At certain moments she beheld him like a lighted candle; at others she felt him like a claw.
This woman was a formidable creature who loved no one except her children, and who did not fear any one except her husband. She was a mother because she was mammiferous.
But her maternity stopped short with her daughters, and, as we shall see, did not extend to boys.⑨思⑨兔⑨網⑨文⑨檔⑨共⑨享⑨與⑨在⑨線⑨閱⑨讀⑨
The man had but one thought,--how to enrich himself.
He did not succeed in this.
A theatre worthy of this great talent was lacking.
Thenardier was ruining himself at Montfermeil, if ruin is possible to zero; in Switzerland or in the Pyrenees this penniless scamp would have become a millionaire; but an inn-keeper must browse where fate has hitched him.
It will be understood that the word inn-keeper is here employed in a restricted sense, and does not extend to an entire class.
In this same year, 1823, Thenardier was burdened with about fifteen hundred francs'' worth of petty debts, and this rendered him anxious.
Whatever may have been the obstinate injustice of destiny in this case, Thenardier was one of those men who understand best, with the most profundity and in the most modern fashion, that thing which is