"I am looking under the bed and the furniture," she said, as she continued to smooth her hair; "but there is nobody."
"You she-devil!" the father yelled. "Come here directly, and lose no time."
"Coming, coming," she said; "there's no time to do anything here."
Then she hummed,—
"Vous me quittez pour aller à la gloire,
Mon triste cœur suivra partout vos pas."
She took a parting glance at the glass and went off, closing the door after her. A moment later Marius heard the sound of the girls' naked feet pattering along the passage, and Jondrette's voice shouting to them,—
"Pay attention! One at the barrière, and the other at the corner of the Rue du Petit Banquier. Do not for a minute lose sight of the door of the house, and if you see anything come back at once—at once; you have a key to let yourselves in."
The elder daughter grumbled,—
"To stand sentry barefooted in the snow, what a treat!"
"To-morrow you shall have beetle-colored silk boots," the father said.