Page 1345 - les-miserables

woman and the four men on his right, on the side next the
door. The four men did not stir, and did not even seem to
be looking on.
Jondrette had again begun to speak in a plaintive tone,
with so vague an eye, and so lamentable an intonation, that
M. Leblanc might have supposed that what he had before
him was a man who had simply gone mad with misery.
‘If you do not buy my picture, my dear benefactor,’ said
Jondrette, ‘I shall be left without resources; there will be
nothing left for me but to throw myself into the river. When
I think that I wanted to have my two girls taught the mid-
dle-class paper-box trade, the making of boxes for New
Year’s gifts! Well! A table with a board at the end to keep the
glasses from falling off is required, then a special stove is
needed, a pot with three compartments for the different de-
grees of strength of the paste, according as it is to be used for
wood, paper, or stuff, a paring-knife to cut the cardboard, a
mould to adjust it, a hammer to nail the steels, pincers, how
the devil do I know what all? And all that in order to earn
four sous a day! And you have to work fourteen hours a day!
And each box passes through the workwoman’s hands thir-
teen times! And you can’t wet the paper! And you mustn’t
spot anything! And you must keep the paste hot. The devil,
I tell you! Four sous a day! How do you suppose a man is
to live?’
As he spoke, Jondrette did not look at M. Leblanc, who
was observing him. M. Leblanc’s eye was fixed on Jondrette,
and Jondrette’s eye was fixed on the door. Marius’ eager at-
tention was transferred from one to the other. M. Leblanc

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