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− | + | Les Misérables, Volume 3: Marius, Book Eighth: The Wicked Poor Man, Chapter 11: Offers of Service from Misery to Wretchedness<br /> | |
+ | (Tome 3: Marius, Livre huitième: Le mauvais pauvre, Chapitre 11: Offres de service de la misère à la douleur) | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==General notes on this chapter== | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==French text== | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Marius monta l'escalier de la masure à pas lents; à l'instant où il | ||
+ | allait rentrer dans sa cellule, il aperçut derrière lui dans le corridor | ||
+ | la Jondrette aînée qui le suivait. Cette fille lui fut odieuse à voir, | ||
+ | c'était elle qui avait ses cinq francs, il était trop tard pour les lui | ||
+ | redemander, le cabriolet n'était plus là, le fiacre était bien loin. | ||
+ | D'ailleurs elle ne les lui rendrait pas. Quant à la questionner sur la | ||
+ | demeure des gens qui étaient venus tout à l'heure, cela était inutile, | ||
+ | il était évident qu'elle ne la savait point, puisque la lettre signée | ||
+ | Fabantou était adressée ''au monsieur bienfaisant de l'église | ||
+ | Saint-Jacques-du-Haut-Pas''. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Marius entra dans sa chambre et poussa sa porte derrière lui. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Elle ne se ferma pas; il se retourna et vit une main qui retenait la | ||
+ | porte entr'ouverte. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | —Qu'est-ce que c'est? demanda-t-il, qui est là? | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | C'était la fille Jondrette. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | —C'est vous? reprit Marius presque durement, toujours vous donc! Que me | ||
+ | voulez-vous? | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Elle semblait pensive et ne regardait pas. Elle n'avait plus son | ||
+ | assurance du matin. Elle n'était pas entrée et se tenait dans l'ombre du | ||
+ | corridor, où Marius l'apercevait par la porte entre-bâillée. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | —Ah çà, répondrez-vous? fit Marius. Qu'est-ce que vous me voulez? | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Elle leva sur lui son œil morne où une espèce de clarté semblait | ||
+ | s'allumer vaguement, et lui dit: | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | —Monsieur Marius, vous avez l'air triste. Qu'est-ce que vous avez? | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | —Moi! dit Marius. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | —Oui, vous. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | —Je n'ai rien. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | —Si! | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | —Non. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | —Je vous dis que si! | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | —Laissez-moi tranquille! | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Marius poussa de nouveau la porte, elle continua de la retenir. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | —Tenez, dit-elle, vous avez tort. Quoique vous ne soyez pas riche, vous | ||
+ | avez été bon ce matin. Soyez-le encore à présent. Vous m'avez donné de | ||
+ | quoi manger, dites-moi maintenant ce que vous avez. Vous avez du | ||
+ | chagrin, cela se voit. Je ne voudrais pas que vous eussiez du chagrin. | ||
+ | Qu'est-ce qu'il faut faire pour cela? Puis-je servir à quelque chose? | ||
+ | Employez-moi. Je ne vous demande pas vos secrets, vous n'aurez pas | ||
+ | besoin de me dire, mais enfin je peux être utile. Je peux bien vous | ||
+ | aider, puisque j'aide mon père. Quand il faut porter des lettres, aller | ||
+ | dans les maisons, demander de porte en porte, trouver une adresse, | ||
+ | suivre quelqu'un, moi je sers à ça. Eh bien, vous pouvez bien me dire ce | ||
+ | que vous avez, j'irai parler aux personnes. Quelquefois quelqu'un qui | ||
+ | parle aux personnes, ça suffit pour qu'on sache les choses, et tout | ||
+ | s'arrange. Servez-vous de moi. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Une idée traversa l'esprit de Marius. Quelle branche dédaigne-t-on quand | ||
+ | on se sent tomber? | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Il s'approcha de la Jondrette. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | —Écoute... lui dit-il. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Elle l'interrompit avec un éclair de joie dans les yeux. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | —Oh! oui, tutoyez-moi! j'aime mieux cela. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | —Eh bien, reprit-il, tu as amené ici ce vieux monsieur avec sa | ||
+ | fille.... | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | —Oui. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | —Sais-tu leur adresse? | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | —Non. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | —Trouve-la-moi. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | L'œil de la Jondrette, de morne, était devenu joyeux, de joyeux il | ||
+ | devint sombre. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | —C'est là ce que vous voulez? demanda-t-elle. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | —Oui. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | —Est-ce que vous les connaissez? | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | —Non. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | —C'est-à-dire, reprit-elle vivement, vous ne la connaissez pas, mais | ||
+ | vous voulez la connaître. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Ce ''les'' qui était devenu ''la'' avait je ne sais quoi de significatif et | ||
+ | d'amer. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | —Enfin, peux-tu? dit Marius. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | —Vous avoir l'adresse de la belle demoiselle? | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Il y avait encore dans ces mots «la belle demoiselle» une nuance qui | ||
+ | importuna Marius. Il reprit: | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | —Enfin n'importe! l'adresse du père et de la fille. Leur adresse, | ||
+ | quoi! | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Elle le regarda fixement. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | —Qu'est-ce que vous me donnerez? | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | —Tout ce que tu voudras! | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | —Tout ce que je voudrai? | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | —Oui. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | —Vous aurez l'adresse. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Elle baissa la tête, puis d'un mouvement brusque elle tira la porte qui | ||
+ | se referma. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Marius se retrouva seul. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Il se laissa tomber sur une chaise, la tête et les deux coudes sur son | ||
+ | lit, abîmé dans des pensées qu'il ne pouvait saisir et comme en proie à | ||
+ | un vertige. Tout ce qui s'était passé depuis le matin, l'apparition de | ||
+ | l'ange, sa disparition, ce que cette créature venait de lui dire, une | ||
+ | lueur d'espérance flottant dans un désespoir immense, voilà ce qui | ||
+ | emplissait confusément son cerveau. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Tout à coup il fut violemment arraché à sa rêverie. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Il entendit la voix haute et dure de Jondrette prononcer ces paroles | ||
+ | pleines du plus étrange intérêt pour lui: | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | —Je te dis que j'en suis sûr et que je l'ai reconnu. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | De qui parlait Jondrette? il avait reconnu qui? M. Leblanc? le père de | ||
+ | «son Ursule»? quoi! est-ce que Jondrette le connaissait? Marius | ||
+ | allait-il avoir de cette façon brusque et inattendue tous les | ||
+ | renseignements sans lesquels sa vie était obscure pour lui-même? | ||
+ | allait-il savoir enfin qui il aimait, qui était cette jeune fille? qui | ||
+ | était son père? l'ombre si épaisse qui les couvrait était-elle au moment | ||
+ | de s'éclaircir? Le voile allait-il se déchirer? Ah! ciel! | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Il bondit, plutôt qu'il ne monta, sur la commode, et reprit sa place | ||
+ | près de la petite lucarne de la cloison. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Il revoyait l'intérieur du bouge Jondrette. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ==English text== | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Marius ascended the stairs of the hovel with slow steps; at the moment | ||
+ | when he was about to re-enter his cell, he caught sight of the elder | ||
+ | Jondrette girl following him through the corridor. The very sight of this | ||
+ | girl was odious to him; it was she who had his five francs, it was too | ||
+ | late to demand them back, the cab was no longer there, the fiacre was far | ||
+ | away. Moreover, she would not have given them back. As for questioning her | ||
+ | about the residence of the persons who had just been there, that was | ||
+ | useless; it was evident that she did not know, since the letter signed | ||
+ | Fabantou had been addressed "to the benevolent gentleman of the church of | ||
+ | Saint-Jacquesdu-Haut-Pas." | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Marius entered his room and pushed the door to after him. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | It did not close; he turned round and beheld a hand which held the door | ||
+ | half open. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | "What is it?" he asked, "who is there?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | It was the Jondrette girl. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | "Is it you?" resumed Marius almost harshly, "still you! What do you want | ||
+ | with me?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | She appeared to be thoughtful and did not look at him. She no longer had | ||
+ | the air of assurance which had characterized her that morning. She did not | ||
+ | enter, but held back in the darkness of the corridor, where Marius could | ||
+ | see her through the half-open door. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | "Come now, will you answer?" cried Marius. "What do you want with me?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | She raised her dull eyes, in which a sort of gleam seemed to flicker | ||
+ | vaguely, and said:— | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | "Monsieur Marius, you look sad. What is the matter with you?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | "With me!" said Marius. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | "Yes, you." | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | "There is nothing the matter with me." | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | "Yes, there is!" | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | "No." | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | "I tell you there is!" | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | "Let me alone!" | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Marius gave the door another push, but she retained her hold on it. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | "Stop," said she, "you are in the wrong. Although you are not rich, you | ||
+ | were kind this morning. Be so again now. You gave me something to eat, now | ||
+ | tell me what ails you. You are grieved, that is plain. I do not want you | ||
+ | to be grieved. What can be done for it? Can I be of any service? Employ | ||
+ | me. I do not ask for your secrets, you need not tell them to me, but I may | ||
+ | be of use, nevertheless. I may be able to help you, since I help my | ||
+ | father. When it is necessary to carry letters, to go to houses, to inquire | ||
+ | from door to door, to find out an address, to follow any one, I am of | ||
+ | service. Well, you may assuredly tell me what is the matter with you, and | ||
+ | I will go and speak to the persons; sometimes it is enough if some one | ||
+ | speaks to the persons, that suffices to let them understand matters, and | ||
+ | everything comes right. Make use of me." | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | An idea flashed across Marius' mind. What branch does one disdain when one | ||
+ | feels that one is falling? | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | He drew near to the Jondrette girl. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | "Listen—" he said to her. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | She interrupted him with a gleam of joy in her eyes. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | "Oh yes, do call me thou! I like that better." | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | "Well," he resumed, "thou hast brought hither that old gentleman and his | ||
+ | daughter!" | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | "Yes." | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | "Dost thou know their address?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | "No." | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | "Find it for me." | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | The Jondrette's dull eyes had grown joyous, and they now became gloomy. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | "Is that what you want?" she demanded. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | "Yes." | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | "Do you know them?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | "No." | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | "That is to say," she resumed quickly, "you do not know her, but you wish | ||
+ | to know her." | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | This them which had turned into her had something indescribably | ||
+ | significant and bitter about it. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | "Well, can you do it?" said Marius. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | "You shall have the beautiful lady's address." | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | There was still a shade in the words "the beautiful lady" which troubled | ||
+ | Marius. He resumed:— | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | "Never mind, after all, the address of the father and daughter. Their | ||
+ | address, indeed!" | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | She gazed fixedly at him. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | "What will you give me?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | "Anything you like." | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | "Anything I like?" | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | "Yes." | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | "You shall have the address." | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | She dropped her head; then, with a brusque movement, she pulled to the | ||
+ | door, which closed behind her. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Marius found himself alone. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | He dropped into a chair, with his head and both elbows on his bed, | ||
+ | absorbed in thoughts which he could not grasp, and as though a prey to | ||
+ | vertigo. All that had taken place since the morning, the appearance of the | ||
+ | angel, her disappearance, what that creature had just said to him, a gleam | ||
+ | of hope floating in an immense despair,—this was what filled his | ||
+ | brain confusedly. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | All at once he was violently aroused from his revery. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | He heard the shrill, hard voice of Jondrette utter these words, which were | ||
+ | fraught with a strange interest for him:— | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | "I tell you that I am sure of it, and that I recognized him." | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Of whom was Jondrette speaking? Whom had he recognized? M. Leblanc? The | ||
+ | father of "his Ursule"? What! Did Jondrette know him? Was Marius about to | ||
+ | obtain in this abrupt and unexpected fashion all the information without | ||
+ | which his life was so dark to him? Was he about to learn at last who it | ||
+ | was that he loved, who that young girl was? Who her father was? Was the | ||
+ | dense shadow which enwrapped them on the point of being dispelled? Was the | ||
+ | veil about to be rent? Ah! Heavens! | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | He bounded rather than climbed upon his commode, and resumed his post near | ||
+ | the little peep-hole in the partition wall. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | Again he beheld the interior of Jondrette's hovel. | ||
+ | |||
+ | |||
+ | ==Translation notes== | ||
+ | |||
+ | GvkhyG <a href="http://fsynsksqirpv.com/">fsynsksqirpv</a>, [url=http://obqtgxddlizv.com/]obqtgxddlizv[/url], [link=http://lcpbgtvrmhjx.com/]lcpbgtvrmhjx[/link], http://ixltaozioega.com/ | ||
+ | |||
+ | ==Citations== | ||
+ | <references /> |