Page 2377 - les-miserables
P. 2377
CHAPTER II
ANOTHER STEP
BACKWARDS
On the following day, at the same hour, Jean Valjean
came.
Cosette asked him no questions, was no longer aston-
ished, no longer exclaimed that she was cold, no longer
spoke of the drawing-room, she avoided saying either ‘fa-
ther’ or ‘Monsieur Jean.’ She allowed herself to be addressed
as you. She allowed herself to be called Madame. Only, her
joy had undergone a certain diminution. She would have
been sad, if sadness had been possible to her.
It is probable that she had had with Marius one of those
conversations in which the beloved man says what he pleas-
es, explains nothing, and satisfies the beloved woman. The
curiosity of lovers does not extend very far beyond their
own love.
The lower room had made a little toilet. Basque had sup-
pressed the bottles, and Nicolette the spiders.
All the days which followed brought Jean Valjean at
the same hour. He came every day, because he had not
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