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“ You have pretty children , madame , ” said Fantine , and she sat down beside her . The two women began to talk , and soon Fantine told her story , or a part of it . Then Cosette woke up and smiled , and in a few minutes she was playing with the other two girls . “ Will you keep my child for me ? ” Fantine asked suddenly . “ I cannot take her with me to look for work . I will come back for her when I can , and I will pay you every month . ” Madame Thénardier called her husband , a small , thin man with clever , greedy eyes . “ Seven francs a month , ” he said . “ And six months in advance . And fifteen francs for the first expenses . ” Fantine paid . She gave them nearly all the money she had , and she left a bag of good clothes for Cosette . The next morning she kissed her child many times , cried as if her heart was breaking , and went away . “ Now I can pay what I owe , ” the innkeeper said to his wife , and he sold Cosette’s fine clothes the same week . The couple were not simply poor : they were bad people , and the husband was the worse of the two . He had been a soldier , or so he said , and he liked to tell everyone how he had been a hero at the battle of Waterloo . At first Fantine sent the money every month . After six months the innkeeper wrote to her and asked for twelve francs a month instead of seven , and then for fifteen . Fantine paid , while her daughter wore old rags , ate the leftovers under the table with the dog and the cat , and slept in a cold corner under the stairs . When she was five , they made her their servant . She swept the floor , washed the dishes and carried heavy buckets of water , and the innkeeper’s wife beat her almost every day . Her own daughters , Éponine and Azelma , had dolls and toys and pretty dresses , but they learned from their mother to treat Cosette like an animal . In the village people called the child “ the Lark ” , because she was so small and thin and got up before the sun . But this lark never sang . IV . Father Madeleine Fantine’s home town was Montreuil - sur - Mer , a small town near the sea in the north of France . For many years the people there had made black glass beads and jewellery , but the work was slow and cost too much , and the trade was dying . Then , at the end of 1815 , a stranger arrived in the town . Nobody knew where he came from . He was a man of about fifty , quiet and strong , who wore simple clothes and spoke little .
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