674 Les Miserables
‘A good quarter of an hour’s walk from here.’
The man said nothing for a moment; then he remarked
abruptly:—
‘So you have no mother.’
‘I don’t know,’ answered the child.
Before the man had time to speak again, she added:—
‘I don’t think so. Other people have mothers. I have
none.’
And after a silence she went on:—
‘I think that I never had any.’
The man halted; he set the bucket on the ground, bent
down and placed both hands on the child’s shoulders, mak-
ing an effort to look at her and to see her face in the dark.
Cosette’s thin and sickly face was vaguely outlined by the
livid light in the sky.
‘What is your name?’ said the man.
‘Cosette.’
The man seemed to have received an electric shock. He
looked at her once more; then he removed his hands from
Cosette’s shoulders, seized the bucket, and set out again.
After a moment he inquired:—
‘Where do you live, little one?’
‘At Montfermeil, if you know where that is.’
‘That is where we are going?’
‘Yes, sir.’
He paused; then began again:—
‘Who sent you at such an hour to get water in the for-
est?’
‘It was Madame Thenardier.’