"I knew you were older!" Eponine exclaims gleefully. "But no. I were born eighteen - eighteen summat. 'Parnasse turns me when I am maybe seventeen, eighteen? I don't know how old. I ain't had a birthday, really, since I were a kid. It is hard to remember the years, ain't it, when there is nothing to mark them. I used to long for sausage and mustard at Christmas, but it were rare I got the treat. And who knows if it were Christmas? I used to sit outside the church to listen to them singing, you know? I weren't allowed in, but I wanted to hear 'em. It is ridiculous, no?"

She hugs herself a little tighter, and hurries after Joss. She catches that grin, and she finds herself laughing. Truly, has she ended up leaving one bunch of sadists for another? "That is a disgusting way to go. Now me, I have seen the guillotine. I don't like it. There is so much blood, you know?"