Les Misérables, Book 8: Enchantments and Desolations, Chapter 1 summary

What happens

1. Éponine keeps ruffians away from the Rue Plumet and leads Marius there; he enters Cosette’s garden through a loose gate bar.
2. Throughout May 1832, Marius and Cosette meet nightly, sharing deep affection without repeating their first kiss.
3. Cosette reveals that her real name is Euphrasie, but chooses Cosette because Marius prefers it.
4. Their playful conversations include compliments, concern for Marius’s health, and laughter over his mistaken belief that her name is Ursule.
5. Marius imagines happiness as an endless repetition of these quiet evenings, while both lovers show tenderness toward small injured things.
6. The narrator closes by placing their private affection beside nature’s physical purposes and the vast movements of the universe.

In this chapter

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