Surprise! Another chapter! This is where things really start to get going!
"Who was that man you were talking to today, 'Ponine?" Montparnasse demanded, trying (and failing) to sound sweet.
"You know how Sorbonne students are these days," Éponine shrugged him off. "Rabble-rousers, plotting in vain to overthrow the king. Pay them no mind."
"That's not what I asked you!" Montparnasse grabbed her jaw and turned her face toward him. "What was that boy's name and what was he speaking about?"
"I already told you what he was speaking about, it was the usual revolution fiddle-faddle! He wouldn't even give me his full name, but his last name sure is strange. Enjolras, but I find Enjy much easier to say. He tried to put on his 'preaching to the poor' airs, but he's all talk. I saw through his act in a Lyonnaise minute."
"Enjolras, you say?" Montparnasse's facial expression turned thoughtful. He let go of Éponine. "Student revolutionary? Wealthy?" He smirked. "You're right, we should just leave him alone, let nature take its course. When that bourgeois boy dies on a barricade, we'll be the ones to collect the spoils!"
Éponine said nothing. Her father was always thinking about ways to get money, and Montparnasse was often part of his schemes, especially when there was violence involved. Éponine wanted nothing to do with any of it.
Montparnasse continued speaking. "You, 'Ponine, my lovely little lady, are going to keep Monsieur Bourgeois Boy distracted so that he won't garner any support from the people. If they rise up with him at the barricade, this whole plan is for naught. And if you do your job well, I'll even release you from your obligation to me. You can go back to—-wherever it is you come from when you're not at your father's house. Free as a bird, happy as a lark, pardon the expression."
Éponine licked her lips. Freedom. Freedom from Montparnasse, freedom from her father. She could go live wherever she wanted, with whoever she wanted! But at the cost of another man's life? But still, freedom.
"I'll do it," she finally agreed. "It's not like I have a choice, after all. Like you remind me so many times, you own me."
"And don't you forget it, chérie!" Montparnasse winked at her. Éponine just scoffed and rolled her eyes.
translations
chérie-darling