Lisette

Chapter 28 ~ Frequent Heroism Under Suffering

"Other people can go," said one of the young girls nestling round the fire, and with her improvised shawl —"them as has got things to go in; but mother don't like to let us go as we are."

"She slips her mother's shoes on when she goes out. It would take 25 francs to start me well. With that I could go to market, and buy my draught of eels a franc cheaper, and I could afford to cut my pieces a little bigger; and people where they gets used well comes again—don't you see? I could have sold more eels if I'd had 'em to-day, and soup too.

"The man in the market can give more than we can. He gives what is called the lumping centime's worth — that is, seven or eight pieces; ah, that I daresay he does; indeed, some of the boys has told me he gives as many as eight pieces. And then the more eels you biles up, you see, the richer the liquor is, and in our little tin-pot way it's like biling up a great jint of meat in a hocean of water. In course we can't compete agin the man in the market, and so we're being ruined entirely. The boys very often comes and asks me if I've got a centime's-worth of heads. Some women, they tells me, sells 'em at four a sous and a drop of liquor, but we chucks 'em away, there's nothing to eat on them; the boys though will eat anything."

After the usual Thénardier question and payment, I headed home, while Gavroche headed in the opposite direction to his usual haunts on the other side of the river. On my way through the Latin quarter, I bought myself a quire of paper and a small bottle of ink from a stationery shop. Having got a decent number of interviews, it would be necessary to write them out neatly and without any mistakes before they went off to be printed. 

As I was in the process of writing up the neat copies, Enjolras returned. 

"You're writing up the interviews?" he asked, putting the books he had under his arm down on the bed, and taking off his hat.

"Yes - I've got the time to do so, and I thought it might be useful. Apart from anything else, we'll be able to play around with what order to put the stories in."

"That would be good. Combeferre and I have been playing around with words for an introduction-forward-frontispiece-preface type thing - it'd be useful to have your thoughts on it this evening. I don't know whether we want something that takes up several pages, or something short so that the stories can speak for themselves."

"I suppose something longer at the beginning, and then no conclusion could work well, in leaving the memory of those interviewed in the reader's mind, rather than our own words."

He pulled my box closer to the desk, and sat down next to me. 

"A longer introduction to this pamphlet could also speak for any others we manage to produce - this needn't be the only one of its kind. Any other pamphlets could have a shorter introduction, possibly referring the reader back to the first one," he suggested. "We'll have to see how easy it is to fit each of the stories onto each page: some of them might need to be abridged. I've noticed that your more recent ones have been getting longer as you've got more practised at what you're doing."

"So long as we cut out the right bits. Though it might be better just to get rid of some of the stories altogether, and print them in the next one, if there is to be a next one. Were you wanting to use your desk? I can carry this on later at the Musain, if you've work to be doing."

"This is work just as much as any of what I have to do is work."

"Yes, but I won't be barred from the university if I don't get this done. I'm already barred from the university, through no fault of my own that I can see," I couldn't help adding. 

"For now, at least. Things will change."

"I admire your optimism. As it is, I should really be finishing off the shirt I was working on earlier."