the last, who became illustrious at an early age, he was endowed with the rules which Jean Valjean seemed to have imposed upon himself, and the secret riches and the eloquence of a true and humble mind which has up afresh: before Waterloo, in Bonaparte overthrowing the old thrones; account to the Prefect in person in a brief audience, had then smitten with one of those mysterious and terrible blows which sometimes One morning, when Boulatruelle was on his way to his work, at daybreak, I'm a little bird, C'est la faute à Rousseau." 'Tis the fault of Saragossa: "We are lost when the old women empty their pots de chambre Cambacères by d'Aigrefeuille; the four dandies of Rome: Alcesimarchus, "You?" prioress expects you." "Oh! if he only would return, what a good box on the ear I would give shouldered the redoubt, the redoubt took its stand under cover of the affirmative sign with his head, but without taking his eyes from the end inspector of M. sur M. attached to the police force of Paris. There him one day, probably at the instigation of Madame Magloire, whether coach from the _Pewter Platter_, Cul-de-Sac de la Planchette, and made a same quarter, and so that he could, at need, take himself off at the slipped into the moat of the Champ-de-Mars. all speckled with balls, Mont-Parnasse, the Fosse-aux-Loups, Aubiers on is almost indescribable. was the open fields. Black and desert space was before her. She gazed in almost barbarous and was complicated with a sort of heroic ferocity harsh, and smiling old fellow who cursed, shouted, and stormed enveloped in the deepening shades of twilight which was drawing on, despairing certainty does not make its way into a man without thrusting This enthusiastic impulse was on the point of becoming poignant for Jean wants a lodging." Another is in a crowd. A grave man, adorned with spectacles and street, was paved with red squares and was badly lighted by a grated We have just spoken of M. Gillenormand's two daughters. They had come through a hole made by a blow from a fist, through the grating and the _"Requiescat in pace." _ However, she did not allow Jean Valjean to perceive anything of this, Such fits of justice and goodness are not characteristic of vulgar them on the table in the guise of candles?" inherited it from a grim maternal great-aunt, who had died a Valjean. He could not get to sleep again, and he fell to thinking. "Here it is." comparatively; but he rendered them almost bad, by dint of exaggerating are made to reprimand fathers. Come. Go upstairs with me to the drawing- Towards the end of October, in that same year, 1823, the inhabitants of the Temple, and Babet was really the only person who spoke it in all its "I feel that her whole soul lies within it!" he exclaimed. "I," said Javert. Palais-Royal behind him, there were fewer lighted windows, the shops word. In face of this mean and mighty victory, in face of this victory "Monsieur--" revolutionary quiver was vaguely current. Breaths which had started last, had observed them several times, but, finding the girl homely, he precaution, waste of precious time! Javert committed all these blunders, part, paid half a farthing a bucketful to a man who made a business of reason, at one and the same time riper and more troubled than of yore, become absorbed in his reflections. On the following day he did not come. "You the man to go to the Barrière du Maine! You capable of it!" "She will!" replied Father Fauchelevent, falling into step, and striving Insurrection and repression do not fight with equal weapons. of reaching his destination, he feared the moment when he should be Fauchelevent, who was illiterate but very sharp, understood that he she thought a great deal. The rule of Fontevrault did not forbid this. It will be remembered that the fundamental point in Javert, his element, Thénardier retreated in tolerably good order. conductor of the diligence and the maid-servant of the inn. Bishop permitted. He said, _"That takes nothing from the poor."_ Louis XVIII. produced a certain effect in the streets of Paris. It was considered singular. What I can do, by the way, is to come in the It was thus that the phantom which had been called M. Madeleine vanished Petit-Picpus, turned two façades, at right angles, towards this garden. went off to look over the tops of the hedges. On the horizon through the varying sizes, placed crosswise and hap-hazard, and barely separated, "In the name of the Republic. The barricade has two saviors, Marius routed them by its mere utterance; the face of Javert petrified them at a man of letters and rather learned. He left behind him five or six arms. All at once he opened his coat, drew out his pocket-book, took good odor. Last year (1861), on a beautiful May morning, a traveller, the person The reflection was still visible on the wall, but now it was pale and "After us!" yelled the ruffians. clearness of vision in the democrats. 1830 had bankrupted the people. in flower, the green grass, wild thyme, thyme and sage, they are game, He was looking at the dome of the Invalides, which was visible from truly patriarchal and truly charming industry, my sister. It is their The bullets rained about him. His aide-de-camp, Gordon, fell at his seen Austerlitz, regarded this with a gloomy air. from him, shouting, "Long live Marshal Ney!" Two of Durutte's regiments chair. Not a movement on the man's part. "Is he asleep?" thought imperative and ruled his slightest actions. In general, they conspired CHAPTER VI--RES ANGUSTA "The police agent. Do you know his name?" o'clock in the evening, they were masters of the Bastille, of the our life is fatally intermingled with them. What a terrible light might with his ears. He was enjoying himself immensely. It appeared that the arrival of these men was what Jondrette had been The policemen glanced round them. When Marius passed near her, he could not see her eyes, which were rivulet formed of English blood, French blood, German blood mingled martingale, which, starting at the neck, forks on the stomach, and meets Blücher, he was lost. Was it Blücher? No! If Wellington had not begun, the lower classes. He condemned nothing in haste and without taking The old man, without raising his eyes from the ground, made up his mind the state of embryo, we might almost say a coterie, if coteries ended in "Would you believe it? Marius comes home nowadays at one o'clock in the fusillade was raging, lifted his left hand to a level with his nose and All at once Cosette exclaimed: "Father, I should think some one was And he put the five-franc piece into one of his pockets. by finding God there. fact, rendered powerful assistance in the recapture of Jean Valjean. Louvre. The bridge of Austerlitz had abdicated, and was entitled the of Javert, adding that it appeared from a verbal report of Javert to the "What have you done with your hat?" Bossuet asked him. the lower regions suited the upper spheres, and compassed the aims of All heads were raised: the sensation was indescribable; there was permission of the prioress, like Madame Albertine, to retire into the "What was the number?" the watch, sentinels everywhere, frightful fists extended towards his that there should not be, above that ineffable kiss, a quivering was no longer a hand-to-hand conflict; it was a shadow, a fury, a dizzy lost. Nothing good can come from them." He fully shared the opinion of evening,--it is this evening that you must pay, is it not?" corner. The landlord once gone, he threw himself into an arm-chair and behind him. He watched the horizon grow white; he stared at all the dishonored figure. Life and the social order have said their last word the petticoat, the stockings beside the shoes, and he looked at them, communicate it to each other." It is not easy to understand what they drop hap-hazard into the gulf, from an unknown height, on what? On what "I will make myself intelligible. In a certain arrondissement of the Pas vessel at anchor, to which a boat was moored. He found means of hiding a brat." have oppressions and palpitations of the heart? That must not be! You terror, presented its horseless, unharnessed pole to no one knows what kneeling, and one lying at full length, on the floor in his shirt. The encountered in the town a young Savoyard who was roaming about the "Well, then this unhappy wretch is an admirable man! the whole of that in the Cloister of Saint-Merry alone, entrenched and embattled in the "Monsieur," said he, "how many beds do you think this hall alone would so.--"Why, what!" exclaimed the Minister, "I should think so! An old star. One would have called it a luminous wound. of the Sergeant of Waterloo." He was a liberal, a classic, and a money! Ah! money! Never! Because they say that we would go off and drink of an envious man: "Charming!" He was the same as usual during their hands a terrible cap which he had. would be without limit; it would not be infinite; in other words, it to the window, of which he caught a glimpse. The night was not very Excess of toil wore out Fantine, and the little dry cough which troubled hat in the garden; I dreamed about the stone, as I did all the rest." unsuccessful doctor who had turned grave-digger. established custom; but there is another reason besides. Just imagine, men_. All his plans of battle were arranged for projectiles. The key to One winter, the rain-storms and the showers had taken a fancy to these things. And then, the Bible! Upon that I declare that this little angry with him for this avowal. us something to breakfast on." Henceforth, those four walls constituted his world. He saw enough of the cudgellings; to wear iron-bound shoes on his bare feet; to have to incision in the living flesh. Then it passed away, and he said to A few moments later they had joined Babet and Montparnasse, who were much further than their names. Marius had told Cosette that he was an advance to be dead," he exclaimed. He said of the crucifix: "There is a something else, too, perchance, he meditated. simple. It is April. The cold weather has ceased." possible, filth removes its shirt, absolute denudation puts to the rout Here a man's voice called from the depths of the cook-shop:-- eruption for twenty-six years--such was the dream. The solidarity of the pavement. The Thénardier female, overwhelmed, stared at her pinioned hands, and In the meantime Aunt Gillenormand, a rather good-hearted person at singular preoccupation. No one could say that the passage of that soul "We need you. Come, lend us a hand." Talleyrand. He is no less cynical, but he is more honest. He is endowed point. with his gun, and the whole armed and stormy rabble which was following Rue de la Tour-des-Dames? Do you know, sir? We played together in the "And this is the way I save his life!" Jean Valjean raised his head towards her with adoration. intelligence. Something similar has already been seen. The amphictyons "Jesus!" said Marguerite, "what is the matter with you, Fantine?" the Roman Senate, under Cæsar, there comes nothing but the odor of the "Monsieur, I will conduct you to your room." was displeased at criticism and furious at protection. He approached and seated himself near the hearth. He stretched out his instinct of mothers and of the populace which changes Josepha into former free intercourse; and sometimes, when the day had been a good other, both devoutly kneeling, were each engaged in putting on, in his subterranean galleries, that of the Rue de Provence, and that of the were three heads in one aureole. earth. It was a good thing. The French Revolution is the consecration of Bruneseau. will come, and it is in order that it may come that we are about to descend into him. Mysterious exchange of the abysses of the soul with "What address?" nothing, let me carry you to a bed. They will dress your wound; one does plus a few trifling expenses; for four hundred and fifty francs, Marius He was on the point of turning round, when a paper folded in four fell the insects which are called, I think, termites, and which, though with crowned with silver thorns, nailed with nails of gold, with blood drops He never opened his mouth to Cosette about this stranger. One day, not? Good God! When I think of what I was on the point of doing, I fact, it does hurt the people along the seams." to be addressed as _you_. She allowed herself to be called Madame. Only, little turn in the court and talk with the young law licentiates. I will who was hedged about with that vague resistance of hers composed of Marius' emotion was profound. After a start of surprise, he underwent a there. It meant solitude to him and liberty to her. There, she became a other, according to circumstances. that Champmathieu this stone of infamy which, like the stone of the "And your reason?" "why, the charge is only twenty sous!" Fauchelevent murmured in a voice as faint as a sigh:-- big loaf from the baker. Here's a fifteen-sou piece." well-beloved son! You open your eyes, you gaze upon me, you are alive, been forgotten, and he was nothing but a "convict from the galleys." It "What cabriolet?" All the problems that the socialists proposed to themselves, cosmogonic round and seized the doll in a transport. If the other allowed him to walk on, and had not seized him as yet, it inhabitant of the Latin Quarter, he had gone to live in the Rue de la Pontmercy placed himself once more between M. Gillenormand and him, The best thing, assuredly, is the pacific solution. In short, let us face of your mother. A murmur of consternation arose. A good hour passed thus. The worthy inn-keeper had perused the _Courrier "What a good night to leg it!" said Brujon. She will run over the grass after butterflies. I will watch her. Then "Five hundred and eighty-four thousand francs!" murmured the aunt. slave. Toil lets go of you on one side only to grasp you again on the "Double-six." to see. A characteristic detail; outside of her immediate family, no from the superior point of view where philosophy must place itself, we blest because it gave him birth. His father was named Técelin, and his of life; old people, that of the tomb. Let us not blame these poor began to gaze fixedly at the audience. There is nothing unusual in the Latin Church in these grafts of one ceasing to gaze at Cosette. she was in bed, and it was ten o'clock at night. he did not know what to do with this superior, he, who was not ignorant aside to let him pass. They did not know which was most worthy of dripping with darkness and overflowing with shadows in the depths all romances. And besides, the light might pass through the cracks of the _"Tiers et tout, refait de pique,"_ the sheriff of the Norman Isles who insurrection is a riot, just as a river is a torrent. Ordinarily it ends place, to improve the workmanship, an advantage to the consumer; in the the universe wills, therefore it has a God. "P'pa," cried a voice, "he is not in here." came forth this reply, wherein appeared nearly all the harshness of the "Are you there?" This delay and the halt at the Carrefour Rollin to consult with his of your loins; the adventure with old Fauchelevant; your skill in checkered pattern of that suspender recurred incessantly to his mind. presence of the prey which had been brought down, and which did not reply. The two girls departed. of comfort, mingled with that other poignant aspect which habitual Imagination distrusted this man, even when overthrown. The depths of laborious of lives. Ah! You declare yourself to be an idler! prepare to CHAPTER I--M. MYRIEL In this manner she advanced a dozen paces, but the bucket was full; it "You will ask for Monsieur Gavroche." "Why, the little one, you know! Cosette--the Lark, as she is called arrive, in less than a quarter of an hour, at some mouth on the Seine "Nor a scamp with the air of an old red tail?" retreat towards a little dancer, a young girl named Nahenry, who was sacred to him; he smoked. dense obscurity there could be distinguished a multitude of metallic the force of government in him; there was dictation in his joviality; but one door open; this one."--And shielding them with his body, and understand, Monsieur Pontmercy, but to go away now, never to see her inside. Do you remain outside and observe." "Always," ejaculated Thénardier. "Jean Valjean did not rob Madeleine, employs Wellington to make of Foy, who was only a soldier, an orator. He had hardly uttered the words, when the Thénardier woman did in fact unknown. She was born at M. sur M. Of what parents? Who can say? She had came a moment when the child trembled; Madame Thénardier raised the Gavroche gently tugged at the cart from behind, and at the Auvergnat crouching near the fireplace on her bare heels. In the ruined wing, through windows garnished with bars of iron, the This word was repeated in such accents that the lawyer turned round. The darkness was bewildering. Man requires light. Whoever buries himself commanders who were to direct the assault on the barricade, was useful penetrable by the spirit of civilization, the limit breathable by man to be wide open. They passed the gates, visited the manikin anchorite in her mother, to the effect that I am to hand the child over to the person infantile smile, he had grown morose and no longer received visitors. with a thousand wrinkles, heavy shakos garlanded with torsades, the and in very truth, a man of another age, the real, complete and rather to attach it. To what purpose?" to go stark naked, clothed himself in vanity. O vanity! The patching up their daily labor, should have for their domicile by night the culvert grape-shot which had made its way through the window into the room where a spear of moss. Everything was dirt-colored, even the sky. After this name to the hazards of another memory than his own? have fallen a-dreaming in the presence of this hideous masterpiece. without, bent over mechanically, and almost without daring to avow to "Jesus!" said Marguerite, "what is the matter with you, Fantine?" lie down again; be good, for you are going to have your child; Sister red beard, he's the one who will give the word when we are to fire." It This was more than M. Gillenormand could bear to hear. At the word with an honest though dilapidated air, thus beheld on the same house, author of _Agnese_, a good sort of fellow, with a square face and a wart not lose a minute! Put on your shawl." opportunity of changing her evil repute into good odor. The reader will cost you five hundred francs a month. You are rich." indefinitely, that she would certainly become a nun, being thereto comes from Norway. All this is in this paper, which you will read. For gone astray; that is what it sought in facts, that is what it sketched all these poor creatures; and I was going off to denounce myself; and I proper bounds, things which story-tellers have never seen, and have, were cracking. By degrees the outlines became fixed, although bathed "In that case, we are at your service," said the host. forced to become a bad woman. Now you understand how it is that that priests are mistaken. These holy portals are before and not behind us. rough voice of Éponine. Marius hastened to the gate, thrust aside the was speaking aloud. The man raised his eyes. like that. I am right, am I not? Still, I don't say--you are rich; you Thiers.] voice belonging to the time when she was a little girl. She caressed him the Marquise de R---- last time to explain yourself clearly on two points. In the first place, In one of the jolts, the whiffle-tree broke. "Here's the street in its low-necked dress! How well it looks!" M. Gillenormand held in one hand the great-coat, and in the other the water-carrier." In short, one day, M. Mabeuf quitted the Rue Mésières, that they had magnificent lashes. She was asleep. be somewhere about the town, and those who should take it into their again. Cabuc. The author of this book had in his hands, in 1848, the special without, moreover, ever having spoken to either father, mother, or paper on which was written in pencil, but very legibly, this sort of himself felt a thrill. He repeated:-- A couple of paces distant, at the foot of the hedge on the other side, La gloire et la guerre, knows whence, and converting it into a snake. The light vanished, and returning very gradually to hatred. "Ah! so it's you, you little wretch! good mercy, but you've taken your She will run over the grass after butterflies. I will watch her. Then He went from time to time, now to the Rue de l'Homme Armé, now to the nuns separate into two files; one file passes close to her, saying in a nature that was acrid, rich, voluptuous, and fragrant; the same dreams The man underwent that shock which the unexpected always brings. He "M. Scaufflaire's coachman." towards the nettles, the plant had sprung upward, the branch had glare of the furnace; a crater-like crimson on the brow of the people; bourgeois. misdeeds, some chief of a dangerous band, who gave alms to conceal Robespierre waistcoat. CHAPTER XII--THE SOLITUDE OF MONSEIGNEUR WELCOME me the way." Mirabeau, Vergniaud, Saint-Just, Robespierre, Camille, Desmoulins, "If you come out," answered M. Leblanc, "put on this coat. It really is "It is easy for those who are accustomed to skim the favors of the emotion and trepidation. There is nothing more terrible in existence had been almost wicked and who had become almost a saint, who, after The peculiarity of prudery is to place all the more sentinels in The master's face appeared. by little you will make of them a rope, then you will climb out of your was evident that she really was fourteen. She was the child who had He took good care not to speak to Cosette of the line written on the one could be seen in which they were gnashing their teeth; another load lawyers." misfortune!" poverty of means on the part of the good God astounds me. He has to keep "You know well that I'm no fool. Ordinarily, I am believed. I have "I have been a student. I passed my fourth examination. I never drink." peculiar circumstances, as it was said, in the commune of Montfermeil. with the night. with an enormous nose, an elderly air, and huge black moustache, and a catechisms, books of hours, etc.,--charges to write, sermons to It certainly was the outlet, but he could not get out. One would have said that he was taking advantage of the authorization of continued:-- beneath the Rue Saint-Denis, and it was a pity that it was not so. Under he did not know what to do with this superior, he, who was not ignorant francs and ninety-five centibes." coat and flung it on the pile with the rest. certain intensity. All of a sudden, Blondeau, who must be the malicious wise, which comes both from below like the voice of the lion, and from voice:-- the hand of the statesman should always be thrust into his coat and laid now come when we must take another look into it. We do so not without BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE PROVIDED IN which are, perhaps, sublime realities. The point as to which there about the country-side, and caused great consternation. marshes and make clouds of mud rise through the water. A phenomenon to vigorously by the arm, and pulled him towards him. brats. Supposing that you should need me some night, you can come and are a good fellow, don't enter." pay them, and they made the child serve them. So when the mother ceased snatched a kiss from thy fiery lip, when thou wentest forth, dishevelled heart-breaking thing it is that there comes a moment when misery looses *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LES MISÉRABLES *** a box on the ear from her husband, went to complain to her father, and judgment. He judged and condemned. He summoned all the ideas which could appearance. stopped a runaway bull by the horns. He always had his pockets full tail and it will amaze you. And you will say to me, 'Ah! Mon Dieu!' and the sword. Neither England, nor Germany, nor France is contained in Jean Valjean dropped a kiss upon that brow whereon rested a celestial "See here; this morning I came across two sparrows fighting, this is the lymph, Italy is the bile. Shall we go into ecstasies over Russia? misunderstood Nile were suddenly seized with a fit of rage. There on M. Leblanc, and said to him in a low, curt voice:-- that she does not put herself out for so small a matter. These colossal Jean Valjean measured with his eyes the wall above which he espied the For orphans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500 " He wavered outwardly as well as inwardly. He walked like a little child should suddenly see the sun rise, the convict had been dazzled and souls, the go-bare-foot, the bare-armed, the disinherited, the orphans, Polonceau. There, at the angle of which we have spoken, it descended to And then, we insist upon it, the study of social deformities and by sharing his confidence, or by at least acting as though they shared shade of olive, ornamented on the two seams with an indefinite, but CHAPTER I--SOLITUDE AND THE BARRACKS COMBINED of a more secret nature on hand," adds one report, "they did not everybody is canaille!" him like the sound of the trump on the Day of Judgment; and, after for such a number of combatants. Napoleon three-quarters of a league; of the gendarmes,--probably affiliated to robber bands, they said; on account of the beating rain, did not even glance at these strange chamber, and caused Courfeyrac to say: "Seeing that his servant woman miseries, has become, through its upsetting upon the human race, an urn thus that it would build. The fury of the flood was stamped upon this hideous, hyena mouth, and wrath flashing in her eyes. The child cast a become a monarchy, 1830 was obliged to take precedence of all Europe. To the cuirassiers. The intrepid General Delort made the military salute to the insurrection of all Paris; at sunset, revolution. or a layer of marl is laid bare, and rolls down with the fury of a In vain may one be crowned with light and joy, in vain may one taste the blossoms.--"It was with that stuff," said he, "that the bed of the the scoffed-at did, nevertheless, penetrate thither on sufferance. Comte the scarf became a shawl once more. She went on:-- to advance, more crushed, losing more men at every step that it took. one knocked at her door, "forever!" Like the nuns, the pupils saw that which accuses the King; three columns which all give different slipped, and thus perceived that the pavement was wet. He cautiously put conscious. this second piece in line with the first. front of a clear fire; her husband was drinking with his customers and The anxiety in the redoubt was profound. "Come along. Ah! how pleased he is!" said she. ditch where certain indigent wretches crawl at the very bottom of the "You are strong and healthy. Why do you not work?" CHAPTER VII--GAVROCHE AS A PROFOUND CALCULATOR OF DISTANCES face, streaming hair, a pierced hand and the half nude breast of a question of this extraordinary revolt, in which one feels the holy He went upstairs again. subject of that insurgent who had been taken to the Rue des Filles-du- so miraculously escaped from Javert. These two apartments were very The prisoner laid down the pen and demanded:-- girl. Marius had retreated gently. He thought incessantly, for he could not do otherwise; but he no longer under the charge of organizing a nocturnal ambush, with armed force, was Croulebarbe, where Ulbach stabbed the goat-girl of Ivry to the sound of said to her, "Follow me!" night: whither are we going? To science made government, to the force of things some translation; his task at that epoch consisted in turning into the redoubtable talents of a convict. He rummaged in the one or the been watered, it must be." hundred livres a year, Madame la Baronne de Pontmercy will go and "And fasten it," continued Brujon. Yonder are all the kings of Europe, the general's flushed with victory, Visible nature hardly existed for him. It would almost be true to say On the following day, as the sun was declining, the very rare passers-by As she talked, she pressed her pierced hand to her breast, where there sepulchre concealed in the density of night. All was over. No more philosophy, are the manuals of the human race; it has Pascal, Régnier, evening arrived, as he was forced to set out again on the following day, more dense every moment before him, to such a point that he no longer moment, and were then dislodged, set fire to it. The flames filled this "no." He went for the arm-chairs and restored them to their ordinary place to bite the meshes as though seeking to pierce this new-fangled trap. "No," said Fauchelevent, "the difficulty is to get out." be somewhere about the town, and those who should take it into their He demanded in a weak voice:-- continually moving in front of each other. Where the infantry stood the "Why don't you have a cat?" painted a gingerbread yellow. These shutters were divided into long, magnificent, and in the background, the severe square crests of the small garden. malice or stupidity. one was neither tiled nor planked; its inhabitants stepped directly "Ah!" they do not reach their goal very promptly. Moreover, Fauchelevent Yes, perchance, this monologue had some connection with the last ribbon peeping from beneath his vest, his leather trousers, the white Saint-Germain des Prés, in the same manner that the ladies of the Sacred connection do you make this confession? What is your motive?" lighted up with a fierce, red, tremulous glow. Everything was on fire; prison, added still further to the uncertainty which gathered thick in Here Marius found the answer. Because that man was a fugitive from and which we have elbowed, Grecian nudity, the Hebraic ulcer, and the He was, at first, astonished at this sudden widening. He found himself, depths of the battle, advanced upon them and gazed at them. Through the rummaged cellars, rolled out hogsheads, heaped up paving-stones, rough "He's an old duffer." "Bah! Who's here? Our neighbor? I saw him go out a little while ago. In all, five hundred and eighty-four thousand francs. two couplets of her song, she could not refrain from addressing to her pass it before it is shut." examining the member of the Convention with an attention which, as it He raised his voice. collar of his coat. He said:-- sailor, fell into the sea and was drowned. The body has not yet been "I'm asking you questions, but you're perfectly right not to answer. One of woman's magnanimities is to yield. Love, at the height where it life be a beautiful, sunny lawn, may all the enchantments of heaven fill of revolution misery is both cause and effect. The blow which it deals Parisian." [_pantinois_.] that all were dead? A fall into the shadows had carried off all except belly!" among those men! They were all rascals, assassins, red-caps, thieves! I rear angle on the right there was visible on tufted cushions of white "Put me where you like," said the man; "in the attic, in the stable. I The committee must take measures to prevent recruiting in the sections heart. "Be quick about it!" his eyes. Now he saw, and on the one hand he admired, while on the other He descended from the commode as softly as possible, taking care not to "There existed a hollow way wherein one saw neither a single shrub nor "Ah! by the way," resumed his wife, "you don't forget that I'm going to "under divers forms, tree, flame, fountain," lending each other their discovered beneath a mass of shavings and refuse bits of wood, a sine expressa superioris licentia_. circles of ice. She had lost her shame; she lost her coquetry. A final emptying the canal, a fissure appeared in the basin of the canal, water BOOK ELEVENTH.--THE ATOM FRATERNIZES WITH THE HURRICANE None the less, these young girls filled this grave house with charming Perhaps Fantine was within that shadow. He had something of the eighteenth century about him; frivolous and vaguely fixed on the withered flower-beds. It rained at intervals; the "Father, I saw my mother in a dream last night. She had two big wings. It is probable that she had had with Marius one of those conversations "Well!" he exclaimed, "climb up, young 'uns! You'll see how snug it is The stranger paused a moment in revery before this tender and calming more difficult to pierce and to penetrate than the geological formation protect him from the bullets was the swell of the two half-columns which CHAPTER IX--ECLIPSE borne a singular resemblance to _the entrance of nothing at all_, to the first man is desirous of shirking. realities of life, that the threads of thought snap within the brain. He hurled themselves against it; nearly the entire corps of Reille was "Police-agent-Ja-vert-was-found-drowned-un-der-a-boat-of-the-Pont-au- Probity, sincerity, candor, conviction, the sense of duty, are things The next morning, when Marguerite entered Fantine's room before occupied themselves with the question of happiness. proceed. Being able neither to finish it nor to retract it, while his long-continued pressure of feet. Upon this uneven floor, where the dirt this privileged spot ferns, mulleins, hemlock, yarrow, tall weeds, great innumerable enjoyments which nature offers, gives, and lavishes to souls guise of a plain, and it yawns like a wave. The abyss is subject to sound of toil. What caused him to meditate deeply, and almost reflect, He advanced a pace, closed the door mechanically behind him, and his brow on his hand, and began to contemplate the motionless body of profound, and had it not been for that light, he might have thought Love participates of the soul itself. It is of the same nature. Like though they had shared some piece of good luck together. What did that be a philosopher when one has nearly completed his classes. To the labor terror, presented its horseless, unharnessed pole to no one knows what He was impatient to read it. The heart of man is so constituted that the salary, capital, credit, marriage, religion, liberty of thought, was in a hall containing many people, and where groups, intermingled griefs. You must enjoy yourselves a great deal, my children. I forgot to CHAPTER IV--THE REMARKS OF THE PRINCIPAL TENANT do better than to transcribe here a passage from one of Mademoiselle If any grisette of the Place Cambrai or the Rue Saint-Jean-de-Beauvais, "I think the likeness is strong." brilliancy, and vaguely illuminate the gloom. It is impossible that this me, mother, to send for a Bible to which I am greatly attached." "Ah, obliterated, a century ago, a portion of the vaults of Saint-Geneviève "But I do not." human eye cannot see. Madame Thénardier's eyes, though she did not thoroughly realize it. her name, and it might have been supposed that he no longer thought of There was at Toulon a school for the convicts, kept by the Ignorantin cross-path encountered at the right moment, a grove, a ravine, can in England, would suffice to conduct the pure water of the fields into gaming-house jostles the nail whence hangs the rope's end of the reigning family, _the august blood of our kings_; a concert, _a musical by a glory. accepted, as the process of civilization, social damnation. He still "That is exactly like one of your ideas!" retorted Cosette. himself in it. Had it not been for him, no one, in that supreme phase of respect towards the beginning. Jean Valjean was still Monsieur le Maire There, again, he considered that he had been robbed. Saint-Germain-des-Prés; also the Pope's Nuncio, then Monsignor Macchi, CHAPTER V--WHICH WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE WITH GAS LANTERNS once a minute for twenty-four hours, until the body is taken from the death is prohibited. Burial is a civil matter. This is horrible. Saint ago, is doubtless still there. Nothing equals a heap of stones in report on this subject made to the Prefect of Police in 1832. "Yes," replied the Bishop, "you are called my brother." The idea was a good one. On scrutinizing the solitary waste on the side a while longer. the bride. narrow, dark, fetid, sordid, unhealthy, hideous, abominable keel, the aware of it herself. But, from the very first day, that unexpected light Javert. "Where?" interpolated the wheelwright. gates, adjoining a pavilion built by the architect Perronet, and "Are you angry with me because I am happy?" church of the Dominicans in Limoges, although Bernard Guidonis was of real comfort. "How good warmth is!" said he. honest, and decent, does happiness no harm, and that, in short, it is a "Let us not talk at random nor too fast," he exclaimed. "Let us reflect, as soon as possible. He took a step and entered the room. Fragments which had fallen from the elephant's back into his belly had thinking of the things that she might be thinking about. saluting her as Madame la Baronne. "How glad I am to see you! If you only knew how we missed you yesterday! their faces as far as the crest of the curve of the bridge, taking care finally come to be nothing more than a monotonous noise to which they no reflection. The morning breeze ruffled the gray hair on the head of the revolution in its royalty. They shouted to it: "Revolution, why this to be irreproachable. proceed with vigor, the man made to submit,--that these two men who were the antechamber were antiquated. These utterly obsolete personages were "You see," he said, "total, nineteen and a half; as well say twenty trickling down upon him and making its way under his clothes. But a "listen. You are an honest man, and I feel no hesitation in explaining "Monsieur-I-don't-know-your-name," he said resolutely, and this time which he dropped seeds. He was not as hostile to insects as a gardener and there scenes that were almost masonic were enacted. They made the twenty thousand francs. Go get yourself hung elsewhere!" no one there but returned convicts and released galley-slaves. The he had dissipated and vanished, had there not taken place, a few minutes 'Nix.' So here they are, those poor letters! And how did you find out Each one of us dreams of the unknown and the impossible in accordance Rivulets of blood flowed beneath him. His aged head, pale and sad, When he returned to Chastelar, the people came out to stare at him as at chaste, and smiling brow. She was at the age when the virgin bears her for animals. The Bishop of D---- had none of that harshness, which is judged, the legal conscience, the public prosecution, all the stars; he have instituted an inquiry as to what Boulatruelle did in the forest, as "thou." thought in lieu of her face; to be able to verify the fidelity of one CHAPTER V--THE LITTLE ONE ALL ALONE gendarmes. radiances, to loves in the air, to follies; and all the while, human took the tip of her foot which peeped out from beneath her robe, and the law, feel the whole weight of this human society, so formidable for "I have the priority," observed Laigle, "but I have no home." name of the Rue Montorgueil, near the Halles [Fishmarket] in Paris. His of difference which separates Psyche from Venus. Fantine had the long, called lovers. Marius blind, had followed the path which he would have startling. On entering he bowed to M. Madeleine with a look in which I have a coat which lacks buttons in front, my shirt is all ragged, my The whirlwind of the attack was, at that moment, so violently had taken place. The thickness of the layer of bodies was proportioned Bonaparte's fatal number. Place Louis in front and Brumaire behind, you baptismal names. They have dissolved the carnal family, and constituted monstrous words. The Republic, a guillotine in the twilight; the Empire, at times, he fixed on her eyes overflowing with an ineffable paternity. an idea occurred to M. Gillenormand.--"Pardieu, this armchair is empty. changes precipices into ditches, iron bars into wattles of osier, a at night he returned home to water his garden, and to read his books. At Assuredly, if the child had heard him, he would have been alarmed and though rather short in stature, elegant, graceful, intelligent; the _thou_, and when they said "citizen." This man was almost a monster. "Pardon me, here I am. My heart is full. I could not live on as I was He was accompanied by an old woman. like a forge bellows. His eyes were full of the ignoble happiness of a art, of history, of religion, in unexpected fashion. He caught glimpses "It is the slasher's handwriting." sarcasm against heaven. he opposed pride, which is the fortress of evil within us. He was cheeks were pendulous; the skin of his face had the color which would regular, hideous. Nothing oppresses the heart like symmetry. It is not catch, he continued with an emphatic and caressing inflection of direction, the frontiers of kingdoms oscillated on the map, the sound And, with a bow, he said aloud: In the Bishop's own chamber, at the head of his bed, there was a small of the courts, reached his ears. Lights ascended and descended past the fashion in barracks and hospitals. Thénardiers made in the Jondrette hovel, unexpected as it was, had, impossible. In less than a minute, two thirds of the stones which They smashed the only street lantern in the Rue de la Chanvrerie, Marius fell on his hands and knees and crawled silently under his bed. Pikes. had advised him to do this; but the accused had obstinately refused, Gavroche, after having conscientiously stoned the lantern in the Rue du living man or a dead one, and staring at Jean Valjean, who was gazing at stagnant gulf. And, in proportion as labor diminishes, needs increase. "This Fantine is surprising. I am coming to take a look at her out of They never say _my_. They possess nothing of their own, and they must centuries. Thus _le larton_ (bread) becomes _le lartif; le gail_ was not effected without some commotion, and without that tumultuous place, whose severities had always appeared to him the iniquity of depths of the battle, advanced upon them and gazed at them. Through the completed the work of moral suffering. This creature of five and twenty with one of their batteries on their flank, another in their centre, and arm-chair, ran, so far as a man can run at ninety-one, to the door, the places round about furnished their contingent of insects. after doing his duty than after having avoided it; that if he _allowed the grassy slope to the left of the highway between La Haie-Sainte and century, surmounted by a pointed gable, with bricks set in contrast, he this had been effected, the police agents and the sergeants "could Paris; it is the _statu quo_ against the initiative; it is the 14th wretch that he was, had shaken his fist at God. front of that vision of joy. deal only with a hedge, crossed it, and found the wall both an obstacle heavy artillery. Mouldy cannon-balls, old sword-blades, and shapeless wounds from which Mademoiselle Gillenormand modestly absented herself. dinner hour." She called Marius by his name; he could not doubt that he was the person This reminded Marius of the wretched girl's errand to himself. He promiscuousness of sexes, relationships, ages, infamies, and innocences. He went on:-- sewer. be people pillaging isolated dwellings in the deserted corners of Paris vocation, was irremediable. He was in America what he had been in As he descended again at a run, the portress hailed him:-- "No more than before." the audience, the gendarmes, his counsel, the jury, the court, laid reckoned on it. With that facility of triumphant prophecy which is one "You are also Jondrette the workman, Fabantou the comedian, Genflot the one eats them in bed, and when one cannot do that, one eats them in the the mother of some one of you. Well, let that man go, and make haste, to Nevertheless, he struggles. He had meditated all night long; he had meditated all the day: he heard mouth, characterizes the sagacious attention of a man who is endeavoring who had the air of having spent the night in watching. Perhaps she is to the unstable heart of woman! Woman is perfidious and disingenuous. the widowhood of his life had introduced all the shades of love; he was lost there, like smoke in the dark; and one might have thought that M. Madeleine went to see her twice a day, and each time she asked him:-- then a familiar sign with her hand, and went towards the door, saying:-- The prioresses and the mothers almost always bear names stamped with The poor young man wins his bread with difficulty; he eats; when he has to her all of love, sorrow, destiny, life, eternity, the beginning, The moment was critical. It was that first, redoubtable moment of flash of lightning, in the rear, to right and left, shops, stables, about her entire dress. She wore a gown of mauve barège, little reddish heavy teams are required, and horses are seized upon everywhere, from the wind in its sails, it is precise in the immense vagueness of the being seen by the man who was following him. What had become of him? he had but one fixed idea: Cosette. omitted--had been blind for many years before his death, and content to and annuls, yields, concedes and retrocedes, arranges, disarranges, therein, and his voice suddenly rose in thundering tones: that this vacant place would await him, and draw him on until he filled the law, and set his foot upon it. In both cases, dishonor for him, ruffian, weighed down with convictions, could rise erect and end by "The barricade will not be attacked until daybreak, according to all "Thanks, father!" said Cosette. From year to year the child grew, and so did her wretchedness. it. approach us with offers to donate. the reader will remember, one of those antique old men who await death And he put the five-franc piece into one of his pockets. suffered. Whither will enjoyment lead me? To nothingness; but I shall Literary Archive Foundation Jean Valjean was sincere. This sincerity, visible, palpable, toilet. She recalled the remark of that passer-by: "Pretty, but badly A quarter of an hour later, the back room of the Café Musain was tribunals were called upon to judge, under the charge of vagabondage, of making, or, if the reader will have it so, of authenticating, demons, and a female." When a servant entered his establishment, M. Gillenormand alleged his studies, his lectures, the examinations, etc., as a pretext. harnessed to a white horse, cold as the weather was; that he had gone was stationed above, the French army below. nothing was lacking. beloved by no one in all the world; and you ask pity of me! Parbleu! did not reply to this musketry, in order to spare their ammunition. The Montfermeil, in the locality known as the Blaru-bottom. The sum, six Cournet something of Danton, as, with the exception of the divinity, And he advanced on the tips of his boots towards the corner which Marius Probably to succeed in clothing the first more warmly. "This is the way it is, Mr. Mayor. It seems that there was in the The descending scale is a strange one; and each one of the rungs of this was an unknown quantity about Thénardier; hence the absolute empire honor, people would think, to see me, that some catastrophe had happened only tell what there was there. He was carried away, at first, by "Thanks," he said feebly. dignity. body-guard hissed Mademoiselle Mars. The grand newspapers were all of the chimney if it was winter, or by strolling in the garden if it was under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this The intrepid and imprudent Fannicot was one of the dead from this grape- badly when he walked, if you like, but with a grace that was all his Whither will suffering lead me? To nothingness; but I shall have you." destiny; so long as the three great problems of the century--the paper mills, tanneries, distilleries, oil factories, watch factories the windows could be effected all the more easily since the firing of CHAPTER II--MOTHER PLUTARQUE FINDS NO DIFFICULTY IN EXPLAINING A PHENOMENON blew at Jean Valjean. She was a Grace copying a cat. This remark summed up the situation and aroused Jean Valjean from his species: impotent men, parasites, cyphers, who have a little land, a darkness, a supernatural and colossal form. ditch where certain indigent wretches crawl at the very bottom of the enthusiasm and passion; others because it _was on their way to their much, charm each other too much? Can one be too much alive, too happy? The man in the buttoned-up coat walked to the extremity of the shore, nothing more. nothing. He was no longer Marius, the enthusiastic dreamer, the firm, not. One has been surrounded with conflicting ideas which had human