Page 1088 - les-miserables

‘I would rather be called Alfred,’ said the officer.
‘Listen, Theodule.’
‘I am listening, aunt.’
‘Pay attention.’
‘I am paying attention.’
‘You understand?’
‘Yes.’
‘Well, Marius absents himself!’
‘Eh! eh!’
‘He travels.’
‘Ah! ah!’
‘He spends the night out.’
‘Oh! oh!’
‘We should like to know what there is behind all this.’
Theodule replied with the composure of a man of
bronze:—
‘Some petticoat or other.’
And with that inward laugh which denotes certainty, he
added:—
‘A lass.’
‘That is evident,’ exclaimed his aunt, who thought she
heard M. Gillenormand speaking, and who felt her convic-
tion become irresistible at that word fillette, accentuated
in almost the very same fashion by the granduncle and the
grandnephew. She resumed:—
‘Do us a favor. Follow Marius a little. He does not know
you, it will be easy. Since a lass there is, try to get a sight of
her. You must write us the tale. It will amuse his grandfa-
ther.’

1088 Les Miserables