rn oscillated violently, and went out.
The street had suddenly become black.
"That''s right, old street," ejaculated Gavroche, "put on your night-cap."
And turning to Jean Valjean:--
"What do you call that gigantic monument that you have there at the end of the street?
It''s the Archives, isn''t it?
I must crumble up those big stupids of pillars a bit and make a nice barricade out of them."
Jean Valjean stepped up to Gavroche.
"Poor creature," he said in a low tone, and speaking to himself, "he is hungry."
And he laid the hundred-sou piece in his hand.
Gavroche raised his face, astonished at the size of this sou; he stared at it in the darkness, and the whiteness of the big sou dazzled him.
He knew five-franc pieces by hearsay; their reputation was agreeable to him; he was delighted to see one close to. He said:--
"Let us contemplate the tiger."
He gazed at it for several minutes in ecstasy; then, turning to Jean Valjean, he held out the coin to him, and said majestically to him:--
"Bourgeois, I prefer to smash lanterns.
Take back your ferocious beast. You can''t bribe me.
That has got five claws; but it doesn''t scratch me."
"Have you a mother?" asked Jean Valjean.
Gavroche replied:--
"More than you have, perhaps."
"Well," returned Jean Valjean, "keep the money for your mother!"