As his cab takes him without destination through the streets of the Latin Quarter, Marius is hailed by a fellow student, Bossuet. He tells him of his difficulties, but Bossuet, though full of goodwill, is unable to help since he himself is homeless. Another classmate, Courfeyrac, however, comes to the rescue and suggests a room in the Hotel de la Porte Saint Jacques, where he himself lives. With the spontaneity of youth, the two students immediately become friends.
This friendship is to have a profound effect on Marius' intellectual life. Courfeyrac belongs to a radical group, the Friends of the A.B.C. (This is a serious pun; the pronunciation of A.B.C. in French is the same as abaissé, the oppressed.) Inevitably, he introduces his new friend and Marius is caught up in a tide of new ideas. Nothing is respected in these wild and irreverent discussions. Not even Napoleon is spared. When the word "crime" is applied to his empire, Marius, usually reserved, explodes in a passionate harangue and eloquently defends Napoleon's career, but his concluding question—"What is greater than Napoleon's conquests?"—is squelched by a quiet retort, "To be free."
Marius' new convictions are shaken, but not enough to make him embrace the more radical ideas expounded around him. He suffers from intellectual uncertainty and isolation. Material difficulties aggravate his unhappiness. He has no job but proudly refuses help from home. To pay his most pressing bills, he sells his few possessions and leaves the hotel.
