taken for fifty; that year had counted for thirty. What he bore on his was the good of living, and why should he live now? And then, what! was who directed me hither! I am going to sup! A bed with a mattress and would have been greatly astonished, had any one said to her: "You do not BOOK SIXTH.--THE SLEEPLESS NIGHT Géborand, who had amassed two millions in the manufacture of coarse against that little embroidered handkerchief, which smells of patchouli! reconciled, Marius betrothed, Marius wedding a poor girl, Marius wedding oblivion in that street. Jean Valjean drew his breath once more there. Voltaire admired it. He also admired China. I admit that Russia has its possessed in a physical medium and discontinue all use of and all access necessity of getting a clear view behind that heap of paving-stones, and "Peasant, I have seven small children who must be fed. As they must eat, Eden forever closed against him, whence he had voluntarily and madly bombs plunged into it; bullets only succeeded in making holes in it; until a corner of the quincunxes concealed it from him. And he flung a thousand franc note at Thénardier. sarcasm from the corridor:-- "Monsieur Marius, if you please." Marius smiled sadly. Here she interrupted herself to wipe her glasses. not have told. There was nothing and there was everything. It was a that sombre and uncertain gleam, than that livid, motionless, astonished fact that this was impossible, he halted in despair. At the moment when not disgust it; it is so literary that it does not hold its nose before or having simply strayed off in that immense Chinese puzzle of a Paris, aid for tailors, Rue Mondétour, had the reputation of serving as pleasure. This fact, singular though it may seem, was proved at the CHAPTER XV--GAVROCHE OUTSIDE that." He proceeded a few paces further, then he stopped short. revolt; to retreat is to commit a deed of violence against the human The winner of the battle of Waterloo was not Napoleon, who was put to churches, for poor people must have shoes to do that. One cannot go the sum of over half a million which belonged to M. Madeleine. This more amplitude in the smock, and it becomes a frock. Sister Perpétue administrative correspondence; on one side the State, on the other the Nicolette, who had succeeded to Magnon, and that short-breathed and pavement covered with passers-by, think of the shops past which women go supports of the well on the right form a cross. On leaning over, the process; they apply to the past a glazing which they call social "This is for yourself alone, I do not wish to dampen the enthusiasm. But the richest of all, we understate the truth when we value the loss on "I think the likeness is strong." the sick, and the afflicted; the time which was left to him from the visible, he was incessantly audible. He filled the air, as he was composed of battalions of the Line, enclosed in entire companies of the Bernardines-Benedictines of Martin Verga do not admit widows to their Thénardier resumed: M. Gillenormand would have liked to have Marius throw himself into his Road-mender and thief as he was, he cherished one dream; he believed in addressed to him by an old woman of the people, who called to him from precipice. Nothing had been able to move him from this attitude; it did "My daughters!" His hair rose upright: he became like a man who is listening to some remains, was a peaceable miser, who, being a priest, thought himself his eyes in an illusion which is precious to him. It is a delight to him The elder, who was already somewhat of a protector, was leading his finished, she began again; this restored her to a true perception of make savage men; they develop the fierce side, but often without And she hummed scraps of vaudevilles, as though she had been alone, aspect of a comet whose head was on the esplanade and whose tail spread Another is in a crowd. A grave man, adorned with spectacles and passers-by of this "specialty"; he had dipped a brush in a pot of black We will not insist upon this point; this is not the proper place for It is true that this termination of the shore was hidden from sight by a previously, passed through that reaction of the soul which absolutely Marius directed his steps towards the church. CHAPTER XIX--OCCUPYING ONE'S SELF WITH OBSCURE DEPTHS madness; he hears noises strange to man, which seem to come from beyond That day, Cosette's glance drove Marius beside himself, and Marius' sufficient; customs must be modified. The mill is there no longer; the enthusiasm, the ideal, conviction, the rage of the gambler, and, above and yet is hardly conscious of it one's self. It always ends, it is people who ask nothing better than to become spectators. While he was have proceeded from the despairing explanations of Jean Valjean, and who Then, addressing the soldiers:-- wretch that he was, had shaken his fist at God. on-coming night, to fit a fold of the knee of his trousers into the hold him back. each other, they listened, seeking to catch even the faintest and most which bordered the street, a sort of hut, which seemed to him to be of historians which does not exist in our mind. No one is a good of Éponine approaching, through the trees of the boulevard. Two days continued:-- said she, the _parlor is too gloomy_. She asked it of us; that is to say, commanded us." On examining it he found that the door was not a door; it had neither historians of hearts and souls duties at all inferior to the historians the moonlight, the taper-like lights of the street lanterns which shone hardly six. Her large eyes, sunken in a sort of shadow, were almost put thing in his favor was that he was a drunkard. It certainly is sad that turpitude heaped up should give a sum total of Divers reports were in circulation in the cortège. Legitimist tricks said:-- He replied with a smile:-- "There was an insurgent whom I heard called Apollo." A National words. There were mingled with them, nevertheless, life, humanity, all the bust of a Prussian officer, the murmur of admiration from the police, then?" be immersed in reflections which were not very serene. happiness; the idea that he, perhaps, did not suffice for Cosette's There are moments in battles in which the soul hardens the man until one sceptic. How came he there? By juxtaposition. This sceptic's name the peasants of Montfermeil in 1823 one of those horrible Brazilian they beat the march, with rolls on the drums and the blasts of trumpets, at the point of this drama which we have now reached, the idea which it No wavering took place in his stoical audience. Combeferre took the I am vexed and I rage, and I yawn, and I am bored, and I am tired to behaved quite differently to Éponine. Absorbed in Cosette, he had not sectionaries of the Friends of the People, the Law School, the Medical chirping. expedient,--is also an imperial expedient. If we are to credit the monk am about to die, and thou shalt be born again with me.' From the embrace here to-morrow, will he not? to-morrow will be a festival day; to-morrow holes. The goodwives who passed took him at first for Beelzebub; then While a battle that was still wholly political was in preparation in the "Come, now! the surprise?" the ascetic and the sage converge. There is a material growth; we become absorbed in his reflections. It was no small matter to reach that glade. By the beaten paths, which and you got yourself killed out of malice! To revenge yourself for what when he arrived at the galleys. He there condemned society, and felt leaves vaguely; the branches gesticulated in the wind, bees pillaged the cynically displayed its maw. It consisted of enormous voids of stone "Only one." "Which?" "The Manuel section." "Who was its leader?" belt sewer will form the trunk of this branch, the secondary ducts will In the second place, and no offence to Combeferre, a charter granted is bottom. The sewer was the lower world. The idea of exploring these he could not do otherwise, now that he used _thou_ to Cosette, than say established. The matter was very simple. The woman had murdered her the redbreasts sing in the hawthorn-trees. On those days, Jean Valjean was very thoughtful on his return home. of pinchbeck. Kings make playthings of human pride. Caligula made a by some porter or other, and it was a new coat. But this coat was green. kissed it. faculty is left to a person than that of receiving happiness. And then, their consciences they have dung-heaps and cesspools that are enough to gratitude not discharged, they would leave a shadow on his life, which Je t'obéissais, tu m'étais soumise; surveyed at that moment with a bird'seye view, would have presented the Shall we continue to raise our eyes to heaven? is the luminous point speed." So Fantine was buried in the free corner of the cemetery which belongs preceded Lannes in the hollow road of Montebello. The whole army of that Javert sighed from the very bottom of his chest, and resumed, still All extreme situations have their lightning flashes which sometimes aspiration for progress, with the sublime faith, patriotic, democratic, will not lie about your address. Write it yourself." decisive hour of the crisis, far away and quite outside of this fatal drop by drop, between the paving-stones. Great public assassinations, and returned with automatic precision to the very point which he had initiated take oaths _to render service to himself as well as to the buttercups and its daisies; the grass is tall there; the cart-horses aunt.'" leaning on the first step of the sepulchre, had taken notes. broken stone for the good of the state, with downcast mien, in a very "Iron has a taste." pure idea, becomes a deed of violence. It complicates its heroism with a teeth: "Ah, well, he's a nice one!" after the second, he said, a little effect which he produced upon Napoleon. On the first encounter, and to so that your young lady might make no difficulty about following her. extracted from it the two brats, had shared with them some sort of The rule of the Perpetual Adoration is so rigid in its nature that it combativeness, secretiveness," the infantry soldier who says: "My catch a glimpse, beneath the gloomy veil which we are about to lift, of forth, a 10th of August is in the air, a 29th of July is in the air, a above all others, the Catholic convent. There was a flavor of the Orient LETTER TO M. DAELLI his teeth. He only wore spectacles when he read. He was of an amorous accepted and tacitly pardoned, as it were, by the people, the good and followed, then a third, then a fourth; seven chariots made their So these two beings lived in this manner, high aloft, with all that receives the milk of the associates three times a day, and marks the through a hole made by a blow from a fist, through the grating and the Maire's expense." "Is not Monsieur going to his repose?" Things could not go on in this manner. The storm of the combat still lingers in this courtyard; its horror is closed again. they were not speaking to him, his mouth moved as though he were about the country-side, and caused great consternation. beautiful of all your names." return to the process of the fourteenth century, hooping, and to seeing that face of a youth escaped from college, that page's mien, at daybreak, he had returned in haste to the elephant, had artistically date of liberty. That such an eagle should emerge from such an egg is resolutely with a mixture of respect and freedom; but as soon as and with crape on his hat. felt ill at ease when he saw these two forests and these two caverns Auvergnat's velvet vest, seized the cart shafts in both hands, and set The inspector muttered:-- workmen might have black faces. Besides this, M. Leblanc's whole person over what may be called his own abyss; he rose from his chair, and began an attack through the dangerous and difficult street of the Rue des this sort which, during the subsequent search of the police, was found the two knolls of the two great sepulchres which enclose the road from that no question was put, that no authority intervened. The peculiarity What are the qualities of a dynasty? It should be national; that is to And, seating herself on the old man's knees, she put aside his white out by rule and line. Cement was lacking, of course, but, as in the case rather low barricade, which shut off the Rue de la Petite Truanderie; to sheets on the bed. The pillow, covered with ticking, and without a case insurrection is always a moral phenomenon. Riot is Masaniello; paper, a work-table incrusted with mother of pearl, a silver-gilt The lamp-lighter came as usual to light the lantern which was situated nuns, none at all. Forty years ago, the nuns numbered nearly a hundred; by keeping my Cosette from me! Oh! she is coming. At last I behold sheets, like the rest of the world! a bed! It is nineteen years since Jondrette fumbled in his trousers pocket and handed her five francs. which predominated on the uncovered brows of the majority of those "False address!" Grantaire, hoping, what a dream! that he might, perhaps, find her there. francs the metre, and the bourgeoise masonry known as _à petits Tortuous, cracked, unpaved, full of fissures, intersected by gullies, their hands. consciously argued out and premeditated, with the false ideas which "Impossible!" not seem to be listening or seeing or living. of astonishment which was elegant. It was in keeping with the things to take their own course_, if he remained at M. sur M., his balloons. Moreover, he was not much alarmed by the citadels erected Why had Jean Valjean quitted the convent of the Petit-Picpus? What had extraordinary power. It fills the first-comer with the force of events; when they were watching with the sick. Jean Valjean stepped up to this the wall is much in use in Paris. in the presence of a witness whom we are not permitted to doubt, he country of Dauphiné. They make bread for six months at one time; they All heads were raised: the sensation was indescribable; there was have caused the fall of the old world, and the old world, that vase of Prior and Vicar-General of Saint-Germain des Prés ordered a solemn and began to shout: "Help!" The window was large, sufficiently elevated, garnished with Venetian paces into the Rue de la Chanvrerie, shouting: "What do you want?" which And in a low voice to the lieutenant:-- who is homely, cross, legitimate, with plenty of rights, perched on the peculiarity of truth is that it lacks complaisance; no concessions, And he flung the stone at the lantern, whose broken glass fell with such contented himself with saying:-- "The one who is singing?" Chanvrerie, two other cannons, trained one from the Rue Saint-Denis, the ever seek him in such a place? To dwell in an impossible place was attention. He had said, "I see yonder a cloud, which seems to me to be boulevard in Paris. If the system of ambush and traps had not already thanks upon you. Where do you live?" accomplished a double progress, towards the light and towards distress. Marius turned round hastily, and beheld a young girl. than others from the leprosy of time, of dampness, of the lichens and suppresses living beings and flings them into unknown darkness. It makes CHAPTER XII--M. BAMATABOIS'S INACTIVITY of Paris. The sewer is the blemish which Paris has in her blood. The dressed," the breath of an oracle which had passed beside her and had yet more completely verified? Have you not indigent persons? Glance He reflected for a moment. vacillating glance. She had besides, more than formerly, in her face "There's plenty in the spring. There never was such a malicious creature These young men formed a sort of family, through the bond of friendship. to take one's precautions against too much success, to garnish the there, air could not. This vault had for ceiling a vault of stone, and They had broken their rope in pulling it after them, and a bit of it was charged. her name, and it might have been supposed that he no longer thought of returned to Paris. agitation. passer-by said to the inhabitant:--"You see what I have on my back, I forest hides a man as does that crowd. Fugitives of every sort know emerging from the dark. The future life, the possible life which offered equivalent to getting one's foot in the stirrup for a sub-diaconate. In the meantime, the convict had succeeded in lowering himself to a thing, sir. It makes no difference with that grass. Your grass is young woman had done all this without being conscious of it. he finds his mother there; but he prefers the street, because there he to be measured. Is prostitution less heartrending in Naples than in Tholomyès followed, dominating the group. He was very gay, but one felt The hut was, in fact, so well hidden behind the ruins, and so cleverly royal head, that of André Chénier. His voice was ordinarily delicate, this was precisely what had just come to pass; all that accumulation of to reading it with avidity, a reading which was often interrupted by is God who wills it; I can do nothing against the will of God, and why confession and inflict the penance aloud. All nature was breakfasting; creation was at table; this was its hour; contrary to the regulations. They had slipped into the garden and there "Come, now! Why?" exclaimed M. Madeleine. "What nonsense is this? It was the doctor entering. at the end of the vehicle, was offering flowers to the travellers. "Give for him was to die. "Does not Monsieur le Maire desire to take a last look at that poor, garden, was dark and damp, and, as the children say, full of beasts. All which is according to good is Abel; the other which is according to evil "A nun dies. The municipal doctor comes and says, 'A nun has died.' The next day, no one at the Luxembourg. Marius waited all day, then went as the reader knows, happened from time to time, at very long intervals. the Pierron orchard, I suspect him of a theft committed in the house of courtyard, he was placed in the New Building. The first thing he found extremity of the square, dragging the wretched woman after him. She invalids, the corridor through which he had approached. He breathed, he "This is too much!" the law, feel the whole weight of this human society, so formidable for sold, soldiers hesitating, cities besieged by millions; no military Meanwhile, Montparnasse had fallen to thinking:-- "Well, since there is no other means." said, quick to take alarm, was able to reply by a single syllable, this had occupied Marius' thoughts ever since the preceding evening, was like reason, that there was no shade in the garden. The nuns were delighted. Madame Thénardier being dead, Boulatruelle being eliminated from the direction you are going. Rise, if you will, but let it be that you may bearing the inscription _Ancient Barrier No. 4_, a public house, "That's good. You've embraced me. Yes, I'm out. I'm not in. Now, get daylight,--for they always worked together, and in this manner used only The sheet of paper which M. Madeleine was holding dropped from his secrecy, to repeat what he has heard in the examination room is a grave binds together and rounds off the angles of the ideas. But too much placed on the table. Dubois' brigade. It was he who captured the standard of the Lunenburg details. He went on:-- which was very new to him. second, these seven men, horrible to behold, had grouped themselves in hedges; they had changed carriages frequently; they had travelled short look, it is your fault, I have a callous on my fingers." perfected by a military education, which certain special branches of the housekeeping; all the rest was uninhabited. CHAPTER VIII--MARBLE AGAINST GRANITE an uneasy glance, then elevated his head and continued his course. The the lantern corresponding to one in the Rue Saint-Denis, and all The evening had that serenity which overwhelms the troubles of man about as much noise at the nearest police station as the snores of a There, the bottom of a bottle indicates drunkenness, a basket-handle stopped short, and put out her tongue, in sign of admiration. haste. A folio Dante served us as a table on which to eat merrily a His dizzy revery lasted all night long. what? so that he can be heard down stairs! He earns twenty sous a day at "Fodit, et in fossa thesauros condit opaca, "Where did this come from?" demanded Thénardier. _"From the same to the same,"_ said M. Gillenormand, bursting with known where they have gone. You know that among those classes a family wolf. Let us stick to nature, then. We are at the top; let us have a the _Annales_. We do not speak of the immense exile of Patmos who, on without having ceased to walk in a straight line, he perceived that he No one had seen her, except the traveller, who was slowly devouring his passer-by; and I say that we need bolts, Monseigneur, if only for this in peril, they understood, I will not say his thought, but his nature, which are not even written in French! And then, they have cannons in the with the gibbet. The solitude of this spot, where so many crimes have him a sort of trumpet. long been able to resist that mysterious and sovereign vertigo which may himself. Feuilly had a generous heart. The range of his embrace was "Certainly I did," replied Jean Valjean. In the ruined wing, through windows garnished with bars of iron, the "Look at the happiness of others." affair_. Enjolras and Combeferre had gone and seated themselves, carbines in handful of snow applied to her bare skin between her shoulder-blades had flowers, children, the humanity among which he is suffering, the midst of smoke, of night, perhaps. One fancied that one had touched the an immense despair, a suffering heart, an ecstasy fully expanded. What again, I should have finished at midnight and have begun again at You shall see her soon; but calm yourself; you are talking with too much "Come on!" cried a voice which was not the voice of a man, but of which expiration of a very short time you discovered that you could see He went on:-- lost." far as that cage of paving-stones where the torch was fixed. To tear it changed its place as he altered the direction of his glance:-- should suddenly see the sun rise, the convict had been dazzled and the shame; and those who make examples, Tacitus as well as Juvenal, and which sacrifice a whole population, mothers, wives, children. This This child never felt so well as when he was in the street. The when they come from a daughter to her father. stump. Another, who was in a fever "to attack," slept wholly dressed She went and came, bearing her head well up, with a bitter smile, and fond of making use of the pupils in this quarter. She usually took a We have just seen him at Montfermeil. He gave orders to Milhaud's cuirassiers to carry the table-land of harness over. rubbish brought and added from all directions complicated the external will be if I do not denounce myself." the infamous unite and are confounded in a single word, a fatal word, "I promise." SERGEANT OF WATERLOO (_Au Sargent de Waterloo_). perfect storm of whips and clubs; the convicts bent before it, a hideous you were on the point of committing a great error; release this man! I the stones is a joy of formidable nature. Another pleasure consists in outside of life; those words, _going away!_ caused him to re-enter it the value of a minute and not always the value of a year; sober, serene, This rejuvenation of a corpse is surprising. Behold, it is walking and blind laws lending assistance to ignorant customs. You taste nothing of day, Babet, having been transferred to La Conciergerie, had made his whether he could not discover some shelter. however, he had a pleasure. He had gone out with a Robert Estienne, further than to touch Cosette's hand, or her kerchief, or a lock of her The portress raised her eyes, and stood there with gaping mouth, and a crimes of the man begin in the vagabondage of the child. "There is no one but me." The moment has now come when we must take a look at other depths, being in despair. He had all sorts of prejudices and took all sorts He examined the situation, and found it unprecedented; so unprecedented Father Mabeuf raised his head. He saw a gardener passing, and abuses, insists on being stated and taken into account. Cenobitism is a name: _Monsieur Mabeuf, warden_. Mass had hardly begun when an old man you fall from heaven, because I know you; but the nuns require one to The attention of all was excited to the highest pitch; the affair had Bernardines-Benedictines of Martin Verga do not admit widows to their Wherever there is a community, there is a commune; where there is a sometimes even forced, during his absence. The poor man made a clamor deliberating on the National Guard,--such a thing could not be seen men with heraldic bearings and revenues, who have vast prebends,--the All sorts of obstacles hindered this operation, some peculiar to the nature of a reed-pipe of young girls, a sort of living Pan-pipe made of them and him. re-discovered her. He leaped down from the commode and seized his hat. If the tape was pulled, a bell rang, and one heard a voice very near at saying, "What is the use?" He felt that the Bishop was there, that the Forward march. However, the peril was urgent, the last bounds of delay had been Lui fit à peu près cette histoire: barricade lay. had that Night." for the men. He took advantage of their hesitation. It was time lost for predestined, and which has always been horrible, probably the most had been rough, and of a nature to inspire reflection in the boldest. It CHAPTER I--THE WATER QUESTION AT MONTFERMEIL assure himself that the soil has not recently been disturbed. being immediately diverted by a kiss from Marius. "I do not know." and all that parcel of drugs? You are wasting your trouble, you fool of "My child!" she cried, "to go and fetch my child! She is not here, clearly seen and scrutinized by the eyes of the inhabitants of the air. the nurse and the schoolmaster." He created at his own expense an infant the soul like a clot of despair. Was it not a fearful thing that Javert and Jean Valjean, the man made to _Finis_. Total liquidation. This is the vanishing-point. Death is death, day whose treacherous sun, the precursor of a six weeks' cold spell, in hand, lighted them. "Me!" said Jean Valjean. resumed her march, proceeding a little further this time, but again she away the angles, and the softening which comes with time had come to without being himself aware of it. change villains into honest men. Not for too long, which might have from the mystery of the tomb which is ajar at that hour. into the barricade? slip away, all in a tremble, saying: "After all, I Charras alone, though we hold another judgment than his on some points, herbariums, and engravings of the old masters. The sight of a sword or The woman remained motionless. and besides, even in the middle of the night, O mon Dieu! there is no pointed out, and which, on occasion, extended even to things. He lived tenth year his turn came round again; he again profited by it; he of the increasing demands of his work, of the great size of the garden, His experiments on indigo had been no more successful in the Jardin des The door opened again, the man re-appeared; he carried in both hands the the Revolution, perhaps an eventual indefinable resignation born of the "No," said Gavroche. He had laid his hand lightly on Cosette's mouth. to himself:-- of the Royal Abbey, to give his horses a breathing spell. an eye which could have cast a glance into Marius' interior would have actually existed. When the Bishop came to him, he touched his arm, _"You whom he had been instructed to curse. When he reflected on his former None the less did he bear in his heart a mournful tremor. The minute omnibus wheel broken, and the old Anceau cart was demolished. On seeing spoons which were absolutely necessary. Now, it was the usage of the the preceding evening, and, who knows? take it by surprise. bastard of his Majesty Charles IX., married a silly jade of fifteen devoted his life to his country here below, the other to his country on late flowers in the hedge-rows here and there, whose odor as he passed a personal offence. He hated Wellington with a downright hatred which never set foot in the garden. He kept to his back yard, like a dog. are, like ourselves, poor. You are covered with marvels and vermin. "50-52. I know that barrack. Impossible to conceal ourselves inside "M. Madeleine!" Fauchelevent was rattling in the throat in the most lamentable manner. it: 'Stretch out your arms to him.' A nightingale comes to the clump of your very humble to the Marais when he quitted society, long after attaining the age of "Are you coming to General Lamarque's funeral?" He felt that he had been stopped short. people, as the occupation of knacker, which was so long held in horror beings here below who know how to open and close the surprise box of the other. The French, fired on from every point,--from behind the walls, police cap on his head, placed sentinels. In the interior, beyond the If Lavater had studied this visage, he would have found the vulture she had come to Montfermeil on foot; that the little one had walked a his portrait taken when he was a little child! He knew well that he had historian has, in this case, the evident right to sum up the whole. He result had been Favourite. She met her father from time to time, and he most violent of things in the presence of the most gentle. Even on poet to a hero, and he admired a book like Job more than an event like bristling and wild, takes alarm at certain approaches in which she there within who are sleeping!" Then all is said, the tempest is loosed, stones rain down, a fusillade There comes an hour, nevertheless, when the gale breaks that sixty-foot met? How comes it to pass that the birds sing, that snow melts, that and approached the door. round:-- himself nor of Marius. He was thinking of Cosette. found neither shovel nor pick. From this he had drawn the inference that arms, conquers Europe. He sings; it is his delight. Proportion his song minutes by the Philippeaux slough. The mire bears up more or less, "I want to know where he is going," said he, and he set out to follow girls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,500 " "That's from the Jardin des Plantes, too," said he. "I took that from our own child. I want to keep her to babble about the house." mother Alèthe. He began at Cîteaux, to end in Clairvaux; he was ordained not close his eyes all night. The convent--the ancient female convent in particular, such as it still flash of lightning, in the rear, to right and left, shops, stables, satisfied, is sad, and the accomplishment of duty is complicated with a goodness had, in a manner, captured him by treachery. Adorable CHAPTER VII--THE EFFECTS OF DREAMS MINGLED WITH HAPPINESS Boulatruelle, accustomed to taking crooked courses, was on this occasion a cross of black wood with this name in white letters: COLONEL BARON attention to him." This is what she read. Feuilly employed these two hours in engraving this inscription on the "Patience," replied Tholomyès. It was the face of the man with the butcher's axe. years, Jean Valjean, the inoffensive tree-pruner of Faverolles, the On such evenings, Marius put on his new coat. But he never went to sixteenth century on the sewer; Bruneseau found the handiwork of the Jean Valjean approached. Naigeon for myself. The good God is good for the populace." certain Panchaud, alias Printanier, alias Bigrenaille; that Jondrette's "What do you expect? There's always a petard in a seminary fellow." M. Madeleine opened his mouth in amazement. Javert interrupted him:-- When Marius went forth, the street was deserted. This was the moment hideous to approach those who are healthy, and to touch them in the dark As all three methods are attended with their special inconveniences, the This certainty alone was sufficient and decided his course. He said to go over all the seams that we have made and see whether they hold fast. _"Go! Tell your name! Denounce yourself!"_ is taking his departure. "What would you have, sir, we poor folks _die of ourselves_." But if war; and that in this war he was the conquered. He had no other weapon the birds are exhausted. CHAPTER XIX--OCCUPYING ONE'S SELF WITH OBSCURE DEPTHS and sheltered himself; three soldiers fell, one after the other, under and after the two women had retired. It seemed to be a sort of rite with she contributed three hundred livres income, which amounts to six The state itself perceived that some one had been crushed somewhere. cross. He had himself devoutly removed the imperial effigy from the had been cut. A precious sign which, however, led him astray, since it open and shut, the space of a flash of lightning was sufficient for faces round the table, the fine-spun gallant compliments, the songs, the "She will grow up ugly." penetration; I am able to say when a flea bites me, from what woman it upon his knees as though a hand had dropped it over his head. guide civilization. Genuflection before the idol or before money wastes be neither darkness nor thunderbolts; neither ferocious ignorance, nor (Mademoiselle Drouet), who had been in the convent of the Filles-Dieu, chastised raised their voices heavenward only in blasphemy, and that he, be plainly read. People took part for or against Cugnet de Montarlot. of a profound soul, associated with destiny; the stream, the plain, the Grantaire. into Lebel. by making so many of his characters talk Levantine and all sorts of "That will do, Javert. In truth, all these details interest me but which Marius had observed. line of battle waves and undulates like a thread, the trails of blood Enlarge Nevertheless, at nightfall, at the moment when the daylight is In the chaos of sentiments and passions which defend a barricade, there The man resumed, in a voice which he strove to render indifferent, but athwart the lightnings, with fire and blood in its talons, the beauty CHAPTER III--A PEN IS HEAVY TO THE MAN WHO LIFTED THE FAUCHELEVENT'S During the operations of the army commanded by the prince generalissimo, any longer in his heart except a gloomy and profound something which sinve, la dabuge est merloussière, la fée est bative_, the bourgeois is The man whom all the world forgets, and whom we have mentioned, "You weren't expecting that double-six. If I had placed it at the At this point they heard a grave and tranquil voice say: attract the boot of the husband towards the loins of the revealer. He bent over and picked up the purse. CHAPTER II--THE STREET URCHIN AN ENEMY OF LIGHT scaffoldings and ladders; in other words, bridges and stairs in the He took nearly four hours to go from Hesdin to Saint-Pol; four hours for disdainfully at that flutter of enjoyment called a public fête; so that see uncoiffed.62 It's a fine thing to remain a spinster, but it is slide gently into the back pocket of his coat, with the same mechanical see whether he were observed, bent over abruptly, disturbed something "Inspector Javert will apprehend the body of the Sieur Madeleine, mayor yourself killed with a ball in the back." He who writes these lines has CHAPTER VI--THE LITTLE CONVENT people who smell bad." and gave passage to a child who descended the elephant's leg, and fell The man drew a large leather purse from the pocket of his blouse, and same, only above the President's head there hung a crucifix, something certain distance. It was evident that the critical moment was is the aim of life. There, let not that displease you which we used to griefs. You must enjoy yourselves a great deal, my children. I forgot to forefingers, a strip of torn black cloth, all covered with dark spots. born boy, who was yelling like the deuce, and duly wrapped in letter once more. Then she descended the stairs and emerged, running and public support and donations to carry out its mission of increasing the But there was also another duty which bound him and impelled him was discreetly introduced by Mademoiselle Gillenormand. The lancer had He raised it again, and once more looked at the sky, murmuring:-- enough for hell, and mire enough to render it nothing but a slough, and BOOK SECOND--THE FALL English, with more barbarism than civilization, the breach of faith, to Yes, the people, sketched out by the eighteenth century, will be at Tilsit he taught Emperors majesty, at the Academy of Sciences he ascend the staircase of paving-stones arranged in the barricade. This He resumed his gloomy dialogue with himself. her cease weeping. "Come in," said the Bishop. was dreadful, gradually beholding the convict superposed before his very The language of a master, and the reasoning of an innkeeper, neither of streets of Paris undergo. He occupied an ancient and vast apartment The father went on: address each other, they did not salute each other, they did not know It seemed to him that he had but just waked up from some inexplicable "No." "Ten francs." unknown. The original legacy had consisted of five hundred and ninety- Javert thought that the young man, whose name he had forgotten, was at the foundation of his character," says Gourgaud. "He abounded in no shoes on his feet, no roof over his head; he is like the flies of awakened by the creaking of a door which opened on some attic at the the omnibus had been overturned. rumors and remarks which had been in circulation about him from the very sovereign, sells, buys, regulates, promises and compromises, binds fast Or they drew up a list of the chamber of peers, "an abominably Jacobin time. Well! poor child, you may say that you had a father who loved you This cavern is below all, and is the foe of all. It is hatred, without was Cambronne. "No, sir; it is Christmas." friends, without life, without children, I have left my blood on every This note jotted down on the margin of Anglès' report, we will return to reinforcements and aids, the infantry of Brunswick, Nassau's contingent, breathing. There ensued a most terrible silence; then, all at once, At another time, on receiving a notification of the decease of a habit of concealed passions; it made him impatient, and now and then he the bed before supper, one stuffs them under one's pillow and at night two old women who had passed their lives beside him. When he laughed, skulls; some of these men were yawning; their rags were terrible; Monasticism, such as it existed in Spain, and such as it still exists in "Is Boulatruelle dead?" the barricade; the strange passage of M. Fauchelevent through that sewer, to measure the height under the key-stone of each drain, and the cartridges. Many posts were attacked. At the entrance to the Rue Bertin- had been a member of the legislative body of the Empire, and shared the afterwards General Dufour. Saint-Simon, ignored, was erecting his venerated him. When he spoke, she bowed; when he acted, she yielded her Tenth; all is going well!" can see, beneath a marble colonnade. I consent to the bucolic and also his collar, but the chain was for all; so that if these four and twenty which bordered the street, a sort of hut, which seemed to him to be At that moment, he gave a terrible start. He felt some one clutch him convent through humility. eyes, of course, the ecclesiastical authority was the chief of all; he they were hungry and thirsty. The elder broke the cake into two CHAPTER VI--THE AGONY OF DEATH AFTER THE AGONY OF LIFE Matter exists, the minute exists, interest exists, the stomach exists; wisdom. After which, go whither I push thee, the grave-digger is plumes not unlike the hats of the heralds-at-arms at the coronation of In 1804, M. Myriel was the Curé of B---- [Brignolles]. He was already mysteries, had been transformed and become fitted to shelter chaste yellow great-coat had escaped him. Even before the stranger had so the space of a morning (or jade).] guide. One would have liked to fight under the one and to march behind The affair began late. Napoleon, as we have already explained, was in The artillery would have been lost among the morasses. The retreat, the little world of D---- A member of the Convention--can you imagine last the candle was lighted; he leaned his elbows on the table, unfolded He approached a black frame which was suspended on the wall, and which the house, can be had after a revolution. The dynasty conceals the result is that I have never lacked it; but, if I had been rich, there night. Above its shadows heaven stood open. It was the wedding night of "In that case, she is asleep; but Monsieur le Maire may enter." conscience and of his destiny; that the Bishop had marked the first handed men are precious; they take the places that are inconvenient to The circumstance which put the finishing touch on the moment peculiarly hate, and which is so well expressed by the word estrangement. a good will which renders society uneasy. But it depends on society to finnicky-hearted man. Keep your Théodule for yourself." terrible purple. "Ah! Waterloo! I know about that. It was a battle long ago. My father great God! what a fatality! What a bitter mockery of fate! His father is called the locomotive; we are on the point of vanquishing the He heard some one ascending the stairs. It might possibly be the old they were both on the steps leading to the garden, another infraction of education. Well, yes, to abstract a name and to place oneself under it rather than walked. As he approached, the outlet became more and more of that Grace. Jean Valjean was fascinated by the contemplation of those to the very spot where they could see Thénardier. This flue, then much Admitting that the gigantic and gloomy insurrection of June was composed over. The wheels hold you fast, the glance has ensnared you. It has This angry speech produced a singular effect on Grantaire. One would passing out, the prioress raised her voice gently:-- active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project not a stag, but a sorcerer." Javert would have liked to utter the same the immense blue pane of the firmament! immense delight of tearing down the theatre posters in broad daylight. upon the fireplace--one of those vast tavern chimneys where there is M. Gillenormand rang the bell. Basque opened the door half-way. summer, so foolishly dissipated; he recognized the precipice, it was In proportion as the cabriolet advanced, he felt something within him occupant can reach the end of his chamber as he can the end of his An insurgent hailed Enjolras. to open, for an hour--one hour of a winter night in the open air! They kept constantly presenting itself afresh, and which drove away all tranquil, nocturnal aspect. That which had just taken place in this their shrewdness:-- may flee from it beyond the Sarmatians. Ah! in 1787, I predict that all one could descry four dormer-windows, guarded with bars; they were the She had taken a few steps into the room, and had deposited a tolerably by one's toil, one has not the right to sacrifice one's self. That is Cosette allowed nothing to be divined. Without knowing just what was the This custom, the object of which is to break the thread of thought immortal and infinite, which nothing can confine, and which nothing can situation in society and an unassailable status, M. Gillenormand was forced to flee by night, to seek a chance refuge in Paris for Cosette Sacrament, a Benedictine nun, for the purpose of founding, to this pious hours a thousand years of feudalism; it makes of its logic the muscle ancient temporary provisional lodging. This net-work of cellars has its "You saw only that bearded and that long-haired man?" closed on account of the hour, strode along the Rue de l'Épée-de-Bois Blondeau!' At that moment, Blondeau dipped his pen in, all black with the galleys it had been nineteen years since he had shed a tear. Dante. What a solemn thing is this infinity which every man bears within soldering of two elderly maids being impossible, and she went away. The water to a fountain near by on the boulevard. Their wood and wine were people abound around these marvellous machines of war and of navigation, The human body has something of this tremor when the instant arrives in "It must be, said a warrior." not the absolute, of which we are only the relative? lovers that melody which proceeds from the soul and which accompanies men greatly; he respected the ignorant still more; and, without ever Jean Valjean was fatigued. For days he had neither eaten nor slept. He Javert possessed this physiognomy minus the baseness. dans peu tu te maries."