Page 693 - les-miserables

to the forest, nor the weight of the bucket of water, nor the
loss of the money, nor the sight of the whip, nor even the
sad words which she had heard Madame Thenardier utter
had been able to wring this from her— she wept; she burst
out sobbing.
Meanwhile, the traveller had risen to his feet.
‘What is the matter?’ he said to the Thenardier.
‘Don’t you see?’ said the Thenardier, pointing to the cor-
pus delicti which lay at Cosette’s feet.
‘Well, what of it?’ resumed the man.
‘That beggar,’ replied the Thenardier, ‘has permitted her-
self to touch the children’s doll!’
‘All this noise for that!’ said the man; ‘well, what if she
did play with that doll?’
‘She touched it with her dirty hands!’ pursued the Th-
enardier, ‘with her frightful hands!’
Here Cosette redoubled her sobs.
‘Will you stop your noise?’ screamed the Thenardier.
The man went straight to the street door, opened it, and
stepped out.
As soon as he had gone, the Thenardier profited by his
absence to give Cosette a hearty kick under the table, which
made the child utter loud cries.
The door opened again, the man re-appeared; he carried
in both hands the fabulous doll which we have mentioned,
and which all the village brats had been staring at ever
since the morning, and he set it upright in front of Cosette,
saying:—
‘Here; this is for you.’

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