A very young girl was standing in the half-open door. The dormer window of the garret, through which the light fell, was precisely opposite the door, and illuminated the figure with a wan light. She was a frail, emaciated, slender creature; there was nothing but a chemise and a petticoat upon that chilled and shivering nakedness. Her girdle was a string, her head ribbon a string, her pointed shoulders emerged from her chemise, a blond and lymphatic pallor, earth-colored collar-bones, red hands, a half-open and degraded mouth, missing teeth, dull, bold, base eyes; she had the form of a young girl who has missed her youth, and the look of a corrupt old woman; fifty years mingled with fifteen; one of those beings which are both feeble and horrible, and which cause those to shudder whom they do not cause to weep.
Wanted to try my hand at a brick accurate Ponine and also practice consistent character design, you can decide if I succeeded but Iām very proud of this piece!
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
ā Live Streamingā Interactive Chatā Private Showsā HD Qualityā Free Actions
Free to watch ā¢ No registration required ā¢ HD streaming
[ID: Barricades Con logo reading "Barricades: a Les Mis convention". / end ID]
Barricades 2026 starts TOMORROW, Friday July 24th!
View or Download a detailed schedule here! Plan your weekend ahead of time!
And be sure you've registered ! Registration not only buys access to the convention, but to all the recorded panels from the weekend for a two-week period after the con.
Tickets will no longer be available via the website once the convention starts , so if you've been putting off registration, get those tickets today!
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
ā Live Streamingā Interactive Chatā Private Showsā HD Qualityā Free Actions
Free to watch ā¢ No registration required ā¢ HD streaming
LES MIS LETTERS IN ADAPTATIONĀ -Ā Quadrifrons, LM 3.8.3Ā (Les Miserables 1972)
That evening, as he was undressing preparatory to going to bed, his hand came in contact, in the pocket of his coat, with the packet which he had picked up on the boulevard. He had forgotten it. He thought that it would be well to open it, and that this package might possibly contain the address of the young girls, if it really belonged to them, and, in any case, the information necessary to a restitution to the person who had lost it.
He opened the envelope.
...
After perusing these four letters, Marius did not find himself much further advanced than before.
At last, Ćponine enters the scene! For now, we can only hear her voice, described as that of āan old man, roughened with brandy and liquor.ā Itās so sad that her voice may indeed be hoarse because of drinking. However, we have just learned that she was walking barefoot in February, and I prefer to think that her voice is just constantly and irreversibly affected by cold.
Beyond the general tendency for coincidences in this novel, we have another hint that the girls are the daughters of M Jondrette in the first letter: the posing as a Spaniard. When we first met Jondrette, he said this:
"this Jondrette had said to the woman, who, like her predecessor, was also portress and swept the stairs, "Mother So-and-so, if any one were to ask by chance for a Pole, or an Italian, or perhaps a Spaniard, I am the party.""
It could, of course, be another person using the same trick. The Patron Minette digression showed us just how performative crime is, so it wouldn't be surprising if someone else played the same character as Jondrette for pay. Still, it does suggest that we should be aware of how this letter writer and Marius may already be connected.
To return to the question of performance, it's interesting how the style of the letters varies so much. The second one (by "Mistress Balizard") contains the most grammatical errors, which fits well with a woman who is ill (and perhaps can't be as articulate because of that) and who likely wouldn't have had as much access to an education because of her poverty and her gender. Some of the errors may genuinely reflect the limits of their author - the "man of letters" misspells "piece" as "piesse" - but many could also be intentional, creating sympathy for this character to get money. Marius himself notes the shared kinds of errors across the letters, so it's not simply an issue of translation/older forms of English.
In spite of the errors, it's clear that the author has some level of education. As we saw with Fantine, the illiterate could pay someone to write their letters for them, but the variety in styles suggests that that wasn't the case (someone being paid to write probably wouldn't want to cover so many styles or attempt to change their handwriting). As with Babet, then, education makes this person more dangerous. True, wealthy people being swindled out of some money isn't as grave a threat as say, doing the same to Marius, but it's still this person's education that allows them to seem convincing at all.
And we end the chapter with this:
"āExcuse me, sirāā
It was a dull, broken, hoarse, strangled voice, the voice of an old man, roughened with brandy and liquor.
Marius turned round hastily, and beheld a young girl."
It's heartbreaking to read that someone so young sounds so different, hardship aging her. That she drinks heavily enough to affect her voice is sad as well, as in combination with all the other descriptors ("dull, broken," etc), it suggests that drink is an escape from suffering for her in some way (rather than her just being drunk now).
Every time I read the chapter where Marius finds Thenardierās scam letters, Iām struck by how much these literally just Are exactly like modern email scams.
Madame la Marquise: The virtue of clemency and piety is that which most closely unites sosiety. Turn your Christian spirit and cast a look of compassion on this unfortunate Spanish victim of loyalty and attachment to the sacred cause of legitimacy, who has given with his blood, consecrated his fortune, evverything, to defend that cause, and to-day finds himself in the greatest missery. He doubts not that your honorable person will grant succor to preserve an existence exteremely painful for a military man of education and honor full of wounds, counts in advance on the humanity which animates you and on the interest which Madame la Marquise bears to a nation so unfortunate. Their prayer will not be in vain, and their gratitude will preserve theirs charming souvenir.
My respectful sentiments, with which I have the honor to be
Madame,
DON ALVARĆS, Spanish Captain of Cavalry, a royalist who has take refuge in France, who finds himself on travells for his country, and the resources are lacking him to continue his travells.
^ this is what every email in my spam folder looks like right now.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
ā Live Streamingā Interactive Chatā Private Showsā HD Qualityā Free Actions
Free to watch ā¢ No registration required ā¢ HD streaming
Starting off strong with a Latin title. I am beginning to look forward to any snippets of Latin in this book. Why, you ask? Well, it is just a theory, but the more we got into the romance parts with Marius, the less Latin there was. There's been more Latin with the Amis. There was some Latin in other More Interesting Parts. I'm starting to equate Latin with good things. So hopefully this chapter will be more enjoyable.
Plus, "Quadrifrons" means four-faced, according to the footnote, and there are four (main?) members of the Patron-Minette, who have been compared to a multi-headed robber before.
I wonder if opening someone else's mail was a crime yet. Well, I guess it's not necessarily mail? Just because it's being kept in an envelope...
Well, I can't say I mind him doing this right now on the account of "I want to know what's inside". Plus, it is fair to think one might find the information needed to return it within. It's not like he can drop it off at a police lost and found - if that even exists, they were running from the police, so probably not the best place to leave it if he wants the girls to get it back. But mostly I want to know what's inside.
contained four letters that were not sealed, either. The addresses had been written on them. . . .
The first was addressed as follows: āTo Madame, Madame la marquise de Grucheray, the square opposite the Chamber of Deputies, number ā¦ā
Oh goo-
In all likelihood he would find in it the information he sought, Marius said to himself, and anyway, seeing that the letter was not sealed, there was probably no harm in reading it.
HAHA okay well now he's just being nosy.
Madame la Marquise,
The virtue of mercy and piety is the one that most closely binds soceity. Allow your Christian spirit to rome and cast a look of compassion on this ill-fated Spaniard, victim of his loyalty and attachment to the sacred cause of legitimicy, which he has risked his life for, dedicated his fortune, intirely, to defend that cause, and today finds himself in the most pennurous circumstances. He has no doubt that your honrable self will make a contribution to maintain an existance extreemly distressing to a military man of education and honour with wounds aplenty. Relying in advance on your feelings of humanity and on the interest which Madame la marquise takes in such an unhappy nation. Their prayer will not be in vane, and their gratitude will preserve her delightful memry.
I have the honour, Madame, to be respecfully yours,
Don Alvarez, captain espaƱol de caballerie, a royalist refugee in France who is journying on behalf of his country and is without the meens to continue his journy.
The misspellings, oh man
Is this like, the 19th century French equivalent of the Nigerian Prince Email Scam?
Tell me that's not almost the exact same thing, typos and all.
Madame la comtesse
This is a poor mother of a family of six children the littelest one only eight months old. I been sick since the last one was born, abandoned by my husband five months ago, with no meens of support wot soever in the most dredful povurty.
In her hopes of Madame la contesse, she has the honour to be, madame, with deep respect,
Balizardās wife.
HAHAHA they're straight up running a 19th century equivalent to an email scam, that's hilarious. I didn't know that was a thing back then, though I suppose I could have figured as much.
Kickstarter for a movie scam, promising to include your name in the credits. Next!
Ah, just another please take pity upon my sufferings letter, my poor pitiful daughter and I, etc etc.
Especially love the insane amount of misspellings in the one from the man of letters, by the way. Not to say someone with atrocious spelling can't be great at coming up with stories, but it sure is extra funny to see here.
After reading these four letters Marius was not much further advanced than before. In the first place, not one of the signatories gave an address. . . . Striving to solve this little mystery was a waste of effort. Had it not been an accidental find, this might have seemed like some sort of practical joke. Marius was too miserable to take a joke, even one played on him by chance, or to join in a game with the boulevard as it seemingly wanted him to. He felt like the blindfolded player in a game of blind manās buff, with these four letters teasing him.
Nor was there anything to show that these letters belonged to the young girls Marius had bumped into on the boulevard. After all, they were obviously worthless bits of papers. Marius replaced them in the envelope, tossed the whole lot aside and went to bed.
The birds laugh, the letters teaseā
Honestly a shame he couldn't at least get a laugh out of them though. They're quite funny to me.
At about seven in the morning . . . someone knocked quietly at his door.
As he owned nothing he never locked his door except sometimes, very rarely, when he was working on something that needed to be done urgently. Even when he went out he left his key in the lock. āYouāll be robbed,ā said Mame Bougon. āOf what?ā said Marius. Yet the fact is, one day, to Mame Bougonās great triumph, he was robbed of an old pair of boots.
LOL
āWhat is it, Mame Bougon?ā said Marius, without looking up from the books and manuscripts he had on his table.
A voice, which was not that of Mame Bougon, replied, āExcuse me, monsieur.ā
It was a hollow, cracked, husky, hoarse voice, an old manās voice roughened with brandy and other liquor.
Mariusās head spun round, and he saw a young girl.
I WAS NOT PREPARED FOR THAT DESCRIPTION TO LEAD TO A YOUNG GIRL
Hugo you've done brilliantly again, what a way to set up a scene. It's a different feeling than showing a girl and having the surprise be her voice. The reversal is excellent. There's something to setting up an expectation as to what someone is like via their appearance and breaking it vs setting up the expectation of what a person may look like from other descriptors and then breaking it, and the difference as to how that affects how a reader imagines the character and what expectations that builds, but unfortunately I have not the brain energy to figure out what exactly that is. I just think there's surely something there.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
ā Live Streamingā Interactive Chatā Private Showsā HD Qualityā Free Actions
Free to watch ā¢ No registration required ā¢ HD streaming
LES MIS LETTERS IN ADAPTATIONĀ - Treasure Trove, LM 3.8.2Ā (Les Miserables 1972)
Marius slowly ascended the boulevard towards the barrier, in order to reach the Rue Saint-Jacques. He was walking along with drooping head.
All at once, he felt some one elbow him in the dusk; he wheeled round, and saw two young girls clad in rags, the one tall and slim, the other a little shorter, who were passing rapidly, all out of breath, in terror, and with the appearance of fleeing; they had been coming to meet him, had not seen him, and had jostled him as they passed. Through the twilight, Marius could distinguish their livid faces, their wild heads, their dishevelled hair, their hideous bonnets, their ragged petticoats, and their bare feet. They were talking as they ran. The taller said in a very low voice:ā
āThe bobbies have come. They came near nabbing me at the half-circle.ā The other answered: āI saw them. I bolted, bolted, bolted!ā
Through this repulsive slang, Marius understood that gendarmes or the police had come near apprehending these two children, and that the latter had escaped.
They plunged among the trees of the boulevard behind him, and there created, for a few minutes, in the gloom, a sort of vague white spot, then disappeared.
Marius had halted for a moment.
He was about to pursue his way, when his eye lighted on a little grayish package lying on the ground at his feet. He stooped and picked it up. It was a sort of envelope which appeared to contain papers.
āGood,ā he said to himself, āthose unhappy girls dropped it.ā
He retraced his steps, he called, he did not find them; he reflected that they must already be far away, put the package in his pocket, and went off to dine.
