Les Misérables, Book 8: The Wicked Poor Man, Chapter 3 summary

What happens

1. While undressing, Marius remembers the packet and opens it, hoping to identify its owner or find the young girls’ address.
2. He reads four appeals that claim military service, abandoned motherhood, literary ambition, and theatrical work as grounds for help.
3. The matching handwriting, paper, tobacco smell, and spelling errors lead him to suspect a single writer behind all four names.
4. Finding no sender’s address or clear connection to the girls, Marius throws the packet into a corner and goes to bed.
5. The next morning, a soft knock interrupts his work, and he admits someone he assumes is Ma’am Bougon.
6. A rough voice makes him turn, and he sees a young girl.

In this chapter

What to notice

The handwriting connects four apparently separate appeals. It gives Marius a reason to suspect that the different signatures belong to one writer.

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