A Spectrum of Nine Years

"Put down that glass, Gavroche. It's never going to work," Azelma said drolly as her brother held up a circle of glass to a candle on the mantel of the living room at Marius' house. It was Christmas Eve.

Gavroche made a face at her. "It was working this morning. Neville and I saw the colors."

"It only works with the sun's light, Gavroche. Candlelight is not the same thing," Feuilly explained.

"Jehan once said that Nature has its own incomparable lamps," Bossuet remarked wryly as he stepped out of the way before Jacques and Neville ran by.

Enjolras and Marius stopped their discussion just as Neville managed to trip on a corner of the carpet. "I don't think this is a good room for them to run around in," Enjolras remarked as he helped Neville up.

"If only it wasn't cold, I'd let them outside," Marius said. "There are lights."

Eponine watched this entire scene, all the time self-consciously tugging on her gloves. "Won't you take them off?" Cosette asked her quietly. "Dinner will be served in a while, I hear."

Eponine shook her head. "If only my hands were white as well. Like yours."

It was at this point that the two old gentlemen Gillenormand and Valjean entered the living room. "Ah, there you are. I was wondering if I'd ever see you!" Cosette said merrily.

Marius smiled affably. "She does intend to lead us all by the nose."

"Indeed," Valjean said quietly with a smile.

"I see you're wearing that beautiful dress you were given all those months ago," Gillenormand remarked.

Cosette grinned as she smoothed down the lace trimming on the sleeves of her light blue dress that had been an antique, then given a good turn. "It's a lovely thing."

Azelma and Eponine gazed with envy at Cosette's attire. "We used to be the ones with the nice dresses," Azelma said in an undertone, picking up the kitten she had brought with her.

"That was nine years ago," Eponine said.

"Nine years? Has it been that long?" Cosette asked.

Eponine nodded. "Montfermeil. Do you remember?"

"Of course I do. And here we all are again, but with happier faces, I should think," Cosette said. "And you still play with kittens," she added. with an amused smile.

Eponine laughed dryly. "True. Only I don't dress them up. I dress up my siblings now."

Azelma stroked her kitten under its chin. "Wonder what Papa, Montparnasse, Babet, Guelemer, Clausequeous, and Brujon are doing tonight."

"They're probably having gin," Eponine replied. "Well, Clausequeous is dead. I saw him die at the barricade."

"So that's why I haven't seen him since then," Azelma said. "Who killed him? Not the National Guard?"

Eponine bit her lip, for she knew the answer. "It's the past. Let it stay...no use looking back on the dust at your feet," she said in a whisper. It was as if in her gaze, she was reliving the terrible hours she'd spent in the redoubt, and the misery of the years before that.

However, after a time, a smile spread across her face, as if the happiness of her childhood and that of the present were beginning to meet at last. "That was a long time ago though. It feels like it," she said at last.

"It's a different world now, Eponine," Enjolras remarked.

"How much can the world change in six months?" Gillenormand asked crossly.

"I saw it change in that time," Feuilly said. "As a child, that is."

"My life changed in the one week I was first in Paris," Bossuet added.

"A day. It only takes a day," Eponine said in a voice almost no one heard. "One day to get rid of nine years..."

"How right you might be," Valjean said gravely.

Just then, the door opened and Mlle Gillenormand entered primly. "I hear dinner is served," she said with a tone of disdain.

"Oh good!" Neville said cheerily from where he was still playing with Jacques.

"About time to let merriment banish the melancholy," Gillenormand said. "Smiles now everyone, it's Christmas. Let winter snow cover what it will and make the world look white! You youngsters are all so grave!"