And he flung the stone at the lantern, whose broken glass fell with such a clatter that the bourgeois in hiding behind their curtains in the opposite house cried: “There is ‘Ninety-three’ come again.”
The lantern oscillated violently, and went out. The street had suddenly become black.
“That’s right, old street,” ejaculated Gavroche, “put on your nightcap.”
And turning to Jean Valjean:—
“What do you call that gigantic monument that you have there at the end of the street? It’s the Archives, isn’t it? I must crumble up those big stupids of pillars a bit and make a nice barricade out of them.”
Jean Valjean stepped up to Gavroche.
“Poor creature,” he said in a low tone, and speaking to himself, “he is hungry.”
And he laid the hundred-sou piece in his hand.