She made haste to send her daughters to bed, then she asked the man''s permission to send Cosette off also; "for she has worked hard all day," she added with a maternal air. Cosette went off to bed, carrying Catherine in her arms.
From time to time the Thenardier went to the other end of the room where her husband was, to relieve her soul, as she said. She exchanged with her husband words which were all the more furious because she dared not utter them aloud.
"Old beast!
What has he got in his belly, to come and upset us in this manner!
To want that little monster to play! to give away forty-franc dolls to a jade that I would sell for forty sous, so I would!
A little more and he will be saying Your Majesty to her, as though to the Duchess de Berry!
Is there any sense in it? Is he mad, then, that mysterious old fellow?"
"Why! it is perfectly simple," replied Thenardier, "if that amuses him! It amuses you to have the little one work; it amuses him to have her play.
He''s all right.
A traveller can do what he pleases when he pays for it.▒本▒作▒品▒由▒思▒兔▒網▒提▒供▒線▒上▒閱▒讀▒
If the old fellow is a philanthropist, what is that to you?