I started to dust off the slightly dusty candle sticks sitting on the mantel of Monsieur Gillenormand's parlor fireplace as the clock struck the hour. Monsieur Gillenormand's daughter came in and informed me that I was to begin helping her with cleaning the dinner platters once I was done in the parlor. I nodded and finished with the mantel pieces. I had been hired at Monsieur Gillenormand's house when his grandson, Young Monsieur Marius, had left the house to live on his own. Monsieur Gillenormand's daughter had been feeling a little down, so there was a need of another maid. I was mostly a background maid and I did not appear before guests often. Mademoiselle Gillenormand (Monsieur Gillenormand's daughter) thought that it would hurt her pride to need a younger girl do the things she was so used to do when important guests were present. I finished the candle sticks and glanced about to see if there were any more things to clean. Seeing none, I put away the dusting things and wiped my hands on my apron and walked toward the kitchen. I washed my hands and listened to my Mademoiselle's instructions.
"Could you get me some soap from the cellar, and then begin heating up some water to wash these dishes with? After you're done with that, I would like you to take the candle sticks from the dining room and start to polish them. I know this is a lot to ask you at once, but could you do one more thing? When you're done with the candle sticks, would you clean the table cloth? I would really appreciate it if you did, I've been feeling a bit tired today and I would like to be able to go to bed early tonight." I nodded and was beginning to do as she said when there was a loud banging on the door; the knocking was violent, impatient, and frantic. Mademoiselle told me to stay where I was as she dried her hands and walked to get the door. I followed slightly behind her to see what all the commotion was about. Monsieur Basque had already gotten the door, and a young man was being carried in, covered in filth and blood, some his, and some not. He was laid down in the parlor on a couch as Monsieur Basque began leaving for a physician. I had never seen the Young Monsieur, but I knew this young man on the parlor couch that was just cleaned by yours truly, was he, Young Marius. The beautiful chair was now stained with excrements from the sewer and blood from the poor Young Monsieur. Monsieur Gillenormand had not come down just yet, so my Mademoiselle had been rushing around, trying to figure out just what happened. As she was trying to get information, I slowly slinked over to Young Monsieur to see if he was still breathing. I saw that his chest was rising and falling just ever so slightly, so I knew he was alive. At this point, Basque had come back with the doctor and Monsieur Gillenormand was coming down the stairs in a fury. I ran off, not wanting to me swatted away in a rage. The doctor ordered for a cot to be set up so he could examine the Young Monsieur. I stood behind some thick curtains as the doctor began stripping Young Monsieur of the filthy rags covering the open, bleeding wounds. Monsieur Gillenormand ran into the parlor and stared at the Young Monsieur.
"Marius!" Yelled my Monsieur and he began to tremble. Basque began to explain just exactly happened to my Young Monsieur.
"Sir, your grandson has just been brought here. He was at the barricades, and…"
"He is dead!" My Monsieur yelled. "The rascal!" In an attempt to regain his composure and said to the doctor, "He is dead, is he not?" And before the doctor could even say anything, Marius (my Young Monsieur) slowly began to open his eyes. Marius looked toward his grandfather in a hazy, cloudy stare, not knowing where he was or what he was doing. Monsieur Gillenormand gasped and cried,
"Marius! My beloved child! You're alive!" and at that, my Monsieur fainted.
Throughout my Young Monsieur Marius' recovery, he was sometimes called "neither dead nor alive." He would constantly call out for someone named "Cosette". Each day, and sometimes even twice a day an old man with white hair would bring clean linen bandages and would ask about my Young Monsieur. On September 7, 1832, exactly four months after my Young Monsieur had been brought in; the physician had told Monsieur Gillenormand that my Young Monsieur was out of harm's way. Due to his previously broken collar bone, Young Monsieur was to stay on a couch all day. Since I was just a background maid, I did not get to see him very often, and when I did, he was either asleep, or I was peeking in from the outer rooms. When Monsieur Gillenormand was told the news that Young Monsieur was okay, he was almost crazed with excitement. Basque and I noticed that Monsieur Gillenormand was praying for some time, this odd event happened on the same day Monsieur gave Basque three louis. We chalked it up to the Monsieur being so happy that Marius was getting better, for until these events, he never believed in God. My feeble Young Monsieur had not heard anything about his "Cosette" for some time and he had completely lost the memory of the barricade, or at least what he did remember was an absolute blur. It drove him completely mad not knowing anything, and it drove him even madder knowing that no one in the house hold could inform him of what he did at the barricade.
Everyday my Young Monsieur's strength grew with the aide of his aunt, his grandfather, and on occasion, me. One day, it came to pass that the Mademoiselle and I were trying to figure out what my Young Monsieur should have for dinner since he was still slightly weak. My Mademoiselle confronted my Monsieur Gillenormand about this and he said that he had already been wondering the same thing.
"Listen, Marius. You need to start eating some meat for your strength. Fish is fine at the beginning of a convalescence, but a thick steak is what a sick man needs to put him back on his feet." After having been told this, Marius sees that his grandfather was in a rather good mood. Deciding to take advantage of this mood, Marius sat up with a determined look on his face and clenched his fists.
"Grandfather, there is something I want to say to you."
"What is it, my son?"
"I want to marry."
"Agreed!" yelled Monsieur as he began to laugh heartily.
"What do you mean, 'agreed'?" asked Marius remembering that his grandfather was once against the marriage at one point.
"I mean," my Monsieur said with a grin, "you shall have your little girl you asked me about some time ago." Monsieur Gillenormand told Young Monsieur. His grandfather hugged Marius' head and they both began to cry great tears full of joy and happiness. Even though my Young Monsieur was over joyed at this news, he was still sad.
"But, Grandfather, I no long know where to find her!"
"Ah, but I do! You see, she inquires of you every day-in the form of an old man. And it is she who makes the linen bandages that he brings each day. I have made inquiries myself, and I know their address. It is 7 Rue de l'Homme Arme. You shall see her tomorrow!"
"Why not today? I am quite well and up to it." said my Young Monsieur, unable to wait another minute.
"Agreed! I will see to it." The old Monsieur laughed gaily and began to prepare the carriage, leaving Young Monsieur in the parlor. As I watched from my hiding spot, Young Monsieur looked in my direction.
"You need not hide young one. Why don't you come on out of there?" I gasped, realizing that I had been found out. I pulled the curtains away from me and walked toward him.
"I have noticed you around. When did you start working here? Probably after I left, right?" I nodded, blushed, and looked at the floor, this being the first time I'd seen the Young Monsieur awake. He laughed at my awkwardness and started to get up because his grandfather had come in the room behind me. I gasped at his quietness and blushed more, knowing that I was not supposed to be seen, only acknowledged that I was alive. Monsieur put his hand on my head and told me,
"Why don't you tell my daughter to let you have some form of candy, huh?" I gasped and looked up at my Monsieur with new eyes, mostly because candy is my favorite… I nodded and ran off to the kitchen to get my candy as Young Monsieur went to get the girl of his dreams.