All was black.
“My child,” said the man, “take these, and go and dress yourself quickly.”
Daylight was appearing when those of the inhabitants of Montfermeil who had begun to open their doors beheld a poorly clad old man leading a little girl dressed in mourning, and carrying a pink doll in her arms, pass along the road to Paris. They were going in the direction of Livry.
It was our man and Cosette.
No one knew the man; as Cosette was no longer in rags, many did not recognize her.
Cosette was going away.
With whom?
She did not know.
Whither?
She knew not.
All that she understood was that she was leaving the Thenardier tavern behind her.
No one had thought of bidding her farewell, nor had she thought of taking leave of any one.
She was leaving that hated and hating house.
Poor, gentle creature, whose heart had been repressed up to that hour!
Cosette walked along gravely, with her large eyes wide open, and gazing at the sky.
She had put her louis in the pocket of her new apron.
From time to time, she bent down and glanced at it; then she looked at the good man.
She felt something as though she were beside the good God.
CHAPTER X—HE WHO SEEKS TO BETTER HIMSELF MAY RENDER HIS SITUATION WORSE
Madame Thenardier had allowed her husband to have his own way, as was her wont.
She had expected great results.
When the man and Cosette had taken their departure, Thenardier allowed a full quarter of an hour to elapse; then he took her aside and showed her the fifteen hundred francs.
“Is that all?” said she.
It was the first time since they had set up housekeeping that she had dared to criticise one of the master’s acts.
The blow told.
“You are right, in sooth,” said he;
“I am a fool.
Give me my hat.”
He folded up the three bank-bills, thrust them into his pocket, and ran out in all haste; but he made a mistake and turned to the right first.
Some neighbors, of whom he made inquiries, put him on the track again; the Lark and the man had been seen going in the direction of Livry.
He followed these hints, walking with great strides, and talking to himself the while:— “That man is evidently a million dressed in yellow, and I am an animal.
First he gave twenty sous, then five francs, then fifty francs, then fifteen hundred francs, all with equal readiness.
He would have given fifteen thousand francs.
But I shall overtake him.”
And then, that bundle of clothes prepared beforehand for the child; all that was singular; many mysteries lay concealed under it.
One does not let mysteries out of one’s hand when one has once grasped them.
The secrets of the wealthy are sponges of gold; one must know how to subject them to pressure.
All these thoughts whirled through his brain.
“I am an animal,” said he.
When one leaves Montfermeil and reaches the turn which the road takes that runs to Livry, it can be seen stretching out before one to a great distance across the plateau.
On arriving there, he calculated that he ought to be able to see the old man and the child.
He looked as far as his vision reached, and saw nothing.
He made fresh inquiries, but he had wasted time.
Some passers-by informed him that the man and child of whom he was in search had gone towards the forest in the direction of Gagny.
He hastened in that direction.
They were far in advance of him; but a child walks slowly, and he walked fast; and then, he was well acquainted with the country.
All at once he paused and dealt himself a blow on his forehead like a man who has forgotten some essential point and who is ready to retrace his steps.
“I ought to have taken my gun,” said he to himself.
Thenardier was one of those double natures which sometimes pass through our midst without our being aware of the fact, and who disappear without our finding them out, because destiny has only exhibited one side of them.
It is the fate of many men to live thus half submerged.