A few feet below Cosette''s window, in the ancient and perfectlyblack cornice of the wall, there was a martin''s nest; the curveof this nest formed a little projection beyond the cornice,so that from above it was possible to look into this little paradise. The mother was there, spreading her wings like a fan over her brood;the father fluttered about, flew away, then came back, bearing inhis beak food and kisses. The dawning day gilded this happy thing,the great law, "Multiply," lay there smiling and august, and that sweetmystery unfolded in the glory of the morning. Cosette, with her hairin the sunlight, her soul absorbed in chimeras, illuminated by lovewithin and by the dawn without, bent over mechanically, and almostwithout daring to avow to herself that she was thinking at the sametime of Marius, began to gaze at these birds, at this family,at that male and female, that mother and her little ones,with the profound trouble which a nest produces on a virgin.
BOOK FIRST.--THE WAR BETWEEN FOUR WALLS
CHAPTER X
DAWN
At that moment, Cosette awoke.
Her chamber was narrow, neat, unobtrusive, with a long sash-window, facing the East on the back court-yard of the house.