On the following day, Jean Valjean asked Cosette again:⁠—

“Would you like to come to the Luxembourg?”

She replied, sadly and gently:⁠—

“No.”

Jean Valjean was hurt by this sadness, and heartbroken at this gentleness.

What was going on in that mind which was so young and yet already so impenetrable? What was on its way there within? What was taking place in Cosette’s soul? Sometimes, instead of going to bed, Jean Valjean remained seated on his pallet, with his head in his hands, and he passed whole nights asking himself: “What has Cosette in her mind?” and in thinking of the things that she might be thinking about.