Manon Thenardier sat at the rickety kitchen table and thought.
How is it that I am still married to this wretch of a man?
Madame Thenardier and her husband Amine had been married for ten years now. She wasn't even exactly sure why she married him, and she had the idea he didn't know either.
Manon knew she wasn't pretty. She was tall and ruddy, almost barrel-like. She had great big arms with mangly hands. Her skin was red and she had a mass of messy reddish-blonde hair that sat strangely upon her large head. Frankly, she didn't care if she looked that way; she never much cared for pretty things. Her husband was by no means attractive, either. Monsieur Thenardier was a thin, raily-looking man with bad teeth and sickly skin. He was also tall, and had dirt sitting in the creases of his face and in his scraggly whiskers.
She also knew there was no real emotional attraction to them. They bickered and fought constantly, over silly things most of the time. Manon always dreamed of meeting a prince, especially when she was younger, but she figured it would never happen. She was right. The complaining and disagreeing between them went on forever, it seemed.
There is one thing, I suppose, Madame Thenardier thought as she sat at the table. We know how to run our inn and run the customers as well.
The Thenardiers's inn was a run-down and miserable looking place in Montfermeil. In their opinion, however, it was the best place in town. Guests flowed in and out at a regular rate, and so did their money. Amine and Manon pickpocketed and charged money for other unnecessary things. They worked together exceptionally well at that. Their little daughter, Eponine, had also learned a few tricks from her father. She was eight now and becoming a master pickpocketer. Quietly, little Eponine would sneak up behind a customer and reach into a back pocket, snatching whatever she could. She would quickly run away and hand off the findings to her mother, who thanked her with a pat on the head.
There was also Cosette. The Lark, they had nicknamed her. Monsieur and Madame Thenardier had taken the brat in when she was just three, so her mother could find work to support her. The inkeepers decided to use the money she sent them to spoil their own precious daughter, and continued to extort Cosette's mother Fantine out of everything she owned. Speaking of her, Manon thought, it's been a while since we've gotten any money from her. Did she stop working? Shaking the thought away, the Thenardiess went back to her original thought.
She and her husband treated Cosette lower than a dog. The girl wore rags and shivered in a corner at night when she wasn't working. She was always shouted at to sweep or wash windows, and sent away when customers arrived at the inn. At the moment, Cosette was out in the forest fetching a pail of water that wasn't necessarily needed. Manon just wanted to send her away.
She thought back to Amine. Why am I married to him? Why?
Manon realized why-they worked well together. They were able to weed out their customers, keep business up, take money from Fantine, and spoil their daughter rotten while keeping Cosette as far away as possible.
Perfect.
Sure, it wasn't love, but Amine and Manon Thenardier made quite the pairing.