he who lies, lies the whole lie.
To lie is the very face of the demon.
Satan has two names; he is called Satan and Lying.
That is what she thought; and as she thought, so she did.
The result was the whiteness which we have mentioned--a whiteness which covered even her lips and her eyes with radiance.
Her smile was white, her glance was white. There was not a single spider's web, not a grain of dust, on the glass window of that conscience.
On entering the order of Saint Vincent de Paul, she had taken the name of Simplice by special choice. Simplice of Sicily, as we know, is the saint who preferred to allow both her breasts to be torn off rather than to say that she had been born at Segesta when she had been born at Syracuse-- a lie which would have saved her.
This patron saint suited this soul.
Sister Simplice, on her entrance into the order, had had two faults which she had gradually corrected:
she had a taste for dainties, and she liked to receive letters.
She never read anything but a book of prayers printed in Latin, in coarse type. She did not understand Latin, but she understood the book.
This pious woman had conceived an affection for Fantine, probably feeling a latent virtue there, and she had devoted herself almost exclusively to her care.
M. Madeleine took Sister Simplice apart and recommended Fantine to her in a singular tone, which the sister recalled later on.
On leaving the sister, he approached Fantine.
Fantine awaited M. Madeleine's appearance every day as one awaits a ray of warmth and joy.
She said to the sisters, "I only live when Monsieur le Maire is here."
She had a great deal of fever that day.
As soon as she saw M. Madeleine she asked him:--
"And Cosette?"
He replied with a smile:--