704 Les Miserables
CHAPTER IX
THENARDIER AND
HIS MANOEUVRES
On the following morning, two hours at least before day-
break, Thenardier, seated beside a candle in the public room
of the tavern, pen in hand, was making out the bill for the
traveller with the yellow coat.
His wife, standing beside him, and half bent over him,
was following him with her eyes. They exchanged not a
word. On the one hand, there was profound meditation, on
the other, the religious admiration with which one watches
the birth and development of a marvel of the human mind.
A noise was audible in the house; it was the Lark sweeping
the stairs.
After the lapse of a good quarter of an hour, and
some erasures, Thenardier produced the following
masterpiece:—
BILL OF THE GENTLEMAN IN No. 1.Supper ... ... ... ... 3 francs.
Chamber ... ... ..... 10 ‘