Joyful Journeys

He stopped and said to his daughters, ‘You two, clear out of here! Strange that it didn’t leap out at you!’ They got up to obey. The mother stammered out, ‘With that bad hand of hers?’ ‘The air will do it good,’ said Jondrette. ‘Get going!’

😒😒😒😒😒

‘And shall I tell you something? The young lady—’ ‘Well?’ retorted his wife. ‘What about the young lady?’ Marius could be in no doubt, she was the one they were talking about. He listened with a burning anxiety. He was all ears, as if his life depended on it. But Jondrette bent over and spoke to his wife in a whisper. Then he straightened up and concluded out loud, ‘That’s her!’ ‘Her?’ said the wife. ‘Her!’ said the husband. No expression could convey what was contained in the mother’s ‘Her?’ It was a mixture of surprise, rage, hatred and anger, and all in an appalling tone of voice.

Oh yeah there it is there's the woman who despises Cosette, the evidence grows

‘Impossible!’ she cried. ‘To think that my girls are going barefoot and haven’t got a single dress to wear! What! A satin cloak trimmed with fur, a velvet hood, ankle-boots and everything – more than two hundred francs’ worth of clothes! So that anyone would think she was a lady! No, you’ve got it wrong! Why, in the first place the other one was a fright, and this one isn’t bad-looking! She really isn’t bad-looking! It can’t be her!’ ‘I tell you it’s her. You’ll see.’

I'm telling you, a situation swap, it's perfect drama, the girls switching who is dressed in rags and who gets to wear proper clothes.

He went on, ‘By heaven! It wasn’t so very long ago I was a parishioner of the die-of-hunger-if-you-have-a-fire-die-of-cold-if-you-have-bread parish! I’ve had enough of misery! Mine and other people’s! I’m not joking any more, I don’t see anything funny about it any more – enough of this farce, for God’s sake! No more messing about, Father Almighty! I want to eat my fill! I want to drink my fill! Make a pig of myself! Sleep! Do nothing! I just want my turn! Before I drop dead I want to be a bit of a millionaire!’

Okay I'm not gonna lie, this little rant kind of made me laugh. Maybe it shouldn't have but it did. Nothing's funny about it anymore, he says, but it made me laugh anyway.

He took a turn round the hovel and added, ‘Like some others.’ ‘What do you mean?’ asked the woman. He shook his head, winked, then raised his voice like some street-corner quack about to give a demonstration. ‘What do I mean? Listen!’ ‘Shh!’ muttered the woman. ‘Not so loud! These are things that no one else should hear.’ ‘Bah! Who’s going to hear? Our next-door neighbour? I saw him go out a little while ago. Besides, does he hear anything, that great numbskull? In any case, I saw him go out, I tell you.’

HAHAHAHA THAT GREAT NUMBSKULL INDEED

‘Listen carefully. . . . Everything’s fixed. I’ve seen some people. He’ll come this evening at six o’clock. To bring his sixty francs, the bastard! Did you see how I came out with all that, my sixty francs, my landlord, my fourth of February! It’s not even a quarter-day! Isn’t that stupid? So he’ll come at six! The time when our neighbour will be gone for his meal. Mère Burgon is in town washing dishes. There’s no one in the house. The neighbour never comes home before eleven. The girls will keep a lookout. You’ll give us a hand. He’ll do as he’s told.’ ‘And what if he doesn’t?’ asked his wife. Jondrette made a sinister gesture and said, ‘We’ll do him in.’ And he burst out laughing. This was the first time Marius had seen him laugh. The laughter was cold and quiet and chilling.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO oh boy good luck taking down a guy that strong. I mean, I guess it's been 8 years 🤔 maybe he's gotten weaker...

‘You know, it’s a great stroke of luck, after all, that he didn’t recognize me! If he had, he wouldn’t be coming back. He’d have slipped through our fingers! It’s my beard that saved me! My Romantic beard! My nice little Romantic beard!’

HAHAHA hear that everyone if you ever need a disguise, get yourself a nice little Romantic beard.

‘I nearly forgot,’ he said. ‘Have a charcoal brazier burning.’ . . . ‘A charcoal brazier?’ his wife queried. . . . ‘That will come to thirty sous. With what’s left over, I’ll buy something to eat.’ ‘No, damn it. . . . Don’t go and spend the whole five francs.’ ‘Why not?’ ‘Because there’s something I need to buy.’ ‘What?’ ‘Something.’ ‘How much will you need?’ ‘Where’s the nearest ironmonger’s?’ ‘Rue Mouffetard.’ ‘Ah! yes, I can picture it. The shop on the street corner.’ ‘Well, tell me how much you’ll need for what you want to buy.’ ‘Fifty sous – three francs.’ ‘There won’t be much left for dinner.’ ‘Today’s not the day for eating. There’s something better to do.’ ‘Whatever you say, love.’

🤨🤨🤨 now what is he going to buy there 🤨🤨🤨 acting pretty suspicious, he is....

Even more, just what will Marius do?