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that extent, and one is accustomed to turn one’s back on the
drama as soon as it puts a wedding nosegay in its button-
hole. We will confine ourselves to noting an incident which,
though unnoticed by the wedding party, marked the transit
from the Rue des Filles-du-Calvaire to the church of Saint-
Paul.
At that epoch, the northern extremity of the Rue
Saint-Louis was in process of repaving. It was barred off,
beginning with the Rue du Pare-Royal. It was impossible
for the wedding carriages to go directly to Saint-Paul. They
were obliged to alter their course, and the simplest way was
to turn through the boulevard. One of the invited guests
observed that it was Shrove Tuesday, and that there would
be a jam of vehicles.—‘Why?’ asked M. Gillenormand—
‘Because of the maskers.’— ‘Capital,’ said the grandfather,
‘let us go that way. These young folks are on the way to be
married; they are about to enter the serious part of life. This
will prepare them for seeing a bit of the masquerade.’
They went by way of the boulevard. The first wedding
coach held Cosette and Aunt Gillenormand, M. Gillenor-
mand and Jean Valjean. Marius, still separated from his
betrothed according to usage, did not come until the second.
The nuptial train, on emerging from the Rue des Filles-du-
Calvaire, became entangled in a long procession of vehicles
which formed an endless chain from the Madeleine to the
Bastille, and from the Bastille to the Madeleine. Maskers
abounded on the boulevard. In spite of the fact that it was
raining at intervals, Merry-Andrew, Pantaloon and Clown
persisted. In the good humor of that winter of 1833, Paris