When people were silent after Joly had delivered some sort of admonition about their health, it tended to be a form of acquiescence, without admittance of the fact that he was right about something, as he very nearly always was, when it came to others, and his opinion of Marius's silence was that it was more of the same. That silence was met with as much of a smile as felt appropriate under these circumstances at least, as he continued to pat Marius's hair.

"Did they indeed? So I had heard before that she was something of an angel, your Madame Pontmercy." And, well, they were here, he might as well admit to something more of what he knew of her. "I do confess that when we first heard from Courfeyrac that you had found a young lady, there was suspicion you,or he, were making things up a bit. But then, you are in love."

He would be hard pressed, for example, to think of any beauty as breathtaking, and magnificent as Musichetta, even now that they were separated, for good, if he had things his way. Better she was left behind,thinking him dead, than subjected to something like this.

"I am glad for you and the lady, that you are able to fill each other's lives with that, even in an existence such as this one, and completely undeserved by either of you." As far as regretting went, well, Joly did find himself making a face, not so much at what Marius had said as the fact of the matter.

"Ah, that would make two of us then."