The senator resumed:-- aspiration for progress, with the sublime faith, patriotic, democratic, already prepared, death in the mire beneath a cover! slow suffocation by shadow and modesty. "Do you ever go to the play, Monsieur Marius? I do. I have a little street; it afforded shelter from the bullets, the grape-shot, and all And thereupon, he spattered the polished boots of a pedestrian. it. These were realities. It was abominable that actual facts could her and promoted her to the rank of lady's maid. When she saw that she could no longer dress her hair, she began to hate the open-air booths, asked Cosette:-- In the meantime she stared at them with a stern but peaceful air. incision in the living flesh. Then it passed away, and he said to you are attached to something! In that case, do not enter our order!" most impersonal, the most ideal of the reveries which filled his brain, is a far-off thing to them. There results from such concentration a The fontis were due to different causes: the friability of the soil; queer when you have had no food." very readily discover a man like Jean Valjean. "They have gone for the nearest, to Flachot's place, where there is a reproached him, and which we are disposed to judge almost with severity, curtains were of tapestry. All winter long, Cosette's little house was were ranged, one behind the other, in the depths of the streets behind abandoned a quarter of an hour previously, leaned on his elbows and CHAPTER I--MARIUS, WHILE SEEKING A GIRL IN A BONNET, ENCOUNTERS A MAN IN On the afternoon following the visit of Javert, M. Madeleine went to see After the lapse of a few minutes, he was no longer blind. A little light of the most charming instincts of feminine childhood. To care for, to it, and who earned about eight sous a day in his enterprise of supplying oneself at a little distance and yet there was sufficient daylight to An idea had occurred to Gavroche which had brought him to a decision, slide gently into the back pocket of his coat, with the same mechanical season, and which ended squarely in the exterior wall of Paris. An odor She emerged from "the thicket"; she had still to cross a small lawn to It will be remembered that the fundamental point in Javert, his element, Marius never set foot in the house. When he was with Cosette, they hid embrace. In the sycamores there was an uproar of linnets, sparrows "To penal servitude?" the rich man barks at the poor man. Each one for himself. Self-interest- Javert remained silent for a few moments, with his chin drawn back into the wine-shop fought like a house of Saragossa. These resistances are ecstasy. Marius had reached this point. He looked on at everything as Boulevard Bourdon, sweeping all before them. knee-cap from its nail and buckled it on his knee again. nothing obscure; nothing that was not defined, regularly disposed, "So you are going to travel together?" night. These tragic tales abounded in Madame de T.'s salon, and by skirted the Jardin des Plantes by the lower streets, and reached the a little after one o'clock in the morning. following the example of all those who have been wise, holy, and just, without straightening his dorsal column, but scrutinizing Marius in his to believe it possible. On the other hand, at the very bottom of his structure_, of the barricade of the Rue de la Chanvrerie, as they call their shrewdness:-- fashion in the uninhabited regions of Paris without meeting with some adore each other and snap your fingers at all the rest. Believe what I obey me prettily." "Ah, so you love me!" said the old man. morrow Jean Valjean bestowed on Marius that glance which Marius at last BOOK ELEVENTH.--THE ATOM FRATERNIZES WITH THE HURRICANE the house, pleasures, great matters. Cosette's pleasures were not furniture, and people. Her big face, dotted with red blotches, The prisoner shuddered, and raised his eyes to Thénardier. twisted iron, and their long windows, whose tiny panes cast all sorts attention and not be precipitate about anything. What! because it would now it reappeared. to me!" limbs. The Thénardier raised her arm. attain to history, the one would have been the just, the other the wise the night, whirling as it flew, and fell far away on the snow. "What am I to Cosette? A passer-by. Ten years ago, I did not know that gallows; this was done." the Corinthe façade suffered; the window on the first floor, and the in Fantine, and which had violently quitted her during her lifetime, growth seemed to be in progress within him. He was conscious of a sort "See here!" they said to him, "there's a little creature there who is which have belonged to nations or provinces; but slang! What is the use The sister raised her eyes and answered:-- Quand la grosse boule roula. Où vont les belles filles, Lon la. There was in him a headstrong little man who hated Napoleon. your pocket, I guarantee you that that's the end of the matter, and that CHAPTER I--THE MALICIOUS PLAYFULNESS OF THE WIND maw of the clouds. It was into this house that Jean Valjean had, as Fauchelevent expressed paroquet which belonged to a lady boarder:-- vanished, after depositing in her heart one of the two germs which are "So there is a fair going on here?" standing erect, which attitude is not hated by thinkers. Laigle de Meaux this had been effected, the police agents and the sergeants "could That calm profile under the little three-cornered hat of the school of Several minutes elapsed. The man resumed:-- And for the sake of obeying her father, she resumed her walks in the the prison."_ after another, as a father obliged to decimate his children would gaze This garden was no longer a garden, it was a colossal thicket, that is of granite like a tomb, with this difference, that the dead man here Bigrenaille drew out a pistol which he had kept concealed under his realized in the living person of Sister Simplice: she had never been glorified he beheld himself, Javert, degraded. wrung their hands; the waves for the first, the grave for the last; here this occasion, and twenty-seven splinters were extracted from his left So the monk's widow was good for something. near an old door of rusty iron which led to the ancient chapel of the authorize, curés and mayors to reconcile, a clerical correspondence, an "Are you a police spy, sir?" budget and a paltry budget of education? Have not you also that passive the real form of this frightful public adventure. "There's a man up there whom you are to save," resumed Montparnasse. Nevertheless, his mother loved his sisters. walks, you are lost, you love. But one thing remains for you to do: to A lugubrious being was Montparnasse. Montparnasse was a child; less than peach, the bloom on the plum, the radiated crystal of the snow, the wing full of such problems; the important point is to possess the Sancy and Monsieur Tranchelevent bowed. Marius was, as it were, illuminated by one of these flashes. coat-sleeve, which had no arm within it, with a silver chin and a wooden He quitted the ruin and crept along the large building, seeking a better inside and a thicket on the outside. The gendarmes retired. Marius, saying rapidly, in a curt tone:-- There was, also, in this solitude, a heart which was quite ready. Love She felt that she could not live without Marius, and that, consequently, Prêcheurs, the third at the corner of the Rue de la Petite Truanderie. promenaders. Many wore the silver fleur-de-lys suspended from the mountains. He understood how to say the grandest things in the most history, one of the best princes who ever sat on a throne. translations hasty, incorrect, full of errors, of gaps, and of nonsense. ribbon. I regret the bride's garter. The bride's garter is cousin to the "What?" are, like ourselves, poor. You are covered with marvels and vermin. may be called circumparisian life has changed completely in the last theirs." They gaze on the darkness, they kneel, and they clasp their hands. beginning, the whole play would have been changed." the army to the test; it consecrates the bourgeoisie, it draws out hid themselves a little more thoroughly. "Is it you, peasant?" Library. These facts, significant but unknown, were imperceptible on the An abyss six feet broad and eighty feet deep separated them from the simple: a man amuses himself by putting snow down a woman's back, and any? Have we trembled? Have we suffered? We no longer know. A rosy cloud youth in a church and age in a house. It seems as though man's lodging auxiliary of the combatant, and the house fraternized with the low white wall, easy to climb. Far away, at the extremity, he perceived possibly, also, by the recollection of the apparitions of the past week, fallen without perceiving it. All the light of his life had departed, Madeleine rose. He was pale, though dripping with perspiration. His which she had done by her mind; in addition to this, hostile leaders walking, meditating, contemplating, his heart and soul wholly absorbed He advanced a step, in order to quit the distant recess where the of the preceding day had actually come. public letter-writer. Gillenormand, in his capacity of Cosette's supervising-guardian, had were warnings; very badly accepted, however; the city waxed indignant at "Certainly." from a horseguard, his plaque with the great eagle dented by a bullet; reign of splendid matter, the ideal had received the strange name of In the spring of 1832, although the cholera had been chilling all "No, it is the bourgeoisie." "Five francs! the shiner! a monarch! in this hole! Ain't this fine! man. "Father What's-his-name's team will be already harnessed." daytime, you would give me a sou! Go to England! Eh! I haven't enough to BOOK FIRST.--A FEW PAGES OF HISTORY swords, the crowd disperses in all directions, a rumor of war flies to statesman. the end of his resources, had coined counterfeit money, out of love for delicate operation is called "spinning." The pile of rubbish formed a sort of projection at the water's edge, CHAPTER XVI--QUOT LIBRAS IN DUCE? gravity:-- "Only what?" At nightfall, in a meadow near Genappe, Bernard and Bertrand seized by The sewer of Paris in the Middle Ages was legendary. In the sixteenth He implores the expanse, the waves, the seaweed, the reef; they are Nevertheless, Jean Valjean did not observe that, on his way back to afresh; he remained bowed and as though petrified and with staring eyes, night. eagerly read by the unfortunate. Some of these publications, odd to a desperate search for his card, and had made everybody in the garret, emerged from the Célestins and deployed along the Quai Morland. The men received him in succession at two critical moments in his life: the without cannon, without shoes, almost without an army, with a mere were dear or cheap. At six o'clock in the evening he descended the one shudder to think of it!" years old at that time. papers? The fact is, they were stray lambs and they seemed free. To be corner in such a submersion of joy? Cosette and Marius were passing embroidered, gilded, beribboned, starred, in silk stockings, in white of mine. I have always entertained the idea of having a wedding in my him; he was delighted to see one close to. He said:-- He began to speak to them in a voice so feeble that it seemed to come his old age, of his misery, of his reprobation. Sainte-Scolastique, and Mother Jacob. "Bread." taking refuge under the porte-cochère of No. 6. They shouted:--"There's to come to some decision. Fighting was going on a few paces away; affluent. On that side lay safety. convent with respectful accents. The Middle Ages cast aside, Asia cast the farm of Mont-Saint-Jean. outside by a tall hedge; the French came up, thinking that they had to instant this crowd had overtaken and surrounded me. The faces of these From a still more serious point of view, and one which it is also proper And, refilling his glass, he rose. to enter the convent of the Petit-Picpus as lady resident. The Duc hole in which to bury his name. That which he had always feared most of ventured at this hour of riot to enter the Rue Saint-Denis cast a emptying the canal, a fissure appeared in the basin of the canal, water CHAPTER I--FULL LIGHT to fire grape-shot at the Apollo Belvedere? What have those cartridges Marius had preserved the religious habits of his childhood. One Sunday, have a tricolored cockade for an eye. I believe that naturalists call but France most assuredly diminished. Add, for all must needs be told, history of many minds of our day, we think it will prove useful to by. But an aged workman had died in the infirmary of the factory a few days bed, which was furnished with two, spread it out on the floor, and said: converted into caresses and rays of light, rendered still more charming me anywhere, it is moulded on my deformities, it falls in with all my would say _our chemise_. Sometimes they grow attached to some petty rouse you in the morning, to hurl into abysses of light prodigious words just stated, their misfortune was greater than they were. They faded out Bishop embraced him, and at the moment when the knife was about to fall, cravat: his hands were not visible; they were drawn up in his sleeves: absorbed in thoughts which he could not grasp, and as though a prey to suffering, and I try to assuage it, I possess only the puny forces of a The usher took the paper, cast a glance upon it, and obeyed. age to understand, they might have gathered the words of this grave man. Caledonian; the pure English style was only to prevail later, and delicacy accommodated itself to the serge gown, finding in this harsh aware of it, to the peculiarities of this good man and to the freaks of coachman under the knees. probably from some ancient kitchen of the Dukes de la Force, started chamber." they were again in need of money. The woman took Cosette's outfit to eyeballs suggested the thought of the magnetic needle seeking the pole. Christ. And being convinced himself, he was persuasive. after another, as a father obliged to decimate his children would gaze He heard something like the gentle patter of several drops of rain on to entrance into the void? Only the following was caught of a private conversation between four men To tell the truth, neither of them slept. have to do is to bear themselves well, I'll sneeze them out subversive 22 (return) [_Suspendu_, suspended; _pendu_, hung.] who knows? Did he steal? Has it been proved? The name of Jean Valjean actually arrive to-morrow with the child, who knows? there are crises was about to fall. Then he shuddered. passed on. Almost a third of Dubois's brigade fell into that abyss. face, her nose was not handsome--it was pretty; neither straight nor Marius, in addition to his motives of political antipathy, was convinced populace and the military in front of the Arsenal, started a movement symbolical. "So you have a lodging?" She stood for several moments as though incapable of speech. condemnation, which had been a profound shock, had, in a manner, broken right. Absolute right cried: "I protest!" then, terrible to say, it Perhaps Fantine was within that shadow. "Ah, the devil!" Alas! Who is there who has not felt all these things? Why does there warmth. Strong as his nature was, the absence of Marius had wrought some hat, laid it on Jean Valjean's knees, and gathered bunches of flowers. impossible to pause over these pretended solutions. Slaying wealth is M. Leblanc was very pale. He was scrutinizing everything around him in Economically considered, the matter can be summed up thus: Paris is a even more alarming to the emigrants who viewed them from a distance, What had taken place in that soul? CHAPTER V--END OF THE VERSES OF JEAN PROUVAIRE This abbreviation had been adopted in the convent. advanced. It seemed to him that this lasted for a century, and that it lessons in mathematics, while his sister Adelaide did wool work and years, she would not have recognized her child. Cosette, so pretty and The reader is acquainted with these two papers. One, the most ancient, a Mademoiselle Baptistine, who was his sister, and ten years his junior. and there would be that much gained! But what is that blockhead of "It seems to me impossible that I should not have already had the honor rarely; he stared coldly at the people, and they returned it in kind. upon its convalescence. Nature, spring, youth, love for her father, rested; then she summoned up all her strength, picked up her bucket The man continued: "I have still the whole of my money. In four days I The emotion aroused was indescribable. the wheat. In the evening they can be heard laughing. These groups, door of a house open, and I entered. They searched him. indifferent matters, in spite of himself. his hair, which had still been gray on his arrival in Arras, was now Via Sacra, the Boulevard des Italiens, a temple of the winds, opinion; The adorable young girl, whom Marius, in his heart, called "his Ursule," Paris." sonorous pile of iron boilers, cast-iron pots, braziers, and chains, century,--this was the great remedy for the catastrophes of love, the the word--robbed. Thénardier. Thénardier had failed, the inn was closed, and no one knew moment arrives when you forget that the thing is there. You go and come, The man did not appear to understand, as he stood there, twisting in his other. They confided to each other in an ideal intimacy, which nothing to figure in the lawsuit which would insue in all probability, and be Sometimes, beautiful as Cosette was, Marius shut his eyes in her He was a stranger in the Department. Of his origin, nothing was known; more." had been there:-- the means. There can be no fleet, if, beside the sailing ship, that it at the page which Marius had pencilled, and held it out to Javert. CHAPTER IV--A gloves; in short, Jean Valjean cordially detested this young man. a customer and casting a glance from time to time at the enemy, that adventure, indeed." silence. This apathy, peculiar to the Marais, presented a contrast with Cosette had caught sight through the fence of Éponine in man's clothes, One felt oneself aimed at by some person whom one did not see, and one The Thénardier cast a glance of disdain on him. _"Et lux perpetua luceat ei." _ varied; and he remained of that epic and redoubtable school which is articles. It is badly paid work, but one can live by it." travelling since morning. had occupied Marius' thoughts ever since the preceding evening, was like the first place, to encumber the street; next, in order that it might As extreme innocence borders on extreme coquetry, she smiled at him with having for so long cherished a just instinct. Javert's content shone unprotected but terrible, and replied to the redoubt with a terrible the prisoner. The victory was completed by the assassination of the "a mental conception." wildly. As on the preceding day, she wore her damask gown and her crape meditation, whence he only emerged to write a few lines on the pages of without being able to explain perfectly to themselves why. Every day, struck, he admitted the active principle, he admitted the passive turnovers, ladies; do not indulge in them to excess. Even in the matter "Yes." Service was written _servisse_. "From the Tuileries to the Luxembourg, there is but the distance which and presented himself abruptly to the eyes of those whom he was in cannon, the only ones out of all the English artillery which commanded presentiment of meeting with traps in that darkness; all the confused then he returned. The name of Mondétour paints marvellously well the sinuosities of that or understand. The lightning must, at the same time, have hindered and what lovely lasses! I committed my ravages among them. Then love The fireplace and the two chairs were exactly opposite Marius. The was Jehan, owing to that petty momentary freak which mingled with the An honest man would have been terrified; this man burst into a laugh. and said:-- communicating to the vault a reddish glow which grew fainter, then to say, repose. bit of wisdom, or folly, or, as it often happens, in both at once, are ancient stone, instead of the antique architecture, haughty and royal nimbleness a coin which one has dropped on the ground rolls away and happiness. had laughed, they walked hand in hand, she had no one in the world but "I know it." recall. purely philosophical point of view, outside the requirements of militant seen! Mr. Mayor, I must treat myself as I would treat any other man. boulevard near the washerwomen? How the birds sang! That was a long time But at the ineffable moment which she was then passing through, it cast have no suspicion of the terrible scenes which this very spot witnessed effaced the enthusiasms of the 20th of March. The Corsican became the sister?" small and low-ceiled, was furnished with a heap of empty bottles piled lead one to think that it already had earth upon it; the corners of his She appeared to be thoughtful and did not look at him. She no longer had case, those who combat are not to be blamed; one of the two parties is "I will put the lever through it." would cast a graceful shadow on "his spouse," and would result in what which she had done by her mind; in addition to this, hostile leaders pale. Moreover, all his emotions were disagreeable. As he went further man. Each of us can profit by it." and said:-- "Reverend Mother, you can hear the knell much better here than in the As soon as the ladder was arranged, Thénardier cried: to arrange her hair; "there's no one here." could pass under it. This grating was nothing else than a piece of the Made pope, because no priest was he; In his turn, it was Marius who was the firebrand and M. Gillenormand nothingness. Winds, clouds, whirlwinds, gusts, useless stars! What is pair of man's trousers, but he did not get them from his father, and a had laughed, they walked hand in hand, she had no one in the world but he were intoxicated. Moreover, he had his hat in his hand, although it from the memory of the day before, and of effacing, beneath the smiling throwing each other, while each one hastened and invited the last and "But you ate nothing yesterday, poor, dear man!" one knew, not even Cosette. Once only, on the occasion of one of these [In all this and athwart this celestial maidenliness, and without either "Follow me!" of that child threatened, of his friends to succor or to "Does she still come to the Luxembourg?" "No, sir." "This is the church chamber." was hanged. The sombre social construction is so made that, thanks to "Take this to Monsieur le Président." bed. a sort of peep-hole. It is permissible to gaze at misfortune like a "Théodule, your grandnephew." IV., of Richelieu, of Louis XIV., and of the Committee of Public Safety, the ascetic and the sage converge. There is a material growth; we without cannon, without shoes, almost without an army, with a mere folks! all those rich folks! These men who pretend to be charitable, How was he to warm her back to life? How was he to rouse her? All that exclamation: "This is too much!"--and this interrogation: "But where is a subject which was familiar to her and to which the Bishop was also revery. the corpse, that I have filled the grave, that I have done your work, side. White cloudlets floated across the sky, so gayly, that one would strikes with the sword. Now, no sword is simple. Every blade has two his victory was to make the artillery converge on one point. He treated extremity of the hovel, stared at him in stupefaction, as almost free chambers, all of which were utterly bare and had nothing beyond the hand." rout, pushed forward. Wellington went to the village of Waterloo to draw "How is that poor woman?" They were, evidently, on the brink of that moment which M. Clermont- order to proceed to his death, he recognized him. Something suddenly eyes, upon M. Fauchelevent, overcome, little by little, by that who put on airs, who go to mass, who make presents to the priesthood, CHAPTER IX--ECLIPSE ascended the stairs on the preceding evening. The step was approaching. So saying, he handed the stranger the three bank-bills. moderately concealed. Oh! the large laughing mouths, and how gay we were "France needs no Corsica to be great. France is great because she is he said, "The functionary can make no mistake; the magistrate is never September 14th, which is the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, until Easter. believing themselves to be vanquished, retreated; but Wellington Marius' ancient estrangement towards this man, towards this Fauchelevent not close his eyes all night. From time to time, if some soldier, an officer or representative of the 45 (return) [ _Chien_, dog, trigger.] doing; the night distributes stellar essences to the sleeping flowers. Cosette had had no mother. She had only had many mothers, in the plural. taken with that branch (which the lawyer preferred to call a _bough_) in paid badly, they did not pay at all, but they were always welcome. An indescribable constraint, weariness, and humiliation were perceptible time about it!" "Peuh!" he exclaimed. about to vanish in the dark. "At the Prefecture of Police in Paris." CHAPTER VI--THE FONTIS "What are you jabbering about? The tavern-keeper hasn't managed to cut never seen him. The cousins knew each other only by name. We think called honors and dignities, and even dignity and honor, are generally wild eye was returning alone to Waterloo. It was Napoleon, the immense your throat. It's not the dying so much; you die, for one must die, and me permission to speak; I say no evil of the people as you see, I am "And when shall you return?" strange wall reaching to the second story of the house fronts, a sort of boots in the anteroom. He seized Basque by the collar, and shouted full "That horse is very much fatigued." "Monsieur, I will conduct you to your room." Cromwell. "And what did he offer?" asked Marguerite. and dew in the flowers, the long silvery tracks of the snails were "Yes, sir." CHAPTER XII--THE BISHOP WORKS who, holding him under his pistol, had fired into the air, instead of The frightened child looked at him, then began to tremble from head to suddenly feel one's fingers opening! to relax one's grip,--what a Courfeyrac turned round, half the street was already barred with left, with his hand thrust into his coat like a statesman. At the moment And without having uttered it, moved by the same thought, impelled by and, saluting him with a sort of aggrieved awkwardness:-- cook-shop was in a bad way. streets of Paris undergo. He occupied an ancient and vast apartment that man into the destiny of that child had been the advent of God. well-pleased eye of the Creator, in that enclosure three hundred feet CHAPTER IV--THE CONVENT FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF PRINCIPLES "In the first place, father, I want you to come and embrace me. What do Suppose a church whose choir is grasped in a gigantic hand, and She would have liked to encounter her "passer-by," to see what he would She obeyed. granted me. 'Madame, what shall I do with this linen fine?'--'Make of it In this manner Cosette traversed the labyrinth of tortuous and deserted that he can no longer defend himself, but sufficiently alive to suffer asunder. Thus, the Gallic Society, and the committee of organization of only the flash of a dream, and is not yet a statue. Her bed-chamber is Jean Valjean recognized the difficulty. It was necessary, at any cost, drinking-shop rooms,--tables, pewter jugs, bottles, drinkers, smokers; "As soon as his political mission is accomplished, Inspector Javert wager was accepted, but not one of those who bet believed that she would conscious of their faces; now, girls who are conscious of their beauty young man like a sword. his empire, "Come to yourselves. This pun which has fallen from the "Swear!" said she, "what does that mean? Come! You want me to swear?" one hand on his mouth. Then, fresh and rosy in the growing whiteness of thing. It has been a sepulchre, it has served as an asylum. Crime, must be added, that the rain kept this sentinel blocked in his box. the sword. Neither England, nor Germany, nor France is contained in would go hopping up the steps of paradise on one foot. He is strong on Courfeyrac untied his cravat and with it bandaged Marius' brow. The remarkable thing about it is, also, their facility in paying through the street by night, those terrible casks of the street in the world! In any case, Monsieur le Maire, this is a question of Courfeyrac replied: He told himself that it was fortunate that it was not there and that As Cardinal Fesch refused to resign, M. de Pins, Archbishop of Amasie, killed him on the spot with a blow from his gun; the second killed Sure of the issue, he encouraged with a smile, as they passed before learn the most minute details; we are going to lay our finger on the "Promise me!" confession at the same time, and yet boasting of her deed. On leaving You see, Monsieur Pontmercy, various things have happened to me in the Bahorel, in ecstasies over the barricade, shouted:-- Eastern cemetery, succeeded to it, and inherited that famous dram-shop more than with despair, she quitted the shop, and returned to her room. stirred up, mounted to the surface. The humiliation of having, in of mirrors, the wanton trap worthy of a satyr become a millionaire or of resources. He had no money, but he found means, when it seemed good to that M. Madeleine was absent for a day or two, and that in their doubt To present such a bill to a man who had so completely the air "of a poor earth,--Hamilton wounded, Mater slain. Ponsonby had fallen, riddled by Cosette shuddered. He added:-- closed, in a despondent attitude, his daughter ventured to say to him:-- hear. "Yonder, in the first wedding-cart, on our side." the thoughtful man. perfumed than the summer Mirabelle, owes its origin. He went to mass "Monsieur le Baron, say ten thousand francs and I will speak." This family was that of the merry barefoot boy. He arrived there and of which we shall presently speak, all was wall and solitude there. Not the expressive name of _Cassis_.60 thanks upon you. Where do you live?" seen! Mr. Mayor, I must treat myself as I would treat any other man. Italian, German, Spanish, or English, and become European, I say more, of the priest, against his fellow-man. That which his fellow does, God everything I do; I must cudgel my brains over good and evil, over the CHAPTER III--ON WHAT CONDITIONS ONE CAN RESPECT THE PAST matter of history and which has been consigned to the documents in the chance, if that word is permissible here, the dead had been vaulted National Guard, and preceded by a commissary of police wearing his scarf Valjean. He could not get to sleep again, and he fell to thinking. which have belonged to nations or provinces; but slang! What is the use It was like a game of checkers played at a distance and in silence. "Father!" in after them, pulled the stones together, and closed the opening "I shall have a ladder for these children." comrades had nicknamed him Jean the Jack-screw. Once, when they were themselves to fire prematurely, though in appearance more than in This rejuvenation of a corpse is surprising. Behold, it is walking and should not have happened in this way; it would have agitated him less. the plank which covered him. It was probably the holy water. "What is it?" post, but had remained on guard, thought he espied some men stealthily La nuit on ne voit rien, of an atmosphere which kills them, of a fatal force, and they speak of through with. Marius was about to arrive, and he would bring good news. the habit of opening more frequently than was supposed. This softness crumble and new ones rise. from Madeleine:-- varnished shoes, to have your hair curled and sweet-smelling oils on This infallible passage of the king at the same hour was, therefore, the clouds as they turned rosy. As soon as Thénardier had left the house, Marius rushed to the garden, knows who has been there or will be there." The arrest of M. Madeleine occasioned a sensation, or rather, an It was the man with the axe, who was growing merry. One day she received from the Thénardiers a letter couched in the lady, he had retained this sheet. As a waif or a souvenir. At his death, returned in the course of the morning, for the purpose of questioning month when Napoleon was crowned. Pope Pius VII., who had performed the and his soul filled with a strange light. A thief, because he robbed a wealthy manufacturer, whose ruin he brought the barricade of the Rue de la Chanvrerie." stones. It was in its place. It had not been carried off. is at the beginning of it, to go away means to die. "State the case precisely." They were both caught in the immense and gloomy web of death, and Jean He stood there for several moments, staggering as though intoxicated, stage-wagon; the gentleman would make a great mistake if he trusted Let us add the following: in the bourgeoisie, honored situations decay There was no reply. Nothing of all this is in existence now. The Mondétour labyrinth was should be governed only by science." intervals. His gaze, fixed ten or twelve paces in front of him, seemed invulnerable being, seemed, by the authority of his tranquil glance, to la Baronne. That he begged to be excused, that he would come to-morrow. Less than an hour after this, the verdict of the jury freed the said patriarchs and magi, not real beings, but phantoms. of a tiger-cat; this man was dressed in red; he was a convict; he wore a distance and in the early dusk, was not entirely unfamiliar to him. household of the Comte d'Artois, in the capacity of physician to the appeared to be, unhappily, well attested; the accused had resided at dressed man," who said to him: "Whither are you bound, citizen?" "Sir," was losing his strength; his anguish could not be discerned on his face, This constituted the terror of the poor creature whom the reader has "And you also, you pardon me!" Jean Valjean said to him. abyss of Eden had yawned once more. listened more attentively, and recognized M. Madeleine's step. This document for conviction in his pocket. After which he opened the to draw a long breath. He went on: of historians which does not exist in our mind. No one is a good of an improvisation. The first comer seizes a current of the throng Portugal, the earth quaking in Italy, Metternich extending his hand over The old man resumed with a half-smile great God! what a fatality! What a bitter mockery of fate! His father "My daughters!" combatants had been massacred in that barn. A sergeant of the English "Which?" young wounded men who interest them. It is not done. What would your proceeds more directly and more sincerely from the very depth of our struck full in the stomach, tumbled over backwards into the gutter while penny roll at a baker's, put it in his pocket and forgot it. It appears said to him, _"Nisi Dominus custodierit domum, in vanum vigilant qui affair. A pontifical and warlike nature, a singular thing in a youth. He I was not a coquettish and untidy woman. I had linen, a great deal of No one entered; the door did not open. compass also moves in souls. Each person was taking that step in advance "That fellow has no heart, the whiting,"35 he muttered. "He's an him; he rested his elbows on the table, which was illuminated by the code, and jealous at need, there is but one way of extricating himself more than anything else; he made signs and gestures which were meant to The rats, in fact, who swarmed by thousands in the carcass of the hood, harnessed to a famished nag which was cropping the grass across having transgressed the bounds of what they call "French taste"; I handful of dust caught up by an unexpected gust of wind, through Jean confidential note on the subject, from which we extract these authentic He raised his glassy eyes and seemed to be seeking something that had "Follow me!" of that child threatened, of his friends to succor or to "Let's get well into a corner," said Brujon. "Let's settle it in three quarrel!" followed by a broad flash of lightning, so dazzling that a hint of it "Wouldn't they just!" ejaculated Gavroche. horses by night,--this passes before the mind like a group of spectres. claw, another an extinguished and bleeding eye, such and such a phrase "You always have something better than any one else, so you do! even bad wild birds, he had chosen this desert place to construct his nest. no grudge for that. "Signed: BLACHEVELLE. He quitted the Rue des Filles-du-Calvaire, and returned to the Rue de nowadays!" everything for France and nothing against her. CHAPTER II--PRELIMINARY GAYETIES stairs once more, the knave was a somebody. On the following day, the Often when we think we are knotting one thread, we are tying quite up in solitary spirits, and there take on a form and grow until they most peaceable sheet of paper in the world, a permission to eat eggs, a audible the clanking of swords of all those extraordinary soldiers of patched up, and so many spots on the sun and so many holes in the moon, his will and his reason, and from which he sought to draw proof and "Informed against me!" "You see, I cannot take my daughter to the country. My work will not bread, no fire. My poor babes have no fire! My only chair has no seat! A "Madame," he resumed, "is business good here in Montfermeil?" across that cold and lifeless face and had then vanished, and the mad "It will be too late. The barricade will probably be blockaded, all the became accustomed to this cavern. He began to distinguish something. The of blackguards." address, indeed!" hundred francs at once; otherwise he would turn little Cosette out of is in the garden that we meet, in the evening, her father means to take infallible, there may exist error in the dogma, all has not been said thinker who should turn aside from slang would resemble a surgeon halted to look at the time on a leaden watch which was suspended from of Fervacques, deceived by his Picard jargon, and taking him for one than hovels. and one of whose hips was missing. Near the basin there was a bourgeois "I don't understand, sir," ejaculated Thénardier. of the body, but it did allow the passage of the eyes; that is to that he had actually been guilty of theft. He arrived at a wall. "Feel how cold I am," said she. the enemy was not making any movement. Nothing was stirring; not a purpose. He had caught the old man's deep glances returning constantly anything stranger than that long and bloody protest of dealers in intelligent hearts with that double respect which one feels for the man facing the barricade. Not one of them had been struck. Then the captain tones: "We will go back to take a look at our little garden in the Rue propitious one in which to await the night and to escape. It was one of this past. Moreover, let us remark, this same petty world had a grandeur evening arrived, as he was forced to set out again on the following day, rainy night, it was to his own brothers that he had played the part of of tumult of events to the sombre roar of ideas. The English barricaded themselves there; the French made their way in, Mirliton ribonribo. "No!" Champs-Élysées. M. Madeleine listened to her with profound attention. While she was that skeleton Napoleon, that other skeleton is Wellington; all this no fountain; they ascended Diogenes' lantern, they gambled for macaroons is to say, as geologists study the earth, slang appears like a veritable Come, a little uproar, the deuce! so that the children can chatter at wasted time. Some passers-by informed him that the man and child of whom bergère; Car c'est dans sa prunelle J'adore son jupon, with the sagacity of foresight, had examined it as the possible seat of the tavern, who was everybody's friend, and had not disdained to ally It was a perfect festival wherever he appeared. One would have said that "Take care!" shouted Marius from the top of the barricade. "What are you crying about?" demanded his father. turned into a narrow one, entered the waste land, and plunged into terrified and confused uproar which follows the discovery of an escape will be if I do not denounce myself." To what purpose?" uniforms, who take no part in the fighting; pretended invalids; bed, hung at the windows of the first floor. On the ground floor, the it is a terrible thing to see a living being detach himself from it and up for departure long before its time, beat a retreat in good order, "Eating is not the point to-day. There's something better to be done." It is obscure because it is underhand. Of all these writers, the one radiant portal. Jean Valjean was no longer conscious of fatigue, he no The district-attorney knows who I am; he knows whither I am going; he No address was joined to the signature. Marius hoped to find the address Suddenly, the sun made its appearance; the immense light of the Orient reloading in silence. All at once, a thundering voice was heard, On the other hand, it seemed to her that the mere communication of the on entering this strange world, soon became melancholy, and, what is of April, boasted of having in his house seven hundred cartridges and "Javert--" He placed himself between the grave and the grave-digger, crossed his they had laid Marius down. Basque, in a black coat, knee-breeches, white He remained silent for a moment, and then added: "There was no more a stone on the bench than there was a man in a round Predestinations are not all direct; they do not open out in a straight to insist upon here, this war, which wounded the military spirit understand that. Mirrors, those revealers of the truth, are hated; that resistance to the eternal life of the human race. the play every evening, if he sees good. He has no shirt on his body, rear the orphan; live happy, virtuous, and admired; and, during this five or six large sous. just seen; thirty-two curacies, forty-one vicarships, and two hundred etiquette than about the crumbling monarchy. This diminution saddened the sun, which cast threads of gold in his hair and empurpled with its remember to have seen, in the Cathedral of Strasburg, a clock, as tall was, at once so impudent and so serious, so giddy and so profound, so Decidedly this man was an enigma. The good souls got out of their a pariah of the laws which regarded the man with wrath, condemned by souls, the go-bare-foot, the bare-armed, the disinherited, the orphans, cudgel, which was lying on the ground. their words with the desperate attention of a wretch who feels himself labor, as we have explained, and which sufficed for his wants. And Courfeyrac added:-- side and on hers, inexperience had joined issue. breast. encounter him. It was only on the evening before that she had attempted in fact, to overthrow the English left, to cut off the road to Brussels, post of a drinking-shop. chair. amount of terrified discussion among the gossips of the Rue des Vignes In this nineteenth century, the religious idea is undergoing a crisis. their consciences they have dung-heaps and cesspools that are enough to that time, taken a good look at the pinioned spy in the dark background The mother exclaimed impetuously:-- discharge, whose fury seemed augmented by the stupor of the night, Jean entirely instinctive, in the nature of reprisals for the evil which the following:-- "Thanks, Father Madeleine!" quarter of a league in extent. They were giant men, on colossal horses. The two teeth had been extracted. his factory mark on a knife, on withdrawing it, all smoking, from his was impossible to carry her. A man's whole strength is required to chastely dropped his eyes before everything which was not the Republic. "I am here, little father, because I am here. Isn't a person allowed to of living is insupportable; death is sooner over with. Then he reflected A grating sound became audible through the trees in the distance. It was "Long live Tholomyès!" exclaimed Dahlia and Zéphine. BOOK EIGHTH.--CEMETERIES TAKE THAT WHICH IS COMMITTED THEM These surprising exhibitions of stupidity are not novel; this is no He made a sign to his wife, who hastily drew near, and showed her the shoes, the alarming noise which had just burst forth in the prison, the revelation, understood instantly and at a single glance the simple me placed. What! You don't recognize me?" youth in a church and age in a house. It seems as though man's lodging Marius dashed out of the barricade, Combeferre followed him. But he was garret in company with the other ruffians. Utility of a vice: his barricade. The four cannons echoed each other mournfully. breath, the relative innocence of all in that catastrophe, of those vultures, such as our Royal Museum did not possess until 1845, and which He did what the wolf does: he shook himself. Audacity had succeeded with Under the Cæsars, there is the exile to Syene; there is also the man of _To make reparation_ is a function in which the whole soul is absorbed. his key; the grave-digger stepped out, but had to pay a fine of fifteen tranquil in appearance yet formidable. You pass close to them every "The deuce!" left, with his hand thrust into his coat like a statesman. At the moment plaque like a vantbrace, knee-breeches of green leather, oaths to the Then, touched by Combeferre's words, shaken by Enjolras' order, touched room. Immediately." give orders that I am to be received in the little waiting-room. On the as a people, it willingly subordinates itself and takes a lord for its honor, people would think, to see me, that some catastrophe had happened M. Madeleine preserved silence. Champmathieu arrived than Brevet exclaims: 'Eh! Why, I know that man! one saw Jean Valjean sustaining the fainting Marius in his arms, who was utterly unsuspicious, accustomed as she was to seeing armed men shouted: "To arms!" broke street lanterns, unharnessed carriages, the Mayor of M. sur M. say the _Emperor_, and not _Bonaparte_, when patients, and then, too, I have some whom I call my unfortunates." An unforeseen shock was added to these sad reflections. _"Monsieur le Curé is right: it is not his place; it is mine."_ sort of well, fortunately not very deep, to let the heavy trap, upon eyes, upon M. Fauchelevent, overcome, little by little, by that And the four miserable Philippes which he has brought me! Scoundrel! CHAPTER VI--FUTURE PROGRESS conscious of a man put to the proof. Though so near to his end, he had had as little mother as possible. She did not even know her mother's lectures he espied subjects for ballads, and in his professors occasions when, while doing that which it is one's duty to do, one feels something served as a wagon-house for market-gardeners, and no communication good turns, gave him an old coat. For thirty sous, Marius got it turned It is the language which has been spoken, in France, for example, for