Chapter 103 Nine Thénardi tricks

The next morning, with at least two hours before dawn, the master Thenardier had already arrived in the low hall of the hotel, lit a candle, held a pen in his hand, and made up a story for the guest in the yellow coat on the table. bill. The woman, standing, half bent, watched him write.They were silent to one another, partly in deliberation, partly in a reverence born and flourished of human wisdom.In that house, only one sound was heard, and that was the lark sweeping the stairs. After a quarter of an hour and several corrections, Thenardier compiled this masterpiece: The food is written as "Fancai".

"Twenty-three francs!" cried the woman, mingling suspicion with excitement. Thenardier, like all great artists, was not satisfied.He said: "Pooh!" That was the tone in which Kessel came to list the French reparations at the Congress of Vienna. "You are right, Monsieur Thenardier, he should pay so much," said the woman, muttering, thinking of the doll that Cosette had given to Cosette last night in the presence of her two daughters. , "It is fair, but the amount is too large. He may not be willing to pay." Thenardier sneered, and said: "He will pay."

That sneer speaks to the highest expression of self-confidence and paternalism, that what is said must be done.The woman did not hold her own opinion at all.She began to clear the table, and her husband paced up and down the hall.After a while, he added another sentence: "I still owe fifteen hundred francs, me!" He went to the corner of the fireplace, and sat down to think, his feet on the hot ashes. "Really!" continued the woman, "I'm going to drive Cosette out of the gate today, don't you forget? The fairy! Her baby, she makes me so sad! I'd rather she marry Louis X." I don't want her to stay at home for one more day!"

Thenardier, lighting his pipe, replied between two puffs: "You give this bill to the man." He followed and walked out. As soon as he walked out of the hall door, the guest came in. Thenardier turned immediately and followed him, and when he reached the half-open door, he stopped and stood still, so that he could only be seen by his wife. The man in the yellow coat was holding his stick and bundle in his hands. "It's so early!" said Madame Thenardier. "Is Monsieur leaving us?" As she said this, she turned the bill over and over again in her hand, pinching it with her fingernails, and folding it again and again with an air of perplexity.Her domineering face carried a faint look of timidity and suspicion that was rarely seen in ordinary times.

In her opinion, it was an embarrassing thing to send such a bill to a customer who was obviously a real "poor ghost". The guest seemed to be thinking of something else and didn't pay attention to her.He replied: "Yes, sister-in-law, I'm leaving." "Then," said she, "monsieur has nothing to do when he comes to Montfermeil?" "Yes. I passed by here, nothing else." "Sister-in-law," he said again, "how much do I owe?" Madame Thenardier, without a word, handed him the bill. The guest opened the paper and looked at it, but his attention was evidently elsewhere.

"Sister-in-law," he went on, "is your business doing well here at Montfermeil?" "That's it, monsieur," replied Madame Thenardier, who was astonished to see that the visitor hadn't lost his temper. She went on in a haunted tone: "Oh, sir, life is hard enough! There are very few rich people in our kind of place! They are all small, you know. If we don't come across some generous and generous family like you, sir! Wealthy passers-by! We spend so much. For example, this little girl, she sucked our blood out." "Which little girl?"

"It's the little girl, you know! Cosette! Everyone here is called the Lark!" "Ah!" said the man. She went on to say: "What a fool, these peasants, to give someone such a pet name! Call her a bat, she's not like a lark. Please tell me, sir, we don't ask for alms, but we can't always give alms." Other people. Business license, consumption tax, door and window tax, additional tax! Sir knows that the government is scary when it asks for money. Besides, I have two daughters, me. I don’t need to raise other people’s children.” The man went on to say:

"What if someone would take it away for you?" When he said this, he tried to make his voice seem normal, but the voice was still trembling. "Take who? Cosette?" "yes." The insolent red face of the innkeeper's wife immediately looked beaming and ugly. "Ah, sir! my good sir! take her, keep her, take her, carry her, add sugar, mushrooms, drink her blood, eat her flesh Well, may you be blessed by the Merciful Virgin and all the saints of heaven!" "Just do it." "Really? You take her away?" "I'll take her away."

"Go right now?" "Go at once. Go and fetch the boy." "Cosette!" cried Madame Thenardier. "Now," continued the man, "I'll pay my bill. How much?" He glanced at the bill and was startled. "Twenty-three francs!" He looked at the shopkeeper and said again: "Twenty-three francs?" The difference between an exclamation mark and a question mark can be discerned from the tone of voice repeating these two sentences. Madame Thenardier had already prepared herself for this question.She answered calmly: "Our Lady, yes, sir, twenty-three francs."

The stranger put five five-franc coins on the table. "Please fetch the little girl." At this moment Thenardier stepped into the middle of the room and said: "Twenty-six sous, sir." "Twenty-six sous!" cried the woman. "Twenty sous for the room," continued Thenardier icily, "six for the supper. As for the little girl, I must speak to this gentleman. Go away, my lady." Madame Thenardier's heart suddenly brightened, as if seeing a gleam of wisdom.She felt that the famous actor was on the stage, and she walked out immediately without saying a word.

When they were alone, Thenardier offered the visitor a chair.The guests sat down, and Thenardier stood, with a strangely docile and simple expression on his face. "Sir," said he, "well, let me explain to you. I love her, my child, me." The stranger fixed his eyes on him and said: "Which child?" Thenardier continued: "That's a strange thing to say! I'm sorry. What kind of money is this? Take back these coins, which are worth a hundred sous. I love a girl." "Who?" asked the stranger. "Oh, our little Cosette! Aren't you going to take her away? But, to tell the truth, I disagree, as true as you are a gentleman. The child, If I leave, I will miss it. I watched her grow up with my own eyes. It is true that she caused us to spend money. It is true that she has many shortcomings. It is true that we are not rich. "It's true that she cost me four hundred francs for a single illness! But one has to do something for a merciful God. This kind of thing has neither father nor mother, and I brought her up." I earned bread for her and me. Indeed, I can't bear it, this child. Do you understand, we have feelings for each other, I am a bad person, I; I can't explain the reason, I love her, this child; My woman is short-tempered, but she loves her too. She's like our own baby, you know. I need her to be in my house chatting and laughing." The stranger kept his eyes on him.He went on to say: "I'm sorry, please forgive me, sir, maybe someone is willing to give their child to a passer-by casually, can I say that wrong? Besides, you are rich and seem like an honest person. I won't say that Is it good for her, but you have to figure it out. Do you understand? Suppose I let her go, I sacrifice, I also want to know where she goes, I don't want to lose her and never touch her door I want to know whose house she is in, so I can visit her from time to time, so that she will know that her good foster father is really there to take care of her. Anyway, some things just don't work. I don't even have your name I don't know. You took her away, and I said: "Well, where is the lark? Where has she gone?" At least I must first look at some so-so documents, a small passport, whatever!" The stranger kept looking at him with that kind of, so to speak, looking straight into his heart, and said to him in a heavy and firm tone: "Monsieur Thenardier, it's only five leagues from Paris, and nobody takes a passport. If I'm going to take Cosette, I'm going to take her, that's all. You won't know my name." , you will not know where I live, and you will not know where she will live in the future. My idea is that she will never see you again in this life. I will cut this rope tied to her feet in two, and let her Get out of here. Is this to your liking? Yes or no, you say." Just as devils and goblins had seen from certain signs that a more powerful god was about to appear, so Thenardier knew that he had met a very formidable opponent.It seemed to be an intuition, and he had known it with his clear and keen alertness.Since last night, although he drank, smoked and sang obscene songs with the coachmen, he never stopped spying on this strange guest, not watching him like a cat, watching him like a mathematician. Calculate him.He did the reconnaissance in order to find out what happened, and at the same time it was out of his own interest and instinct, and it seemed that he had been bribed to do this reconnaissance work.Not a single gesture or movement of the man in the yellow cloak escaped his attention.Even before the unidentified person showed such obvious concern for Cosette, Thenardier saw through it.He had already noticed that the old man's deep gaze was returning to the child at any moment.Why such concern?Who is this?Why, there is so much money in the purse, and the clothes are so shabby?He posed these questions to himself and felt resentful that he could not get an answer.He speculated all night on these questions.This could not be Cosette's father.Is it grandparents?So, why not explain your origin immediately?When we have a right, we always have to show it.This man obviously had no rights over Cosette.So, what's going on here?Thenardier was lost in hypotheses.He felt everything, but could see nothing clearly.At any rate, while he was talking to the man, he was convinced that there was a secret in all this, and that the man had to keep his secrets, and he felt emboldened; but when he heard the stranger's He replied simply and firmly, but felt discouraged when he saw that this mysterious figure was so mysterious and simple.He weighed it all in an instant.Thenardier was such a man who could see the situation at a glance.He reckoned that it was time to go straight to the point. Just like those great generals with unique insight and decisiveness, he suddenly revealed his trump card at this important moment of success or failure. "Monsieur," said he, "I must have fifteen hundred francs." The stranger took out an old black wallet from a side pocket of his clothes, opened it, took out three bank notes, and put them on the table.Then he put his thumb on the note and said to the shopkeeper: "Get Cosette." What was Cosette doing while these things were happening? When Cosette woke up, she ran to find her wooden shoes.She found the gold coin in it.It was not a Napoleon, but a new twenty-franc piece of the Restoration style, on which the old laurel wreath had been replaced by a small Prussian tail.Cosette was dazzled too.She was overjoyed, feeling that her luck had changed.She did not know what the gold coin was, she had never seen it before, and she hastily put it in her pocket as if it had been stolen.She felt at the same time that it belonged to her, and guessed where the gift came from, but she felt a joy full of terror.She was satisfied and above all dismayed.Things that were so rich and beautiful seemed unreal to her.The doll frightened her, and so did the gold coin.She was terrified in the face of these magnificent things, but she was not afraid of that stranger, on the contrary, when she thought of him, she felt at ease.Since last night, in her mixed feelings of surprise, in her sleep, her frail little head had been thinking that this man seemed so old and poor and so sad and yet so rich and so good.It seemed that everything around her had changed since she met the old man in the woods.Cosette, she has never even enjoyed the happiness that the little swallow in the air can enjoy, she has never known what it means to hide in the shadow and under the wings of her mother.For five years, that is to say, as far back as her memory could go, she had lived constantly shivering and trembling.She had often endured the bitter winds of misery naked, but now it seemed to her that she was clothed.In the past, her heart felt cold, but now it feels warm.She was less afraid of Madame Thenardier.She is no longer alone, there is another one with her. She hurried to her morning work.The louis she had on her was in her apron pocket, that is, the fifteen-sou pocket where she had been missing the night before, and she was disturbed by it.She dared not touch it, but she looked at it now and then, for five minutes at a time, and, it must be said, kept sticking out her tongue while looking at it.She swept the stairs, then stopped, and stood still, forgetting her broom and all the universe, looking only at the star shining in the bottom of her pocket. When Madame Thenardier found her, she was once again enjoying this feast of hers. She went to find her at her husband's order.Strange to say, she didn't ask her to slap her, and she didn't curse her. "Cosette," she said almost softly, "come quickly." After a while Cosette entered the low hall. The outsider picked up the bundle he had brought and untied the knot.In the bag were a small sweater, an apron, a sweater, a skirt, a shawl, wool socks, leather shoes, and a full-body outfit for an eight-year-old girl, all in black. "My boy," said the man, "take this and put it on quickly." It was getting brighter, and some residents of Montfermeil had already begun to open their gates. They saw a man in shabby clothes on the streets of Paris, leading a little girl in filial piety with a big pink doll in his arms. They Heading towards Livery. That was the man and Cosette we were talking about. No one knew this person, and Cosette had already shed her rags, and many people did not recognize her. Cosette was gone.Who are you following?She is baffled.Where to go?She doesn't know either.All she could realize was that she had left the Thenardier's behind her.It never occurred to anyone to say goodbye to her, and it never occurred to her to say goodbye to anyone.She left the family that she hated and that hated her. Poor little girl, her heart has been suppressed until now! Cosette walked forward solemnly, and she opened her large eyes and looked at the sky.She had put her louis in the pocket of her new apron.She lowered her head to look at it now and then, and then at the old man.She had a thought as if she were at the side of a merciful God.