Chapter 264 Seven-year-old heart meets young heart openly

Father Gillenormand had already turned ninety-one at this time.He had been living with Mademoiselle Gillenormand in his own old house at 6 Rue de la Passionate.We remember him as one of those curiosities who stand upright to die, too old to be overwhelmed, and not tormented by trouble. But not long ago, her daughter used to say: "My father is deflated." That kind of ruthlessness.The six months of the July Revolution did not irritate him much.He looked at the linked words in the Bulletin almost indifferently: "Mr. Ambroise-Comté, Minister of France." In fact, the old man was in great distress.No matter in terms of physique or spirit, he can not give in and make no concessions when things happen, but he feels that his mental strength is getting exhausted day by day.For four years he had been looking forward to Marius at all times, thinking that nothing would happen to him, convinced, as they say, that the little rascal would one day ring at his doorbell, but at last, in moments of despair, he He often said to himself that if Marius did not come again ... it was not the threat of death that he could bear but the thought that he might never see Marius again.The thought of never seeing Marius again had never crossed his mind before; now he was haunted and chilled by the thought.Sorrow and hatred of parting, born of natural and sincere emotion, can only increase the grandfather's love for the ungrateful child who left him at will.On December nights at minus ten degrees, people miss the sun the most.M. Gillenormand thought that, as an elder, it was impossible for him to take a step towards his grandson. "I'd rather die," he said.He did not think he was wrong, but whenever he thought of Marius, he always felt the deep compassion and helpless disappointment of an old man who is about to die.

His teeth had begun to fall out, which added to his heavy heart. M. Gillenormand had never in his life loved a mistress as he loved Marius, which he dared not admit to himself, because he felt that it would make him mad and ashamed. He had someone hang a portrait over the bed in his bedroom, so that he could see it at the first sight when he woke up. It was an old portrait of his other daughter, the dead daughter, Madame Pontmercy when she was eighteen years old.He often stared at the portrait without stopping.One day, while looking at it, he said this sentence: "I think he looks like her."

"Like my sister?" Miss Gillenormand went on. "Not really." The old man added: "Like him too." Once, when he was sitting with his knees close together, eyes half-closed, looking discouraged, his daughter dared to say to him: "Father, are you still angry with him?..." She stopped, not daring to speak. "Angry at whom?" he asked. "And poor Marius?" He raised his aged head with a jerk, put his wrinkled fist on the table, and roared in an extremely violent and sonorous voice: "Poor Marius, tell me! This gentleman is a monster, a scoundrel, a vain, heartless, soulless, arrogant and vile fellow!"

At the same time, he turned his head away so that his daughter would not see the old tears in his eyes. After three days, without speaking a word for four hours, he suddenly said to his daughter: "I have long since had the honor of asking Mademoiselle Gillenormand never to mention him to me." Mademoiselle Gillenormand dropped all intentions and made this profound diagnosis: "My father has not loved my sister very much since she did her foolish thing. It is evident that he loathes Marius." What was meant by "since she did her stupid thing" was since she married the Colonel.

Besides, as one might suspect, Mademoiselle Gillenormand tried unsuccessfully to replace Marius with her favorite pike officer.The replacement, Theodule, was a total failure.M. Gillenormand does not agree to mistake the fake for the real.The empty seat in my heart cannot let cats and dogs sit casually.As for Theodorena, he disliked flattery, though he was interested in the inheritance.The spearman was bored seeing the old man, and the old man also disliked the spearman.Lieutenant Theodule is of course a jovial man, but he is talkative, frivolous, and vulgar, he has a lot of self-esteem, but he is careless in his friendships, he has many mistresses, that is true, but he is too boastful, that is also true, And not playing very well.With all these advantages, there are disadvantages.M. Gillenormand's head swelled from hearing him talk about his adventures near the barracks in the Rue Babylon.And the Lieutenant Theodule sometimes came to visit him in military uniform and a tricolor cockade.This simply made him intolerable.Father Gillenormand was obliged to say to his daughter: "I have had enough of this Theodule, and if you like, go and receive him. I am in peace, and I don't like to see men at war very much. I don't want to." I know whether I am a person who likes to wield a command knife or a person who likes to drag a command knife. The sound of swords clashing on the battlefield is always less pitiful. Breasts puffed up like a forest man, but tied up like a little girl, wearing a woman's tights under the iron armor, this is a double joke. When a person is a real person, He should keep an equal distance between boastfulness and affectation. Neither rhetoric nor coquettishness. Keep your Theodule to yourself."

In vain his daughter went to him and said: "But he is always your grandnephew." It seemed that M. Gillenormand, though he was a grandfather from head to toenails, was not at all like an uncle. . The fact is that, because of his wit and comparison, Theodule's role only made him miss Marius all the more. One evening, it was the Fourth of June, which did not prevent Father Gillenormand from still lighting a splendid fire in his fireplace, having sent his daughter away, who had retreated into the next room. Do needlework.He was alone in his bedroom, walled with pictures of shepherds, with his feet stretched out over the iron bars by the hearth, surrounded by a large nine-fold Coromandel screen stretched out in a semicircle, deep in the distance. Sitting in a large brocade armchair, elbows on a table (on which two candles burn under a green shade), a book in hand, but not reading.

On him, according to his habit, dressed in the costume of "absurd boy", he looked like an old portrait of Galla.If he went out in the street like this, he would be heckled by many people, so every time he went out, his daughter always added a big bishop's coat to cover his clothes.In his own house he never wore his nightgown except in the morning and evening when he got up and went to bed. "It looks old when you wear it," he said. Father Gillenormand thought of Marius with tenderness and bitterness, but often the bitterness prevailed.His irritated resentment always boiled over in the end and turned into indignation.He had reached the point where he was ready to persevere to the end and endure torture with peace of mind.He was saying to himself at this moment that there was no reason to expect Marius to come back now, and if he wanted to come back, he would have already come back, so he had better give up on it.He often forces himself to get used to this idea: everything is in vain, and he will never see "that young master" again in this life.But all his internal organs rebelled, and the old kinship couldn't agree. "Why!" he said, this was his favorite phrase in times of distress, "he's not coming back!" His bald head fell on his chest, and his eyes were looking dreamily at the ashes in the hearth, with a sad and sullen expression.

While he was deep in this dream, his old servant Basque came in and asked: "Sir, may I receive Monsieur Marius?" The old man was pale, like a dead body that had been shocked by electric shock, and suddenly he sat upright.All the blood in his body returned to the atrium, and he stammered: "Monsieur Marius of what?" "I don't know," said Basque, disturbed by his master's air, "I didn't see him. It was Nicolette who told me just now, and she said, 'There's a young man there, say M. Marius.' All right.'" Father Gillenormand muttered in a low voice:

"Let him in." He sat as he had been, his head trembling slightly, his eyes fixed on the door.The door opened again.A young man walks in.It was Marius. Marius stopped at the door of the room, as if expecting to be called in. His clothes were almost badly torn, but luckily they couldn't be seen in the black shadow of the hood.People only saw his face was quiet and serious, but it looked strangely melancholy. Grandfather Gillenormand was surprised and delighted, and after looking at it for a long time, he could only see a ball of light, just like people encounter ghosts.He almost fainted, seeing the colorful lights around Marius.It was indeed he, and it was Marius!

It's finally here!I have been looking forward to it for four years!He had him now, so to speak, all of him in the blink of an eye.He thought him beautiful, dignified, distinguished, grown up, grown up, handsome, and handsome.He originally wanted to open his arms, call him, and rush towards him, his heart melted in joy, and so many words of love surged in his chest, but this kindness full of love was like a flash in the pan, and the words had already reached his lips, but he His nature is incompatible with this, and what he shows is only cold and ruthless.He asked in a rough voice: "What are you doing here?"

Marius replied with embarrassment: "gentlemen……" M. Gillenormand could not wait to see Marius rush up to embrace him.He hated Marius, and he hated himself.He felt that he was rough, and that Marius was cold.The old man felt that he was so kind and sad in his heart, but he had to keep a straight face on the outside, which was indeed a distressing and irritating thing.He went back to his distress.He did not wait for Marius to finish, but asked in a depressed voice: "Then why did you come?" The word "then" means "if you didn't come to hug me".Marius looked at his grandfather, and saw that his face was as pale as a marble. "gentlemen……" Still the old man said in a stern voice: "Have you come to ask me to forgive you? Have you realized your fault?" He thought that in this way he could hint to Marius his wish and make the "child" submit to him.Marius, trembling all over, who was expected to deny his father, answered with lowered eyes: "No, sir." "Since it's not, why are you looking for me again?" The old man's voice was stern, and he was extremely sad. Marius twisted his hands, stepped forward, and said in a weak trembling voice: "Sir, have mercy on me." This remark moved M. Gillenormand.It might have softened him had he said it sooner, but it was too late.The old man stood up, his hands resting on his cane, his lips were pale, his brow quivered, but his tall stature was higher than that of Marius, who bowed his head. "Pity you, sir! You are so young that an old man of ninety-one has pity on you! You have just entered life, and I am about to withdraw, you go to the theater, you go to balls, you go to cafes, you play billiards, you have talent, you Can please women, you are a beautiful boy, me, I spit on the fire in the middle of summer, you have enjoyed all the blessings of the world, I have suffered all the sins of old age, sickness, and loneliness! You have your thirty-two Teeth, good stomach, bright eyes, strength, appetite, health, spirits, black hair, I, I don't even have gray hair, I lost my teeth, I lost my leg strength, I lost my There are three streets whose names I never get out of my memory: Rue Sallot, Rue Stubble, and Rue Sainte-Claude. I have come to this. You have a bright future ahead of you, and I, I have I can't see anything clearly at first, I'm in the dark, you're chasing women, of course, and I, no one in the world loves me, you want me to pity you! God, Molière didn't think of that That. Gentlemen, if you joke like that in court, I really want to congratulate you. You're funny." Then, the ninety-year-old man said in an angry and severe voice: "What on earth do you want me to do?" "Monsieur," said Marius, "I know that I have come to displease you, but I have come only to ask you of one thing, and I will go as soon as I have finished." "You are a fool!" said the old man. "Who told you to go?" This was another way of saying the self-expression in his heart: "I beg your pardon! Come and put your arms around my neck!" M. Gillenormand felt that Marius would soon leave him. It was his unfriendly reception that displeased him, his rigidity that drove him away, and as he thought of all this, his pain increased, and his pain immediately turned to anger, and he was even more so. It's hard.He wanted Marius to understand him, but Marius could not understand, which made the old man very angry.He added: "Why! You left me, me, your grandfather, you left my house and went to who knows where, and you made your aunt very worried. You are outside, as you can imagine, so much more convenient. Live the life of a bachelor, eat, drink, play, have fun, go home whenever you want, make fun of yourself, don't tell me whether you live or die, don't ask me to pay back your debts, you have to be mischievous, smash You urchin of other people's glass, after four years, you came to my house, but you only said a few words to me!" This crude method of making his grandson change his mind could only silence Marius.M. Gillenormand, crossing his arms in a gesture of particular majesty, shouted mercilessly at Marius: "Come to an end. You've come to ask me for something, isn't that what you said? Well, then, what is it? What is it? Tell me." "Sir," said Marius, with the look of a man who feels that he is about to fall off a precipice, "I have come to ask your permission to marry." M. Gillenormand rang the bell.Basque came and opened the door a crack. "Get my girl." A second later, the door opened again, and Miss Gillenormand did not come in, but stood in the doorway.Marius stood without speaking, with his hands hanging down, and with the face of a criminal, while M. Gillenormand paced up and down the room.He turned to his daughter and said to her: "Nothing. This is Monsieur Marius. Say hello to him. He is getting married. That's all. You go." The old man's words were short and rapid, and his voice was hoarse, which showed that his excitement had reached a rare and violent level.The aunt, flustered, glanced at Marius as if she did not know him well, and without a gesture or a syllable slipped away amidst her father's clattering, quicker than Cyclonus could blow away the straw. At this moment Father Gillenormand returned to the fire, leaning his back against it, and said: "You are going to be married! To be married at twenty-one! You have arranged it! You only need to get permission! A matter of formality. Please sit down, sir. You have performed an act since I have not had the honor of seeing you." A revolution. The Jacobins have the upper hand. You should be satisfied. Haven't you become a republican with a baronial title? Both sides, you have a way. The republic is the seasoning of a baronial. You were in the July Revolution You got the medal? You can eat more or less in the Louvre, sir? Near here, two steps away, on the third floor of a house in the Rue Saint-Antoine opposite the Rue Nonandier. There is a round cannonball embedded in the wall, with the inscription: July 28th, 1830. You may wish to see it. It works very well. Oh! They have done a lot of beautiful things, yours. Those friends! Also, didn’t they build a fountain in the square where the statue of the Duke of Berry originally stood? You said you were going to get married? Who were you going to marry? Wouldn’t it be presumptuous to ask who you were going to marry?” He stopped.Marius had not had time to reply, but he continued harshly: "Excuse me, do you have a job? Have you got a fortune? How much money do you make as a lawyer?" "Not a penny," said Marius, with a firm, almost presumptuous tone. "Not a penny? Are you living on the twelve hundred livres I gave you?" Marius did not answer.M. Gillenormand continued: "Ah, I see. Is it because the girl is rich?" "She's just like me." "What! Property without dowry?" "No." "Do you have property inheritance rights?" "Not necessarily." "Naked! What does her father do?" "I am not sure." "What's her last name?" "Miss Fauchelevent." "Cutting what?" "Fauwind." "Pooh!" said the old man. "Monsieur!" cried Marius. M. Gillenormand interrupted him in a soliloquy. "Yes, twenty-one years old, without a job, twelve hundred livres a year, and the Baroness de Pontmercy goes to the vegetable stall every day to buy coriander for two sous." "Monsieur," said Marius, panic-stricken, seeing that his last hope was about to vanish, "I implore you! I beseech you, I beseech the gods of heaven, and with folded hands, sir, I kneel before you, and allow me marry her and be married." The old man laughed wildly, with a shrill, shrill laugh, and coughed while laughing: "Ha! Ha! Ha! You must have said to yourself: 'Damn it, I'll go to that old man, that ridiculous old fool! It's a pity I'm not yet twenty-five! Otherwise I'd just throw He has a request for opinions! I can ignore him! It doesn't matter, I will tell him, old fool, I come to see you, you are so happy, I want to get married, I want to marry no matter what kind of lady, no matter Someone's daughter as a wife, I don't have shoes, she doesn't have a shirt, no matter what, I'm determined to throw my career, my future, my youth, my whole life into the water, hang a woman around my neck, plop Jump into the sea of ​​misery, this is my wish, you must agree!' That old stubborn will agree. Well, my child, do as you want, tie your stones, and marry your slut , What are you cutting the wind... No, sir! No!" "my father!" "no!" Hearing the air with which he said "No," Marius knew that all hope was lost.He bowed his head, hesitated, and walked slowly across the room step by step, as if to leave, but more like to die.M. Gillenormand followed him with his eyes, and just as the door was opened and Marius was about to go out, he took four quick steps forward with the vigorous steps of a willful old man, and grabbed Marius by the coat. The leader, with all his might, dragged him back into the room, threw him into an armchair, and said to him: "Talk to me about what happened." It was the word "my father" blurted out by Marius that changed the situation. Marius stared at him blankly.At this moment, there was only a rough honesty that expressed on M. Gillenormand's changing face.The stern old ancestor has become a kind grandfather. "Come on, let's see, tell me, tell me your love story, don't hold back, shake it all out! Damn it! Young people are not good things!" "My father," repeated Marius. The old man's face suddenly glowed, and he smiled indescribably. "Yes, there is nothing wrong! Call me your father, and you will see later." In the impetuous atmosphere of that time, something now appeared, so good, so sweet, so cheerful, so kind, that Marius, who was in the sudden change from despair to hope, was a little puzzled. Puzzled, but ecstatic.He happened to be sitting at the table, and M. Gillenormand was very surprised to see him, whose shabby clothes were illuminated by the light of the candles on the table. "Well, my father," said Marius. "Why," interrupted M. Gillenormand, "is it true that you have no money? You dress like a thief." He rummaged through his drawers, took out a wallet, and put it on the table: "Here, here's a hundred louis to buy a hat." "My father," continued Marius, "my dear father, if you know how much I love her. You will not imagine that I first met her in the Luxembourg Gardens, where she used to go, I didn't pay much attention at first, and then somehow I fell in love with her. Oh! It bothers me so much! Now I see her every day, and at her house her father doesn't know, you think, they're going away We met in that garden, after dark. Her father was taking her to England, and it occurred to me: 'I'm going to see my grandfather, and tell him about it.' I First would be crazy, I would die, I would get a disease, I would jump and kill myself. I absolutely need to marry her or I'd go crazy. The whole real situation is like that, I don't think I've forgotten anything. She lives in In a garden with an iron gate, Rue Plumet. Next to the Invalides." Father Gillenormand sat beside Marius, smiling.Listening to him, admiring his voice, he took a deep pinch of snuff.At the words Rue Blumet, he stopped breathing suddenly, and let the remaining snuff dust fall on his knees. "Rue de Plumet! Don't you mean the Rue de Plumet? Let me see! Isn't there a barracks over there? Yes, yes, your cousin Theodule told me about that spear The soldier, the officer. A little girl, my good friend, a little girl. Exactly, the Rue Plumet. It used to be called the Rue Blomet. Now I remember it perfectly. Rue Plumet, inside a barred gate. A little girl of mine, I've heard of it. In a garden. A little jasper. You've got good eyesight. I hear she was born clean. To tell you the truth, that silly little spearman gave her more or less So courteous. I don't know how far he's gone. That doesn't matter much. And he's not sure what he says. He's a braggart, Marius! I think it's very nice that a young man like you should fall in love with a girl. That's what happens to people your age. I'd rather you love a woman than be a Jacobin. I'd rather you love a short sarong, damn it! Twenty sarongs are fine, but I don't want you to fall in love with Robespierre. On my part, I'll be fair, as a sans-culottes man, my only passion is women. A pretty girl is always pretty. Girl, what more is there to say! There can be no objection. As for the little girl, she received you without her father's knowledge. That's the right way. I've had stories like that, myself. More than once. You know what to do Don't do this kind of thing too hastily, don't plunge into tragedy, don't talk about marriage, don't go to Mr. Mayor who wears it cross-body. Just be stupid and be a smart kid. We have common sense You have to be a slippery man, don't get married. You come to find grandpa, who is actually a nice gentleman, and often has a few volumes of Louis hidden in an old drawer. You say to him: "Grandpa, so and so." Grandpa said: 'It's simple.' Young people live, old people break. I have had youth, and you will be old. Well, my boy, you give this back to your grandson. Here are two hundred skins Stoll. Go have fun, and do it! Nothing could be better! That's the way things are done. Don't get married, it's not the same. You know what I mean?" Marius, like a stone man, lost the ability to speak, and shook his head repeatedly in protest. The old man laughed loudly, squeezed one old eye, patted him on the knee, looked straight into his eyes, shrugged his shoulders very slightly, and said to him: "Silly boy! Take her as your mistress." Marius paled.He didn't understand what his grandfather said just now.The Rue Blomé, the Rue des Blomers, the Barracks, and the Spearmen, of which he had been babbling, passed before Marius's eyes like black shadows.In all this there was nothing to relate to Cosette, who was a lily.The old man was talking nonsense.And these nonsense boiled down to one sentence, which Marius understood, and which was the most vicious insult to Cosette. The words "Take her to be your mistress" pierced the serious young man's heart like a sword. He stood up, picked up his hat from the floor, and walked toward the door with firm, steady steps.When he got there, he turned to his grandfather, bowed deeply to him, held his head up, and said: "Five years ago, you insulted my father. Today, you insult my love. I don't ask you for anything, sir. Farewell forever." Father Gillenormand was petrified, opened his mouth, stretched his arms, and tried to get up, but before he could speak, the door was closed, and Marius was nowhere to be seen. As if struck by lightning, the old man couldn't move, speak, or breathe for a while, as if a fist was pressed tightly against his throat.Later, he tried his best to stand up from the armchair, ran to the door with the speed that a ninety-one-year-old man could, opened the door, and roared loudly: "Save people! Save people!" His daughter came, and after her came the servants.He howled bitterly: "Go after him! Catch him! What have I done to him? He's mad! He's gone! Oh! My God! Ah! My God! This time, he won't come back!" He ran to the window facing the street, opened it with his old trembling hands, stretched most of his body out of the window, and Basque and Nicolette held him back, and he shouted: "Marius! Marius! Marius! Marius!" But Marius was out of hearing, and at that moment he was turning the corner of the Rue Saint-Louis. The old man over ninety raised his hands to his temples two or three times, looked despondent, staggered back, collapsed in an armchair, had no pulse, no voice, no tears, shook his head, His lips trembled like a fool, and in his eyes and heart, there was only something dark, remote, and night-like.