the expression belongs to the elder
Corneille--to such a degree that he doubted whether what he beheld was
real. It was providence appearing in horrible guise, and his good angel
springing from the earth in the form of Thenardier.

Thenardier thrust his fist into a large pocket concealed under his
blouse, drew out a rope and offered it to Jean Valjean.

"Hold on," said he, "I'll give you the rope to boot."

"What is the rope for?"

"You will need a stone also, but you can find one outside. There's a
heap of rubbish."

"What am I to do with a stone?"

"Idiot, you'll want to sling that stiff into the river, you'll need a
stone and a rope, otherwise it would float on the water."

Jean Valjean took the rope. There is no one who does not occasionally
accept in this mechanical way.

Thenardier snapped his fingers as though an idea had suddenly occurred
to him.

"Ah, see here, comrade, how did you contrive to get out of that slough
yonder? I haven't dared to risk myself in it. Phew! you don't smell
good."

After a pause he added:

"I'm asking you questions, but you're perfectly right not to answer.
It's an apprenticeship against that cursed quarter of an hour before the
examining magistrate. And then, when you don't talk at all, you run no
risk of talking too loud. That's no matter, as I can't see your face and
as I don't know your name, you are wrong in supposing that I don't know
who you are and what you want. I twig. You've broken up that gentleman
a bit; now you want to tuck him away somewhere. The river, that great
hider of folly, is what you want. I'll get you out of your scrape.
Helping a good fellow in a pinch is what suits me to a hair."

While expressing his approval of Jean Valjean's silence, he endeavored
to force him to talk. He jostled his shoulder in an attempt to catch a
sight of his profile, and he exclaimed, without, however, raising his
tone:

"Apropos of that quagmire, you're a hearty animal. Why didn't you toss
the man in there?"

Jean Valjean preserved silence.

Thenardier resumed, pushing the rag which served him as a cravat to the
level of his Adam's apple, a gesture which completes the capable air of
a serious man:

"After all, you acted wisely. The workmen, when they come to-morrow to
stop up that hole, would certainly have found the stiff abandoned there,
and it might have been possible, thread by thread, straw by straw, to
pick up the scent and reach you. Some one has passed th