Chapter 296 VII Gavroche is good at calculating distances

Marius fulfills his promise.He kissed the gray brow that was dripping with cold sweat.This was not an infidelity to Cosette, but a farewell to the unhappy soul with helpless sentimentality. He couldn't help but be shocked by the confidence that Eponine gave him.He felt immediately that something important was going on here.He couldn't wait, eager to know its contents.Such is the human heart, that the unfortunate child had scarcely closed his eyes before Marius thought of reading the letter.He put her gently on the ground and walked away.Something prevented him from reading the letter in front of the corpse.

He went into the hall and approached a candle.It was a small letter folded and sealed with feminine grace and care, and the address was written in the woman's handwriting: He opened the envelope and read: Their love was so innocent that Marius did not even know Cosette's handwriting. A few words can explain the situation clearly.Everything was done by Eponine.After the events of the night of June 3rd she had a double purpose in mind: to thwart the plans of her father and the gangsters to rob the house in the Rue Blumet, and to separate Marius and Cosette.She met an unrelated young man who wanted to have fun in women's clothes, and she exchanged her old rags for her own outfit, and pretended to be a man.It was she who threw down the meaningful warning to Jean Valjean at the Place de Mars, "Move quickly."As expected, Jean Valjean returned home and said to Cosette: "We will leave this place tonight, and live with Toussaint in the Rue des Warriors, and go to London next week." Cosette was disturbed by this unexpected decision. Confused, he hastily wrote two lines to Marius.But how to get this letter to the post office?She never went out alone in the street, and Toussaint would be surprised if she asked Toussaint to send it, and she would definitely send this letter to M. Fauchelevent.While anxious, Cosette saw Éponine in men's attire passing by the iron gate; Éponine had often wandered around the garden recently.Cosette stopped the "young worker", gave him five francs, and said to him: "Please send this letter to this place at once." Éponine put the letter in her pocket. .The next day, June 5th, she went to Marius at Courfeyrac's house, not to deliver a letter, but to "go and see," as every jealous lover can understand. .She waited at the door for Marius, or at least for Courfeyrac, also "to see."When Courfeyrac said to her, "Let's go to the barricades," an idea came to her mind.She thought that if she could not survive anyway, she might as well die in the barricade and push Marius into it at the same time.She followed Courfeyrac, knew exactly where they had erected the barricade, and anticipated that since she had intercepted the letter, Marius would have no way of hearing, and that in the evening he would inevitably go to the place where they met every day. To wait for Marius in the Rue Plumet, and to extend that invitation in the name of his friends, she thought, would surely lead Marius to the barricade.She expected that Marius would be pessimistic and disappointed if he could not see Cosette, and she was not wrong in her estimation.She herself returned to Machang Street.We just saw what she did there.With the kind of jealousy that she would rather kill her own love than let others take it away, and if she can't get it, no one can get it, she happily embarked on the road of tragic death.

Marius keeps kissing Cosette's letter.From this point of view, she still loves him!It occurred to him for a moment that he should no longer contemplate death.Then he said to himself: "She is going away. Her father is taking her to England, and my grandfather will not allow me to marry her. Therefore, fate has not changed at all." People think of this life-long hatred, and the conclusion drawn from it is still only a dead end.It is better to die than to live in unbearable distress. Then it occurred to him that there were still two things he had to do: to tell Cosette of his desperation, and to bid her a final farewell; Di's son, rescued from this impending disaster.

He had a paper clip with him, which was the folder in which he used to record his thoughts and activities at all times during the early days of his love for Cosette.He tore off a sheet of paper and wrote these lines in pencil: He had no envelope, so he folded the paper in four and wrote the address: After folding the letter, he thought for a while, picked up his paper clip again, turned to the first page, and with the same pencil, wrote these lines: He put the paper clip in his pocket, and called to Gavroche.Hearing Marius' voice, the wild boy came running with a cheerful and courteous countenance.

"Will you do something for me?" "As you please," said Gavroche, "good God! I would have been roasted without you." "Can you see this letter?" "visible." "Take it. Get out of the barricade at once (Gavroche, feeling uneasy, began to scratch his ears). To-morrow morning you will take it to this place, at the house of M. Fauchelevent, rue des Warriors, 7, and give it to Cosette. Miss Fauchelevent." The valiant boy answered: "That's all very well, but no! The barricades will be taken during that time, and I won't be there."

"It looks like no one will attack the barricades until daybreak, and they won't be able to take them down until noon tomorrow." The respite time for the officers and soldiers to leave this barricade again is indeed lengthening.There is often such a temporary pause in night battles, but always followed by a doubly fierce attack. "Well," said Gavroche, "I will send your letter tomorrow morning, will you?" "It will be too late. The barricades will probably be blocked and all access cut off, and you will not be able to get out. You go at once." Gavroche could not find a reason for his rebuttal, but he remained motionless, unable to make up his mind, scratching his ear with a sad face.Suddenly, with his usual sparrow-like haste, he grabbed the letter.

"Okay," he said. He ran out from Monddu Alley. Gavroche made up his mind, for he had an idea, but he kept silent, for fear of Marius' opposition. His idea is this: "It's not yet twelve o'clock in the evening, and it's still a few minutes away. Warrior Street is not far away. I'll send this letter right away, and I'll be back in time."