Page 1374 - les-miserables

me those little two hundred thousand francs, she will be
returned to you. If you have me arrested, my comrade will
give a turn of his thumb to the Lark, that’s all.’
The prisoner uttered not a syllable. After a pause,
Thenardier continued:—
‘It’s very simple, as you see. There’ll be no harm done
unless you wish that there should be harm done. I’m tell-
ing you how things stand. I warn you so that you may be
prepared.’
He paused: the prisoner did not break the silence, and
Thenardier resumed:—
‘As soon as my wife returns and says to me: ‘The Lark is
on the way,’ we will release you, and you will be free to go
and sleep at home. You see that our intentions are not evil.’
Terrible images passed through Marius’ mind. What!
That young girl whom they were abducting was not to be
brought back? One of those monsters was to bear her off
into the darkness? Whither? And what if it were she!
It was clear that it was she. Marius felt his heart stop
beating.
What was he to do? Discharge the pistol? Place all those
scoundrels in the hands of justice? But the horrible man
with the meat-axe would, none the less, be out of reach with
the young girl, and Marius reflected on Thenardier’s words,
of which he perceived the bloody significance: ‘If you have
me arrested, my comrade will give a turn of his thumb to
the Lark.’
Now, it was not alone by the colonel’s testament, it was by
his own love, it was by the peril of the one he loved, that he

1374 Les Miserables