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ve guessed rightly, Morrel," said the count, "that is what I intended." "Thanks; the idea that tomorrow I shall no longer suffer, is sweet to my heart." "Do you then regret nothing?" "No," replied Morrel. "Not even me?" asked the count with deep emotion. Morrel's clear eye was for the moment clouded, then it shone with unusual lustre, and a large tear rolled down his cheek. "What," said the count, "do you still regret anything in the world, and yet die?" "Oh, I entreat you," exclaimed Morrel in a low voice, "do not speak another word, count; do not prolong my punishment." The count fancied that he was yielding, and this belief revived the horrible doubt that had overwhelmed him at the Chateau d'If. "I am endeavoring," he thought, "to make this man happy; I look upon this restitution as a weight thrown into the scale to balance the evil I have wrought. Now, supposing I am deceived, supposing this man has not been unhappy enough to merit happiness. Alas, what would become of me who can only atone for evil by doing good?" Then he said aloud: "Listen, Morrel, I see your grief is great, but still you do not like to risk your soul." Morrel smiled sadly. "Count," he said, "I swear to you my soul is no longer my own." "Maximilian, you know I have no relation in the world. I have accustomed myself to regard you as my son: well, then, to save my son, I will sacrifice my life, nay, even my fortune." "What do you mean?" "I mean, that you wish to quit life because you do not understand all the enjoyments which are the fruits of a large fortune. Morrel, I possess nearly a hundred millions and I give them to you; with such a fortune you can attain every wish. Are you ambitious? Every career is open to you. Overturn the world, change its character, yield to mad ideas, be even criminal -- but live." "Count, I have your word," said Morrel coldly; then taking out his watch, he added, "It is half-past eleven." "Morrel, can you intend it in my house, under my very eyes?" "Then let me go," said Maximilian, "or I shall think you did not love me for my own sake, but for yours;" and he arose. "It is well," said Monte Cristo whose countenance brightened at these words; "you wish -- you are inflexible. Yes, as you said, you are indeed wretched and a miracle alone can cure you. Sit down, Morrel, and wait." Morrel obeyed; the count arose, and unlocking a closet with a key suspended from his gold chain, took from it a little silver casket, beautifully carved and chased, the corners of which represented four bending figures, similar to the Caryatides, the forms of women, symbols of the angels aspiring to heaven. He placed the casket on the table; then opening it took out a little golden box, the top of which flew open when touched by a secret spring. This box contained an unctuous substance partly solid, of which it was impossible to discover the color, owing to the reflection of the polished gold, sapphires, rubies, emeralds, which ornamented the box. It was a mixed mass of blue, red, and gold. The count took out a small quantity of this with a gilt spoon, and offered it to Morrel, fixing a long steadfast glance upon him. It was then observable that the substance was greenish. "This is what you asked for," he said, "and what I promised to give you." "I thank you from the depths of my heart," said the young man, taking the spoon from the hands of Monte Cristo. The count took another spoon, and again dipped it into the golden box. "What are you going to do, my friend?" asked Morrel, arresting his hand. "Well, the fact is, Morrel, I was thinking that I too am weary of life, and since an opportunity presents itself" -- "Stay!" said the young man. "You who love, and are beloved; you, who have faith and hope, -- oh, do not follow my example. In your case it would be a crime. Adieu, my noble and generous friend, adieu; I will go and tell Valentine what you have done for me." And slowly, though without any hesitation, only waiting to press the count's hand fervently, he swallowed the mysterious substance offered by Monte Cristo. Then they were both silent. Ali, mute and attentive, brought the pipes and coffee, and disappeared. By degrees, the light of the lamps gradually faded in the hands of the marble statues which held them, and the perfumes appeared less powerful to Morrel. Seated opposite to him, Monte Cristo watched him in the shadow, and Morrel saw nothing but the bright eyes of the count. An overpowering sadness took possession of the young man, his hands relaxed their hold, the objects in the room gradually lost their form and color, and his disturbed vision seemed to perceive doors and curtains open in the walls. "Friend," he cried, "I feel that I am dying; thanks!" He made a last effort to extend his hand, but it fell powerless beside him. Then it appeared to him that Monte Cristo smiled, not with the strange and fearful expression which had sometimes revealed to him the secrets of his heart, but with the benevolent kindness of a father for a child. At the same time the count appeared to increase in stature, his form, nearly double its usual height, stood out in relief against the red tapestry, his black hair was thrown back, and he stood in the attitude of an avenging angel. Morrel, overpowered, turned around in the arm-chair; a delicious torpor permeated every vein. A change of ideas presented themselves to his brain, like a new design on the kaleidoscope. Enervated, prostrate, and breathless, he became unconscious of outward objects; he seemed to be entering that vague delirium preceding death. He wished once again to press the count's hand, but his own was immovable. He wished to articulate a last farewell, but his tongue lay motionless and heavy in his throat, like a stone at the mouth of a sepulchre. Involuntarily his languid eyes closed, and still through his eyelashes a well-known form seemed to move amid the obscurity with which he thought himself enveloped. The count had just opened a door. Immediately a brilliant light from the next room, or rather from the palace adjoining, shone upon the room in which he was gently gliding into his last sleep. Then he saw a woman of marvellous beauty appear on the threshold of the door separating the two rooms. Pale, and sweetly smiling, she looked like an angel of mercy conjuring the angel of vengeance. "Is it heaven that opens before me?" thought the dying man; "that angel resembles the one I have lost." Monte Cristo pointed out Morrel to the young woman, who advanced towards him with clasped hands and a smile upon her lips. "Valentine, Valentine!" he mentally ejaculated; but his lips uttered no sound, and as though all his strength were centred in that internal emotion, he sighed and closed his eyes. Valentine rushed towards him; his lips again moved. "He is calling you," said the count; "he to whom you have confided your destiny -- he from whom death would have separated you, calls you to him. Happily, I vanquished death. Henceforth, Valentine, you will never again be separated on earth, since he has rushed into death to find you. Without me, you would both have died. May God accept my atonement in the preservation of these two existences!" Valentine seized the count's hand, and in her irresistible impulse of joy carried it to her lips. "Oh, thank me again!" said the count; "tell me till you are weary, that I have restored you to happiness; you do not know how much I require this assurance." "Oh, yes, yes, I thank you with all my heart," said Valentine; "and if you doubt the sincerity of my gratitude, oh, then, ask Haidee! ask my beloved sister Haidee, who ever since our departure from France, has caused me to wait patiently for this happy day, while talking to me of you." "You then love Haidee?" asked Monte Cristo with an emotion he in vain endeavored to dissimulate. "Oh, yes, with all my soul." "Well, then, listen, Valentine," said the count; "I have a favor to ask of you." "Of me? Oh, am I happy enough for that?" "Yes; you have called Haidee your sister, -- let her become so indeed, Valentine; render her all the gratitude you fancy that you owe to me; protect her, for" (the count's voice was thick with emotion) "henceforth she will be alone in the world." "Alone in the world!" repeated a voice behind the count, "and why?" Monte Cristo turned around; Haidee was standing pale, motionless, looking at the count with an expression of fearful amazement. "Because to-morrow, Haidee, you will be free; you will then assume your proper position in society, for I will not allow my destiny to overshadow yours. Daughter of a prince, I restore to you the riches and name of your father." Haidee became pale, and lifting her transparent hands to heaven, exclaimed in a voice stifled with tears, "Then you leave me, my lord?" "Haidee, Haidee, you are young and beautiful; forget even my name, and be happy." "It is well," said Haidee; "your order shall be executed, my lord; I will forget even your name, and be happy." And she stepped back to retire. "Oh, heavens," exclaimed Valentine, who was supporting the head of Morrel on her shoulder, "do you not see how pale she is? Do you not see how she suffers?" Haidee answered with a heartrending expression, "Why should he understand this, my sister? He is my master, and I am his slave; he has the right to notice nothing." The count shuddered at the tones of a voice which penetrated the inmost recesses of his heart; his eyes met those of the young girl and he could not bear their brilliancy. "Oh, heavens," exclaimed Monte Cristo, "can my suspicions be correct? Haidee, would it please you not to leave me?" "I am young," gently replied Haidee; "I love the life you have made so sweet to me, and I should be sorry to die." "You mean, then, that if I leave you, Haidee" -- "I should die; yes, my lord." "Do you then love me?" "Oh, Valentine, he asks if I love him. Valentine, tell him if you love Maximilian." The count felt his heart dilate and throb; he opened his arms, and Haidee, uttering a cry, sprang into them. "Oh, yes," she cried, "I do love you! I love you as one loves a father, brother, husband! I love you as my life, for you are the best, the noblest of created beings!" "Let it be, then, as you wish, sweet angel; God has sustained me in my struggle with my enemies, and has given me this reward; he will not let me end my triumph in suffering; I wished to punish myself, but he has pardoned me. Love me then, Haidee! Who knows? perhaps your love will make me forget all that I do not wish to remember." "What do you mean, my lord?" "I mean that one word from you has enlightened me more than twenty years of slow experience; I have but you in the world, Haidee; through you I again take hold on life, through you I shall suffer, through you rejoice." "Do you hear him, Valentine?" exclaimed Haidee; "he says that through me he will suffer -- through me, who would yield my life for his." The count withdrew for a moment. "Have I discovered the truth?" he said; "but whether it be for recompense or punishment, I accept my fate. Come, Haidee, come!" and throwing his arm around the young girl's waist, he pressed the hand of Valentine, and disappeared. An hour had nearly passed, during which Valentine, breathless and motionless, watched steadfastly over Morrel. At length she felt his heart beat, a faint breath played upon his lips, a slight shudder, announcing the return of life, passed through the young man's frame. At length his eyes opened, but they were at first fixed and expressionless; then sight returned, and with it feeling and grief. "Oh," he cried, in an accent of despair, "the count has deceived me; I am yet living;" and extending his hand towards the table, he seized a knife. "Dearest," exclaimed Valentine, with her adorable smile, "awake, and look at me!" Morrel uttered a loud exclamation, and frantic, doubtful, dazzled, as though by a celestial vision, he fell upon his knees. The next morning at daybreak, Valentine and Morrel were walking arm-in-arm on the sea-shore, Valentine relating how Monte Cristo had appeared in her room, explained everything, revealed the crime, and, finally, how he had saved her life by enabling her to simulate death. They had found the door of the grotto opened, and gone forth; on the azure dome of heaven still glittered a few remaining stars. Morrel soon perceived a man standing among the rocks, apparently awaiting a sign from them to advance, and pointed him out to Valentine. "Ah, it is Jacopo," she said, "the captain of the yacht;" and she beckoned him towards them. "Do you wish to speak to us?" asked Morrel. "I have a letter to give you from the count." "From the count!" murmured the two young people. "Yes; read it." Morrel opened the letter, and read: -- "My Dear Maximilian, -- "There is a felucca for you at anchor. Jacopo will carry you to Leghorn, where Monsieur Noirtier awaits his granddaughter, whom he wishes to bless before you lead her to the altar. All that is in this grotto, my friend, my house in the Champs Elysees, and my chateau at Treport, are the marriage gifts bestowed by Edmond Dantes upon the son of his old master, Morrel. Mademoiselle de Villefort will share them with you; for I entreat her to give to the poor the immense fortune reverting to her from her father, now a madman, and her brother who died last September with his mother. Tell the angel who will watch over your future destiny, Morrel, to pray sometimes for a man, who like Satan thought himself for an instant equal to God, but who now acknowledges with Christian humility that God alone possesses supreme power and infinite wisdom. Perhaps those prayers may soften the remorse he feels in his heart. As for you, Morrel, this is the secret of my conduct towards you. There is neither happiness nor misery in the world; there is only the comparison of one state with another, nothing more. He who has felt the deepest grief is best able to experience supreme happiness. We must have felt what it is to die, Morrel, that we may appreciate the enjoyments of living. "Live, then, and be happy, beloved children of my heart, and never forget that until the day when God shall deign to reveal the future to man, all human wisdom is summed up in these two words, -- `Wait and hope.' Your friend, "Edmond Dantes, Count of Monte Cristo." During the perusal of this letter, which informed Valentine for the first time of the madness of her father and the death of her brother, she became pale, a heavy sigh escaped from her bosom, and tears, not the less painful because they were silent, ran down her cheeks; her happiness cost her very dear. Morrel looked around uneasily. "But," he said, "the count's generosity is too overwhelming; Valentine will be satisfied with my humble fortune. Where is the count, friend? Lead me to him." Jacopo pointed towards the horizon. "What do you mean?" asked Valentine. "Where is the count? -- where is Haidee?" "Look!" said Jacopo. The eyes of both were fixed upon the spot indicated by the sailor, and on the blue line separating the sky from the Mediterranean Sea, they perceived a large white sail. "Gone," said Morrel; "gone! -- adieu, my friend -- adieu, my father!" "Gone," murmured Valentine; "adieu, my sweet Haidee -- adieu, my sister!" "Who can say whether we shall ever see them again?" said Morrel with tearful eyes. "Darling," replied Valentine, "has not the count just told us that all human wisdom is summed up in two words? -- `Wait and hope.'" The Project Gutenberg EBook of Les Mis\'c8rables, by Victor Hugo This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: Les Mis\'c8rables Complete in Five Volumes Author: Victor Hugo Translator: Isabel F. Hapgood Release Date: June 22, 2008 [EBook #135] Language: English Character set encoding: ASCII *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LES MIS\'85RABLES *** Produced by Judith Boss LES MISERABLES By Victor Hugo Translated by Isabel F. Hapgood Thomas Y. Crowell & Co. No. 13, Astor Place New York Copyright 1887 [Illustration: Bookshelf 1spines] [Illustration: Bookcover 1cover] [Illustration: Frontpapers 1frontpapers] [Illustration: Frontispiece 1frontispiece] [Illustration: Titlepage Volume One 1titlepage] [Illustration: Titlepage Verso 1verso] CONTENTS VOLUME I BOOK FIRST.--A JUST MAN CHAPTER I. M. Myriel II. M. Myriel becomes M. Welcome III. A Hard Bishopric for a Good Bishop IV. Works corresponding to Words V. Monseigneur Bienvenu made his Cassocks last too long VI. Who guarded his House for him VII. Cravatte VIII. Philosophy after Drinking IX. The Brother as depicted by the Sister X. The Bishop in the Presence of an Unknown Light XI. A Restriction XII. The Solitude of Monseigneur Welcome XIII. What he believed XIV. What he thought BOOK SECOND.--THE FALL I. The Evening of a Day of Walking II. Prudence counselled to Wisdom III. The Heroism of Passive Obedience IV. Details concerning the Cheese-Dairies of Pontarlier V. Tranquillity VI. Jean Valjean VII. The Interior of Despair VIII. Billows and Shadows IX. New Troubles X. The Man aroused XI. What he does XII. The Bishop works XIII. Little Gervais BOOK THIRD.--IN THE YEAR 1817 I. The Year 1817 II. A Double Quartette III. Four and Four IV. Tholomyes is so Merry that he sings a Spanish Ditty V. At Bombardas VI. A Chapter in which they adore Each Other VII. The Wisdom of Tholomyes VIII. The Death of a Horse IX. A Merry End to Mirth BOOK FOURTH.--TO CONFIDE IS SOMETIMES TO DELIVER INTO A PERSON'S POWER I. One Mother meets Another Mother II. First Sketch of Two Unprepossessing Figures III. The Lark BOOK FIFTH.--THE DESCENT I. The History of a Progress in Black Glass Trinkets II. Madeleine III. Sums deposited with Laffitte IV. M. Madeleine in Mourning V. Vague Flashes on the Horizon VI. Father Fauchelevent VII. Fauchelevent becomes a Gardener in Paris VIII. Madame Victurnien expends Thirty Francs on Morality IX. Madame Victurnien's Success X. Result of the Success XI. Christus nos Liberavit XII. M. Bamatabois's Inactivity XIII. The Solution of Some Questions connected with the Municipal Police BOOK SIXTH.--JAVERT I. The Beginning of Repose II. How Jean may become Champ BOOK SEVENTH.--THE CHAMPMATHIEU AFFAIR I. Sister Simplice II. The Perspicacity of Master Scaufflaire III. A Tempest in a Skull IV. Forms assumed by Suffering during Sleep V. Hindrances VI. Sister Simplice put to the Proof VII. The Traveller on his Arrival takes Precautions for Departure VIII. An Entrance by Favor IX. A Place where Convictions are in Process of Formation X. The System of Denials XI. Champmathieu more and more Astonished BOOK EIGHTH.--A COUNTER-BLOW I. In what Mirror M. Madeleine contemplates his Hair II. Fantine Happy III. Javert Satisfied IV. Authority reasserts its Rights V. A Suitable Tomb VOLUME II BOOK FIRST.--WATERLOO CHAPTER I. What is met with on the Way from Nivelles II. Hougomont III. The Eighteenth of June, 1815 IV. A V. The Quid Obscurum of Battles VI. Four o'clock in the Afternoon VII. Napoleon in a Good Humor VIII. The Emperor puts a Question to the Guide Lacoste IX. The Unexpected X. The Plateau of Mont-Saint-Jean XI. A Bad Guide to Napoleon; a Good Guide to Bulow XII. The Guard XIII. The Catastrophe XIV. The Last Square XV. Cambronne XVI. Quot Libras in Duce? XVII. Is Waterloo to be considered Good? XVIII. A Recrudescence of Divine Right XIX. The Battle-Field at Night BOOK SECOND.--THE SHIP ORION I. Number 24,601 becomes Number 9,430 II. In which the reader will peruse Two Verses which are of the Devil's Composition possibly III. The Ankle-Chain must have undergone a Certain Preparatory Manipulation to be thus broken with a Blow from a Hammer BOOK THIRD.--ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THE PROMISE MADE TO THE DEAD WOMAN I. The Water Question at Montfermeil II. Two Complete Portraits III. Men must have Wine, and Horses must have Water IV. Entrance on the Scene of a Doll V. The Little One All Alone VI. Which possibly proves Boulatruelle's Intelligence VII. Cosette Side by Side with the Stranger in the Dark VIII. The Unpleasantness of receiving into One's House a Poor Man who may be a Rich Man IX. Thenardier at his Manoeuvres X. He who seeks to better himself may render his Situation Worse XI. Number 9,430 reappears, and Cosette wins it in the Lottery BOOK FOURTH.--THE GORBEAU HOVEL I. Master Gorbeau II. A Nest for Owl and a Warbler III. Two Misfortunes make One Piece of Good Fortune IV. The Remarks of the Principal Tenant V. A Five-Franc Piece falls on the Ground and produces a Tumult BOOK FIFTH.--FOR A BLACK HUNT, A MUTE PACK I. The Zigzags of Strategy II. It is Lucky that the Pont d'Austerlitz bears Carriages III. To Wit, the Plan of Paris in 1727 IV. The Gropings of Flight V. Which would be Impossible with Gas Lanterns VI. The Beginning of an Enigma VII. Continuation of the Enigma VIII. The Enigma becomes Doubly Mysterious IX. The Man with the Bell X. Which explains how Javert got on the Scent BOOK SIXTH.--LE PETIT-PICPUS I. Number 62 Rue Petit-Picpus II. The Obedience of Martin Verga III. Austerities IV. Gayeties V. Distractions VI. The Little Convent VII. Some Silhouettes of this Darkness VIII. Post Corda Lapides IX. A Century under a Guimpe X. Origin of the Perpetual Adoration XI. End of the Petit-Picpus BOOK SEVENTH.--PARENTHESIS I. The Convent as an Abstract Idea II. The Convent as an Historical Fact III. On What Conditions One can respect the Past IV. The Convent from the Point of View of Principles V. Prayer VI. The Absolute Goodness of Prayer VII. Precautions to be observed in Blame VIII. Faith, Law BOOK EIGHTH.--CEMETERIES TAKE THAT WHICH IS COMMITTED THEM I. Which treats of the Manner of entering a Convent II. Fauchelevent in the Presence of a Difficulty III. Mother Innocente IV. In which Jean Valjean has quite the Air of having read Austin Castillejo V. It is not Necessary to be Drunk in order to be Immortal VI. Between Four Planks VII. In which will be found the Origin of the Saying: Don't lose the Card VIII. A Successful Interrogatory IX. Cloistered VOLUME III BOOK FIRST.--PARIS STUDIED IN ITS ATOM I. Parvulus II. Some of his Particular Characteristics III. He is Agreeable IV. He may be of Use V. His Frontiers VI. A Bit of History VII. The Gamin should have his Place in the Classifications of India VIII. In which the Reader will find a Charming Saying of the Last King IX. The Old Soul of Gaul X. Ecce Paris, ecce Homo XI. To Scoff, to Reign XII. The Future Latent in the People XIII. Little Gavroche BOOK SECOND.--THE GREAT BOURGEOIS I. Ninety Years and Thirty-two Teeth II. Like Master, Like House III. Luc-Esprit IV. A Centenarian Aspirant V. Basque and Nicolette VI. In which Magnon and her Two Children are seen VII. Rule: Receive No One except in the Evening VIII. Two do not make a Pair BOOK THIRD.--THE GRANDFATHER AND THE GRANDSON I. An Ancient Salon II. One of the Red Spectres of that Epoch III. Requiescant IV. End of the Brigand V. The Utility of going to Mass, in order to become a Revolutionist VI. The Consequences of having met a Warden VII. Some Petticoat VIII. Marble against Granite BOOK FOURTH.--THE FRIENDS OF THE ABC I. A Group which barely missed becoming Historic II. Blondeau's Funeral Oration by Bossuet III. Marius' Astonishments IV. The Back Room of the Cafe Musain V. Enlargement of Horizon VI. Res Angusta BOOK FIFTH.--THE EXCELLENCE OF MISFORTUNE I. Marius Indigent II. Marius Poor III. Marius Grown Up IV. M. Mabeuf V. Poverty a Good Neighbor for Misery VI. The Substitute BOOK SIXTH.--THE CONJUNCTION OF TWO STARS I. The Sobriquet; Mode of Formation of Family Names II. Lux Facta Est III. Effect of the Spring IV. Beginning of a Great Malady V. Divers Claps of Thunder fall on Ma'am Bougon VI. Taken Prisoner VII. Adventures of the Letter U delivered over to Conjectures VIII. The Veterans themselves can be Happy IX. Eclipse BOOK SEVENTH.--PATRON MINETTE I. Mines and Miners II. The Lowest Depths III. Babet, Gueulemer, Claquesous, and Montparnasse IV. Composition of the Troupe BOOK EIGHTH.--THE WICKED POOR MAN I. Marius, while seeking a Girl in a Bonnet encounters a Man in a Cap II. Treasure Trove III. Quadrifrons IV. A Rose in Misery V. A Providential Peep-Hole VI. The Wild Man in his Lair VII. Strategy and Tactics VIII. The Ray of Light in the Hovel IX. Jondrette comes near Weeping X. Tariff of Licensed Cabs, Two Francs an Hour XI. Offers of Service from Misery to Wretchedness XII. The Use made of M. Leblanc's Five-Franc Piece XIII. Solus cum Solo, in Loco Remoto, non cogitabuntur orare Pater Noster XIV. In which a Police Agent bestows Two Fistfuls on a Lawyer XV. Jondrette makes his Purchases XVI. In which will be found the Words to an English Air which was in Fashion in 1832 XVII. The Use made of Marius' Five-Franc Piece XVIII. Marius' Two Chairs form a Vis-a-Vis XIX. Occupying One's Self with Obscure Depths XX. The Trap XXI. One should always begin by arresting the Victims XXII. The Little One who was crying in Volume Two VOLUME IV BOOK FIRST.--A FEW PAGES OF HISTORY I. Well Cut II. Badly Sewed III. Louis Philippe IV. Cracks beneath the Foundation V. Facts whence History springs and which History ignores VI. Enjolras and his Lieutenants BOOK SECOND.--EPONINE I. The Lark's Meadow II. Embryonic Formation of Crimes in the Incubation of Prisons III. Apparition to Father Mabeuf IV. An Apparition to Marius BOOK THIRD.--THE HOUSE IN THE RUE PLUMET I. The House with a Secret II. Jean Valjean as a National Guard III. Foliis ac Frondibus IV. Change of Gate V. The Rose perceives that it is an Engine of War VI. The Battle Begun VII. To One Sadness oppose a Sadness and a Half VIII. The Chain-Gang BOOK FOURTH.--SUCCOR FROM BELOW MAY TURN OUT TO BE SUCCOR FROM ON HIGH I. A Wound without, Healing within II. Mother Plutarque finds no Difficulty in explaining a Phenomenon BOOK FIFTH.--THE END OF WHICH DOES NOT RESEMBLE THE BEGINNING I. Solitude and Barracks Combined II. Cosette's Apprehensions III. Enriched with Commentaries by Toussaint IV. A Heart beneath a Stone V. Cosette after the Letter VI. Old People are made to go out opportunely BOOK SIXTH.--LITTLE GAVROCHE I. The Malicious Playfulness of the Wind II. In which Little Gavroche extracts Profit from Napoleon the Great III. The Vicissitudes of Flight BOOK SEVENTH.--SLANG I. Origin II. Roots III. Slang which weeps and Slang which laughs IV. The Two Duties: To Watch and to Hope BOOK EIGHTH.--ENCHANTMENTS AND DESOLATIONS I. Full Light II. The Bewilderment of Perfect Happiness III. The Beginning of Shadow IV. A Cab runs in English and barks in Slang V. Things of the Night VI. Marius becomes Practical once more to the Extent of Giving Cosette his Address VII. The Old Heart and the Young Heart in the Presence of Each Other BOOK NINTH.--WHITHER ARE THEY GOING? I. Jean Valjean II. Marius III. M. Mabeuf BOOK TENTH.--THE 5TH OF JUNE, 1832 I. The Surface of the Question II. The Root of the Matter III. A Burial; an Occasion to be born again IV. The Ebullitions of Former Days V. Originality of Paris BOOK ELEVENTH.--THE ATOM FRATERNIZES WITH THE HURRICANE I. Some Explanations with Regard to the Origin of Gavroche's Poetry. The Influence of an Academician on this Poetry II. Gavroche on the March III. Just Indignation of a Hair-dresser IV. The Child is amazed at the Old Man V. The Old Man VI. Recruits BOOK TWELFTH.--CORINTHE I. History of Corinthe from its Foundation II. Preliminary Gayeties III. Night begins to descend upon Grantaire IV. An Attempt to console the Widow Hucheloup V. Preparations VI. Waiting VII. The Man recruited in the Rue des Billettes VIII. Many Interrogation Points with Regard to a Certain Le Cabuc, whose Name may not have been Le Cabuc BOOK THIRTEENTH.--MARIUS ENTERS THE SHADOW I. From the Rue Plumet to the Quartier Saint-Denis II. An Owl's View of Paris III. The Extreme Edge BOOK FOURTEENTH.--THE GRANDEURS OF DESPAIR I. The Flag: Act First II. The Flag: Act Second III. Gavroche would have done better to accept Enjolras' Carbine IV. The Barrel of Powder V. End of the Verses of Jean Prouvaire VI. The Agony of Death after the Agony of Life VII. Gavroche as a Profound Calculator of Distances BOOK FIFTEENTH.--THE RUE DE L'HOMME ARME I. A Drinker is a Babbler II. The Street Urchin an Enemy of Light III. While Cosette and Toussaint are Asleep IV. Gavroche's Excess of Zeal VOLUME V BOOK FIRST.--THE WAR BETWEEN FOUR WALLS I. The Charybdis of the Faubourg Saint-Antoine and the Scylla of the Faubourg du Temple II. What Is to Be Done in the Abyss if One Does Not Converse III. Light and Shadow IV. Minus Five, Plus One V. The Horizon Which One Beholds from the Summit of a Barricade VI. Marius Haggard, Javert Laconic VII. The Situation Becomes Aggravated VIII. The Artillery-men Compel People to Take Them Seriously IX. Employment of the Old Talents of a Poacher and That Infallible Marksmanship Which Influenced the Condemnation of 1796 X. Dawn XI. The Shot Which Misses Nothing and Kills No One XII. Disorder a Partisan of Order XIII. Passing Gleams XIV. Wherein Will Appear the Name of Enjolras' Mistress XV. Gavroche Outside XVI. How from a Brother One Becomes a Father XVII. Mortuus Pater Filium Moriturum Expectat XVIII. The Vulture Becomes Prey XIX. Jean Valjean Takes His Revenge XX. The Dead Are in the Right and the Living Are Not in the Wrong XXI. The Heroes XXII. Foot to Foot XXIII. Orestes Fasting and Pylades Drunk XXIV. Prisoner BOOK SECOND.--THE INTESTINE OF THE LEVIATHAN I. The Land Impoverished by the Sea II. Ancient History of the Sewer III. Bruneseau IV. V. Present Progress VI. Future Progress BOOK THIRD.--MUD BUT THE SOUL I. The Sewer and Its Surprises II. Explanation III. The "Spun" Man IV. He Also Bears His Cross V. In the Case of Sand, as in That of Woman, There Is a Fineness Which Is Treacherous VI. The Fontis VII. One Sometimes Runs Aground When One Fancies That One Is Disembarking VIII. The Torn Coat-Tail IX. Marius Produces on Some One Who Is a Judge of the Matter, the Effect of Being Dead X. Return of the Son Who Was Prodigal of His Life XI. Concussion in the Absolute XII. The Grandfather BOOK FOURTH.--JAVERT DERAILED I. BOOK FIFTH.--GRANDSON AND GRANDFATHER I. In Which the Tree with the Zinc Plaster Appears Again II. Marius, Emerging from Civil War, Makes Ready for Domestic War III. Marius Attacked IV. Mademoiselle Gillenormand Ends by No Longer Thinking It a Bad Thing That M. Fauchelevent Should Have Entered With Something Under His Arm V. Deposit Your Money in a Forest Rather than with a Notary VI. The Two Old Men Do Everything, Each One After His Own Fashion, to Render Cosette Happy VII. The Effects of Dreams Mingled with Happiness VIII. Two Men Impossible to Find BOOK SIXTH.--THE SLEEPLESS NIGHT I. The 16th of February, 1833 II. Jean Valjean Still Wears His Arm in a Sling III. The Inseparable IV. The Immortal Liver BOOK SEVENTH.--THE LAST DRAUGHT FROM THE CUP I. The Seventh Circle and the Eighth Heaven II. The Obscurities Which a Revelation Can Contain BOOK EIGHTH.--FADING AWAY OF THE TWILIGHT I. The Lower Chamber II. Another Step Backwards III. They Recall the Garden of the Rue Plumet IV. Attraction and Extinction BOOK NINTH.--SUPREME SHADOW, SUPREME DAWN I. Pity for the Unhappy, but Indulgence for the Happy II. Last Flickerings of a Lamp Without Oil III. A Pen Is Heavy to the Man Who Lifted the Fauchelevent's Cart IV. A Bottle of Ink Which Only Succeeded in Whitening V. A Night Behind Which There Is Day VI. The Grass Covers and the Rain Effaces LES MISERABLES VOLUME I.--FANTINE. PREFACE So long as there shall exist, by virtue of law and custom, decrees of damnation pronounced by society, artificially creating hells amid the civilization of earth, and adding the element of human fate to divine destiny; so long as the three great problems of the century--the degradation of man through pauperism, the corruption of woman through hunger, the crippling of children through lack of light--are unsolved; so long as social asphyxia is possible in any part of the world;--in other words, and with a still wider significance, so long as ignorance and poverty exist on earth, books of the nature of Les Miserables cannot fail to be of use. HAUTEVILLE HOUSE, 1862. FANTINE BOOK FIRST--A JUST MAN CHAPTER I--M. MYRIEL In 1815, M. Charles-Francois-Bienvenu Myriel was Bishop of D---- He was an old man of about seventy-five years of age; he had occupied the see of D---- since 1806. Although this detail has no connection whatever with the real substance of what we are about to relate, it will not be superfluous, if merely for the sake of exactness in all points, to mention here the various rumors and remarks which had been in circulation about him from the very moment when he arrived in the diocese. True or false, that which is said of men often occupies as important a place in their lives, and above all in their destinies, as that which they do. M. Myriel was the son of a councillor of the Parliament of Aix; hence he belonged to the nobility of the bar. It was said that his father, destining him to be the heir of his own post, had married him at a very early age, eighteen or twenty, in accordance with a custom which is rather widely prevalent in parliamentary families. In spite of this marriage, however, it was said that Charles Myriel created a great deal of talk. He was well formed, though rather short in stature, elegant, graceful, intelligent; the whole of the first portion of his life had been devoted to the world and to gallantry. The Revolution came; events succeeded each other with precipitation; the parliamentary families, decimated, pursued, hunted down, were dispersed. M. Charles Myriel emigrated to Italy at the very beginning of the Revolution. There his wife died of a malady of the chest, from which she had long suffered. He had no children. What took place next in the fate of M. Myriel? The ruin of the French society of the olden days, the fall of his own family, the tragic spectacles of '93, which were, perhaps, even more alarming to the emigrants who viewed them from a distance, with the magnifying powers of terror,--did these cause the ideas of renunciation and solitude to germinate in him? Was he, in the midst of these distractions, these affections which absorbed his life, suddenly smitten with one of those mysterious and terrible blows which sometimes overwhelm, by striking to his heart, a man whom public catastrophes would not shake, by striking at his existence and his fortune? No one could have told: all that was known was, that when he returned from Italy he was a priest. In 1804, M. Myriel was the Cure of B---- [Brignolles]. He was already advanced in years, and lived in a very retired manner. About the epoch of the coronation, some petty affair connected with his curacy--just what, is not precisely known--took him to Paris. Among other powerful persons to whom he went to solicit aid for his parishioners was M. le Cardinal Fesch. One day, when the Emperor had come to visit his uncle, the worthy Cure, who was waiting in the anteroom, found himself present when His Majesty passed. Napoleon, on finding himself observed with a certain curiosity by this old man, turned round and said abruptly:-- "Who is this good man who is staring at me?" "Sire," said M. Myriel, "you are looking at a good man, and I at a great man. Each of us can profit by it." That very evening, the Emperor asked the Cardinal the name of the Cure, and some time afterwards M. Myriel was utterly astonished to learn that he had been appointed Bishop of D---- What truth was there, after all, in the stories which were invented as to the early portion of M. Myriel's life? No one knew. Very few families had been acquainted with the Myriel family before the Revolution. M. Myriel had to undergo the fate of every newcomer in a little town, where there are many mouths which talk, and very few heads which think. He was obliged to undergo it although he was a bishop, and because he was a bishop. But after all, the rumors with which his name was connected were rumors only,--noise, sayings, words; less than words--palabres, as the energetic language of the South expresses it. However that may be, after nine years of episcopal power and of residence in D----, all the stories and subjects of conversation which engross petty towns and petty people at the outset had fallen into profound oblivion. No one would have dared to mention them; no one would have dared to recall them. M. Myriel had arrived at D---- accompanied by an elderly spinster, Mademoiselle Baptistine, who was his sister, and ten years his junior. Their only domestic was a female servant of the same age as Mademoiselle Baptistine, and named Madame Magloire, who, after having been the servant of M. le Cure, now assumed the double title of maid to Mademoiselle and housekeeper to Monseigneur. Mademoiselle Baptistine was a long, pale, thin, gentle creature; she realized the ideal expressed by the word "respectable"; for it seems that a woman must needs be a mother in order to be venerable. She had never been pretty; her whole life, which had been nothing but a succession of holy deeds, had finally conferred upon her a sort of pallor and transparency; and as she advanced in years she had acquired what may be called the beauty of goodness. What had been leanness in her youth had become transparency in her maturity; and this diaphaneity allowed the angel to be seen. She was a soul rather than a virgin. Her person seemed made of a shadow; there was hardly sufficient body to provide for sex; a little matter enclosing a light; large eyes forever drooping;--a mere pretext for a soul's remaining on the earth. Madame Magloire was a little, fat, white old woman, corpulent and bustling; always out of breath,--in the first place, because of her activity, and in the next, because of her asthma. On his arrival, M. Myriel was installed in the episcopal palace with the honors required by the Imperial decrees, which class a bishop immediately after a major-general. The mayor and the president paid the first call on him, and he, in turn, paid the first call on the general and the prefect. The installation over, the town waited to see its bishop at work. CHAPTER II--M. MYRIEL BECOMES M. WELCOME The episcopal palace of D---- adjoins the hospital. The episcopal palace was a huge and beautiful house, built of stone at the beginning of the last century by M. Henri Puget, Doctor of Theology of the Faculty of Paris, Abbe of Simore, who had been Bishop of D---- in 1712. This palace was a genuine seignorial residence. Everything about it had a grand air,--the apartments of the Bishop, the drawing-rooms, the chambers, the principal courtyard, which was very large, with walks encircling it under arcades in the old Florentine fashion, and gardens planted with magnificent trees. In the dining-room, a long and superb gallery which was situated on the ground-floor and opened on the gardens, M. Henri Puget had entertained in state, on July 29, 1714, My Lords Charles Brulart de Genlis, archbishop; Prince d'Embrun; Antoine de Mesgrigny, the capuchin, Bishop of Grasse; Philippe de Vendome, Grand Prior of France, Abbe of Saint Honore de Lerins; Francois de Berton de Crillon, bishop, Baron de Vence; Cesar de Sabran de Forcalquier, bishop, Seignor of Glandeve; and Jean Soanen, Priest of the Oratory, preacher in ordinary to the king, bishop, Seignor of Senez. The portraits of these seven reverend personages decorated this apartment; and this memorable date, the 29th of July, 1714, was there engraved in letters of gold on a table of white marble. The hospital was a low and narrow building of a single story, with a small garden. Three days after his arrival, the Bishop visited the hospital. The visit ended, he had the director requested to be so good as to come to his house. "Monsieur the director of the hospital," said he to him, "how many sick people have you at the present moment?" "Twenty-six, Monseigneur." "That was the number which I counted," said the Bishop. "The beds," pursued the director, "are very much crowded against each other." "That is what I observed." "The halls are nothing but rooms, and it is with difficulty that the air can be changed in them." "So it seems to me." "And then, when there is a ray of sun, the garden is very small for the convalescents." "That was what I said to myself." "In case of epidemics,--we have had the typhus fever this year; we had the sweating sickness two years ago, and a hundred patients at times,--we know not what to do." "That is the thought which occurred to me." "What would you have, Monseigneur?" said the director. "One must resign one's self." This conversation took place in the gallery dining-room on the ground-floor. The Bishop remained silent for a moment; then he turned abruptly to the director of the hospital. "Monsieur," said he, "how many beds do you think this hall alone would hold?" "Monseigneur's dining-room?" exclaimed the stupefied director. The Bishop cast a glance round the apartment, and seemed to be taking measures and calculations with his eyes. "It would hold full twenty beds," said he, as though speaking to himself. Then, raising his voice:-- "Hold, Monsieur the director of the hospital, I will tell you something. There is evidently a mistake here. There are thirty-six of you, in five or six small rooms. There are three of us here, and we have room for sixty. There is some mistake, I tell you; you have my house, and I have yours. Give me back my house; you are at home here." On the following day the thirty-six patients were installed in the Bishop's palace, and the Bishop was settled in the hospital. M. Myriel had no property, his family having been ruined by the Revolution. His sister was in receipt of a yearly income of five hundred francs, which sufficed for her personal wants at the vicarage. M. Myriel received from the State, in his quality of bishop, a salary of fifteen thousand francs. On the very day when he took up his abode in the hospital, M. Myriel settled on the disposition of this sum once for all, in the following manner. We transcribe here a note made by his own hand:-- NOTE ON THE REGULATION OF MY HOUSEHOLD EXPENSES. For the little seminary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,500 livres Society of the mission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 " For the Lazarists of Montdidier . . . . . . . . . . 100 " Seminary for foreign missions in Paris . . . . . . 200 " Congregation of the Holy Spirit . . . . . . . . . . 150 " Religious establishments of the Holy Land . . . . . 100 " Charitable maternity societies . . . . . . . . . . 300 " Extra, for that of Arles . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 " Work for the amelioration of prisons . . . . . . . 400 " Work for the relief and delivery of prisoners . . . 500 " To liberate fathers of families incarcerated for debt 1,000 " Addition to the salary of the poor teachers of the diocese . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,000 " Public granary of the Hautes-Alpes . . . . . . . . 100 " Congregation of the ladies of D----, of Manosque, and of Sisteron, for the gratuitous instruction of poor girls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,500 " For the poor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,000 " My personal expenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,000 " ------ Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15,000 " M. Myriel made no change in this arrangement during the entire period that he occupied the see of D---- As has been seen, he called it regulating his household expenses. This arrangement was accepted with absolute submission by Mademoiselle Baptistine. This holy woman regarded Monseigneur of D---- as at one and the same time her brother and her bishop, her friend according to the flesh and her superior according to the Church. She simply loved and venerated him. When he spoke, she bowed; when he acted, she yielded her adherence. Their only servant, Madame Magloire, grumbled a little. It will be observed that Monsieur the Bishop had reserved for himself only one thousand livres, which, added to the pension of Mademoiselle Baptistine, made fifteen hundred francs a year. On these fifteen hundred francs these two old women and the old man subsisted. And when a village curate came to D----, the Bishop still found means to entertain him, thanks to the severe economy of Madame Magloire, and to the intelligent administration of Mademoiselle Baptistine. One day, after he had been in D---- about three months, the Bishop said:-- "And still I am quite cramped with it all!" "I should think so!" exclaimed Madame Magloire. "Monseigneur has not even claimed the allowance which the department owes him for the expense of his carriage in town, and for his journeys about the diocese. It was customary for bishops in former days." "Hold!" cried the Bishop, "you are quite right, Madame Magloire." And he made his demand. Some time afterwards the General Council took this demand under consideration, and voted him an annual sum of three thousand francs, under this heading: Allowance to M. the Bishop for expenses of carriage, expenses of posting, and expenses of pastoral visits. This provoked a great outcry among the local burgesses; and a senator of the Empire, a former member of the Council of the Five Hundred which favored the 18 Brumaire, and who was provided with a magnificent senatorial office in the vicinity of the town of D----, wrote to M. Bigot de Preameneu, the minister of public worship, a very angry and confidential note on the subject, from which we extract these authentic lines:-- "Expenses of carriage? What can be done with it in a town of less than four thousand inhabitants? Expenses of journeys? What is the use of these trips, in the first place? Next, how can the posting be accomplished in these mountainous parts? There are no roads. No one travels otherwise than on horseback. Even the bridge between Durance and Chateau-Arnoux can barely support ox-teams. These priests are all thus, greedy and avaricious. This man played the good priest when he first came. Now he does like the rest; he must have a carriage and a posting-chaise, he must have luxuries, like the bishops of the olden days. Oh, all this priesthood! Things will not go well, M. le Comte, until the Emperor has freed us from these black-capped rascals. Down with the Pope! [Matters were getting embroiled with Rome.] For my part, I am for Caesar alone." Etc., etc. On the other hand, this affair afforded great delight to Madame Magloire. "Good," said she to Mademoiselle Baptistine; "Monseigneur began with other people, but he has had to wind up with himself, after all. He has regulated all his charities. Now here are three thousand francs for us! At last!" That same evening the Bishop wrote out and handed to his sister a memorandum conceived in the following terms:-- EXPENSES OF CARRIAGE AND CIRCUIT. For furnishing meat soup to the patients in the hospital. 1,500 livres For the maternity charitable society of Aix . . . . . . . 250 " For the maternity charitable society of Draguignan . . . 250 " For foundlings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500 " For orphans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500 " ----- Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,000 " Such was M. Myriel's budget. As for the chance episcopal perquisites, the fees for marriage bans, dispensations, private baptisms, sermons, benedictions, of churches or chapels, marriages, etc., the Bishop levied them on the wealthy with all the more asperity, since he bestowed them on the needy. After a time, offerings of money flowed in. Those who had and those who lacked knocked at M. Myriel's door,--the latter in search of the alms which the former came to deposit. In less than a year the Bishop had become the treasurer of all benevolence and the cashier of all those in distress. Considerable sums of money passed through his hands, but nothing could induce him to make any change whatever in his mode of life, or add anything superfluous to his bare necessities. Far from it. As there is always more wretchedness below than there is brotherhood above, all was given away, so to speak, before it was received. It was like water on dry soil; no matter how much money he received, he never had any. Then he stripped himself. The usage being that bishops shall announce their baptismal names at the head of their charges and their pastoral letters, the poor people of the country-side had selected, with a sort of affectionate instinct, among the names and prenomens of their bishop, that which had a meaning for them; and they never called him anything except Monseigneur Bienvenu [Welcome]. We will follow their example, and will also call him thus when we have occasion to name him. Moreover, this appellation pleased him. "I like that name," said he. "Bienvenu makes up for the Monseigneur." We do not claim that the portrait herewith presented is probable; we confine ourselves to stating that it resembles the original. CHAPTER III--A HARD BISHOPRIC FOR A GOOD BISHOP The Bishop did not omit his pastoral visits because he had converted his carriage into alms. The diocese of D---- is a fatiguing one. There are very few plains and a great many mountains; hardly any roads, as we have just seen; thirty-two curacies, forty-one vicarships, and two hundred and eighty-five auxiliary chapels. To visit all these is quite a task. The Bishop managed to do it. He went on foot when it was in the neighborhood, in a tilted spring-cart when it was on the plain, and on a donkey in the mountains. The two old women accompanied him. When the trip was too hard for them, he went alone. One day he arrived at Senez, which is an ancient episcopal city. He was mounted on an ass. 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