Page 1137 - les-miserables

discussing a point of law behind the scenes, and who was
plunged more than waist high in a phrase of judicial slang,
of which this is the conclusion:—
‘—And as for me, although I am hardly a legist, and at
the most, an amateur attorney, I maintain this: that, in ac-
cordance with the terms of the customs of Normandy, at
Saint-Michel, and for each year, an equivalent must be paid
to the profit of the lord of the manor, saving the rights of
others, and by all and several, the proprietors as well as
those seized with inheritance, and that, for all emphyteuses,
leases, freeholds, contracts of domain, mortgages—‘
‘Echo, plaintive nymph,’ hummed Grantaire.
Near Grantaire, an almost silent table, a sheet of paper,
an inkstand and a pen between two glasses of brandy, an-
nounced that a vaudeville was being sketched out.
This great affair was being discussed in a low voice, and
the two heads at work touched each other: ‘Let us begin by
finding names. When one has the names, one finds the sub-
ject.’
‘That is true. Dictate. I will write.’
‘Monsieur Dorimon.’
‘An independent gentleman?’
‘Of course.’
‘His daughter, Celestine.’
‘—tine. What next?’
‘Colonel Sainval.’
‘Sainval is stale. I should say Valsin.’
Beside the vaudeville aspirants, another group, which
was also taking advantage of the uproar to talk low, was

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