1286 Les Miserables
signed?’
‘Fabantou,’ replied the girl.
‘The dramatic artist, good!’
It was lucky for Jondrette, that this had occurred to him,
for at the very moment, M. Leblanc turned to him, and said
to him with the air of a person who is seeking to recall a
name:—
‘I see that you are greatly to be pitied, Monsieur—‘
‘Fabantou,’ replied Jondrette quickly.
‘Monsieur Fabantou, yes, that is it. I remember.’
‘Dramatic artist, sir, and one who has had some suc-
cess.’
Here Jondrette evidently judged the moment propitious
for capturing the ‘philanthropist.’ He exclaimed with an ac-
cent which smacked at the same time of the vainglory of the
mountebank at fairs, and the humility of the mendicant on
the highway:—
‘A pupil of Talma! Sir! I am a pupil of Talma! Fortune
formerly smiled on me—Alas! Now it is misfortune’s turn.
You see, my benefactor, no bread, no fire. My poor babes
have no fire! My only chair has no seat! A broken pane! And
in such weather! My spouse in bed! Ill!’
‘Poor woman!’ said M. Leblanc.
‘My child wounded!’ added Jondrette.
The child, diverted by the arrival of the strangers, had
fallen to contemplating ‘the young lady,’ and had ceased to
sob.
‘Cry! bawl!’ said Jondrette to her in a low voice.
At the same time he pinched her sore hand. All this was