Enjolras had written to her again.
Again, he did not give her the letter himself. This was something else about him that puzzled Eponine, especially since she and Enjolras were both in the Musain.
Eponine's little brother delivered the letter this time. Gavroche was always happy to do favors and run errands, as long as he was compensated.
Eponine scanned the room as she took the letter, looking for its author ... and there he was. He was not busy, nor was he speaking to anyone. Instead, he fixed Eponine with a very brief but piercing gaze before looking away.
Eponine could not make sense of it. He was clearly entirely capable of giving her the letter himself. In fact, he could have saved paper, ink, and money if he simply spoke to her.
Nevertheless, she did not approach him. Eponine was perfectly content to stay in her spot by Marius, corresponding with Enjolras nonverbally.
Eponine did not want to read the letter in the café. She did not like the idea of Enjolras possibly watching her while she read it, and the entire situation was simply rather strange, so Eponine promptly left the Musain before Enjolras could look her way again.
It did not hurt that, just then, Marius was leaving as well.
"Going home early today, Monsieur?" asked Eponine, quickening her pace to catch up with him. It was only about 5 o'clock.
"I am going to visit my lovely Cosette!" Marius proclaimed happily.
"Oh," said Eponine. There was nothing else to say.
They parted soon after that, and Eponine walked aimlessly around the streets.
Eponine had a certain skill for wandering alone in the Paris streets. She was much more at home there than in her actual home, which was hardly a home at all. Eponine liked being outside. Despite being exposed to the weather and to the suspicious individuals lurking in the alleys, she felt freer.
Finally she remembered the letter. Eponine stopped in the middle of the street and looked at it.
Instead of Citizen, he had written her name on the front.
She was suddenly very excited, and she could not believe she had momentarily forgotten it. Here were more words from the leader with the powerful voice. Eponine hastily opened it.
Mademoiselle Eponine-
Your name, political view, and illness have been noted. Thank you. Joly, one of our main medical members, has issues with illness; he is ... special.
No one is ever invisible, mademoiselle, even though it may seem so. Marius does talk about you sometimes but he likes this other woman more ... Um, anyway, I did not mean to insult you, I just meant to insult Marius. I am not sure I understand how insulting someone else would anger you.
Do you actually think that Marius would stand with us? You obviously have more faith in him than I do. I am also impressed by your knowledge of our government ... not that I think women are stupid or naive, as you put it; I am just impressed. It is true that l'ABC is lacking in female supporters. I do intend to change that. I just have to wait for the right time.
In regards to my penmanship, I am a student, so I've written my share of papers. I am not trying to be rude (because apparently sometimes I am) but how did you learn to write? You are clearly not of the upper class.
Thank you again for your support.
Vive la Révolution!
-Enjolras
P.S. Feuilly was very impressed by your folding. He keeps folding and unfolding your letter ...
This was an awful lot of information for Eponine to process at once. The names overwhelmed her; she had only recently matched Enjolras's face with his name, and she had no idea who Joly and Feuilly were. They both seemed rather odd, however, if they obsessed over illness and paper folding.
Obviously, Enjolras did not like Marius very much. This still bothered Eponine, though not as much as it had initially. She supposed it must have something to do with politics. After all, Enjolras had referred to Marius as an "idiot Bonapartist" in his last letter.
Then there was the fact that he did not look down on women. He seemed to want them to be equal to the men in the revolution. This was highly unusual.
All these thoughts, however, were overpowered by an unexpected feeling that Eponine had gotten from reading one sentence.
"No one is ever invisible, mademoiselle, even though it may seem so."
These words had a strange effect. Eponine felt ... warm. She knew what Enjolras meant; he would have said that to anyone. Eponine imagined he was one of those people who believe every person is important. Still, no one had ever told her anything of the sort before.
Enjolras had indeed noticed her. He had used an entire paragraph of his letter to ... what? Make her feel better?
This was a huge shift from his last letter.
Then, at the end, he asked her a question. A question implied that she was to write back. A question like "how did you learn to write?" implied that he was interested in her life.
That was almost too much to even consider.
Eponine blinked and tried to take it all in.
There was so much that she did not understand about Enjolras. She was determined that it would not stay that way for long. Eponine was an expert at solving mysteries, but she was usually doing so for other people. Now Eponine had a mystery of her own.
Eponine started to walk back the way she had come. She must have been more distracted than she thought, because she walked straight into someone and lost her balance.
"Oof!" said the person. He looked rich and somewhat familiar, and Eponine immediately started to apologize, but he interrupted her.
"Hey, you're her! You're Eponine!" he said gleefully.
Eponine stared.
"It took him a lot of tries to write that," he added with a smirk, gesturing to the letter Eponine still clutched in her hand. "I was there."
"Who are-" managed Eponine.
"Courfeyrac!" called a voice. Another young man appeared beside the first. "Are you all right?" he asked. "Are you hurt?" He turned to Eponine. "Are you hurt?"
"Everyone's fine, Joly, calm down," said the first man, Courfeyrac. "What are you doing?"
Joly was prodding Courfeyrac's stomach. "Checking for injuries..." he muttered. Courfeyrac smacked his hand away.
"We should go before he tries to examine you," Courfeyrac said to Eponine.
He paused to give Eponine an appreciative once-over and grinned at her. "And since Enjolras is too oblivious, if you're ever interested..." He winked at Eponine before proceeding jauntily down the street. Joly trailed behind him, casting worried glances back at Eponine.
Eponine shook her head and decided to pay more attention to where she was going.
She made it home without any more incidents. Since she had no pockets, she had put her first letter from Enjolras, along with some blank paper, in one of the many crevices in the room, a dark little hole in the wall. She placed the second with the first.
Sitting by the window for light, Eponine started to write another letter.
Monsieur Enjolras,
It occurred to her that she had been so preoccupied with Enjolras's letter that she had not thought about Marius since she last saw him earlier that day. She pushed the unbidden thought from her mind and continued to write.
