Les Misérables Volume I Book 4 Chapter 3 - The Lark

In which a tender child, entrusted to the care of those whose affections are as twisted as their fortunes, finds herself plunged into hardship and neglect beneath the guise of kindness; and while the world beholds a semblance of charity, the truth of suffering lies scrawled in the tattered rags and silent tears of the little one known as the Lark. Such is the sombre portrait of innocence worn thin by neglect, illuminating the quiet tragedy that unfolds in the shadows of a seemingly ordinary village.