Les Misérables, v. 1/5: Fantine
Page 31
CHAPTER II.
A DOUBLE QUARTETTE.
These Parisians came, one from Toulouse, the second from Limoges, thethird from Cahors, the fourth from Montauban, but they were students,and thus Parisians; for studying in Paris is being born in Paris. Theseyoung men were insignificant, four every-day specimens, neither goodnor bad, wise nor ignorant, geniuses nor idiots, and handsome withthat charming Aprilia which is called twenty years. They were fourOscars, for at that period Arthurs did not yet exist. "Burn for him theperfumes of Arabia," the romance said; "Oscar is advancing, I am aboutto see him." People had just emerged from Ossian: the elegant worldwas Scandinavian and Caledonian, the English style was not destined toprevail till a later date, and the first of the Arthurs, Wellington,had only just won the battle of Waterloo.
The names of these Oscars were F?lix Tholomy?s, of Toulouse; Listolier,of Cahors; Fameuil, of Limoges; and Blachevelle, of Montauban. Ofcourse each had a mistress; Blachevelle loved Favourite, so calledbecause she had been to England; Listolier adored Dahlia, who had takenthe name of a flower for her _nom de guerre_; Fameuil idolized Z?phine,an abridgment of Josephine; while Tholomy?s had Fantine, called theBlonde, owing to her magnificent suncolored hair. Favourite, Dahlia,Z?phine, and Fantine were four exquisitely pretty girls, still to someextent workwomen. They had not entirely laid down the needle, andthough unsettled by their amourettes, they still had in their facesa remnant of the serenity of toil, and in their souls that flower ofhonesty, which in a woman survives the first fall. One of the four wascalled the young one, because she was the youngest, and one called theold one, who was only three-and-twenty. To conceal nothing, the threefirst were more experienced, more reckless, and had flown further intothe noise of life than Fantine the Blonde, who was still occupied withher first illusion.
Dahlia, Z?phine, and especially Favourite, could not have said thesame. There was already more than one episode in their scarce-begunromance, and the lover who was called Adolphe in the first chapter,became Alphonse in the second, and Gustave in the third. Povertyand coquettishness are two fatal counsellors: one scolds, the otherflatters, and the poor girls of the lower classes have them whisperingin both ears. Badly-guarded souls listen, and hence come the falls theymake, and the stones hurled at them. They are crushed with the splendorof all that is immaculate and inaccessible. Alas! what if the Jungfrauhad hunger? Favourite, who had been to England, was admired by Z?phineand Dahlia. She had a home of her own from an early age. Her fatherwas an old brutal and boasting professor of mathematics, unmarried,and still giving lessons in spite of his age. This professor, when ayoung man, had one day seen a lady's maid's gown caught in a fender;he fell in love with this accident, and Favourite was the result. Shemet her father from time to time, and he bowed to her. One morning, anold woman with a hypocritical look came into her room and said, "Do younot know me, Miss?" "No." "I am your mother." Then the old woman openedthe cupboard, ate and drank, sent for a mattress she had, and installedherself. This mother, who was grumbling and proud, never spoke toFavourite, sat for hours without saying a word, breakfasted, dined, andsupped for half a dozen, and spent her evenings in the porter's lodge,where she abused her daughter. What drew Dahlia toward Listolier,towards others perhaps, towards idleness, was having too pretty pinknails. How could she employ such nails in working? A girl who wishes toremain virtuous must not have pity on her hands. As for Z?phine, shehad conquered Fameuil by her little saucy and coaxing way of saying"Yes, Sir." The young men were comrades, the girls friends. Such amoursare always doubled by such friendships.
A sage and a philosopher are two persons; and what proves it is that,after making all reservations for these little irregular households,Favourite, Z?phine, and Dahlia were philosophic girls, and Fantine aprudent girl. Prudent, it will be said, and Tholomy?s? Solomon wouldreply, that love forms part of wisdom. We confine ourselves to sayingthat Fantine's love was a first love, a single love, a faithful love.She was the only one of the four who was addressed familiarly by oneman alone.
Fantine was one of those beings who spring up from the dregs of thepeople; issuing from the lowest depths of the social darkness, she hadon her forehead the stamp of the anonymous and the unknown. She wasborn at M. sur M.; of what parents, who could say? She had never knowneither father or mother. She called herself Fantine, and why Fantine?She was never known by any other name. At the period of her birth, theDirectory was still in existence. She had no family name, as she hadno family; and no Christian name, as the Church was abolished. Sheaccepted the name given her by the first passer-by, who saw her runningbarefooted about the streets. She was called little Fantine, and no oneknew any more. This human creature came into the world in that way.At the age of ten, Fantine left the town, and went into service withfarmers in the neighborhood. At the age of fifteen she went to Paris,"to seek her fortune." Fantine was pretty and remained pure as long asshe could. She was a charming blonde, with handsome teeth; she had goldand pearls for her dower, but the gold was on her head, and the pearlsin her mouth.
She worked for a livelihood; and then she loved, still for the sakeof living, for the heart is hungry too. She loved Tholomy?s; itwas a pastime for him, but a passion with her. The streets of theQuartier Latin, which are thronged with students and grisettes, sawthe beginning of this dream. Fantine, in the labyrinth of the PantheonHill, where so many adventures are fastened and unfastened, longshunned Tholomy?s, but in such a way as to meet him constantly. Thereis a manner of avoiding which resembles seeking,--in a word, theeclogue was played.
Blachevelle, Listolier, and Fameuil formed a sort of group, of whichTholomy?s was the head, for it was he who had the wit. Tholomy?s wasthe antique old student; he was rich, for he had an income of 4000francs a year, a splendid scandal on the Montagne St. Genevi?ve.Tholomy?s was a man of the world, thirty years of age, and in a badstate of preservation. He was wrinkled and had lost teeth, and he hadan incipient baldness, of which he himself said without sorrow: "Theskull at thirty, the knee at forty." He had but a poor digestion, andone of his eyes was permanently watery. But in proportion as his youthwas extinguished, his gayety became brighter; he substituted jests forhis teeth, joy for his hair, irony for his health, and his weeping eyelaughed incessantly. He was battered, but still flowering. His youthhad beaten an orderly retreat, and only the fire was visible. He hadhad a piece refused at the Vaudeville Theatre, and wrote occasionalverses now and then. In addition, he doubted everything in a superiorway, which is a great strength in the eyes of the weak. Hence, beingironical and bald, he was the leader. We wonder whether irony, isderived from the English word "iron"? One day Tholomy?s took the otherthree aside, made an oracular gesture, and said,--
"It is nearly a year that Fantine, Dahlia, Z?phine, and Favorite havebeen asking us to give them a surprise, and we promised solemnly to doso. They are always talking about it, especially to me. In the sameway as the old women of Naples cry to Saint Januarius, "Yellow face,perform your miracle!" our beauties incessantly say to me, "Tholomy?s,when will you be delivered of your surprise?" At the same time ourparents are writing to us, so let us kill two birds with one stone. Themoment appears to me to have arrived, so let us talk it over."
Upon this, Tholomy?s lowered his voice, and mysteriously utteredsomething so amusing that a mighty and enthusiastic laugh burst fromfour mouths simultaneously, and Blacheville exclaimed "That is anidea!" An _estaminet_ full of smoke presenting itself, they went in,and the remainder of their conference was lost in the tobacco clouds.The result of the gloom was a brilliant pleasure excursion, that tookplace on the following Sunday, to which the four young men invited thegirls.