"
And with the agility of a monkey, flinging back his hair, tearing off his spectacles, and withdrawing from his nose by sleight of hand the two quills of which mention was recently made, and which the reader has also met with on another page of this book, he took off his face as the man takes off his hat.
His eye lighted up; his uneven brow, with hollows in some places and bumps in others, hideously wrinkled at the top, was laid bare, his nose had become as sharp as a beak; the fierce and sagacious profile of the man of prey reappeared.
"Monsieur le Baron is infallible," he said in a clear voice whence all nasal twang had disappeared, "I am Thenardier."
And he straightened up his crooked back.
BOOK NINTH.--SUPREME SHADOW, SUPREME DAWN
CHAPTER IV (2)
Thenardier, for it was really he, was strangely surprised; he would have been troubled, had he been capable of such a thing.
He had come to bring astonishment, and it was he who had received it.
This humiliation had been worth five hundred francs to him, and, taking it all in all, he accepted it; but he was none the less bewildered.
He beheld this Baron Pontmercy for the first time, and, in spite of his disguise, this Baron Pontmercy recognized him, and recognized him thoroughly.
And not only was this Baron perfectly informed as to Thenardier, but he seemed well posted as to Jean Valjean.