Les miserables (Abridged) - Victor Hugo [261]
“My treasure, I beg of you, it will be nothing, do not cry, you will make your father angry.”
“No!” cried the father, “on the contrary! sob! sob! that creates a good effect.”
Then turning to the eldest:
“Ah! but where is he! if he is not coming, I shall have put out my fire, knocked the bottom out of my chair, torn my chemise, and broken my window for nothing.”
“And cut the little girl!” murmured the mother.
“Do you know,” resumed the father, “that it’s damn cold in this devilish garret? If this man should not come! Oh! that is it! he makes us wait for him! he says: Well! they will wait for me! that is what they are for!—Oh! how I hate them, and how I would strangle them with joy and rejoicing, enthusiasm and satisfaction, these rich men! all the rich! these so-called charitable men, who act so pious, who go to mass, who act like priests, preachy, preachy, and who think themselves above us, and who come to humiliate us, and to bring us clothes! as they call them! rags which are not worth four sous, and bread! that is not what I want of the rabble! I want money! But money, never! because they say that we would go and drink it, and that we are drunkards and do-nothings! And what then are they, and what have they been in their time? Thieves! they would not have got rich without that! Oh! somebody ought to take society by the four corners of the sheet and toss it all into the air! Everything would smash, it is likely, but at least nobody would have anything, there would be so much gained! But what now is he doing, your mug of a benevolent gentleman? is he coming? The brute may have forgotten the address! I will bet that the old fool—”
Just then there was a light rap at the door, the man rushed forward and opened it, exclaiming with many low bows and smiles of adoration:
“Come in, monsieur! deign to come in, my noble benefactor, as well as your charming young lady.”
A man of mature age and a young girl appeared at the door of the garret.
Marius had not left his place. What he felt at that moment escapes human language.
It was She.
Whoever has loved, knows all the radiant meaning contained in the three letters of this word: She.
It was indeed she. Marius could hardly discern her through the luminous vapour which suddenly spread over his eyes. It was that sweet absent being, that star which had been his light, for six months, it was that eye, that brow, that mouth, that beautiful vanished face which had produced night when it went away. The vision had been in an eclipse, it was reappearing.
She appeared again in this gloom, in this garret, in this shapeless den, in this horror!
Marius shuddered desperately. What! it was she! the beating of his heart disturbed his sight. He felt ready to melt into tears. What! at last he saw her again after having sought for her so long! it seemed to him that he had just lost his soul and that he had just found it again.
She was still the same, a little paler only; her delicate face was set in a violet velvet hat, her form was hidden under a black satin pelisse, below her long dress he caught a glimpse of her little foot squeezed into a silk buskin.
She was still accompanied by Monsieur Leblanc.
She stepped into the room and laid a large package on the table.
The elder Jondrette girl had retreated behind the door and was looking upon that velvet hat, that silk dress, and that charming happy face, with an evil eye.
8 (9)
JONDRETTE WEEPS ALMOST
THE DEN was so dark that people who came from outdoors felt as if they were entering a cellar on coming in. The two new-comers stepped forward, therefore, with some hesitation, hardly discerning the dim forms about them, while they were seen and examined with perfect ease by the tenants of the garret, whose eyes were accustomed to this twilight.
Monsieur Leblanc approached with his kind and compassionate look, and said to the father:
“Monsieur, you will find in this package some