Page 1291 - les-miserables

CHAPTER X

TARIFF OF LICENSED CABS:

TWO FRANCS AN HOUR

Marius had lost nothing of this entire scene, and yet, in
reality, had seen nothing. His eyes had remained fixed on
the young girl, his heart had, so to speak, seized her and
wholly enveloped her from the moment of her very first step
in that garret. During her entire stay there, he had lived that
life of ecstasy which suspends material perceptions and pre-
cipitates the whole soul on a single point. He contemplated,
not that girl, but that light which wore a satin pelisse and a
velvet bonnet. The star Sirius might have entered the room,
and he would not have been any more dazzled.
While the young girl was engaged in opening the pack-
age, unfolding the clothing and the blankets, questioning
the sick mother kindly, and the little injured girl tenderly, he
watched her every movement, he sought to catch her words.
He knew her eyes, her brow, her beauty, her form, her walk,
he did not know the sound of her voice. He had once fan-
cied that he had caught a few words at the Luxembourg,
but he was not absolutely sure of the fact. He would have

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