cannot be worn out  No
other word could resist the merciless use which lovers make of it 

Then as there were spectators  they paused and said not a word more 
contenting themselves with softly touching each other s hands 

M  Gillenormand turned towards those who were in the room and cried 

 Talk loud  the rest of you  Make a noise  you people behind the scenes 
Come  a little uproar  the deuce  so that the children can chatter at
their ease  

And  approaching Marius and Cosette  he said to them in a very low
voice 

 Call each other thou  Don t stand on ceremony  

Aunt Gillenormand looked on in amazement at this irruption of light
in her elderly household  There was nothing aggressive about this
amazement  it was not the least in the world like the scandalized and
envious glance of an owl at two turtle doves  it was the stupid eye of a
poor innocent seven and fifty years of age  it was a life which had been
a failure gazing at that triumph  love 

 Mademoiselle Gillenormand senior   said her father to her   I told you
that this is what would happen to you  

He remained silent for a moment  and then added 

 Look at the happiness of others  

Then he turned to Cosette 

 How pretty she is  how pretty she is  She s a Greuze  So you are going
to have that all to yourself  you scamp  Ah  my rogue  you are getting
off nicely with me  you are happy  if I were not fifteen years too old 
we would fight with swords to see which of us should have her  Come now 
I am in love with you  mademoiselle  It s perfectly simple  It is your
right  You are in the right  Ah  what a sweet  charming little wedding
this will make  Our parish is Saint Denis du Saint Sacrament  but I will
get a dispensation so that you can be married at Saint Paul  The church
is better  It was built by the Jesuits  It is more coquettish  It is
opposite the fountain of Cardinal de Birague  The masterpiece of Jesuit
architecture is at Namur  It is called Saint Loup  You must go there
after you are married  It is worth the journey  Mademoiselle  I am quite
of your mind  I think girls ought to marry  that is what they are made
for  There is a certain Sainte Catherine whom I should always like to
see uncoiffed  62  It s a fine thing to remain a spinster  but it is
chilly  The Bible says  Multiply  In order to save the people  Jeanne
d Arc is needed  but in order to make people  what is needed is Mother
Goose  So  marry  my beauties  I really do not see the use in remaining
a spinster  I know that they have their chapel apart in the church 
and that they fall back on the Society of the Virgin  but  sapristi  a
handsome husband  a fine fellow  and at the expiration of a year  a
big  blond brat who nurses lustily  and who has fine rolls of fat on his
thighs  and who musses up your breast in handfuls with his little rosy
paws  laughing the while like the dawn   that s better than holding a
candle at vespers  and chanting Turris eburnea  

The grandfather executed a pirouette on his eighty year old heels  and
began to talk again like a spring that has broken loose once more 

            Ainsi  bornant les cours de tes revasseries 
            Alcippe  il est donc vrai  dans peu tu te maries   63 


 By the way  

 What is it  father  

 Have not you an intimate friend  

 Yes  Courfeyrac  

 What has become of him  

 He is dead  

 That is good  

He seated himself near them  made Cosette sit down  and took their four
hands in his aged and wrinkled hands 

 She is exquisite  this darling  She s a masterpiece  this Cosette 
She is a very little girl and a very great lady  She will only be a
Baroness  which is a come down for her  she was born a Marquise  What
eyelashes she has  Get it well fixed in your noddles  my children  that
you are in the true road  Love each other  Be foolish about it  Love is
the folly of men and the wit of God  Adore each other  Only   he added 
suddenly becoming gloomy   what a misfortune  It has just occurred to
me  More than half of what I possess is swallowed up in an annuity  so
long as I live  it will not matter  but after my death  a score of years
hence  ah  my poor children  you will not have a sou  Your beautiful
white hands  Madame la Baronne  will do the devil the honor of pulling
him by the tail   64 

At this point they heard a grave and tranquil voice say 

 Mademoiselle Euphrasie Fauchelevent possesses six hundred thousand
francs  

It was the voice of Jean Valjean 

So far he had not uttered a single word  no one seemed to be aware that
he was there  and he had remained standing erect and motionless  behind
all these happy people 

 What has Mademoiselle Euphrasie to do with the question   inquired the
startled grandfather 

 I am she   replied Cosette 

 Six hundred thousand francs   resumed M  Gillenormand 

 Minus fourteen or fifteen thousand francs  possibly   said Jean
Valjean 

And he laid on the table the package which Mademoiselle Gillenormand had
mistaken for a book 

Jean Valjean himself opened the package  it was a bundle of bank notes 
They were turned over and counted  There were five hundred notes for a
thousand francs each  and one hundred and sixty eight of five hundred 
In all  five hundred and eighty four thousand francs 

 This is a fine book   said M  Gillenormand 

 Five hundred and eighty four thousand francs   murmured the aunt 

 This arranges things well  does it not  Mademoiselle Gillenormand
senior   said the grandfather   That devil of a Marius has ferreted out
the nest of a millionaire grisette in his tree of dreams  Just trust
to the love affairs of young folks now  will you  Students find
studentesses with six hundred thousand francs  Cherubino works better
than Rothschild  

 Five hundred and eighty four thousand francs   repeated Mademoiselle
Gillenormand  in a low tone   Five hundred and eighty four  one might as
well say six hundred thousand  

As for Marius and Cosette  they were gazing at each other while this was
going on  they hardly heeded this detail 




CHAPTER V  DEPOSIT YOUR MONEY IN A FOREST RATHER THAN WITH A NOTARY

The reader has  no doubt  understood  without necessitating a lengthy
explanation  that Jean Valjean  after the Champmathieu affair  had been
able  thanks to his first escape of a few days  duration  to come to
Paris and to withdraw in season  from the hands of Laffitte  the
sum earned by him  under the name of Monsieur Madeleine  at
Montreuil sur Mer  and that fearing that he might be recaptured   which
eventually happened  he had buried and hidden that sum in the forest
of Montfermeil  in the locality known as the Blaru bottom  The sum 
six hundred and thirty thousand francs  all in bank bills  was not very
bulky  and was contained in a box  only  in order to preserve the
box from dampness  he had placed it in a coffer filled with chestnut
shavings  In the same coffer he had placed his other treasures  the
Bishop s candlesticks  It will be remembered that he had carried off
the candlesticks when he made his escape from Montreuil sur Mer  The man
seen one evening for the first time by Boulatruelle  was Jean Valjean 
Later on  every time that Jean Valjean needed money  he went to get it
in the Blaru bottom  Hence the absences which we have mentioned  He had
a pickaxe somewhere in the heather  in a hiding place known to himself
alone  When he beheld Marius convalescent  feeling that the hour was at
hand  when that money might prove of service  he had gone to get it 
it was he again  whom Boulatruelle had seen in the woods  but on
this occasion  in the morning instead of in the evening  Boulatreulle
inherited his pickaxe 

The actual sum was five hundred and eighty four thousand  five hundred
francs  Jean Valjean withdrew the five hundred francs for himself    We
shall see hereafter   he thought 

The difference between that sum and the six hundred and thirty thousand
francs withdrawn from Laffitte represented his expenditure in ten years 
from 1823 to 1833  The five years of his stay in the convent had cost
only five thousand francs 

Jean Valjean set the two candlesticks on the chimney piece  where they
glittered to the great admiration of Toussaint 

Moreover  Jean Valjean knew that he was delivered from Javert  The
story had been told in his presence  and he had verified the fact in
the Moniteur  how a police inspector named Javert had been found drowned
under a boat belonging to some laundresses  between the Pont au Change
and the Pont Neuf  and that a writing left by this man  otherwise
irreproachable and highly esteemed by his superiors  pointed to a fit
of mental aberration and a suicide    In fact   thought Jean Valjean 
 since he left me at liberty  once having got me in his power  he must
have been already mad  




CHAPTER VI  THE TWO OLD MEN DO EVERYTHING  EACH ONE AFTER HIS OWN
FASHION  TO RENDER COSETTE HAPPY

Everything was made ready for the wedding  The doctor  on being
consulted  declared that it might take place in February  It was then
December  A few ravishing weeks of perfect happiness passed 

The grandfather was not the least happy of them all  He remained for a
quarter of an hour at a time gazing at Cosette 

 The wonderful  beautiful girl   he exclaimed   And she has so sweet and
good an air  she is  without exception  the most charming girl that I
have ever seen in my life  Later on  she ll have virtues with an odor of
violets  How graceful  one cannot live otherwise than nobly with such
a creature  Marius  my boy  you are a Baron  you are rich  don t go to
pettifogging  I beg of you  

Cosette and Marius had passed abruptly from the sepulchre to paradise 
The transition had not been softened  and they would have been stunned 
had they not been dazzled by it 

 Do you understand anything about it   said Marius to Cosette 

 No   replied Cosette   but it seems to me that the good God is caring
for us  

Jean Valjean did everything  smoothed away every difficulty  arranged
everything  made everything easy  He hastened towards Cosette s
happiness with as much ardor  and  apparently with as much joy  as
Cosette herself 

As he had been a mayor  he understood how to solve that delicate
problem  with the secret of which he alone was acquainted  Cosette s
civil status  If he were to announce her origin bluntly  it might
prevent the marriage  who knows  He extricated Cosette from all
difficulties  He concocted for her a family of dead people  a sure means
of not encountering any objections  Cosette was the only scion of an
extinct family  Cosette was not his own daughter  but the daughter of
the other Fauchelevent  Two brothers Fauchelevent had been gardeners to
the convent of the Petit Picpus  Inquiry was made at that convent  the
very best information and the most respectable references abounded  the
good nuns  not very apt and but little inclined to fathom questions of
paternity  and not attaching any importance to the matter  had never
understood exactly of which of the two Fauchelevents Cosette was the
daughter  They said what was wanted and they said it with zeal  An
acte de notoriete was drawn up  Cosette became in the eyes of the law 
Mademoiselle Euphrasie Fauchelevent  She was declared an orphan  both
father and mother being dead  Jean Valjean so arranged it that he was
appointed  under the name of Fauchelevent  as Cosette s guardian  with
M  Gillenormand as supervising guardian over him 

As for the five hundred and eighty thousand francs  they constituted
a legacy bequeathed to Cosette by a dead person  who desired to
remain unknown  The original legacy had consisted of five hundred and
ninety four thousand francs  but ten thousand francs had been expended
on the education of Mademoiselle Euphrasie  five thousand francs of that
amount having been paid to the convent  This legacy  deposited in
the hands of a third party  was to be turned over to Cosette at her
majority  or at the date of her marriage  This  taken as a whole  was
very acceptable  as the reader will perceive  especially when the sum
due was half a million  There were some peculiarities here and there 
it is true  but they were not noticed  one of the interested parties
had his eyes blindfolded by love  the others by the six hundred thousand
francs 

Cosette learned that she was not the daughter of that old man whom she
had so long called father  He was merely a kinsman  another Fauchelevent
was her real father  At any other time this would have broken her heart 
But at the ineffable moment which she was then passing through  it cast
but a slight shadow  a faint cloud  and she was so full of joy that the
cloud did not last long  She had Marius  The young man arrived  the old
man was effaced  such is life 

And then  Cosette had  for long years  been habituated to seeing enigmas
around her  every being who has had a mysterious childhood is always
prepared for certain renunciations 

Nevertheless  she continued to call Jean Valjean  Father 

Cosette  happy as the angels  was enthusiastic over Father Gillenormand 
It is true that he overwhelmed her with gallant compliments and
presents  While Jean Valjean was building up for Cosette a normal
situation in society and an unassailable status  M  Gillenormand was
superintending the basket of wedding gifts  Nothing so amused him as
being magnificent  He had given to Cosette a robe of Binche guipure
which had descended to him from his own grandmother 

 These fashions come up again   said he   ancient things are the
rage  and the young women of my old age dress like the old women of my
childhood  

He rifled his respectable chests of drawers in Coromandel lacquer  with
swelling fronts  which had not been opened for years    Let us hear the
confession of these dowagers   he said   let us see what they have in
their paunches   He noisily violated the pot bellied drawers of all
his wives  of all his mistresses and of all his grandmothers  Pekins 
damasks  lampas  painted moires  robes of shot gros de Tours  India
kerchiefs embroidered in gold that could be washed  dauphines without a
right or wrong side  in the piece  Genoa and Alencon point lace 
parures in antique goldsmith s work  ivory bon bon boxes ornamented
with microscopic battles  gewgaws and ribbons  he lavished everything on
Cosette  Cosette  amazed  desperately in love with Marius  and wild with
gratitude towards M  Gillenormand  dreamed of a happiness without limit
clothed in satin and velvet  Her wedding basket seemed to her to be
upheld by seraphim  Her soul flew out into the azure depths  with wings
of Mechlin lace 

The intoxication of the lovers was only equalled  as we have already
said  by the ecstasy of the grandfather  A sort of flourish of trumpets
went on in the Rue des Filles du Calvaire 

Every morning  a fresh offering of bric a brac from the grandfather to
Cosette  All possible knickknacks glittered around her 

One day Marius  who was fond of talking gravely in the midst of his
bliss  said  apropos of I know not what incident 

 The men of the revolution are so great  that they have the prestige of
the ages  like Cato and like Phocion  and each one of them seems to me
an antique memory  

 Moire antique   exclaimed the old gentleman   Thanks  Marius  That is
precisely the idea of which I was in search  

And on the following day  a magnificent dress of tea rose colored moire
antique was added to Cosette s wedding presents 

From these fripperies  the grandfather extracted a bit of wisdom 

 Love is all very well  but there must be something else to go with
it  The useless must be mingled with happiness  Happiness is only the
necessary  Season that enormously with the superfluous for me  A
palace and her heart  Her heart and the Louvre  Her heart and the grand
waterworks of Versailles  Give me my shepherdess and try to make her a
duchess  Fetch me Phyllis crowned with corn flowers  and add a hundred
thousand francs income  Open for me a bucolic perspective as far as you
can see  beneath a marble colonnade  I consent to the bucolic and also
to the fairy spectacle of marble and gold  Dry happiness resembles dry
bread  One eats  but one does not dine  I want the superfluous  the
useless  the extravagant  excess  that which serves no purpose  I
remember to have seen  in the Cathedral of Strasburg  a clock  as tall
as a three story house which marked the hours  which had the kindness to
indicate the hour  but which had not the air of being made for that  and
which  after having struck midday  or midnight   midday  the hour of the
sun  or midnight  the hour of love   or any other hour that you like 
gave you the moon and the stars  the earth and the sea  birds and
fishes  Phoebus and Phoebe  and a host of things which emerged from a
niche  and the twelve apostles  and the Emperor Charles the Fifth  and
Eponine  and Sabinus  and a throng of little gilded goodmen  who played
on the trumpet to boot  Without reckoning delicious chimes which it
sprinkled through the air  on every occasion  without any one s knowing
why  Is a petty bald clock face which merely tells the hour equal to
that  For my part  I am of the opinion of the big clock of Strasburg 
and I prefer it to the cuckoo clock from the Black Forest  

M  Gillenormand talked nonsense in connection with the wedding  and all
the fripperies of the eighteenth century passed pell mell through his
dithyrambs 

 You are ignorant of the art of festivals  You do not know how to
organize a day of enjoyment in this age   he exclaimed   Your nineteenth
century is weak  It lacks excess  It ignores the rich  it ignores the
noble  In everything it is clean shaven  Your third estate is insipid 
colorless  odorless  and shapeless  The dreams of your bourgeois who
set up  as they express it  a pretty boudoir freshly decorated  violet 
ebony and calico  Make way  Make way  the Sieur Curmudgeon is marrying
Mademoiselle Clutch penny  Sumptuousness and splendor  A louis d or has
been stuck to a candle  There s the epoch for you  My demand is that I
may flee from it beyond the Sarmatians  Ah  in 1787  I predict that all
was lost  from the day when I beheld the Duc de Rohan  Prince de Leon 
Duc de Chabot  Duc de Montbazon  Marquis de Sonbise  Vicomte de Thouars 
peer of France  go to Longchamps in a tapecu  That has borne its fruits 
In this century  men attend to business  they gamble on  Change  they
win money  they are stingy  People take care of their surfaces and
varnish them  every one is dressed as though just out of a band box 
washed  soaped  scraped  shaved  combed  waked  smoothed  rubbed 
brushed  cleaned on the outside  irreproachable  polished as a pebble 
discreet  neat  and at the same time  death of my life  in the depths of
their consciences they have dung heaps and cesspools that are enough to
make a cow herd who blows his nose in his fingers  recoil  I grant to
this age the device   Dirty Cleanliness   Don t be vexed  Marius  give
me permission to speak  I say no evil of the people as you see  I am
always harping on your people  but do look favorably on my dealing a bit
of a slap to the bourgeoisie  I belong to it  He who loves well lashes
well  Thereupon  I say plainly  that now a days people marry  but that
they no longer know how to marry  Ah  it is true  I regret the grace
of the ancient manners  I regret everything about them  their elegance 
their chivalry  those courteous and delicate ways  that joyous luxury
which every one possessed  music forming part of the wedding  a symphony
above stairs  a beating of drums below stairs  the dances  the joyous
faces round the table  the fine spun gallant compliments  the songs  the
fireworks  the frank laughter  the devil s own row  the huge knots of
ribbon  I regret the bride s garter  The bride s garter is cousin to the
girdle of Venus  On what does the war of Troy turn  On Helen s garter 
parbleu  Why did they fight  why did Diomed the divine break over
the head of Meriones that great brazen helmet of ten points  why did
Achilles and Hector hew each other up with vast blows of their lances 
Because Helen allowed Paris to take her garter  With Cosette s garter 
Homer would construct the Iliad  He would put in his poem  a loquacious
old fellow  like me  and he would call him Nestor  My friends  in bygone
days  in those amiable days of yore  people married wisely  they had a
good contract  and then they had a good carouse  As soon as Cujas had
taken his departure  Gamacho entered  But  in sooth  the stomach is
an agreeable beast which demands its due  and which wants to have its
wedding also  People supped well  and had at table a beautiful neighbor
without a guimpe so that her throat was only moderately concealed  Oh 
the large laughing mouths  and how gay we were in those days  youth was
a bouquet  every young man terminated in a branch of lilacs or a tuft
of roses  whether he was a shepherd or a warrior  and if  by chance 
one was a captain of dragoons  one found means to call oneself Florian 
People thought much of looking well  They embroidered and tinted
themselves  A bourgeois had the air of a flower  a Marquis had the air
of a precious stone  People had no straps to their boots  they had no
boots  They were spruce  shining  waved  lustrous  fluttering  dainty 
coquettish  which did not at all prevent their wearing swords by their
sides  The humming bird has beak and claws  That was the day of the
Galland Indies  One of the sides of that century was delicate  the other
was magnificent  and by the green cabbages  people amused themselves 
To day  people are serious  The bourgeois is avaricious  the bourgeoise
is a prude  your century is unfortunate  People would drive away the
Graces as being too low in the neck  Alas  beauty is concealed as
though it were ugliness  Since the revolution  everything  including the
ballet dancers  has had its trousers  a mountebank dancer must be grave 
your rigadoons are doctrinarian  It is necessary to be majestic  People
would be greatly annoyed if they did not carry their chins in their
cravats  The ideal of an urchin of twenty when he marries  is to
resemble M  Royer Collard  And do you know what one arrives at with
that majesty  at being petty  Learn this  joy is not only joyous  it is
great  But be in love gayly then  what the deuce  marry  when you marry 
with fever and giddiness  and tumult  and the uproar of happiness  Be
grave in church  well and good  But  as soon as the mass is finished 
sarpejou  you must make a dream whirl around the bride  A marriage
should be royal and chimerical  it should promenade its ceremony from
the cathedral of Rheims to the pagoda of Chanteloup  I have a horror
of a paltry wedding  Ventregoulette  be in Olympus for that one day 
at least  Be one of the gods  Ah  people might be sylphs  Games and
Laughter  argiraspides  they are stupids  My friends  every recently
made bridegroom ought to be Prince Aldobrandini  Profit by that unique
minute in life to soar away to the empyrean with the swans and the
eagles  even if you do have to fall back on the morrow into the
bourgeoisie of the frogs  Don t economize on the nuptials  do not prune
them of their splendors  don t scrimp on the day when you beam  The
wedding is not the housekeeping  Oh  if I were to carry out my fancy 
it would be gallant  violins would be heard under the trees  Here is
my programme  sky blue and silver  I would mingle with the festival
the rural divinities  I would convoke the Dryads and the Nereids  The
nuptials of Amphitrite  a rosy cloud  nymphs with well dressed locks
and entirely naked  an Academician offering quatrains to the goddess  a
chariot drawn by marine monsters 

      Triton trottait devant  et tirait de sa conque
      Des sons si ravissants qu il ravissait quiconque   65 

  there s a festive programme  there s a good one  or else I know
nothing of such matters  deuce take it  

While the grandfather  in full lyrical effusion  was listening to
himself  Cosette and Marius grew intoxicated as they gazed freely at
each other 

Aunt Gillenormand surveyed all this with her imperturbable placidity 
Within the last five or six months she had experienced a certain amount
of emotions  Marius returned  Marius brought back bleeding  Marius
brought back from a barricade  Marius dead  then living  Marius
reconciled  Marius betrothed  Marius wedding a poor girl  Marius wedding
a millionairess  The six hundred thousand francs had been her last
surprise  Then  her indifference of a girl taking her first communion
returned to her  She went regularly to service  told her beads  read her
euchology  mumbled Aves in one corner of the house  while I love you
was being whispered in the other  and she beheld Marius and Cosette in a
vague way  like two shadows  The shadow was herself 

There is a certain state of inert asceticism in which the soul 
neutralized by torpor  a stranger to that which may be designated as the
business of living  receives no impressions  either human  or pleasant
or painful  with the exception of earthquakes and catastrophes  This
devotion  as Father Gillenormand said to his daughter  corresponds to
a cold in the head  You smell nothing of life  Neither any bad  nor any
good odor 

Moreover  the six hundred thousand francs had settled the elderly
spinster s indecision  Her father had acquired the habit of taking her
so little into account  that he had not consulted her in the matter of
consent to Marius  marriage  He had acted impetuously  according to his
wont  having  a despot turned slave  but a single thought   to satisfy
Marius  As for the aunt   it had not even occurred to him that the aunt
existed  and that she could have an opinion of her own  and  sheep as
she was  this had vexed her  Somewhat resentful in her inmost soul  but
impassible externally  she had said to herself   My father has settled
the question of the marriage without reference to me  I shall settle the
question of the inheritance without consulting him   She was rich  in
fact  and her father was not  She had reserved her decision on this
point  It is probable that  had the match been a poor one  she would
have left him poor   So much the worse for my nephew  he is wedding a
beggar  let him be a beggar himself   But Cosette s half million pleased
the aunt  and altered her inward situation so far as this pair of lovers
were concerned  One owes some consideration to six hundred thousand
francs  and it was evident that she could not do otherwise than leave
her fortune to these young people  since they did not need it 

It was arranged that the couple should live with the grandfather  M 
Gillenormand insisted on resigning to them his chamber  the finest in
the house   That will make me young again   he said   It s an old plan
of mine  I have always entertained the idea of having a wedding in my
chamber  

He furnished this chamber with a multitude of elegant trifles  He had
the ceiling and walls hung with an extraordinary stuff  which he had by
him in the piece  and which he believed to have emanated from Utrecht
with a buttercup colored satin ground  covered with velvet auricula
blossoms    It was with that stuff   said he   that the bed of the
Duchesse d Anville at la Roche Guyon was draped    On the chimney piece 
he set a little figure in Saxe porcelain  carrying a muff against her
nude stomach 

M  Gillenormand s library became the lawyer s study  which Marius
needed  a study  it will be remembered  being required by the council of
the order 




CHAPTER VII  THE EFFECTS OF DREAMS MINGLED WITH HAPPINESS

The lovers saw each other every day  Cosette came with M 
Fauchelevent    This is reversing things   said Mademoiselle
Gillenormand   to have the bride come to the house to do the courting
like this   But Marius  convalescence had caused the habit to become
established  and the arm chairs of the Rue des Filles du Calvaire 
better adapted to interviews than the straw chairs of the Rue de l Homme
Arme  had rooted it  Marius and M  Fauchelevent saw each other  but did
not address each other  It seemed as though this had been agreed upon 
Every girl needs a chaperon  Cosette could not have come without
M  Fauchelevent  In Marius  eyes  M  Fauchelevent was the condition
attached to Cosette  He accepted it  By dint of discussing political
matters  vaguely and without precision  from the point of view of the
general amelioration of the fate of all men  they came to say a little
more than  yes  and  no   Once  on the subject of education  which
Marius wished to have free and obligatory  multiplied under all forms
lavished on every one  like the air and the sun in a word  respirable
for the entire population  they were in unison  and they almost
conversed  M  Fauchelevent talked well  and even with a certain
loftiness of language  still he lacked something indescribable  M 
Fauchelevent possessed something less and also something more  than a
man of the world 

Marius  inwardly  and in the depths of his thought  surrounded with
all sorts of mute questions this M  Fauchelevent  who was to him simply
benevolent and cold  There were moments when doubts as to his own
recollections occurred to him  There was a void in his memory  a black
spot  an abyss excavated by four months of agony   Many things had been
lost therein  He had come to the point of asking himself whether it were
really a fact that he had seen M  Fauchelevent  so serious and so calm a
man  in the barricade 

This was not  however  the only stupor which the apparitions and the
disappearances of the past had left in his mind  It must not be supposed
that he was delivered from all those obsessions of the memory which
force us  even when happy  even when satisfied  to glance sadly behind
us  The head which does not turn backwards towards horizons that have
vanished contains neither thought nor love  At times  Marius clasped his
face between his hands  and the vague and tumultuous past traversed the
twilight which reigned in his brain  Again he beheld Mabeuf fall  he
heard Gavroche singing amid the grape shot  he felt beneath his lips the
cold brow of Eponine  Enjolras  Courfeyrac  Jean Prouvaire  Combeferre 
Bossuet  Grantaire  all his friends rose erect before him  then
dispersed into thin air  Were all those dear  sorrowful  valiant 
charming or tragic beings merely dreams  had they actually existed  The
revolt had enveloped everything in its smoke  These great fevers create
great dreams  He questioned himself  he felt himself  all these vanished
realities made him dizzy  Where were they all then  was it really true
that all were dead  A fall into the shadows had carried off all except
himself  It all seemed to him to have disappeared as though behind the
curtain of a theatre  There are curtains like this which drop in life 
God passes on to the following act 

And he himself  was he actually the same man  He  the poor man  was
rich  he  the abandoned  had a family  he  the despairing  was to marry
Cosette  It seemed to him that he had traversed a tomb  and that he had
entered into it black and had emerged from it white  and in that tomb
the others had remained  At certain moments  all these beings of the
past  returned and present  formed a circle around him  and overshadowed
him  then he thought of Cosette  and recovered his serenity  but nothing
less than this felicity could have sufficed to efface that catastrophe 

M  Fauchelevent almost occupied a place among these vanished beings 
Marius hesitated to believe that the Fauchelevent of the barricade was
the same as this Fauchelevent in flesh and blood  sitting so gravely
beside Cosette  The first was  probably  one of those nightmares
occasioned and brought back by his hours of delirium  However 
the natures of both men were rigid  no question from Marius to M 
Fauchelevent was possible  Such an idea had not even occurred to him  We
have already indicated this characteristic detail 

Two men who have a secret in common  and who  by a sort of tacit
agreement  exchange not a word on the subject  are less rare than is
commonly supposed 

Once only  did Marius make the attempt  He introduced into the
conversation the Rue de la Chanvrerie  and  turning to M  Fauchelevent 
he said to him 

 Of course  you are acquainted with that street  

 What street  

 The Rue de la Chanvrerie  

 I have no idea of the name of that street   replied M  Fauchelevent  in
the most natural manner in the world 

The response which bore upon the name of the street and not upon the
street itself  appeared to Marius to be more conclusive than it really
was 

 Decidedly   thought he   I have been dreaming  I have been subject to
a hallucination  It was some one who resembled him  M  Fauchelevent was
not there   




CHAPTER VIII  TWO MEN IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND

Marius  enchantment  great as it was  could not efface from his mind
other pre occupations 

While the wedding was in preparation  and while awaiting the date fixed
upon  he caused difficult and scrupulous retrospective researches to be
made 

He owed gratitude in various quarters  he owed it on his father s
account  he owed it on his own 

There was Thenardier  there was the unknown man who had brought him 
Marius  back to M  Gillenormand 

Marius endeavored to find these two men  not intending to marry  to
be happy  and to forget them  and fearing that  were these debts of
gratitude not discharged  they would leave a shadow on his life  which
promised so brightly for the future 

It was impossible for him to leave all these arrears of suffering behind
him  and he wished  before entering joyously into the future  to obtain
a quittance from the past 

That Thenardier was a villain detracted nothing from the fact that he
had saved Colonel Pontmercy  Thenardier was a ruffian in the eyes of all
the world except Marius 

And Marius  ignorant of the real scene in the battle field of Waterloo 
was not aware of the peculiar detail  that his father  so far as
Thenardier was concerned was in the strange position of being indebted
to the latter for his life  without being indebted to him for any
gratitude 

None of the various agents whom Marius employed succeeded in discovering
any trace of Thenardier  Obliteration appeared to be complete in
that quarter  Madame Thenardier had died in prison pending the trial 
Thenardier and his daughter Azelma  the only two remaining of that
lamentable group  had plunged back into the gloom  The gulf of the
social unknown had silently closed above those beings  On the surface
there was not visible so much as that quiver  that trembling  those
obscure concentric circles which announce that something has fallen in 
and that the plummet may be dropped 

Madame Thenardier being dead  Boulatruelle being eliminated from the
case  Claquesous having disappeared  the principal persons accused
having escaped from prison  the trial connected with the ambush in the
Gorbeau house had come to nothing 

That affair had remained rather obscure  The bench of Assizes had been
obliged to content themselves with two subordinates  Panchaud  alias
Printanier  alias Bigrenaille  and Demi Liard  alias Deux Milliards  who
had been inconsistently condemned  after a hearing of both sides of
the case  to ten years in the galleys  Hard labor for life had been the
sentence pronounced against the escaped and contumacious accomplices 

Thenardier  the head and leader  had been  through contumacy  likewise
condemned to death 

This sentence was the only information remaining about Thenardier 
casting upon that buried name its sinister light like a candle beside a
bier 

Moreover  by thrusting Thenardier back into the very remotest depths 
through a fear of being re captured  this sentence added to the density
of the shadows which enveloped this man 

As for the other person  as for the unknown man who had saved Marius 
the researches were at first to some extent successful  then came to
an abrupt conclusion  They succeeded in finding the carriage which had
brought Marius to the Rue des Filles du Calvaire on the evening of the
6th of June 

The coachman declared that  on the 6th of June  in obedience to the
commands of a police agent  he had stood from three o clock in the
afternoon until nightfall on the Quai des Champs Elysees  above the
outlet of the Grand Sewer  that  towards nine o clock in the evening 
the grating of the sewer  which abuts on the bank of the river  had
opened  that a man had emerged therefrom  bearing on his shoulders
another man  who seemed to be dead  that the agent  who was on the watch
at that point  had arrested the living man and had seized the dead man 
that  at the order of the police agent  he  the coachman  had taken  all
those folks  into his carriage  that they had first driven to the Rue
des Filles du Calvaire  that they had there deposited the dead man  that
the dead man was Monsieur Marius  and that he  the coachman  recognized
him perfectly  although he was alive  this time   that afterwards  they
had entered the vehicle again  that he had whipped up his horses  a few
paces from the gate of the Archives  they had called to him to halt 
that there  in the street  they had paid him and left him  and that the
police agent had led the other man away  that he knew nothing more  that
the night had been very dark 

Marius  as we have said  recalled nothing  He only remembered that he
had been seized from behind by an energetic hand at the moment when he
was falling backwards into the barricade  then  everything vanished so
far as he was concerned 

He had only regained consciousness at M  Gillenormand s 

He was lost in conjectures 

He could not doubt his own identity  Still  how had it come to pass
that  having fallen in the Rue de la Chanvrerie  he had been picked
up by the police agent on the banks of the Seine  near the Pont des
Invalides 

Some one had carried him from the Quartier des Halles to the
Champs Elysees  And how  Through the sewer  Unheard of devotion 

Some one  Who 

This was the man for whom Marius was searching 

Of this man  who was his savior  nothing  not a trace  not the faintest
indication 

Marius  although forced to preserve great reserve  in that direction 
pushed his inquiries as far as the prefecture of police  There  no more
than elsewhere  did the information obtained lead to any enlightenment 

The prefecture knew less about the matter than did the hackney coachman 
They had no knowledge of any arrest having been made on the 6th of June
at the mouth of the Grand Sewer 

No report of any agent had been received there upon this matter  which
was regarded at the prefecture as a fable  The invention of this fable
was attributed to the coachman 

A coachman who wants a gratuity is capable of anything  even of
imagination  The fact was assured  nevertheless  and Marius could not
doubt it  unless he doubted his own identity  as we have just said 

Everything about this singular enigma was inexplicable 

What had become of that man  that mysterious man  whom the coachman had
seen emerge from the grating of the Grand Sewer bearing upon his back
the unconscious Marius  and whom the police agent on the watch had
arrested in the very act of rescuing an insurgent  What had become of
the agent himself 

Why had this agent preserved silence  Had the man succeeded in making
his escape  Had he bribed the agent  Why did this man give no sign of
life to Marius  who owed everything to him  His disinterestedness was no
less tremendous than his devotion  Why had not that man appeared again 
Perhaps he was above compensation  but no one is above gratitude  Was he
dead  Who was the man  What sort of a face had he  No one could tell him
this 

The coachman answered   The night was very dark   Basque and Nicolette 
all in a flutter  had looked only at their young master all covered with
blood 

The porter  whose candle had lighted the tragic arrival of Marius  had
been the only one to take note of the man in question  and this is the
description that he gave 

 That man was terrible  

Marius had the blood stained clothing which he had worn when he had been
brought back to his grandfather preserved  in the hope that it would
prove of service in his researches 

On examining the coat  it was found that one skirt had been torn in a
singular way  A piece was missing 

One evening  Marius was speaking in the presence of Cosette and Jean
Valjean of the whole of that singular adventure  of the innumerable
inquiries which he had made  and of the fruitlessness of his efforts 
The cold countenance of  Monsieur Fauchelevent  angered him 

He exclaimed  with a vivacity which had something of wrath in it 

 Yes  that man  whoever he may have been  was sublime  Do you know what
he did  sir  He intervened like an archangel  He must have flung himself
into the midst of the battle  have stolen me away  have opened the
sewer  have dragged me into it and have carried me through it  He
must have traversed more than a league and a half in those frightful
subterranean galleries  bent over  weighed down  in the dark  in the
cess pool   more than a league and a half  sir  with a corpse upon his
back  And with what object  With the sole object of saving the corpse 
And that corpse I was  He said to himself   There may still be a
glimpse of life there  perchance  I will risk my own existence for that
miserable spark   And his existence he risked not once but twenty times 
And every step was a danger  The proof of it is  that on emerging from
the sewer  he was arrested  Do you know  sir  that that man did all
this  And he had no recompense to expect  What was I  An insurgent 
What was I  One of the conquered  Oh  if Cosette s six hundred thousand
francs were mine       

 They are yours   interrupted Jean Valjean 

 Well   resumed Marius   I would give them all to find that man once
more  

Jean Valjean remained silent 




BOOK SIXTH   THE SLEEPLESS NIGHT




CHAPTER I  THE 16TH OF FEBRUARY  1833

The night of the 16th to the 17th of February  1833  was a blessed
night  Above its shadows heaven stood open  It was the wedding night of
Marius and Cosette 

The day had been adorable 

It had not been the grand festival dreamed by the grandfather  a fairy
spectacle  with a confusion of cherubim and Cupids over the heads of the
bridal pair  a marriage worthy to form the subject of a painting to be
placed over a door  but it had been sweet and smiling 

The manner of marriage in 1833 was not the same as it is to day  France
had not yet borrowed from England that supreme delicacy of carrying off
one s wife  of fleeing  on coming out of church  of hiding oneself with
shame from one s happiness  and of combining the ways of a bankrupt with
the delights of the Song of Songs  People had not yet grasped to the
full the chastity  exquisiteness  and decency of jolting their paradise
in a posting chaise  of breaking up their mystery with clic clacs  of
taking for a nuptial bed the bed of an inn  and of leaving behind them 
in a commonplace chamber  at so much a night  the most sacred of
the souvenirs of life mingled pell mell with the tete a tete of the
conductor of the diligence and the maid servant of the inn 

In this second half of the nineteenth century in which we are now
living  the mayor and his scarf  the priest and his chasuble  the law
and God no longer suffice  they must be eked out by the Postilion de
Lonjumeau  a blue waistcoat turned up with red  and with bell buttons 
a plaque like a vantbrace  knee breeches of green leather  oaths to the
Norman horses with their tails knotted up  false galloons  varnished
hat  long powdered locks  an enormous whip and tall boots  France does
not yet carry elegance to the length of doing like the English nobility 
and raining down on the post chaise of the bridal pair a hail storm
of slippers trodden down at heel and of worn out shoes  in memory of
Churchill  afterwards Marlborough  or Malbrouck  who was assailed on
his wedding day by the wrath of an aunt which brought him good luck 
Old shoes and slippers do not  as yet  form a part of our nuptial
celebrations  but patience  as good taste continues to spread  we shall
come to that 

In 1833  a hundred years ago  marriage was not conducted at a full trot 

Strange to say  at that epoch  people still imagined that a wedding was
a private and social festival  that a patriarchal banquet does not
spoil a domestic solemnity  that gayety  even in excess  provided it be
honest  and decent  does happiness no harm  and that  in short  it is a
good and a venerable thing that the fusion of these two destinies whence
a family is destined to spring  should begin at home  and that the
household should thenceforth have its nuptial chamber as its witness 

And people were so immodest as to marry in their own homes 

The marriage took place  therefore  in accordance with this now
superannuated fashion  at M  Gillenormand s house 

Natural and commonplace as this matter of marrying is  the banns to
publish  the papers to be drawn up  the mayoralty  and the church
produce some complication  They could not get ready before the 16th of
February 

Now  we note this detail  for the pure satisfaction of being exact  it
chanced that the 16th fell on Shrove Tuesday  Hesitations  scruples 
particularly on the part of Aunt Gillenormand 

 Shrove Tuesday   exclaimed the grandfather   so much the better  There
is a proverb 

                  Mariage un Mardi gras
                  N aura point enfants ingrats   66 


Let us proceed  Here goes for the 16th  Do you want to delay  Marius  

 No  certainly not   replied the lover 

 Let us marry  then   cried the grandfather 

Accordingly  the marriage took place on the 16th  notwithstanding the
public merrymaking  It rained that day  but there is always in the sky
a tiny scrap of blue at the service of happiness  which lovers see  even
when the rest of creation is under an umbrella 

On the preceding evening  Jean Valjean handed to Marius  in the presence
of M  Gillenormand  the five hundred and eighty four thousand francs 

As the marriage was taking place under the regime of community of
property  the papers had been simple 

Henceforth  Toussaint was of no use to Jean Valjean  Cosette inherited
her and promoted her to the rank of lady s maid 

As for Jean Valjean  a beautiful chamber in the Gillenormand house had
been furnished expressly for him  and Cosette had said to him in such
an irresistible manner   Father  I entreat you   that she had almost
persuaded him to promise that he would come and occupy it 

A few days before that fixed on for the marriage  an accident happened
to Jean Valjean  he crushed the thumb of his right hand  This was not a
serious matter  and he had not allowed any one to trouble himself
about it  nor to dress it  nor even to see his hurt  not even Cosette 
Nevertheless  this had forced him to swathe his hand in a linen bandage 
and to carry his arm in a sling  and had prevented his signing  M 
Gillenormand  in his capacity of Cosette s supervising guardian  had
supplied his place 

We will not conduct the reader either to the mayor s office or to the
church  One does not follow a pair of lovers to that extent  and one is
accustomed to turn one s back on the drama as soon as it puts a wedding
nosegay in its buttonhole  We will confine ourselves to noting an
incident which  though unnoticed by the wedding party  marked the
transit from the Rue des Filles du Calvaire to the church of Saint Paul 

At that epoch  the northern extremity of the Rue Saint Louis was in
process of repaving  It was barred off  beginning with the Rue du
Pare Royal  It was impossible for the wedding carriages to go directly
to Saint Paul  They were obliged to alter their course  and the simplest
way was to turn through the boulevard  One of the invited guests
observed that it was Shrove Tuesday  and that there would be a jam
of vehicles    Why   asked M  Gillenormand   Because of the
maskers     Capital   said the grandfather   let us go that way  These
young folks are on the way to be married  they are about to enter the
serious part of life  This will prepare them for seeing a bit of the
masquerade  

They went by way of the boulevard  The first wedding coach held Cosette
and Aunt Gillenormand  M  Gillenormand and Jean Valjean  Marius  still
separated from his betrothed according to usage  did not come until
the second  The nuptial train  on emerging from the Rue des
Filles du Calvaire  became entangled in a long procession of vehicles
which formed an endless chain from the Madeleine to the Bastille  and
from the Bastille to the Madeleine  Maskers abounded on the boulevard 
In spite of the fact that it was raining at intervals  Merry Andrew 
Pantaloon and Clown persisted  In the good humor of that winter of 1833 
Paris had disguised itself as Venice  Such Shrove Tuesdays are no
longer to be seen now a days  Everything which exists being a scattered
Carnival  there is no longer any Carnival 

The sidewalks were overflowing with pedestrians and the windows with
curious spectators  The terraces which crown the peristyles of the
theatres were bordered with spectators  Besides the maskers  they stared
at that procession  peculiar to Shrove Tuesday as to Longchamps   of
vehicles of every description  citadines  tapissieres  carioles 
cabriolets marching in order  rigorously riveted to each other by the
police regulations  and locked into rails  as it were  Any one in
these vehicles is at once a spectator and a spectacle  Police sergeants
maintained  on the sides of the boulevard  these two interminable
parallel files  moving in contrary directions  and saw to it that
nothing interfered with that double current  those two brooks of
carriages  flowing  the one down stream  the other up stream  the
one towards the Chaussee d Antin  the other towards the Faubourg
Saint Antoine  The carriages of the peers of France and of the
Ambassadors  emblazoned with coats of arms  held the middle of the way 
going and coming freely  Certain joyous and magnificent trains  notably
that of the Boeuf Gras  had the same privilege  In this gayety of Paris 
England cracked her whip  Lord Seymour s post chaise  harassed by a
nickname from the populace  passed with great noise 

In the double file  along which the municipal guards galloped like
sheep dogs  honest family coaches  loaded down with great aunts and
grandmothers  displayed at their doors fresh groups of children in
disguise  Clowns of seven years of age  Columbines of six  ravishing
little creatures  who felt that they formed an official part of the
public mirth  who were imbued with the dignity of their harlequinade 
and who possessed the gravity of functionaries 

From time to time  a hitch arose somewhere in the procession of
vehicles  one or other of the two lateral files halted until the knot
was disentangled  one carriage delayed sufficed to paralyze the whole
line  Then they set out again on the march 

The wedding carriages were in the file proceeding towards the Bastille 
and skirting the right side of the Boulevard  At the top of the
Pont aux Choux  there was a stoppage  Nearly at the same moment  the
other file  which was proceeding towards the Madeleine  halted also  At
that point of the file there was a carriage load of maskers 

These carriages  or to speak more correctly  these wagon loads of
maskers are very familiar to Parisians  If they were missing on a Shrove
Tuesday  or at the Mid Lent  it would be taken in bad part  and people
would say   There s something behind that  Probably the ministry
is about to undergo a change   A pile of Cassandras  Harlequins and
Columbines  jolted along high above the passers by  all possible
grotesquenesses  from the Turk to the savage  Hercules supporting
Marquises  fishwives who would have made Rabelais stop up his ears just
as the Maenads made Aristophanes drop his eyes  tow wigs  pink tights 
dandified hats  spectacles of a grimacer  three cornered hats of Janot
tormented with a butterfly  shouts directed at pedestrians  fists on
hips  bold attitudes  bare shoulders  immodesty unchained  a chaos of
shamelessness driven by a coachman crowned with flowers  this is what
that institution was like 

Greece stood in need of the chariot of Thespis  France stands in need of
the hackney coach of Vade 

Everything can be parodied  even parody  The Saturnalia  that grimace of
antique beauty  ends  through exaggeration after exaggeration  in Shrove
Tuesday  and the Bacchanal  formerly crowned with sprays of vine leaves
and grapes  inundated with sunshine  displaying her marble breast in a
divine semi nudity  having at the present day lost her shape under
the soaked rags of the North  has finally come to be called the
Jack pudding 

The tradition of carriage loads of maskers runs back to the most ancient
days of the monarchy  The accounts of Louis XI  allot to the bailiff of
the palace  twenty sous  Tournois  for three coaches of mascarades
in the cross roads   In our day  these noisy heaps of creatures are
accustomed to have themselves driven in some ancient cuckoo carriage 
whose imperial they load down  or they overwhelm a hired landau  with
its top thrown back  with their tumultuous groups  Twenty of them ride
in a carriage intended for six  They cling to the seats  to the rumble 
on the cheeks of the hood  on the shafts  They even bestride the
carriage lamps  They stand  sit  lie  with their knees drawn up in a
knot  and their legs hanging  The women sit on the men s laps  Far
away  above the throng of heads  their wild pyramid is visible  These
carriage loads form mountains of mirth in the midst of the rout  Colle 
Panard and Piron flow from it  enriched with slang  This carriage which
has become colossal through its freight  has an air of conquest  Uproar
reigns in front  tumult behind  People vociferate  shout  howl  there
they break forth and writhe with enjoyment  gayety roars  sarcasm flames
forth  joviality is flaunted like a red flag  two jades there drag farce
blossomed forth into an apotheosis  it is the triumphal car of laughter 

A laughter that is too cynical to be frank  In truth  this laughter is
suspicious  This laughter has a mission  It is charged with proving the
Carnival to the Parisians 

These fishwife vehicles  in which one feels one knows not what shadows 
set the philosopher to thinking  There is government therein  There one
lays one s finger on a mysterious affinity between public men and public
women 

It certainly is sad that turpitude heaped up should give a sum total
of gayety  that by piling ignominy upon opprobrium the people should
be enticed  that the system of spying  and serving as caryatids to
prostitution should amuse the rabble when it confronts them  that the
crowd loves to behold that monstrous living pile of tinsel rags  half
dung  half light  roll by on four wheels howling and laughing  that they
should clap their hands at this glory composed of all shames  that there
would be no festival for the populace  did not the police promenade in
their midst these sorts of twenty headed hydras of joy  But what can be
done about it  These be ribboned and be flowered tumbrils of mire are
insulted and pardoned by the laughter of the public  The laughter of all
is the accomplice of universal degradation  Certain unhealthy festivals
disaggregate the people and convert them into the populace  And
populaces  like tyrants  require buffoons  The King has Roquelaure 
the populace has the Merry Andrew  Paris is a great  mad city on every
occasion that it is a great sublime city  There the Carnival forms
part of politics  Paris   let us confess it  willingly allows infamy to
furnish it with comedy  She only demands of her masters  when she has
masters  one thing   Paint me the mud   Rome was of the same mind  She
loved Nero  Nero was a titanic lighterman 

Chance ordained  as we have just said  that one of these shapeless
clusters of masked men and women  dragged about on a vast calash  should
halt on the left of the boulevard  while the wedding train halted on the
right  The carriage load of masks caught sight of the wedding carriage
containing the bridal party opposite them on the other side of the
boulevard 

 Hullo   said a masker   here s a wedding  

 A sham wedding   retorted another   We are the genuine article  

And  being too far off to accost the wedding party  and fearing also 
the rebuke of the police  the two maskers turned their eyes elsewhere 

At the end of another minute  the carriage load of maskers had their
hands full  the multitude set to yelling  which is the crowd s caress
to masquerades  and the two maskers who had just spoken had to face the
throng with their comrades  and did not find the entire repertory of
projectiles of the fishmarkets too extensive to retort to the enormous
verbal attacks of the populace  A frightful exchange of metaphors took
place between the maskers and the crowd 

In the meanwhile  two other maskers in the same carriage  a Spaniard
with an enormous nose  an elderly air  and huge black moustache  and a
gaunt fishwife  who was quite a young girl  masked with a loup  67  had
also noticed the wedding  and while their companions and the passers by
were exchanging insults  they had held a dialogue in a low voice 

Their aside was covered by the tumult and was lost in it  The gusts of
rain had drenched the front of the vehicle  which was wide open  the
breezes of February are not warm  as the fishwife  clad in a low necked
gown  replied to the Spaniard  she shivered  laughed and coughed 

Here is their dialogue 

 Say  now  

 What  daddy  

 Do you see that old cove  

 What old cove  

 Yonder  in the first wedding cart  on our side  

 The one with his arm hung up in a black cravat  

 Yes  

 Well  

 I m sure that I know him  

 Ah  

 I m willing that they should cut my throat  and I m ready to swear that
I never said either you  thou  or I  in my life  if I don t know that
Parisian    pantinois  

 Paris in Pantin to day  

 Can you see the bride if you stoop down  

 No  

 And the bridegroom  

 There s no bridegroom in that trap  

 Bah  

 Unless it s the old fellow  

 Try to get a sight of the bride by stooping very low  

 I can t  

 Never mind  that old cove who has something the matter with his paw I
know  and that I m positive  

 And what good does it do to know him  

 No one can tell  Sometimes it does  

 I don t care a hang for old fellows  that I don t  

 I know him  

 Know him  if you want to  

 How the devil does he come to be one of the wedding party  

 We are in it  too  

 Where does that wedding come from  

 How should I know  

 Listen  

 Well  what  

 There s one thing you ought to do  

 What s that  

 Get off of our trap and spin that wedding  

 What for  

 To find out where it goes  and what it is  Hurry up and jump down 
trot  my girl  your legs are young  

 I can t quit the vehicle  

 Why not  

 I m hired  

 Ah  the devil  

 I owe my fishwife day to the prefecture  

 That s true  

 If I leave the cart  the first inspector who gets his eye on me will
arrest me  You know that well enough  

 Yes  I do  

 I m bought by the government for to day  

 All the same  that old fellow bothers me  

 Do the old fellows bother you  But you re not a young girl  

 He s in the first carriage  

 Well  

 In the bride s trap  

 What then  

 So he is the father  

 What concern is that of mine  

 I tell you that he s the father  

 As if he were the only father  

 Listen  

 What  

 I can t go out otherwise than masked  Here I m concealed  no one knows
that I m here  But to morrow  there will be no more maskers  It s Ash
Wednesday  I run the risk of being nabbed  I must sneak back into my
hole  But you are free  

 Not particularly  

 More than I am  at any rate  

 Well  what of that  

 You must try to find out where that wedding party went to  

 Where it went  

 Yes  

 I know  

 Where is it going then  

 To the Cadran Bleu  

 In the first place  it s not in that direction  

 Well  to la Rapee  

 Or elsewhere  

 It s free  Wedding parties are at liberty  

 That s not the point at all  I tell you that you must try to learn for
me what that wedding is  who that old cove belongs to  and where that
wedding pair lives  

 I like that  that would be queer  It s so easy to find out a
wedding party that passed through the street on a Shrove Tuesday  a week
afterwards  A pin in a hay mow  It ain t possible  

 That don t matter  You must try  You understand me  Azelma  

The two files resumed their movement on both sides of the boulevard  in
opposite directions  and the carriage of the maskers lost sight of the
 trap  of the bride 




CHAPTER II  JEAN VALJEAN STILL WEARS HIS ARM IN A SLING

To realize one s dream  To whom is this accorded  There must be
elections for this in heaven  we are all candidates  unknown to
ourselves  the angels vote  Cosette and Marius had been elected 

Cosette  both at the mayor s office and at church  was dazzling and
touching  Toussaint  assisted by Nicolette  had dressed her 

Cosette wore over a petticoat of white taffeta  her robe of Binche
guipure  a veil of English point  a necklace of fine pearls  a wreath
of orange flowers  all this was white  and  from the midst of that
whiteness she beamed forth  It was an exquisite candor expanding and
becoming transfigured in the light  One would have pronounced her a
virgin on the point of turning into a goddess 

Marius  handsome hair was lustrous and perfumed  here and there  beneath
the thick curls  pale lines  the scars of the barricade  were visible 

The grandfather  haughty  with head held high  amalgamating more than
ever in his toilet and his manners all the elegances of the epoch of
Barras  escorted Cosette  He took the place of Jean Valjean  who  on
account of his arm being still in a sling  could not give his hand to
the bride 

Jean Valjean  dressed in black  followed them with a smile 

 Monsieur Fauchelevent   said the grandfather to him   this is a fine
day  I vote for the end of afflictions and sorrows  Henceforth  there
must be no sadness anywhere  Pardieu  I decree joy  Evil has no right to
exist  That there should be any unhappy men is  in sooth  a disgrace
to the azure of the sky  Evil does not come from man  who is good at
bottom  All human miseries have for their capital and central government
hell  otherwise  known as the Devil s Tuileries  Good  here I am
uttering demagogical words  As far as I am concerned  I have no longer
any political opinions  let all me be rich  that is to say  mirthful 
and I confine myself to that  

When  at the conclusion of all the ceremonies  after having pronounced
before the mayor and before the priest all possible  yesses   after
having signed the registers at the municipality and at the sacristy 
after having exchanged their rings  after having knelt side by side
under the pall of white moire in the smoke of the censer  they arrived 
hand in hand  admired and envied by all  Marius in black  she in white 
preceded by the suisse  with the epaulets of a colonel  tapping the
pavement with his halberd  between two rows of astonished spectators  at
the portals of the church  both leaves of which were thrown wide open 
ready to enter their carriage again  and all being finished  Cosette
still could not believe that it was real  She looked at Marius  she
looked at the crowd  she looked at the sky  it seemed as though she
feared that she should wake up from her dream  Her amazed and uneasy air
added something indescribably enchanting to her beauty  They entered the
same carriage to return home  Marius beside Cosette  M  Gillenormand
and Jean Valjean sat opposite them  Aunt Gillenormand had withdrawn one
degree  and was in the second vehicle 

 My children   said the grandfather   here you are  Monsieur le Baron
and Madame la Baronne  with an income of thirty thousand livres  

And Cosette  nestling close to Marius  caressed his ear with an angelic
whisper   So it is true  My name is Marius  I am Madame Thou  

These two creatures were resplendent  They had reached that irrevocable
and irrecoverable moment  at the dazzling intersection of all youth and
all joy  They realized the verses of Jean Prouvaire  they were forty
years old taken together  It was marriage sublimated  these two children
were two lilies  They did not see each other  they did not contemplate
each other  Cosette perceived Marius in the midst of a glory  Marius
perceived Cosette on an altar  And on that altar  and in that glory  the
two apotheoses mingling  in the background  one knows not how  behind a
cloud for Cosette  in a flash for Marius  there was the ideal thing  the
real thing  the meeting of the kiss and the dream  the nuptial pillow 
All the torments through which they had passed came back to them in
intoxication  It seemed to them that their sorrows  their sleepless
nights  their tears  their anguish  their terrors  their despair 
converted into caresses and rays of light  rendered still more charming
the charming hour which was approaching  and that their griefs were but
so many handmaidens who were preparing the toilet of joy  How good it is
to have suffered  Their unhappiness formed a halo round their happiness 
The long agony of their love was terminating in an ascension 

It was the same enchantment in two souls  tinged with voluptuousness
in Marius  and with modesty in Cosette  They said to each other in low
tones   We will go back to take a look at our little garden in the Rue
Plumet   The folds of Cosette s gown lay across Marius 

Such a day is an ineffable mixture of dream and of reality  One
possesses and one supposes  One still has time before one to divine  The
emotion on that day  of being at mid day and of dreaming of midnight
is indescribable  The delights of these two hearts overflowed upon the
crowd  and inspired the passers by with cheerfulness 

People halted in the Rue Saint Antoine  in front of Saint Paul  to gaze
through the windows of the carriage at the orange flowers quivering on
Cosette s head 

Then they returned home to the Rue des Filles du Calvaire  Marius 
triumphant and radiant  mounted side by side with Cosette the staircase
up which he had been borne in a dying condition  The poor  who had
trooped to the door  and who shared their purses  blessed them  There
were flowers everywhere  The house was no less fragrant than the church 
after the incense  roses  They thought they heard voices carolling in
the infinite  they had God in their hearts  destiny appeared to them
like a ceiling of stars  above their heads they beheld the light of a
rising sun  All at once  the clock struck  Marius glanced at Cosette s
charming bare arm  and at the rosy things which were vaguely visible
through the lace of her bodice  and Cosette  intercepting Marius 
glance  blushed to her very hair 

Quite a number of old family friends of the Gillenormand family had
been invited  they pressed about Cosette  Each one vied with the rest in
saluting her as Madame la Baronne 

The officer  Theodule Gillenormand  now a captain  had come from
Chartres  where he was stationed in garrison  to be present at the
wedding of his cousin Pontmercy  Cosette did not recognize him 

He  on his side  habituated as he was to have women consider him
handsome  retained no more recollection of Cosette than of any other
woman 

 How right I was not to believe in that story about the lancer   said
Father Gillenormand  to himself 

Cosette had never been more tender with Jean Valjean  She was in unison
with Father Gillenormand  while he erected joy into aphorisms and
maxims  she exhaled goodness like a perfume  Happiness desires that all
the world should be happy 

She regained  for the purpose of addressing Jean Valjean  inflections of
voice belonging to the time when she was a little girl  She caressed him
with her smile 

A banquet had been spread in the dining room 

Illumination as brilliant as the daylight is the necessary seasoning of
a great joy  Mist and obscurity are not accepted by the happy  They do
not consent to be black  The night  yes  the shadows  no  If there is no
sun  one must be made 

The dining room was full of gay things  In the centre  above the white
and glittering table  was a Venetian lustre with flat plates  with all
sorts of colored birds  blue  violet  red  and green  perched amid the
candles  around the chandelier  girandoles  on the walls  sconces with
triple and quintuple branches  mirrors  silverware  glassware  plate 
porcelain  faience  pottery  gold and silversmith s work  all was
sparkling and gay  The empty spaces between the candelabra were filled
in with bouquets  so that where there was not a light  there was a
flower 

In the antechamber  three violins and a flute softly played quartettes
by Haydn 

Jean Valjean had seated himself on a chair in the drawing room  behind
the door  the leaf of which folded back upon him in such a manner as to
nearly conceal him  A few moments before they sat down to table  Cosette
came  as though inspired by a sudden whim  and made him a deep courtesy 
spreading out her bridal toilet with both hands  and with a tenderly
roguish glance  she asked him 

 Father  are you satisfied  

 Yes   said Jean Valjean   I am content  

 Well  then  laugh  

Jean Valjean began to laugh 

A few moments later  Basque announced that dinner was served 

The guests  preceded by M  Gillenormand with Cosette on his arm  entered
the dining room  and arranged themselves in the proper order around the
table 

Two large arm chairs figured on the right and left of the bride  the
first for M  Gillenormand  the other for Jean Valjean  M  Gillenormand
took his seat  The other arm chair remained empty 

They looked about for M  Fauchelevent 

He was no longer there 

M  Gillenormand questioned Basque 

 Do you know where M  Fauchelevent is  

 Sir   replied Basque   I do  precisely  M  Fauchelevent told me to say
to you  sir  that he was suffering  his injured hand was paining him
somewhat  and that he could not dine with Monsieur le Baron and Madame
la Baronne  That he begged to be excused  that he would come to morrow 
He has just taken his departure  

That empty arm chair chilled the effusion of the wedding feast for a
moment  But  if M  Fauchelevent was absent  M  Gillenormand was present 
and the grandfather beamed for two  He affirmed that M  Fauchelevent had
done well to retire early  if he were suffering  but that it was only a
slight ailment  This declaration sufficed  Moreover  what is an obscure
corner in such a submersion of joy  Cosette and Marius were passing
through one of those egotistical and blessed moments when no other
faculty is left to a person than that of receiving happiness  And then 
an idea occurred to M  Gillenormand    Pardieu  this armchair is empty 
Come hither  Marius  Your aunt will permit it  although she has a
right to you  This armchair is for you  That is legal and delightful 
Fortunatus beside Fortunata    Applause from the whole table  Marius
took Jean Valjean s place beside Cosette  and things fell out so that
Cosette  who had  at first  been saddened by Jean Valjean s absence 
ended by being satisfied with it  From the moment when Marius took his
place  and was the substitute  Cosette would not have regretted God
himself  She set her sweet little foot  shod in white satin  on Marius 
foot 

The arm chair being occupied  M  Fauchelevent was obliterated  and
nothing was lacking 

And  five minutes afterward  the whole table from one end to the other 
was laughing with all the animation of forgetfulness 

At dessert  M  Gillenormand  rising to his feet  with a glass of
champagne in his hand  only half full so that the palsy of his eighty
years might not cause an overflow   proposed the health of the married
pair 

 You shall not escape two sermons   he exclaimed   This morning you
had one from the cure  this evening you shall have one from your
grandfather  Listen to me  I will give you a bit of advice  Adore each
other  I do not make a pack of gyrations  I go straight to the mark 
be happy  In all creation  only the turtle doves are wise  Philosophers
say   Moderate your joys   I say   Give rein to your joys   Be as
much smitten with each other as fiends  Be in a rage about it  The
philosophers talk stuff and nonsense  I should like to stuff their
philosophy down their gullets again  Can there be too many perfumes 
too many open rose buds  too many nightingales singing  too many green
leaves  too much aurora in life  can people love each other too much 
can people please each other too much  Take care  Estelle  thou art too
pretty  Have a care  Nemorin  thou art too handsome  Fine stupidity 
in sooth  Can people enchant each other too much  cajole each other too
much  charm each other too much  Can one be too much alive  too happy 
Moderate your joys  Ah  indeed  Down with the philosophers  Wisdom
consists in jubilation  Make merry  let us make merry  Are we happy
because we are good  or are we good because we are happy  Is the Sancy
diamond called the Sancy because it belonged to Harley de Sancy  or
because it weighs six hundred carats  I know nothing about it  life is
full of such problems  the important point is to possess the Sancy and
happiness  Let us be happy without quibbling and quirking  Let us obey
the sun blindly  What is the sun  It is love  He who says love  says
woman  Ah  ah  behold omnipotence  women  Ask that demagogue of a Marius
if he is not the slave of that little tyrant of a Cosette  And of his
own free will  too  the coward  Woman  There is no Robespierre who keeps
his place but woman reigns  I am no longer Royalist except towards that
royalty  What is Adam  The kingdom of Eve  No  89 for Eve  There has
been the royal sceptre surmounted by a fleur de lys  there has been the
imperial sceptre surmounted by a globe  there has been the sceptre of
Charlemagne  which was of iron  there has been the sceptre of Louis the
Great  which was of gold   the revolution twisted them between its thumb
and forefinger  ha penny straws  it is done with  it is broken  it lies
on the earth  there is no longer any sceptre  but make me a revolution
against that little embroidered handkerchief  which smells of patchouli 
I should like to see you do it  Try  Why is it so solid  Because it is a
gewgaw  Ah  you are the nineteenth century  Well  what then  And we
have been as foolish as you  Do not imagine that you have effected
much change in the universe  because your trip gallant is called the
cholera morbus  and because your pourree is called the cachuca  In fact 
the women must always be loved  I defy you to escape from that  These
friends are our angels  Yes  love  woman  the kiss forms a circle from
which I defy you to escape  and  for my own part  I should be only
too happy to re enter it  Which of you has seen the planet Venus  the
coquette of the abyss  the Celimene of the ocean  rise in the infinite 
calming all here below  The ocean is a rough Alcestis  Well  grumble
as he will  when Venus appears he is forced to smile  That brute beast
submits  We are all made so  Wrath  tempest  claps of thunder  foam to
the very ceiling  A woman enters on the scene  a planet rises  flat on
your face  Marius was fighting six months ago  to day he is married 
That is well  Yes  Marius  yes  Cosette  you are in the right  Exist
boldly for each other  make us burst with rage that we cannot do the
same  idealize each other  catch in your beaks all the tiny blades of
felicity that exist on earth  and arrange yourselves a nest for life 
Pardi  to love  to be loved  what a fine miracle when one is young 
Don t imagine that you have invented that  I  too  have had my dream  I 
too  have meditated  I  too  have sighed  I  too  have had a moonlight
soul  Love is a child six thousand years old  Love has the right to a
long white beard  Methusalem is a street arab beside Cupid  For sixty
centuries men and women have got out of their scrape by loving  The
devil  who is cunning  took to hating man  man  who is still more
cunning  took to loving woman  In this way he does more good than
the devil does him harm  This craft was discovered in the days of
the terrestrial paradise  The invention is old  my friends  but it is
perfectly new  Profit by it  Be Daphnis and Chloe  while waiting to
become Philemon and Baucis  Manage so that  when you are with each
other  nothing shall be lacking to you  and that Cosette may be the sun
for Marius  and that Marius may be the universe to Cosette  Cosette  let
your fine weather be the smile of your husband  Marius  let your rain
be your wife s tears  And let it never rain in your household  You have
filched the winning number in the lottery  you have gained the great
prize  guard it well  keep it under lock and key  do not squander it 
adore each other and snap your fingers at all the rest  Believe what I
say to you  It is good sense  And good sense cannot lie  Be a religion
to each other  Each man has his own fashion of adoring God  Saperlotte 
the best way to adore God is to love one s wife  I love thee  that s
my catechism  He who loves is orthodox  The oath of Henri IV  places
sanctity somewhere between feasting and drunkenness  Ventre saint gris 
I don t belong to the religion of that oath  Woman is forgotten in it 
This astonishes me on the part of Henri IV  My friends  long live women 
I am old  they say  it s astonishing how much I feel in the mood to
be young  I should like to go and listen to the bagpipes in the woods 
Children who contrive to be beautiful and contented   that intoxicates
me  I would like greatly to get married  if any one would have me  It is
impossible to imagine that God could have made us for anything but this 
to idolize  to coo  to preen ourselves  to be dove like  to be dainty 
to bill and coo our loves from morn to night  to gaze at one s image in
one s little wife  to be proud  to be triumphant  to plume oneself  that
is the aim of life  There  let not that displease you which we used to
think in our day  when we were young folks  Ah  vertu bamboche  what
charming women there were in those days  and what pretty little faces
and what lovely lasses  I committed my ravages among them  Then love
each other  If people did not love each other  I really do not see what
use there would be in having any springtime  and for my own part  I
should pray the good God to shut up all the beautiful things that he
shows us  and to take away from us and put back in his box  the flowers 
the birds  and the pretty maidens  My children  receive an old man s
blessing  

The evening was gay  lively and agreeable  The grandfather s sovereign
good humor gave the key note to the whole feast  and each person
regulated his conduct on that almost centenarian cordiality  They danced
a little  they laughed a great deal  it was an amiable wedding  Goodman
Days of Yore might have been invited to it  However  he was present in
the person of Father Gillenormand 

There was a tumult  then silence 

The married pair disappeared 

A little after midnight  the Gillenormand house became a temple 

Here we pause  On the threshold of wedding nights stands a smiling angel
with his finger on his lips 

The soul enters into contemplation before that sanctuary where the
celebration of love takes place 

There should be flashes of light athwart such houses  The joy which
they contain ought to make its escape through the stones of the walls in
brilliancy  and vaguely illuminate the gloom  It is impossible that this
sacred and fatal festival should not give off a celestial radiance to
the infinite  Love is the sublime crucible wherein the fusion of the man
and the woman takes place  the being one  the being triple  the being
final  the human trinity proceeds from it  This birth of two souls into
one  ought to be an emotion for the gloom  The lover is the priest 
the ravished virgin is terrified  Something of that joy ascends to God 
Where true marriage is  that is to say  where there is love  the ideal
enters in  A nuptial bed makes a nook of dawn amid the shadows  If it
were given to the eye of the flesh to scan the formidable and charming
visions of the upper life  it is probable that we should behold the
forms of night  the winged unknowns  the blue passers of the invisible 
bend down  a throng of sombre heads  around the luminous house 
satisfied  showering benedictions  pointing out to each other the virgin
wife gently alarmed  sweetly terrified  and bearing the reflection of
human bliss upon their divine countenances  If at that supreme hour  the
wedded pair  dazzled with voluptuousness and believing themselves alone 
were to listen  they would hear in their chamber a confused rustling of
wings  Perfect happiness implies a mutual understanding with the angels 
That dark little chamber has all heaven for its ceiling  When two
mouths  rendered sacred by love  approach to create  it is impossible
that there should not be  above that ineffable kiss  a quivering
throughout the immense mystery of stars 

These felicities are the true ones  There is no joy outside of these
joys  Love is the only ecstasy  All the rest weeps 

To love  or to have loved   this suffices  Demand nothing more  There
is no other pearl to be found in the shadowy folds of life  To love is a
fulfilment 




CHAPTER III  THE INSEPARABLE

What had become of Jean Valjean 

Immediately after having laughed  at Cosette s graceful command  when
no one was paying any heed to him  Jean Valjean had risen and had gained
the antechamber unperceived  This was the very room which  eight months
before  he had entered black with mud  with blood and powder  bringing
back the grandson to the grandfather  The old wainscoting was garlanded
with foliage and flowers  the musicians were seated on the sofa on which
they had laid Marius down  Basque  in a black coat  knee breeches  white
stockings and white gloves  was arranging roses round all of the dishes
that were to be served  Jean Valjean pointed to his arm in its sling 
charged Basque to explain his absence  and went away 

The long windows of the dining room opened on the street  Jean Valjean
stood for several minutes  erect and motionless in the darkness  beneath
those radiant windows  He listened  The confused sounds of the banquet
reached his ear  He heard the loud  commanding tones of the grandfather 
the violins  the clatter of the plates  the bursts of laughter  and
through all that merry uproar  he distinguished Cosette s sweet and
joyous voice 

He quitted the Rue des Filles du Calvaire  and returned to the Rue de
l Homme Arme 

In order to return thither  he took the Rue Saint Louis  the Rue
Culture Sainte Catherine  and the Blancs Manteaux  it was a little
longer  but it was the road through which  for the last three months 
he had become accustomed to pass every day on his way from the Rue de
l Homme Arme to the Rue des Filles du Calvaire  in order to avoid the
obstructions and the mud in the Rue Vielle du Temple 

This road  through which Cosette had passed  excluded for him all
possibility of any other itinerary 

Jean Valjean entered his lodgings  He lighted his candle and mounted
the stairs  The apartment was empty  Even Toussaint was no longer there 
Jean Valjean s step made more noise than usual in the chambers  All the
cupboards stood open  He penetrated to Cosette s bedroom  There were no
sheets on the bed  The pillow  covered with ticking  and without a case
or lace  was laid on the blankets folded up on the foot of the mattress 
whose covering was visible  and on which no one was ever to sleep again 
All the little feminine objects which Cosette was attached to had been
carried away  nothing remained except the heavy furniture and the four
walls  Toussaint s bed was despoiled in like manner  One bed only was
made up  and seemed to be waiting some one  and this was Jean Valjean s
bed 

Jean Valjean looked at the walls  closed some of the cupboard doors  and
went and came from one room to another 

Then he sought his own chamber once more  and set his candle on a table 

He had disengaged his arm from the sling  and he used his right hand as
though it did not hurt him 

He approached his bed  and his eyes rested  was it by chance  was it
intentionally  on the inseparable of which Cosette had been jealous  on
the little portmanteau which never left him  On his arrival in the Rue
de l Homme Arme  on the 4th of June  he had deposited it on a round
table near the head of his bed  He went to this table with a sort of
vivacity  took a key from his pocket  and opened the valise 

From it he slowly drew forth the garments in which  ten years before 
Cosette had quitted Montfermeil  first the little gown  then the black
fichu  then the stout  coarse child s shoes which Cosette might almost
have worn still  so tiny were her feet  then the fustian bodice  which
was very thick  then the knitted petticoat  next the apron with pockets 
then the woollen stockings  These stockings  which still preserved the
graceful form of a tiny leg  were no longer than Jean Valjean s hand 
All this was black of hue  It was he who had brought those garments to
Montfermeil for her  As he removed them from the valise  he laid them on
the bed  He fell to thinking  He called up memories  It was in winter 
in a very cold month of December  she was shivering  half naked  in
rags  her poor little feet were all red in their wooden shoes  He  Jean
Valjean  had made her abandon those rags to clothe herself in these
mourning habiliments  The mother must have felt pleased in her grave  to
see her daughter wearing mourning for her  and  above all  to see that
she was properly clothed  and that she was warm  He thought of that
forest of Montfermeil  they had traversed it together  Cosette and he 
he thought of what the weather had been  of the leafless trees  of the
wood destitute of birds  of the sunless sky  it mattered not  it was
charming  He arranged the tiny garments on the bed  the fichu next to
the petticoat  the stockings beside the shoes  and he looked at them 
one after the other  She was no taller than that  she had her big doll
in her arms  she had put her louis d or in the pocket of that apron  she
had laughed  they walked hand in hand  she had no one in the world but
him 

Then his venerable  white head fell forward on the bed  that stoical old
heart broke  his face was engulfed  so to speak  in Cosette s garments 
and if any one had passed up the stairs at that moment  he would have
heard frightful sobs 




CHAPTER IV  THE IMMORTAL LIVER  68 

The old and formidable struggle  of which we have already witnessed so
many phases  began once more 

Jacob struggled with the angel but one night  Alas  how many times have
we beheld Jean Valjean seized bodily by his conscience  in the darkness 
and struggling desperately against it 

Unheard of conflict  At certain moments the foot slips  at other moments
the ground crumbles away underfoot  How many times had that conscience 
mad for the good  clasped and overthrown him  How many times had the
truth set her knee inexorably upon his breast  How many times  hurled
to earth by the light  had he begged for mercy  How many times had
that implacable spark  lighted within him  and upon him by the Bishop 
dazzled him by force when he had wished to be blind  How many times
had he risen to his feet in the combat  held fast to the rock  leaning
against sophism  dragged in the dust  now getting the upper hand of his
conscience  again overthrown by it  How many times  after an equivoque 
after the specious and treacherous reasoning of egotism  had he heard
his irritated conscience cry in his ear   A trip  you wretch   How many
times had his refractory thoughts rattled convulsively in his throat 
under the evidence of duty  Resistance to God  Funereal sweats  What
secret wounds which he alone felt bleed  What excoriations in his
lamentable existence  How many times he had risen bleeding  bruised 
broken  enlightened  despair in his heart  serenity in his soul 
and  vanquished  he had felt himself the conqueror  And  after having
dislocated  broken  and rent his conscience with red hot pincers  it had
said to him  as it stood over him  formidable  luminous  and tranquil 
 Now  go in peace  

But on emerging from so melancholy a conflict  what a lugubrious peace 
alas 

Nevertheless  that night Jean Valjean felt that he was passing through
his final combat 

A heart rending question presented itself 

Predestinations are not all direct  they do not open out in a straight
avenue before the predestined man  they have blind courts  impassable
alleys  obscure turns  disturbing crossroads offering the choice of many
ways  Jean Valjean had halted at that moment at the most perilous of
these crossroads 

He had come to the supreme crossing of good and evil  He had that
gloomy intersection beneath his eyes  On this occasion once more  as had
happened to him already in other sad vicissitudes  two roads opened out
before him  the one tempting  the other alarming 

Which was he to take 

He was counselled to the one which alarmed him by that mysterious index
finger which we all perceive whenever we fix our eyes on the darkness 

Once more  Jean Valjean had the choice between the terrible port and the
smiling ambush 

Is it then true  the soul may recover  but not fate  Frightful thing  an
incurable destiny 

This is the problem which presented itself to him 

In what manner was Jean Valjean to behave in relation to the happiness
of Cosette and Marius  It was he who had willed that happiness  it was
he who had brought it about  he had  himself  buried it in his entrails 
and at that moment  when he reflected on it  he was able to enjoy the
sort of satisfaction which an armorer would experience on recognizing
his factory mark on a knife  on withdrawing it  all smoking  from his
own breast 

Cosette had Marius  Marius possessed Cosette  They had everything  even
riches  And this was his doing 

But what was he  Jean Valjean  to do with this happiness  now that
it existed  now that it was there  Should he force himself on this
happiness  Should he treat it as belonging to him  No doubt  Cosette did
belong to another  but should he  Jean Valjean  retain of Cosette all
that he could retain  Should he remain the sort of father  half seen but
respected  which he had hitherto been  Should he  without saying a
word  bring his past to that future  Should he present himself there 
as though he had a right  and should he seat himself  veiled  at that
luminous fireside  Should he take those innocent hands into his tragic
hands  with a smile  Should he place upon the peaceful fender of the
Gillenormand drawing room those feet of his  which dragged behind them
the disgraceful shadow of the law  Should he enter into participation in
the fair fortunes of Cosette and Marius  Should he render the obscurity
on his brow and the cloud upon theirs still more dense  Should he
place his catastrophe as a third associate in their felicity  Should he
continue to hold his peace  In a word  should he be the sinister mute of
destiny beside these two happy beings 

We must have become habituated to fatality and to encounters with it  in
order to have the daring to raise our eyes when certain questions appear
to us in all their horrible nakedness  Good or evil stands behind
this severe interrogation point  What are you going to do  demands the
sphinx 

This habit of trial Jean Valjean possessed  He gazed intently at the
sphinx 

He examined the pitiless problem under all its aspects 

Cosette  that charming existence  was the raft of this shipwreck  What
was he to do  To cling fast to it  or to let go his hold 

If he clung to it  he should emerge from disaster  he should ascend
again into the sunlight  he should let the bitter water drip from his
garments and his hair  he was saved  he should live 

And if he let go his hold 

Then the abyss 

Thus he took sad council with his thoughts  Or  to speak more correctly 
he fought  he kicked furiously internally  now against his will  now
against his conviction 

Happily for Jean Valjean that he had been able to weep  That relieved
him  possibly  But the beginning was savage  A tempest  more furious
than the one which had formerly driven him to Arras  broke loose within
him  The past surged up before him facing the present  he compared
them and sobbed  The silence of tears once opened  the despairing man
writhed 

He felt that he had been stopped short 

Alas  in this fight to the death between our egotism and our duty  when
we thus retreat step by step before our immutable ideal  bewildered 
furious  exasperated at having to yield  disputing the ground  hoping
for a possible flight  seeking an escape  what an abrupt and sinister
resistance does the foot of the wall offer in our rear 

To feel the sacred shadow which forms an obstacle 

The invisible inexorable  what an obsession 

Then  one is never done with conscience  Make your choice  Brutus  make
your choice  Cato  It is fathomless  since it is God  One flings into
that well the labor of one s whole life  one flings in one s fortune 
one flings in one s riches  one flings in one s success  one flings in
one s liberty or fatherland  one flings in one s well being  one flings
in one s repose  one flings in one s joy  More  more  more  Empty the
vase  tip the urn  One must finish by flinging in one s heart 

Somewhere in the fog of the ancient hells  there is a tun like that 

Is not one pardonable  if one at last refuses  Can the inexhaustible
have any right  Are not chains which are endless above human strength 
Who would blame Sisyphus and Jean Valjean for saying   It is enough  

The obedience of matter is limited by friction  is there no limit to the
obedience of the soul  If perpetual motion is impossible  can perpetual
self sacrifice be exacted 

The first step is nothing  it is the last which is difficult  What was
the Champmathieu affair in comparison with Cosette s marriage and of
that which it entailed  What is a re entrance into the galleys  compared
to entrance into the void 

Oh  first step that must be descended  how sombre art thou  Oh  second
step  how black art thou 

How could he refrain from turning aside his head this time 

Martyrdom is sublimation  corrosive sublimation  It is a torture which
consecrates  One can consent to it for the first hour  one seats oneself
on the throne of glowing iron  one places on one s head the crown of hot
iron  one accepts the globe of red hot iron  one takes the sceptre of
red hot iron  but the mantle of flame still remains to be donned  and
comes there not a moment when the miserable flesh revolts and when one
abdicates from suffering 

At length  Jean Valjean entered into the peace of exhaustion 

He weighed  he reflected  he considered the alternatives  the mysterious
balance of light and darkness 

Should he impose his galleys on those two dazzling children  or should
he consummate his irremediable engulfment by himself  On one side lay
the sacrifice of Cosette  on the other that of himself 

At what solution should he arrive  What decision did he come to 

What resolution did he take  What was his own inward definitive response
to the unbribable interrogatory of fatality  What door did he decide to
open  Which side of his life did he resolve upon closing and condemning 
Among all the unfathomable precipices which surrounded him  which was
his choice  What extremity did he accept  To which of the gulfs did he
nod his head 

His dizzy revery lasted all night long 

He remained there until daylight  in the same attitude  bent double over
that bed  prostrate beneath the enormity of fate  crushed  perchance 
alas  with clenched fists  with arms outspread at right angles  like a
man crucified who has been un nailed  and flung face down on the earth 
There he remained for twelve hours  the twelve long hours of a long
winter s night  ice cold  without once raising his head  and without
uttering a word  He was as motionless as a corpse  while his thoughts
wallowed on the earth and soared  now like the hydra  now like the
eagle  Any one to behold him thus motionless would have pronounced him
dead  all at once he shuddered convulsively  and his mouth  glued to
Cosette s garments  kissed them  then it could be seen that he was
alive 

Who could see  Since Jean Valjean was alone  and there was no one there 

The One who is in the shadows 




BOOK SEVENTH   THE LAST DRAUGHT FROM THE CUP

 Illustration  Last Drop from the Cup  5b7 1 last drop 




CHAPTER I  THE SEVENTH CIRCLE AND THE EIGHTH HEAVEN

The days that follow weddings are solitary  People respect the
meditations of the happy pair  And also  their tardy slumbers  to some
degree  The tumult of visits and congratulations only begins later on 
On the morning of the 17th of February  it was a little past midday when
Basque  with napkin and feather duster under his arm  busy in setting
his antechamber to rights  heard a light tap at the door  There had been
no ring  which was discreet on such a day  Basque opened the door  and
beheld M  Fauchelevent  He introduced him into the drawing room  still
encumbered and topsy turvy  and which bore the air of a field of battle
after the joys of the preceding evening 

 Dame  sir   remarked Basque   we all woke up late  

 Is your master up   asked Jean Valjean 

 How is Monsieur s arm   replied Basque 

 Better  Is your master up  

 Which one  the old one or the new one  

 Monsieur Pontmercy  

 Monsieur le Baron   said Basque  drawing himself up 

A man is a Baron most of all to his servants  He counts for something
with them  they are what a philosopher would call  bespattered with the
title  and that flatters them  Marius  be it said in passing  a militant
republican as he had proved  was now a Baron in spite of himself  A
small revolution had taken place in the family in connection with
this title  It was now M  Gillenormand who clung to it  and Marius who
detached himself from it  But Colonel Pontmercy had written   My son
will bear my title   Marius obeyed  And then  Cosette  in whom the woman
was beginning to dawn  was delighted to be a Baroness 

 Monsieur le Baron   repeated Basque   I will go and see  I will tell
him that M  Fauchelevent is here  

 No  Do not tell him that it is I  Tell him that some one wishes to
speak to him in private  and mention no name  

 Ah   ejaculated Basque 

 I wish to surprise him  

 Ah   ejaculated Basque once more  emitting his second  ah   as an
explanation of the first 

And he left the room 

Jean Valjean remained alone 

The drawing room  as we have just said  was in great disorder  It seemed
as though  by lending an air  one might still hear the vague noise of
the wedding  On the polished floor lay all sorts of flowers which
had fallen from garlands and head dresses  The wax candles  burned
to stumps  added stalactites of wax to the crystal drops of the
chandeliers  Not a single piece of furniture was in its place  In the
corners  three or four arm chairs  drawn close together in a circle 
had the appearance of continuing a conversation  The whole effect was
cheerful  A certain grace still lingers round a dead feast  It has been
a happy thing  On the chairs in disarray  among those fading flowers 
beneath those extinct lights  people have thought of joy  The sun
had succeeded to the chandelier  and made its way gayly into the
drawing room 

Several minutes elapsed  Jean Valjean stood motionless on the spot where
Basque had left him  He was very pale  His eyes were hollow  and so
sunken in his head by sleeplessness that they nearly disappeared in
their orbits  His black coat bore the weary folds of a garment that
has been up all night  The elbows were whitened with the down which the
friction of cloth against linen leaves behind it 

Jean Valjean stared at the window outlined on the polished floor at his
feet by the sun 

There came a sound at the door  and he raised his eyes 

Marius entered  his head well up  his mouth smiling  an indescribable
light on his countenance  his brow expanded  his eyes triumphant  He had
not slept either 

 It is you  father   he exclaimed  on catching sight of Jean Valjean 
 that idiot of a Basque had such a mysterious air  But you have come too
early  It is only half past twelve  Cosette is asleep  

That word   Father   said to M  Fauchelevent by Marius  signified 
supreme felicity  There had always existed  as the reader knows  a lofty
wall  a coldness and a constraint between them  ice which must be broken
or melted  Marius had reached that point of intoxication when the wall
was lowered  when the ice dissolved  and when M  Fauchelevent was to
him  as to Cosette  a father 

He continued  his words poured forth  as is the peculiarity of divine
paroxysms of joy 

 How glad I am to see you  If you only knew how we missed you yesterday 
Good morning  father  How is your hand  Better  is it not  

And  satisfied with the favorable reply which he had made to himself  he
pursued 

 We have both been talking about you  Cosette loves you so dearly  You
must not forget that you have a chamber here  We want nothing more to
do with the Rue de l Homme Arme  We will have no more of it at all  How
could you go to live in a street like that  which is sickly  which is
disagreeable  which is ugly  which has a barrier at one end  where one
is cold  and into which one cannot enter  You are to come and install
yourself here  And this very day  Or you will have to deal with Cosette 
She means to lead us all by the nose  I warn you  You have your own
chamber here  it is close to ours  it opens on the garden  the trouble
with the clock has been attended to  the bed is made  it is all ready 
you have only to take possession of it  Near your bed Cosette has placed
a huge  old  easy chair covered with Utrecht velvet and she has said to
it   Stretch out your arms to him   A nightingale comes to the clump of
acacias opposite your windows  every spring  In two months more you will
have it  You will have its nest on your left and ours on your right  By
night it will sing  and by day Cosette will prattle  Your chamber faces
due South  Cosette will arrange your books for you  your Voyages of
Captain Cook and the other   Vancouver s and all your affairs  I believe
that there is a little valise to which you are attached  I have fixed
upon a corner of honor for that  You have conquered my grandfather  you
suit him  We will live together  Do you play whist  you will overwhelm
my grandfather with delight if you play whist  It is you who shall take
Cosette to walk on the days when I am at the courts  you shall give her
your arm  you know  as you used to  in the Luxembourg  We are absolutely
resolved to be happy  And you shall be included in it  in our happiness 
do you hear  father  Come  will you breakfast with us to day  

 Sir   said Jean Valjean   I have something to say to you  I am an
ex convict  

The limit of shrill sounds perceptible can be overleaped  as well in
the case of the mind as in that of the ear  These words   I am an
ex convict   proceeding from the mouth of M  Fauchelevent and entering
the ear of Marius overshot the possible  It seemed to him that something
had just been said to him  but he did not know what  He stood with his
mouth wide open 

Then he perceived that the man who was addressing him was frightful 
Wholly absorbed in his own dazzled state  he had not  up to that moment 
observed the other man s terrible pallor 

Jean Valjean untied the black cravat which supported his right arm 
unrolled the linen from around his hand  bared his thumb and showed it
to Marius 

 There is nothing the matter with my hand   said he 

Marius looked at the thumb 

 There has not been anything the matter with it   went on Jean Valjean 

There was  in fact  no trace of any injury 

Jean Valjean continued 

 It was fitting that I should be absent from your marriage  I absented
myself as much as was in my power  So I invented this injury in order
that I might not commit a forgery  that I might not introduce a flaw
into the marriage documents  in order that I might escape from signing  

Marius stammered 

 What is the meaning of this  

 The meaning of it is   replied Jean Valjean   that I have been in the
galleys  

 You are driving me mad   exclaimed Marius in terror 

 Monsieur Pontmercy   said Jean Valjean   I was nineteen years in the
galleys  For theft  Then  I was condemned for life for theft  for a
second offence  At the present moment  I have broken my ban  

In vain did Marius recoil before the reality  refuse the fact  resist
the evidence  he was forced to give way  He began to understand  and  as
always happens in such cases  he understood too much  An inward shudder
of hideous enlightenment flashed through him  an idea which made him
quiver traversed his mind  He caught a glimpse of a wretched destiny for
himself in the future 

 Say all  say all   he cried   You are Cosette s father  

And he retreated a couple of paces with a movement of indescribable
horror 

Jean Valjean elevated his head with so much majesty of attitude that he
seemed to grow even to the ceiling 

 It is necessary that you should believe me here  sir  although our oath
to others may not be received in law       

Here he paused  then  with a sort of sovereign and sepulchral authority 
he added  articulating slowly  and emphasizing the syllables 

       You will believe me  I the father of Cosette  before God  no 
Monsieur le Baron Pontmercy  I am a peasant of Faverolles  I earned my
living by pruning trees  My name is not Fauchelevent  but Jean Valjean 
I am not related to Cosette  Reassure yourself  

Marius stammered 

 Who will prove that to me  

 I  Since I tell you so  

Marius looked at the man  He was melancholy yet tranquil  No lie could
proceed from such a calm  That which is icy is sincere  The truth could
be felt in that chill of the tomb 

 I believe you   said Marius 

Jean Valjean bent his head  as though taking note of this  and
continued 

 What am I to Cosette  A passer by  Ten years ago  I did not know that
she was in existence  I love her  it is true  One loves a child whom one
has seen when very young  being old oneself  When one is old  one feels
oneself a grandfather towards all little children  You may  it seems to
me  suppose that I have something which resembles a heart  She was an
orphan  Without either father or mother  She needed me  That is why I
began to love her  Children are so weak that the first comer  even a man
like me  can become their protector  I have fulfilled this duty towards
Cosette  I do not think that so slight a thing can be called a good
action  but if it be a good action  well  say that I have done it 
Register this attenuating circumstance  To day  Cosette passes out of my
life  our two roads part  Henceforth  I can do nothing for her  She is
Madame Pontmercy  Her providence has changed  And Cosette gains by the
change  All is well  As for the six hundred thousand francs  you do not
mention them to me  but I forestall your thought  they are a deposit 
How did that deposit come into my hands  What does that matter  I
restore the deposit  Nothing more can be demanded of me  I complete
the restitution by announcing my true name  That concerns me  I have a
reason for desiring that you should know who I am  

And Jean Valjean looked Marius full in the face 

All that Marius experienced was tumultuous and incoherent  Certain gusts
of destiny produce these billows in our souls 

We have all undergone moments of trouble in which everything within us
is dispersed  we say the first things that occur to us  which are
not always precisely those which should be said  There are sudden
revelations which one cannot bear  and which intoxicate like baleful
wine  Marius was stupefied by the novel situation which presented itself
to him  to the point of addressing that man almost like a person who was
angry with him for this avowal 

 But why   he exclaimed   do you tell me all this  Who forces you to
do so  You could have kept your secret to yourself  You are neither
denounced  nor tracked nor pursued  You have a reason for wantonly
making such a revelation  Conclude  There is something more  In what
connection do you make this confession  What is your motive  

 My motive   replied Jean Valjean in a voice so low and dull that one
would have said that he was talking to himself rather than to Marius 
 From what motive  in fact  has this convict just said  I am a convict  
Well  yes  the motive is strange  It is out of honesty  Stay  the
unfortunate point is that I have a thread in my heart  which keeps me
fast  It is when one is old that that sort of thread is particularly
solid  All life falls in ruin around one  one resists  Had I been able
to tear out that thread  to break it  to undo the knot or to cut it  to
go far away  I should have been safe  I had only to go away  there are
diligences in the Rue Bouloy  you are happy  I am going  I have tried
to break that thread  I have jerked at it  it would not break  I tore my
heart with it  Then I said   I cannot live anywhere else than here   I
must stay  Well  yes  you are right  I am a fool  why not simply
remain here  You offer me a chamber in this house  Madame Pontmercy is
sincerely attached to me  she said to the arm chair   Stretch out your
arms to him   your grandfather demands nothing better than to have me  I
suit him  we shall live together  and take our meals in common  I shall
give Cosette my arm       Madame Pontmercy  excuse me  it is a habit  we
shall have but one roof  one table  one fire  the same chimney corner
in winter  the same promenade in summer  that is joy  that is happiness 
that is everything  We shall live as one family  One family  

At that word  Jean Valjean became wild  He folded his arms  glared at
the floor beneath his feet as though he would have excavated an abyss
therein  and his voice suddenly rose in thundering tones 

 As one family  No  I belong to no family  I do not belong to yours 
I do not belong to any family of men  In houses where people are among
themselves  I am superfluous  There are families  but there is nothing
of the sort for me  I am an unlucky wretch  I am left outside  Did I
have a father and mother  I almost doubt it  On the day when I gave that
child in marriage  all came to an end  I have seen her happy  and that
she is with a man whom she loves  and that there exists here a kind old
man  a household of two angels  and all joys in that house  and that it
was well  I said to myself   Enter thou not   I could have lied  it is
true  have deceived you all  and remained Monsieur Fauchelevent  So long
as it was for her  I could lie  but now it would be for myself  and I
must not  It was sufficient for me to hold my peace  it is true  and all
would go on  You ask me what has forced me to speak  a very odd thing 
my conscience  To hold my peace was very easy  however  I passed the
night in trying to persuade myself to it  you questioned me  and what I
have just said to you is so extraordinary that you have the right to do
it  well  yes  I have passed the night in alleging reasons to myself 
and I gave myself very good reasons  I have done what I could  But there
are two things in which I have not succeeded  in breaking the thread
that holds me fixed  riveted and sealed here by the heart  or in
silencing some one who speaks softly to me when I am alone  That is why
I have come hither to tell you everything this morning  Everything or
nearly everything  It is useless to tell you that which concerns only
myself  I keep that to myself  You know the essential points  So I have
taken my mystery and have brought it to you  And I have disembowelled my
secret before your eyes  It was not a resolution that was easy to take 
I struggled all night long  Ah  you think that I did not tell myself
that this was no Champmathieu affair  that by concealing my name I was
doing no one any injury  that the name of Fauchelevent had been given to
me by Fauchelevent himself  out of gratitude for a service rendered to
him  and that I might assuredly keep it  and that I should be happy in
that chamber which you offer me  that I should not be in any one s way 
that I should be in my own little corner  and that  while you would have
Cosette  I should have the idea that I was in the same house with her 
Each one of us would have had his share of happiness  If I continued to
be Monsieur Fauchelevent  that would arrange everything  Yes  with the
exception of my soul  There was joy everywhere upon my surface  but the
bottom of my soul remained black  It is not enough to be happy  one must
be content  Thus I should have remained Monsieur Fauchelevent  thus
I should have concealed my true visage  thus  in the presence of your
expansion  I should have had an enigma  thus  in the midst of your full
noonday  I should have had shadows  thus  without crying   ware   I
should have simply introduced the galleys to your fireside  I should
have taken my seat at your table with the thought that if you knew who
I was  you would drive me from it  I should have allowed myself to
be served by domestics who  had they known  would have said   How
horrible   I should have touched you with my elbow  which you have a
right to dislike  I should have filched your clasps of the hand  There
would have existed in your house a division of respect between venerable
white locks and tainted white locks  at your most intimate hours  when
all hearts thought themselves open to the very bottom to all the rest 
when we four were together  your grandfather  you two and myself  a
stranger would have been present  I should have been side by side with
you in your existence  having for my only care not to disarrange the
cover of my dreadful pit  Thus  I  a dead man  should have thrust myself
upon you who are living beings  I should have condemned her to myself
forever  You and Cosette and I would have had all three of our heads in
the green cap  Does it not make you shudder  I am only the most crushed
of men  I should have been the most monstrous of men  And I should have
committed that crime every day  And I should have had that face of night
upon my visage every day  every day  And I should have communicated to
you a share in my taint every day  every day  to you  my dearly beloved 
my children  to you  my innocent creatures  Is it nothing to hold one s
peace  is it a simple matter to keep silence  No  it is not simple 
There is a silence which lies  And my lie  and my fraud and my
indignity  and my cowardice and my treason and my crime  I should have
drained drop by drop  I should have spit it out  then swallowed it
again  I should have finished at midnight and have begun again at
midday  and my  good morning  would have lied  and my  good night  would
have lied  and I should have slept on it  I should have eaten it  with
my bread  and I should have looked Cosette in the face  and I should
have responded to the smile of the angel by the smile of the damned
soul  and I should have been an abominable villain  Why should I do
it  in order to be happy  In order to be happy  Have I the right to be
happy  I stand outside of life  Sir  

Jean Valjean paused  Marius listened  Such chains of ideas and of
anguishes cannot be interrupted  Jean Valjean lowered his voice once
more  but it was no longer a dull voice  it was a sinister voice 

 You ask why I speak  I am neither denounced  nor pursued  nor tracked 
you say  Yes  I am denounced  yes  I am tracked  By whom  By myself 
It is I who bar the passage to myself  and I drag myself  and I push
myself  and I arrest myself  and I execute myself  and when one holds
oneself  one is firmly held  

And  seizing a handful of his own coat by the nape of the neck and
extending it towards Marius 

 Do you see that fist   he continued   Don t you think that it holds
that collar in such a wise as not to release it  Well  conscience
is another grasp  If one desires to be happy  sir  one must never
understand duty  for  as soon as one has comprehended it  it is
implacable  One would say that it punished you for comprehending it 
but no  it rewards you  for it places you in a hell  where you feel God
beside you  One has no sooner lacerated his own entrails than he is at
peace with himself  

And  with a poignant accent  he added 

 Monsieur Pontmercy  this is not common sense  I am an honest man  It is
by degrading myself in your eyes that I elevate myself in my own  This
has happened to me once before  but it was less painful then  it was
a mere nothing  Yes  an honest man  I should not be so if  through my
fault  you had continued to esteem me  now that you despise me  I am so 
I have that fatality hanging over me that  not being able to ever have
anything but stolen consideration  that consideration humiliates me 
and crushes me inwardly  and  in order that I may respect myself  it is
necessary that I should be despised  Then I straighten up again  I am
a galley slave who obeys his conscience  I know well that that is most
improbable  But what would you have me do about it  it is the fact 
I have entered into engagements with myself  I keep them  There are
encounters which bind us  there are chances which involve us in duties 
You see  Monsieur Pontmercy  various things have happened to me in the
course of my life  

Again Jean Valjean paused  swallowing his saliva with an effort  as
though his words had a bitter after taste  and then he went on 

 When one has such a horror hanging over one  one has not the right to
make others share it without their knowledge  one has not the right to
make them slip over one s own precipice without their perceiving it 
one has not the right to let one s red blouse drag upon them  one has no
right to slyly encumber with one s misery the happiness of others  It is
hideous to approach those who are healthy  and to touch them in the dark
with one s ulcer  In spite of the fact that Fauchelevent lent me his
name  I have no right to use it  he could give it to me  but I could not
take it  A name is an  I   You see  sir  that I have thought somewhat  I
have read a little  although I am a peasant  and you see that I
express myself properly  I understand things  I have procured myself an
education  Well  yes  to abstract a name and to place oneself under it
is dishonest  Letters of the alphabet can be filched  like a purse or a
watch  To be a false signature in flesh and blood  to be a living false
key  to enter the house of honest people by picking their lock  never
more to look straightforward  to forever eye askance  to be infamous
within the  I   no  no  no  no  no  It is better to suffer  to bleed  to
weep  to tear one s skin from the flesh with one s nails  to pass nights
writhing in anguish  to devour oneself body and soul  That is why I have
just told you all this  Wantonly  as you say  

He drew a painful breath  and hurled this final word 

 In days gone by  I stole a loaf of bread in order to live  to day  in
order to live  I will not steal a name  

 To live   interrupted Marius   You do not need that name in order to
live  

 Ah  I understand the matter   said Jean Valjean  raising and lowering
his head several times in succession 

A silence ensued  Both held their peace  each plunged in a gulf of
thoughts  Marius was sitting near a table and resting the corner of his
mouth on one of his fingers  which was folded back  Jean Valjean was
pacing to and fro  He paused before a mirror  and remained motionless 
Then  as though replying to some inward course of reasoning  he said  as
he gazed at the mirror  which he did not see 

 While  at present  I am relieved  

He took up his march again  and walked to the other end of the
drawing room  At the moment when he turned round  he perceived that
Marius was watching his walk  Then he said  with an inexpressible
intonation 

 I drag my leg a little  Now you understand why  

Then he turned fully round towards Marius 

 And now  sir  imagine this  I have said nothing  I have remained
Monsieur Fauchelevent  I have taken my place in your house  I am one of
you  I am in my chamber  I come to breakfast in the morning in slippers 
in the evening all three of us go to the play  I accompany Madame
Pontmercy to the Tuileries  and to the Place Royale  we are together 
you think me your equal  one fine day you are there  and I am there  we
are conversing  we are laughing  all at once  you hear a voice shouting
this name   Jean Valjean   and behold  that terrible hand  the police 
darts from the darkness  and abruptly tears off my mask  

Again he paused  Marius had sprung to his feet with a shudder  Jean
Valjean resumed 

 What do you say to that  

Marius  silence answered for him 

Jean Valjean continued 

 You see that I am right in not holding my peace  Be happy  be
in heaven  be the angel of an angel  exist in the sun  be content
therewith  and do not trouble yourself about the means which a poor
damned wretch takes to open his breast and force his duty to come forth 
you have before you  sir  a wretched man  

Marius slowly crossed the room  and  when he was quite close to Jean
Valjean  he offered the latter his hand 

But Marius was obliged to step up and take that hand which was not
offered  Jean Valjean let him have his own way  and it seemed to Marius
that he pressed a hand of marble 

 My grandfather has friends   said Marius   I will procure your pardon  

 It is useless   replied Jean Valjean   I am believed to be dead  and
that suffices  The dead are not subjected to surveillance  They are
supposed to rot in peace  Death is the same thing as pardon  

And  disengaging the hand which Marius held  he added  with a sort of
inexorable dignity 

 Moreover  the friend to whom I have recourse is the doing of my duty 
and I need but one pardon  that of my conscience  

At that moment  a door at the other end of the drawing room opened
gently half way  and in the opening Cosette s head appeared  They saw
only her sweet face  her hair was in charming disorder  her eyelids were
still swollen with sleep  She made the movement of a bird  which thrusts
its head out of its nest  glanced first at her husband  then at Jean
Valjean  and cried to them with a smile  so that they seemed to behold a
smile at the heart of a rose 

 I will wager that you are talking politics  How stupid that is  instead
of being with me  

Jean Valjean shuddered 

 Cosette         stammered Marius 

And he paused  One would have said that they were two criminals 

Cosette  who was radiant  continued to gaze at both of them  There was
something in her eyes like gleams of paradise 

 I have caught you in the very act   said Cosette   Just now  I heard my
father Fauchelevent through the door saying   Conscience       doing my
duty        That is politics  indeed it is  I will not have it  People
should not talk politics the very next day  It is not right  

 You are mistaken  Cosette   said Marius   we are talking business  We
are discussing the best investment of your six hundred thousand
francs       

 That is not it at all   interrupted Cosette   I am coming  Does any
body want me here  

And  passing resolutely through the door  she entered the drawing room 
She was dressed in a voluminous white dressing gown  with a thousand
folds and large sleeves which  starting from the neck  fell to her feet 
In the golden heavens of some ancient gothic pictures  there are these
charming sacks fit to clothe the angels 

She contemplated herself from head to foot in a long mirror  then
exclaimed  in an outburst of ineffable ecstasy 

 There was once a King and a Queen  Oh  how happy I am  

That said  she made a curtsey to Marius and to Jean Valjean 

 There   said she   I am going to install myself near you in an
easy chair  we breakfast in half an hour  you shall say anything you
like  I know well that men must talk  and I will be very good  

Marius took her by the arm and said lovingly to her 

 We are talking business  

 By the way   said Cosette   I have opened my window  a flock of
pierrots has arrived in the garden   Birds  not maskers  To day is
Ash Wednesday  but not for the birds  

 I tell you that we are talking business  go  my little Cosette  leave
us alone for a moment  We are talking figures  That will bore you  

 You have a charming cravat on this morning  Marius  You are very
dandified  monseigneur  No  it will not bore me  

 I assure you that it will bore you  

 No  Since it is you  I shall not understand you  but I shall listen
to you  When one hears the voices of those whom one loves  one does not
need to understand the words that they utter  That we should be here
together  that is all that I desire  I shall remain with you  bah  

 You are my beloved Cosette  Impossible  

 Impossible  

 Yes  

 Very good   said Cosette   I was going to tell you some news  I could
have told you that your grandfather is still asleep  that your aunt is
at mass  that the chimney in my father Fauchelevent s room smokes  that
Nicolette has sent for the chimney sweep  that Toussaint and Nicolette
have already quarrelled  that Nicolette makes sport of Toussaint s
stammer  Well  you shall know nothing  Ah  it is impossible  you shall
see  gentlemen  that I  in my turn  can say  It is impossible  Then who
will be caught  I beseech you  my little Marius  let me stay here with
you two  

 I swear to you  that it is indispensable that we should be alone  

 Well  am I anybody  

Jean Valjean had not uttered a single word  Cosette turned to him 

 In the first place  father  I want you to come and embrace me  What do
you mean by not saying anything instead of taking my part  who gave me
such a father as that  You must perceive that my family life is very
unhappy  My husband beats me  Come  embrace me instantly  

Jean Valjean approached 

Cosette turned toward Marius 

 As for you  I shall make a face at you  

Then she presented her brow to Jean Valjean 

Jean Valjean advanced a step toward her 

Cosette recoiled 

 Father  you are pale  Does your arm hurt you  

 It is well   said Jean Valjean 

 Did you sleep badly  

 No  

 Are you sad  

 No  

 Embrace me if you are well  if you sleep well  if you are content  I
will not scold you  

And again she offered him her brow 

Jean Valjean dropped a kiss upon that brow whereon rested a celestial
gleam 

 Smile  

Jean Valjean obeyed  It was the smile of a spectre 

 Now  defend me against my husband  

 Cosette         ejaculated Marius 

 Get angry  father  Say that I must stay  You can certainly talk before
me  So you think me very silly  What you say is astonishing  business 
placing money in a bank a great matter truly  Men make mysteries out of
nothing  I am very pretty this morning  Look at me  Marius  

And with an adorable shrug of the shoulders  and an indescribably
exquisite pout  she glanced at Marius 

 I love you   said Marius 

 I adore you   said Cosette 

And they fell irresistibly into each other s arms 

 Now   said Cosette  adjusting a fold of her dressing gown  with a
triumphant little grimace   I shall stay  

 No  not that   said Marius  in a supplicating tone   We have to finish
something  

 Still no  

Marius assumed a grave tone 

 I assure you  Cosette  that it is impossible  

 Ah  you put on your man s voice  sir  That is well  I go  You  father 
have not upheld me  Monsieur my father  monsieur my husband  you are
tyrants  I shall go and tell grandpapa  If you think that I am going to
return and talk platitudes to you  you are mistaken  I am proud  I shall
wait for you now  You shall see  that it is you who are going to be
bored without me  I am going  it is well  

And she left the room 

Two seconds later  the door opened once more  her fresh and rosy head
was again thrust between the two leaves  and she cried to them 

 I am very angry indeed  

The door closed again  and the shadows descended once more 

It was as though a ray of sunlight should have suddenly traversed the
night  without itself being conscious of it 

Marius made sure that the door was securely closed 

 Poor Cosette   he murmured   when she finds out       

At that word Jean Valjean trembled in every limb  He fixed on Marius a
bewildered eye 

 Cosette  oh yes  it is true  you are going to tell Cosette about this 
That is right  Stay  I had not thought of that  One has the strength for
one thing  but not for another  Sir  I conjure you  I entreat now  sir 
give me your most sacred word of honor  that you will not tell her  Is
it not enough that you should know it  I have been able to say it myself
without being forced to it  I could have told it to the universe  to the
whole world   it was all one to me  But she  she does not know what
it is  it would terrify her  What  a convict  we should be obliged to
explain matters to her  to say to her   He is a man who has been in the
galleys   She saw the chain gang pass by one day  Oh  My God         He
dropped into an arm chair and hid his face in his hands 

His grief was not audible  but from the quivering of his shoulders it
was evident that he was weeping  Silent tears  terrible tears 

There is something of suffocation in the sob  He was seized with a sort
of convulsion  he threw himself against the back of the chair as though
to gain breath  letting his arms fall  and allowing Marius to see his
face inundated with tears  and Marius heard him murmur  so low that his
voice seemed to issue from fathomless depths 

 Oh  would that I could die  

 Be at your ease   said Marius   I will keep your secret for myself
alone   x And  less touched  perhaps  than he ought to have been  but
forced  for the last hour  to familiarize himself with something
as unexpected as it was dreadful  gradually beholding the convict
superposed before his very eyes  upon M  Fauchelevent  overcome 
little by little  by that lugubrious reality  and led  by the natural
inclination of the situation  to recognize the space which had just been
placed between that man and himself  Marius added 

 It is impossible that I should not speak a word to you with regard to
the deposit which you have so faithfully and honestly remitted  That is
an act of probity  It is just that some recompense should be bestowed on
you  Fix the sum yourself  it shall be counted out to you  Do not fear
to set it very high  

 I thank you  sir   replied Jean Valjean  gently 

He remained in thought for a moment  mechanically passing the tip of his
fore finger across his thumb nail  then he lifted up his voice 

 All is nearly over  But one last thing remains for me       

 What is it  

Jean Valjean struggled with what seemed a last hesitation  and  without
voice  without breath  he stammered rather than said 

 Now that you know  do you think  sir  you  who are the master  that I
ought not to see Cosette any more  

 I think that would be better   replied Marius coldly 

 I shall never see her more   murmured Jean Valjean  And he directed his
steps towards the door 

He laid his hand on the knob  the latch yielded  the door opened  Jean
Valjean pushed it open far enough to pass through  stood motionless for
a second  then closed the door again and turned to Marius 

He was no longer pale  he was livid  There were no longer any tears
in his eyes  but only a sort of tragic flame  His voice had regained a
strange composure 

 Stay  sir   he said   If you will allow it  I will come to see her  I
assure you that I desire it greatly  If I had not cared to see Cosette 
I should not have made to you the confession that I have made  I should
have gone away  but  as I desired to remain in the place where Cosette
is  and to continue to see her  I had to tell you about it honestly  You
follow my reasoning  do you not  it is a matter easily understood  You
see  I have had her with me for more than nine years  We lived first
in that hut on the boulevard  then in the convent  then near the
Luxembourg  That was where you saw her for the first time  You remember
her blue plush hat  Then we went to the Quartier des Invalides  where
there was a railing on a garden  the Rue Plumet  I lived in a little
back court yard  whence I could hear her piano  That was my life  We
never left each other  That lasted for nine years and some months  I
was like her own father  and she was my child  I do not know whether
you understand  Monsieur Pontmercy  but to go away now  never to see her
again  never to speak to her again  to no longer have anything  would
be hard  If you do not disapprove of it  I will come to see Cosette from
time to time  I will not come often  I will not remain long  You shall
give orders that I am to be received in the little waiting room  On the
ground floor  I could enter perfectly well by the back door  but that
might create surprise perhaps  and it would be better  I think  for me
to enter by the usual door  Truly  sir  I should like to see a little
more of Cosette  As rarely as you please  Put yourself in my place 
I have nothing left but that  And then  we must be cautious  If I
no longer come at all  it would produce a bad effect  it would be
considered singular  What I can do  by the way  is to come in the
afternoon  when night is beginning to fall  

 You shall come every evening   said Marius   and Cosette will be
waiting for you  

 You are kind  sir   said Jean Valjean 

Marius saluted Jean Valjean  happiness escorted despair to the door  and
these two men parted 




CHAPTER II  THE OBSCURITIES WHICH A REVELATION CAN CONTAIN

Marius was quite upset 

The sort of estrangement which he had always felt towards the man beside
whom he had seen Cosette  was now explained to him  There was something
enigmatic about that person  of which his instinct had warned him 

This enigma was the most hideous of disgraces  the galleys  This M 
Fauchelevent was the convict Jean Valjean 

To abruptly find such a secret in the midst of one s happiness resembles
the discovery of a scorpion in a nest of turtledoves 

Was the happiness of Marius and Cosette thenceforth condemned to such a
neighborhood  Was this an accomplished fact  Did the acceptance of that
man form a part of the marriage now consummated  Was there nothing to be
done 

Had Marius wedded the convict as well 

In vain may one be crowned with light and joy  in vain may one taste the
grand purple hour of life  happy love  such shocks would force even the
archangel in his ecstasy  even the demigod in his glory  to shudder 

As is always the case in changes of view of this nature  Marius asked
himself whether he had nothing with which to reproach himself  Had he
been wanting in divination  Had he been wanting in prudence  Had he
involuntarily dulled his wits  A little  perhaps  Had he entered upon
this love affair  which had ended in his marriage to Cosette  without
taking sufficient precautions to throw light upon the surroundings  He
admitted   it is thus  by a series of successive admissions of ourselves
in regard to ourselves  that life amends us  little by little   he
admitted the chimerical and visionary side of his nature  a sort of
internal cloud peculiar to many organizations  and which  in paroxysms
of passion and sorrow  dilates as the temperature of the soul changes 
and invades the entire man  to such a degree as to render him nothing
more than a conscience bathed in a mist  We have more than once
indicated this characteristic element of Marius  individuality 

He recalled that  in the intoxication of his love  in the Rue Plumet 
during those six or seven ecstatic weeks  he had not even spoke to
Cosette of that drama in the Gorbeau hovel  where the victim had taken
up such a singular line of silence during the struggle and the ensuing
flight  How had it happened that he had not mentioned this to Cosette 
Yet it was so near and so terrible  How had it come to pass that he had
not even named the Thenardiers  and  particularly  on the day when he
had encountered Eponine  He now found it almost difficult to explain his
silence of that time  Nevertheless  he could account for it  He recalled
his benumbed state  his intoxication with Cosette  love absorbing
everything  that catching away of each other into the ideal  and perhaps
also  like the imperceptible quantity of reason mingled with this
violent and charming state of the soul  a vague  dull instinct impelling
him to conceal and abolish in his memory that redoubtable adventure 
contact with which he dreaded  in which he did not wish to play any
part  his agency in which he had kept secret  and in which he could be
neither narrator nor witness without being an accuser 

Moreover  these few weeks had been a flash of lightning  there had been
no time for anything except love 

In short  having weighed everything  turned everything over in his mind 
examined everything  whatever might have been the consequences if he had
told Cosette about the Gorbeau ambush  even if he had discovered that
Jean Valjean was a convict  would that have changed him  Marius  Would
that have changed her  Cosette  Would he have drawn back  Would he have
adored her any the less  Would he have refrained from marrying her  No 
Then there was nothing to regret  nothing with which he need reproach
himself  All was well  There is a deity for those drunken men who are
called lovers  Marius blind  had followed the path which he would have
chosen had he been in full possession of his sight  Love had bandaged
his eyes  in order to lead him whither  To paradise 

But this paradise was henceforth complicated with an infernal
accompaniment 

Marius  ancient estrangement towards this man  towards this Fauchelevent
who had turned into Jean Valjean  was at present mingled with horror 

In this horror  let us state  there was some pity  and even a certain
surprise 

This thief  this thief guilty of a second offence  had restored that
deposit  And what a deposit  Six hundred thousand francs 

He alone was in the secret of that deposit  He might have kept it all 
he had restored it all 

Moreover  he had himself revealed his situation  Nothing forced him to
this  If any one learned who he was  it was through himself  In this
avowal there was something more than acceptance of humiliation  there
was acceptance of peril  For a condemned man  a mask is not a mask  it
is a shelter  A false name is security  and he had rejected that false
name  He  the galley slave  might have hidden himself forever in an
honest family  he had withstood this temptation  And with what motive 
Through a conscientious scruple  He himself explained this with the
irresistible accents of truth  In short  whatever this Jean Valjean
might be  he was  undoubtedly  a conscience which was awakening  There
existed some mysterious re habilitation which had begun  and  to all
appearances  scruples had for a long time already controlled this man 
Such fits of justice and goodness are not characteristic of vulgar
natures  An awakening of conscience is grandeur of soul 

Jean Valjean was sincere  This sincerity  visible  palpable 
irrefragable  evident from the very grief that it caused him  rendered
inquiries useless  and conferred authority on all that that man had
said 

Here  for Marius  there was a strange reversal of situations  What
breathed from M  Fauchelevent  distrust  What did Jean Valjean inspire 
confidence 

In the mysterious balance of this Jean Valjean which the pensive Marius
struck  he admitted the active principle  he admitted the passive
principle  and he tried to reach a balance 

But all this went on as in a storm  Marius  while endeavoring to form a
clear idea of this man  and while pursuing Jean Valjean  so to speak  in
the depths of his thought  lost him and found him again in a fatal mist 

The deposit honestly restored  the probity of the confession  these were
good  This produced a lightening of the cloud  then the cloud became
black once more 

Troubled as were Marius  memories  a shadow of them returned to him 

After all  what was that adventure in the Jondrette attic  Why had that
man taken to flight on the arrival of the police  instead of entering a
complaint 

Here Marius found the answer  Because that man was a fugitive from
justice  who had broken his ban 

Another question  Why had that man come to the barricade 

For Marius now once more distinctly beheld that recollection which had
re appeared in his emotions like sympathetic ink at the application of
heat  This man had been in the barricade  He had not fought there  What
had he come there for  In the presence of this question a spectre sprang
up and replied   Javert  

Marius recalled perfectly now that funereal sight of Jean Valjean
dragging the pinioned Javert out of the barricade  and he still heard
behind the corner of the little Rue Mondetour that frightful pistol
shot  Obviously  there was hatred between that police spy and the
galley slave  The one was in the other s way  Jean Valjean had gone to
the barricade for the purpose of revenging himself  He had arrived late 
He probably knew that Javert was a prisoner there  The Corsican vendetta
has penetrated to certain lower strata and has become the law there  it
is so simple that it does not astonish souls which are but half turned
towards good  and those hearts are so constituted that a criminal  who
is in the path of repentance  may be scrupulous in the matter of theft
and unscrupulous in the matter of vengeance  Jean Valjean had killed
Javert  At least  that seemed to be evident 

This was the final question  to be sure  but to this there was no reply 
This question Marius felt like pincers  How had it come to pass that
Jean Valjean s existence had elbowed that of Cosette for so long a
period 

What melancholy sport of Providence was that which had placed that child
in contact with that man  Are there then chains for two which are forged
on high  and does God take pleasure in coupling the angel with the
demon  So a crime and an innocence can be room mates in the mysterious
galleys of wretchedness  In that defiling of condemned persons which
is called human destiny  can two brows pass side by side  the one
ingenuous  the other formidable  the one all bathed in the divine
whiteness of dawn  the other forever blemished by the flash of an
eternal lightning  Who could have arranged that inexplicable pairing
off  In what manner  in consequence of what prodigy  had any community
of life been established between this celestial little creature and that
old criminal 

Who could have bound the lamb to the wolf  and  what was still more
incomprehensible  have attached the wolf to the lamb  For the wolf loved
the lamb  for the fierce creature adored the feeble one  for  during
the space of nine years  the angel had had the monster as her point of
support  Cosette s childhood and girlhood  her advent in the daylight 
her virginal growth towards life and light  had been sheltered by
that hideous devotion  Here questions exfoliated  so to speak  into
innumerable enigmas  abysses yawned at the bottoms of abysses  and
Marius could no longer bend over Jean Valjean without becoming dizzy 
What was this man precipice 

The old symbols of Genesis are eternal  in human society  such as it now
exists  and until a broader day shall effect a change in it  there will
always be two men  the one superior  the other subterranean  the one
which is according to good is Abel  the other which is according to evil
is Cain  What was this tender Cain  What was this ruffian religiously
absorbed in the adoration of a virgin  watching over her  rearing her 
guarding her  dignifying her  and enveloping her  impure as he was
himself  with purity 

What was that cess pool which had venerated that innocence to such a
point as not to leave upon it a single spot  What was this Jean Valjean
educating Cosette  What was this figure of the shadows which had for its
only object the preservation of the rising of a star from every shadow
and from every cloud 

That was Jean Valjean s secret  that was also God s secret 

In the presence of this double secret  Marius recoiled  The one  in some
sort  reassured him as to the other  God was as visible in this affair
as was Jean Valjean  God has his instruments  He makes use of the tool
which he wills  He is not responsible to men  Do we know how God sets
about the work  Jean Valjean had labored over Cosette  He had  to some
extent  made that soul  That was incontestable  Well  what then  The
workman was horrible  but the work was admirable  God produces his
miracles as seems good to him  He had constructed that charming Cosette 
and he had employed Jean Valjean  It had pleased him to choose this
strange collaborator for himself  What account have we to demand of him 
Is this the first time that the dung heap has aided the spring to create
the rose 

Marius made himself these replies  and declared to himself that they
were good  He had not dared to press Jean Valjean on all the points
which we have just indicated  but he did not confess to himself that he
did not dare to do it  He adored Cosette  he possessed Cosette  Cosette
was splendidly pure  That was sufficient for him  What enlightenment did
he need  Cosette was a light  Does light require enlightenment  He had
everything  what more could he desire  All   is not that enough  Jean
Valjean s personal affairs did not concern him 

And bending over the fatal shadow of that man  he clung fast 
convulsively  to the solemn declaration of that unhappy wretch   I
am nothing to Cosette  Ten years ago I did not know that she was in
existence  

Jean Valjean was a passer by  He had said so himself  Well  he had
passed  Whatever he was  his part was finished 

Henceforth  there remained Marius to fulfil the part of Providence to
Cosette  Cosette had sought the azure in a person like herself  in her
lover  her husband  her celestial male  Cosette  as she took her flight 
winged and transfigured  left behind her on the earth her hideous and
empty chrysalis  Jean Valjean 

In whatever circle of ideas Marius revolved  he always returned to a
certain horror for Jean Valjean  A sacred horror  perhaps  for  as we
have just pointed out  he felt a quid divinum in that man  But do what
he would  and seek what extenuation he would  he was certainly forced to
fall back upon this  the man was a convict  that is to say  a being who
has not even a place in the social ladder  since he is lower than the
very lowest rung  After the very last of men comes the convict  The
convict is no longer  so to speak  in the semblance of the living  The
law has deprived him of the entire quantity of humanity of which it can
deprive a man 

Marius  on penal questions  still held to the inexorable system  though
he was a democrat and he entertained all the ideas of the law on the
subject of those whom the law strikes  He had not yet accomplished all
progress  we admit  He had not yet come to distinguish between that
which is written by man and that which is written by God  between law
and right  He had not examined and weighed the right which man takes to
dispose of the irrevocable and the irreparable  He was not shocked by
the word vindicte  He found it quite simple that certain breaches of the
written law should be followed by eternal suffering  and he accepted 
as the process of civilization  social damnation  He still stood at this
point  though safe to advance infallibly later on  since his nature was
good  and  at bottom  wholly formed of latent progress 

In this stage of his ideas  Jean Valjean appeared to him hideous and
repulsive  He was a man reproved  he was the convict  That word was
for him like the sound of the trump on the Day of Judgment  and  after
having reflected upon Jean Valjean for a long time  his final gesture
had been to turn away his head  Vade retro 

Marius  if we must recognize and even insist upon the fact  while
interrogating Jean Valjean to such a point that Jean Valjean had said 
 You are confessing me   had not  nevertheless  put to him two or three
decisive questions 

It was not that they had not presented themselves to his mind  but that
he had been afraid of them  The Jondrette attic  The barricade  Javert 
Who knows where these revelations would have stopped  Jean Valjean did
not seem like a man who would draw back  and who knows whether Marius 
after having urged him on  would not have himself desired to hold him
back 

Has it not happened to all of us  in certain supreme conjunctures  to
stop our ears in order that we may not hear the reply  after we have
asked a question  It is especially when one loves that one gives way
to these exhibitions of cowardice  It is not wise to question sinister
situations to the last point  particularly when the indissoluble side of
our life is fatally intermingled with them  What a terrible light might
have proceeded from the despairing explanations of Jean Valjean  and who
knows whether that hideous glare would not have darted forth as far
as Cosette  Who knows whether a sort of infernal glow would not have
lingered behind it on the brow of that angel  The spattering of a
lightning flash is of the thunder also  Fatality has points of juncture
where innocence itself is stamped with crime by the gloomy law of the
reflections which give color  The purest figures may forever preserve
the reflection of a horrible association  Rightly or wrongly  Marius
had been afraid  He already knew too much  He sought to dull his senses
rather than to gain further light 

In dismay he bore off Cosette in his arms and shut his eyes to Jean
Valjean 

That man was the night  the living and horrible night  How should he
dare to seek the bottom of it  It is a terrible thing to interrogate
the shadow  Who knows what its reply will be  The dawn may be blackened
forever by it 

In this state of mind the thought that that man would  henceforth  come
into any contact whatever with Cosette was a heartrending perplexity to
Marius 

He now almost reproached himself for not having put those formidable
questions  before which he had recoiled  and from which an implacable
and definitive decision might have sprung  He felt that he was too good 
too gentle  too weak  if we must say the word  This weakness had led him
to an imprudent concession  He had allowed himself to be touched  He
had been in the wrong  He ought to have simply and purely rejected
Jean Valjean  Jean Valjean played the part of fire  and that is what he
should have done  and have freed his house from that man 

He was vexed with himself  he was angry with that whirlwind of emotions
which had deafened  blinded  and carried him away  He was displeased
with himself 

What was he to do now  Jean Valjean s visits were profoundly repugnant
to him  What was the use in having that man in his house  What did the
man want  Here  he became dismayed  he did not wish to dig down  he did
not wish to penetrate deeply  he did not wish to sound himself  He
had promised  he had allowed himself to be drawn into a promise  Jean
Valjean held his promise  one must keep one s word even to a convict 
above all to a convict  Still  his first duty was to Cosette  In short 
he was carried away by the repugnance which dominated him 

Marius turned over all this confusion of ideas in his mind  passing
from one to the other  and moved by all of them  Hence arose a profound
trouble 

It was not easy for him to hide this trouble from Cosette  but love is a
talent  and Marius succeeded in doing it 

However  without any apparent object  he questioned Cosette  who was as
candid as a dove is white and who suspected nothing  he talked of her
childhood and her youth  and he became more and more convinced that that
convict had been everything good  paternal and respectable that a man
can be towards Cosette  All that Marius had caught a glimpse of and had
surmised was real  That sinister nettle had loved and protected that
lily 




BOOK EIGHTH   FADING AWAY OF THE TWILIGHT

 Illustration  The Twilight Decline  5b8 1 decline 




CHAPTER I  THE LOWER CHAMBER

On the following day  at nightfall  Jean Valjean knocked at the carriage
gate of the Gillenormand house  It was Basque who received him  Basque
was in the courtyard at the appointed hour  as though he had received
his orders  It sometimes happens that one says to a servant   You will
watch for Mr  So and So  when he arrives  

Basque addressed Jean Valjean without waiting for the latter to approach
him 

 Monsieur le Baron has charged me to inquire whether monsieur desires to
go upstairs or to remain below  

 I will remain below   replied Jean Valjean 

Basque  who was perfectly respectful  opened the door of the
waiting room and said 

 I will go and inform Madame  

The room which Jean Valjean entered was a damp  vaulted room on the
ground floor  which served as a cellar on occasion  which opened on the
street  was paved with red squares and was badly lighted by a grated
window 

This chamber was not one of those which are harassed by the
feather duster  the pope s head brush  and the broom  The dust rested
tranquilly there  Persecution of the spiders was not organized there  A
fine web  which spread far and wide  and was very black and ornamented
with dead flies  formed a wheel on one of the window panes  The room 
which was small and low ceiled  was furnished with a heap of empty
bottles piled up in one corner 

The wall  which was daubed with an ochre yellow wash  was scaling off in
large flakes  At one end there was a chimney piece painted in black
with a narrow shelf  A fire was burning there  which indicated that Jean
Valjean s reply   I will remain below   had been foreseen 

Two arm chairs were placed at the two corners of the fireplace  Between
the chairs an old bedside rug  which displayed more foundation thread
than wool  had been spread by way of a carpet 

The chamber was lighted by the fire on the hearth and the twilight
falling through the window 

Jean Valjean was fatigued  For days he had neither eaten nor slept  He
threw himself into one of the arm chairs 

Basque returned  set a lighted candle on the chimney piece and retired 
Jean Valjean  his head drooping and his chin resting on his breast 
perceived neither Basque nor the candle 

All at once  he drew himself up with a start  Cosette was standing
beside him 

He had not seen her enter  but he had felt that she was there 

He turned round  He gazed at her  She was adorably lovely  But what he
was contemplating with that profound gaze was not her beauty but her
soul 

 Well   exclaimed Cosette   father  I knew that you were peculiar  but
I never should have expected this  What an idea  Marius told me that you
wish me to receive you here  

 Yes  it is my wish  

 I expected that reply  Good  I warn you that I am going to make a scene
for you  Let us begin at the beginning  Embrace me  father  

And she offered him her cheek 

Jean Valjean remained motionless 

 You do not stir  I take note of it  Attitude of guilt  But never mind 
I pardon you  Jesus Christ said  Offer the other cheek  Here it is  

And she presented her other cheek 

Jean Valjean did not move  It seemed as though his feet were nailed to
the pavement 

 This is becoming serious   said Cosette   What have I done to you  I
declare that I am perplexed  You owe me reparation  You will dine with
us  

 I have dined  

 That is not true  I will get M  Gillenormand to scold you  Grandfathers
are made to reprimand fathers  Come  Go upstairs with me to the
drawing room  Immediately  

 Impossible  

Here Cosette lost ground a little  She ceased to command and passed to
questioning 

 But why  and you choose the ugliest chamber in the house in which to
see me  It s horrible here  

 Thou knowest       

Jean Valjean caught himself up 

 You know  madame  that I am peculiar  I have my freaks  

Cosette struck her tiny hands together 

 Madame        You know        more novelties  What is the meaning of
this  

Jean Valjean directed upon her that heartrending smile to which he
occasionally had recourse 

 You wished to be Madame  You are so  

 Not for you  father  

 Do not call me father  

 What  

 Call me  Monsieur Jean    Jean   if you like  

 You are no longer my father  I am no longer Cosette   Monsieur Jean  
What does this mean  why  these are revolutions  aren t they  what has
taken place  come  look me in the face  And you won t live with us 
And you won t have my chamber  What have I done to you  Has anything
happened  

 Nothing  

 Well then  

 Everything is as usual  

 Why do you change your name  

 You have changed yours  surely  

He smiled again with the same smile as before and added 

 Since you are Madame Pontmercy  I certainly can be Monsieur Jean  

 I don t understand anything about it  All this is idiotic  I shall ask
permission of my husband for you to be  Monsieur Jean   I hope that he
will not consent to it  You cause me a great deal of pain  One does
have freaks  but one does not cause one s little Cosette grief  That is
wrong  You have no right to be wicked  you who are so good  

He made no reply 

She seized his hands with vivacity  and raising them to her face with
an irresistible movement  she pressed them against her neck beneath her
chin  which is a gesture of profound tenderness 

 Oh   she said to him   be good  

And she went on 

 This is what I call being good  being nice and coming and living
here   there are birds here as there are in the Rue Plumet   living with
us  quitting that hole of a Rue de l Homme Arme  not giving us riddles
to guess  being like all the rest of the world  dining with us 
breakfasting with us  being my father  

He loosed her hands 

 You no longer need a father  you have a husband  

Cosette became angry 

 I no longer need a father  One really does not know what to say to
things like that  which are not common sense  

 If Toussaint were here   resumed Jean Valjean  like a person who is
driven to seek authorities  and who clutches at every branch   she would
be the first to agree that it is true that I have always had ways of my
own  There is nothing new in this  I always have loved my black corner  

 But it is cold here  One cannot see distinctly  It is abominable  that
it is  to wish to be Monsieur Jean  I will not have you say  you  to me 

 Just now  as I was coming hither   replied Jean Valjean   I saw a piece
of furniture in the Rue Saint Louis  It was at a cabinet maker s  If I
were a pretty woman  I would treat myself to that bit of furniture  A
very neat toilet table in the reigning style  What you call rosewood  I
think  It is inlaid  The mirror is quite large  There are drawers  It is
pretty  

 Hou  the villainous bear   replied Cosette 

And with supreme grace  setting her teeth and drawing back her lips  she
blew at Jean Valjean  She was a Grace copying a cat 

 I am furious   she resumed   Ever since yesterday  you have made me
rage  all of you  I am greatly vexed  I don t understand  You do not
defend me against Marius  Marius will not uphold me against you  I am
all alone  I arrange a chamber prettily  If I could have put the good
God there I would have done it  My chamber is left on my hands  My
lodger sends me into bankruptcy  I order a nice little dinner of
Nicolette  We will have nothing to do with your dinner  Madame  And my
father Fauchelevent wants me to call him  Monsieur Jean   and to receive
him in a frightful  old  ugly cellar  where the walls have beards  and
where the crystal consists of empty bottles  and the curtains are of
spiders  webs  You are singular  I admit  that is your style  but people
who get married are granted a truce  You ought not to have begun being
singular again instantly  So you are going to be perfectly contented in
your abominable Rue de l Homme Arme  I was very desperate indeed there 
that I was  What have you against me  You cause me a great deal of
grief  Fi  

And  becoming suddenly serious  she gazed intently at Jean Valjean and
added 

 Are you angry with me because I am happy  

Ingenuousness sometimes unconsciously penetrates deep  This question 
which was simple for Cosette  was profound for Jean Valjean  Cosette had
meant to scratch  and she lacerated 

Jean Valjean turned pale 

He remained for a moment without replying  then  with an inexpressible
intonation  and speaking to himself  he murmured 

 Her happiness was the object of my life  Now God may sign my dismissal 
Cosette  thou art happy  my day is over  

 Ah  you have said thou to me   exclaimed Cosette 

And she sprang to his neck 

Jean Valjean  in bewilderment  strained her wildly to his breast  It
almost seemed to him as though he were taking her back 

 Thanks  father   said Cosette 

This enthusiastic impulse was on the point of becoming poignant for Jean
Valjean  He gently removed Cosette s arms  and took his hat 

 Well   said Cosette 

 I leave you  Madame  they are waiting for you  

And  from the threshold  he added 

 I have said thou to you  Tell your husband that this shall not happen
again  Pardon me  

Jean Valjean quitted the room  leaving Cosette stupefied at this
enigmatical farewell 




CHAPTER II  ANOTHER STEP BACKWARDS

On the following day  at the same hour  Jean Valjean came 

Cosette asked him no questions  was no longer astonished  no longer
exclaimed that she was cold  no longer spoke of the drawing room  she
avoided saying either  father  or  Monsieur Jean   She allowed herself
to be addressed as you  She allowed herself to be called Madame  Only 
her joy had undergone a certain diminution  She would have been sad  if
sadness had been possible to her 

It is probable that she had had with Marius one of those conversations
in which the beloved man says what he pleases  explains nothing  and
satisfies the beloved woman  The curiosity of lovers does not extend
very far beyond their own love 

The lower room had made a little toilet  Basque had suppressed the
bottles  and Nicolette the spiders 

All the days which followed brought Jean Valjean at the same hour  He
came every day  because he had not the strength to take Marius  words
otherwise than literally  Marius arranged matters so as to be absent at
the hours when Jean Valjean came  The house grew accustomed to the novel
ways of M  Fauchelevent  Toussaint helped in this direction   Monsieur
has always been like that   she repeated  The grandfather issued this
decree    He s an original   And all was said  Moreover  at the age of
ninety six  no bond is any longer possible  all is merely juxtaposition 
a newcomer is in the way  There is no longer any room  all habits are
acquired  M  Fauchelevent  M  Tranchelevent  Father Gillenormand
asked nothing better than to be relieved from  that gentleman   He
added    Nothing is more common than those originals  They do all sorts
of queer things  They have no reason  The Marquis de Canaples was still
worse  He bought a palace that he might lodge in the garret  These are
fantastic appearances that people affect  

No one caught a glimpse of the sinister foundation  And moreover  who
could have guessed such a thing  There are marshes of this description
in India  The water seems extraordinary  inexplicable  rippling though
there is no wind  and agitated where it should be calm  One gazes at the
surface of these causeless ebullitions  one does not perceive the hydra
which crawls on the bottom 

Many men have a secret monster in this same manner  a dragon which gnaws
them  a despair which inhabits their night  Such a man resembles
other men  he goes and comes  No one knows that he bears within him a
frightful parasitic pain with a thousand teeth  which lives within the
unhappy man  and of which he is dying  No one knows that this man is a
gulf  He is stagnant but deep  From time to time  a trouble of which
the onlooker understands nothing appears on his surface  A mysterious
wrinkle is formed  then vanishes  then re appears  an air bubble rises
and bursts  It is the breathing of the unknown beast 

Certain strange habits  arriving at the hour when other people are
taking their leave  keeping in the background when other people
are displaying themselves  preserving on all occasions what may be
designated as the wall colored mantle  seeking the solitary walk 
preferring the deserted street  avoiding any share in conversation 
avoiding crowds and festivals  seeming at one s ease and living poorly 
having one s key in one s pocket  and one s candle at the porter s
lodge  however rich one may be  entering by the side door  ascending
the private staircase   all these insignificant singularities  fugitive
folds on the surface  often proceed from a formidable foundation 

Many weeks passed in this manner  A new life gradually took possession
of Cosette  the relations which marriage creates  visits  the care
of the house  pleasures  great matters  Cosette s pleasures were not
costly  they consisted in one thing  being with Marius  The great
occupation of her life was to go out with him  to remain with him  It
was for them a joy that was always fresh  to go out arm in arm  in the
face of the sun  in the open street  without hiding themselves  before
the whole world  both of them completely alone 

Cosette had one vexation  Toussaint could not get on with Nicolette  the
soldering of two elderly maids being impossible  and she went away 
The grandfather was well  Marius argued a case here and there  Aunt
Gillenormand peacefully led that life aside which sufficed for her 
beside the new household  Jean Valjean came every day 

The address as thou disappeared  the you  the  Madame   the  Monsieur
Jean   rendered him another person to Cosette  The care which he had
himself taken to detach her from him was succeeding  She became more and
more gay and less and less tender  Yet she still loved him sincerely 
and he felt it 

One day she said to him suddenly   You used to be my father  you are
no longer my father  you were my uncle  you are no longer my uncle  you
were Monsieur Fauchelevent  you are Jean  Who are you then  I don t
like all this  If I did not know how good you are  I should be afraid of
you  

He still lived in the Rue de l Homme Arme  because he could not make up
his mind to remove to a distance from the quarter where Cosette dwelt 

At first  he only remained a few minutes with Cosette  and then went
away 

Little by little he acquired the habit of making his visits less brief 
One would have said that he was taking advantage of the authorization of
the days which were lengthening  he arrived earlier and departed later 

One day Cosette chanced to say  father  to him  A flash of joy
illuminated Jean Valjean s melancholy old countenance  He caught her
up   Say Jean     Ah  truly   she replied with a burst of laughter 
 Monsieur Jean     That is right   said he  And he turned aside so that
she might not see him wipe his eyes 




CHAPTER III  THEY RECALL THE GARDEN OF THE RUE PLUMET

This was the last time  After that last flash of light  complete
extinction ensued  No more familiarity  no more good morning with a
kiss  never more that word so profoundly sweet   My father   He was at
his own request and through his own complicity driven out of all his
happinesses one after the other  and he had this sorrow  that after
having lost Cosette wholly in one day  he was afterwards obliged to lose
her again in detail 

The eye eventually becomes accustomed to the light of a cellar  In
short  it sufficed for him to have an apparition of Cosette every day 
His whole life was concentrated in that one hour 

He seated himself close to her  he gazed at her in silence  or he talked
to her of years gone by  of her childhood  of the convent  of her little
friends of those bygone days 

One afternoon   it was on one of those early days in April  already
warm and fresh  the moment of the sun s great gayety  the gardens which
surrounded the windows of Marius and Cosette felt the emotion of waking 
the hawthorn was on the point of budding  a jewelled garniture of
gillyflowers spread over the ancient walls  snapdragons yawned through
the crevices of the stones  amid the grass there was a charming
beginning of daisies  and buttercups  the white butterflies of the
year were making their first appearance  the wind  that minstrel of the
eternal wedding  was trying in the trees the first notes of that grand 
auroral symphony which the old poets called the springtide   Marius said
to Cosette    We said that we would go back to take a look at our garden
in the Rue Plumet  Let us go thither  We must not be ungrateful    And
away they flitted  like two swallows towards the spring  This garden of
the Rue Plumet produced on them the effect of the dawn  They already
had behind them in life something which was like the springtime of their
love  The house in the Rue Plumet being held on a lease  still belonged
to Cosette  They went to that garden and that house  There they
found themselves again  there they forgot themselves  That
evening  at the usual hour  Jean Valjean came to the Rue des
Filles du Calvaire    Madame went out with Monsieur and has not yet
returned   Basque said to him  He seated himself in silence  and waited
an hour  Cosette did not return  He departed with drooping head 

Cosette was so intoxicated with her walk to  their garden   and so
joyous at having  lived a whole day in her past   that she talked of
nothing else on the morrow  She did not notice that she had not seen
Jean Valjean 

 In what way did you go thither   Jean Valjean asked her  

 On foot  

 And how did you return  

 In a hackney carriage  

For some time  Jean Valjean had noticed the economical life led by the
young people  He was troubled by it  Marius  economy was severe  and
that word had its absolute meaning for Jean Valjean  He hazarded a
query 

 Why do you not have a carriage of your own  A pretty coupe would only
cost you five hundred francs a month  You are rich  

 I don t know   replied Cosette 

 It is like Toussaint   resumed Jean Valjean   She is gone  You have not
replaced her  Why  

 Nicolette suffices  

 But you ought to have a maid  

 Have I not Marius  

 You ought to have a house of your own  your own servants  a carriage  a
box at the theatre  There is nothing too fine for you  Why not profit by
your riches  Wealth adds to happiness  

Cosette made no reply 

Jean Valjean s visits were not abridged  Far from it  When it is the
heart which is slipping  one does not halt on the downward slope 

When Jean Valjean wished to prolong his visit and to induce
forgetfulness of the hour  he sang the praises of Marius  he pronounced
him handsome  noble  courageous  witty  eloquent  good  Cosette outdid
him  Jean Valjean began again  They were never weary  Marius  that word
was inexhaustible  those six letters contained volumes  In this manner 
Jean Valjean contrived to remain a long time 

It was so sweet to see Cosette  to forget by her side  It alleviated his
wounds  It frequently happened that Basque came twice to announce 
 M  Gillenormand sends me to remind Madame la Baronne that dinner is
served  

On those days  Jean Valjean was very thoughtful on his return home 

Was there  then  any truth in that comparison of the chrysalis which
had presented itself to the mind of Marius  Was Jean Valjean really a
chrysalis who would persist  and who would come to visit his butterfly 

One day he remained still longer than usual  On the following day he
observed that there was no fire on the hearth    Hello   he thought   No
fire    And he furnished the explanation for himself    It is perfectly
simple  It is April  The cold weather has ceased  

 Heavens  how cold it is here   exclaimed Cosette when she entered 

 Why  no   said Jean Valjean 

 Was it you who told Basque not to make a fire then  

 Yes  since we are now in the month of May  

 But we have a fire until June  One is needed all the year in this
cellar  

 I thought that a fire was unnecessary  

 That is exactly like one of your ideas   retorted Cosette 

On the following day there was a fire  But the two arm chairs were
arranged at the other end of the room near the door     What is the
meaning of this   thought Jean Valjean 

He went for the arm chairs and restored them to their ordinary place
near the hearth 

This fire lighted once more encouraged him  however  He prolonged the
conversation even beyond its customary limits  As he rose to take his
leave  Cosette said to him 

 My husband said a queer thing to me yesterday  

 What was it  

 He said to me   Cosette  we have an income of thirty thousand livres 
Twenty seven that you own  and three that my grandfather gives me   I
replied   That makes thirty   He went on   Would you have the courage to
live on the three thousand   I answered   Yes  on nothing  Provided
that it was with you   And then I asked   Why do you say that to me   He
replied   I wanted to know   

Jean Valjean found not a word to answer  Cosette probably expected some
explanation from him  he listened in gloomy silence  He went back to the
Rue de l Homme Arme  he was so deeply absorbed that he mistook the
door and instead of entering his own house  he entered the adjoining
dwelling  It was only after having ascended nearly two stories that he
perceived his error and went down again 

His mind was swarming with conjectures  It was evident that Marius had
his doubts as to the origin of the six hundred thousand francs  that
he feared some source that was not pure  who knows  that he had even 
perhaps  discovered that the money came from him  Jean Valjean  that he
hesitated before this suspicious fortune  and was disinclined to take
it as his own   preferring that both he and Cosette should remain poor 
rather than that they should be rich with wealth that was not clean 

Moreover  Jean Valjean began vaguely to surmise that he was being shown
the door 

On the following day  he underwent something like a shock on entering
the ground floor room  The arm chairs had disappeared  There was not a
single chair of any sort 

 Ah  what s this   exclaimed Cosette as she entered   no chairs  Where
are the arm chairs  

 They are no longer here   replied Jean Valjean 

 This is too much  

Jean Valjean stammered 

 It was I who told Basque to remove them  

 And your reason  

 I have only a few minutes to stay to day  

 A brief stay is no reason for remaining standing  

 I think that Basque needed the chairs for the drawing room  

 Why  

 You have company this evening  no doubt  

 We expect no one  

Jean Valjean had not another word to say 

Cosette shrugged her shoulders 

 To have the chairs carried off  The other day you had the fire put out 
How odd you are  

 Adieu   murmured Jean Valjean 

He did not say   Adieu  Cosette   But he had not the strength to say 
 Adieu  Madame  

He went away utterly overwhelmed 

This time he had understood 

On the following day he did not come  Cosette only observed the fact in
the evening 

 Why   said she   Monsieur Jean has not been here today  

And she felt a slight twinge at her heart  but she hardly perceived it 
being immediately diverted by a kiss from Marius 

On the following day he did not come 

Cosette paid no heed to this  passed her evening and slept well that
night  as usual  and thought of it only when she woke  She was so happy 
She speedily despatched Nicolette to M  Jean s house to inquire whether
he were ill  and why he had not come on the previous evening  Nicolette
brought back the reply of M  Jean that he was not ill  He was busy  He
would come soon  As soon as he was able  Moreover  he was on the point
of taking a little journey  Madame must remember that it was his custom
to take trips from time to time  They were not to worry about him  They
were not to think of him 

Nicolette on entering M  Jean s had repeated to him her mistress  very
words  That Madame had sent her to inquire why M  Jean bad not come on
the preceding evening    It is two days since I have been there   said
Jean Valjean gently 

But the remark passed unnoticed by Nicolette  who did not report it to
Cosette 




CHAPTER IV  ATTRACTION AND EXTINCTION

During the last months of spring and the first months of summer in 1833 
the rare passersby in the Marais  the petty shopkeepers  the loungers on
thresholds  noticed an old man neatly clad in black  who emerged every
day at the same hour  towards nightfall  from the Rue de l Homme Arme 
on the side of the Rue Sainte Croix de la Bretonnerie  passed in front
of the Blancs Manteaux  gained the Rue Culture Sainte Catherine  and 
on arriving at the Rue de l Echarpe  turned to the left  and entered the
Rue Saint Louis 

There he walked at a slow pace  with his head strained forward  seeing
nothing  hearing nothing  his eye immovably fixed on a point which
seemed to be a star to him  which never varied  and which was no
other than the corner of the Rue des Filles du Calvaire  The nearer he
approached the corner of the street the more his eye lighted up  a sort
of joy illuminated his pupils like an inward aurora  he had a fascinated
and much affected air  his lips indulged in obscure movements  as though
he were talking to some one whom he did not see  he smiled vaguely and
advanced as slowly as possible  One would have said that  while desirous
of reaching his destination  he feared the moment when he should be
close at hand  When only a few houses remained between him and that
street which appeared to attract him his pace slackened  to such a
degree that  at times  one might have thought that he was no longer
advancing at all  The vacillation of his head and the fixity of his
eyeballs suggested the thought of the magnetic needle seeking the pole 
Whatever time he spent on arriving  he was obliged to arrive at last  he
reached the Rue des Filles du Calvaire  then he halted  he trembled  he
thrust his head with a sort of melancholy timidity round the corner of
the last house  and gazed into that street  and there was in that tragic
look something which resembled the dazzling light of the impossible 
and the reflection from a paradise that was closed to him  Then a tear 
which had slowly gathered in the corner of his lids  and had become
large enough to fall  trickled down his cheek  and sometimes stopped at
his mouth  The old man tasted its bitter flavor  Thus he remained for
several minutes as though made of stone  then he returned by the same
road and with the same step  and  in proportion as he retreated  his
glance died out 

Little by little  this old man ceased to go as far as the corner of the
Rue des Filles du Calvaire  he halted half way in the Rue Saint Louis 
sometimes a little further off  sometimes a little nearer 

One day he stopped at the corner of the Rue Culture Sainte Catherine and
looked at the Rue des Filles du Calvaire from a distance  Then he
shook his head slowly from right to left  as though refusing himself
something  and retraced his steps 

Soon he no longer came as far as the Rue Saint Louis  He got as far as
the Rue Pavee  shook his head and turned back  then he went no
further than the Rue des Trois Pavillons  then he did not overstep the
Blancs Manteaux  One would have said that he was a pendulum which was
no longer wound up  and whose oscillations were growing shorter before
ceasing altogether 

Every day he emerged from his house at the same hour  he undertook the
same trip  but he no longer completed it  and  perhaps without
himself being aware of the fact  he constantly shortened it  His whole
countenance expressed this single idea  What is the use   His eye was
dim  no more radiance  His tears were also exhausted  they no longer
collected in the corner of his eye lid  that thoughtful eye was dry  The
old man s head was still craned forward  his chin moved at times  the
folds in his gaunt neck were painful to behold  Sometimes  when the
weather was bad  he had an umbrella under his arm  but he never opened
it 

The good women of the quarter said   He is an innocent   The children
followed him and laughed 




BOOK NINTH   SUPREME SHADOW  SUPREME DAWN




CHAPTER I  PITY FOR THE UNHAPPY  BUT INDULGENCE FOR THE HAPPY

It is a terrible thing to be happy  How content one is  How
all sufficient one finds it  How  being in possession of the false
object of life  happiness  one forgets the true object  duty 

Let us say  however  that the reader would do wrong were he to blame
Marius 

Marius  as we have explained  before his marriage  had put no questions
to M  Fauchelevent  and  since that time  he had feared to put any to
Jean Valjean  He had regretted the promise into which he had allowed
himself to be drawn  He had often said to himself that he had done
wrong in making that concession to despair  He had confined himself to
gradually estranging Jean Valjean from his house and to effacing him 
as much as possible  from Cosette s mind  He had  in a manner  always
placed himself between Cosette and Jean Valjean  sure that  in this
way  she would not perceive nor think of the latter  It was more than
effacement  it was an eclipse 

Marius did what he considered necessary and just  He thought that he had
serious reasons which the reader has already seen  and others which will
be seen later on  for getting rid of Jean Valjean without harshness  but
without weakness 

Chance having ordained that he should encounter  in a case which he had
argued  a former employee of the Laffitte establishment  he had acquired
mysterious information  without seeking it  which he had not been
able  it is true  to probe  out of respect for the secret which he had
promised to guard  and out of consideration for Jean Valjean s perilous
position  He believed at that moment that he had a grave duty to
perform  the restitution of the six hundred thousand francs to some
one whom he sought with all possible discretion  In the meanwhile  he
abstained from touching that money 

As for Cosette  she had not been initiated into any of these secrets 
but it would be harsh to condemn her also 

There existed between Marius and her an all powerful magnetism  which
caused her to do  instinctively and almost mechanically  what Marius
wished  She was conscious of Marius  will in the direction of  Monsieur
Jean   she conformed to it  Her husband had not been obliged to say
anything to her  she yielded to the vague but clear pressure of his
tacit intentions  and obeyed blindly  Her obedience in this instance
consisted in not remembering what Marius forgot  She was not obliged to
make any effort to accomplish this  Without her knowing why herself  and
without his having any cause to accuse her of it  her soul had become
so wholly her husband s that that which was shrouded in gloom in Marius 
mind became overcast in hers 

Let us not go too far  however  in what concerns Jean Valjean  this
forgetfulness and obliteration were merely superficial  She was rather
heedless than forgetful  At bottom  she was sincerely attached to the
man whom she had so long called her father  but she loved her husband
still more dearly  This was what had somewhat disturbed the balance of
her heart  which leaned to one side only 

It sometimes happened that Cosette spoke of Jean Valjean and expressed
her surprise  Then Marius calmed her   He is absent  I think  Did not
he say that he was setting out on a journey     That is true   thought
Cosette   He had a habit of disappearing in this fashion  But not for so
long   Two or three times she despatched Nicolette to inquire in the
Rue de l Homme Arme whether M  Jean had returned from his journey  Jean
Valjean caused the answer  no  to be given 

Cosette asked nothing more  since she had but one need on earth  Marius 

Let us also say that  on their side  Cosette and Marius had also
been absent  They had been to Vernon  Marius had taken Cosette to his
father s grave 

Marius gradually won Cosette away from Jean Valjean  Cosette allowed it 

Moreover that which is called  far too harshly in certain cases  the
ingratitude of children  is not always a thing so deserving of reproach
as it is supposed  It is the ingratitude of nature  Nature  as we have
elsewhere said   looks before her   Nature divides living beings into
those who are arriving and those who are departing  Those who are
departing are turned towards the shadows  those who are arriving towards
the light  Hence a gulf which is fatal on the part of the old  and
involuntary on the part of the young  This breach  at first insensible 
increases slowly  like all separations of branches  The boughs  without
becoming detached from the trunk  grow away from it  It is no fault of
theirs  Youth goes where there is joy  festivals  vivid lights  love 
Old age goes towards the end  They do not lose sight of each other  but
there is no longer a close connection  Young people feel the cooling
off of life  old people  that of the tomb  Let us not blame these poor
children 




CHAPTER II  LAST FLICKERINGS OF A LAMP WITHOUT OIL

One day  Jean Valjean descended his staircase  took three steps in the
street  seated himself on a post  on that same stone post where Gavroche
had found him meditating on the night between the 5th and the 6th of
June  he remained there a few moments  then went up stairs again  This
was the last oscillation of the pendulum  On the following day he did
not leave his apartment  On the day after that  he did not leave his
bed 

His portress  who prepared his scanty repasts  a few cabbages or
potatoes with bacon  glanced at the brown earthenware plate and
exclaimed 

 But you ate nothing yesterday  poor  dear man  

 Certainly I did   replied Jean Valjean 

 The plate is quite full  

 Look at the water jug  It is empty  

 That proves that you have drunk  it does not prove that you have
eaten  

 Well   said Jean Valjean   what if I felt hungry only for water  

 That is called thirst  and  when one does not eat at the same time  it
is called fever  

 I will eat to morrow  

 Or at Trinity day  Why not to day  Is it the thing to say   I will eat
to morrow   The idea of leaving my platter without even touching it  My
ladyfinger potatoes were so good  

Jean Valjean took the old woman s hand 

 I promise you that I will eat them   he said  in his benevolent voice 

 I am not pleased with you   replied the portress 

Jean Valjean saw no other human creature than this good woman  There are
streets in Paris through which no one ever passes  and houses to which
no one ever comes  He was in one of those streets and one of those
houses 

While he still went out  he had purchased of a coppersmith  for a few
sous  a little copper crucifix which he had hung up on a nail opposite
his bed  That gibbet is always good to look at 

A week passed  and Jean Valjean had not taken a step in his room  He
still remained in bed  The portress said to her husband    The good man
upstairs yonder does not get up  he no longer eats  he will not last
long  That man has his sorrows  that he has  You won t get it out of my
head that his daughter has made a bad marriage  

The porter replied  with the tone of marital sovereignty 

 If he s rich  let him have a doctor  If he is not rich  let him go
without  If he has no doctor he will die  

 And if he has one  

 He will die   said the porter 

The portress set to scraping away the grass from what she called her
pavement  with an old knife  and  as she tore out the blades  she
grumbled 

 It s a shame  Such a neat old man  He s as white as a chicken  

She caught sight of the doctor of the quarter as he passed the end of
the street  she took it upon herself to request him to come up stairs 

 It s on the second floor   said she   You have only to enter  As the
good man no longer stirs from his bed  the door is always unlocked  

The doctor saw Jean Valjean and spoke with him 

When he came down again the portress interrogated him 

 Well  doctor  

 Your sick man is very ill indeed  

 What is the matter with him  

 Everything and nothing  He is a man who  to all appearances  has lost
some person who is dear to him  People die of that  

 What did he say to you  

 He told me that he was in good health  

 Shall you come again  doctor  

 Yes   replied the doctor   But some one else besides must come  




CHAPTER III  A PEN IS HEAVY TO THE MAN WHO LIFTED THE FAUCHELEVENT S
CART

One evening Jean Valjean found difficulty in raising himself on his
elbow  he felt of his wrist and could not find his pulse  his breath
was short and halted at times  he recognized the fact that he was weaker
than he had ever been before  Then  no doubt under the pressure of some
supreme preoccupation  he made an effort  drew himself up into a sitting
posture and dressed himself  He put on his old workingman s clothes  As
he no longer went out  he had returned to them and preferred them  He
was obliged to pause many times while dressing himself  merely putting
his arms through his waistcoat made the perspiration trickle from his
forehead 

Since he had been alone  he had placed his bed in the antechamber  in
order to inhabit that deserted apartment as little as possible 

He opened the valise and drew from it Cosette s outfit 

He spread it out on his bed 

The Bishop s candlesticks were in their place on the chimney piece  He
took from a drawer two wax candles and put them in the candlesticks 
Then  although it was still broad daylight   it was summer   he lighted
them  In the same way candles are to be seen lighted in broad daylight
in chambers where there is a corpse 

Every step that he took in going from one piece of furniture to another
exhausted him  and he was obliged to sit down  It was not ordinary
fatigue which expends the strength only to renew it  it was the remnant
of all movement possible to him  it was life drained which flows away
drop by drop in overwhelming efforts and which will never be renewed 

The chair into which he allowed himself to fall was placed in front of
that mirror  so fatal for him  so providential for Marius  in which
he had read Cosette s reversed writing on the blotting book  He caught
sight of himself in this mirror  and did not recognize himself  He was
eighty years old  before Marius  marriage  he would have hardly been
taken for fifty  that year had counted for thirty  What he bore on his
brow was no longer the wrinkles of age  it was the mysterious mark of
death  The hollowing of that pitiless nail could be felt there  His
cheeks were pendulous  the skin of his face had the color which would
lead one to think that it already had earth upon it  the corners of his
mouth drooped as in the mask which the ancients sculptured on tombs  He
gazed into space with an air of reproach  one would have said that he
was one of those grand tragic beings who have cause to complain of some
one 

He was in that condition  the last phase of dejection  in which sorrow
no longer flows  it is coagulated  so to speak  there is something on
the soul like a clot of despair 

Night had come  He laboriously dragged a table and the old arm chair to
the fireside  and placed upon the table a pen  some ink and some paper 

That done  he had a fainting fit  When he recovered consciousness  he
was thirsty  As he could not lift the jug  he tipped it over painfully
towards his mouth  and swallowed a draught 

As neither the pen nor the ink had been used for a long time  the point
of the pen had curled up  the ink had dried away  he was forced to rise
and put a few drops of water in the ink  which he did not accomplish
without pausing and sitting down two or three times  and he was
compelled to write with the back of the pen  He wiped his brow from time
to time 

Then he turned towards the bed  and  still seated  for he could not
stand  he gazed at the little black gown and all those beloved objects 

These contemplations lasted for hours which seemed minutes 

All at once he shivered  he felt that a child was taking possession of
him  he rested his elbows on the table  which was illuminated by the
Bishop s candles and took up the pen  His hand trembled  He wrote slowly
the few following lines 

 Cosette  I bless thee  I am going to explain to thee  Thy husband was
right in giving me to understand that I ought to go away  but there is
a little error in what he believed  though he was in the right  He is
excellent  Love him well even after I am dead  Monsieur Pontmercy  love
my darling child well  Cosette  this paper will be found  this is what
I wish to say to thee  thou wilt see the figures  if I have the strength
to recall them  listen well  this money is really thine  Here is the
whole matter  White jet comes from Norway  black jet comes from England 
black glass jewellery comes from Germany  Jet is the lightest  the most
precious  the most costly  Imitations can be made in France as well as
in Germany  What is needed is a little anvil two inches square  and a
lamp burning spirits of wine to soften the wax  The wax was formerly
made with resin and lampblack  and cost four livres the pound  I
invented a way of making it with gum shellac and turpentine  It does not
cost more than thirty sous  and is much better  Buckles are made with
a violet glass which is stuck fast  by means of this wax  to a little
framework of black iron  The glass must be violet for iron jewellery 
and black for gold jewellery  Spain buys a great deal of it  It is the
country of jet       

Here he paused  the pen fell from his fingers  he was seized by one of
those sobs which at times welled up from the very depths of his being 
the poor man clasped his head in both hands  and meditated 

 Oh   he exclaimed within himself  lamentable cries  heard by God
alone    all is over  I shall never see her more  She is a smile which
passed over me  I am about to plunge into the night without even seeing
her again  Oh  one minute  one instant  to hear her voice  to touch her
dress  to gaze upon her  upon her  the angel  and then to die  It is
nothing to die  what is frightful is to die without seeing her  She
would smile on me  she would say a word to me  would that do any harm to
any one  No  all is over  and forever  Here I am all alone  My God  My
God  I shall never see her again   At that moment there came a knock at
the door 




CHAPTER IV  A BOTTLE OF INK WHICH ONLY SUCCEEDED IN WHITENING

That same day  or to speak more accurately  that same evening  as Marius
left the table  and was on the point of withdrawing to his study  having
a case to look over  Basque handed him a letter saying   The person who
wrote the letter is in the antechamber  

Cosette had taken the grandfather s arm and was strolling in the garden 

A letter  like a man  may have an unprepossessing exterior  Coarse
paper  coarsely folded  the very sight of certain missives is
displeasing 

The letter which Basque had brought was of this sort 

Marius took it  It smelled of tobacco  Nothing evokes a memory like an
odor  Marius recognized that tobacco  He looked at the superscription 
 To Monsieur  Monsieur le Baron Pommerci  At his hotel   The recognition
of the tobacco caused him to recognize the writing as well  It may be
said that amazement has its lightning flashes 

Marius was  as it were  illuminated by one of these flashes 

The sense of smell  that mysterious aid to memory  had just revived a
whole world within him  This was certainly the paper  the fashion
of folding  the dull tint of ink  it was certainly the well known
handwriting  especially was it the same tobacco 

The Jondrette garret rose before his mind 

Thus  strange freak of chance  one of the two scents which he had so
diligently sought  the one in connection with which he had lately again
exerted so many efforts and which he supposed to be forever lost  had
come and presented itself to him of its own accord 

He eagerly broke the seal  and read 


  Monsieur le Baron   If the Supreme Being had given me the talents 
 I might have been baron Thenard  member of the Institute  academy
 of ciences   but I am not   I only bear the same as him  happy if
 this memory recommends me to the eccellence of your kindnesses 
 The benefit with which you will honor me will be reciprocle 
 I am in possession of a secret concerning an individual 
 This individual concerns you   I hold the secret at your disposal
 desiring to have the honor to be huseful to you   I will furnish
 you with the simple means of driving from your honorabel family
 that individual who has no right there  madame la baronne being
 of lofty birth   The sanctuary of virtue cannot cohabit longer
 with crime without abdicating 

  I awate in the entichamber the orders of monsieur le baron 

                                                With respect  


The letter was signed  Thenard  

This signature was not false  It was merely a trifle abridged 

Moreover  the rigmarole and the orthography completed the revelation 
The certificate of origin was complete 

Marius  emotion was profound  After a start of surprise  he underwent a
feeling of happiness  If he could now but find that other man of whom he
was in search  the man who had saved him  Marius  there would be nothing
left for him to desire 

He opened the drawer of his secretary  took out several bank notes 
put them in his pocket  closed the secretary again  and rang the bell 
Basque half opened the door 

 Show the man in   said Marius 

Basque announced 

 Monsieur Thenard  

A man entered 

A fresh surprise for Marius  The man who entered was an utter stranger
to him 

This man  who was old  moreover  had a thick nose  his chin swathed in a
cravat  green spectacles with a double screen of green taffeta over his
eyes  and his hair was plastered and flattened down on his brow on
a level with his eyebrows like the wigs of English coachmen in  high
life   His hair was gray  He was dressed in black from head to foot  in
garments that were very threadbare but clean  a bunch of seals depending
from his fob suggested the idea of a watch  He held in his hand an old
hat  He walked in a bent attitude  and the curve in his spine augmented
the profundity of his bow 

The first thing that struck the observer was  that this personage s
coat  which was too ample although carefully buttoned  had not been made
for him 

Here a short digression becomes necessary 

There was in Paris at that epoch  in a low lived old lodging in the Rue
Beautreillis  near the Arsenal  an ingenious Jew whose profession was
to change villains into honest men  Not for too long  which might have
proved embarrassing for the villain  The change was on sight  for a day
or two  at the rate of thirty sous a day  by means of a costume which
resembled the honesty of the world in general as nearly as possible 
This costumer was called  the Changer   the pickpockets of Paris
had given him this name and knew him by no other  He had a tolerably
complete wardrobe  The rags with which he tricked out people were almost
probable  He had specialties and categories  on each nail of his
shop hung a social status  threadbare and worn  here the suit of a
magistrate  there the outfit of a Cure  beyond the outfit of a banker 
in one corner the costume of a retired military man  elsewhere
the habiliments of a man of letters  and further on the dress of a
statesman 

This creature was the costumer of the immense drama which knavery plays
in Paris  His lair was the green room whence theft emerged  and into
which roguery retreated  A tattered knave arrived at this dressing room 
deposited his thirty sous and selected  according to the part which
he wished to play  the costume which suited him  and on descending the
stairs once more  the knave was a somebody  On the following day  the
clothes were faithfully returned  and the Changer  who trusted the
thieves with everything  was never robbed  There was one inconvenience
about these clothes  they  did not fit   not having been made for those
who wore them  they were too tight for one  too loose for another and
did not adjust themselves to any one  Every pickpocket who exceeded or
fell short of the human average was ill at his ease in the Changer s
costumes  It was necessary that one should not be either too fat or
too lean  The changer had foreseen only ordinary men  He had taken the
measure of the species from the first rascal who came to hand  who is
neither stout nor thin  neither tall nor short  Hence adaptations which
were sometimes difficult and from which the Changer s clients extricated
themselves as best they might  So much the worse for the exceptions 
The suit of the statesman  for instance  black from head to foot  and
consequently proper  would have been too large for Pitt and too small
for Castelcicala  The costume of a statesman was designated as follows
in the Changer s catalogue  we copy 

 A coat of black cloth  trowsers of black wool  a silk waistcoat  boots
and linen   On the margin there stood  ex ambassador  and a note
which we also copy   In a separate box  a neatly frizzed peruke  green
glasses  seals  and two small quills an inch long  wrapped in cotton  
All this belonged to the statesman  the ex ambassador  This whole
costume was  if we may so express ourselves  debilitated  the seams were
white  a vague button hole yawned at one of the elbows  moreover  one of
the coat buttons was missing on the breast  but this was only detail  as
the hand of the statesman should always be thrust into his coat and laid
upon his heart  its function was to conceal the absent button 

If Marius had been familiar with the occult institutions of Paris  he
would instantly have recognized upon the back of the visitor whom
Basque had just shown in  the statesman s suit borrowed from the
pick me down that shop of the Changer 

Marius  disappointment on beholding another man than the one whom he
expected to see turned to the newcomer s disadvantage 

He surveyed him from head to foot  while that personage made exaggerated
bows  and demanded in a curt tone 

 What do you want  

The man replied with an amiable grin of which the caressing smile of a
crocodile will furnish some idea 

 It seems to me impossible that I should not have already had the honor
of seeing Monsieur le Baron in society  I think I actually did meet
monsieur personally  several years ago  at the house of Madame la
Princesse Bagration and in the drawing rooms of his Lordship the Vicomte
Dambray  peer of France  

It is always a good bit of tactics in knavery to pretend to recognize
some one whom one does not know 

Marius paid attention to the manner of this man s speech  He spied
on his accent and gesture  but his disappointment increased  the
pronunciation was nasal and absolutely unlike the dry  shrill tone which
he had expected 

He was utterly routed 

 I know neither Madame Bagration nor M  Dambray   said he   I have never
set foot in the house of either of them in my life  

The reply was ungracious  The personage  determined to be gracious at
any cost  insisted 

 Then it must have been at Chateaubriand s that I have seen Monsieur  I
know Chateaubriand very well  He is very affable  He sometimes says to
me   Thenard  my friend       won t you drink a glass of wine with me   

Marius  brow grew more and more severe 

 I have never had the honor of being received by M  de Chateaubriand 
Let us cut it short  What do you want  

The man bowed lower at that harsh voice 

 Monsieur le Baron  deign to listen to me  There is in America  in a
district near Panama  a village called la Joya  That village is composed
of a single house  a large  square house of three stories  built of
bricks dried in the sun  each side of the square five hundred feet in
length  each story retreating twelve feet back of the story below  in
such a manner as to leave in front a terrace which makes the circuit
of the edifice  in the centre an inner court where the provisions and
munitions are kept  no windows  loopholes  no doors  ladders  ladders
to mount from the ground to the first terrace  and from the first to the
second  and from the second to the third  ladders to descend into the
inner court  no doors to the chambers  trap doors  no staircases to the
chambers  ladders  in the evening the traps are closed  the ladders
are withdrawn carbines and blunderbusses trained from the loopholes 
no means of entering  a house by day  a citadel by night  eight hundred
inhabitants   that is the village  Why so many precautions  because the
country is dangerous  it is full of cannibals  Then why do people go
there  because the country is marvellous  gold is found there  

 What are you driving at   interrupted Marius  who had passed from
disappointment to impatience 

 At this  Monsieur le Baron  I am an old and weary diplomat  Ancient
civilization has thrown me on my own devices  I want to try savages  

 Well  

 Monsieur le Baron  egotism is the law of the world  The proletarian
peasant woman  who toils by the day  turns round when the diligence
passes by  the peasant proprietress  who toils in her field  does not
turn round  The dog of the poor man barks at the rich man  the dog
of the rich man barks at the poor man  Each one for himself 
Self interest  that s the object of men  Gold  that s the loadstone  

 What then  Finish  

 I should like to go and establish myself at la Joya  There are three
of us  I have my spouse and my young lady  a very beautiful girl  The
journey is long and costly  I need a little money  

 What concern is that of mine   demanded Marius 

The stranger stretched his neck out of his cravat  a gesture
characteristic of the vulture  and replied with an augmented smile 

 Has not Monsieur le Baron perused my letter  

There was some truth in this  The fact is  that the contents of the
epistle had slipped Marius  mind  He had seen the writing rather than
read the letter  He could hardly recall it  But a moment ago a fresh
start had been given him  He had noted that detail   my spouse and my
young lady  

He fixed a penetrating glance on the stranger  An examining judge could
not have done the look better  He almost lay in wait for him 

He confined himself to replying 

 State the case precisely  

The stranger inserted his two hands in both his fobs  drew himself up
without straightening his dorsal column  but scrutinizing Marius in his
turn  with the green gaze of his spectacles 

 So be it  Monsieur le Baron  I will be precise  I have a secret to sell
to you  

 A secret  

 A secret  

 Which concerns me  

 Somewhat  

 What is the secret  

Marius scrutinized the man more and more as he listened to him 

 I commence gratis   said the stranger   You will see that I am
interesting  

 Speak  

 Monsieur le Baron  you have in your house a thief and an assassin  

Marius shuddered 

 In my house  no   said he 

The imperturbable stranger brushed his hat with his elbow and went on 

 An assassin and a thief  Remark  Monsieur le Baron  that I do not here
speak of ancient deeds  deeds of the past which have lapsed  which can
be effaced by limitation before the law and by repentance before God 
I speak of recent deeds  of actual facts as still unknown to justice
at this hour  I continue  This man has insinuated himself into your
confidence  and almost into your family under a false name  I am about
to tell you his real name  And to tell it to you for nothing  

 I am listening  

 His name is Jean Valjean  

 I know it  

 I am going to tell you  equally for nothing  who he is  

 Say on  

 He is an ex convict  

 I know it  

 You know it since I have had the honor of telling you  

 No  I knew it before  

Marius  cold tone  that double reply of  I know it   his laconicism 
which was not favorable to dialogue  stirred up some smouldering wrath
in the stranger  He launched a furious glance on the sly at Marius 
which was instantly extinguished  Rapid as it was  this glance was of
the kind which a man recognizes when he has once beheld it  it did not
escape Marius  Certain flashes can only proceed from certain souls 
the eye  that vent hole of the thought  glows with it  spectacles hide
nothing  try putting a pane of glass over hell 

The stranger resumed with a smile 

 I will not permit myself to contradict Monsieur le Baron  In any case 
you ought to perceive that I am well informed  Now what I have to tell
you is known to myself alone  This concerns the fortune of Madame la
Baronne  It is an extraordinary secret  It is for sale  I make you the
first offer of it  Cheap  Twenty thousand francs  

 I know that secret as well as the others   said Marius 

The personage felt the necessity of lowering his price a trifle 

 Monsieur le Baron  say ten thousand francs and I will speak  

 I repeat to you that there is nothing which you can tell me  I know
what you wish to say to me  

A fresh flash gleamed in the man s eye  He exclaimed 

 But I must dine to day  nevertheless  It is an extraordinary secret 
I tell you  Monsieur le Baron  I will speak  I speak  Give me twenty
francs  

Marius gazed intently at him 

 I know your extraordinary secret  just as I knew Jean Valjean s name 
just as I know your name  

 My name  

 Yes  

 That is not difficult  Monsieur le Baron  I had the honor to write to
you and to tell it to you  Thenard  

   Dier  

 Hey  

 Thenardier  

 Who s that  

In danger the porcupine bristles up  the beetle feigns death  the old
guard forms in a square  this man burst into laughter 

Then he flicked a grain of dust from the sleeve of his coat with a
fillip 

Marius continued 

 You are also Jondrette the workman  Fabantou the comedian  Genflot the
poet  Don Alvares the Spaniard  and Mistress Balizard  

 Mistress what  

 And you kept a pot house at Montfermeil  

 A pot house  Never  

 And I tell you that your name is Thenardier  

 I deny it  

 And that you are a rascal  Here  

And Marius drew a bank note from his pocket and flung it in his face 

 Thanks  Pardon me  five hundred francs  Monsieur le Baron  

And the man  overcome  bowed  seized the note and examined it 

 Five hundred francs   he began again  taken aback  And he stammered in
a low voice   An honest rustler   69 

Then brusquely 

 Well  so be it   he exclaimed   Let us put ourselves at our ease  

And with the agility of a monkey  flinging back his hair  tearing off
his spectacles  and withdrawing from his nose by sleight of hand the two
quills of which mention was recently made  and which the reader has also
met with on another page of this book  he took off his face as the man
takes off his hat 

His eye lighted up  his uneven brow  with hollows in some places and
bumps in others  hideously wrinkled at the top  was laid bare  his nose
had become as sharp as a beak  the fierce and sagacious profile of the
man of prey reappeared 

 Monsieur le Baron is infallible   he said in a clear voice whence all
nasal twang had disappeared   I am Thenardier  

And he straightened up his crooked back 

Thenardier  for it was really he  was strangely surprised  he would have
been troubled  had he been capable of such a thing  He had come to bring
astonishment  and it was he who had received it  This humiliation had
been worth five hundred francs to him  and  taking it all in all  he
accepted it  but he was none the less bewildered 

He beheld this Baron Pontmercy for the first time  and  in spite of
his disguise  this Baron Pontmercy recognized him  and recognized
him thoroughly  And not only was this Baron perfectly informed as to
Thenardier  but he seemed well posted as to Jean Valjean  Who was this
almost beardless young man  who was so glacial and so generous  who knew
people s names  who knew all their names  and who opened his purse to
them  who bullied rascals like a judge  and who paid them like a dupe 

Thenardier  the reader will remember  although he had been Marius 
neighbor  had never seen him  which is not unusual in Paris  he had
formerly  in a vague way  heard his daughters talk of a very poor young
man named Marius who lived in the house  He had written to him  without
knowing him  the letter with which the reader is acquainted 

No connection between that Marius and M  le Baron Pontmercy was possible
in his mind 

As for the name Pontmercy  it will be recalled that  on the battlefield
of Waterloo  he had only heard the last two syllables  for which he
always entertained the legitimate scorn which one owes to what is merely
an expression of thanks 

However  through his daughter Azelma  who had started on the scent of
the married pair on the 16th of February  and through his own personal
researches  he had succeeded in learning many things  and  from the
depths of his own gloom  he had contrived to grasp more than one
mysterious clew  He had discovered  by dint of industry  or  at least 
by dint of induction  he had guessed who the man was whom he had
encountered on a certain day in the Grand Sewer  From the man he had
easily reached the name  He knew that Madame la Baronne Pontmercy was
Cosette  But he meant to be discreet in that quarter 

Who was Cosette  He did not know exactly himself  He did  indeed  catch
an inkling of illegitimacy  the history of Fantine had always seemed to
him equivocal  but what was the use of talking about that  in order to
cause himself to be paid for his silence  He had  or thought he had 
better wares than that for sale  And  according to all appearances  if
he were to come and make to the Baron Pontmercy this revelation  and
without proof   Your wife is a bastard   the only result would be to
attract the boot of the husband towards the loins of the revealer 

From Thenardier s point of view  the conversation with Marius had not
yet begun  He ought to have drawn back  to have modified his strategy 
to have abandoned his position  to have changed his front  but nothing
essential had been compromised as yet  and he had five hundred francs
in his pocket  Moreover  he had something decisive to say  and  even
against this very well informed and well armed Baron Pontmercy  he felt
himself strong  For men of Thenardier s nature  every dialogue is
a combat  In the one in which he was about to engage  what was his
situation  He did not know to whom he was speaking  but he did know of
what he was speaking  he made this rapid review of his inner forces  and
after having said   I am Thenardier   he waited 

Marius had become thoughtful  So he had hold of Thenardier at last 
That man whom he had so greatly desired to find was before him  He could
honor Colonel Pontmercy s recommendation 

He felt humiliated that that hero should have owned anything to this
villain  and that the letter of change drawn from the depths of the tomb
by his father upon him  Marius  had been protested up to that day  It
also seemed to him  in the complex state of his mind towards Thenardier 
that there was occasion to avenge the Colonel for the misfortune of
having been saved by such a rascal  In any case  he was content  He
was about to deliver the Colonel s shade from this unworthy creditor
at last  and it seemed to him that he was on the point of rescuing his
father s memory from the debtors  prison  By the side of this duty there
was another  to elucidate  if possible  the source of Cosette s fortune 
The opportunity appeared to present itself  Perhaps Thenardier knew
something  It might prove useful to see the bottom of this man 

He commenced with this 

Thenardier had caused the  honest rustler  to disappear in his fob  and
was gazing at Marius with a gentleness that was almost tender 

Marius broke the silence 

 Thenardier  I have told you your name  Now  would you like to have me
tell you your secret  the one that you came here to reveal to me  I have
information of my own  also  You shall see that I know more about it
than you do  Jean Valjean  as you have said  is an assassin and a thief 
A thief  because he robbed a wealthy manufacturer  whose ruin he brought
about  An assassin  because he assassinated police agent Javert  

 I don t understand  sir   ejaculated Thenardier 

 I will make myself intelligible  In a certain arrondissement of the Pas
de Calais  there was  in 1822  a man who had fallen out with justice 
and who  under the name of M  Madeleine  had regained his status and
rehabilitated himself  This man had become a just man in the full force
of the term  In a trade  the manufacture of black glass goods  he
made the fortune of an entire city  As far as his personal fortune was
concerned he made that also  but as a secondary matter  and in some
sort  by accident  He was the foster father of the poor  He founded
hospitals  opened schools  visited the sick  dowered young girls 
supported widows  and adopted orphans  he was like the guardian angel of
the country  He refused the cross  he was appointed Mayor  A liberated
convict knew the secret of a penalty incurred by this man in former
days  he denounced him  and had him arrested  and profited by the arrest
to come to Paris and cause the banker Laffitte   I have the fact from
the cashier himself   by means of a false signature  to hand over to
him the sum of over half a million which belonged to M  Madeleine  This
convict who robbed M  Madeleine was Jean Valjean  As for the other fact 
you have nothing to tell me about it either  Jean Valjean killed the
agent Javert  he shot him with a pistol  I  the person who is speaking
to you  was present  

Thenardier cast upon Marius the sovereign glance of a conquered man who
lays his hand once more upon the victory  and who has just regained  in
one instant  all the ground which he has lost  But the smile returned
instantly  The inferior s triumph in the presence of his superior must
be wheedling 

Thenardier contented himself with saying to Marius 

 Monsieur le Baron  we are on the wrong track  

And he emphasized this phrase by making his bunch of seals execute an
expressive whirl 

 What   broke forth Marius   do you dispute that  These are facts  

 They are chimeras  The confidence with which Monsieur le Baron honors
me renders it my duty to tell him so  Truth and justice before all
things  I do not like to see folks accused unjustly  Monsieur le Baron 
Jean Valjean did not rob M  Madeleine and Jean Valjean did not kill
Javert  

 This is too much  How is this  

 For two reasons  

 What are they  Speak  

 This is the first  he did not rob M  Madeleine  because it is Jean
Valjean himself who was M  Madeleine  

 What tale are you telling me  

 And this is the second  he did not assassinate Javert  because the
person who killed Javert was Javert  

 What do you mean to say  

 That Javert committed suicide  

 Prove it  prove it   cried Marius beside himself 

Thenardier resumed  scanning his phrase after the manner of the ancient
Alexandrine measure 


 Police agent Ja vert was found drowned un der a boat of the Pont au Change  

 But prove it  

Thenardier drew from his pocket a large envelope of gray paper  which
seemed to contain sheets folded in different sizes 

 I have my papers   he said calmly 

And he added 

 Monsieur le Baron  in your interests I desired to know Jean Valjean
thoroughly  I say that Jean Valjean and M  Madeleine are one and the
same man  and I say that Javert had no other assassin than Javert  If
I speak  it is because I have proofs  Not manuscript proofs  writing is
suspicious  handwriting is complaisant   but printed proofs  

As he spoke  Thenardier extracted from the envelope two copies of
newspapers  yellow  faded  and strongly saturated with tobacco  One of
these two newspapers  broken at every fold and falling into rags  seemed
much older than the other 

 Two facts  two proofs   remarked Thenardier  And he offered the two
newspapers  unfolded  to Marius 

The reader is acquainted with these two papers  One  the most ancient  a
number of the Drapeau Blanc of the 25th of July  1823  the text of
which can be seen in the first volume  established the identity of M 
Madeleine and Jean Valjean 

The other  a Moniteur of the 15th of June  1832  announced the suicide
of Javert  adding that it appeared from a verbal report of Javert to the
prefect that  having been taken prisoner in the barricade of the Rue de
la Chanvrerie  he had owed his life to the magnanimity of an insurgent
who  holding him under his pistol  had fired into the air  instead of
blowing out his brains 

Marius read  He had evidence  a certain date  irrefragable proof  these
two newspapers had not been printed expressly for the purpose of backing
up Thenardier s statements  the note printed in the Moniteur had been an
administrative communication from the Prefecture of Police  Marius could
not doubt 

The information of the cashier clerk had been false  and he himself had
been deceived 

Jean Valjean  who had suddenly grown grand  emerged from his cloud 
Marius could not repress a cry of joy 

 Well  then this unhappy wretch is an admirable man  the whole of that
fortune really belonged to him  he is Madeleine  the providence of a
whole countryside  he is Jean Valjean  Javert s savior  he is a hero  he
is a saint  

 He s not a saint  and he s not a hero   said Thenardier   He s an
assassin and a robber  

And he added  in the tone of a man who begins to feel that he possesses
some authority 

 Let us be calm  

Robber  assassin  those words which Marius thought had disappeared and
which returned  fell upon him like an ice cold shower bath 

 Again   said he 

 Always   ejaculated Thenardier   Jean Valjean did not rob Madeleine 
but he is a thief  He did not kill Javert  but he is a murderer  

 Will you speak   retorted Marius   of that miserable theft  committed
forty years ago  and expiated  as your own newspapers prove  by a whole
life of repentance  of self abnegation and of virtue  

 I say assassination and theft  Monsieur le Baron  and I repeat that I
am speaking of actual facts  What I have to reveal to you is absolutely
unknown  It belongs to unpublished matter  And perhaps you will find in
it the source of the fortune so skilfully presented to Madame la Baronne
by Jean Valjean  I say skilfully  because  by a gift of that nature it
would not be so very unskilful to slip into an honorable house whose
comforts one would then share  and  at the same stroke  to conceal one s
crime  and to enjoy one s theft  to bury one s name and to create for
oneself a family  

 I might interrupt you at this point   said Marius   but go on  

 Monsieur le Baron  I will tell you all  leaving the recompense to your
generosity  This secret is worth massive gold  You will say to me   Why
do not you apply to Jean Valjean   For a very simple reason  I know
that he has stripped himself  and stripped himself in your favor  and I
consider the combination ingenious  but he has no longer a son  he would
show me his empty hands  and  since I am in need of some money for
my trip to la Joya  I prefer you  you who have it all  to him who has
nothing  I am a little fatigued  permit me to take a chair  

Marius seated himself and motioned to him to do the same 

Thenardier installed himself on a tufted chair  picked up his two
newspapers  thrust them back into their envelope  and murmured as he
pecked at the Drapeau Blanc with his nail   It cost me a good deal of
trouble to get this one  

That done he crossed his legs and stretched himself out on the back of
the chair  an attitude characteristic of people who are sure of what
they are saying  then he entered upon his subject gravely  emphasizing
his words 

 Monsieur le Baron  on the 6th of June  1832  about a year ago  on the
day of the insurrection  a man was in the Grand Sewer of Paris  at the
point where the sewer enters the Seine  between the Pont des Invalides
and the Pont de Jena  

Marius abruptly drew his chair closer to that of Thenardier  Thenardier
noticed this movement and continued with the deliberation of an orator
who holds his interlocutor and who feels his adversary palpitating under
his words 

 This man  forced to conceal himself  and for reasons  moreover  which
are foreign to politics  had adopted the sewer as his domicile and had
a key to it  It was  I repeat  on the 6th of June  it might have been
eight o clock in the evening  The man hears a noise in the sewer 
Greatly surprised  he hides himself and lies in wait  It was the sound
of footsteps  some one was walking in the dark  and coming in his
direction  Strange to say  there was another man in the sewer besides
himself  The grating of the outlet from the sewer was not far off 
A little light which fell through it permitted him to recognize the
newcomer  and to see that the man was carrying something on his back 
He was walking in a bent attitude  The man who was walking in a bent
attitude was an ex convict  and what he was dragging on his shoulders
was a corpse  Assassination caught in the very act  if ever there was
such a thing  As for the theft  that is understood  one does not kill
a man gratis  This convict was on his way to fling the body into the
river  One fact is to be noticed  that before reaching the exit
grating  this convict  who had come a long distance in the sewer  must 
necessarily  have encountered a frightful quagmire where it seems as
though he might have left the body  but the sewermen would have found
the assassinated man the very next day  while at work on the quagmire 
and that did not suit the assassin s plans  He had preferred to
traverse that quagmire with his burden  and his exertions must have been
terrible  for it is impossible to risk one s life more completely  I
don t understand how he could have come out of that alive  

Marius  chair approached still nearer  Thenardier took advantage of this
to draw a long breath  He went on 

 Monsieur le Baron  a sewer is not the Champ de Mars  One lacks
everything there  even room  When two men are there  they must meet 
That is what happened  The man domiciled there and the passer by were
forced to bid each other good day  greatly to the regret of both  The
passer by said to the inhabitant    You see what I have on my back  I
must get out  you have the key  give it to me   That convict was a man
of terrible strength  There was no way of refusing  Nevertheless  the
man who had the key parleyed  simply to gain time  He examined the dead
man  but he could see nothing  except that the latter was young  well
dressed  with the air of being rich  and all disfigured with blood 
While talking  the man contrived to tear and pull off behind  without
the assassin perceiving it  a bit of the assassinated man s coat  A
document for conviction  you understand  a means of recovering the trace
of things and of bringing home the crime to the criminal  He put
this document for conviction in his pocket  After which he opened the
grating  made the man go out with his embarrassment on his back  closed
the grating again  and ran off  not caring to be mixed up with the
remainder of the adventure and above all  not wishing to be present
when the assassin threw the assassinated man into the river  Now you
comprehend  The man who was carrying the corpse was Jean Valjean  the
one who had the key is speaking to you at this moment  and the piece of
the coat       

Thenardier completed his phrase by drawing from his pocket  and holding 
on a level with his eyes  nipped between his two thumbs and his two
forefingers  a strip of torn black cloth  all covered with dark spots 

Marius had sprung to his feet  pale  hardly able to draw his breath 
with his eyes riveted on the fragment of black cloth  and  without
uttering a word  without taking his eyes from that fragment  he
retreated to the wall and fumbled with his right hand along the wall for
a key which was in the lock of a cupboard near the chimney 

He found the key  opened the cupboard  plunged his arm into it without
looking  and without his frightened gaze quitting the rag which
Thenardier still held outspread 

But Thenardier continued 

 Monsieur le Baron  I have the strongest of reasons for believing that
the assassinated young man was an opulent stranger lured into a trap by
Jean Valjean  and the bearer of an enormous sum of money  

 The young man was myself  and here is the coat   cried Marius  and he
flung upon the floor an old black coat all covered with blood 

Then  snatching the fragment from the hands of Thenardier  he crouched
down over the coat  and laid the torn morsel against the tattered skirt 
The rent fitted exactly  and the strip completed the coat 

Thenardier was petrified 

This is what he thought   I m struck all of a heap  

Marius rose to his feet trembling  despairing  radiant 

He fumbled in his pocket and stalked furiously to Thenardier  presenting
to him and almost thrusting in his face his fist filled with bank notes
for five hundred and a thousand francs 

 You are an infamous wretch  you are a liar  a calumniator  a villain 
You came to accuse that man  you have only justified him  you wanted to
ruin him  you have only succeeded in glorifying him  And it is you who
are the thief  And it is you who are the assassin  I saw you  Thenardier
Jondrette  in that lair on the Rue de l Hopital  I know enough about
you to send you to the galleys and even further if I choose  Here are a
thousand francs  bully that you are  

And he flung a thousand franc note at Thenardier 

 Ah  Jondrette Thenardier  vile rascal  Let this serve you as a lesson 
you dealer in second hand secrets  merchant of mysteries  rummager of
the shadows  wretch  Take these five hundred francs and get out of here 
Waterloo protects you  

 Waterloo   growled Thenardier  pocketing the five hundred francs along
with the thousand 

 Yes  assassin  You there saved the life of a Colonel      

 Of a General   said Thenardier  elevating his head 

 Of a Colonel   repeated Marius in a rage   I wouldn t give a ha penny
for a general  And you come here to commit infamies  I tell you that
you have committed all crimes  Go  disappear  Only be happy  that is all
that I desire  Ah  monster  here are three thousand francs more  Take
them  You will depart to morrow  for America  with your daughter 
for your wife is dead  you abominable liar  I shall watch over your
departure  you ruffian  and at that moment I will count out to you
twenty thousand francs  Go get yourself hung elsewhere  

 Monsieur le Baron   replied Thenardier  bowing to the very earth 
 eternal gratitude   And Thenardier left the room  understanding
nothing  stupefied and delighted with this sweet crushing beneath sacks
of gold  and with that thunder which had burst forth over his head in
bank bills 

Struck by lightning he was  but he was also content  and he would
have been greatly angered had he had a lightning rod to ward off such
lightning as that 

Let us finish with this man at once 

Two days after the events which we are at this moment narrating  he set
out  thanks to Marius  care  for America under a false name  with his
daughter Azelma  furnished with a draft on New York for twenty thousand
francs 

The moral wretchedness of Thenardier  the bourgeois who had missed
his vocation  was irremediable  He was in America what he had been in
Europe  Contact with an evil man sometimes suffices to corrupt a good
action and to cause evil things to spring from it  With Marius  money 
Thenardier set up as a slave dealer 

As soon as Thenardier had left the house  Marius rushed to the garden 
where Cosette was still walking 

 Cosette  Cosette   he cried   Come  come quick  Let us go  Basque  a
carriage  Cosette  come  Ah  My God  It was he who saved my life  Let us
not lose a minute  Put on your shawl  

Cosette thought him mad and obeyed 

He could not breathe  he laid his hand on his heart to restrain its
throbbing  He paced back and forth with huge strides  he embraced
Cosette 

 Ah  Cosette  I am an unhappy wretch   said he 

Marius was bewildered  He began to catch a glimpse in Jean Valjean of
some indescribably lofty and melancholy figure  An unheard of virtue 
supreme and sweet  humble in its immensity  appeared to him  The convict
was transfigured into Christ 

Marius was dazzled by this prodigy  He did not know precisely what he
beheld  but it was grand 

In an instant  a hackney carriage stood in front of the door 

Marius helped Cosette in and darted in himself 

 Driver   said he   Rue de l Homme Arme  Number 7  

The carriage drove off 

 Ah  what happiness   ejaculated Cosette   Rue de l Homme Arme  I did
not dare to speak to you of that  We are going to see M  Jean  

 Thy father  Cosette  thy father more than ever  Cosette  I guess it 
You told me that you had never received the letter that I sent you by
Gavroche  It must have fallen into his hands  Cosette  he went to the
barricade to save me  As it is a necessity with him to be an angel  he
saved others also  he saved Javert  He rescued me from that gulf to give
me to you  He carried me on his back through that frightful sewer  Ah  I
am a monster of ingratitude  Cosette  after having been your providence 
he became mine  Just imagine  there was a terrible quagmire enough to
drown one a hundred times over  to drown one in mire  Cosette  he made
me traverse it  I was unconscious  I saw nothing  I heard nothing  I
could know nothing of my own adventure  We are going to bring him back 
to take him with us  whether he is willing or not  he shall never leave
us again  If only he is at home  Provided only that we can find him 
I will pass the rest of my life in venerating him  Yes  that is how it
should be  do you see  Cosette  Gavroche must have delivered my letter
to him  All is explained  You understand  

Cosette did not understand a word 

 You are right   she said to him 

Meanwhile the carriage rolled on 




CHAPTER V  A NIGHT BEHIND WHICH THERE IS DAY

Jean Valjean turned round at the knock which he heard on his door 

 Come in   he said feebly 

The door opened 

Cosette and Marius made their appearance 

Cosette rushed into the room 

Marius remained on the threshold  leaning against the jamb of the door 

 Cosette   said Jean Valjean 

And he sat erect in his chair  his arms outstretched and trembling 
haggard  livid  gloomy  an immense joy in his eyes 

Cosette  stifling with emotion  fell upon Jean Valjean s breast 

 Father   said she 

Jean Valjean  overcome  stammered 

 Cosette  she  you  Madame  it is thou  Ah  my God  

And  pressed close in Cosette s arms  he exclaimed 

 It is thou  thou art here  Thou dost pardon me then  

Marius  lowering his eyelids  in order to keep his tears from flowing 
took a step forward and murmured between lips convulsively contracted to
repress his sobs 

 My father  

 And you also  you pardon me   Jean Valjean said to him 

Marius could find no words  and Jean Valjean added 

 Thanks  

Cosette tore off her shawl and tossed her hat on the bed 

 It embarrasses me   said she 

And  seating herself on the old man s knees  she put aside his white
locks with an adorable movement  and kissed his brow 

Jean Valjean  bewildered  let her have her own way 

Cosette  who only understood in a very confused manner  redoubled her
caresses  as though she desired to pay Marius  debt 

Jean Valjean stammered 

 How stupid people are  I thought that I should never see her again 
Imagine  Monsieur Pontmercy  at the very moment when you entered  I
was saying to myself   All is over  Here is her little gown  I am a
miserable man  I shall never see Cosette again   and I was saying that
at the very moment when you were mounting the stairs  Was not I an
idiot  Just see how idiotic one can be  One reckons without the good
God  The good God says 

  You fancy that you are about to be abandoned  stupid  No  No  things
will not go so  Come  there is a good man yonder who is in need of an
angel   And the angel comes  and one sees one s Cosette again  and one
sees one s little Cosette once more  Ah  I was very unhappy  

For a moment he could not speak  then he went on 

 I really needed to see Cosette a little bit now and then  A heart needs
a bone to gnaw  But I was perfectly conscious that I was in the way  I
gave myself reasons   They do not want you  keep in your own course 
one has not the right to cling eternally   Ah  God be praised  I see her
once more  Dost thou know  Cosette  thy husband is very handsome  Ah 
what a pretty embroidered collar thou hast on  luckily  I am fond of
that pattern  It was thy husband who chose it  was it not  And then 
thou shouldst have some cashmere shawls  Let me call her thou  Monsieur
Pontmercy  It will not be for long  

And Cosette began again 

 How wicked of you to have left us like that  Where did you go  Why have
you stayed away so long  Formerly your journeys only lasted three or
four days  I sent Nicolette  the answer always was   He is absent   How
long have you been back  Why did you not let us know  Do you know that
you are very much changed  Ah  what a naughty father  he has been ill 
and we have not known it  Stay  Marius  feel how cold his hand is  

 So you are here  Monsieur Pontmercy  you pardon me   repeated Jean
Valjean 

At that word which Jean Valjean had just uttered once more  all that was
swelling Marius  heart found vent 

He burst forth 

 Cosette  do you hear  he has come to that  he asks my forgiveness  And
do you know what he has done for me  Cosette  He has saved my life  He
has done more  he has given you to me  And after having saved me  and
after having given you to me  Cosette  what has he done with himself  He
has sacrificed himself  Behold the man  And he says to me the ingrate 
to me the forgetful  to me the pitiless  to me the guilty one  Thanks 
Cosette  my whole life passed at the feet of this man would be too
little  That barricade  that sewer  that furnace  that cesspool   all
that he traversed for me  for thee  Cosette  He carried me away through
all the deaths which he put aside before me  and accepted for himself 
Every courage  every virtue  every heroism  every sanctity he possesses 
Cosette  that man is an angel  

 Hush  hush   said Jean Valjean in a low voice   Why tell all that  

 But you   cried Marius with a wrath in which there was veneration   why
did you not tell it to me  It is your own fault  too  You save people s
lives  and you conceal it from them  You do more  under the pretext of
unmasking yourself  you calumniate yourself  It is frightful  

 I told the truth   replied Jean Valjean 

 No   retorted Marius   the truth is the whole truth  and that you did
not tell  You were Monsieur Madeleine  why not have said so  You saved
Javert  why not have said so  I owed my life to you  why not have said
so  

 Because I thought as you do  I thought that you were in the right  It
was necessary that I should go away  If you had known about that affair 
of the sewer  you would have made me remain near you  I was therefore
forced to hold my peace  If I had spoken  it would have caused
embarrassment in every way  

 It would have embarrassed what  embarrassed whom   retorted Marius   Do
you think that you are going to stay here  We shall carry you off  Ah 
good heavens  when I reflect that it was by an accident that I have
learned all this  You form a part of ourselves  You are her father 
and mine  You shall not pass another day in this dreadful house  Do not
imagine that you will be here to morrow  

 To morrow   said Jean Valjean   I shall not be here  but I shall not be
with you  

 What do you mean   replied Marius   Ah  come now  we are not going to
permit any more journeys  You shall never leave us again  You belong to
us  We shall not loose our hold of you  

 This time it is for good   added Cosette   We have a carriage at the
door  I shall run away with you  If necessary  I shall employ force  

And she laughingly made a movement to lift the old man in her arms 

 Your chamber still stands ready in our house   she went on   If you
only knew how pretty the garden is now  The azaleas are doing very
well there  The walks are sanded with river sand  there are tiny violet
shells  You shall eat my strawberries  I water them myself  And no
more  madame   no more  Monsieur Jean   we are living under a Republic 
everybody says thou  don t they  Marius  The programme is changed  If
you only knew  father  I have had a sorrow  there was a robin redbreast
which had made her nest in a hole in the wall  and a horrible cat ate
her  My poor  pretty  little robin red breast which used to put her head
out of her window and look at me  I cried over it  I should have liked
to kill the cat  But now nobody cries any more  Everybody laughs 
everybody is happy  You are going to come with us  How delighted
grandfather will be  You shall have your plot in the garden  you shall
cultivate it  and we shall see whether your strawberries are as fine as
mine  And  then  I shall do everything that you wish  and then  you will
obey me prettily  

Jean Valjean listened to her without hearing her  He heard the music of
her voice rather than the sense of her words  one of those large tears
which are the sombre pearls of the soul welled up slowly in his eyes 

He murmured 

 The proof that God is good is that she is here  

 Father   said Cosette 

Jean Valjean continued 

 It is quite true that it would be charming for us to live together 
Their trees are full of birds  I would walk with Cosette  It is sweet to
be among living people who bid each other  good day   who call to each
other in the garden  People see each other from early morning  We
should each cultivate our own little corner  She would make me eat her
strawberries  I would make her gather my roses  That would be charming 
Only       

He paused and said gently 

 It is a pity  

The tear did not fall  it retreated  and Jean Valjean replaced it with a
smile 

Cosette took both the old man s hands in hers 

 My God   said she   your hands are still colder than before  Are you
ill  Do you suffer  

 I  No   replied Jean Valjean   I am very well  Only       

He paused 

 Only what  

 I am going to die presently  

Cosette and Marius shuddered 

 To die   exclaimed Marius 

 Yes  but that is nothing   said Jean Valjean 

He took breath  smiled and resumed 

 Cosette  thou wert talking to me  go on  so thy little robin red breast
is dead  Speak  so that I may hear thy voice  

Marius gazed at the old man in amazement 

Cosette uttered a heartrending cry 

 Father  my father  you will live  You are going to live  I insist upon
your living  do you hear  

Jean Valjean raised his head towards her with adoration 

 Oh  yes  forbid me to die  Who knows  Perhaps I shall obey  I was on
the verge of dying when you came  That stopped me  it seemed to me that
I was born again  

 You are full of strength and life   cried Marius   Do you imagine that
a person can die like this  You have had sorrow  you shall have no more 
It is I who ask your forgiveness  and on my knees  You are going to
live  and to live with us  and to live a long time  We take possession
of you once more  There are two of us here who will henceforth have no
other thought than your happiness  

 You see   resumed Cosette  all bathed in tears   that Marius says that
you shall not die  

Jean Valjean continued to smile 

 Even if you were to take possession of me  Monsieur Pontmercy  would
that make me other than I am  No  God has thought like you and myself 
and he does not change his mind  it is useful for me to go  Death is
a good arrangement  God knows better than we what we need  May you be
happy  may Monsieur Pontmercy have Cosette  may youth wed the morning 
may there be around you  my children  lilacs and nightingales  may your
life be a beautiful  sunny lawn  may all the enchantments of heaven fill
your souls  and now let me  who am good for nothing  die  it is certain
that all this is right  Come  be reasonable  nothing is possible now  I
am fully conscious that all is over  And then  last night  I drank that
whole jug of water  How good thy husband is  Cosette  Thou art much
better off with him than with me  

A noise became audible at the door 

It was the doctor entering 

 Good day  and farewell  doctor   said Jean Valjean   Here are my poor
children  

Marius stepped up to the doctor  He addressed to him only this single
word   Monsieur         But his manner of pronouncing it contained a
complete question 

The doctor replied to the question by an expressive glance 

 Because things are not agreeable   said Jean Valjean   that is no
reason for being unjust towards God  

A silence ensued 

All breasts were oppressed 

Jean Valjean turned to Cosette  He began to gaze at her as though he
wished to retain her features for eternity 

In the depths of the shadow into which he had already descended  ecstasy
was still possible to him when gazing at Cosette  The reflection of that
sweet face lighted up his pale visage 

The doctor felt of his pulse 

 Ah  it was you that he wanted   he murmured  looking at Cosette and
Marius 

And bending down to Marius  ear  he added in a very low voice 

 Too late  

Jean Valjean surveyed the doctor and Marius serenely  almost without
ceasing to gaze at Cosette 

These barely articulate words were heard to issue from his mouth 

 It is nothing to die  it is dreadful not to live  

All at once he rose to his feet  These accesses of strength are
sometimes the sign of the death agony  He walked with a firm step to
the wall  thrusting aside Marius and the doctor who tried to help him 
detached from the wall a little copper crucifix which was suspended
there  and returned to his seat with all the freedom of movement of
perfect health  and said in a loud voice  as he laid the crucifix on the
table 

 Behold the great martyr  

Then his chest sank in  his head wavered  as though the intoxication of
the tomb were seizing hold upon him 

His hands  which rested on his knees  began to press their nails into
the stuff of his trousers 

Cosette supported his shoulders  and sobbed  and tried to speak to him 
but could not 

Among the words mingled with that mournful saliva which accompanies
tears  they distinguished words like the following 

 Father  do not leave us  Is it possible that we have found you only to
lose you again  

It might be said that agony writhes  It goes  comes  advances towards
the sepulchre  and returns towards life  There is groping in the action
of dying 

Jean Valjean rallied after this semi swoon  shook his brow as though
to make the shadows fall away from it and became almost perfectly lucid
once more 

He took a fold of Cosette s sleeve and kissed it 

 He is coming back  doctor  he is coming back   cried Marius 

 You are good  both of you   said Jean Valjean   I am going to tell you
what has caused me pain  What has pained me  Monsieur Pontmercy  is that
you have not been willing to touch that money  That money really belongs
to your wife  I will explain to you  my children  and for that reason 
also  I am glad to see you  Black jet comes from England  white jet
comes from Norway  All this is in this paper  which you will read  For
bracelets  I invented a way of substituting for slides of soldered sheet
iron  slides of iron laid together  It is prettier  better and less
costly  You will understand how much money can be made in that way  So
Cosette s fortune is really hers  I give you these details  in order
that your mind may be set at rest  

The portress had come upstairs and was gazing in at the half open door 
The doctor dismissed her 

But he could not prevent this zealous woman from exclaiming to the dying
man before she disappeared   Would you like a priest  

 I have had one   replied Jean Valjean 

And with his finger he seemed to indicate a point above his head where
one would have said that he saw some one 

It is probable  in fact  that the Bishop was present at this death
agony 

Cosette gently slipped a pillow under his loins 

Jean Valjean resumed 

 Have no fear  Monsieur Pontmercy  I adjure you  The six hundred
thousand francs really belong to Cosette  My life will have been wasted
if you do not enjoy them  We managed to do very well with those glass
goods  We rivalled what is called Berlin jewellery  However  we could
not equal the black glass of England  A gross  which contains twelve
hundred very well cut grains  only costs three francs  

When a being who is dear to us is on the point of death  we gaze upon
him with a look which clings convulsively to him and which would fain
hold him back 

Cosette gave her hand to Marius  and both  mute with anguish  not
knowing what to say to the dying man  stood trembling and despairing
before him 

Jean Valjean sank moment by moment  He was failing  he was drawing near
to the gloomy horizon 

His breath had become intermittent  a little rattling interrupted it 
He found some difficulty in moving his forearm  his feet had lost all
movement  and in proportion as the wretchedness of limb and feebleness
of body increased  all the majesty of his soul was displayed and spread
over his brow  The light of the unknown world was already visible in his
eyes 

His face paled and smiled  Life was no longer there  it was something
else 

His breath sank  his glance grew grander  He was a corpse on which the
wings could be felt 

He made a sign to Cosette to draw near  then to Marius  the last minute
of the last hour had  evidently  arrived 

He began to speak to them in a voice so feeble that it seemed to come
from a distance  and one would have said that a wall now rose between
them and him 

 Draw near  draw near  both of you  I love you dearly  Oh  how good it
is to die like this  And thou lovest me also  my Cosette  I knew well
that thou still felt friendly towards thy poor old man  How kind it was
of thee to place that pillow under my loins  Thou wilt weep for me a
little  wilt thou not  Not too much  I do not wish thee to have any real
griefs  You must enjoy yourselves a great deal  my children  I forgot
to tell you that the profit was greater still on the buckles without
tongues than on all the rest  A gross of a dozen dozens cost ten francs
and sold for sixty  It really was a good business  So there is no
occasion for surprise at the six hundred thousand francs  Monsieur
Pontmercy  It is honest money  You may be rich with a tranquil mind 
Thou must have a carriage  a box at the theatres now and then  and
handsome ball dresses  my Cosette  and then  thou must give good dinners
to thy friends  and be very happy  I was writing to Cosette a while ago 
She will find my letter  I bequeath to her the two candlesticks which
stand on the chimney piece  They are of silver  but to me they are gold 
they are diamonds  they change candles which are placed in them into
wax tapers  I do not know whether the person who gave them to me is
pleased with me yonder on high  I have done what I could  My children 
you will not forget that I am a poor man  you will have me buried in the
first plot of earth that you find  under a stone to mark the spot  This
is my wish  No name on the stone  If Cosette cares to come for a little
while now and then  it will give me pleasure  And you too  Monsieur
Pontmercy  I must admit that I have not always loved you  I ask your
pardon for that  Now she and you form but one for me  I feel very
grateful to you  I am sure that you make Cosette happy  If you only
knew  Monsieur Pontmercy  her pretty rosy cheeks were my delight  when I
saw her in the least pale  I was sad  In the chest of drawers  there is
a bank bill for five hundred francs  I have not touched it  It is for
the poor  Cosette  dost thou see thy little gown yonder on the bed  dost
thou recognize it  That was ten years ago  however  How time flies  We
have been very happy  All is over  Do not weep  my children  I am not
going very far  I shall see you from there  you will only have to
look at night  and you will see me smile  Cosette  dost thou remember
Montfermeil  Thou wert in the forest  thou wert greatly terrified  dost
thou remember how I took hold of the handle of the water bucket  That
was the first time that I touched thy poor  little hand  It was so cold 
Ah  your hands were red then  mademoiselle  they are very white now  And
the big doll  dost thou remember  Thou didst call her Catherine  Thou
regrettedest not having taken her to the convent  How thou didst make
me laugh sometimes  my sweet angel  When it had been raining  thou didst
float bits of straw on the gutters  and watch them pass away  One day
I gave thee a willow battledore and a shuttlecock with yellow  blue and
green feathers  Thou hast forgotten it  Thou wert roguish so young  Thou
didst play  Thou didst put cherries in thy ears  Those are things of
the past  The forests through which one has passed with one s child  the
trees under which one has strolled  the convents where one has concealed
oneself  the games  the hearty laughs of childhood  are shadows  I
imagined that all that belonged to me  In that lay my stupidity  Those
Thenardiers were wicked  Thou must forgive them  Cosette  the moment
has come to tell thee the name of thy mother  She was called Fantine 
Remember that name  Fantine  Kneel whenever thou utterest it  She
suffered much  She loved thee dearly  She had as much unhappiness as
thou hast had happiness  That is the way God apportions things  He is
there on high  he sees us all  and he knows what he does in the midst of
his great stars  I am on the verge of departure  my children  Love each
other well and always  There is nothing else but that in the world  love
for each other  You will think sometimes of the poor old man who died
here  Oh my Cosette  it is not my fault  indeed  that I have not seen
thee all this time  it cut me to the heart  I went as far as the corner
of the street  I must have produced a queer effect on the people who
saw me pass  I was like a madman  I once went out without my hat  I no
longer see clearly  my children  I had still other things to say  but
never mind  Think a little of me  Come still nearer  I die happy  Give
me your dear and well beloved heads  so that I may lay my hands upon
them  

Cosette and Marius fell on their knees  in despair  suffocating with
tears  each beneath one of Jean Valjean s hands  Those august hands no
longer moved 

He had fallen backwards  the light of the candles illuminated him 

His white face looked up to heaven  he allowed Cosette and Marius to
cover his hands with kisses 

He was dead 

The night was starless and extremely dark  No doubt  in the gloom  some
immense angel stood erect with wings outspread  awaiting that soul 

 Illustration  Darkness  5b9 1 Darkness 




CHAPTER VI  THE GRASS COVERS AND THE RAIN EFFACES

In the cemetery of Pere Lachaise  in the vicinity of the common grave 
far from the elegant quarter of that city of sepulchres  far from all
the tombs of fancy which display in the presence of eternity all the
hideous fashions of death  in a deserted corner  beside an old wall 
beneath a great yew tree over which climbs the wild convolvulus  amid
dandelions and mosses  there lies a stone  That stone is no more exempt
than others from the leprosy of time  of dampness  of the lichens and
from the defilement of the birds  The water turns it green  the air
blackens it  It is not near any path  and people are not fond of
walking in that direction  because the grass is high and their feet
are immediately wet  When there is a little sunshine  the lizards
come thither  All around there is a quivering of weeds  In the spring 
linnets warble in the trees 

This stone is perfectly plain  In cutting it the only thought was the
requirements of the tomb  and no other care was taken than to make the
stone long enough and narrow enough to cover a man 

No name is to be read there 

Only  many years ago  a hand wrote upon it in pencil these four lines 
which have become gradually illegible beneath the rain and the dust  and
which are  to day  probably effaced 

           Il dort  Quoique le sort fut pour lui bien etrange 
           Il vivait  Il mourut quand il n eut plus son ange 
           La chose simplement d elle meme arriva 
           Comme la nuit se fait lorsque le jour s en va  70 





LETTER TO M  DAELLI

Publisher of the Italian translation of Les Miserables in Milan 

                               HAUTEVILLE HOUSE  October 18  1862 


You are right  sir  when you tell me that Les Miserables is written for
all nations  I do not know whether it will be read by all  but I wrote
it for all  It is addressed to England as well as to Spain  to Italy as
well as to France  to Germany as well as to Ireland  to Republics which
have slaves as well as to Empires which have serfs  Social problems
overstep frontiers  The sores of the human race  those great sores which
cover the globe  do not halt at the red or blue lines traced upon the
map  In every place where man is ignorant and despairing  in every place
where woman is sold for bread  wherever the child suffers for lack of
the book which should instruct him and of the hearth which should warm
him  the book of Les Miserables knocks at the door and says   Open to
me  I come for you  

At the hour of civilization through which we are now passing  and which
is still so sombre  the miserable s name is Man  he is agonizing in all
climes  and he is groaning in all languages 

Your Italy is no more exempt from the evil than is our France  Your
admirable Italy has all miseries on the face of it  Does not banditism 
that raging form of pauperism  inhabit your mountains  Few nations are
more deeply eaten by that ulcer of convents which I have endeavored to
fathom  In spite of your possessing Rome  Milan  Naples  Palermo  Turin 
Florence  Sienna  Pisa  Mantua  Bologna  Ferrara  Genoa  Venice  a
heroic history  sublime ruins  magnificent ruins  and superb cities 
you are  like ourselves  poor  You are covered with marvels and vermin 
Assuredly  the sun of Italy is splendid  but  alas  azure in the sky
does not prevent rags on man 

Like us  you have prejudices  superstitions  tyrannies  fanaticisms 
blind laws lending assistance to ignorant customs  You taste nothing of
the present nor of the future without a flavor of the past being mingled
with it  You have a barbarian  the monk  and a savage  the lazzarone 
The social question is the same for you as for us  There are a few less
deaths from hunger with you  and a few more from fever  your social
hygiene is not much better than ours  shadows  which are Protestant in
England  are Catholic in Italy  but  under different names  the vescovo
is identical with the bishop  and it always means night  and of pretty
nearly the same quality  To explain the Bible badly amounts to the same
thing as to understand the Gospel badly 

Is it necessary to emphasize this  Must this melancholy parallelism
be yet more completely verified  Have you not indigent persons  Glance
below  Have you not parasites  Glance up  Does not that hideous balance 
whose two scales  pauperism and parasitism  so mournfully preserve their
mutual equilibrium  oscillate before you as it does before us  Where
is your army of schoolmasters  the only army which civilization
acknowledges 

Where are your free and compulsory schools  Does every one know how to
read in the land of Dante and of Michael Angelo  Have you made public
schools of your barracks  Have you not  like ourselves  an opulent
war budget and a paltry budget of education  Have not you also that
passive obedience which is so easily converted into soldierly obedience 
military establishment which pushes the regulations to the extreme of
firing upon Garibaldi  that is to say  upon the living honor of Italy 
Let us subject your social order to examination  let us take it where it
stands and as it stands  let us view its flagrant offences  show me the
woman and the child  It is by the amount of protection with which these
two feeble creatures are surrounded that the degree of civilization
is to be measured  Is prostitution less heartrending in Naples than in
Paris  What is the amount of truth that springs from your laws  and what
amount of justice springs from your tribunals  Do you chance to be so
fortunate as to be ignorant of the meaning of those gloomy words  public
prosecution  legal infamy  prison  the scaffold  the executioner  the
death penalty  Italians  with you as with us  Beccaria is dead and
Farinace is alive  And then  let us scrutinize your state reasons 
Have you a government which comprehends the identity of morality and
politics  You have reached the point where you grant amnesty to heroes 
Something very similar has been done in France  Stay  let us pass
miseries in review  let each one contribute his pile  you are as rich
as we  Have you not  like ourselves  two condemnations  religious
condemnation pronounced by the priest  and social condemnation decreed
by the judge  Oh  great nation of Italy  thou resemblest the great
nation of France  Alas  our brothers  you are  like ourselves 
Miserables 

From the depths of the gloom wherein you dwell  you do not see much more
distinctly than we the radiant and distant portals of Eden  Only  the
priests are mistaken  These holy portals are before and not behind us 

I resume  This book  Les Miserables  is no less your mirror than ours 
Certain men  certain castes  rise in revolt against this book   I
understand that  Mirrors  those revealers of the truth  are hated  that
does not prevent them from being of use 

As for myself  I have written for all  with a profound love for my own
country  but without being engrossed by France more than by any other
nation  In proportion as I advance in life  I grow more simple  and I
become more and more patriotic for humanity 

This is  moreover  the tendency of our age  and the law of radiance
of the French Revolution  books must cease to be exclusively French 
Italian  German  Spanish  or English  and become European  I say more 
human  if they are to correspond to the enlargement of civilization 

Hence a new logic of art  and of certain requirements of composition
which modify everything  even the conditions  formerly narrow  of taste
and language  which must grow broader like all the rest 

In France  certain critics have reproached me  to my great delight 
with having transgressed the bounds of what they call  French taste   I
should be glad if this eulogium were merited 

In short  I am doing what I can  I suffer with the same universal
suffering  and I try to assuage it  I possess only the puny forces of a
man  and I cry to all   Help me  

This  sir  is what your letter prompts me to say  I say it for you and
for your country  If I have insisted so strongly  it is because of one
phrase in your letter  You write   

 There are Italians  and they are numerous  who say   This book  Les
Miserables  is a French book  It does not concern us  Let the French
read it as a history  we read it as a romance     Alas  I repeat 
whether we be Italians or Frenchmen  misery concerns us all  Ever since
history has been written  ever since philosophy has meditated  misery
has been the garment of the human race  the moment has at length arrived
for tearing off that rag  and for replacing  upon the naked limbs of the
Man People  the sinister fragment of the past with the grand purple robe
of the dawn 

If this letter seems to you of service in enlightening some minds and
in dissipating some prejudices  you are at liberty to publish it 
sir  Accept  I pray you  a renewed assurance of my very distinguished
sentiments 

                                                  VICTOR HUGO 


     

FOOTNOTES 


 Footnote 1  Patois of the French Alps  chat de maraude  rascally
marauder  

 Footnote 2  Liege  a cork tree  Pau  a jest on peau  skin  

 Footnote 3  She belonged to that circle where cuckoos and carriages
share the same fate  and a jade herself  she lived  as jades live  for
the space of a morning  or jade   

 Footnote 4  An ex convict  

 Footnote 5  This parenthesis is due to Jean Valjean  

 Footnote 6  A bullet as large as an egg  

 Footnote 7  Walter Scott  Lamartine  Vaulabelle  Charras  Quinet 
Thiers  

 Footnote 8  This is the inscription   

                       D  O  M 
                    CY A ETE ECRASE
                       PAR MALHEUR
                    SOUS UN CHARIOT 
                    MONSIEUR BERNARD
                    DE BRYE MARCHAND
               A BRUXELLE LE  Illegible 
                      FEVRIER 1637  

 Footnote 9  A heavy rifled gun  

 Footnote 10   A battle terminated  a day finished  false measures
repaired  greater successes assured for the morrow   all was lost by a
moment of panic  terror    Napoleon  Dictees de Sainte Helene  

 Footnote 11  Five winning numbers in a lottery 

 Footnote 12  Literally  made cuirs   i  e   pronounced a t or an s at
the end of words where the opposite letter should occur  or used either
one of them where neither exists  

 Footnote 13  Lawyer Corbeau  perched on a docket  held in his beak a
writ of execution  Lawyer Renard  attracted by the smell  addressed him
nearly as follows  etc  

 Footnote 14           This is the factory of Goblet Junior 
          Come choose your jugs and crocks 
          Flower pots  pipes  bricks 
          The Heart sells Diamonds to every comer  

 Footnote 15  On the boughs hang three bodies of unequal merits  Dismas
and Gesmas  between is the divine power  Dismas seeks the heights 
Gesmas  unhappy man  the lowest regions  the highest power will preserve
us and our effects  If you repeat this verse  you will not lose your
things by theft  

 Footnote 16  Instead of porte cochere and porte batarde  

 Footnote 17  Jesus my God bandy leg  down with the moon  

 Footnote 18  Chicken  slang allusion to the noise made in calling
poultry  

 Footnote 19  Louis XVIII  is represented in comic pictures of that day
as having a pear shaped head  

 Footnote 20  Tuck into your trousers the shirt tail that is hanging
out  Let it not be said that patriots have hoisted the white flag  

 Footnote 21  In order to re establish the shaken throne firmly on
its base  soil  Des solles   greenhouse and house  Decazes  must be
changed  

 Footnote 22  Suspendu  suspended  pendu  hung  

 Footnote 23  L Aile  wing  

 Footnote 24  The slang term for a painter s assistant  

 Footnote 25  If Cesar had given me glory and war  and I were obliged
to quit my mother s love  I would say to great Caesar   Take back thy
sceptre and thy chariot  I prefer the love of my mother   

 Footnote 26  Whether the sun shines brightly or dim  the bear returns
to his cave  

 Footnote 27  The peep hole is a Judas in French  Hence the half punning
allusion  

 Footnote 28  Our love has lasted a whole week  but how short are the
instants of happiness  To adore each other for eight days was hardly
worth the while  The time of love should last forever  

 Footnote 29  You leave me to go to glory  my sad heart will follow you
everywhere  

 Footnote 30  A democrat  

 Footnote 31  King Bootkick went a hunting after crows  mounted on two
stilts  When one passed beneath them  one paid him two sous  

 Footnote 32  In olden times  fouriers were the officials who preceded
the Court and allotted the lodgings  

 Footnote 33  A game of ninepins  in which one side of the ball is
smaller than the other  so that it does not roll straight  but describes
a curve on the ground  

 Footnote 34  From April 19 to May 20  

 Footnote 35  Merlan  a sobriquet given to hairdressers because they are
white with powder  

 Footnote 36  The scaffold  

 Footnote 37  Argot of the Temple  

 Footnote 38  Argot of the barriers  

 Footnote 39  The Last Day of a Condemned Man  

 Footnote 40   Vous trouverez dans ces potains la  une foultitude de
raisons pour que je me libertise   

 Footnote 41  It must be observed  however  that mac in Celtic means
son  

 Footnote 42  Smoke puffed in the face of a person asleep  

 Footnote 43  Je n entrave que le dail comment meck  le daron des
orgues  peut atiger ses momes et ses momignards et les locher criblant
sans etre agite lui meme  

 Footnote 44  At night one sees nothing  by day one sees very well 
the bourgeois gets flurried over an apocryphal scrawl  practice virtue 
tutu  pointed hat  

 Footnote 45  Chien  dog  trigger  

 Footnote 46  Here is the morn appearing  When shall we go to the
forest  Charlot asked Charlotte  Tou  tou  tou  for Chatou  I have but
one God  one King  one half farthing  and one boot  And these two poor
little wolves were as tipsy as sparrows from having drunk dew and thyme
very early in the morning  And these two poor little things were as
drunk as thrushes in a vineyard  a tiger laughed at them in his cave 
The one cursed  the other swore  When shall we go to the forest  Charlot
asked Charlotte  

 Footnote 47  There swings the horrible skeleton of a poor lover who
hung himself  

 Footnote 48  She astounds at ten paces  she frightens at two  a wart
inhabits her hazardous nose  you tremble every instant lest she should
blow it at you  and lest  some fine day  her nose should tumble into her
mouth  

 Footnote 49  Matelote  a culinary preparation of various fishes 
Gibelotte  stewed rabbits  

 Footnote 50  Treat if you can  and eat if you dare  

 Footnote 51  Bipede sans plume  biped without feathers  pen  

 Footnote 52  Municipal officer of Toulouse  

 Footnote 53  Do you remember our sweet life  when we were both so
young  and when we had no other desire in our hearts than to be well
dressed and in love  When  by adding your age to my age  we could
not count forty years between us  and when  in our humble and tiny
household  everything was spring to us even in winter  Fair days 
Manuel was proud and wise  Paris sat at sacred banquets  Foy launched
thunderbolts  and your corsage had a pin on which I pricked myself 
Everything gazed upon you  A briefless lawyer  when I took you to the
Prado to dine  you were so beautiful that the roses seemed to me to turn
round  and I heard them say  Is she not beautiful  How good she smells 
What billowing hair  Beneath her mantle she hides a wing  Her charming
bonnet is hardly unfolded  I wandered with thee  pressing thy supple
arm  The passers by thought that love bewitched had wedded  in our happy
couple  the gentle month of April to the fair month of May  We lived
concealed  content  with closed doors  devouring love  that sweet
forbidden fruit  My mouth had not uttered a thing when thy heart had
already responded  The Sorbonne was the bucolic spot where I adored thee
from eve till morn   Tis thus that an amorous soul applies the chart of
the Tender to the Latin country  O Place Maubert  O Place Dauphine 
When in the fresh spring like hut thou didst draw thy stocking on thy
delicate leg  I saw a star in the depths of the garret  I have read
a great deal of Plato  but nothing of it remains by me  better than
Malebranche and then Lamennais thou didst demonstrate to me celestial
goodness with a flower which thou gavest to me  I obeyed thee  thou
didst submit to me  oh gilded garret  to lace thee  to behold thee going
and coming from dawn in thy chemise  gazing at thy young brow in thine
ancient mirror  And who  then  would forego the memory of those days of
aurora and the firmament  of flowers  of gauze and of moire  when love
stammers a charming slang  Our gardens consisted of a pot of tulips 
thou didst mask the window with thy petticoat  I took the earthenware
bowl and I gave thee the Japanese cup  And those great misfortunes which
made us laugh  Thy cuff scorched  thy boa lost  And that dear portrait
of the divine Shakespeare which we sold one evening that we might sup  I
was a beggar and thou wert charitable  I kissed thy fresh round arms
in haste  A folio Dante served us as a table on which to eat merrily a
centime s worth of chestnuts  The first time that  in my joyous den  I
snatched a kiss from thy fiery lip  when thou wentest forth  dishevelled
and blushing  I turned deathly pale and I believed in God  Dost thou
recall our innumerable joys  and all those fichus changed to rags  Oh 
what sighs from our hearts full of gloom fluttered forth to the heavenly
depths  

 Footnote 54  My nose is in tears  my friend Bugeaud  lend me thy
gendarmes that I may say a word to them  With a blue capote and a
chicken in his shako  here s the banlieue  co cocorico  

 Footnote 55  Love letters  

 Footnote 56 

                The bird slanders in the elms 
                And pretends that yesterday  Atala
                Went off with a Russian 
                    Where fair maids go 
                         Lon la 

My friend Pierrot  thou pratest  because Mila knocked at her pane the
other day and called me  The jades are very charming  their poison which
bewitched me would intoxicate Monsieur Orfila  I m fond of love and its
bickerings  I love Agnes  I love Pamela  Lise burned herself in setting
me aflame  In former days when I saw the mantillas of Suzette and of
Zeila  my soul mingled with their folds  Love  when thou gleamest in
the dark thou crownest Lola with roses  I would lose my soul for that 
Jeanne  at thy mirror thou deckest thyself  One fine day  my heart flew
forth  I think that it is Jeanne who has it  At night  when I come from
the quadrilles  I show Stella to the stars  and I say to them   Behold
her   Where fair maids go  lon la  


 Footnote 57  But some prisons still remain  and I am going to put
a stop to this sort of public order  Does any one wish to play at
skittles  The whole ancient world fell in ruin  when the big ball
rolled  Good old folks  let us smash with our crutches that Louvre where
the monarchy displayed itself in furbelows  We have forced its gates  On
that day  King Charles X  did not stick well and came unglued  

 Footnote 58  Steps on the Aventine Hill  leading to the Tiber  to which
the bodies of executed criminals were dragged by hooks to be thrown into
the Tiber  

 Footnote 59  Mustards  

 Footnote 60  From casser  to break  break necks  

 Footnote 61   Jeanne was born at Fougere  a true shepherd s nest  I
adore her petticoat  the rogue   

 Footnote 62  In allusion to the expression  coiffer Sainte Catherine 
 to remain unmarried   

 Footnote 63   Thus  hemming in the course of thy musings  Alcippus  it
is true that thou wilt wed ere long   

 Footnote 64  Tirer le diable par la queue   to live from hand to
mouth   

 Footnote 65   Triton trotted on before  and drew from his conch shell
sounds so ravishing that he delighted everyone   

 Footnote 66   A Shrove Tuesday marriage will have no ungrateful
children   

 Footnote 67  A short mask  

 Footnote 68  In allusion to the story of Prometheus  

 Footnote 69  Un fafiot serieux  Fafiot is the slang term for a
bank bill  derived from its rustling noise  

 Footnote 70  He sleeps  Although his fate was very strange  he lived 
He died when he had no longer his angel  The thing came to pass simply 
of itself  as the night comes when day is gone  





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