We have known a grandmother who succeeded in turning Theodore into Gnon.
"How old is she?"
"She is going on three."
"That is the age of my eldest."
In the meantime, the three little girls were grouped in an attitude of profound anxiety and blissfulness; an event had happened; a big worm had emerged from the ground, and they were afraid; and they were in ecstasies over it.
Their radiant brows touched each other; one would have said that there were three heads in one aureole.
"How easily children get acquainted at once!" exclaimed Mother Thenardier; "one would swear that they were three sisters!"
This remark was probably the spark which the other mother had been waiting for.
She seized the Thenardier''s hand, looked at her fixedly, and said:--
"Will you keep my child for me?"
The Thenardier made one of those movements of surprise which signify neither assent nor refusal.
Cosette''s mother continued:--
"You see, I cannot take my daughter to the country.
My work will not permit it.
With a child one can find no situation. People are ridiculous in the country.
It was the good God who caused me to pass your inn.
When I caught sight of your little ones, so pretty, so clean, and so happy, it overwhelmed me.