Page 2416 - les-miserables

And with the agility of a monkey, flinging back his hair,
tearing off his spectacles, and withdrawing from his nose by
sleight of hand the two quills of which mention was recently
made, and which the reader has also met with on another
page of this book, he took off his face as the man takes off
his hat.
His eye lighted up; his uneven brow, with hollows in
some places and bumps in others, hideously wrinkled at
the top, was laid bare, his nose had become as sharp as a
beak; the fierce and sagacious profile of the man of prey re-
appeared.
‘Monsieur le Baron is infallible,’ he said in a clear voice
whence all nasal twang had disappeared, ‘I am Thenardier.’
And he straightened up his crooked back.
Thenardier, for it was really he, was strangely surprised;
he would have been troubled, had he been capable of such
a thing. He had come to bring astonishment, and it was he
who had received it. This humiliation had been worth five
hundred francs to him, and, taking it all in all, he accepted
it; but he was none the less bewildered.
He beheld this Baron Pontmercy for the first time, and,
in spite of his disguise, this Baron Pontmercy recognized
him, and recognized him thoroughly. And not only was this
Baron perfectly informed as to Thenardier, but he seemed
well posted as to Jean Valjean. Who was this almost beard-
less young man, who was so glacial and so generous, who
knew people’s names, who knew all their names, and who
opened his purse to them, who bullied rascals like a judge,
and who paid them like a dupe?

2416 Les Miserables