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Les Miserables Novel Chapters
List of most recent chapters published for the Les Miserables novel. A total of 300 chapters have been translated and the release date of the last chapter is Apr 02, 2024
Latest Release: Chapter 1 : Les Miserables.by Victor Hugo.VOLUME I.--FANTINE.PREFACE So long as there shall exist, b
Les Miserables.by Victor Hugo.VOLUME I.--FANTINE.PREFACE So long as there shall exist, by virtue of law and custom, decrees of d.a.m.nation p.r.o.nounced by society, artificially creating h.e.l.ls amid the civilization of earth, and adding the element of
- 201 "Now, whom are we to eat?"It is useless to explain the sense of this frightfully transparent remark, which signifies both to kill, to a.s.sa.s.sinate, and to plunder. To eat, true sense: to devour."Let's get well into a corner," s
- 202 One finds it difficult to recognize. Is it really the French tongue, the great human tongue? Behold it ready to step upon the stage and to retort upon crime, and prepared for all the employments of the repertory of evil. It no longer walks, it hobbles; it
- 203 What does it signify to receive a box on the ear? Commonplace metaphor replies: "It is to see thirty-six candles."Here slang intervenes and takes it up: Candle, camoufle. Thereupon, the ordinary tongue gives camouflet[42] as the synonym for souf
- 204 In the meantime, let there be no halt, no hesitation, no pause in the grandiose onward march of minds. Social philosophy consists essentially in science and peace. Its object is, and its result must be, to dissolve wrath by the study of antagonisms. It ex
- 205 "I have been loving a little more all the time that has pa.s.sed since this morning."Questions and replies took care of themselves in this dialogue, which always turned with mutual consent upon love, as the little pith figures always turn on the
- 206 One evening, Marius was on his way to the rendezvous, by way of the Boulevard des Invalides. He habitually walked with drooping head. As he was on the point of turning the corner of the Rue Plumet, he heard some one quite close to him say:-- "Good ev
- 207 Guelemer held one of those pairs of curved pincers which prowlers call fanchons."Ah, see here, what are you about there? What do you want with us? Are you crazy?" exclaimed Thenardier, as loudly as one can exclaim and still speak low; "what
- 208 "Beginning with my father!"Thenardier stepped nearer."Not so close, my good man!" said she.He retreated, growling between his teeth:-- "Why, what's the matter with her?"And he added:-- "b.i.t.c.h!"She began to
- 209 Eponine, who never took her eyes off of them, saw them retreat by the road by which they had come. She rose and began to creep after them along the walls and the houses. She followed them thus as far as the boulevard.There they parted, and she saw these s
- 210 When his eyes fell again, he saw Cosette smiling at him. The smile of a woman whom one loves possesses a visible radiance, even at night."How silly we are! Marius, I have an idea.""What is it?""If we go away, do you go too! I will
- 211 "I am going to try something.""Then I will pray to G.o.d and I will think of you here, so that you may be successful. I will question you no further, since you do not wish it.You are my master. I shall pa.s.s the evening to-morrow in singin
- 212 Marius replied with embarra.s.sment:-- "Monsieur--"M. Gillenormand would have liked to have Marius throw himself into his arms. He was displeased with Marius and with himself. He was conscious that he was brusque, and that Marius was cold. It ca
- 213 "Fauchewhat?""Fauchelevent.""Pttt!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the old gentleman."Sir!" exclaimed Marius.M. Gillenormand interrupted him with the tone of a man who is speaking to himself:-- "That's right, one and
- 214 That same day, towards four o'clock in the afternoon, Jean Valjean was sitting alone on the back side of one of the most solitary slopes in the Champ-de-Mars. Either from prudence, or from a desire to meditate, or simply in consequence of one of thos
- 215 Moreover, M. Mabeuf had continued his downward course.His experiments on indigo had been no more successful in the Jardin des Plantes than in his garden at Austerlitz. The year before he had owed his housekeeper's wages; now, as we have seen, he owed
- 216 For our parts, we reject this word uprisings as too large, and consequently as too convenient. We make a distinction between one popular movement and another popular movement. We do not inquire whether an uprising costs as much as a battle. Why a battle,
- 217 All at once, a man on horseback, clad in black, made his appearance in the middle of the group with a red flag, others say, with a pike surmounted with a red liberty-cap. Lafayette turned aside his head.Exelmans quitted the procession.This red flag raised
- 218 The theatres open their doors and present vaudevilles; the curious laugh and chat a couple of paces distant from these streets filled with war. Hackney-carriages go their way; pa.s.sers-by are going to a dinner somewhere in town. Sometimes in the very qua
- 219 "And people also.""But the fleas from a cat don't go after people.""That's not the trouble, dogs are dangerous. I remember one year when there were so many dogs that it was necessary to put it in the newspapers. That was
- 220 "In the heel. At Ratisbon. I never saw him so well dressed as on that day. He was as neat as a new sou.""And you, Mr. Veteran, you must have been often wounded?""I?" said the soldier, "ah! not to amount to anything. At M
- 221 "Why?""There's going to be a row.""That's well.""Thrusts with the sword and firing, M. Mabeuf.""That is well.""Firing from cannon.""That is good. Where are the rest of you going?&q
- 222 And Courfeyrac added:-- "For my part, I shall not return."The young man gazed steadily at him and said:-- "Why not?""Because.""Where are you going, then?""What business is that of yours?""Would you li
- 223 This was scrawled in charcoal on the wall.Mame Hucheloup, a good likeness, went and came from morning till night before this quatrain with the most perfect tranquillity. Two serving-maids, named Matelote and Gibelotte,[49] and who had never been known by
- 224 "Do.""No?""Do! I tell you.""Marius' love affairs!" exclaimed Grantaire. "I can imagine it. Marius is a fog, and he must have found a vapor. Marius is of the race of poets. He who says poet, says fool, madm
- 225 He was seated on the sill of the open window, wetting his back in the falling rain, and gazing at his two friends.All at once, he heard a tumult behind him, hurried footsteps, cries of "To arms!" He turned round and saw in the Rue Saint-Denis, a
- 226 Bah.o.r.el, in ecstasies over the barricade, shouted:-- "Here's the street in its low-necked dress! How well it looks!"Courfeyrac, as he demolished the wine-shop to some extent, sought to console the widowed proprietress."Mother Huchel
- 227 While the men made bullets and the women lint, while a large saucepan of melted bra.s.s and lead, destined to the bullet-mould smoked over a glowing brazier, while the sentinels watched, weapon in hand, on the barricade, while Enjolras, whom it was imposs
- 228 "I am an agent of the authorities.""And your name?""Javert."Enjolras made a sign to the four men. In the twinkling of an eye, before Javert had time to turn round, he was collared, thrown down, pinioned and searched.They foun
- 229 "Will you open, yes or no?""No, gentlemen.""Do you say no?""I say no, my goo--"The porter did not finish. The shot was fired; the ball entered under his chin and came out at the nape of his neck, after traversing th
- 230 Marius entered the Rue Saint-Honore through the Pa.s.sage Delorme. There the shops were closed, the merchants were chatting in front of their half-open doors, people were walking about, the street lanterns were lighted, beginning with the first floor, all
- 231 There is no such thing as foreign or civil war; there is only just and unjust war. Until that day when the grand human agreement is concluded, war, that at least which is the effort of the future, which is hastening on against the past, which is lagging i
- 232 "Does no one volunteer?"CHAPTER II--THE FLAG: ACT SECOND Since they had arrived at Corinthe, and had begun the construction of the barricade, no attention had been paid to Father Mabeuf. M. Mabeuf had not quitted the mob, however; he had entered
- 233 Amid the sound of the shots, amid the cries of the a.s.saulted guards, the a.s.sailants had climbed the entrenchment, on whose summit Munic.i.p.al Guards, soldiers of the line and National Guards from the suburbs could now be seen, gun in hand, rearing th
- 234 Silence fell again."They have killed him," exclaimed Combeferre.Enjolras glanced at Javert, and said to him:-- "Your friends have just shot you."CHAPTER VI--THE AGONY OF DEATH AFTER THE AGONY OF LIFE A peculiarity of this species of wa
- 235 She remained silent for a moment, then she turned her face with an effort, and looked at Marius."Do you know what, Monsieur Marius? It puzzled me because you entered that garden; it was stupid, because it was I who showed you that house; and then, I
- 236 "To Monsieur, Monsieur Marius Pontmercy, at M. Courfeyrac's, Rue de la Verrerie, No. 16."He broke the seal and read:-- "My dearest, alas! my father insists on our setting out immediately.We shall be this evening in the Rue de l'Ho
- 237 They had gone to bed in silence.The lodgings in the Rue de l'Homme Arme were situated on a back court, on the second floor, and were composed of two sleeping-rooms, a dining-room and a kitchen adjoining the dining-room, with a garret where there was
- 238 The street was deserted. A few uneasy bourgeois, who were rapidly returning home, hardly saw him. Each one for himself in times of peril.The lamp-lighter came as usual to light the lantern which was situated precisely opposite the door of No. 7, and then
- 239 "In that case, you must know that I was sent from the barricade.""Of course," said Jean Valjean.Gavroche engulfed his hand in another of his pockets and drew out a paper folded in four.Then he made the military salute."Respect for
- 240 "Let us interrupt the romance," said he.His feline eye had just descried, in the recess of a carriage door, what is called in painting, an ensemble, that is to say, a person and a thing; the thing was a hand-cart, the person was a man from Auver
- 241 And as he ran:-- "Ah, by the way, where was I?" said he.And he resumed his ditty, as he plunged rapidly through the streets, and this is what died away in the gloom:-- "Mais il reste encore des bastilles, Et je vais mettre le hola Dans l�
- 242 The valiant Colonel Monteynard admired this barricade with a shudder.--"How that is built!" he said to a Representative. "Not one paving-stone projects beyond its neighbor. It is made of porcelain."--At that moment, a bullet broke the
- 243 Enjolras had been to make a reconnaissance. He had made his way out through Mondetour lane, gliding along close to the houses.The insurgents, we will remark, were full of hope. The manner in which they had repulsed the attack of the preceding night had ca
- 244 No one stirred."Married men and the supporters of families, step out of the ranks!"repeated Marius.His authority was great. Enjolras was certainly the head of the barricade, but Marius was its savior."I order it," cried Enjolras."
- 245 This quant.i.ty is the same for all of us. This ident.i.ty of concession which each makes to all, is called Equality. Common right is nothing else than the protection of all beaming on the right of each. This protection of all over each is called Fraterni
- 246 "Fire!" shouted Enjolras.The whole barricade fired, the report was terrible; an avalanche of smoke covered and effaced both cannon and men; after a few seconds, the cloud dispersed, and the cannon and men re-appeared; the gun-crew had just finis
- 247 A murmur of consternation arose."Let us prevent the second discharge," said Enjolras.And, lowering his rifle, he took aim at the captain of the gun, who, at that moment, was bearing down on the breach of his gun and rectifying and definitely fix
- 248 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
- 249 One of these intermittences, one of these vague quivers of hope suddenly traversed the barricade of the Rue de la Chanvrerie at the moment when it was least expected."Listen," suddenly cried Enjolras, who was still on the watch, "it seems t
- 250 Gavroche replied: "Well, it is raining. What then?"Courfeyrac shouted:--"Come in!""Instanter," said Gavroche.And with a single bound he plunged into the street.It will be remembered that Fannicot's company had left behin
- 251 The statues under the trees, white and nude, had robes of shadow pierced with light; these G.o.ddesses were all tattered with sunlight; rays hung from them on all sides. Around the great fountain, the earth was already dried up to the point of being burnt
- 252 "Perhaps it is rain itself that is about to shower down; the sky is joining in; the younger branch is condemned. Let us return home quickly.""I should like to see the swans eat the brioche," said the child.The father replied: "Tha
- 253 "They," replied Enjolras.Then they barricaded the window below, and held in readiness the iron cross-bars which served to secure the door of the wine-shop at night.The fortress was complete. The barricade was the rampart, the wine-shop was the d
- 254 CHAPTER XIX--JEAN VALJEAN TAKES HIS REVENGE When Jean Valjean was left alone with Javert, he untied the rope which fastened the prisoner across the middle of the body, and the knot of which was under the table. After this he made him a sign to rise.Javert
- 255 "What man?""The police agent. Do you know his name?""Of course. He told us.""What is it?""Javert."Marius sprang to his feet.At that moment, they heard the report of the pistol.Jean Valjean re-appeared and
- 256 She is a seeker.This arises from the fact that she is an artist.The ideal is nothing but the culminating point of logic, the same as the beautiful is nothing but the summit of the true. Artistic peoples are also consistent peoples. To love beauty is to se
- 257 Meganthios dies under the blows of Euripylus' pike. Agamemnon, king of the heroes, flings to earth Elatos, born in the rocky city which is laved by the sounding river Satnois." In our old poems of exploits, Esplandian attacks the giant marquis S
- 258 And turning gently to Enjolras, he said to him: "Do you permit it?"Enjolras pressed his hand with a smile.This smile was not ended when the report resounded.Enjolras, pierced by eight bullets, remained leaning against the wall, as though the b.a
- 259 As for France, we have just cited its figures. Now, Paris contains one twenty-fifth of the total population of France, and Parisian guano being the richest of all, we understate the truth when we value the loss on the part of Paris at twenty-five millions
- 260 It was thus that, at the beginning of the century, ancient society cleansed its double bottom, and performed the toilet of its sewer. There was that much clean, at all events.Tortuous, cracked, unpaved, full of fissures, intersected by gullies, jolted by
- 261 Had Jean Valjean had any idea of all that we have here pointed out, he would speedily have perceived, merely by feeling the wall, that he was not in the subterranean gallery of the Rue Saint-Denis. Instead of the ancient stone, instead of the antique arch
- 262 If the other allowed him to walk on, and had not seized him as yet, it was, judging from all appearances, in the hope of seeing him lead up to some significant meeting-place and to some group worth catching. This delicate operation is called "spinnin
- 263 It sometimes happens, that on certain sh.o.r.es of Bretagne or Scotland a man, either a traveller or a fisherman, while walking at low tide on the beach far from sh.o.r.e, suddenly notices that for several minutes past, he has been walking with some diffi
- 264 This was the last drop of anguish.Of what was he thinking during this profound depression? Neither of himself nor of Marius. He was thinking of Cosette.CHAPTER VIII--THE TORN COAT-TAIL In the midst of this prostration, a hand was laid on his shoulder, and
- 265 "Now let's settle this business. Let's go shares. You have seen my key, show me your money."Thenardier was haggard, fierce, suspicious, rather menacing, yet amicable.There was one singular circ.u.mstance; Thenardier's manners were
- 266 Javert thrust his bludgeon between his teeth, bent his knees, inclined his body, laid his two powerful hands on the shoulders of Jean Valjean, which were clamped within them as in a couple of vices, scrutinized him, and recognized him. Their faces almost
- 267 "He has got himself killed. Go waken his father."The porter did not stir."Go along with you!" repeated Javert.And he added: "There will be a funeral here to-morrow."For Javert, the usual incidents of the public highway were c
- 268 He saw the bed, and on the mattress that young man, bleeding, white with a waxen whiteness, with closed eyes and gaping mouth, and pallid lips, stripped to the waist, slashed all over with crimson wounds, motionless and brilliantly lighted up.The grandfat
- 269 Javert had reached one of those extremities.One of his anxieties consisted in being constrained to think. The very violence of all these conflicting emotions forced him to it. Thought was something to which he was unused, and which was peculiarly painful.
- 270 "In the first place: I beg Monsieur le Prefet to cast his eyes on this."Secondly: prisoners, on arriving after examination, take off their shoes and stand barefoot on the flagstones while they are being searched. Many of them cough on their retu
- 271 Boulatruelle, accustomed to taking crooked courses, was on this occasion guilty of the fault of going straight.He flung himself resolutely into the tangle of undergrowth.He had to deal with holly bushes, nettles, hawthorns, eglantines, thistles, and very
- 272 Marius, who had almost entirely recovered his strength, collected the whole of it, drew himself up into a sitting posture, laid his two clenched fists on the sheets of his bed, looked his grandfather in the face, a.s.sumed a terrible air, and said: "
- 273 And, with a bow, he said aloud: "Monsieur Tranchelevent ..."Father Gillenormand did not do it intentionally, but inattention to proper names was an aristocratic habit of his."Monsieur Tranchelevent, I have the honor of asking you, on behalf
- 274 "This arranges things well, does it not, Mademoiselle Gillenormand senior?" said the grandfather. "That devil of a Marius has ferreted out the nest of a millionaire grisette in his tree of dreams! Just trust to the love affairs of young fol
- 275 Gillenormand insisted on resigning to them his chamber, the finest in the house. "That will make me young again," he said. "It's an old plan of mine. I have always entertained the idea of having a wedding in my chamber."He furnish
- 276 They had no knowledge of any arrest having been made on the 6th of June at the mouth of the Grand Sewer.No report of any agent had been received there upon this matter, which was regarded at the prefecture as a fable. The invention of this fable was attri
- 277 They went by way of the boulevard. The first wedding coach held Cosette and Aunt Gillenormand, M. Gillenormand and Jean Valjean. Marius, still separated from his betrothed according to usage, did not come until the second. The nuptial train, on emerging f
- 278 "How should I know?" "Listen." "Well, what?" "Theres one thing you ought to do." "Whats that?" "Get off of our trap and spin that wedding." "What for?" "To find out where it goes,
- 279 Cosette, both at the mayor's office and at church, was dazzling and touching. Toussaint, a.s.sisted by Nicolette, had dressed her.Cosette wore over a petticoat of white taffeta, her robe of Binche guipure, a veil of English point, a necklace of fine
- 280 I am old, they say; it's astonis.h.i.+ng how much I feel in the mood to be young. I should like to go and listen to the bagpipes in the woods.Children who contrive to be beautiful and contented,--that intoxicates me. I would like greatly to get marri
- 281 Cosette, that charming existence, was the raft of this s.h.i.+pwreck. What was he to do? To cling fast to it, or to let go his hold?If he clung to it, he should emerge from disaster, he should ascend again into the sunlight, he should let the bitter water
- 282 Jean Valjean remained alone.The drawing-room, as we have just said, was in great disorder. It seemed as though, by lending an air, one might still hear the vague noise of the wedding. On the polished floor lay all sorts of flowers which had fallen from ga
- 283 Well, yes! the motive is strange. It is out of honesty. Stay, the unfortunate point is that I have a thread in my heart, which keeps me fast. It is when one is old that that sort of thread is particularly solid. All life falls in ruin around one; one resi
- 284 "There," said she, "I am going to install myself near you in an easy-chair, we breakfast in half an hour, you shall say anything you like, I know well that men must talk, and I will be very good."Marius took her by the arm and said lovingly to her: "
- 285 It was as though a ray of sunlight should have suddenly traversed the night, without itself being conscious of it.Marius made sure that the door was securely closed."Poor Cosette!" he murmured, "when she finds out ..."At that word Jean Valjean tremble
- 286 But all this went on as in a storm. Marius, while endeavoring to form a clear idea of this man, and while pursuing Jean Valjean, so to speak, in the depths of his thought, lost him and found him again in a fatal mist.The deposit honestly restored, the pro
- 287 This chamber was not one of those which are hara.s.sed by the feather-duster, the pope's head brush, and the broom. The dust rested tranquilly there. Persecution of the spiders was not organized there. A fine web, which spread far and wide, and was very
- 288 "You no longer need a father, you have a husband."Cosette became angry."I no longer need a father! One really does not know what to say to things like that, which are not common sense!""If Toussaint were here," resumed Jean Valjean, like a person wh
- 289 He seated himself close to her, he gazed at her in silence, or he talked to her of years gone by, of her childhood, of the convent, of her little friends of those bygone days.One afternoon,--it was on one of those early days in April, already warm and fre
- 290 "You have company this evening, no doubt.""We expect no one."Jean Valjean had not another word to say.Cosette shrugged her shoulders."To have the chairs carried off! The other day you had the fire put out.How odd you are!""Adieu!" murmured Jean Va
- 291 "But you ate nothing yesterday, poor, dear man!""Certainly I did," replied Jean Valjean."The plate is quite full.""Look at the water jug. It is empty.""That proves that you have drunk; it does not prove that yo
- 292 "Cosette, I bless thee. I am going to explain to thee. Thy husband was right in giving me to understand that I ought to go away; but there is a little error in what he believed, though he was in the right. He is excellent. Love him well even after I
- 293 The reply was ungracious. The personage, determined to be gracious at any cost, insisted."Then it must have been at Chateaubriand's that I have seen Monsieur! I know Chateaubriand very well. He is very affable. He sometimes says to me: 'The
- 294 "I repeat to you that there is nothing which you can tell me. I know what you wish to say to me."A fresh flash gleamed in the man's eye. He exclaimed: "But I must dine to-day, nevertheless. It is an extraordinary secret, I tell you. Mo
- 295 Thenardier cast upon Marius the sovereign glance of a conquered man who lays his hand once more upon the victory, and who has just regained, in one instant, all the ground which he has lost. But the smile returned instantly. The inferior's triumph in
- 296 "Monsieur le Baron, a sewer is not the Champ de Mars. One lacks everything there, even room. When two men are there, they must meet.That is what happened. The man domiciled there and the pa.s.ser-by were forced to bid each other good-day, greatly to
- 297 Cosette rushed into the room.Marius remained on the threshold, leaning against the jamb of the door."Cosette!" said Jean Valjean.And he sat erect in his chair, his arms outstretched and trembling, haggard, livid, gloomy, an immense joy in his ey
- 298 "It is quite true that it would be charming for us to live together.Their trees are full of birds. I would walk with Cosette. It is sweet to be among living people who bid each other 'good-day,' who call to each other in the garden. People
- 299 Jean Valjean rallied after this semi-swoon, shook his brow as though to make the shadows fall away from it and became almost perfectly lucid once more.He took a fold of Cosette's sleeve and kissed it."He is coming back! doctor, he is coming back," crie
- 300 Where are your free and compulsory schools? Does every one know how to read in the land of Dante and of Michael Angelo? Have you made public schools of your barracks? Have you not, like ourselves, an opulent war-budget and a paltry budget of education? Ha