Page 1261 - les-miserables

man?’ My sister said to me: ‘I think it is a gentleman.’’
In the meanwhile she had unfolded the petition ad-
dressed to ‘the benevolent gentleman of the church of
Saint-Jacquesdu-Haut-Pas.’
‘Here!’ said she, ‘this is for that old fellow who goes to
mass. By the way, this is his hour. I’ll go and carry it to him.
Perhaps he will give us something to breakfast on.’
Then she began to laugh again, and added:—
‘Do you know what it will mean if we get a breakfast to-
day? It will mean that we shall have had our breakfast of the
day before yesterday, our breakfast of yesterday, our din-
ner of to-day, and all that at once, and this morning. Come!
Parbleu! if you are not satisfied, dogs, burst!’
This reminded Marius of the wretched girl’s errand to
himself. He fumbled in his waistcoat pocket, and found
nothing there.
The young girl went on, and seemed to have no con-
sciousness of Marius’ presence.
‘I often go off in the evening. Sometimes I don’t come
home again. Last winter, before we came here, we lived un-
der the arches of the bridges. We huddled together to keep
from freezing. My little sister cried. How melancholy the
water is! When I thought of drowning myself, I said to my-
self: ‘No, it’s too cold.’ I go out alone, whenever I choose, I
sometimes sleep in the ditches. Do you know, at night, when
I walk along the boulevard, I see the trees like forks, I see
houses, all black and as big as Notre Dame, I fancy that the
white walls are the river, I say to myself: ‘Why, there’s wa-
ter there!’ The stars are like the lamps in illuminations, one

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