Les Misérables, page 217
CHAPTER VIII--THE RAY OF LIGHT IN THE HOVEL
The big girl approached and laid her hand in her father's.
"Feel how cold I am," said she.
"Bah!" replied the father, "I am much colder than that."
The mother exclaimed impetuously:--
"You always have something better than any one else, so you do! even badthings."
"Down with you!" said the man.
The mother, being eyed after a certain fashion, held her tongue.
Silence reigned for a moment in the hovel. The elder girl was removingthe mud from the bottom of her mantle, with a careless air; her youngersister continued to sob; the mother had taken the latter's head betweenher hands, and was covering it with kisses, whispering to her thewhile:--
"My treasure, I entreat you, it is nothing of consequence, don't cry,you will anger your father."
"No!" exclaimed the father, "quite the contrary! sob! sob! that'sright."
Then turning to the elder:--
"There now! He is not coming! What if he were not to come! I shall haveextinguished my fire, wrecked my chair, torn my shirt, and broken mypane all for nothing."
"And wounded the child!" murmured the mother.
"Do you know," went on the father, "that it's beastly cold in thisdevil's garret! What if that man should not come! Oh! See there, you! Hemakes us wait! He says to himself: 'Well! they will wait for me!That's what they're there for.' Oh! how I hate them, and with what joy,jubilation, enthusiasm, and satisfaction I could strangle all those richfolks! all those rich folks! These men who pretend to be charitable,who put on airs, who go to mass, who make presents to the priesthood,_preachy, preachy_, in their skullcaps, and who think themselves aboveus, and who come for the purpose of humiliating us, and to bring us'clothes,' as they say! old duds that are not worth four sous! Andbread! That's not what I want, pack of rascals that they are, it'smoney! Ah! money! Never! Because they say that we would go off and drinkit up, and that we are drunkards and idlers! And they! What are they,then, and what have they been in their time! Thieves! They never couldhave become rich otherwise! Oh! Society ought to be grasped by the fourcorners of the cloth and tossed into the air, all of it! It would allbe smashed, very likely, but at least, no one would have anything,and there would be that much gained! But what is that blockhead ofa benevolent gentleman doing? Will he come? Perhaps the animal hasforgotten the address! I'll bet that that old beast--"
At that moment there came a light tap at the door, the man rushed to itand opened it, exclaiming, amid profound bows and smiles of adoration:--
"Enter, sir! Deign to enter, most respected benefactor, and yourcharming young lady, also."
A man of ripe age and a young girl made their appearance on thethreshold of the attic.
Marius had not quitted his post. His feelings for the moment surpassedthe powers of the human tongue.
It was She!
Whoever has loved knows all the radiant meanings contained in thosethree letters of that word: She.
It was certainly she. Marius could hardly distinguish her through theluminous vapor which had suddenly spread before his eyes. It was thatsweet, absent being, that star which had beamed upon him for six months;it was those eyes, that brow, that mouth, that lovely vanished facewhich had created night by its departure. The vision had been eclipsed,now it reappeared.
It reappeared in that gloom, in that garret, in that misshapen attic, inall that horror.
Marius shuddered in dismay. What! It was she! The palpitations of hisheart troubled his sight. He felt that he was on the brink of burstinginto tears! What! He beheld her again at last, after having sought herso long! It seemed to him that he had lost his soul, and that he hadjust found it again.
She was the same as ever, only a little pale; her delicate face wasframed in a bonnet of violet velvet, her figure was concealed beneatha pelisse of black satin. Beneath her long dress, a glimpse could becaught of her tiny foot shod in a silken boot.
She was still accompanied by M. Leblanc.
She had taken a few steps into the room, and had deposited a tolerablybulky parcel on the table.
The eldest Jondrette girl had retired behind the door, and was staringwith sombre eyes at that velvet bonnet, that silk mantle, and thatcharming, happy face.
