te in law, an habitual frequenter of the courts, that Thenardier was in close confinement.
Every Monday, Marius had five francs handed in to the clerk''s office of La Force for Thenardier.
As Marius had no longer any money, he borrowed the five francs from Courfeyrac.
It was the first time in his life that he had ever borrowed money.
These periodical five francs were a double riddle to Courfeyrac who lent and to Thenardier who received them.
"To whom can they go?" thought Courfeyrac.
"Whence can this come to me?" Thenardier asked himself.
Moreover, Marius was heart-broken. Everything had plunged through a trap-door once more.
He no longer saw anything before him; his life was again buried in mystery where he wandered fumblingly. He had for a moment beheld very close at hand, in that obscurity, the young girl whom he loved, the old man who seemed to be her father, those unknown beings, who were his only interest and his only hope in this world; and, at the very moment when he thought himself on the point of grasping them, a gust had swept all these shadows away. Not a spark of certainty and truth had been emitted even in the most terrible of collisions.
No conjecture was possible.
He no longer knew even the name that he thought he knew.
It certainly was not Ursule.
And the Lark was a nickname.