Chapter 241 Seven sorrows, more sorrows

Man has a hunch in every situation.The Mother of Longevity and Immortality—Nature—indicates to Jean Valjean the activities of Marius.Jean Valjean trembled in the deepest part of his thoughts.Jean Valjean saw nothing, knew nothing, but was probing the secrets around him with obstinate attention, as if he had become aware of something forming on the one hand and crumbling on the other.Marius, too, receives hints of this same Mother Nature--the profound law of a merciful God--and he does his best to avoid the attention of the "Father."Sometimes, however, Jean Valjean saw him through.Marius behaved with great unnaturalness.He has some ghostly caution and some clumsy daring.He no longer approached them as before, he always sat in a distance in a daze, he always held a book and pretended to read it, who was he pretending for?He used to go out in old clothes, now he puts on new ones every day, it is not clear whether he has had his hair permed, his eyes are really strange, he wears gloves, in short, Jean Valjean really hated this in his heart. young people.

Cosette was quite impassive.Although she couldn't correctly understand what was on her mind, she felt that it was a big deal and she should keep it a secret. On the part of Cosette, the inclination to dress up, on the part of the stranger, the habit of wearing new clothes, Jean Valjean was very displeased with the parallel relationship between the two.It was perhaps...presumably...certainly an accidental coincidence, but a menacing one. He never spoke to Cosette about the stranger.However, one day, he couldn't bear it anymore, he was very distressed, and he couldn't let go of his heart. He wanted to test the extent of this unlucky thing immediately, and he said to her: "Look at that young man's nerdy air!"

A year ago, when Cosette was an indifferent little girl, she might have answered: "No, he is very pleasant." Ten years later, with love for Marius in her heart, she might have answered "Stupid, it's unbearable! You're right!" But under the control of life and feelings at the time, she just replied nonchalantly: "That young man!" It was as if she was seeing him for the first time in her life. "What a fool of me!" thought Jean Valjean. "She did not notice him. I pointed him out to her first." O old man's innocence!The maturity of the child!

This is a rule in the fierce struggle of young people who are trying to overcome the initial difficulties of love for the first time: women are never fooled, men are always fooled.Jean Valjean had begun a secret war against Marius, and Marius, too foolish, under the sway of that passion and age, saw nothing of it.Jean Valjean set up a series of traps for him. He changed the time, changed his seat, dropped his handkerchief, and came to visit the Luxembourg Gardens alone, but Marius got into every trap with his head down. Jean Valjean planted many question marks on his way , he replied innocently one by one: "Yes." At the same time, Cosette was deeply hidden under that irrelevant and calm appearance, which made Jean Valjean draw the conclusion: The fool was madly in love with Cosette, but Cosette didn't know about it, nor about this person.

It did not relieve him of the painful throbbing in his heart.Cosette's moment of love can come at any time.Wasn't it always indifferent in the beginning? Only once did Cosette make a mistake which surprised him.After three hours on the bench, he got up to leave, and she said, "Why, are you leaving?" Jean Valjean continued his walk in the park, not wishing to appear strange, and above all to be noticed by Cosette, who smiled from time to time at the ecstatic Marius, who saw nothing else, and he Now all that can be seen in this world is a radiant face that he is overwhelmed by. The two lovers are feeling extremely beautiful at this moment, but Jean Valjean is fiercely nailing a pair of sparkling eyes on Marius. S face.He thought himself free from any more evil thoughts, but sometimes, seeing Marius, he could not help feeling that savage mood returned to him, that old rage was bursting again in the abyss of his hated soul. Flames in the gap.He almost felt that in his mind some craters were forming that had never existed before.

how!There will be such a person, here!What is he here for?He comes to turn, sniff, study, and test!He said: "Hmph! What's wrong!" He went around his Jean Valjean's life to play tricks!Go to his happy surroundings to play tricks!He wants to take it for himself! Jean Valjean added: "Yes, yes! What is he looking for? Wild food! What does he want? A little girl! And me! What! First I was the worst of men, and then another The most distressing thing. In order to live, I crawled on my knees for sixty years. I have suffered all the pain that a human being can bear. I am old before I have youth. I have no home, no parents, no friends, no Woman, childless, I spilled my blood on all stones, on all thorns, on all waypoints, by all walls, I humbled those who treated me badly, flattered those who abused me, I Desperate to repent, I repent of the evil I have done, and I forgive others for the evil they have done to me, and just when I'm about to be rewarded, when it's all over, when I'm about to reach my goal, when I'm about to fulfill my goal Well, well, I paid the price, I received the fruit, but it was all over again, all in vain, and I lost Cosette, my life, my joy, my Soul, for it amuses a great fool who wanders in the Luxembourg Gardens!"

At this time, his eyes were filled with an unusually gloomy evil spirit.It is no longer a man watching a man, no longer a man watching an enemy, but a watchdog watching a thief. We all know the rest.Marius had always been absent-minded.Once, he followed Cosette to West Street.On another occasion, he talked to the porter, and the porter told Jean Valjean again, and asked him: "Who is that nosy young man who is looking for you?" Luce stared at him for a moment, which Marius felt.A week later, Jean Valjean moved away.He swore never to go to the Luxembourg Gardens again, or to West Street.He returned to the Rue Plumet.

Cosette did not express any objection, she did not utter a word, she did not ask a word, she did not try to find out why, she had reached the stage where she was afraid of being guessed and leaking information.Jean Valjean was so inexperienced in these nerve-wracking matters, which happened to be the most touching ones, and he happened to be completely ignorant of them, that he was quite unable to appreciate the seriousness of Cosette's silence.But he has noticed that she has become depressed, and he has become gloomy.Both parties have no experience, forming a stalemate. One day, he made a test.He asked Cosette:

"Would you like to go to the Luxembourg Gardens?" Cosette's pale face suddenly beamed. "Think," she said. They went.That was three months later.Marius was no longer there.Marius was not there. The next day Jean Valjean asked Cosette again: "Would you like to go to the Luxembourg Gardens?" "In no mood." Jean Valjean was angry when he saw her troubled, and annoyed by her resignation. What happened in this little head, so young that it is so hard to figure it out?What is being planned there?What happened to Cosette's soul?Sometimes, Jean Valjean would not sleep, and would sit all night by the edge of his broken bed, with his head in his hands, thinking: "What is going on in Cosette's mind?" He thought of something that she might have thought.

Ah!How often at such moments had he turned, with mournful eyes, to that monastery, that white mountain, that garden of angels, that iceberg of unattainable virtue!With disappointed admiration he gazed upon the monastery, full of inhuman flowers and secluded virgins, where all the fragrances and all the souls go straight to heaven!How much he adored the Eden from which he had once lost his mind and voluntarily left, and now went astray, and the gates would never open to him again!How much he regretted that he had been so self-denying and foolish that day, and wanted to bring Cosette back to the world.He, a poor hero who sacrificed himself for others, was bound by his own cocoon because of his devotion, and threw himself into the sea of ​​misery!As he said to himself: "How did I do it?"

Nevertheless, he kept all this secret from Cosette.There is neither impatience nor rough voice, but always a calm and gentle face.Jean Valjean's attitude was more paternal, more loving than ever.If anything could have made him feel less cheerful than he had been, it was his more agreeable countenance. On Cosette's side, she was always depressed.She grieved at the absence of Marius, as she had rejoiced at his presence, and she was so distressed that she did not know what it was.When Jean Valjean stopped taking her for walks as usual, a feminine instinct suggested to her from the bottom of her heart that she should not show her longing for the Luxembourg Gardens, and if she pretended to be indifferent, her father would Will take her again.But days, weeks, and months passed, and Jean Valjean silently accepted Cosette's silent assent.She regretted it.It's too late.On the day she returned to the Luxembourg, Marius was not there.Marius is lost, everything is over, what to do?Could she still hope to see him again?She felt her heart convulsed, unable to get rid of it, and it became more and more serious every day. She no longer knew whether it was winter or summer, sunny or rainy, whether the birds were singing, whether it was the season of dahlias or chrysanthemums, whether the Luxembourg Gardens were in season or not. Lovelier than the Tuileries, if the washerwoman sent back too much starch, if Dussaint bought the right thing.She was downcast all day, in a daze, with only one thought in her mind, and her eyes looked ahead but saw nothing, as at night looking into the dark depths where the ghost has just disappeared. Besides, she allowed Jean Valjean to discover nothing but her haggard face.She was still affectionate to him. Her haggardness pained Jean Valjean so much.He sometimes asked her: "what happened to you?" She replied: "I'm not very good." After a while of silence, she felt that he was equally unhappy, so she asked: "And you, Dad, what can you do?" "Me? Nothing," he replied. These two people, for many years, have been very dear to each other, depended on each other, and were honest and touching, but now they bear each other face to face, and both are distressed for each other.Everyone avoids talking about what is in their hearts, and they don't complain, but they always smile.