One afternoon Laigle, a law student, stood leaning against the doorpost of the Café Musain on the Place Saint-Michel. He was thinking over a small mishap at the law school two days earlier, which had somewhat changed his plans for the future. Even so, he was not downcast.
A two-wheeled cab crossed the square at a walk, as if unsure where it was going. A young man sat next to the driver, with a fair-sized bag with a card sewn to it bearing a name in large black letters: Marius Pontmercy.
Seeing the name, Laigle straightened up and called out, Monsieur Marius Pontmercy. The cab stopped, and when the young man, who had been lost in thought, raised his head, Laigle said he had been looking for him. Marius had never seen the face before.