CHAPTER X.
THÉNARDIER HAS ONE REGRET.
Madame Thénardier, according to her habit, had left her husband toact, and anticipated grand results. When the man and Cosette had left,Thénardier let a good quarter of an hour elapse, then took her on oneside and showed her the fifteen hundred francs.
"Is that all?" she said.
It was the first time since her marriage that she ventured to criticisean act of her master. The blow went home.
"You are right," he said; "I am an imbecile! Give me my hat." He thrustthe three notes into his pocket and went out; but he made a mistakeand first turned to the right. Some neighbors of whom he inquiredput him on the right track, and he walked along at a great rate, andsoliloquizing.
"The man is evidently a millionnaire dressed in yellow, and I am ablockhead. He gave first twenty sous, then five francs, then fiftyfrancs, then fifteen hundred francs, and all with the same facility. Hewould have given fifteen thousand francs! But I shall overtake him."And then, the bundle of clothes prepared beforehand was singular, andthere was a mystery behind it. Now mysteries must not be let go whenyou hold them, for the secrets of the rich are sponges full of gold,if you know how to squeeze them. All these thoughts whirled about hisbrain. "I am an ass!" he said. On leaving Montfermeil and reachingthe angle formed by the Livry road, you can see it running for a longdistance before you upon the plateau. On getting to this point hecalculated that he should see the man and child, and looked as far ashe could, but saw nothing. He inquired again, and passers-by told himthat the man and the child he was looking for had gone in the directionof Gagny wood. He followed them; for, though they had the start of him,a child walks slowly. He went fast, and then, again, the country wasfamiliar to him. All at once he stopped and smote his forehead, like aman who has forgotten the essential thing and is ready to retrace hissteps.
"I ought to have brought my gun," he said to himself. Thénardier wasone of those double natures, that pass at times among us without ourknowledge, and disappear unknown, because destiny has only shown us oneside of them: it is the fate of many men to live thus half submerged.In an ordinary situation Thénardier had everything necessary to makehim--we do not say to be--what is conventionally termed an honesttradesman or a worthy citizen. At the same time, certain circumstancesbeing given, certain shocks stirring up his nature from the bottom, hehad everything required to make him a villain. He was a shop-keeperin whom there was a monster. Satan must at times crouch in a cornerof the lair in which Thénardier lived, and dream before this hideousmasterpiece. After a moment's hesitation he thought,--
"Nonsense! they would have time to escape."
And he continued his walk, going rapidly ahead and almost with anair of certainty, displaying the sagacity of a fox scenting a flockof partridges. In fact, when he had passed the ponds and cut acrossthe wide turfed glade which covers the old water-way of the Abbeyde Chelles, he noticed under a shrub a hat, on which he built manyconjectures. The shrub was low, and Thénardier saw that the man andCosette were sitting under it. The child could not be seen, but thedoll's head was visible. Thénardier was not mistaken; the man had satdown there to let the child rest a little, and the tavern-keeper dodgedround the shrub and suddenly appeared before those whom he was seeking.
"Excuse me, sir," he said, panting, "but here are your fifteen hundredfrancs."
The man raised his eyes.
"What is the meaning of this?"
Thénardier answered respectfully,--
"It means, sir, that I am going to take Cosette back!"
The child started, and clung to the man. The latter answered, lookingfixedly at Thénardier and leaving a space between each word,--
"You--take--Cosette--back?"
"Yes, sir, I do: and I must tell you that I have reflected. The truthis, that I have no right to give her to you. Look you, I am an honestman: the little one does not belong to me, but to her mother, whointrusted her to me, and I can only give her back to her mother. Youwill say to me, 'Her mother is dead.' Good. In that case, I can onlysurrender Cosette to a person who brings me a written authority fromher mother. That is clear enough."
The man, without answering, felt in his pocket, and Thénardier saw theportfolio with the bank-notes reappear. He gave a start of joy.
"Good," he thought; "I have him, he is going to bribe me."
Before opening the portfolio the traveller looked around him; the placewas utterly deserted, and there was not a soul in the wood or thevalley. The man opened the pocket-book and took out, not the handful ofbank-notes which Thénardier anticipated, but a simple sheet of paper,which he opened and handed to the landlord, saying,--
"You are right: read."
Thénardier took the paper and read:--
"M. sur M., March 25, 1823. "MONSIEUR THÉNARDIER,--You will hand over Cosette to the bearer, who will pay up all little matters. Yours respectfully, FANTINE."
"Do you know the signature?" the man continued.
It was really Fantine's, and Thénardier recognized it, and had noreply. He felt a double annoyance--first, at having to renounce thebribery which he expected; and secondly, that of being beaten. The manadded,--
"You can keep that paper as your discharge."
Thénardier folded it up neatly, and growled,--
"The signature is tolerably well imitated. Well, be it so."
Then he attempted a desperate effort.
"So far, so good, sir, since you are the bearer; but the expenses mustbe paid, and there is a heavy sum owing me."
The man rose, and said, as he dusted his threadbare cuff, "MonsieurThénardier, in January the mother calculated that she owed you 120francs; in February you sent in an account of 500 francs; you received300 at the end of that month, and 300 more early in March. Since thennine months have elapsed at the agreed-on price of fifteen francs,which makes 135 francs. You had received 100 francs too much, so thisleaves 35 francs owing you, and I have just given you 1500."
Thénardier felt just like the wolf when it is caught by the leg in asteel trap.
"Who in the fiend's name is this man?" he thought.
He behaved like the wolf: he shook himself: impudence had carried himthrough before now.
"Monsieur, I don't know your name," he said boldly, and, putting offhis respectful manner, "if you do not give me 3000 francs I shall takeCosette back."
The stranger said quietly, "Come, Cosette." He took the child by hisleft hand, and with the right picked up his stick. Thénardier noticedthe hugeness of the stick and the solitude of the spot; the man buriedhimself in the wood, leaving the landlord motionless and confounded.As he walked away Thénardier regarded his broad shoulders and enormousfists, then his eye fell on his own thin arms. "I must have been afool," he said, "not to bring my gun, as I was going to the chase."
Still the tavern-keeper did not give in. "I will know where he goes,"he said, and began following them at a distance. Two things remainedin his hands,--irony in the shape of the scrap of paper signed"Fantine," and a consolation in the 1500 francs. The man led Cosette inthe direction of Bondy; he walked slowly, with drooping head and in apensive attitude. Winter had rendered the wood transparent, and henceThénardier did not lose sight of them, while keeping some distanceoff. From time to time the man turned round and looked to see whetherhe were followed, and suddenly perceived Thénardier. He drew Cosetteinto a clump of trees, in which they both disappeared. "Confusion!"said Thénardier, as he doubled his pace. The closeness of the treescompelled him to draw nearer to them, and when the man was at thethickest part he turned round and saw Thénardier, although the lattertried to conceal himself in the branches. The man gave him a restlessglance, then tossed his head and continued his walk. Thénardierfollowed him; but after going some two hundred yards the man turned andlooked at him so menacingly that the landlord thought it "useless" togo any farther, and turned back.