Page 1094 - les-miserables

our finger on the debaucheries of our sly friend! Here we
have the romance itself. I have the portrait!’
In fact, a case of black shagreen, resembling a medallion
portrait, was suspended from the ribbon.
The old man took this case and gazed at it for some time
without opening it, with that air of enjoyment, rapture, and
wrath, with which a poor hungry fellow beholds an admira-
ble dinner which is not for him, pass under his very nose.
‘For this evidently is a portrait. I know all about such
things. That is worn tenderly on the heart. How stupid they
are! Some abominable fright that will make us shudder,
probably! Young men have such bad taste nowadays!’
‘Let us see, father,’ said the old spinster.
The case opened by the pressure of a spring. They found
in it nothing but a carefully folded paper.
‘From the same to the same,’ said M. Gillenormand,
bursting with laughter. ‘I know what it is. A billet-doux.’
‘Ah! let us read it!’ said the aunt.
And she put on her spectacles. They unfolded the paper
and read as follows:—
‘For my son.—The Emperor made me a Baron on the bat-
tlefield of Waterloo. Since the Restoration disputes my right
to this title which I purchased with my blood, my son shall
take it and bear it. That he will be worthy of it is a matter
of course.’
The feelings of father and daughter cannot be described.
They felt chilled as by the breath of a death’s-head. They did
not exchange a word.
Only, M. Gillenormand said in a low voice and as though

1094 Les Miserables