The same evening Marius was installed in a room in this house, next door to Courfeyrac.
[CHAPTER III.]
MARIUS IS ASTONISHED.
In a few days Marius was a friend of Courfeyrac, for youth is the season of prompt weldings and rapid cicatrizations. Marius by the side of Courfeyrac breathed freely, a great novelty for him. Courfeyrac asked him no questions, and did not even think of doing so, for at that age faces tell everything at once, and words are unnecessary. There are some young men of whose countenances you may say that they gossip,—you look at them and know them. One morning, however, Courfeyrac suddenly asked him the question,—
"By the way, have you any political opinion?"
"Of course!" said Marius, almost offended by the question.
"What are you?"
"Bonapartist democrat."
"The gray color of the reassured mouse," Courfeyrac remarked.