And she left the room, but two seconds after the door opened again, her fresh, rosy face passed once again between the two folding-doors, and she cried to them,-- "I am very angry." The door closed again, and darkness returned. It was like a straggling sunbeam, which, without suspecting it, had suddenly traversed the night. Marius assured himself that the door was really closed. "Poor Cosette!" he muttered, "when she learns--" At these words Jean Valjean trembled all over, and he fixed his haggard eyes on Marius. "Cosette! Oh, yes, it is true. You will tell Cosette about it. It is fair.--Stay, I did not think of that. A man has strength for one thing, but not for another. I implore you, sir, I conjure you, sir, give me your most sacred word,--do not tell her. Is it not sufficient for you to know it? I was able to tell it of my own accord, without being compelled. I would have told it to the universe, to the whole world, and I should not have cared; but she,--she does not know what it is, and it would horrify her. A convict. What! You would be obliged to explain to her, tell her it is a man who has been to the galleys. She saw the chain-gang once. Oh, my God!" He sank into a chair and buried his face in his hands; it could not be heard, but from the heaving of his shoulders it could be seen that he was weeping. They were silent tears, terrible tears. There is a choking in a sob; a species of convulsion seized on him, he threw himself back in the chair, letting his arms hang, and displaying to Marius his face bathed in tears, and Marius heard him mutter so low that his voice seemed to come from a bottomless abyss, "Oh! I would like to die!" "Be at your ease," Marius said; "I will keep your secret to myself." And, less affected than perhaps he ought to have been, but compelled for more than an hour to listen to unexpected horrors, gradually seeing a convict taking M. Fauchelevent's place, gradually overcome by this mournful reality, and led by the natural state of the situation to notice the gap which bad formed between himself and this man, Marius added,-- "It is impossible for me not to say a word about the trust money which you have so faithfully and honestly given up. That is an act of probity, and it is but fair that a reward should be given you; fix the sum yourself, and it shall be paid you. Do not fear to fix it very high." "I thank you, sir," Jean Valjean replied gently. He remained pensive for a moment, mechanically passing the end of his forefinger over his thumb-nail, and then raised his voice,-- "All is nearly finished; there is only one thing left me." "What is it?" Jean Valjean had a species of supreme agitation, and voicelessly, almost breathlessly, he stammered, rather than said,-- "Now that you know, do you, sir, who are the master, believe that I ought not to see Cosette again?" "I believe that it would be better," Marius replied coldly.