Chapter 102 8 The trouble with hosting a poor man who may be rich

The big doll was still in the toy store, and Cosette could not help squinting at it as she passed by, before she knocked on the door.The door opened.Madame Thenardier came out with a candle. "Ah! It's you bastard! Thank God for how long you've been away! You've had enough fun, little bitch!" "Madame," said Cosette trembling, "a gentleman has come to spend the night." Madame Thenardier's scowling face immediately turned into a smiling face, which is a unique innkeeper's ingenuity, and she opened her eyes to look for the new visitor. "Is this the gentleman?" she said.

"Yes, ma'am," answered the man, raising his hand to the brim of his hat. Rich guests are not so polite.Madame Thenardier caught sight of his gesture and his clothes and luggage, and immediately put away her smile and resumed her angry face.She said coldly: "Come in, man." "Man" came in.Madame Thenardier looked at him again, noticing in particular his worn overcoat and his somewhat worn hat, nodded, wrinkled her nose, and winked at her husband, who had been drinking with the coachmen, Ask for his opinion.Her husband shook his forefinger slightly and pursed his lips, which meant that he was completely poor.Then Madame Thenardier raised her voice and said:

"Hi! I'm sorry, old man, but I have no room here." "Place me wherever you like," said the man, "in the attic, in the stable, whatever. I'll still pay for a room." "Forty sous." "Forty sous, yes." "Ok." "Forty sous!" whispered a driver to Madame Thenardier. "Wouldn't twenty be enough?" "Forty sous for him," replied Madame Thenardier in her original tone. "That's the truth," added her husband politely. "It's bad luck to have such a person at home." By this time the man had put his bundle and stick on the bench, and sat down near a table, where Cosette hastily set out a bottle of wine and a glass.The merchant who asked for water first took the bucket to feed the horses himself.Cosette also went back under her vegetable-table, and sat down to work.

The man poured a glass of wine for himself, and just as he brought it to his mouth, he was already observing the child carefully with a strange expression. Cosette was ugly.If she was happy, she might be prettier.We have already sketched the image of this brooding little man.Cosette was thin and sallow, she was almost eight years old, but she looked like a child of six.Hidden deep in a shadow, the large eyes had lost their luster from constant crying.The arc of her mouth reveals a long period of inner pain, reminiscent of those waiting prisoners and the sick who know they are hopeless.Her hands, as her mother had guessed, were "destroyed in chilblains."At that time, the fire in the furnace was shining on her, making the bones of her body stand out, making her look sadly thin.As she often shivered with cold, she had the habit of keeping her knees close together.All her clothes were but rags, which would have been pitiable in summer and painful in winter.She only has a cloth full of holes, and there is absolutely no woolen fabric on her body.Her flesh was exposed everywhere, and the green and black lumps beaten by the Thenardier woman could be seen all over her body.Two bare legs, red and thin.The socket of the clavicle is painful to see.That child, from head to toe, her attitude, her expression, her voice, her slowness of speech, the way she looks at people, her reticence when she sees people, and her every move, all express and reveal only one emotion: fear.

Fear gripped her, we might say, she was surrounded by fear, which drew her elbows close to her waist, her heels under her skirts, took up as little room as possible, sucked as little air as was necessary, That kind of fear can be said to have become her normal state, and there has been no other change except that it has increased.There is a look of panic in the corner of her eyes, and that is where terror hides. Cosette's terror reached such a degree that when she came home, drenched, she dared not go to the fire to dry her clothes, but went silently to her work. The eight-year-old's eyes were often so sad, sometimes so sad, that at certain moments she looked as if she was becoming an idiot or a monster.

We have already said that she never knew what prayer was, and she never set foot in the doors of a church. "Have I any leisure left?" Madame Thenardier used to say. The man in the yellow coat kept looking at Cosette without taking his eyes off her. Madame Thenardier suddenly exclaimed: "I remember! Where's the bread?" Cosette, who always hurried out from under the table whenever she heard Madame Thenardier raise her voice, did as usual. She had forgotten all about the bread.She had to do what kids who live in constant fear do: lie. "Ma'am, the bakery is closed."

"You should have knocked." "I knocked, ma'am." "What happened after knocking?" "He won't." "Whether it is true or not, I will find out to-morrow," said Madame Thenardier. "If you lie, I will make you dance. Wait, and return the fifteen sous." Cosette put her hands in the pockets of her apron, and grew livid.The fifteen-sou bill was gone. "What is the matter!" said Madame Thenardier, "do you hear me?" Cosette turned the bag over to see that there was nothing.Where did the money go?The poor child could not speak a word.She was petrified.

"Did you lose the fifteen sous?" Mademoiselle Thenardier was furious. "Or are you trying to cheat me of my money?" At the same time she reached for the leather whip which hung by the fireplace. This frightful gesture caused Cosette to cry loudly: "Forgive me! Madame! Madame! I dare not." Madame Thenardier had taken off the whip. At this moment, the man in the yellow coat fumbled in the pocket of his vest, and no one else saw his action. The other guests were drinking or playing cards and didn't notice anything. Cosette, terrified, curled up in the corner of the fireplace, just trying to hide her limbs that were exposed outside the short-sleeved skirt.Madame Thenardier raised her arms.

"Excuse me, ma'am," said the man, "I saw something fall out of the little girl's apron pocket just now and roll on the floor. Maybe it was the money." At the same time he bent down, as if searching the ground for a while. "Yes, here it is." He stood up and said. He handed Madame Thenardier a silver coin. "Yes, that's it," she said. Not it, because it was a coin worth twenty sous, but Madame Thenardier took advantage of it.She stuffed the money into her pocket, turned her eyes sideways and said to the child: "Next time, you will not be allowed to do this again, absolutely not!"

Cosette returned to her old place, which Madame Thenardier called "her nest."Her big eyes were always looking at the strange guest, and she began to show an expression she had never seen before. It was just a look of naive surprise, but there was already a feeling of anxious attachment inside. . "Well, will you have supper?" Madame Thenardier asked the guest. He doesn't answer.He seemed to be thinking carefully. "Who is this man?" she said through clenched teeth. "It must be a poor man. How can such a fellow have money for dinner? Maybe he can't pay my rent. He didn't think of putting the silver coin on the ground in his pocket." , is already remarkable.”

At this moment, a door opened, and Eponine and Azma walked in. They were indeed two beautiful little girls, generous, seldom rustic, and extremely lovable. One wore a smooth and smooth chestnut-brown twisted bun, the other had two long black braids on her back, and the two All were lively, neat, plump, rosy, strong, and good-looking.They are all dressed warmly, because their mothers have exquisite handicrafts, and although the cloth is thick, it does not affect the elegance of their clothing, which not only protects against the winter cold, but also contains the meaning of spring.Both little girls were beaming.In addition, they have some airs of masters.Their adornment, their laughter, and their noise all convey a sense of superiority.As they entered, Madame Thenardier said in a tone of most loving reproach: "Ha! What are you doing here, you two fellows!" Then she drew them one by one to her knees, straightened their hair and tied their ribbons, and before letting them go, she shook them for a while with that gentle touch which is characteristic of a loving mother. , and shouted in his mouth: "Fuck you, you ugly monsters!" They went and sat by the fire.They had a doll, and they put it on their knees, and they turned it and that, chattering and laughing.From time to time Cosette took her eyes off the work and watched them play miserably. Neither Éponine nor Azma looked at Cosette.It seemed to them that it was just a dog.The combined age of these three little girls is less than twenty-four years old, but they already represent the entire human society, envy on the one hand, and contempt on the other. The Thenardier sisters' doll was worn out, worn out, and faded, but it did not seem unlovely to Cosette, who had never had a doll since she was born. She never had "a real doll," as every child knows. Madame Thenardier, who was walking up and down the hall, suddenly noticed that Cosette's thoughts had wandered off, and instead of being absorbed in her work, she was paying attention to the two little girls who were playing. "Ha! You can't escape now!" she roared. "This is how you work! I'll get you a whip and teach you how to do it. Let me do it." The stranger, still sitting in his chair, turned to look at Madame Thenardier. "Sister-in-law," he said with a smile, as if he didn't dare to speak, "forget it! Let her play!" Such a wish might be negotiable if it came from a guest who had eaten a plate of lamb at dinner and drank two bottles of wine, and did not look like a "pauper", but a person wearing such a hat It seemed intolerable to Madame Thenardier that a man in such a coat should dare express a wish.She said angrily: "If she wants to eat, she has to work. I can't keep her for nothing." "What on earth is she doing?" the stranger went on, speaking in a soft voice that contrasted strangely with his beggar's clothes and porter's shoulders. Mademoiselle Thenardier, with admiration, answered him: "She's knitting woolen socks, isn't that right? My two young daughters' woolen socks, they don't have socks, so they don't have any, and they're going to walk barefoot soon." Looking at Cosette's pitifully red feet, the man continued: "How long will it take her to finish this pair of socks?" "She'll have at least three or four full days, lazy girl." "How much is this pair of socks worth after they are finished?" Madame Thenardier cast a contemptuous glance at him. "At least thirty sous." "May I give you five francs for these socks?" the man went on. "By God!" laughed an attentive coachman. "Five francs! What a bargain! Five dollars!" Thenardier thought it time to speak. "Yes, Monsieur, if it pleases you, we will give you these socks at five francs. We always try to flatter our guests." "It must be paid at once," said Madame Thenardier simply. "I'll buy these socks," said the man, taking a five-franc bill out of his pocket and laying it on the table. "I'll pay in cash." Then, turning to Cosette, he said: "Now your job is mine. Play, my boy." The coachman was so moved by the five-franc piece that he dropped his glass and came to look at it. "It's real money!" he exclaimed, examining it. "A real rear wheel! It's not fake!" Madame Thenardier came up and put the money in her pocket without saying a word. Madame Thenardier had nothing to say, she bit her lip, and her face was full of hatred. Cosette was still trembling.She ventured to ask: "Ma'am, is it true? Can I play?" "Fuck you!" Madame Thenardier roared. "Thank you, madam," said Cosette. While she was talking to Mrs. Schedenardy, her whole little heart was thanking the stranger. Thenardier resumed drinking.His wife whispered in his ear: "What the hell is that yellow man?" "I have seen many millionaires," said Thenardier with infinite dignity, "in such coats." Cosette had put down her knitting, but did not emerge from her place.Cosette had acquired the habit of moving as little as possible.From a box behind her she took some rags and her little lead knife. Eponine and Azma didn't notice what happened at the time.They just finished an important job and they caught the cat.They threw the doll on the ground, and Eponine, the elder sister, took a lot of red and blue rags to wrap around the cat, no matter how it barked or how it struggled.And while she was doing her serious, hard work, she said to her little sister, with the sweet and sweet quips of children--like the light on the wings of a butterfly, which cannot be kept away--to her little sister: "Look, sister, this doll is much more fun than that one. It moves, it squawks, it's hot. Look, sister, we play with it. It's my little baby. I'm a rich lady ...I came to see you, and you just looked at it. Slowly you saw its beard, and it startled you. Then you saw its ears, and its tail, and it scared you again. You just Say to me: 'Oh, my God!' and I will say to you: 'Yes, madam, my little girl is like that. All little girls are like that now.'" Azma listened to Eponine's words, and felt relish. At this time, those who were drinking sang a lewd song, laughing while singing, and the ceiling was shaken.Thenardier joined in the fun and sang with them. Birds build their nests without any choice of mud or grass, and children can use anything as dolls.While Eponine and Azma bandaged the kitten, Cosette also bandaged her knife.When it was wrapped, she laid it flat on her arm and sang softly to lull it to sleep. A doll is one of the most urgent needs in a girl's childhood, but also the most moving instinct.Care, dress, groom, put on and take off, take off and put on again, teach, scold gently, rock it, hold it, put it to sleep, imagine a thing as a person, the future of women is all here.In the years of daydreaming, gossip, and sewing of little dresses and swaddles, skirts, and blouses, girls grow into little girls, little girls into big girls, and big girls into women.The first child succeeds the last doll. A girl without a doll is almost as miserable as a woman without a child, and quite impossible. So Cosette took her knife as her doll. As for Madame Thenardier, as she approached the "yellow man," she thought to herself: "My husband is right. This may be M. Lafitte. Rich men love to joke." She came closer and leaned her elbows on his desk. "Sir..." she said. The man turned around when he heard the word "sir".Madame Thenardier had called him only "man" or "old man" until then. "Just think about it, sir," she went on, with an air of flattery that was even more unbearable than her original savagery, "I'd like to let the boy play, I have no objection, and occasionally It's all right once, because you're generous. She's got nothing, you think. She's got to work." "Isn't she yours, child?" asked the man. "Oh, my God, it's not mine, sir! It's a poor family's doll, we've got it for a good cause. It's a stupid child. There must be water in her head. It's so big, you can see Come out. We help her as much as we can, we are not rich people. We wrote letters and sent them to her hometown, but to no avail. Six months have passed and there has been no reply. I think her mother must be dead gone." "Ah!" said the man, and he went back to his dream. "Her mother is worthless, too," added Madame Thenardier, "and she has abandoned her child." During the whole time of their conversation, Cosette, as if by an instinctive suggestion that she was being talked about, never took her eyes off Madame Thenardier.She listened with half understanding, and she also heard a few words by chance. At that time, all the drinkers were half-drunk, singing obscene songs over and over again, with increasing interest.They sang a fun and high-class melody with the names of the Virgin and Child Jesus.Madame Thenardier joined them, laughing wildly.Cosette stayed under the table, gazing at the fire, her eyes reflecting the fire, and taking the little bag which she had made earlier, she swung it from side to side, singing in a low voice: "My mother is dead!" It's gone! My mother is dead! My mother is dead!" After repeated persuasion by the hostess, the yellow man, "the millionaire", finally agreed to have a dinner. "What would you like to eat, sir?" "Bread and cheese," said the man. "It must be a poor man," thought Madame Thenardier. The drunks had been singing their songs, and Cosette, under the table, was singing hers too. Cosette suddenly stopped singing.She had just turned her head, and suddenly saw the little Thénardier's doll, which they had abandoned by the vegetable-cutting table when they were playing with the cat. So she put down the cloth-wrapped knife, she was not very satisfied with that knife, then she moved her eyes slowly, and looked around the hall.Madame Thenardier was talking to her husband, counting the change, Penny and Zima were playing with the cat, and the guests were eating, drinking, and singing, and no one was paying attention to her.Her chance is rare.She crawled out from under the table on her knees and hands, looked again, and knew that no one was watching her, so she quickly slipped to the side of the doll and grabbed it with one hand.After a while she was back in her original position, sitting still, but turned so that the doll in her arms was hidden in the shadows.The happiness of petting a doll is indeed unique to her, so she feels extremely intoxicated for a while. No one saw her except the guest who was slowly eating his vegetarian meal. The joy lasted for nearly a quarter of an hour. But, in spite of Cosette's attention, she did not notice that the doll's foot "disappeared," which had long since been illuminated by the fire in the fireplace.The dazzling pink foot protruding from the shadows suddenly caught Azma's attention, and she said to Eponine, "Look! Sister!" The two little girls were stunned, horrified.How dare Cosette touch the doll! Éponine stood up, still holding the cat in her arms, and went to her mother and pulled at her skirt. "Don't be noisy!" said her mother. "What are you doing to me again?" "Mother," said the boy, "look!" At the same time she pointed to Cosette. Cosette was so lost in the ecstasy of possession that she could see nothing and hear nothing. The special expression of Madame Thenardier's fuss and knowledge, which turns a woman instantly into a demon, came out from the face of Madame Thenardier. This time, her wounded pride made her even more unable to contain her anger.Cosette misbehaves, and Cosette desecrates the dolls of "Ladies". The Empress of Russia may not have a different face when she saw the serf secretly trying on the crown prince's big blue belt. She roared violently, her voice completely choked by anger: "Cosette!" Cosette was startled, thinking that the ground had fallen.She turned back. "Cosette!" cried Madame Thenardier again. Cosette put the doll gently on the ground, with a reverent and dejected expression.Her eyes were still on it, and she crossed her hands, and, for a child of that age, she crossed her fingers, twisting them to and fro, and after that she began to cry, and she The tortures of that whole day, the running in and out of the woods, the weight of the bucket, the lost money, the whips that hit me around me, and even the sad words I heard from Madame Thenardier, all these It hadn't made her cry, and now she wept bitterly. At this time, the stranger stood up. "What is it?" he asked Madame Thenardier. "Can't you see it?" said Madame Thenardier, pointing to the evidence lying at Cosette's feet. "So what?" the man asked again. "That little girl," replied Madame Thenardier, "has the audacity to touch the children's dolls!" "It's going to make a lot of noise about that!" said the man. "So what if she plays with the doll?" "She touched it with her dirty hands!" Madame Thenardier went on. At this moment, Cosette wept even more mournfully. "Don't cry!" shouted Madame Thenardier. The man ran straight to the street gate, opened it, and went out. As soon as he went out, Madame Thenardier took advantage of his absence and gave Cosette a sharp kick under the table, which made the child scream. The gate opened again, and the man returned, and taking in his hands that fairy-like doll of which we spoke earlier, which the whole village had been admiring all day long, set it up before Cosette, and said: "Your, this is for you." The man had been in the store for more than an hour, and when he sat alone thinking, he might have glimpsed the brightly lit toy store outside the window of the restaurant. Cosette raised her eyes and saw the doll brought by the man, as if she saw him walking towards her with the sun in his hands, and she heard the words she had never heard before: "This is for you." She looked at him , Looking at the doll again, she then slowly backed away, shrinking tightly to hide in the corner under the table. She didn't cry anymore, she didn't scream anymore, she didn't seem to dare to breathe anymore. Madame Thenardier, Éponine, and Azma were all frozen like wooden figures.Those who were drinking also stopped.The whole store was silent. Madame Thenardier did not move or make a sound, and began to wonder again: "Who is this old man? Is he a poor man or a millionaire? Perhaps he is both, that is to say, a thief." Her husband Thenardier's face had developed that expressive wrinkle which shows itself in a face whenever the instinct which dominates a man shows itself in all its brutality.The innkeeper looked carefully at the doll and the guest again and again, as if he was sniffing the man, smelling a bag of silver.It was but a moment.He approached his woman and whispered to her: "It's worth at least thirty francs. Don't be foolish. Hum down and serve him well." The vulgar character and the naive character have in common that there are no transitional stages in either. "Why, Cosette! Why haven't you come for your doll?" said Madame Thenardier, trying to soften her voice, but it was full of the sweet and sour notes of a savage woman. taste. Cosette, half-believing, came out of her hole. "My little Cosette," continued the thenardier master, with an air of great affection, "this gentleman has a doll for you. Come and get it. It is yours." Cosette looked at the wonderful doll with horror.Her face was still wet with tears, but her eyes, like the sky at dawn, began to gleam with joy and wonder.She felt as if she had heard someone tell her suddenly: "Little darling, you are the Queen of France." It seemed to her that if she touched the doll it would thunder. That idea was partly true, for she thought that Madame Thenardier would scold her and beat her. But temptation prevailed.She came at last, turned her head sideways, and whispered to Madame Thenardier tremblingly: "May I have it, ma'am?" No words can describe that sad, scared, and happy look. "Of course," said Madame Thenardier, "it is yours. This gentleman has given it to you." "Is it true, monsieur?" asked Cosette again; "is it true? Is it for me, madam?" The foreign guest seemed to be holding back the tears in his eyes, and he seemed to have been moved to the point where he couldn't stop crying when he opened his mouth.He nodded to Cosette, and took the "mother's" hand to her little hand. Cosette quickly withdrew her hand, as if the "mother"'s hand had scalded her, and she stared at the ground without moving.We must add that she was still sticking out her tongue in those days.She turned around suddenly and embraced the doll with great enthusiasm. "I call it Katrin," she said. It was indeed a spectacle that Cosette's rags and the doll's ribbon and bright pink tunic touched and nestled against each other. "Ma'am," she continued, "may I put it on the chair?" "Yes, my child," replied Madame Thenardier. Now it was Éponine's and Azma's turn to look at Cosette with jealousy. Cosette put Catherine on a chair, and sat on the ground facing it, without moving or speaking, only admiring and admiring. "You are playing, Cosette," said the stranger. "Oh! I'm playing." The child replied. This stranger, who seemed to be sent by God to see Cosette, was at this time the person Madame Thenardier hated most in the world.But you have to restrain yourself.Although she had acquired the habit of imitating her husband's every action to conceal her true feelings, the excitement at the time was not something she could bear.She hurriedly sent her two daughters to bed, and then asked the yellow man "permission" to send Cosette to bed too. "She is very tired today." She added that sentence like a mother.Cosette went to bed with Catherine in her arms. From time to time Madame Thenardier went to the other end of the hall to where her husband was, to "lighten her soul," she said.She exchanged a few words with her husband, which she dared not speak aloud, as the content of the conversation was so bitter. "Old beast! What the hell is he having in his womb? Come here to disturb us! Want that little monster to play with! Give her a doll! Give a forty-franc doll to a little girl I'd sell for forty sous." Bitch! In a moment he'll be calling her 'Your Majesty' as he did the Duchess of Berry! Does that make sense? Is he mad, that old goblin?" "Why? Simple," replied Thenardier, "as long as he pleases! You, you please, that the child should work, and he, please, that she should play. He has that right. A guest, as long as he pleases." Pay and do anything. If the old man is a philanthropist, what does it matter to you? If he's a fool, it doesn't matter to you. Why should you meddle when he's rich?" Neither the lord's orders nor the innkeeper's inferences can be refuted. The man rested his chin on one hand, bent his arms, leaned against the table, and resumed his thinking posture.All the guests who were looking at him, the merchants and the coachmen, dispersed from each other, and no longer sang.All looked at him from afar in awe.This strange man, dressed in such shabby clothes, took out the "rear wheel" from his pocket but so casually, and casually gave a tall and big doll to a scruffy little girl in wooden shoes. This must be admirable, People who can't be messed with. Several hours passed.The midnight mass was over, the banquet was over, the drinkers had all left, the store was closed, the hall was deserted, and the fire was extinguished, but the outsider kept sitting where he was, with his posture unchanged. Replace that chin resting hand.That's all.He had not said a word since Cosette had gone. Only the Thenardiers, out of politeness and curiosity, remained in the hall. "Is he going to spend the night like this?" said Madame Thenardier, gnashing her teeth.When two o'clock struck in the night, she could not bear it, and said to her husband, "I'm going to bed. Do as you please with him." Her husband sat at a table in the corner of the hall, lit a Candle and began to read La Poste de France. Another full hour passed like this.The innkeeper read the La Poste de France at least three times, from the date of the issue to the name of the printing house.The stranger remained seated. Thenardier writhed, coughed, spit, and rattled his chair.The man remained motionless. "Is he asleep?" thought Thenardier.He was not asleep, but nothing could wake him. At last Thenardier took off his bonnet, walked softly forward, and ventured to say: "Don't you want to rest in peace, sir?" He felt that it would be abrupt and too intimate to say "don't go to bed." "Rest in peace" is more refined and respectful.Those two words also had a subtly pleasing effect, allowing him to magnify the figure on the bill the next morning.A "sleeping" room costs twenty sous, a "resting" room costs twenty francs. "Yes!" said the stranger, "you are right. Where is your stable?" "Monsieur," said Thenardier with a smile, "I will go ahead of you." He took the candle, and the other man took his bundle and stick, and Thenardier led him into a room on the first floor, a room of extraordinary splendor, all mahogany furniture, A loft bed with red curtains. "How do you say that?" asked the guest. "This is our own new house when we got married," said the innkeeper. "We now live in another room, my wife and I. We don't live in this house more than three or four times a year." "I think the stables are the same," said the man bluntly. Thenardier only pretended not to hear this unkind remark. He lit a pair of brand new white candles that stood on the mantelpiece.There was also a good fire burning in the hearth. There was a glass shade over the fireplace, and inside the shade was a woman's silver silk orange flower hat. "And what is it?" asked the stranger. "Monsieur," said Thenardier, "this is the hat my wife wore when she was a bride." The guest looked at the thing with an air as if he wanted to say: "I can't believe that this monster has also been a virgin!" What Thenardier had said was a lie.When he rented the shabby house for his inn, the room was furnished in this way, and he bought the furniture and kept the orange blossom, thinking that it would be a substitute for "his wife." Adding splendor can bring glory to his family, as the British say, "brilliant lintel". When the guest turns his head, the host is no longer there.Thenardier slipped away stealthily, not daring to say good night to him, not wanting to show an irreverent kindness to the man whom he had already prepared to blackmail in the morning. The innkeeper retired to his bedroom.His woman was in bed, but still awake.She heard her husband's footsteps, turned to him and said: "You know I must drive Cosette out of the gate tomorrow." Thenardier replied icily: "what are you busy at!" They said nothing else, and after a few minutes their candles were extinguished. As for the guest, he had put his stick and bundle in the corner.After his master went out, he sat down in an armchair and thought again.Then he took off his shoes, picked up a candle, blew out another, opened the door, and went out of the house, looking around as if looking for something.He walked down a passage to the landing.There he heard a very faint and sweet sound, like the snoring of a child.He followed the sound and saw a small triangular room under the stairs, which was actually made of the stairs themselves.Not next to it, just the empty space under the stairs.It was full of old baskets, broken bottles, dust, and cobwebs, and there was a bed, which was nothing more than a straw mattress showing the grass and a tattered quilt showing the straw mattress.Absolutely no bills.And it is paved on the square tile floor.Cosette was sleeping on that bed. The man came closer and looked at her. Cosette was fast asleep.She slept with her clothes on.She doesn't take off her clothes in winter, so it can be less cold. She hugged the doll with two bright eyes open in the dark.She sighed deeply from time to time, as if she was about to wake up, and held the doll tightly in her arms.Beside her bed, there is only one wooden shoe. Near Cosette's black hole, there is a door, and inside the door is a large dark room.The outsider stepped in.At the end of the room, a pair of small white beds were exposed behind a glass door.That was Eponine and Azma's bed.There was a wicker cradle with no curtains behind it, only half exposed, and the little boy who had been crying all night was sleeping in the cradle. 外来人猜想这间屋子一定和德纳第夫妇的卧室相通，他正预备退出，忽然瞧见一个壁炉，那是客店中那种多少总有一点点火、看去却又使人感到特别冷的大壁炉。在这一个里却一点火也没有，连灰也没有，可是放在那里面的东西却引起了外来人的注意。那是两只孩子们穿的小鞋，式样大小却不一样，那客人这才想起孩子们的那种起源邈不可考，但饶有风趣的习惯，每到圣诞节，他们就一定要把自己的一只鞋子放在壁炉里，好让他们的好仙女暗地里送些金碧辉煌的礼物给他们。爱潘妮和阿兹玛都注意到了这件事，因而每个人都把自己的一只鞋放在这壁炉里了。 客人弯下腰去。 仙女，就是说，她们的妈，已经来光顾过了，他看见在每只鞋里都放了一个美丽的、全新的、明亮晃眼值十个苏的钱。 客人立起来，正预备走，另外又看见一件东西，远远地在炉膛的那只最黑暗的角落里。他留意看去，才认出是一只木鞋，一只最最粗陋不堪、已经开裂满是尘土和干污泥的木鞋。这正是珂赛特的木鞋。珂赛特，尽管年年失望，却从不灰心，她仍充满那种令人感动的自信心，把她的这只木鞋也照样放在壁炉里。 一个从来就处处碰壁的孩子，居然还抱有希望，这种事确是卓绝感人的。 在那木鞋里，什么也没有。 那客人在自己的背心口袋里摸了摸，弯下身去，在珂赛特的木鞋里放了一个金路易。 他溜回了自己的屋子。