Memoirs of Les Amis de l'ABC

Prologue: Discovering Their Deeds

Gabrielle Fortier was rummaging recklessly through her grandparents' belongings that were hidden away in the attic. Her grandfather had died two years prior while her grandmother followed him just two weeks ago on the second anniversary of her beloved's death. Gabrielle was sixteen years-old and had been sent up to the attic to find old letters of correspondence between the couple to read at the old woman's funeral service. She was the youngest with three elder brothers, and the attic was a damp place filled with spiders though she didn't mind. Happily, the girl had shimmied up the narrow ladder into the room where she now was rummaging through trunks.

Many of the trunks were filled with old gowns or clothes belonging to her grandfather. One dress that she pulled out was of a light lavender color with an excellent trim. Had it not been so plain, the young Fortier girl would have requested to wear it for her coming into society. There was another dress that was even plainer of a maroon color, and she sighed with a silent thought of the poor conditions of her grandmother's fashion sense.

It wasn't long before the girl discovered the trunk that held the last gun Marius Pontmercy had used during the June Rebellion. It wasn't long before she grasped the cockade in her hand with a shocked gasp escaping her lips. It wasn't long until she saw maps of the roads from years and years ago in a town in France. It wasn't long before she realized that her grandparents who had always seemed so tired and so sweet to her had been involved in plotting the overthrow of the French government.

Gabrielle opened a smaller wooden box that had been wrapped in paper and set carefully at the center of a trunk. It was entirely black. The name read "Sibyll Nadine Fauchelevent" in a messily etched yet somehow elegant calligraphy. Gabrielle froze at the sight of the name. Her own grandmother's name had been Cosette as she remembered. Her maiden last name, however, was something that Gabrielle could not quite remember though she knew it was something at least close to Fauchelevent.

Cautiously, Gabrielle opened the box to find it overflowing with letters and messages. Atop the letters, sat a silver engagement ring that hung from a silver chain. The girl gasped as she reached for it. The stack of letters was quite large, and she could barely make out the handwriting. She made sure she was comfortable on the floor before searching for the one that was dated first. It was addressed to one Mademoiselle Sybill Nadine Fauchelevent. Curious, the teenage girl opened it immediately.

"Dear Mademoiselle Sybill Nadine Fauchelevent,
I wish to write you to ask for forgiveness for my behavior. It has been made clear to me that it could have been perceived as ill-mannered. While that was originally not my intention, I must confess that it was brought out of me by your own ill-manners. Your appearance at our establishment may be welcomed by some of the men although let it be known that I see your sister and yourself as a distraction. The men have serious work to attend to which cannot be done with the interference of aforementioned distractions. Despite whatever connection we may have held in the past, I am here to say that it is in the past. I live for my work I suppose in the same way you must live for shopping trips with your sister. If possible, please refrain from frequenting the Café Musain at nightfall on weekdays. That way, we shall not have to make further reacquaintance of each other.
Also, I should mention that Monsieur Courfeyrac knows not the contents of the letter that he bears to you now so please forgive my frankness for his sake.
Sincerely,
Monsieur Julian Achille Enjolras"

Gabrielle stared at the letter in utter confusion, wondering if perhaps she had misread it. She was also wondering about the randomized underlining of their names. Why would someone keep such a nasty note? Curiousitt striking her once more, she looked for the letter dated last from the large pile. The letter she found was dated from the twenty-sixth of May from the year 1832 and was addressed to the man who had sent the previous missive.

"My dearest, dearest Enjolras,
I write this to you to tell you of our imminent departure to England. My father thinks it is for the best that Cosette and I flee immediately to avoid seeing the calamities of the war of which you and the men plan to rage. All I ask of you is for one letter telling me what you wish for me to do. You know by now how deep my feelings for you are. I know that your own cannot possibly match mine when yours are against the impending throes of war, but if any part of you wishes for me to stay with you then I gladly will. My love for my father and dear sister will remain in my heart forever, but I shall flee with you in an instant if I truly be in your own heart.
Write swiftly, dear sir.
Nadie"

Gabrielle looked anxiously in the box for another letter dated letter, but she could not find one. Desperately, she looked through the box she had found of Marius's and Cosette's correspondences, but she tired of them quickly since none held any mention of the fate of Nadine. Although, she noticed that their letters, too, stopped on the twenty-sixth of May in the year 1832. What had happened?

"Gabrielle!" her mother's voice called. "Are you alright up there? You've been gone much longer than we all anticipated."

"I'm alright, Mama!" the girl called back. "I was just...I was just reading their letters."

"Oh, do be quick about bringing those down, please," her mother replied.

"Yes, Mama," Gabrielle replied. She looked at the black box adorned with the name Sybill Nadine Fauchelevent, and without another thought she brought it downstairs tucked carefully into the trunk of her grandmother's dresses while she carried the other box of her grandparents' correspondence.

That night, Gabrielle Fortier spent the entire evening reading anxiously the letters telling the story of the short-lived revolution from four different perspectives. The girl knew not what she was in store for with the letters of the past, and the secrets they would tell of the group of revolutionaries from the past.