CHAPTER VI.
MARIUS ACTUALLY GIVES COSETTE HIS ADDRESS.
While this sort of human-faced dog was mounting guard against therailing, and six bandits fled before a girl, Marius was by Cosette'sside. The sky had never been more star-spangled and more charming, thetrees more rustling, or the smell of the grass more penetrating; neverhad the birds fallen asleep beneath the frondage with a softer noise;never had the universal harmonies of serenity responded better to theinternal music of the soul; never had Marius been more enamoured,happier, or in greater ecstasy. But he had found Cosette sad, she hadbeen crying, and her eyes were red. It was the first cloud in thisadmirable dream. Marius's first remark was,--
"What is the matter with you?"
And she replied,--
"I will tell you."
Then she sat down on the bench near the house, and while he took hisseat, all trembling, by her side, she continued,--
"My father told me this morning to hold myself in readiness, for he hadbusiness to attend to, and we were probably going away."
Marius shuddered from head to foot. When we reach the end oflife, death signifies a departure, but at the beginning, departuremeans death. For six weeks past Marius had slowly and graduallytaken possession of Cosette; it was a perfectly ideal but profoundpossession. As we have explained, in first love men take the soullong before the body; at a later date they take the body before thesoul, and at times they do not take the soul at all,--the Faublasand Prudhommes add, because there is no such thing, but the sarcasmis fortunately a blasphemy. Marius, then, possessed Cosette in theway that minds possess; but he enveloped her with his entire soul,and jealously seized her with an incredible conviction. He possessedher touch, her breath, her perfume, the deep flash of her blue eyes,the softness of her skin when he touched her hand, the charming markwhich she had on her neck, and all her thoughts. They had agreednever to sleep without dreaming of each other, and had kept theirword. He, therefore, possessed all Cosette's dreams. He looked at herincessantly, and sometimes breathed on the short hairs which she hadon the back of her neck, and said to himself that there was not one ofthose hairs which did not belong to him. He contemplated and adored thethings she wore, her bows,--her cuffs, her gloves, and slippers,--likesacred objects of which he was the master. He thought that he was thelord of the small tortoise-shell combs which she had in her hair; andhe said to himself, in the confused stammering of delight that came on,that there was not a seam of her dress, not a mesh of her stockings,not a wrinkle in her bodice, which was not his. By the side of Cosettefelt close to his property, near his creature, who was at once hisdespot and his slave. It seemed that they had so blended their soulsthat if they had wished to take them back it would have been impossiblefor them to recognize them. This is mine--no, it is mine--I assure youthat you are mistaken. This is really I--what you take for yourselfis myself; Marius was something which formed part of Cosette, andCosette was something that formed part of Marius. Marius felt Cosettelive in him; to have Cosette, to possess Cosette, was to him not verydifferent from breathing. It was in the midst of this faith, thisintoxication, this virgin, extraordinary, and absolute possession, andthis sovereignty, that the words "We are going away" suddenly fell onhim, and the stern voice of reality shouted to him, "Cosette is notthine." Marius awoke. For six weeks, as we said, he had been living outof life, and the word "depart" made him roughly re-enter it. He couldnot find a word to say, and Cosette merely noticed that his hand wasvery cold. She said to him in her turn,--
"What is the matter with you?"
He answered, in so low a voice that Cosette could scarce hear him,--
"I do not understand what you said."
She continued,--
"This morning my father told me to prepare my clothes and hold myselfready; that he would give me his linen to put in a portmanteau; that hewas obliged to make a journey; that we were going away; that we musthave a large trunk for myself and a small one for him; to get all thisready within a week, and that we should probably go to England."
"Why, it is monstrous!" Marius exclaimed.
It is certain that at this moment, in Marius's mind, no abuse of power,no violence, no abomination of the most prodigious tyrants, no deed ofBusiris, Tiberius, or Henry VIII., equalled in ferocity this one,--M.Fauchelevent taking his daughter to England because he had business toattend to. He asked, in a faint voice,--
"And when will you start?"
"He did not say when."
"And when will you return?"
"He did not tell me."
And Marius rose and said coldly,--
"Will you go, Cosette?"
Cosette turned to him, her beautiful eyes full of agony, and answered,with a species of wildness,--
"Where?"
"To England; will you go?"
"What can I do?" she said, clasping her hands.
"Then you will go?"
"If my father goes."
"So you are determined to go?"
Cosette seized Marius's hand and pressed it as sole reply.
"Very well," said Marius; "in that case I shall go elsewhere."
Cosette felt the meaning of this remark even more than she comprehendedit; she turned so pale that her face became white in the darkness, andstammered,--
"What do you mean?"
Marius looked at her, then slowly raised his eyes to heaven, andreplied,--
"Nothing."
When he looked down again he saw Cosette smiling at him; the smile ofthe woman whom we love has a brilliancy which is visible at night.
"How foolish we are! Marius, I have an idea."
"What is it?"
"Follow us if we go away! I will tell you whither, and you can join mewhere I am."
Marius was now a thoroughly wide-awake man, and had fallen back intoreality; hence he cried to Cosette,--
"Go with you! Are you mad? Why, it would require money, and I havenone! Go to England! Why, I already owe more than ten louis toCourfeyrac, one of my friends, whom you do not know! I have an old hat,which is not worth three francs, a coat with buttons missing in front,my shirt is all torn, my boots let in water, I am out at elbows, but Ihave not thought of it for six weeks, and did not tell you. Cosette, Iam a wretch; you only see me at night and give me your love: were youto see me by day you would give me a sou. Go to England! Why, I havenot enough to pay for the passport!"
He threw himself against a tree, with his arms over his head and hisforehead pressed to the bark, neither feeling the wood that grazed hisskin nor the fever which spotted his temples, motionless and ready tofall, like the statue of despair. He remained for a long time in thisstate--people would remain for an eternity in such abysses. At lengthhe turned and heard behind a little stifled, soft, and sad sound; itwas Cosette sobbing; she had been crying for more than two hours bythe side of Marius, who was reflecting. He went up to her, fell on hisknees, seized her foot, which peeped out from under her skirt, andkissed it. She let him do so in silence, for there are moments when awoman accepts, like a sombre and resigned duty, the worship of love.
"Do not weep," he said.
She continued,--
"But I am perhaps going away, and you are not able to come with me."
He said, "Do you love me?"
She replied by sobbing that Paradisaic word, which is never morecharming than through tears, "I adore you."
He pursued, with an accent which was an inexpressible caress,--
"Do not weep. Will you do so much for me as to check your tears?"
"Do you love me?" she said.
He took her hand.
"Cosette, I have never pledged my word of honor to any one, because itfrightens me, and I feel that my father is by the side of it. Well, Ipledge you my most sacred word of honor that if you go away I shalldie."
There was in the accent with which he uttered these words such a solemnand calm melancholy that Cosette trembled, and she felt that chillwhich is produced by the passing of a sombre and true thing. In herterr
or she ceased to weep.
"Now listen to me," he said; "do not expect me to-morrow."
"Why not?"
"Do not expect me till the day after."
"Oh, why?"
"You will see."
"A day without your coming!--oh, it is impossible!"
"Let us sacrifice a day, to have, perhaps, one whole life."
And Marius added in a low voice and aside,--"He is a man who makes nochange in his habits, and he never received anybody before the evening."
"What man are you talking about?" Cosette asked.
"I? I did not say anything."
"What do you hope for, then?"
"Wait till the day after to-morrow."
"Do you desire it?"
"Yes, Cosette."
He took her head between his two hands, as she stood on tiptoe to reachhim and tried to see his hopes in his eyes. Marius added,--
"By the bye, you must know my address, for something might happen; Ilive with my friend Courfeyrac, at No. 16, Rue de la Verrerie."
He felt in his pockets, took out a knife, and scratched the address onthe plaster of the wall. In the mean while Cosette had begun lookingin his eyes again.
"Tell me your thought, Marius, for you have one. Tell it to me. Oh,tell it to me, so that I may pass a good night!"
"My thought is this: it is impossible that God can wish to separate us.Expect me the day after to-morrow."
"What shall I do till then?" Cosette said. "You are in the world, andcome and go; how happy men are! but I shall remain all alone. Oh, Ishall be so sad! What will you do to-morrow night, tell me?"
"I shall try something."
"In that case I shall pray to Heaven, and think of you, so that you maysucceed. I will not question you any more, as you do not wish it, andyou are my master. I will spend my evening in singing the song from'Euryanthe,' of which you are so fond, and which you heard one nightunder my shutters. But you will come early the next evening, and Ishall expect you at nine o'clock exactly. I warn you. Oh, good Heaven!how sad it is that the days are so long! You hear; I shall be in thegarden as it is striking nine."
"And I too."
And without saying a word, moved by the same thought, carried awayby those electric currents which place two lovers in continualcommunication, both intoxicated with voluptuousness, even in theirgrief, fell into each other's arms without noticing that their lipswere joined together, while their upraised eyes, overflowing withecstasy and full of tears, contemplated the stars. When Marius left,the street was deserted, for it was the moment when Éponine followedthe bandits into the boulevard. While Marius dreamed with his headleaning against a tree an idea had crossed his mind,--an idea, alas!which himself considered mad and impossible. He had formed a violentresolution.