it becomes bad for the very reasons which rendered it salutary in its just attained his sixtieth birthday, the age of legal exemption; but he "I will pay." "Yes." On hearing it, he had waked with a start, had crawled out of his Montparnasse burst out laughing:-- the tap-room. what did we say!" All M. sur M. was in an uproar. The rumor was well uttered, the only thing of which he caught a distinct glimpse was the near the hearth. living man. Each minute is an inexorable layer-out of the dead. The petticoat made the Thénardiers furious. It was the money that they replying:-- But bah! what am I saying? I am wasting my words. Girls are incurable The choir boy alighted from the mourning-coach, then the priest. "With me!" said Marius. Touquet Charter in his fist, and flung it in the fire. The paper Ten months had elapsed since the "pretty farce." Babeuf, the people scented Gisquet. ground, near the water. That day, there was a rarity on the boulevard, and sorrowful depths of his heart on the duties to the Thénardiers which given moment, every barricade inevitably becomes the raft of _la corridor, open to the sky, hemmed in with two lofty walls, which, hidden "J'aimons les filles, et j'aimons le bon vin." Air: Vive Henri IV. strong person. It was like an intuition; he comprehended it with his confusedly illuminated by the distant reflection of the torch. Nihilism has no point. and that there existed between them some connection, of relationship, Of this man, who was his savior, nothing; not a trace; not the faintest latent _I_. Having made this reservation, let us pass on. "Have you some putty to break the pane with?" Jean Valjean, who had no recollection of ever having promised anything, Their health is delicate. A decapitated Alexis, a poignarded Peter, of foreign canvasses and screen paintings. himself to be taken to the ball at Sceaux by Courfeyrac, Bossuet, and the English general, Colville, looked at his watch, and noted that it the wind in its sails, it is precise in the immense vagueness of the The chains, those pendant arms, and the necklets, those open hands, He was desperately in love. "Ah, so you love me!" said the old man. magnanimous wretch! What! an honest servitor of the law could suddenly secrecy. There will be in the chapel only the four Mother Precentors, In dismay he bore off Cosette in his arms and shut his eyes to Jean proceeding whither its breath urge them, that Byron perished at The stableman and the wheelwright replied in concert, with a toss of the to corner of the street, and had not lost sight of him for a single of the Rue Droit-Mur comprised between the Rue Petit-Picpus and the Rue readily recognized the one which Marius had moved. him to retrace his steps. Cravatte was in possession of the mountains theft. I don't know his name exactly. There's a bandit's phiz for you! It is almost superfluous here to sketch the appearance of Napoleon on square in Corinth a statue carved by Silanion and catalogued by Pliny; "Yes, sir," said the child; "it cuts salad and the heads of flies." world, no one but this woman. Fantine had nursed her child, and this had intermixtures; hence the combination of very singular ideas; people XIV., to scrape the coat of arms of Henry IV.? We scoff at M. de decomposition, these monstrous cradles of death, with a fear that was experience the quivers of a spider at the passage of a stranger or of a he received invitations in the town; he was called, in town, Monsieur two newspapers had not been printed expressly for the purpose of backing astonishment. 'Don't play the innocent dodge,' says Brevet. 'You are a quarter of an hour after this that he saw the young man, who had convicts by M. de Vivonne for his mistress. M. Gillenormand had And in the meantime, what had become of that mother who according to had good health. He was superficial, rapid, easily angered. He flew into "In the first place, you will give him half an hour's breathing spell Louis Philippe, like all historical men who have passed from the scene, Thénardier took the paper and read:-- bruise him. Every contact with them had been a blow. Never, since compassionate and relieve. That which exists was for this good and rare "Echo, plaintive nymph," hummed Grantaire. war. "Ah! so it's you, you little wretch! good mercy, but you've taken your proposition, and among all peoples, in Asia as well as in Europe, longer the same man, that everything about him was changed, that it was that no question was put, that no authority intervened. The peculiarity of terror discharged by the social conflicts weighs neither on the "Why, it's the old lady," said the lad. "Good day, Bougonmuche. I have "These fashions come up again," said he, "ancient things are the rage, itself heard. The Minister of War at that time, Marshal Soult, who had He sang: "Voici la lune qui paraît, up now, then, between Consul Incitatus and Baronet Roastbeef. As for "That is well, Father Fauvent." that spy?" Nothing could be more unexpected, more surprising, and, let us admit 1831 and 1832, the two years which are immediately connected with the Revolution of July, form one of the most peculiar and striking moments of history. These two years rise like two mountains midway between those which precede and those which follow them. They have a revolutionary grandeur. Precipices are to be distinguished there. The social masses, the very assizes of civilization, the solid group of superposed and adhering interests, the century-old profiles of the ancient French formation, appear and disappear in them every instant, athwart the storm clouds of systems, of passions, and of theories. These appearances and disappearances have been designated as movement and resistance. At intervals, truth, that daylight of the human soul, can be descried shining there. two battalions to the square, in two lines, with seven in the first which is expressive of resolution, with arms folded across the chest; Saint-Merry. Nothing could be more blood-curdling than the clamor of and at the extremity of the vault, far, very far away in front of him, very bowels, and force it to reappear on the surface. The emotions of between the harm which he had caused and the harm which was being done "A young 'un like me's a man, and men like you are babes." He said to himself: "How beautiful she is! What is to become of me?" place between the maskers and the crowd. some living being, no matter whom. It will be perceived that it was not suddenly supervened and reanimated this poor, worn-out creature. Thénardier instantly reappeared behind him and remained motionless in possessed in a physical medium and discontinue all use of and all access resistance to the eternal life of the human race. "The gentleman on the third floor?" The lodgings in the Rue de l'Homme Armé were situated on a back court, impregnated to some extent with fog, has fancied that it has worked a away the muscles which walk and the will which advances. Hieratic or at the foot of the plateau of Mont-Saint-Jean. In that fatal valley, possessions six silver knives and forks and a soup-ladle, which be successful. I will question you no further, since you do not wish it. Reflect on what progress has already accomplished. Formerly, the first hurl herself on that which should fall, the peerage sheltering itself Rue de la Tour-des-Dames? Do you know, sir? We played together in the did not see M. Leblanc and his daughter retire. He concluded that they proved embarrassing for the villain. The change was on sight, for a day Rue Saint-Jacques to dine at Rousseau's, opposite Basset's, the "Father--" repeated Marius. set in an unclouded azure sky. Twilight had descended; night was drawing The body of street Arabs in Paris almost constitutes a caste. One might "Play!" said the Thénardier, in a terrible voice. did not think he discerned God in this manner of dying; let us say the it the source of the fortune so skilfully presented to Madame la Baronne enjoyment. Several weeks passed. All at once, Mother Plutarque fell ill. is disinterestedness. Let the abandoned allow themselves to be hours, one hundred and fifty thousand useless shots. At six francs the this privileged spot ferns, mulleins, hemlock, yarrow, tall weeds, great there. Probably satisfied with his reply to the apotheosis, he had combination of the infinite and the finite, escapes them. Provided that abandon them for that? Would you turn their distress into a malediction? the direction of Chapelle-Saint-Lambert?" The marshal, levelling his "Police-agent-Ja-vert-was-found-drowned-un-der-a-boat-of-the-Pont-au- twenty-franc pieces of the Restoration, on whose effigy the little second offence. ragged; they had the air of wild birds. The smaller of them said: "I am spiders' webs! You are singular, I admit, that is your style, but people solution; I must end by holding fast to something; my resolve is taken; "Master Scaufflaire," he inquired, "have you a good horse?" He took her hand. "Cosette is beautiful," he said, "Cosette is well. leg. Marius thought he perceived that this man had an extremely well every day in the shape of an old gentleman to inquire after you. Ever "I? No," replied Jean Valjean. "I am very well. Only . . ." Let us go on. melancholy. It seemed to her that her soul had become black since the "What else remains?" The supreme moment was approaching. "Will that be all?" brought to them. And in the first place, how explain the fifteen hundred But at that moment Fantine was joyous. you! But we'll devour you, poor little things! Just see here, Mister him; she was making a visible effort to be calm and "very good," as she At the beginning of 1820 the newspapers announced the death of M. chandeliers. Not a single piece of furniture was in its place. In the hundred remained; out of three lieutenant-colonels, two lay on the Thénardier woman is to bring her hither. That will be the end, and then Bahorel's smile, Jean Prouvaire's melancholy, Joly's science, Bossuet's his housekeeper's wages; now, as we have seen, he owed three quarters he should have either compromised or distinguished himself therein, that country, his paradise. "Ushers," said the President, "enforce silence! I am going to sum up the recalls perfectly that unfortunate wretch who was chained to the end of produce on you the effect of weighing a hundred pounds. Whether you And, with an imperious motion, the frail young man of twenty years bent to the remark: "It is perfectly simple." his forefinger gently with his thumb. no doubt, not yet regained his carriage; if, on turning round in the They had arrived in the Rue de l'Homme Armé after night had fully "That is not difficult, Monsieur le Baron. I had the honor to write to shoulder-blades, frail limbs, a clayey skin, and her golden hair was "A horse to travel to Arras at one stretch?" chirping. And people were so immodest as to marry in their own homes. What billowing hair! Beneath her mantle she hides a wing. Her charming skulls of dead men! This was much talked of, so that one of the elegant which was three-quarters dead; almost directly facing it opens the Rue When M. Gillenormand lived in the Rue Servandoni, he had frequented that if he wished to become good be must become an angel; that if he such fruitful results by Henri Estienne, and all the passages in Doric at the moment. united as in the most peaceful days of their conversations in their right. You are in the right. Ah! what a sweet, charming little wedding abandoned, vanquished, terrible, those gloomy squares endured their uttering the word _country_. Jean Valjean dropped a kiss upon that brow whereon rested a celestial in order to embrace him, and to question him while so doing, and to find notary's failure deprived him of the sum of ten thousand francs, which CHAPTER I--HISTORY OF CORINTHE FROM ITS FOUNDATION proving that bravery forms part of intelligence, the National Guard He felt that he was on the brink of the second decisive crisis of his go out." succession of holy deeds, had finally conferred upon her a sort of While he still went out, he had purchased of a coppersmith, for a few together, their fetters clanked, their eyes glared ferociously, their "A little." lived, had but one school, a miserable hovel, which was falling to ruin: being always liable to become re-absorbed, and consequently, to kill the hair, with his lips. For him, Cosette was a perfume and not a woman. carnage, executed according to rule, war regulated, watch in hand, antennæ than winged insects, to catch the wind in the clouds. Its breath Here he broke his silence. CHAPTER XI--A RESTRICTION is no blindness where there is certainty. Soul seeks soul, gropingly, presence and of his success, he, Javert, personified justice, light, and at the Barrière de la Cunette, and a certain thin white wine at the attempt, and only succeeded in getting retaken at the end of four "Let us interrupt the romance," said he. Droit-Mur and Aumarais, are very ancient; the streets which bear them adventures of the corpse in the limitless shadow. The bottomless cold in ecstasy before that gate, Marius, drawn on by that force which draws Cosette, who only understood in a very confused manner, redoubled her he should have touched the axe or wielded the sword in it. "I tell you to speak loud." "He is getting decidedly wild," said his grandfather. obedience which is so easily converted into soldierly obedience? this detail. When, at two o'clock, the royal carriage, surrounded by a Monsieur the Cardinal. As for your dear Sylvanie, she has done well in Madame, the portrait, everywhere exhibited, of M. the Duc d'Orléans, who the memorandum Thénardier wrote, _Received on account, three hundred beneath an indescribably mournful and eternal joy. The night promised to of slang, even song, even raillery, even menace, all partook of this they do not see this. I have not stolen; I picked up from the ground stupendous. Blücher ordered extermination. Roguet had set the lugubrious to surrender himself to save that man, struck down with so melancholy his back, put it on the ground near the door, retained his stick in his stroll in the country or in town, often entering lowly dwellings. He Courfeyrac's door. I say that very badly; but it is such a far-off thing to me! You perceived his error and went down again. the suffering, and he none of it; and that, in any case, what were his staircase, cracked from the ground floor to the very roof, appears apron, dismally sponging out their work. Louis XI. is there with It was, in fact, Éponine, who had addressed Thénardier. Baroness, which is a come down for her; she was born a Marquise. What most terrible of lethargies. It is of these three vapors, beer, brandy, as it was for her, I could lie; but now it would be for myself, and I meadows, having water at their roots, and sun in their flowers, become "There," said she, "I am going to install myself near you in an easy- certainly the Bishop's day was quite full to the brim, of good words and which nothing and nobody would have anything to do with her. It is a sad Nothing remained of the colonel. M. Gillenormand had his sword and mentioned, had been held in awe by the flame of the candle, so long as When the President of the Assizes visited Lacenaire in his prison, and The next morning she looked at herself again, not by accident this time, impregnable; it is true that they were fatally hemmed in there. It had telescope. of the case, and as he naturally took in the ideas and opinions which right do men touch that unknown thing?" hell, _la pègrenne_, for which read _hunger_. beside Marius. As he listened to him and drank in the sound of his everything I do; I must cudgel my brains over good and evil, over the that bed, prostrate beneath the enormity of fate, crushed, perchance, Republic!" marked the passage of the funeral train. At the Bastille, He flashed the knife, which he held open in his hand, in the light of large as their meagre official salary, and one day he said to some one to fix, absolutely, the form of that horrible cloud which is called a The Fleming remained "utterly stupid," as he himself said some time That done, he put the paper in the pocket of the still snoring sous, if you please! Take your foot away, sir, if you please!" bread apart in big mouthfuls, they blocked up the shop of the baker, He was no longer listening to Fauchelevent. bit of wisdom, or folly, or, as it often happens, in both at once, are "Not for less than seven francs. And six months paid in advance." Waging war at every summons and every time that Utopia desires it, is seized the woman by her satin bodice, which was covered with mud, and Sasenaye in the Rue Ville l'Évêque. All the young girls were singing Thénardier resumed, scanning his phrase after the manner of the ancient insisted on finding a family, the House of Brunswick or the House of sometimes at those very shops. Volume by volume, the whole library father's arm, and both were advancing slowly, towards the middle of the and remained pure as long as she could. She was a lovely blonde, with In the meantime, in the space of a few minutes, twenty iron bars had hand." like a plank and in a single piece. Well built pavements form a vault ducal residence of La Force, then turned in a dormitory for ruffians, which is accomplished in the direction of evil. There exist crab-like high, that, in any case, he must make his choice: virtue without and manufacture of jet and of black glass trinkets. He had made his fortune sewer, to measure the height under the key-stone of each drain, and the It was in front of this Gorbeau house that Jean Valjean halted. Like and anxiety. He no longer knew where he really was. Like an owl, who account of the dimness which the half-light of dawn spreads over all young girl and as little as possible by the old gentleman. Sometimes, he On the following day the Toulon newspaper printed these lines:-- He began to wander about the streets, the resource of those who suffer. residence, that is to say, under surveillance, at Vernon. King Louis blot of the cavern, the drop of sweat from the brothel, trials bristled up in hideous wise; nothing is so formidable to behold as paint will be genuine. In accordance with the conditions of the book Icicaille est la theatre Here is the theatre on the muzzle of the gun and obstructed it. This was done by some one name, I have no right to use it; he could give it to me, but I could not nightfall, with the child, by way of the Barrier Monceaux. There _brioches_ [blunders]. This letter comes from the barricade of the Rue the stiff school, having got drunk many times in this wine-shop at the roof. One of the planks of his bed had been wrenched off, and probably perceived Cosette on an altar. And on that altar, and in that glory, the Night was fully come, nothing made its appearance. All that they heard three officers fell dead one after the other. Many of the Municipal Convention, this representative of the people, had been one of the Combeferre, surrounded by students and artisans, was speaking of the the pupils, Mademoiselle Bouchard, to the indescribable terror of her have already nothing in this world, neither liberty, nor virtue, nor about to put. "Yes," he thought, "this is right; I am on the right road; I have the him with jealousy, and he had done all he could, on every occasion, emit a ray of light. They plunged among the trees of the boulevard behind him, and there "I have dined." disinherit the child if he, the father, saw him. He sacrificed himself Vaubois, perfect in her style, was the ermine of stupidity without a "Through yonder large door." to mention it. chasubles of threadbare damask adorned with imitation lace. seized Marius by the collar, brought him back energetically into the removing his cap to every one, and trembling and smiling in the presence brick. The keyhole could be seen, and the robust latch, deeply sunk in "In three pieces, my boy!" went on Gavroche. them. Mon Dieu! it is like a little republic. Neither judge nor bailiff sense, while appreciating the blood from which he had sprung, counting other people busy themselves over them; when they cannot be oracles, CHAPTER I--AN ANCIENT SALON Valjean! And I have him in my grasp! That's what there is!" grand duty of opening workshops for all arms, schools for all aptitudes, us enter, nevertheless. On the following day the thirty-six patients were installed in the science of the bonnet, the gown, the mantle, the boot, the cuff, the to breathe, will be just so many terrible labors. Your lungs will silver wire and orange flowers. Moreover, from the mere inspection of Cosette's toilet, a woman by beams and planks, which were entangled in the wheels of Anceau's dray brow, large temples, less than forty years of age, but with crow's-feet, and that did not suit the assassin's plans. He had preferred to traverse pay it. I am an old hand, you are a new one. I know all the ropes and drawn in bodily. That machine is laziness. Stop while there is yet time, himself. If he went no further, that was no fault of his. It did not he beheld anything like this. This confidence terrified him. The labored over his soul, the man who had made so many efforts to resolve present to all imaginations, saluted with acclamations by some, severely "We will share thy fate," cried Combeferre. feels that it has worn the iron neck-fetter. congealed state:-- They made an effort, and got the old road-mender to drinking. coat to cover her. apostrophe full in the baker's face:-- thief who talked argot, there arose amazement and clamor.--"What! How! night. one in the crowd. relic of Mars mean by being so contented? What had passed between having Marius spied upon by Théodule; now she plotted to have Théodule which could be seen a priest in his surplice, and a choir boy in his red CHAPTER IV--DETAILS CONCERNING THE CHEESE-DAIRIES OF PONTARLIER. She died at daybreak. People generally do die at daybreak. But cannot nine, do you understand, I shall be in the garden." gaining on him, and that he would not live over night.--"Thank God!" Gavroche gently tugged at the cart from behind, and at the Auvergnat the riders; and there being no means of retreat,--the whole column being "Go on, nevertheless," ejaculated Thénardier, and he continued to permission to embrace them. The following illustrates to what a degree "The matter cannot wait until to-morrow. What if you were to replace been there a moment before. analyzed therein as masterpieces of the human mind. There was a piercing that same moment thought of his infantry, he would have won the battle. with that clear, upright, sincere, honest, austere, and ferocious this matter in an amicable way. I was wrong to lose my temper just now, of that uproar, a couple of paces from the cavalry charges, almost in of progress lies in being spotless; and there exists between Washington, back! And with what object? With the sole object of saving the corpse. myself as much as was in my power. So I invented this injury in order there arises a certain mysterious plenitude which filters into thought butterflies, she came panting up to him and said: "Ah! How I have run!" Second problem: To share it. She walked straight up to the bed. Marius endured an indescribable two; and that terrified him; him, who had never in all his life known the heart of an observer, but which did not even graze Marius in his this. "Do you know what, Monsieur Marius? It puzzled me because you entered no longer either powder or ball, each grasped in his hands two of the At nightfall, in a meadow near Genappe, Bernard and Bertrand seized by don't know why it is, but I can't help fancying that I've seen that face to spy, or whether they were, by preference, occupied in keeping watch great All, which torments me! Hurrah for Zero which leaves me in peace! giddiness of a possible fall, and to the horror of a certain arrest, mysterious, and more infinite. There is a spectacle more grand than the "Reverend Mother!" what is more rare, all the languages of all interests, and speaking CHAPTER I--IN WHAT MIRROR M. MADELEINE CONTEMPLATES HIS HAIR from the books and manuscripts on his table. As for Marius and Cosette, they were gazing at each other while this was Baptistine. three parts have a common enclosure: on the side of the entrance, the later on in judicial accounts. She was called _Mamselle Miss_. Benoît. the rising sun, almost like an animal which drinks in the breaths of She will find my letter. I bequeath to her the two candlesticks which He smiled again with the same smile as before and added: and produce effects with your knees. Buy a good pair of trousers of who went out to give lessons in spite of his age. This professor, when He flung in a third shovelful. John Bull, shall I admire Brother Jonathan? I have but little taste for staircase. They heard a tumult of ascending footsteps, and the old that the writing, reversed on the blotter, was righted in the mirror and What have we to fear, we who believe? fled. He began to run towards the shed, not daring to look behind him. This procession was so long that when the first vehicle reached the said, on the boulevard the evening before: "I bolted, bolted, bolted!" Two men who have a secret in common, and who, by a sort of tacit symbolical. hand the paper which was to guide them. It was cold, and his benumbed sword was discernible in his speech. Like Foy, his predecessor, after was gazing at Marius with a gentleness that was almost tender. he did not know what to do with this superior, he, who was not ignorant Gavroche moved aside the stones which fastened the net down in front, the apple-trees are falling with age. There is not one which has not had heroically. He said in an undertone, "Sublime!" hole of the oubliettes, in the middle of the field which was formerly woe-begone glances. Oh, the unfortunate wretches! How pale they are! How him. The past surged up before him facing the present; he compared them M. Madeleine got there, when the walls were what they were? Cloister sweating, soaked, breathless, scratched, and ferocious. Valjean; to these signs, to this testimony, the counsel could oppose All four exhaled a horrible odor of tobacco. "So much the worse, I don't care. You have a melancholy air, I want you none in dreams. Revery, which is utterly spontaneous, takes and keeps, had, for Wellington, two bases of action, Hougomont and La Haie-Sainte; wreaths by the breeze beneath the leaves. Take from those murmurs of two could augment, their most secret and most mysterious thoughts. They side. Every time that that chance which meddles with the strolls of me." Sometimes a _fontis_ was three or four feet deep, sometimes eight or into the barricade? slip away, all in a tremble, saying: "After all, I of charm in that gentle and severe household, which raised poverty into they are sinister. Alas, if despair is a fearful thing when the blood is flesh, it drinks blood; the scaffold is a sort of monster fabricated was left with him. Up to that moment he had lived with that blind faith the second killed an old deaf woman who was in the act of closing her private staircase,--all these insignificant singularities, fugitive said, on seeing M. de Talleyrand pass by: "There goes his Excellency the "I owe full fifteen hundred francs!" but the rays of light were very horizontal; she thought that it was very wild growth of vegetation, and terminated by a monumental terrace of cut one is for himself. The _I_ in the eyes howls, seeks, fumbles, and everything! Sapristi! how stupid young folks are!" "Elle était de ce monde ou coucous et carrosses Some one? Who? his bed, and conceal himself beneath it. high. An emanation from the divine whirlwind leaps forth and comes with colossi. It resembled Milton and Dante rather than Homer. Demons CHAPTER IX--MADAME VICTURNIEN'S SUCCESS fanatical and intractable governmentalist, could not resist the cannot scale a perpendicular wall with a child in one's arms. Who was we obey them. At the hour when you read this, five fiery horses will ain't. They wear pink tights that go all in wrinkles, and you can see infirmities of ideal passions! that geometrical point, the _I_; bringing everything back to the husband she lodged and fed her young brother. Bugeaud, were in command, Bugeaud under Lobau. Enormous patrols, Helping a good fellow in a pinch is what suits me to a hair." principal prisoners, Claquesous, had been lost. It was not known how These carriages, or to speak more correctly, these wagon-loads of taking for a nuptial bed the bed of an inn, and of leaving behind them, It was like a game of checkers played at a distance and in silence. Europe. The Revolution had had the word under Robespierre; the cannon giving way! What! the defect in society's armor could be discovered by a And he tried to pass his arm under her, in order to raise her. After the engagement, they were in haste to bury the dead bodies. Death gate of a timber-yard. His face was turned towards the highway, his back having a suspicion of the fact; he recalled his fears of the preceding servant of M. le Curé_, now assumed the double title of maid to the first of the Arthurs, Wellington, had but just won the battle of in that direction. He was searching that vast tomb. He gazed about. He "And yet, you see, Mr. Inspector, it is necessary to be just. I There was still another chair in the detached alcove, but the straw was The prioress, rosary in hand, was waiting for them. A vocal mother, with D'un pauvre amant qui se pendit.