"Not in my castle on a cloud."
A thin, dirty girl, no more than 8 years old finished singing mournfully. Cosette sat for a moment longer on the chair, even now, the large wooden chairs that she arranged around the tables at the inn every evening still dwarfed her small figure. For no more than a second, there was only blissful silence as Cosette thought about her castle, and was possibly trying to think up another verse to the song. This was broken however, with the unmistakable sound of another girl's light footsteps approaching.
A small figure came into sight and Cosette saw the girl come towards her. Ribbons held the sweet black locks together and underneath one arm, she held a doll. The sight of the pretty, well dressed girl, only slightly younger than Cosette, skipping towards her would have made most any person's heart melt. But to Cosette, she was a prowling cat, about to pounce on a defenceless bird. And this bird could not fly. Instantly the older but smaller girl stood up, tense and bracing herself for whatever might come.
Gently, she placed the doll on a table and then proceeded to change every sweet manner she had possessed before as she sang to the same tune as the song Cosette had just been singing, mocking her, and with her louder and slightly lower voice, it took on a new sense of foreboding.
"Sweep the floor, mama told you so
You need to earn your keep you know"
"That's what I'm doing, leave me be" Cosette moaned, continuing the tune and backing away from the other girl. Her efforts were quelled however when she hit a table and so she stood there quivering.
"You'll be in trouble, wait and see." As if mocking Cosette's song, Eponine continued, using the same melody Cosette had used while singing about the lady all in white.
"You're never working, always playing" By the time she had said this though, Cosette was distracted by the doll sitting so calmly on the table. It's perfect face stared back at her, in a way that her own blunt knife that took the place of her doll never could. Eponine though, followed the gaze of this stare and narrowed her eyes.
"No, stay away from my toys!"
Forgetting herself in her eagerness to play with the doll (she had barely ever been so close to it) Cosette asked.
"Just this once please, I will be careful" She reached her hands, so covered in dust, dirt and soot that they were brown, out to the doll, trying to touch it. Madame wasn't here to scream at her.
All her fantasies however, were shattered as Eponine slapped her arm, and as the soft, clean skin met the rough, dirtied skin of Cosette, Eponine let out one ear piercing shriek.
"Mama! Cosette, she tried to take my doll!"