Lisette

Chapter 15 ~ My Love Shall in My Verse Ever Live Young.

Jehan, possibly spotting the books on Grantaire's table, had sat down next to him. With an enquiring look at the man who had seemingly never willingly read a book before, he picked up the book of sonnets. Before I could eavesdrop on their conversation, though, Gavroche was back, with another boy who was about the same age as him. He snatched up the book of myths that he had been reading from, and darted across to me, leading his friend.

"You said, ages ago, that you'd teach Navet to read, too!"

"Yes, I did," I said, smiling. "Has he any book learning at all, or are we starting from scratch, like with you?"

Navet looked at me, shyly. He seemed somewhat overwhelmed by the company in which he found himself, not having quite the same bravado as Gavroche.

"I've never learned anything out of books, miss."

"Well then, that's alright. We can start at the beginning." 

I pulled out my notebook, and flicked back to the page where I had written out the alphabet, followed by some of the words Gavroche had been likely to see on the streets. 

"Shall I do the teaching, or would you like to have a go?" I asked Gavroche. "Often a good way of making sure you've learned something is teaching it to someone else."

"You start," he said. "I can help teach the reading, once he has the letters."

Squashing the desire to find out what Jehan and Grantaire were talking about, I began going through the letters with him, much as I had done the first time around with Gavroche. With Grantaire occupied and quiet, it was much easier to talk through the letters and reading than it might have been on some previous evenings. After a while, we got to the inevitable point of Navet wanting to know how his name looked writ down, and I took advantage of the fact to cross the room and borrow a pen and ink from Combeferre. Granted, I could have used my pencil, but the rest of the page was done in ink, and I saw no reason to break the pattern.

Frustratingly, I caught little of Grantaire's conversation with Jehan - only Grantaire saying: "So it was written by a man, and he's declaring his love for a man?" before I was back with the two boys, pen and pot of ink in hand.

"So, how do you think it might be spelled?" I asked Navet. "Your name should, at least, be easier than Gavroche's to spell - for a start, you have fewer letters!"

As the boy slowly worked his way through the letters of his name for the first time, I looked up to see Grantaire's gaze flicking back and forth from his book to Enjolras as he listened to Jehan saying something. Still, at least the lesson portion of the evening was a success - Navet promised to come back again with Gavroche when he was next able, and that in the mean time he would try working out reading some of the words on the signs that were so prolific on the walls through the city. Gavroche, meanwhile, told me that he had found another person who I could take notes from - a street sweeper in Le Marais, who was willing to talk to me for a few sous.

As we were leaving, Enjolras deep in conversation with Combeferre, Grantaire caught me. 

"You know the idea - for you to learn how to defend yourself? I've been thinking - there's plenty of wasteground on the outskirts - beyond the slums - few enough people go there, so you're unlikely to be seen. I'll talk to Bahorel next time I see him about swords, but if you're around tomorrow, or the next few days, I've got singlesticks... It's about an hours walk, but the weather's not bad at the moment, so it should be manageable."

"Thank you," I smiled. "If you don't mind doing this - I'd be very grateful."

The walk home wasn't far, and while the tall buildings along the narrow streets hemmed in the sky, as Enjolras and I walked across the Luxembourg gardens I couldn't help but stare up as the sky opened up above me. I was brought back down to earth by Enjolras asking: