Page 706 - les-miserables

Thenardier lighted his pipe, and replied between two
puffs:—
‘You will hand that bill to the man.’
Then he went out.
Hardly had he left the room when the traveller entered.
Thenardier instantly reappeared behind him and re-
mained motionless in the half-open door, visible only to his
wife.
The yellow man carried his bundle and his cudgel in his
hand.
‘Up so early?’ said Madame Thenardier; ‘is Monsieur
leaving us already?’
As she spoke thus, she was twisting the bill about in her
hands with an embarrassed air, and making creases in it
with her nails. Her hard face presented a shade which was
not habitual with it,— timidity and scruples.
To present such a bill to a man who had so completely the
air ‘of a poor wretch’ seemed difficult to her.
The traveller appeared to be preoccupied and
absent-minded. He replied:—
‘Yes, Madame, I am going.’
‘So Monsieur has no business in Montfermeil?’
‘No, I was passing through. That is all. What do I owe
you, Madame,’ he added.
The Thenardier silently handed him the folded bill.
The man unfolded the paper and glanced at it; but his
thoughts were evidently elsewhere.
‘Madame,’ he resumed, ‘is business good here in Mont-
fermeil?’

706 Les Miserables