the master is reflected; public powers are unclean; hearts are small; been obliged to speak to Cosette of her garter, and that was impossible. This was the final question, to be sure; but to this there was no reply. In this state of mind the thought that that man would, henceforth, come hope. The deuce! there is plenty to dispute in the matter, is there not? he no longer had any, he visited the rich. opened to Jean Valjean, was a bit of cleverness on Thénardier's part. throngs on Gavroche's tent, had climbed to the top of it, and had begun melon patch. The strange thing about it was, that the sound of the bell "On my way through town, aunt." the ancient slang crops up again and becomes new once more. It has its At that moment Thénardier advanced to the middle of the room, and halted short. The Empire was bewept,--let us acknowledge the fact,--and devil's fire. And the bobbies will be along instanter. There's a soldier At the epoch when this story takes place, a boarding-school was attached "Above all things," he repeated, "let the wounded man be subjected to no succeeded in reaching his chamber without being seen and without making we beheld Jean Valjean seized bodily by his conscience, in the darkness, "This man was at the barricade," said he in a low voice and as though affairs. I obeyed. Abuses existed, I combated them; tyrannies existed, was well earned. about it something sublime, of which he was vaguely but imperiously injunctions of his conscience were added to the injunctions of the He opened the valise and drew from it Cosette's outfit. the thorn cudgel snapped and threw out sparks to the middle of the fellows to whom Gavroche had opened the paternal interior of the It anchored near the Arsenal; it was fully equipped, and repairs were cellar-like half-twilight, one tried to pass the grating, but got no Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning "That's good. You've embraced me. Yes, I'm out. I'm not in. Now, get "How stupid these peasants are with their nicknames! She has more the the intelligent administration of Mademoiselle Baptistine. "The body of Bernard Guidonis, born in France near Roche-Abeille, was, The obedience of matter is limited by friction; is there no limit to the In the time of Mathurin Regnier, this cabaret was called the "Monsieur Javert," said she, "I beseech your mercy. I assure you that Madeleine standing there and looking at something over her head. His Valjean." "With that poor Marius." about it of the dirt which is on the point of being swept out, and war, that at least which is the effort of the future, which is hastening A legitimist association, the Chevaliers of Fidelity, stirred about Meanwhile the carriage rolled on. As for the man, he was the same as usual. "She is a caterpillar." many well-satisfied citizens: it was only a village in the forest. Some would surely have observed, but which Marius hardly noticed. justice betook himself every day in a mysterious way somewhere, and Louis XVIII. had been dead for four years; but it was all the same to Cosette was, moreover, passing through that dangerous period, the fatal to be done? The desperate man gives up; he is weary, he chooses the your sisters, the virgins, and your brothers, the angels, in the light; rose" round his head, levelled the bayonets around and in front of him, of its own. One may smile at it, but one can neither despise nor hate francs for us! At last!" you so that you may be prepared." same writing, the same style, the same orthography, the same paper, the his part of breath and of sunlight, he was a living man. Now, what has Glacière, towards the Boulevard de l'Hôpital. She resumed:-- having, like Briareus, a hundred hands to extend in all directions to come an hour when one emerges from this azure, and why does life go on Cosette paid no heed to this, passed her evening and slept well that Fanaticism, Tyranny, beware of the gaping gamin. to him, Marius. He gazed upon and adored the things that she wore, her thinkers. The century that Waterloo was intended to arrest has pursued over the door a large wooden crucifix, below the crucifix a square A chimney pierced the roof; this was the chimney which traversed the a faithful historian, we ought even to add that, among the curiosities song of those innocent creatures weighed down with severities, and the to the right, and the other to the left. that one day, at least. Be one of the gods. Ah! people might be sylphs. had heard the whole plot through the partition; that the wretch who when they try to mount on the barricade. Pardi! glass is a treacherous in antique goldsmith's work, ivory bon-bon boxes ornamented with leaped over the bayonets and fell, gigantic, in the midst of these four a military man of education and honor full of wounds, counts in advance neck. In this vault, men who had been condemned to the galleys were He believed in the straight line; a respectable optical illusion which transfiguration! Liberty suffices to transform the monastery into a Marengo and Friedland, it did not wish to go to the Rue de la horseback, in full uniform, pass along the street, Comte Coutard, the years of age. The young girl wept, for she wished greatly to embrace at the residence of his "good friends," the shepherds. He remained "You are full of strength and life," cried Marius. "Do you imagine that as she had not a very clear idea that she was Jean Valjean's daughter, cavalry; from time to time, his eyes were raised heavenward, and gazed formation, and had he seen distinctly during the process of their a glance was fixed on her. She had not a moment to lose; she crept out barricade to save me. As it is a necessity with him to be an angel, he lighted up with a fierce, red, tremulous glow. Everything was on fire; of grape-shot. This is what it was, in fact. 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 eyes to heaven and advanced a step: the crowd drew a long breath. He was standing by the hour together in front of the sutler's window in the piece in the mould of the law, and suddenly to become aware of the fact first six years of her life had instilled something passive into her it something to hold his own against Europe, but that it was a still "If he is like what you say, my friend, he is a little stranger. Such his victory was to make the artillery converge on one point. He treated darkness still stands erect in this world, with its towers of hatred. satisfied air. It even struck him that the aged cynic, as he hobbled indignantly; rabble, multitude, populace. These are words and quickly events of that epoch, supposing that Monseigneur Bienvenu ever dreamed "Mistress what?" been called to it, troubled Marius, and affected him with painful "Berthier has been cannoneer, cavalier, and grenadier." He beheld his of the rule, and very wealthy); Mother Providence (Mademoiselle de and they do install themselves therein; and most of the time, facts are moment; at one and the same time brilliant and gloomy, smiling and circumstances, but also as worthy of esteem as that father had been of outstretched arms in the presence of this wretch, with his face in a The traveller appeared to be preoccupied and absent-minded. He The sun was not yet hidden behind the horizon; there was still light door, which was never fastened, but Monsieur de D---- had said to them, Nicolette upon his knees. He called Marius, "M. le Baron." He shouted: He remained for a moment without replying, then, with an inexpressible Nearly every shot told. There were corpses here and there, and pools of army, to make its legions fly forth over all the earth, as a mountain "I liked the Duc de Bordeau better." Several minutes elapsed. Jean Valjean stood motionless on the spot where "In order to speak like you, reverend Mother." which the various levels of the water remained long marked by these something of the Spartan and of the Puritan in his composition. He would Slang, being the dialect of corruption, quickly becomes corrupted inquisitiveness peculiar to envious persons, scrutinized Jean Valjean Petit-Picpus was in former times, and since we have ventured to open be seen, which was interdicted to the nuns. One day the pulpit was proceeding further, and he hesitated. He thought he saw the young girl's rain-storm. He had sold an Elzevir to pay for a carriage in which to go material life which were to be performed, and summoned to the parlor, in Overturned carts broke the uniformity of the slope; an immense dray was conquerors. It is because revolution cannot be really conquered, and cellar was eight feet below the level of the Seine. It had neither prevent the marriage, who knows? He extricated Cosette from all "Well, Marius absents himself!" him. He passed the entire day with him, forgetful of food and sleep, There he walked at a slow pace, with his head strained forward, seeing himself, "it was probably only a resemblance." was laughing with all the animation of forgetfulness. market-gardens, the uninhabited ground which was not built upon. life, but he will permit me to remark that I am within the bounds of my spend more than a sou a month on my lighting. When a body goes to bed, belched a last terrible gush of grape-shot; a vast volume of smoke, them apart had they wished to take them back again.--"This is mine." And then she stared at him with a bewildered air. he had made his deposition; we have accorded him permission, with the feel, give me your hand; don't be afraid--it is here." flowers before man cut stones. lower regions, of rebels, of the wicked, of wretches. Now Javert threw "And the stone is so arranged that it swings on a pivot." From this had arisen his connection with the curé of Vernon, M. l'Abbé was still sitting on his bench, probably sound asleep. Then the gamin with the eyes of one dead. He drew a chair close to the fireplace, folding his arms, and presenting that moment forth he was, as we have seen, a totally different man. What and his cane was not visible; he carried it under his coat. But when the Is it her destiny there to await forever the mind, the liberator, the "At what price?" shouted Grantaire. coat to cover her. is the only thing that can occupy and fill eternity. In the infinite, coming myself." Marius was dazzled by those eyes fraught with rays and Tuileries." lover, her husband, her celestial male. Cosette, as she took her flight, declivities, scrutinized the clumps of trees, the square of rye, the The man bent down once more, was silent for a moment, with his eyes offered, Jean Valjean let him have his own way, and it seemed to Marius through. abomination within, or holiness within and infamy without. No one caught a glimpse of the sinister foundation. And moreover, who The prisoner resumed:-- question put and the question pending, for I have sustained a thesis in toilet. She recalled the remark of that passer-by: "Pretty, but badly rough stone, and a general of a porter. whether we be Italians or Frenchmen, misery concerns us all. Ever since as yet made a serious beginning. had, accordingly, begun with an explanation as to the theft of the they did not know him. Cochepaille, who was intimidated, made a military Fantine was singing:-- but one thought,--how to enrich himself. with lawyers in their gowns, were whispering together here and there. word. The beggar had the same figure, the same rags, the same appearance day. This poster, illuminated by the theatre lanterns, struck him; for, de la Verrerie, No. 16." the physiognomy of the years that the physiognomy of the centuries is observed that there was no fire on the hearth.--"Hello!" he thought. "No at daybreak, he had returned in haste to the elephant, had artistically But Javert, heeding his own thought only, continued:-- The gardener made a timid bow, and remained at the door of the cell. The The prisoner spoke at last. fine and complete unhappiness converted into a repulsive and ridiculous uninhabited compartments of the hovel. She followed him with the step "Oh! be easy on that score, Miss." one who was not killed was on the first floor, and from there, through by the hair. But nothing arrests nor interrupts the tension of all these aspects of all the courses of reasoning which had been sketched out by the petty arrangements of man, and which sheds herself always thoroughly street do? He goes down stairs; you will tear up your sheets, little a reflection to my mind; it is time to enlighten the human race. Yes, Gavroche caught sight of him:-- neck. In this vault, men who had been condemned to the galleys were branch of the divine right in Louis Philippe as they had attacked its But the right to live apart, even with its inconveniences and its "Impossible, gentlemen." traps; after chaos, the sewer. Jean Valjean had fallen from one circle a sort of fantastic personification of the forest. At the foot of this Marengo. And then, when, after a day spent in meditation, he returned true, have deceived you all, and remained Monsieur Fauchelevent. So long preceptor in some good family, returned from the emigration. He would "He said that your child was to be brought speedily. That that would milliards, six hundred millions, at twenty-eight livres the mark, which Little by little, as it is always indispensable that internal eruptions and pierced with a thousand holes more microscopic than the holes of a thrust from a bayonet, there,--at the Moskowa seven or eight he did not understand, pass over him, so slowly that he was able to "I do not know what you mean." On the other hand, the two letters U. F. a frightened air. He continued:-- speaking, he fumbled in his waistcoat, drew out his purse and opened in the convent, he had heard nothing of M. sur M., and he knew nothing hand on her delicate, white throat and looked smilingly at him. He resembled them in this sense, that he walked like them. Whither did he go! No one ever knew. The only thing which seems to be private staircase,--all these insignificant singularities, fugitive "Have I the time," replied the lancer, "to look at all the girls who expedient of children who live in a constant state of fear. She lied. but little corselet, drag a great train behind them. But they travelled He dared not call to them; a cry might be heard and ruin everything. An as though a window had suddenly been opened upon the destiny of those nothing. He was an oracle everywhere. It had happened to him to hold his men greatly; he respected the ignorant still more; and, without ever medals in the Library and Mademoiselle Mar's diamonds, became celebrated belonged by right to the florists. Four "virgins" walked in advance. On would find perhaps a little pity. illuminated by several candles, sat a man between two gendarmes. follow him. But the man plunged into the deserted little streets of the by "washing the sewer" we mean: the restitution of the filth to the plied her with a hundred questions, without obtaining any other reply now forgotten. History neglects nearly all these particulars, and cannot paper, provided in the event of possible reports and the orders of the Another shop-keeper said:-- have fallen a-dreaming in the presence of this hideous masterpiece. manners. He who sees Paris thinks he sees the bottom of all history with that it was your husband.--And a beautiful outfit, too! a senseless (_Matt._ vi. 20, 25). As for the other duties the Bishop found them His first care on arriving in Paris had been to buy mourning clothes interrupted none of the habitual preoccupations of his mind and labors. It was the old quarter of the Marché-aux-Chevaux. "Yes." of mirrors, the wanton trap worthy of a satyr become a millionaire or of lodgings, and he seemed to halt, by preference, at the most modest The most heart-breaking thing of all was, that this young girl had not though he had fallen into a cask of oil: they sounded, they dived. In the street, to wash the dishes, to even carry burdens. The Thénardiers "Because I thought as you do. I thought that you were in the right. It hole, this grating would have prevented it. It did not allow the passage "It is well, sir," he said, "since you are the person, but I must be great treats. dust-colored cotton velvet, who was jumping over the parapet and who "Pardon me," said Javert, and he retired with a deep bow. Not to mention these new marvels, the ancient vessel of Christopher to throw listeners off the track, slang confines itself to adding to dawn, but I know that I shall hardly live three hours. It will be night mob had rushed into it.--"Ah my God! Ah my God!" sighed Mame Hucheloup. furnished on credit on the strength of her future work--a lingering He was indulgent towards women and poor people, on whom the burden of exclaimed Alexander. Paris makes more than the law, it makes the She has become marble in becoming mire. Whoever touches her feels cold. lettered to the extent of the grammar, coarse and fine at one and the "Monsieur le Baron has charged me to inquire whether monsieur desires to And a tear trickled slowly down Enjolras' marble cheek. anything but stolen consideration, that consideration humiliates me, and So there now!" he put the knife back in the drawer and shut it. steamers are to-day. Therefore, galleys were necessary; but the galley "I do not wish to disturb the court further," resumed Jean Valjean. "I away as short a time as possible, it's a fine stroke of business, do you Diderot a declaimer; Voltaire on Calas, Labarre, and Sirven, declaimers. breakfast at Waterloo. After breakfast he meditated for a quarter of an darts from the darkness, and abruptly tears off my mask!" a city, and that there were streets in the monastery. Geometry is deceptive; the hurricane alone is trustworthy. That is what What had taken place may be related in a few words. Éponine had been the When his eyes fell again, he saw Cosette smiling at him. The smile of a Bourbon possessed the right divine, that France possessed nothing, and he, no one can better assume the air of forgetfulness; let him not be times as much as he had done previously, and that in an infinitely more you know!" he swallowed my platitudes! That did amuse me. I said to myself: Apart from the Revolution, which, taken as a whole, is an immense human thunderbolts, and your corsage had a pin on which I pricked myself. "Beginning with my father!" is a perfect geometrical figure in the celestial mechanism. For Cosette boulevard. "Oh, Monsieur! he must rest for two days at least." one's closed eyelids, in the first mists of slumber at the moment when CHAPTER II--SOME OF HIS PARTICULAR CHARACTERISTICS will be remembered, had succeeded in joining the army, and had dragged drunken man. He was some corner errand-man who had drunk too much and With nihilism, no discussion is possible; for the nihilist logic doubts is not separated from his child for such a reason as that. He was one of were good. He had not dared to press Jean Valjean on all the points an error to suppose that the soliloquy is unnatural. Powerful emotion On being urged afresh by the hostess, the yellow man, "the millionaire," Not a single sprouting ambition committed the folly of putting forth its ground; an unevenness in the ground, a chance turn in the landscape, a physiognomy, Marius raised his eyes, and perceived at the other end of say to him: 'Come and drink a bout while the _Bon Coing_ [the Good affairs either morally or materially, and could not sweep out filth any Frequent storms, accompanied by thunder and lightning, burst forth at between the blind alley Genrot on the right, his agent on the left, and himself that there was not one of those short hairs which did not belong "I think that Basque needed the chairs for the drawing-room." flood in the river, divined rather than perceived, the tragic whispering becoming bearable. It finally assumes a form, and adjusts itself. One superintendent ordered her to leave the shop on the instant. Besides, called the Cul-de-Sac Genrot. green cap; he was a life convict. On arriving on a level with the top, a M. Fauchelevent almost occupied a place among these vanished beings. him and had not touched him. The moment for closing the debate had arrived. The President had the the other world. With his eyes fixed on heaven, he listened with a He was on the battle-field of Waterloo. dead within him. He had no longer any reason for existing. The man opened his eyes in astonishment. the unfortunate, though not rich himself." _"Monsieur le Curé is right: it is not his place; it is mine."_ approaching insurrection was preparing its storm calmly in the face of rolled. Good old folks, let us smash with our crutches that Louvre where galleys of Toulon, whence he had been brought for this case. He was a which, in disorder, grew all the flowers of May. The door was closed. the city. There's not a soul in the house. The neighbor never comes home "It is the Saturnalia." neighborhood the wherewithal to complete his equipment. He had a loaded Jean Valjean wept for a long time. He wept burning tears, he sobbed with it? He did not comprehend. lighted window reflected on the opposite wall; from the direction of the look something which resembled the dazzling light of the impossible, and That his brother was M. Madeleine, and that his niece was Cosette. That at bottom? A revolt of the people against itself. the generals could now be concentrated on the three or four barricades re-entered the oratory, opened the window, seized his cudgel, bestrode Talavera and Badajoz. Wellington, three-quarters vanquished, admired So Éponine followed him, without his suspecting the fact. She saw him recoiled, terrified, petrified, daring neither to breathe, to speak, should like to see her! Do you think her pretty, Monsieur le Maire? "But first, take a drop," said he. voice:-- sergeant of the guard, as he handed it to him, "Take three men and upon the red light of the windows. At times he saw shadows flit across by the corner for refuse, which is fat or lean, according to the will of Gondren succeeded to Berulle, and François Bourgoin to Gondren, hold at last the clue which he was seeking? In any case, he must see the At the moment when he was crossing this apartment, Madame Magloire was Puerile they may be; but these sublime puerilities were peculiar to supreme and sweet, humble in its immensity, appeared to him. The convict suffices. You can take me, for here I am: but I have done my best; I Plantes than in his garden at Austerlitz. The year before he had owed elixirs. Providence intervened. respect towards the beginning. Jean Valjean was still Monsieur le Maire of soul, which was gaining on him, and of that night which was growing splendor of the butterfly's wing, vanishes when one essays to fix it Some time after the events which we have just recorded, Sieur this had been effected, the police agents and the sergeants "could was again thrust between the two leaves, and she cried to them: armed with carbines. The Hanoverians lined this balustrade and fired What is certain is, that on the following morning, a "postilion" all joy. They realized the verses of Jean Prouvaire; they were forty shoulder with the weight of an eagle's talon, and he heard a voice These were this man's first words:-- received. It was like water on dry soil; no matter how much money he the present nor of the future without a flavor of the past being mingled BOOK SECOND.--THE SHIP ORION resembled the honesty of the world in general as nearly as possible. dropped his melancholy eyes, filled with the reflections of the They entered the street. It was deserted as usual. Javert followed Jean at bottom. Jean Valjean felt himself exasperated. they might. Joiners carried off door-weights of their establishment "What person?" remained ajar, and as though the wind were pouring through it. In the ever seen her yet. Beautiful with a beauty which was wholly feminine and paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project sort of gleam proceeds from these miserable wretches, as though their a man near a brazier who is not warm? Can one imagine a workman who is witnessed the passage of the Emperor Napoleon on his way from Cannes me ten sous." string, her head ribbon a string, her pointed shoulders emerged from her change: for you are attached to the figure of your fatherland as to the metropolis has its staff of officials. Every bishop who possesses the Bossuet, piled up near the door of the wine-shop. defend oneself against those brats. They take hold of you, they hold you meet them. They, too, need to be told of the good God." simmering. It's time to skim the pot. Forward march, men! Let an impure underhand. A sign which was revolutionary to the highest degree. The service Plautus rendered, consciously or unconsciously, by making two escarpment, a door is a refusal, a façade is a wall. This wall hears, "Take aim!" among those men! They were all rascals, assassins, red-caps, thieves! I The men of the post had rushed out pell-mell at the sergeant's shout; that side." do not send us forty francs before the week is out, the little one will were both majestic and severe, little Marius stared at them with something of an attorney; in short, a lofty and original figure, a turned a page for the last two hours. All at once he started. An event "Is there not a mail-wagon which runs to Arras? When will it pass?" guns. great charm and a great peril. The soul of a young girl should not be But one must do something for the good God's sake. She has neither ingrates, his country and myself." action through inspiration; such and such National Guardsmen fought, does not prevent vagabondism, and that enormous genius which is called and the latter,--the bourgeois, properly speaking, knows nothing of such M. Mabeuf had taken a fancy to Marius, because Marius, being young and cheerful. A certain grace still lingers round a dead feast. It has been appearances, and will not be taken before to-morrow noon." He searched in his pocket, pulled out his penknife, and with the blade and much affected air, his lips indulged in obscure movements, as though I grant you three days." The prioress could do nothing; the archbishop without raising his voice, and even during his struggle with the six impregnable; it is true that they were fatally hemmed in there. It had Change." princes. I am only a poor peasant bishop."_ This man was composed of two very simple and two very good sentiments, "My child wounded!" added Jondrette. Et qu'un beau jour son nez ne tombe dans sa bouche.57 Things could not go on in this manner. Babet added, still in that classical slang which was spoken by woman for life, what science is required to combat that vast ignorance CHAPTER I--THE CHARYBDIS OF THE FAUBOURG SAINT ANTOINE AND THE SCYLLA OF moment, and were then dislodged, set fire to it. The flames filled this grand purple hour of life, happy love, such shocks would force even the followed it, then lost it. Time was flying. He plunged deeper into the this vision appeared, no doubt, in the ancient Orphic epics, which told sadness was taking possession of her little by little, that invincible on it. In his hand he held a switch which was as supple as a vine-shoot his grandfather, raised his head erect again, and said:-- avenue before the predestined man; they have blind courts, impassable front of Cosette, saying:-- share. Laigle's coat was threadbare, but Joly was well dressed. a body in the Petit-Picpus, and a coffin without a body in the Vaugirard "Madame," he resumed, "is business good here in Montfermeil?" "I mean a horse which can travel twenty leagues in a day." and he suspected that he had been deceived up to that moment, on carriage! Cosette, come. Ah! My God! It was he who saved my life! Let us throne. In their toilettes, in their gayety, in the noise which they "Granted," said Javert. dawn, but I know that I shall hardly live three hours. It will be night This had probably been written on the preceding night. since it was in Fauchelevent's pocket. Without a card, he could not get while the other might become bad; that the first was self-devotion, and prisons. Brevet was a person sixty years of age, who had a sort of commander of the squadron, and turned away, saying: "There's another who side. Let us sell the field on which Hannibal is encamped. the band of Patron Minette in close confinement, in the hope that he Boulatruelle, the road-mender already introduced. The grave-digger stared at him in amazement, and replied:-- Wherever she entered, people felt cold. One day a sister, on seeing her The lad scratched his head behind his ear, stared at Ma'am Bougon, and escarpment. This barricade, constructed as it was and admirably tortuous, colossal citadel. and of the word of God, which terrifies the weak and which warns the her and for myself. In truth, I think a great deal of that child. You or are there not? Are there children or are there not? Are there was the only opening through which he could get a glimpse of life. This it. At intervals, as he combated his lassitude, he made an effort to recover 69 (return) [_Un fafiot sérieux. Fafiot_ is the slang term for a bank- rascal of composite order was, in all probability, some Fleming from and on the wings of Caillard. The Toulouse diligence tears us from house, and that I should have obeyed you, and that you could have done with every sort of mire, while waiting for some wheel to crush them. himself. The grating of the outlet from the sewer was not far off. A blue trousers, a blue frock coat and a broad-brimmed hat, which always preceding pages, he did a thing which, if the whole town was to be Poussagrive. taking each other's measure. Thénardier was the first to break the king, there remains the man. And the man is good. He is good at times he had dared to take it and carry it off for this combat of darkness the innocent maiden sets unknown to herself, and in which she captures death, and I am stupid! Let God go to the devil!" demand that it shall please you and that it shall please the court to you that I exacted money, a lot of money, a deal of money. That would Bossuet strode over the paving-stones, ran to it, stopped the driver,