Page 320 - les-miserables

sumed. Marguerite halted on the threshold, petrified at this
tremendous wastefulness, and exclaimed:—
‘Lord! the candle is all burned out! Something has hap-
pened.’
Then she looked at Fantine, who turned toward her her
head bereft of its hair.
Fantine had grown ten years older since the preceding
night.
‘Jesus!’ said Marguerite, ‘what is the matter with you,
Fantine?’
‘Nothing,’ replied Fantine. ‘Quite the contrary. My child
will not die of that frightful malady, for lack of succor. I am
content.’
So saying, she pointed out to the spinster two napoleons
which were glittering on the table.
‘Ah! Jesus God!’ cried Marguerite. ‘Why, it is a fortune!
Where did you get those louis d’or?’
‘I got them,’ replied Fantine.
At the same time she smiled. The candle illuminated
her countenance. It was a bloody smile. A reddish saliva
soiled the corners of her lips, and she had a black hole in
her mouth.
The two teeth had been extracted.
She sent the forty francs to Montfermeil.
After all it was a ruse of the Thenardiers to obtain money.
Cosette was not ill.
Fantine threw her mirror out of the window. She had
long since quitted her cell on the second floor for an at-
tic with only a latch to fasten it, next the roof; one of those

320 Les Miserables