Page 1340 - les-miserables

CHAPTER XIX

OCCUPYING ONE’S SELF

WITH OBSCURE DEPTHS

Hardly was M. Leblanc seated, when he turned his eyes
towards the pallets, which were empty.
‘How is the poor little wounded girl?’ he inquired.
‘Bad,’ replied Jondrette with a heart-broken and grateful
smile, ‘very bad, my worthy sir. Her elder sister has taken
her to the Bourbe to have her hurt dressed. You will see
them presently; they will be back immediately.’
‘Madame Fabantou seems to me to be better,’ went on
M. Leblanc, casting his eyes on the eccentric costume of the
Jondrette woman, as she stood between him and the door,
as though already guarding the exit, and gazed at him in an
attitude of menace and almost of combat.
‘She is dying,’ said Jondrette. ‘But what do you expect,
sir! She has so much courage, that woman has! She’s not a
woman, she’s an ox.’
The Jondrette, touched by his compliment, deprecated it
with the affected airs of a flattered monster.
‘You are always too good to me, Monsieur Jondrette!’

1340 Les Miserables