ally Euphrasie. Stop! this morning I was
looking at the dust on the chimney-piece, and I had a sort of idea come
across me, like that, that I should see Cosette again soon. Mon Dieu!
how wrong it is not to see one's children for years! One ought to
reflect that life is not eternal. Oh, how good M. le Maire is to go! it
is very cold! it is true; he had on his cloak, at least? he will be
here to-morrow, will he not? to-morrow will be a festival day; to-morrow
morning, sister, you must remind me to put on my little cap that has
lace on it. What a place that Montfermeil is! I took that journey on
foot once; it was very long for me, but the diligences go very quickly!
he will be here to-morrow with Cosette: how far is it from here to
Montfermeil?"

The sister, who had no idea of distances, replied, "Oh, I think that he
will be here to-morrow."

"To-morrow! to-morrow!" said Fantine, "I shall see Cosette to-morrow!
you see, good sister of the good God, that I am no longer ill; I am mad;
I could dance if any one wished it."

A person who had seen her a quarter of an hour previously would not have
understood the change; she was all rosy now; she spoke in a lively and
natural voice; her whole face was one smile; now and then she talked,
she laughed softly; the joy of a mother is almost infantile.

"Well," resumed the nun, "now that you are happy, mind me, and do not
talk any more."

Fantine laid her head on her pillow and said in a low voice: "Yes,
lie down again; be good, for you are going to have your child; Sister
Simplice is right; every one here is right."

And then, without stirring, without even moving her head, she began to
stare all about her with wide-open eyes and a joyous air, and she said
nothing more.

The sister drew the curtains together again, hoping that she would
fall into a doze. Between seven and eight o'clock the doctor came; not
hearing any sound, he thought Fantine was asleep, entered softly, and
approached the bed on tiptoe; he opened the curtains a little, and, by
the light of the taper, he saw Fantine's big eyes gazing at him.

She said to him, "She will be allowed to sleep beside me in a little
bed, will she not, sir?"

The doctor thought that she was delirious. She added:--

"See! there is just room."

The doctor took Sister Simplice aside, and she explained matters to him;
that M. Madeleine was absent for a day or two, and that in their doubt
they had not thought it well to undeceive th