"Well, then, half shares." "What do you mean?" "You have killed the man; very good, and I have the key." Thénardier pointed to Marius, and continued,-- "I do not know you, but you must be a friend, and I wish to help you." Jean Valjean began to understand. Thénardier took him for an assassin. The latter continued,-- "Listen, mate; you did not kill this man without looking to see what he had in his pockets. Give me my half and I open the gate." And half drawing a heavy key from under his ragged blouse, he added,-- "Would you like to see how the key to liberty is made? Look here." Jean Valjean was so dazed that he doubted whether what he saw was real. It was Providence appearing in a horrible form, and the good angel issuing from the ground in the shape of Thénardier. The latter thrust his hand into a wide pocket hidden under his blouse, drew out a rope, and handed it to Jean Valjean. "There," he said, "I give you the rope into the bargain." "What am I to do with the rope?" "You also want a stone, but you will find that outside, as there is a heap of them." "What am I to do with a stone?" "Why, you ass, as you are going to throw the stiff into the river, you want a rope and a stone, or else the body will float on the water." Jean Valjean took the rope mechanically, and Thénardier snapped his fingers as if a sudden idea had occurred to him. "Hilloh, mate! how did you manage to get through that slough? I did not dare venture into it. Peuh! you do not smell pleasant." After a pause he added,-- "I ask you questions, but you are right not to answer: it is an apprenticeship for the examining magistrate's ugly quarter of an hour. And then, by not speaking at all a man runs no risk of speaking too loud. No matter, though I cannot see your face and do not know your name, you would do wrong in supposing that I do not know who you are and what you want. I know all about it: you have rather split this gentleman, and now want to get rid of him somewhere. You prefer the river, that great nonsense-hider, and I will help you out of the hobble. It is my delight to aid a good fellow when in trouble." While commending Jean Valjean for his silence it was plain that he was trying to make him speak. He pushed his shoulder, so as to be able to see his profile, and exclaimed, though without raising the pitch of his voice,-- "Talking of the slough, you are a precious ass. Why did you not throw the man into it?" Jean Valjean preserved silence. Thénardier continued, raising his rag of a cravat to the Adam's apple,--a gesture which completes the capable air of a serious man.