Chapter One
My Dearest Marius,
By the time you read this I will be well on my way to a new life in England. I might even be there already, or at least in sight of its dreadful shores. I know you will be confused, and I know you will want answers, but I admit that I don't understand it anymore than you. My father is driven away from France by fears of which he refuses to speak. It has been this way for years upon years. Even when living in the convent or safely in our home on the Rue Plumet, I have lived with the sense that he is hiding something from me, and from the rest of the world. It is no doubt for these same reasons that we are fleeing from France on such short notice. I did not know until last night. Please understand that. I am just as stricken as you are.
I must let you know now that I may never return. My father has always kept me close under his wing, and in a foreign land in which I am not even acquainted with the language he is sure to keep me even closer. There will be no chance of escape back to you until I am well of age in several years. It would not be fair for me to ask you to wait, with the knowledge that you may never see me again at all.
Marius stared in disbelief at the letter for what seemed like ages after he reached the bottom line. The paper had crinkled, he realized, from having been clutched so tightly, and the smallest trace of a tear had slightly smeared Cosette's signature. His eyes fluttered back up to the beginning, skimming the letter once more in hopes that he had misread it, but the words just flew back at him once more, no less painful the second time around.
He was seated, huddled, at the bottom of the creaky stairs leading up to his tenement building. It was almost May, but the crisp air had a chilly edge to it, and Marius was pressed to unroll his sleeves. The only feeling he seemed to manage to take in was the cold around and inside of him and the desolate emptiness of the street he looked out upon. He folded the letter back up and set it on the step beside him, leaving his hand on it for a few seconds afterwards.
Had it been any other evening Marius would have been far across town, making his way for the Café Musain. It was a wonder that he had not already left his tenement when the gangly gamin appeared with an envelope in his dirty hand and five shining francs in his pocket. There was no chance of heading off for the meeting at the café now, however. With such despair in his heart he doubted he could force himself to discuss such a subject as revolution with his friends. His mood would not permit. From where he sat now Marius saw little hope of ever facing Les Amis again. He knew Enjolras would have little tolerance for his grief.
It was nearly three quarters of an hour before Marius finally rose from his spot, letter in hand and attempted to ascend the stairs once more. He had briefly pondered the idea of taking a walk before returning home, but his legs already felt weak enough. All he wished now was to collapse onto his bed and fall into a deep sleep in which he might dream he was seated on the stone bench in Cosette's garden, with Cosette beside him.
The hallway was as dim as ever, but the darkness and the dust seemed ever more apparent tonight. As he passed the Thenardier tenement, he heard the noises of the two daughters giggling softly about something. The noise, joyful and childish, seemed as though it was from another planet. Marius was in part annoyed, and in part amazed. The two girls who resided there, young in age yet seemingly mature in terms of hardship and experience, had so much less to look forwards to that Marius. They lived in poverty and faced the possibility of starvation weekly, but they were unafraid. They had never had their hearts broken; maybe that was it. But these circumstances didn't dawn on Marius tonight. The only thing on his mind was Cosette.
Just as Marius reached his own door there was a squeal from behind him and the sound of a door opening that was too large for its frame. It was followed by the bustle of fabric and a hostile hiss of, "'Zelma!" Marius turned around quickly, one eyebrow raised. Standing in the hallway behind him were the two Thenardier girls, one, the oldest and the tallest, clutching her elbow and the other sneering at her sister with her hands on her thin hips.
"Monsieur Marius!" yelped the taller girl, Eponine, a bright smile on her face. She pulled her hand away from her elbow and ran it through her dark brown hair quickly before taking a step forwards. Marius couldn't help but notice that she was barefoot.
"Salut, Monsieur Marius," repeated the younger girl, Azelma, a freckled child with blonde hair so dirty it appeared grey and a turned up nose that was red from the sun.
"Hey," he said informally in response. "Do you, uh, want anything?" He knew from a past experience that this was a bad question to ask a impoverished, desperate girl, but frankly he had not a care at the moment.
"Yes, actually," Eponine chirped. "The landlady was looking for you earlier, 'bout thirty minutes ago. She told us that if we saw you to tell you to go find her down in her apartment." She looked at Marius as he listened. When he was done he dropped his gaze and glanced back at his tenement door. "You should prob'ly go ahead and find her," she added.
"She looked kind of mad," Azelma cut in.
Eponine looked at Marius again and noticed a troubled air in the way he stood. Her eyes flitted down to the piece of paper he was holding. Was it bad news? She felt a pang of concern in her chest. "Are you okay?" she asked tentatively, already sure that he was not going to say a word. Beside her, Azelma stifled a giggle.
"I'm fine," he answered, right on cue. Seeing that Eponine had been looking at his letter, he slipped it into his pants pocket and met her gaze. "I'm just tired."
"Would you like some bread?" Eponine went on. "We went out and bought us a loaf today." She motioned back inside of the tenement with her thumb. Azelma looked peeved at this offer and shuffled back through the door, as if to protect her share of the bread.
"No, I'm fine," repeated Marius. "Now I'd better go talk to the landlady." He pulled his coat tighter around his body and turned to head off down the hallway. "I'll see you later, Eponine," he said briskly when he passed the girl. Eponine watched him leave, her hands stuffed into the pockets of the oversized coat she wore over her flimsy clothes, trying her best not to look dejected.
"Gee, bread is certainly the way to a man's heart," Azelma said coldly and sarcastically as she rejoined her sister in the hall. Eponine ignored her and followed Marius out of the building, silent as a mouse.
Marius reached the landlady's door in a matter of seconds, his heart heavy in his breast. Rapping on her door, he went over the possibilities in his head. Could there be a worse way to end this day, he wondered? If the landlady had been angry, it could only have been bad news. Then again, nothing could have been worse than the letter that was now safely tucked into his pocket.
The door flew open, revealing a woman who hardly reached up to Marius's shoulder. Her gray hair was tucked into an old kerchief and she was dressed in a ratty nightgown. Her room did seem cleaner than the others, however, and she wore shoes on her small feet.
"Eponine Thenardier told me you wanted to see me," he said sheepishly. He expected the woman to usher him into her room, but instead she stepped outside into the night air. A fierce look was in her brown eyes.
"You haven't paid rent in two months," she snapped, and the words hit Marius as hard as Cosette's had.
"Wh… What?" he stammered.
"Rent," she repeated, drawing out the word as though she was talking to an infant or an imbecile. "You haven't paid. Do you have the money now?" She held out her hand as if to take a collection of coins from Marius, but the boy had nothing to offer.
"I'm sorry," he urged himself to say. "I don't get my pay until tomorrow…" He calculated in his head quickly. His pay for the translations would be enough for one month, but two months worth of rent money? It was not to be done.
"You don't have it?" the woman confirmed.
"No, m'am," Marius replied softly.
"Then it is out with you."
Marius stumbled and had to hold his hand out to steady himself on the door frame. Had he heard her correctly? Out?
"Yes, out," she repeated, answering the expression written on the boy's face. "Get your things and leave. Don't come back until you can pay." Then she closed the door.
Marius felt numb as he made his way back upstairs. He could hardly believe the words still ringing in his head. Out… He was being evicted. He didn't have a home. His first instinct told him to find one of the Amis to stay with, but at the moment he couldn't bring himself to imagine facing them. He was a wreck. Though Courfeyrac had once housed Marius and would most certainly not mind doing it again, Marius would be pressed to attend the meetings at the Café Musain, something he had no plans on doing any time soon. His thoughts of where to stay were disrupted, however, by the truth that he could think of nothing but Cosette at the time. His heart was breaking all over again just thinking of what pity she would have were she to discover her Marius was homeless.
Marius was not prepared for the dark figure that appeared in front of him as he entered the stairwell. His whole body jumped, and he sucked in a sharp breath in a sort of panicked gasp.
"Monsieur Marius!" Eponine said softly. "It's only me."
Marius put one hand to his temple and groaned, "Eponine…" He kept walking, but the girl followed.
"Marius," she repeated, dropping the formality. "Are you… are you okay?"
"Yeah," he answered sarcastically. "I'm great. And homeless."
Eponine chewed on a gritty fingernail as she entered the hallway behind him. She saw Azelma dart back into the tenement upon seeing Marius returning. "I know," Eponine said quietly as she shut the door behind her. "I heard the whole thing." Whether Marius was offended by her eavesdropping Eponine would never know. He answered her comment only with a grunt and feeble shrug of the shoulders.
"I'm really sorry," Eponine went on. "I mean, I really like having you as a neighbor!" This was obviously not the right thing to say, she figured. The poor boy was troubled, she could tell. His eyes were halfway closed and his steps were steady but weak.
I finally get to my apartment, Marius mused to himself as he let himself into the room, and it's not even mine anymore. He lit the lamp nearest the doorway as soon as he got inside and threw off his jacket onto the mattress. He was so fatigued that even his flimsy and uncomfortable bed seemed like a gift from heaven at the moment. It was so tempting to fling himself upon it and fall into a deep sleep.
He pulled a case from the corner of his room and began cramming his extra clothing and his translations into it. The blanket on the bed was his, but there was no room in his bag for it, as with the thin pillow and the nice new coat he had hanging up in his wardrobe. He would leave those behind for whatever auspicious tenant might find them in the future.
I wonder where I'll be then? he asked himself drearily as he sat down on his bed to take a moment's rest. At last, after checking once around the room and feeling for the letter that was still in his pocket, Marius blew out the lamp and closed the door behind him.
Eponine had gone back to her own room while Marius was packing, but as soon as he passed by her tenement she flung open the door and looked up at him with a look of apprehension and subtle alarm. "Marius!" she blurted out once more before pulling herself together as though she thought she might have broken some sort of rule in saying his name with such intimacy. "Would you, you know, like to maybe stay with us for a while?"
When he didn't answer after several moments:
"I mean, unless you have some friends you'd like to stay with or something. I just… We're here if you need us, me and 'Zelma." Eponine bit her lip awkwardly and kicked one of her bare feet against the floor.
"I have a friend who I can stay with," Marius said at last, only halfway lying. Though he knew Courfeyrac would take him in, he was completely unwilling to stay in the company of others in his current state. "But thanks for the offer, Eponine."
Eponine's flattery at hearing him speak her name was dulled by the sorrow of the situation. "You're welcome," she said in a what was scarcely even a whisper of a voice.
"Goodbye, Eponine," said Marius. "Goodbye Azelma." The two girls waved as he headed out the door, Eponine with tears in her eyes and Azelma with an stupid, unsympathetic grin on her small face.
"How touching," she said to her sister once Marius was gone, in reference to the tears.
"One day you'll be in love, 'Zelma," Eponine replied through muted sobs. "You just watch."
TBC