Chapter 38 nine happy endings

The girls stayed alone, chatting two by two by the window, sticking their heads out, talking to each other through the window. They saw the young men coming out of the Bombarda, arm in arm.They turned their heads, smiled and waved at them, and disappeared into the weekly Sunday bustle of the Élysée Square. "Don't go too long!" cried Fantine. "What are they going to bring back to us?" said Serphine. "Those must be some pretty things," Dali said. "And I," said Beloved, "I wish to bring back something gold." They also found it amusing to watch the activity by the water from among the branches of the big trees, and soon forgot about it.That was the hour of departure for the mail coaches and stagecoaches.At that time, almost all the passengers and goods going to the south and west had to go through the Elysee Square, and most of them went along the riverside and went out through the Baxi Gate.Every minute, there will be a yellow-painted and black-painted cart carrying heavy loads, the horseshoe chains rattle together, boxes, suitcases, and bags are piled up in disarray, people are crowded in the cart, and they all leave in the blink of an eye. He was crushing the middle of the street, rushing frantically through the crowds, the stones on the road turned to flint, and the dust billowed like sparks and smoke from an iron furnace.The girls rejoiced at the commotion, and Beloved cried out:

"What a commotion! It's like flying piles of chains." Once, they seemed to see a car (they could not see it very well because of the thick foliage of the elms) stopped for a while, and then flew away again.Fantine was alarmed by this. "How strange!" she said. "I thought the buses never stopped." Beloved shrugged. "This Fantine is so special. I was looking at her deliberately just now. She will make a fuss about the simplest things. If I were a passenger, I would tell the bus and say: 'I want to go ahead, let me get on when you pass the riverside. .The bus comes and sees me, stops and lets me get on.' It happens every day. You're out of real life, my dear."

After a while like that, Beloved suddenly moved, like someone just waking up. "Well," she said, "where's the odd thing they're sending us?" "Yes, that's exactly what you said," Dali continued, "and what about the weird thing that has been going on for a long time?" "They have delayed too long!" said Fantine. Fantine was finishing this sigh, when the waiter who served supper entered, holding something in his hand that seemed to be a letter. "What's this?" asked Beloved. The waiter replied: "Here is a note from those gentlemen to the ladies."

"Why didn't it come right away?" "Because the gentlemen ordered it," went on the waiter, "to be handed over to the ladies an hour later." Beloved snatched the paper from the waiter.It was indeed a letter. "Strange," she said, "that there is no name of the recipient, but these words are written on it: " She hastily opened the letter and read it (she could read): fled on the wings.The bus to Toulouse has pulled us out of the trap.The trap is you, oh, our beautiful little girls!We have returned to society, to duty, to order, the horseshoes are rumbling, three leagues an hour to go, the motherland needs us, like everyone else, to be magistrates, parents, town officials, and government advisers.Honor us.We are making a sacrifice.Come on and cry for us.Quickly find a substitute for us.If this letter has torn your hearts, you will avenge it and tear it to pieces.farewell.

The four girls looked at each other. Beloved was the first to break the silence. "Well," she exclaimed, "it's not a bad joke." "It's interesting," said Serphine. "It must have been Brashville's idea," continued Beloved. "That makes me love him. Love is always there when you're absent." "No," said Dahlia, "it was Doromeer's idea. You can see it at a glance." "In that case," continued Beloved, "damn Blacheville, long live Tholomyers!" "Long live Doromeers!" cried Dali and Sephine.

Then they laughed out loud. Fantine laughed with them. An hour later, when she was back in her room, she was crying.We have already said that this is her first love.She was as devoted to Tholomyers as she was to her husband, and the poor girl had already borne a child.