"He's NOT stupid." Eponine snaps. It actually offends her just a little bit. Marius, for her, is perfect. He can't be stupid. It'd ruin the illusion of perfection, the almost fairytale that she has dreamed up of him.
She's quiet for a minute though, thinking. "He ain't stupid, and neither is 'Parnasse. He ain't so much older than I and he runs Patron Minette with Monsieur Claquesous and the others. 'Parnasse, he can be dangerous, but to me, no. Not if I do as he wishes. But his hand is fast, his brain faster. Always he is a step or ten ahead. He is a man what shan't be arrested. Even he pushes me into Javert's grip to escape himself."

She shakes her head, and laughs though there's bitterness to it. "He'd hang if they catch him, or his head off. Me? Nah. I am not so bad. It is better I am away than he. But for Marius? No. He fell in love with an angel, Susan. She had hair like you, and a gentle voice, and a beautiful dress. Not rags and... me." Eponine purses her lips.
"Why should he want a cockroach when he might have an angel? It is me what is stupid. He ought to have had Cosette. He has a fair hand, like her, I bet. They go well together. And me? If I were at home, I'd be dead by winter coming, so I don't suppose it matters."

Eponine draws her legs right up, hugging her arms about her again. She's thinking out loud rather than looking for pity. "And here, we are all scum."