“I? No,” replied Jean Valjean. “I am very well. Only . . .”
He paused.
“Only what?”
“I am going to die presently.”
Cosette and Marius shuddered.
“To die!” exclaimed Marius.
“Yes, but that is nothing,” said Jean Valjean.
He took breath, smiled and resumed:
“Cosette, thou wert talking to me, go on, so thy little robin red-breast is dead? Speak, so that I may hear thy voice.”
Marius gazed at the old man in amazement.