[Masterpiece Les Miserables] Paris Sparks

Cosette did not go to school the next day.

She and Fantine have always taken care of the school's affairs as they like, leaving them alone when they don't like to take care of them. The principal, mother and teachers can also take care of them well, so they are very free.She stayed at home, dressed up, and braided her hair into the most beautiful style, but she didn't go to the street or go out, she didn't know what she did all day, she just fidgeted, and secretly took out the letters from time to time .When it was late at night, she changed into a pretty dress. It was a light green spring shirt. It was a bit cold to wear at night, but it set off her slender waist and snow-white skin very attractively.So dressed, she still sneaked into the garden through the back door, skirted the maple and rose bushes, and walked along the path to the outside of the iron gate.The stone on the stone bench had been removed during the day by Master Mazlo, who was also a gardener, and Cosette looked at the vacated place as if reluctantly.At this time, from the corner of her eyes, she suddenly felt that there seemed to be a figure outside the door, so she raised her head and walked quickly to the iron gate.

Sure enough it was him.

He was bareheaded, so pale and thin that it was almost impossible to see that he was dressed in black, and the street lamp cast light on his handsome face, as if to prevent him from melting into the night.Cosette clung to the iron railing with both hands, and if she hadn't held on to the railing, she would have almost fallen.

She heard him speak, which she had never heard before, and he stammered, in a voice not much louder than a leaf quivering: "Excuse me, I am here. You have seen Do you know what I put here, on this stool? Do you recognize me? Don't be afraid. Do you remember the first day you saw me? It was in the Luxembourg Gardens, at the Gladiator Next to the statue. And the day you walked by me, do you remember? It was June [-]th and July [-]nd. I haven’t seen you for a long, long time. You went to An old house in Rue Blumet. Can you see me? I followed you, me. I had no other choice. After that, you suddenly disappeared. Once, I was under the corridor of the Odéon I was reading the newspaper and suddenly saw you walking by. I ran to chase after you, but it was not you. It was a woman wearing the same hat as you. I finally found this place until a few days ago. I always come here gently. lest the footsteps startle you. You know, you are my angel, let me come a few more times. I think I am dying, if you know! I adore you, I! Please forgive me, I speak to you, I don't know what I said, maybe I offended you; did I offend you?"

"Oh, my mother!" Cosette exclaimed, and collapsed as if about to faint.

Marius hastily threw his arm between the bars and caught her.His fingers touched Cosette's soft arm, and his heart seemed to be on fire, his mind was in a mess, and he didn't know what he had done.He had never touched a woman like this before in his life.

Cosette took his hand and pressed it to his breast, where he felt the stack of letters.He asked carefully: "Do you love me too?"

Cosette blushed and turned her head away. "You know!" she whispered.

The two of them just stood in front of the door, holding hands, her skirt touching his shoes, with only an iron fence between them.The cold wind on a spring night, the roughness of the iron railings, and the annoying thorns of the roses on the side wall were all forgotten, and no one would take a step back.Gradually, they began to talk, and the silence was replaced by pouring out of love.They talked about their acquaintance, their longing for each other and sweet troubles, the Luxembourg Gardens, their families and their dreams.Although it was only the first time they spoke, it seemed that they had nothing to say. They shared the deepest and most secret joy and pain in their hearts with each other.After such an hour, the souls of the two people have merged and intertwined with each other, and they can never be separated.

When they had finished talking, when they had confided, she leaned her head on his shoulder and asked him, "What is your name?"

"My name is Marius," he said, "and you?"

"My name is Cosette."

A spring passed like this.

Birds were chirping, insects were chirping, wisteria was drooping its heavy spikes, and a pair of young lovers uttered the purest and most beautiful love language in the world.That iron gate was as insurmountable and annoying as the Styx of the underworld. The two young men tried their best, but they still couldn't pass through that gate.But at the same time, those cold and hard iron bars seemed to not exist, because the hearts of the two people were already tightly attached to each other, and there was no gap between them.

That month, cholera was rife in Paris, killing a lot of people, but that only gave them more opportunities to get together without the constant fear of being noticed by Cosette's family.The two indulged in the beautiful dream created by love, floating above the clouds day after day.

But this does not mean that Cosette's heart is closed to other places.After going through the most intense emotional shock at the beginning, every time she came to the poor girls, she still felt the responsibility and concern for them, and she thought of Eponine from time to time.At first she wasn't that worried, after all, Eponine had disappeared silently for several months in the past, and then appeared suddenly one day.But when the cholera broke out, Cosette was still worried.She made indirect inquiries through Corona and Fantine, through the working girls she knew, but no one knew Éponine.Her concern was inevitably forced to fall into the empty space in the end.

But Marius is deeper than Cosette.He lives above the rose-colored clouds. During the day, he is in a trance and restless. He has to look up at the sky more than a dozen times a day, and when he sees the sun still hanging high, he feels depressed.When the sun went down and night fell, he was refreshed, put on his best suit, and went out happily.He had entrusted his whole soul with Cosette, and only retrieved it during the few hours when he was with her in the middle of the night every day.

A whole spring passed in such happiness.But spring always comes to an end.One night, when Marius approached the iron gate that carried all his happiness, Cosette did not rise to meet him.She sat on the stone bench sullenly, and she could see the traces of crying.

"What is the matter with you?" asked Marius.

Cosette slowly raised her eyes to him, with a look of foreboding on her face.

"This morning my dad got me ready and said we were probably going to go."

A shiver passed through Marius.Although it was almost summer, he felt that ice water had been splashed all over his body, and he returned from the sweet dream to the cruel reality.He couldn't say a word.

"I don't know where yet. I asked, but he was vague. All I know is maybe we're going to England. I don't think Father has made up his mind yet."

Marius grasped at the word at once, as a life-saving straw. "So, there's a possibility that you won't leave?" He asked hastily.

"I think there's little hope. Father never said nonsense, never backed down. He said he might go to England, and then it was almost settled."

Marius reached over the balustrade and held out his hand to her.Cosette rose slowly, and took the hand.Both hands were as cold as ice.

"When are you leaving? When are you coming back?"

"I don't know," said Cosette, frowning. "Would you come? To England with us?"

Marius felt a rush of hot blood rushing up his cheeks, choking his throat, and beating his temples.

"Go to England! I have no money! I still owe Courfeyrac, I don't know how much, at least ten louis. I have an old hat, worth three francs, and I have a coat with a few buttons missing in the front. My shirt is torn, my sleeves are all torn, and my boots are soaked. Cosette! I am a poor boy. You only see me at night, and give me your love. If you see me in the daytime, you will give A sou for me! Go to England! Hey hey! I can't even afford a passport to go abroad!"

He pressed his forehead against the railing in pain.Cosette just squeezed his hand tightly.

"No, you don't need to pay!" she said excitedly, and the fear of parting from her lover gave her unprecedented courage. "Marius, let's stop hiding like this! You go to my father and my mother. I What a fool! They are such good people, why should I be so frightened and in hiding? Let's go to them, Marius, and ask them to allow us to be together!"

But Marius had now fallen completely back into the real world.

"Impossible!" said he; "how is it possible, Cosette, you want me to go to your parents in a patched shirt, a coat with buttons missing, and shoes with the heels worn off, Tell them that such a pauper wants to court their pampered daughter? What shall I answer if they ask me what my income is? I can't afford to feed myself. Ah, if I had a sister, I wouldn't either Will agree to such a person to pursue her!"

Cosette fell silent, and a tear slowly rolled down her cheek.

But what she said about informing the elders suddenly inspired Marius.He asked suddenly, "Do you love me?"

Her answer was particularly thrilling when she said it tearfully: "I adore you!"

"Then there is still a way here," said Marius in a low voice, almost to himself. "Cosette, don't wait for me to-morrow. Wait for me the day after tomorrow."

"Why! What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to my grandfather. I'm going to ask him to let us marry."

This year Marius was twenty-one years old, and Cosette was not yet sixteen.Marriage proposals at this age must be approved by both parents.Cosette opened her eyes wide, and forgot even her shyness, because Marius's expression was so solemn when he said this, it was like the expression of a vanguard rushing to the battlefield.

"But! . . . But what if he disagrees?"

Marius solemnly brought her hand to his lips and kissed it.

"I never swore to anyone, Cosette, because I was afraid of swearing. I felt my father was with me. But now I can make the most sacred vow to you: if you go, I will die."

Cosette was frightened by him.She could see that Marius was serious, and she was frightened by it.When the night was too dark and they had to part ways, she went back to her small bedroom, changed into her nightgown, buried her face in the quilt and wept.

She couldn't help feeling a little bit of complaint about this sudden decision in her heart.Why are we suddenly going to England?she thought so.

The author has something to say: some of the descriptions in this chapter come from the original work, and the most important part is what Marius said when he met Cosette for the first time.Add up to about [-] words or so.

The next chapter returns to Corona's perspective.