marius had not left the gorbeau house. he paid no attention to any one there.

at that epoch, to tell the truth, there were no other inhabitants in the house, except himself and those jondrettes whose rent he had once paid, without, moreover, ever having spoken to either father, mother, or daughters. the other lodgers had moved away or had died, or had been turned out in default of payment.

one day during that winter, the sun had shown itself a little in the afternoon, but it was the 2d of february, that ancient candlemas day whose treacherous sun, the precursor of a six weeks' cold spell, inspired mathieu laensberg with these two lines, which have with justice remained classic:--

qu'il luise ou qu'il luiserne, l'ours rentre dans en sa caverne.[26]

[26] whether the sun shines brightly or dim, the bear returns to his cave.

marius had just emerged from his: night was falling. it was the hour for his dinner; for he had been obliged to take to dining again, alas! oh, infirmities of ideal passions!

he had just crossed his threshold, where ma'am bougon was sweeping at the moment, as she uttered this memorable monologue:--

"what is there that is cheap now? everything is dear.

there is nothing in the world that is cheap except trouble; you can get that for nothing, the trouble of the world!"

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:--

"the bobbies have come. they came near nabbing me at the half-circle." the other answered: "i saw them. i bolted, bolted, bolted!"

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.

"good," he said to himself, "those unhappy girls dropped it."

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.

on the way, he saw in an alley of the rue mouffetard, a child's coffin, covered with a black cloth resting on three chairs, and illuminated by a candle. the two girls of the twilight recurred to his mind.

"poor mothers!" he thought. "there is one thing sadder than to see one's children die; it is to see them leading an evil life."

then those shadows which had varied his melancholy vanished from his thoughts, and he fell back once more into his habitual preoccupations. he fell to thinking once more of his six months of love and happiness in the open air and the broad daylight, beneath the beautiful trees of luxembourg.

"how gloomy my life has become!" he said to himself. "young girls are always appearing to me, only formerly they were angels and now they are ghouls."

马吕斯一直住在戈尔博老屋里，从不留意旁人的事。

当时住在那栋破房子里的，确实也只有他和容德雷特一家，再没有旁人；容德雷特便是他上次代为偿清房租的那人，他却从来没有和那两老或那两个女儿谈过话。其他的房客都早已搬了，死了，或是因欠付租金而被撵走了。

那个冬季里的一天，太阳在午后稍稍露了一下面，那天正是二月二日，古老的圣烛节1的日子，这种骗人的太阳往往带来六个星期的寒冷，并曾触发过马蒂厄·朗斯贝尔的灵感，使他留下了两句够得上称为古典的诗句：

大晴或小晴，

群熊返山洞。

1基督教徒纪念耶稣初次谒庙的日子，这天，教堂里遍燃蜡烛。这一节日又名“圣母行洁净礼日”或“主进殿节”。

马吕斯那天却走出了他的洞，天已快黑了，正是去吃晚饭的时候，因为饭总得要吃点，唉！想象的爱情的不治之症！

他正跨出门坎，布贡妈当时也正在扫地，一面嘴里说看这几句值得回忆的独白：

“有什么东西是便宜的，现在？全是贵的。只有世上的痛苦是便宜的，它一文也不值，这世上的痛苦！”

马吕斯慢慢地沿着大路，朝便门方向往圣雅克街走去。他正低着头想心事。

忽然，在迷雾中，他觉得有人撞了他一下，他回过头，看见两个衣服破烂的年轻姑娘，一个瘦长，一个较矮，两人都喘着气，慌慌张张，飞快地朝前走，好象怕人追上，要逃跑似的。她们向他迎面跑来，没看见他，到身边便碰了他一下。马吕斯在昏暗的暮色中看见她们那蜡黄的脸，光着脑袋，头发散乱，抓着两顶不成形的包头帽子，拖着两条稀烂的裙，赤脚。她们边跑边谈。大的那个用极低的声音说：

“雷子来了，差点儿铐住了我。”

另一个回答：“我望见他们，我就溜呀，溜呀，溜呀！”

通过那种丑恶的黑话，马吕斯懂得：宪兵或市警几乎逮捕了那两个孩子，两个孩子却逃跑了。

她们深入到他背后路旁的大树下去了，只见一种隐隐的微光渐渐消失的黑暗中。

马吕斯停下来望了一会儿。

他正要继续往前走，却看见他脚边地上有个灰色小包，他弯下腰去拾了起来。那是一种类似信封的东西，里面装的好象是纸。

“哼，”他说，“没准是那两个穷娃子掉的！”

他转身喊，没有喊住她们，他想她们已经走远了，便把那纸包揣在衣袋里，去吃晚饭。

走到半路，在穆夫达街的一条窄巷里，他看见一个孩子的棺材，盖一条黑布，放在三张椅子上，并点着一支蜡烛。暮色中的那两个女孩回到了他的脑子里。他想道：

“可怜的母亲们！有一件比看见亲生儿女死去更伤心的事，那便是看着他们活受苦。”

随后，这些使他触景生情的阴惨事儿从他的脑子里消失了，他重新回到他惯常的忆念中。他又开始想着在卢森堡公园晴光丽日的树影中度过的六个月。

“我的生活变得多么暗淡！”他心里想。“随时都有年轻姑娘出现在我眼前。可是从前我觉得她们全是天使，而现在觉得她们全是妖精。”