Page 2024 - les-miserables

she had seen Marius. But she said to herself that he must
have received her letter, that he knew where she was, and
that he was so clever that he would find means of reach-
ing her.—And that certainly to-day, and perhaps that very
morning.—It was broad daylight, but the rays of light were
very horizontal; she thought that it was very early, but that
she must rise, nevertheless, in order to receive Marius.
She felt that she could not live without Marius, and that,
consequently, that was sufficient and that Marius would
come. No objection was valid. All this was certain. It was
monstrous enough already to have suffered for three days.
Marius absent three days, this was horrible on the part of
the good God. Now, this cruel teasing from on high had
been gone through with. Marius was about to arrive, and he
would bring good news. Youth is made thus; it quickly dries
its eyes; it finds sorrow useless and does not accept it. Youth
is the smile of the future in the presence of an unknown
quantity, which is itself. It is natural to it to be happy. It
seems as though its respiration were made of hope.
Moreover, Cosette could not remember what Marius had
said to her on the subject of this absence which was to last
only one day, and what explanation of it he had given her.
Every one has noticed with what nimbleness a coin which
one has dropped on the ground rolls away and hides, and
with what art it renders itself undiscoverable. There are
thoughts which play us the same trick; they nestle away in a
corner of our brain; that is the end of them; they are lost; it
is impossible to lay the memory on them. Cosette was some-
what vexed at the useless little effort made by her memory.

2024 Les Miserables