Page 1177 - les-miserables

CHAPTER V

POVERTY A GOOD

NEIGHBOR FOR MISERY

Marius liked this candid old man who saw himself grad-
ually falling into the clutches of indigence, and who came
to feel astonishment, little by little, without, however, be-
ing made melancholy by it. Marius met Courfeyrac and
sought out M. Mabeuf. Very rarely, however; twice a month
at most.
Marius’ pleasure consisted in taking long walks alone on
the outer boulevards, or in the Champs-de-Mars, or in the
least frequented alleys of the Luxembourg. He often spent
half a day in gazing at a market garden, the beds of lettuce,
the chickens on the dung-heap, the horse turning the water-
wheel. The passers-by stared at him in surprise, and some of
them thought his attire suspicious and his mien sinister. He
was only a poor young man dreaming in an objectless way.
It was during one of his strolls that he had hit upon the
Gorbeau house, and, tempted by its isolation and its cheap-
ness, had taken up his abode there. He was known there
only under the name of M. Marius.

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