Join Host Bree Carlile as she reads the fifty-first chapter of Les Miserables.

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>> Speaker A: Take a look, in the book and let's see

what we can find.

Take it chapter by chapter. One

fight M at a time

so many adventures and

mountains we can climb

to give word for word, line by

line, one bite at a time.

>> Brie Carlisle: Welcome.

>> Brie Carlisle: To bite at a time books where we read you your favorite

classics one byte at a time. my name is Bre

Carlisle and I love to read and wanted to share

my passion with listeners like you. If you want

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>> Brie Carlisle: Values today well be

continuing.

Les Miserable by Victor Hugo

chapter twelve Monsieur

Bemarebois inactivity

there is in all small towns,

and there was it m sur m in particular,

a class of young men who nibble away an income

of 1500 francs with the same air with which their

prototypes devour 200,000 francs a year in

Paris. These are beings of the great

neuter species, impotent

men, parasites, ciphers,

who have a little land, a little folly, a little

wit, who would be rustics in a drawing room

and who think themselves gentlemen in the dram shop

who say, my fields, my peasants, my

woods, who hiss actresses at the theater

to prove that they are persons of taste,

quarrel with officers of the garrison to prove that they are men of

war, hunt, smoke, yawn,

drink, smell of tobacco, play billiards,

stare at travelers as they descend from the diligence,

live at the cafe, dine at the inn, have a

dog which eats the bones under the table and a

mistress who eats the dishes on the table who

stick at Sou, exaggerate the fashions,

admire tragedy, despise women, wear

out their old boots, copy London through Paris

and Paris through the medium of pont a mousson,

grow old as dullards, never work, serve

no use, and do no great harm.

Monsieur Felix Tholamis, had he remained

in his own province and never beheld, Paris,

would have been one of these men. If they were

richer, one would say, they are dandies if

they were poor, one would say theyre idlers,

theyre simply men without employment.

Among these unemployed there are boars,

the bored dreamers, and some

knaves. At that period a dandy

was composed of a tall collar, a big

cravat, a watch with trinkets, three

vests of different colors worn one on top of the

other, the red and blue inside of a

short waisted olive coat with a codfish

tail, a double row of silver buttons set close

to each other and running up to the shoulder, and

a pair of trousers of a lighter shade of olive

ornamented on the two seams with an indefinite

but always uneven number of lines

varying from one to eleven, a

limit which was never exceeded. Add

to this high shoes with little irons on the

heels, a tall hat with a narrow

brim, hair worn and tuft, an

enormous cane, and conversation set off by

puns of poitiers, overall

spurs and a mustache. At, that

epoch mustaches indicated the bourgeois

and spurs the pedestrian. The

provincial dandy wore the longest of spurs and the

fiercest of mustaches. It was the period

of the conflict of the republics of South America with the king

of Spain of Bolivar against

merlot. Now brimmed hats were

royalist and were called merlots.

Liberals wore hats with wide brims which were called

bolivars. Eight or ten months. Then

after that which is related in the preceding pages,

towards the 1 January 1823

on a snowy evening, one of these dandies,

one of these unemployed, a right

thinker, for he wore a murillo and was

moreover, warmly enveloped in one of those large

cloaks which completed the fashionable costume in cold

weather, was amusing himself by tormenting

a creature who was prowling about in a ball dress

with neck uncovered and flowers in her hair in

front of the officers cafe. This

standee was smoking, for he was decidedly

fashionable. Each time that the woman

passed in front of him he bestowed on her,

together with a puff from his cigar, some

apostrophe which he considered witty and mirthful,

such as how ugly you are. Will you get out of

my sight? You have no teeth. Etcetera

etcetera. This gentleman was known as

Monsieur Bamatabois. The

woman, a melancholy decorated

specter which went and came through the snow, made

him no reply, to not even glance at

him, and nevertheless continued her

promenade in silence and with a somber

regularity which brought her every five minutes

within reach of the sarcasm, like the condemned

soldier who returns under the rods.

The small effect which he produced no doubt

piqued the lounger, and taking

advantage of a moment when her back was turned, he

crept up behind her with the gait of a wolf, and,

stifling his laugh, bent down, picked

up a handful of snow from the pavement, and thrust

it abruptly into her back. Between her bare

shoulders. The woman uttered a roar,

whirled round, gave a leap like a panther,

and hurled herself upon the man, burying her nails in

his face with the most frightful words which could

fall from the guardroom into the gutter. His

insults poured forth in a voice roughened by

brandy. did indeed proceed in hideous

wise from a mouth which lacked its two front teeth.

It was fantine. At the noise thus

produced, the officers ran out in throngs from the

cafe. passersby collected, and a large and

merry circle hooting and applauding was formed around this

whirlwind composed of two beings whom there

was some difficulty in recognizing as a man and a

woman. The man struggling

his hat on the ground, the woman striking

out with feet and fists, bareheaded, howling,

minus hair and teeth livid with wrath,

horrible. Suddenly a man of lofty

stature emerged vivaciously from the crowd, seized the

woman by her satin bodice, which was covered with mud,

and said to her, follow me. The

woman raised her head. Her furious voice

suddenly died away. Her eyes were

glassy, she turned pale instead of

livid, and she trembled with a quiver of

terror. She had recognized

Javert. The dandy took advantage of the

incident to make his escape.

Thank you for joining bite at a time books today while we

read a bite of one of your favorite classics

again. My name is Brie Carlisle, and I.

>> Brie Carlisle: Hope you come back tomorrow for the.

>> Brie Carlisle: Next bite of Le Miserable.

>> Brie Carlisle: Dont forget to sign up for our

newsletter@byteaditimebooks.com, and check

out the shop. You can check out the show notes or

our website, biteeditimebooks.com, for

the rest of the links for our show. wed love to hear from you on

social media as well.

>> Speaker A: line by line, one bite at a time.