chance, and which waits. It is a snare which
the innocent maiden sets unknown to herself, and in which she captures
hearts without either wishing or knowing it. It is a virgin looking like
a woman.

It is rare that a profound revery does not spring from that glance,
where it falls. All purities and all candors meet in that celestial
and fatal gleam which, more than all the best-planned tender glances of
coquettes, possesses the magic power of causing the sudden blossoming,
in the depths of the soul, of that sombre flower, impregnated with
perfume and with poison, which is called love.

That evening, on his return to his garret, Marius cast his eyes over
his garments, and perceived, for the first time, that he had been so
slovenly, indecorous, and inconceivably stupid as to go for his walk in
the Luxembourg with his "every-day clothes," that is to say, with a
hat battered near the band, coarse carter's boots, black trousers
which showed white at the knees, and a black coat which was pale at the
elbows.

CHAPTER IV--BEGINNING OF A GREAT MALADY

On the following day, at the accustomed hour, Marius drew from his
wardrobe his new coat, his new trousers, his new hat, and his new
boots; he clothed himself in this complete panoply, put on his gloves, a
tremendous luxury, and set off for the Luxembourg.

On the way thither, he encountered Courfeyrac, and pretended not to see
him. Courfeyrac, on his return home, said to his friends:--

"I have just met Marius' new hat and new coat, with Marius inside
them. He was going to pass an examination, no doubt. He looked utterly
stupid."

On arriving at the Luxembourg, Marius made the tour of the fountain
basin, and stared at the swans; then he remained for a long time in
contemplation before a statue whose head was perfectly black with mould,
and one of whose hips was missing. Near the basin there was a bourgeois
forty years of age, with a prominent stomach, who was holding by the
hand a little urchin of five, and saying to him: "Shun excess, my son,
keep at an equal distance from despotism and from anarchy." Marius
listened to this bourgeois. Then he made the circuit of the basin once
more. At last he directed his course towards "his alley," slowly, and as
if with regret. One would have said that he was both forced to go there
and withheld from doing so. He did not perceive it himself, and thought
that he was doing as he always did.

On turning into the walk, he saw M. L