Page 1285 - les-miserables

CHAPTER IX

JONDRETTE COMES

NEAR WEEPING

The hovel was so dark, that people coming from without
felt on entering it the effect produced on entering a cellar.
The two new-comers advanced, therefore, with a certain
hesitation, being hardly able to distinguish the vague forms
surrounding them, while they could be clearly seen and
scrutinized by the eyes of the inhabitants of the garret, who
were accustomed to this twilight.
M. Leblanc approached, with his sad but kindly look,
and said to Jondrette the father:—
‘Monsieur, in this package you will find some new clothes
and some woollen stockings and blankets.’
‘Our angelic benefactor overwhelms us,’ said Jondrette,
bowing to the very earth.
Then, bending down to the ear of his eldest daugh-
ter, while the two visitors were engaged in examining this
lamentable interior, he added in a low and rapid voice:—
‘Hey? What did I say? Duds! No money! They are all
alike! By the way, how was the letter to that old blockhead

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