Chapter 239 Five Roses finds itself a weapon in battle

One day, Cosette accidentally picked up a mirror to look at herself, and said to herself: "Strange!" She almost felt that she was beautiful.This caused an indescribable trouble in her heart.Until now, she had never thought about the appearance of her own face.She often looks in the mirror, but never at herself.Besides, she often heard others say that she was ugly, and only Jean Valjean said in a low voice: "Not at all! Not at all!" In any case, Cosette always thought she was ugly, and she had this thought since she was a child. Growing up, children don't care much about these things.And now, her mirror, just like Jean Valjean, suddenly said to her: "Not at all!" She did not sleep well that night. "So what if I'm pretty?" she thought to herself, "it's funny, I'll be pretty too!" At the same time, she recalled how some of her classmates had been beautiful, and how they had aroused the envy of everyone in the convent, So she thought to herself: "Why! I will be like Miss So-and-so!"

The next day, she went to take care of herself again, which was no accidental behavior, but she wondered again: "Where did my eyesight go?" She said, "No, I was born ugly." It was very simple, she didn't sleep Well, the eyelids are drooping, and the face is pale.The day before, she thought she was beautiful, and she didn't feel very happy at that time, but now she doesn't think so, but feels sad instead.She stopped looking in the mirror, and for more than two weeks, she always tried to comb her hair with her back to the mirror. After supper, when it was getting dark, she spent most of her time knitting in the drawing room, or doing some other handiwork she had learned in the seminary, with Jean Valjean reading beside her.Once, when she was immersed in her work, she accidentally raised her eyes and saw her father looking at her with a worried expression, and she couldn't help being surprised.

Another time she was walking down the street and thought she heard someone behind her—she didn't see it—say, "A beautiful woman! Too bad she's not well dressed." She thought to herself, "What the hell! He's talking It's not me. I dress well and I'm ugly." She was wearing a cotton wool cap and a shag skirt. Another day, when she was in the garden, she heard poor old Mama Toussaint say: "Monsieur, have you noticed how beautiful the lady is now?" Cosette did not catch her father's answer.Toussaint's words had caused a panic in her heart.She left the garden at once, fled upstairs to her bedroom, ran to the looking-glass--she had not looked in it for three months--and cried.This time, she dazzled her own eyes.

She was beautiful and beautiful, and she could not but agree with Toussaint and the mirror.Her body had grown, her skin was fair, her hair was glossy, and the pupils of her blue eyes were burning with a light she had never seen before.She was completely convinced of her beauty in an instant, just like meeting the dazzling sunlight suddenly. Besides, other people had already noticed that, as Dusan said, the person on the street was clearly referring to her, so there was nothing to worry about. suspicious.She came downstairs again and went into the garden, thinking she was a queen, listening to the birds singing, even though it was winter, looking at the golden sky, the sun shining through the branches, and the flowers in the grass, she was crazy Feeling dizzy, I felt an indescribable joy in my heart.

Jean Valjean, on the other hand, felt extremely heavy, as if something had seized his heart. That is because, for a long time, he has indeed been watching with fear that the beautiful light on Cosette's little face is becoming more and more dazzling day by day.To all it was a fresh and cheery dawn, but to him it was dark and gloomy. Cosette was already beautiful before she became aware of her own beauty.But this rising sunshine, which engulfed the young girl step by step, had hurt Jean Valjean's melancholy eyes from the first day.He felt that it was a change in his happy life, which he lived so happily that he dared not move for fear of disturbing something in his life.This man, who had been through all the calamities, whose wounds were still bleeding from his life, who had been almost a villain, was now almost a saint, dragged after the chains of the penitentiary, still dragging an invisible but weighty Chains—punishment of unspeakable crimes, to whom the law has not let go, ready to take him back at any moment, and throw him from the darkness of virtue into the public disgrace of broad daylight.This person can accept everything, forgive everything, forgive everything, bless everything, wish everything well, to heaven, to people, to the law, to society, to nature, to the world, but there is only one request: let Coselle I love him so much!

Let Cosette continue to love him!May God not forbid the boy's heart to be on him, always on him!With Cosette's love, he felt that his wounds were healed, his body and mind were at ease, he was at peace, he was complete, he was rewarded, and he was crowned.He was content to be loved by Cosette!Other than that, he asked for nothing.Even if someone asked him: "Do you have any extravagance?" He would definitely answer: "No." Even if God asked him: "Do you want heaven?" He would answer: "It will not be worth the loss." Anything that could even touch the surface of it terrified him, thinking it was the beginning of something else.He had never quite known what female beauty was, but he also knew instinctively that it was a terrible thing.

This youthful beauty, beside him, in front of his eyes, on the child's innocent, cheerful, shocking face, bloomed from the soil of his ugliness, his old age, his embarrassment, resistance, and distress. , becoming more and more brilliant, making him stare and flustered. He said to himself, "How beautiful she is! What shall I do, me?" This is the difference between his love and mother's love.What pains him to see is also what makes a mother happy. Initial symptoms appear quickly. Cosette had been paying attention to her dress from the day after the day when she had said to herself, "I am beautiful without a doubt!"She remembered the words she heard on the street: "Pretty, but not well dressed." The words seemed to blow past her like a gust of divine wind, and although they disappeared without a trace, the two grains were gone. One of the seeds that would later rule women's lives--love of coquettishness--was sown in her heart.The other is the seed of love.

Having confidence in her own beauty, the feminine soul blossomed whole within her.She was disgusted at the sight of woolen wool, and ashamed at the sight of cotton wool.Her father had always been responsive to her needs.She mastered at once the whole knowledge of hats, dresses, jackets, satin boots, lace cuffs, fashions, and colors that make a Parisian woman so charming, so profound, so dangerous. That set of knowledge. The term "sexy woman" was coined for Parisian women. In less than a month, Cosette was not only one of the most beautiful women in Paris, which is already remarkable, but also one of the "best dressed" women in the deserted area near the Rue Babylon, so This is even more remarkable.She hoped to meet the man she had met on the street, to see what he had to say, and to "teach him a lesson."The truth was: she was charming in every way, and could tell with perfect certainty which hat was from Gérard's and which from Erbault's.

Jean Valjean looked anxiously at her mischief.He felt that he could only be a crawler, or at best a walker, and now he saw that Cosette was about to grow wings. In fact, a woman could tell by a casual glance at Cosette's clothes that she was motherless.Some minute customs, some peculiar fashions, Cosette did not notice.For example, if she had a mother, her mother would tell her that young girls don't wear damask. On the day Cosette first put on her short black damask cloak and her white crepe cap to go out, she approached Jean Valjean, holding his arm, cheerful, cheerful, rosy, generous, and dazzling.She asked: "Father, what do you think of me like this?" Jean Valjean replied, with a voice of self-conceited distress: "It's beautiful!" He wandered about as usual.When he got home, he asked Cosette:

"Aren't you going to wear that dress of yours again, and your hat? You know what I mean..." This question was asked in Cosette's bedroom, and Cosette turned to the boarder's clothes hanging in the closet. "Such a queer costume!" she said. "Father, what do you want me to do with it? Oh! It's a joke, no, I don't wear these grotesque things any more. Put that thing on my head and I'll be Mrs. Mad Dog." Jean Valjean gave a long sigh. From then on, he found that Cosette did not like to stay at home as much as in the past, saying: "Father, I will have more fun here with you", and now she always wants to go out for a walk.Indeed, if there are no people to show your face, why bother to have a beautiful face and wear fashionable clothes?

He also found that Cosette was not very interested in the backyard any longer.She preferred to stay in the garden now, and didn't tire of going to the iron gate frequently.Jean Valjean ceased to set foot in the garden, sullenly.He stays in his backyard like an old dog. When Cosette knew she was beautiful, she lost the attitude that she didn't think she was beautiful -- the ineffable beauty, because the beauty embellished by innocence and childishness is indescribable, and there is nothing like that radiant face, which walks towards She is as cute as an innocent girl who holds the key to heaven in front of her and doesn't know it.However, although she lost her naive and ignorant demeanor, she regained her dignified and dignified charm.Her whole body was permeated with youthful joy, innocence, and beauty, and radiated a radiant melancholy. It was at this time that Marius, six months later, met her again in the Luxembourg Gardens.