The following day was the 3d of June, 1832, a date which it is necessary to indicate on account of the grave events which at that epoch hung on the horizon of Paris in the state of lightning-charged clouds. Marius, at nightfall, was pursuing the same road as on the preceding evening, with the same thoughts of delight in his heart, when he caught sight of Eponine approaching through the trees of the boulevard. Two days in succession: this was too much. He turned hastily aside, quitted the boulevard, changed his course, and went to the Rue Plumet through the Rue Monsieur. This caused Eponine to follow him to the Rue Plumet, a thing which she had not yet done. She saw him displace the bar and slip into the garden. She approached the railing, felt of the bars one after the other, and readily recognized the one which Marius had moved. None of that, Lisette. She seated herself on the underpinning of the railing, close beside the bar, as though she were guarding it. There was a dim nook there, in which Eponine was entirely concealed. She remained thus for more than an hour, without stirring and without breathing, a prey to her thoughts. Towards ten o'clock an old, belated bourgeois, making haste to escape from this deserted spot of evil repute, heard a dull and threatening voice saying: I'm no longer surprised that he comes here every evening. He saw no one, dared not peer into the black niche, and redoubled his pace.
A very few instants later, six men, marching separately along the wall, and who might have been taken for a gray patrol, entered the Rue Plumet. This is the place. Is there a cab in the garden? I don't know. In any case, I have fetched a ball that we'll make him eat. Have you some putty to break the pane with? The railing is old. So much the better; it won't screech under the saw. The sixth, who had not yet opened his lips, began to inspect the gate as Eponine had done an hour earlier. Thus he came to the bar which Marius had loosened. As he was on the point of grasping this bar, a hand emerged abruptly from the darkness, fell upon his arm, he felt himself vigorously thrust aside, and a hoarse voice said to him: There's a dog. At the same moment he perceived a pale girl standing before him. What jade is this? Your daughter. It was Eponine who had addressed Thenardier. The other five drew near with the sinister slowness peculiar to these men of the night. What have you come here to hinder our work for? Eponine burst out laughing and threw herself on his neck. I am here, little father, because I am here. What have you come here for, since it's a biscuit? I told Magnon so. There's nothing to be done here. That's good. You've embraced me. Yes, I'm out. Now, get away with you. I won't go, so there now. It is remarkable that Eponine did not talk slang. That frightful tongue had become impossible to her since she had known Marius. She swore there was nothing in this house. There are lone women, said Guelemer. No, the persons have moved away. The candles haven't, anyway, said Babet, and he pointed to a light wandering in the mansard. It was Toussaint, who had stayed up to spread out some linen to dry. They're very poor folks, and it's a hovel where there isn't a sou. Go to the devil, cried Thenardier. When we've turned the house upside down we'll tell you what there is inside. He pushed her aside with the intention of entering.
Then she set her back against the gate, faced the six ruffians who were armed to the teeth, and to whom the night lent the visages of demons, and said in a firm, low voice: Well, I don't mean that you shall. In the first place, if you enter this garden, if you lay a hand on this gate, I'll scream, I'll beat on the door, I'll rouse everybody, I'll have the whole six of you seized, I'll call the police. Beginning with my father. As you like, but you shall not enter here. I'm not the daughter of a dog, since I'm the daughter of a wolf. If you approach, I'll bark. I told you, I'm the dog, and I don't care a straw for you. Not even of you, father. She was seized by a dry cough, her breath came from her weak and narrow chest like the death-rattle. I have only to cry out, and people will come. There are six of you; I represent the whole world. Thenardier said gently that they must earn their living. Have you no longer any kind feeling for your father? You bother me. But we must live, we must eat. Burst. So saying, she seated herself on the underpinning of the fence and hummed, and swung her foot with an air of indifference. Her tattered gown permitted a view of her thin shoulder-blades. The six rascals, speechless and gloomy at being held in check by a girl, retreated beneath the shadow cast by the lantern. Montparnasse flashed the knife and offered to stay with the girl. Brujon, who had put up the job and who made verses, shook his head. See here; this morning I came across two sparrows fighting, this evening I jostled a woman who was quarrelling. All that's bad. Let's quit. They went away. Never mind. If they had wanted, I'd have cut her throat, muttered Montparnasse. I wouldn't. I don't hit a lady. Eponine never took her eyes off of them. She rose and crept after them as far as the boulevard. There they parted, and she saw these six men plunge into the gloom, where they appeared to melt away.
