, no! no! no! no! no! It is better to suffer, to bleed, to weep, to tear one’s skin from the flesh with one’s nails, to pass nights writhing in anguish, to devour oneself body and soul. That is why I have just told you all this. Wantonly, as you say.”

He drew a painful breath, and hurled this final word:

“In days gone by, I stole a loaf of bread in order to live; today, in order to live, I will not steal a name.”

“To live!” interrupted Marius. “You do not need that name in order to live?”

“Ah! I understand the matter,” said Jean Valjean, raising and lowering his head several times in succession.