Page 1181 - les-miserables

CHAPTER VI

THE SUBSTITUTE

It chanced that the regiment to which Lieutenant Theod-
ule belonged came to perform garrison duty in Paris. This
inspired Aunt Gillenormand with a second idea. She had,
on the first occasion, hit upon the plan of having Marius
spied upon by Theodule; now she plotted to have Theodule
take Marius’ place.
At all events and in case the grandfather should feel the
vague need of a young face in the house,—these rays of
dawn are sometimes sweet to ruin,—it was expedient to find
another Marius. ‘Take it as a simple erratum,’ she thought,
‘such as one sees in books. For Marius, read Theodule.’
A grandnephew is almost the same as a grandson; in de-
fault of a lawyer one takes a lancer.
One morning, when M. Gillenormand was about to read
something in the Quotidienne, his daughter entered and
said to him in her sweetest voice; for the question concerned
her favorite:—
‘Father, Theodule is coming to present his respects to you
this morning.’
‘Who’s Theodule?’

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