Notes

A few weeks later, on the balcony of a house opposite the cathedral, several young girls laugh and chat. They are Demoiselle Fleur de Lys de Conte de Laurier and her friends. Behind, Madame Aloïse de Conte de Laurier, the mother of Fleur de Lys, speaks with a handsome young man, Phoebus de Chateaupers, the handsome captain who saved Esmeralda. With the smile of Madame Aloïse, the way she looks at her daughter while talking to the captain, it is easy to see that she wants to marry the young man with Fleur de Lys. And at the officer’s cold it is easy to see that he does not like the girl.

At this moment Bérengère de Champchevrier, a friend of Fleur de Lys, cries out, “Oh! Look at the pretty dancer!”

The captain leans to the balcony and beckons the bohemian to come. The girl blushes, and taking her tambourine on her arm she goes towards the door of the house where Phoebus is. A moment later, she enters the room, followed by her goat.

'Come closer,' said Madame Aloïse.

'Beautiful child,' said Phoebus, taking a few steps towards her. 'I don’t know if you recognized me…'

'Oh yes!' she said, smiling.

“What is your name?”

'La Esmeralda.' answers the dancer.

Bérengère draws the goat into a corner of the room to play with her. The animal wears a small bag around his neck and Bérengère opens it and empties it. It contains an alphabet and each letter is written separately on a small wooden shelf. The goat pushes some letters with its paw and arranges them in a particular order. After a moment it makes a word. Bérengère cries out all of a sudden, with admiration, “Look what the goat has done!”

The letters on the floor form this word: Phoebus.

'Phoebus?' whispers the girls, stunned. 'That’s the captain’s name!'

The Esmeralda blushed, picked up the letters and ran away with her goat. The captain followed her.

From the top of the cathedral tower, Archdeacon Dom Claude Frollo saw Esmeralda enter the neighbouring house. In the square, a man replaced the bohemian.

“Who is this man?” he asks. “I had always seen her alone.”

He comes down from the tower and approaches the man.

'But,' cries the archdeacon, 'you are Pierre Gringoire.'

Dom Claude beckons him to follow him.

“What are you doing in the company of this bohemian woman?”

'Well,' said Gringoire, smiling, 'that’s my wife! And I’m her husband.' And Gringoire tells him about his Court of Miracles adventure and his marriage. He also tells her that the Esmeralda is a charming girl, who loves to dance, that her goat is sweet and intelligent and that in only two months she learned to write the word Phoebus.

'Phoebus.' said the priest. 'That is surely someone’s name.'

*****

Our young friend, the schoolgirl Jehan Frollo, finds that he has no more money and decides to go and ask his brother for money. When he arrived at the cathedral, he climbed the stairs leading to the top of the tower and found his brother sitting in an armchair.

“What are you doing here, Jehan?”

“Brother, I’ve come to ask you...for some money.”

“Go away, I’m waiting for someone”

Jehan begged him to give her some coins and, as his brother refused, he cried,

“Very well! You would have liked it! I will fight and I will go and see the girls”

'Take it,' said the archdeacon, angrily throwing his escarcelle at him.

When Jehan leaves the cathedral, he recognizes the voice of his friend Captain Phoebus.

“Phoebus! Will you come and drink with me?”

“I’ll do it! But I don’t have any money.”

'I have some, let’s drink!' said Jehan.