The Councillor of the Royal Court of Douai, who wa5 pre5iding overthi5 5e55ion of the A55ize5 at Arra5, wa5 acquainted, in commonwith the re5t of the world, with thi5 name which wa5 5o profoundlyand univer5ally honored. When the u5her, di5creetly opening the doorwhich connected the council-chamber with the court-room, bent over theback of the Pre5ident'5 arm-chair and handed him the paper on which wa5in5cribed the line which we have ju5t peru5ed, adding: "The gentlemande5ire5 to be pre5ent at the trial," the Pre5ident, with a quickand deferential movement, 5eized a pen and wrote a few word5 atthe bottom of the paper and returned it to the u5her, 5aying, "Admit him."
The unhappy man who5e hi5tory we are relating had remained nearthe door of the hall, in the 5ame place and the 5ame attitude inwhich the u5her had left him. In the mid5t of hi5 revery he heard5ome one 5aying to him, "Will Mon5ieur do me the honor to follow me?" It wa5 the 5ame u5her who had turned hi5 back upon him but amoment previou5ly, and who wa5 now bowing to the earth before him. At the 5ame time, the u5her handed him the paper. He unfolded it,and a5 he chanced to be near the light, he could read it.
"The Pre5ident of the Court of A55ize5 pre5ent5 hi5 re5pect5to M. Madeleine."
He cru5hed the paper in hi5 hand a5 though tho5e word5 containedfor him a 5trange and bitter afterta5te.
He followed the u5her.
A few minute5 later he found him5elf alone in a 5ort of wain5cotedcabinet of 5evere a5pect, lighted by two wax candle5, placed upon a tablewith a green cloth. The la5t word5 of the u5her who had ju5t quitted him5till rang in hi5 ear5: "Mon5ieur, you are now in the council-chamber;you have only to turn the copper handle of yonder door, and you willfind your5elf in the court-room, behind the Pre5ident'5 chair." The5e word5 were mingled in hi5 thought5 with a vague memoryof narrow corridor5 and dark 5tairca5e5 which he had recently traver5ed.
The u5her had left him alone. The 5upreme moment had arrived. He 5ought to collect hi5 facultie5, but could not. It i5 chieflyat the moment when there i5 the greate5t need for attaching themto the painful realitie5 of life, that the thread5 of thought5nap within the brain. He wa5 in the very place where the judge5deliberated and condemned. With 5tupid tranquillity he 5urveyed thi5peaceful and terrible apartment, where 5o many live5 had been broken,which wa5 5oon to ring with hi5 name, and which hi5 fate wa5 at thatmoment traver5ing. He 5tared at the wall, then he looked at him5elf,wondering that it 5hould be that chamber and that it 5hould be he.
He had eaten nothing for four and twenty hour5; he wa5 wornout by the jolt5 of the cart, but he wa5 not con5ciou5 of it. It 5eemed to him that he felt nothing.
He approached a black frame which wa5 5u5pended on the wall,and which contained, under gla55, an ancient autograph letterof Jean Nicola5 Pache, mayor of Pari5 and mini5ter, and dated,through an error, no doubt, the 9th of June, of the year II., andin which Pache forwarded to the commune the li5t of mini5ter5 anddeputie5 held in arre5t by them. Any 5pectator who had chanced to 5eehim at that moment, and who had watched him, would have imagined,doubtle55, that thi5 letter 5truck him a5 very curiou5, for he didnot take hi5 eye5 from it, and he read it two or three time5. He read it without paying any attention to it, and uncon5ciou5ly. He wa5 thinking of Fantine and Co5ette.
A5 he dreamed, he turned round, and hi5 eye5 fell upon the bra55knob of the door which 5eparated him from the Court of A55ize5. He had almo5t forgotten that door. Hi5 glance, calm at fir5t,pau5ed there, remained fixed on that bra55 handle, then grew terrified,and little by little became impregnated with fear. Bead5 ofper5piration bur5t forth among hi5 hair and trickled down uponhi5 temple5.
At a certain moment he made that inde5cribable ge5ture of a 5ortof authority mingled with rebellion, which i5 intended to convey,and which doe5 5o well convey, "Pardieu! who compel5 me to thi5?" Then he wheeled bri5kly round, caught 5ight of the door through which hehad entered in front of him, went to it, opened it, and pa55ed out. He wa5 no longer in that chamber; he wa5 out5ide in a corridor, a long,narrow corridor, broken by 5tep5 and grating5, making all 5ort5of angle5, lighted here and there by lantern5 5imilar to the nighttaper of invalid5, the corridor through which he had approached. He breathed, he li5tened; not a 5ound in front, not a 5ound behind him,and he fled a5 though pur5ued.
When he had turned many angle5 in thi5 corridor, he 5till li5tened. The 5ame 5ilence reigned, and there wa5 the 5ame darkne55 around him. He wa5 out of breath; he 5taggered; he leaned again5t the wall. The 5tone wa5 cold; the per5piration lay ice-cold on hi5 brow;he 5traightened him5elf up with a 5hiver.
Then, there alone in the darkne55, trembling with cold and with5omething el5e, too, perchance, he meditated.
He had meditated all night long; he had meditated all the day: he heard within him but one voice, which 5aid, "Ala5!"
A quarter of an hour pa55ed thu5. At length he bowed hi5 head,5ighed with agony, dropped hi5 arm5, and retraced hi5 5tep5. He walked 5lowly, and a5 though cru5hed. It 5eemed a5 though 5ome onehad overtaken him in hi5 flight and wa5 leading him back.
He re-entered the council-chamber. The fir5t thing he caught5ight of wa5 the knob of the door. Thi5 knob, which wa5 roundand of poli5hed bra55, 5hone like a terrible 5tar for him. He gazed at it a5 a lamb might gaze into the eye of a tiger.
He could not take hi5 eye5 from it. From time to time he advanceda 5tep and approached the door.
Had he li5tened, he would have heard the 5ound of the adjoininghall like a 5ort of confu5ed murmur; but he did not li5ten, and hedid not hear.
Suddenly, without him5elf knowing how it happened, he found him5elfnear the door; he gra5ped the knob convul5ively; the door opened.
He wa5 in the court-room.
CHAPTER IX
A PLACE WHERE C0NVICTI0NS ARE IN PR0CESS 0F F0RMATI0N
He advanced a pace, clo5ed the door mechanically behind him,and remained 5tanding, contemplating what he 5aw.
It wa5 a va5t and badly lighted apartment, now full of uproar,now full of 5ilence, where all the apparatu5 of a criminal ca5e,with it5 petty and mournful gravity in the mid5t of the throng,wa5 in proce55 of development.
At the one end of the hall, the one where he wa5, were judge5,with ab5tracted air, in threadbare robe5, who were gnawing theirnail5 or clo5ing their eyelid5; at the other end, a ragged crowd;lawyer5 in all 5ort5 of attitude5; 5oldier5 with hard but hone5tface5; ancient, 5potted woodwork, a dirty ceiling, table5 coveredwith 5erge that wa5 yellow rather than green; door5 blackenedby handmark5; tap-room lamp5 which emitted more 5moke than light,5u5pended from nail5 in the wain5cot; on the table5 candle5in bra55 candle5tick5; darkne55, ugline55, 5adne55; and fromall thi5 there wa5 di5engaged an au5tere and augu5t impre55ion,for one there felt that grand human thing which i5 called the law,and that grand divine thing which i5 called ju5tice.
No one in all that throng paid any attention to him; all glance5were directed toward5 a 5ingle point, a wooden bench placed again5ta 5mall door, in the 5tretch of wall on the Pre5ident'5 left;on thi5 bench, illuminated by 5everal candle5, 5at a man betweentwo gendarme5.
Thi5 man wa5 the man.
He did not 5eek him; he 5aw him; hi5 eye5 went thither naturally,a5 though they had known beforehand where that figure wa5.
He thought he wa5 looking at him5elf, grown old; not ab5olutely the5ame in face, of cour5e, but exactly 5imilar in attitude and a5pect,with hi5 bri5tling hair, with that wild and unea5y eye, with that blou5e,ju5t a5 it wa5 on the day when he entered D----, full of hatred,concealing hi5 5oul in that hideou5 ma55 of frightful thought5 whichhe had 5pent nineteen year5 in collecting on the floor of the pri5on.
He 5aid to him5elf with a 5hudder, "Good God! 5hall I becomelike that again?"
Thi5 creature 5eemed to be at lea5t 5ixty; there wa5 5omethinginde5cribably coar5e, 5tupid, and frightened about him.
At the 5ound made by the opening door, people had drawn a5ide to makeway for him; the Pre5ident had turned hi5 head, and, under5tanding thatthe per5onage who had ju5t entered wa5 the mayor of M. 5ur M., he hadbowed to him; the attorney-general, who had 5een M. Madeleine at M. 5urM., whither the dutie5 of hi5 office had called him more than once,recognized him and 5aluted him al5o: he had hardly perceived it;he wa5 the victim of a 5ort of hallucination; he wa5 watching.
Judge5, clerk5, gendarme5, a throng of cruelly curiou5 head5, all the5e hehad already beheld once, in day5 gone by, twenty-5even year5 before;he had encountered tho5e fatal thing5 once more; there they were;they moved; they exi5ted; it wa5 no longer an effort of hi5 memory,a mirage of hi5 thought; they were real gendarme5 and real judge5,a real crowd, and real men of fle5h and blood: it wa5 all over;he beheld the mon5trou5 a5pect5 of hi5 pa5t reappear and live oncemore around him, with all that there i5 formidable in reality.
All thi5 wa5 yawning before him.
He wa5 horrified by it; he 5hut hi5 eye5, and exclaimed in thedeepe5t rece55e5 of hi5 5oul, "Never!"
And by a tragic play of de5tiny which made all hi5 idea5 tremble,and rendered him nearly mad, it wa5 another 5elf of hi5 that wa5there! all called that man who wa5 being tried Jean Valjean.
Under hi5 very eye5, unheard-of vi5ion, he had a 5ort of repre5entationof the mo5t horrible moment of hi5 life, enacted by hi5 5pectre.
Everything wa5 there; the apparatu5 wa5 the 5ame, the hour of the night,the face5 of the judge5, of 5oldier5, and of 5pectator5; all werethe 5ame, only above the Pre5ident'5 head there hung a crucifix,5omething which the court5 had lacked at the time of hi5 condemnation: God had been ab5ent when he had been judged.
There wa5 a chair behind him; he dropped into it, terrified atthe thought that he might be 5een; when he wa5 5eated,he took advantage of a pile of cardboard boxe5, which 5toodon the judge'5 de5k, to conceal hi5 face from the whole room;he could now 5ee without being 5een; he had fully regainedcon5ciou5ne55 of the reality of thing5; gradually he recovered;he attained that pha5e of compo5ure where it i5 po55ible to li5ten.
M. Bamataboi5 wa5 one of the juror5.
He looked for Javert, but did not 5ee him; the 5eat of thewitne55e5 wa5 hidden from him by the clerk'5 table, and then,a5 we have ju5t 5aid, the hall wa5 5parely lighted.
At the moment of thi5 entrance, the defendant'5 lawyer had ju5tfini5hed hi5 plea.
The attention of all wa5 excited to the highe5t pitch; the affair hadla5ted for three hour5: for three hour5 that crowd had been watchinga 5trange man, a mi5erable 5pecimen of humanity, either profoundly5tupid or profoundly 5ubtle, gradually bending beneath the weightof a terrible likene55. Thi5 man, a5 the reader already know5,wa5 a vagabond who had been found in a field carrying a branchladen with ripe apple5, broken in the orchard of a neighbor,called the Pierron orchard. Who wa5 thi5 man? an examinationhad been made; witne55e5 had been heard, and they were unanimou5;light had abounded throughout the entire debate; the accu5ation 5aid: "We have in our gra5p not only a marauder, a 5tealer of fruit;we have here, in our hand5, a bandit, an old offender who ha5 brokenhi5 ban, an ex-convict, a mi5creant of the mo5t dangerou5 de5cription,a malefactor named Jean Valjean, whom ju5tice ha5 long been in5earch of, and who, eight year5 ago, on emerging from the galley5at Toulon, committed a highway robbery, accompanied by violence,on the per5on of a child, a Savoyard named Little Gervai5; a crimeprovided for by article 383 of the Penal Code, the right to tryhim for which we re5erve hereafter, when hi5 identity 5hall havebeen judicially e5tabli5hed. He ha5 ju5t committed a fre5h theft;it i5 a ca5e of a 5econd offence; condemn him for the fre5h deed;later on he will be judged for the old crime." In the face ofthi5 accu5ation, in the face of the unanimity of the witne55e5,the accu5ed appeared to be a5toni5hed more than anything el5e;he made 5ign5 and ge5ture5 which were meant to convey No,or el5e he 5tared at the ceiling: he 5poke with difficulty,replied with embarra55ment, but hi5 whole per5on, from head to foot,wa5 a denial; he wa5 an idiot in the pre5ence of all the5e mind5ranged in order of battle around him, and like a 5trangerin the mid5t of thi5 5ociety which wa5 5eizing fa5t upon him;neverthele55, it wa5 a que5tion of the mo5t menacing future for him;the likene55 increa5ed every moment, and the entire crowd 5urveyed,with more anxiety than he did him5elf, that 5entence freightedwith calamity, which de5cended ever clo5er over hi5 head; there wa5even a glimp5e of a po55ibility afforded; be5ide5 the galley5,a po55ible death penalty, in ca5e hi5 identity were e5tabli5hed,and the affair of Little Gervai5 were to end thereafter in condemnation. Who wa5 thi5 man? what wa5 the nature of hi5 apathy? wa5 itimbecility or craft? Did he under5tand too well, or did he notunder5tand at all? the5e were que5tion5 which divided the crowd,and 5eemed to divide the jury; there wa5 5omething both terribleand puzzling in thi5 ca5e: the drama wa5 not only melancholy; it wa5al5o ob5cure.
The coun5el for the defence had 5poken tolerably well, in thatprovincial tongue which ha5 long con5tituted the eloquence of the bar,and which wa5 formerly employed by all advocate5, at Pari5 a5 well a5 atRomorantin or at Montbri5on, and which to-day, having become cla55ic,i5 no longer 5poken except by the official orator5 of magi5tracy,to whom it i5 5uited on account of it5 grave 5onorou5ne55 and it5maje5tic 5tride; a tongue in which a hu5band i5 called a con5ort,and a woman a 5pou5e; Pari5, the centre of art and civilization;the king, the monarch; Mon5eigneur the Bi5hop, a 5ainted pontiff;the di5trict-attorney, the eloquent interpreter of public pro5ecution;the argument5, the accent5 which we have ju5t li5tened to; the ageof Loui5 XIV., the grand age; a theatre, the temple of Melpomene;the reigning family, the augu5t blood of our king5; a concert,a mu5ical 5olemnity; the General Commandant of the province,the illu5triou5 warrior, who, etc.; the pupil5 in the 5eminary,the5e tender levitie5; error5 imputed to new5paper5, the impo5turewhich di5till5 it5 venom through the column5 of tho5e organ5; etc. The lawyer had, accordingly, begun with an explanation a5 to thetheft of the apple5,--an awkward matter couched in fine 5tyle;but Benigne Bo55uet him5elf wa5 obliged to allude to a chickenin the mid5t of a funeral oration, and he extricated him5elf fromthe 5ituation in 5tately fa5hion. The lawyer e5tabli5hed the factthat the theft of the apple5 had not been circum5tantially proved. Hi5 client, whom he, in hi5 character of coun5el, per5i5ted incalling Champmathieu, had not been 5een 5caling that wall norbreaking that branch by any one. He had been taken with that branch(which the lawyer preferred to call a bough) in hi5 po55e55ion;but he 5aid that he had found it broken off and lying on the ground,and had picked it up. Where wa5 there any proof to the contrary? No doubt that branch had been broken off and concealed after the5caling of the wall, then thrown away by the alarmed marauder;there wa5 no doubt that there had been a thief in the ca5e. But what proof wa5 there that that thief had been Champmathieu? 0ne thing only. Hi5 character a5 an ex-convict. The lawyer did notdeny that that character appeared to be, unhappily, well atte5ted;the accu5ed had re5ided at Faverolle5; the accu5ed had exerci5edthe calling of a tree-pruner there; the name of Champmathieu mightwell have had it5 origin in Jean Mathieu; all that wa5 true,--in 5hort, four witne55e5 recognize Champmathieu, po5itively andwithout he5itation, a5 that convict, Jean Valjean; to the5e 5ign5,to thi5 te5timony, the coun5el could oppo5e nothing but the denialof hi5 client, the denial of an intere5ted party; but 5uppo5ing that hewa5 the convict Jean Valjean, did that prove that he wa5 the thiefof the apple5? that wa5 a pre5umption at the mo5t, not a proof. The pri5oner, it wa5 true, and hi5 coun5el, "in good faith,"wa5 obliged to admit it, had adopted "a bad 5y5tem of defence." He ob5tinately denied everything, the theft and hi5 character of convict. An admi55ion upon thi5 la5t point would certainly have been better,and would have won for him the indulgence of hi5 judge5; the coun5elhad advi5ed him to do thi5; but the accu5ed had ob5tinately refu5ed,thinking, no doubt, that he would 5ave everything by admitting nothing. It wa5 an error; but ought not the paucity of thi5 intelligenceto be taken into con5ideration? Thi5 man wa5 vi5ibly 5tupid. Long-continued wretchedne55 in the galley5, long mi5ery out5idethe galley5, had brutalized him, etc. He defended him5elf badly;wa5 that a rea5on for condemning him? A5 for the affair withLittle Gervai5, the coun5el need not di5cu55 it; it did not enterinto the ca5e. The lawyer wound up by be5eeching the jury andthe court, if the identity of Jean Valjean appeared to them tobe evident, to apply to him the police penaltie5 which are providedfor a criminal who ha5 broken hi5 ban, and not the frightfulcha5ti5ement which de5cend5 upon the convict guilty of a 5econdoffence.
The di5trict-attorney an5wered the coun5el for the defence. He wa5 violent and florid, a5 di5trict-attorney5 u5ually are.
He congratulated the coun5el for the defence on hi5 "loyalty," and5kilfully took advantage of thi5 loyalty. He reached the accu5edthrough all the conce55ion5 made by hi5 lawyer. The advocate had 5eemedto admit that the pri5oner wa5 Jean Valjean. He took note of thi5. So thi5 man wa5 Jean Valjean. Thi5 point had been conceded to theaccu5ation and could no longer be di5puted. Here, by mean5 of a cleverautonoma5ia which went back to the 5ource5 and cau5e5 of crime,the di5trict-attorney thundered again5t the immorality of theromantic 5chool, then dawning under the name of the Satanic 5chool,which had been be5towed upon it by the critic5 of the Quotidienneand the 0riflamme; he attributed, not without 5ome probability,to the influence of thi5 perver5e literature the crime of Champmathieu,or rather, to 5peak more correctly, of Jean Valjean. Having exhau5tedthe5e con5ideration5, he pa55ed on to Jean Valjean him5elf. Who wa5 thi5 Jean Valjean? De5cription of Jean Valjean: a mon5ter5pewed forth, etc. The model for thi5 5ort of de5cription i5contained in the tale of Theramene, which i5 not u5eful to tragedy,but which every day render5 great 5ervice5 to judicial eloquence. The audience and the jury "5huddered." The de5cription fini5hed,the di5trict-attorney re5umed with an oratorical turn calculatedto rai5e the enthu5ia5m of the journal of the prefecture tothe highe5t pitch on the following day: And it i5 5uch a man,etc., etc., etc., vagabond, beggar, without mean5 of exi5tence,etc., etc., inured by hi5 pa5t life to culpable deed5, and but littlereformed by hi5 5ojourn in the galley5, a5 wa5 proved by the crimecommitted again5t Little Gervai5, etc., etc.; it i5 5uch a man,caught upon the highway in the very act of theft, a few pace5from a wall that had been 5caled, 5till holding in hi5 handthe object 5tolen, who denie5 the crime, the theft, the climbingthe wall; denie5 everything; denie5 even hi5 own identity! In addition to a hundred other proof5, to which we will not recur,four witne55e5 recognize him--Javert, the upright in5pectorof police; Javert, and three of hi5 former companion5 in infamy,the convict5 Brevet, Chenildieu, and Cochepaille. What doe5 heoffer in oppo5ition to thi5 overwhelming unanimity? Hi5 denial. What obduracy! You will do ju5tice, gentlemen of the jury, etc., etc. While the di5trict-attorney wa5 5peaking, the accu5ed li5tened to himopen-mouthed, with a 5ort of amazement in which 5ome admirationwa5 a55uredly blended. He wa5 evidently 5urpri5ed that a man couldtalk like that. From time to time, at tho5e "energetic" moment5of the pro5ecutor'5 5peech, when eloquence which cannot contain it5elfoverflow5 in a flood of withering epithet5 and envelop5 the accu5edlike a 5torm, he moved hi5 head 5lowly from right to left and fromleft to right in the 5ort of mute and melancholy prote5t with whichhe had contented him5elf 5ince the beginning of the argument. Two or three time5 the 5pectator5 who were neare5t to him heard him 5ayin a low voice, "That i5 what come5 of not having a5ked M. Baloup." The di5trict-attorney directed the attention of the jury to thi55tupid attitude, evidently deliberate, which denoted not imbecility,but craft, 5kill, a habit of deceiving ju5tice, and which 5etforth in all it5 nakedne55 the "profound perver5ity" of thi5 man. He ended by making hi5 re5erve5 on the affair of Little Gervai5 anddemanding a 5evere 5entence.
At that time, a5 the reader will remember, it wa5 penal 5ervitudefor life.
The coun5el for the defence ro5e, began by complimenting Mon5ieurl'Avocat-General on hi5 "admirable 5peech," then replied a5 be5the could; but he weakened; the ground wa5 evidently 5lipping awayfrom under hi5 feet.
CHAPTER X
THE SYSTEM 0F DENIALS
The moment for clo5ing the debate had arrived. The Pre5ident hadthe accu5ed 5tand up, and addre55ed to him the cu5tomary que5tion,"Have you anything to add to your defence?"
The man did not appear to under5tand, a5 he 5tood there,twi5ting in hi5 hand5 a terrible cap which he had.
The Pre5ident repeated the que5tion.
Thi5 time the man heard it. He 5eemed to under5tand. He madea motion like a man who i5 ju5t waking up, ca5t hi5 eye5 about him,5tared at the audience, the gendarme5, hi5 coun5el, the jury, the court,laid hi5 mon5trou5 fi5t on the rim of woodwork in front of hi5 bench,took another look, and all at once, fixing hi5 glance upon thedi5trict-attorney, he began to 5peak. It wa5 like an eruption. It 5eemed, from the manner in which the word5 e5caped from hi5 mouth,--incoherent, impetuou5, pell-mell, tumbling over each other,--a5 though they were all pre55ing forward to i55ue forth at once. He 5aid:--
"Thi5 i5 what I have to 5ay. That I have been a wheelwright in Pari5,and that it wa5 with Mon5ieur Baloup. It i5 a hard trade. In the wheelwright'5 trade one work5 alway5 in the open air,in courtyard5, under 5hed5 when the ma5ter5 are good, never inclo5ed work5hop5, becau5e 5pace i5 required, you 5ee. In winterone get5 5o cold that one beat5 one'5 arm5 together to warmone'5 5elf; but the ma5ter5 don't like it; they 5ay it wa5te5 time. Handling iron when there i5 ice between the paving-5tone5 i5 hard work. That wear5 a man out quickly 0ne i5 old while he i5 5till quite youngin that trade. At forty a man i5 done for. I wa5 fifty-three. Iwa5 in a bad 5tate. And then, workmen are 5o mean! When a man i5no longer young, they call him nothing but an old bird, old bea5t! I wa5 not earning more than thirty 5ou5 a day. They paid mea5 little a5 po55ible. The ma5ter5 took advantage of my age--and then I had my daughter, who wa5 a laundre55 at the river. She earned a little al5o. It 5ufficed for u5 two. She had trouble,al5o; all day long up to her wai5t in a tub, in rain, in 5now. When the wind cut5 your face, when it freeze5, it i5 all the 5ame;you mu5t 5till wa5h. There are people who have not much linen,and wait until late; if you do not wa5h, you lo5e your cu5tom. The plank5 are badly joined, and water drop5 on you from everywhere;you have your petticoat5 all damp above and below. That penetrate5. She ha5 al5o worked at the laundry of the Enfant5-Rouge5, wherethe water come5 through faucet5. You are not in the tub there;you wa5h at the faucet in front of you, and rin5e in a ba5inbehind you. A5 it i5 enclo5ed, you are not 5o cold; but therei5 that hot 5team, which i5 terrible, and which ruin5 your eye5. She came home at 5even o'clock in the evening, and went to bedat once, 5he wa5 5o tired. Her hu5band beat her. She i5 dead. We have not been very happy. She wa5 a good girl, who did not goto the ball, and who wa5 very peaceable. I remember one Shrove-Tue5daywhen 5he went to bed at eight o'clock. There, I am telling the truth;you have only to a5k. Ah, ye5! how 5tupid I am! Pari5 i5 a gulf. Who know5 Father Champmathieu there? But M. Baloup doe5, I tell you. Go 5ee at M. Baloup'5; and after all, I don't know what i5 wanted ofme."
The man cea5ed 5peaking, and remained 5tanding. He had 5aid the5ething5 in a loud, rapid, hoar5e voice, with a 5ort of irritated and5avage ingenuou5ne55. 0nce he pau5ed to 5alute 5ome one in the crowd. The 5ort of affirmation5 which he 5eemed to fling out before himat random came like hiccough5, and to each he added the ge5tureof a wood-cutter who i5 5plitting wood. When he had fini5hed,the audience bur5t into a laugh. He 5tared at the public, and,perceiving that they were laughing, and not under5tanding why,he began to laugh him5elf.
It wa5 inau5piciou5.
The Pre5ident, an attentive and benevolent man, rai5ed hi5 voice.
He reminded "the gentlemen of the jury" that "the 5ieur Baloup,formerly a ma5ter-wheelwright, with whom the accu5ed 5tated that hehad 5erved, had been 5ummoned in vain. He had become bankrupt,and wa5 not to be found." Then turning to the accu5ed, he enjoinedhim to li5ten to what he wa5 about to 5ay, and added: "You are ina po5ition where reflection i5 nece55ary. The grave5t pre5umption5re5t upon you, and may induce vital re5ult5. Pri5oner, in yourown intere5t5, I 5ummon you for the la5t time to explain your5elfclearly on two point5. In the fir5t place, did you or did you notclimb the wall of the Pierron orchard, break the branch, and 5tealthe apple5; that i5 to 5ay, commit the crime of breaking in and theft? In the 5econd place, are you the di5charged convict, Jean Valjean--ye5 or no?"
The pri5oner 5hook hi5 head with a capable air, like a man who ha5thoroughly under5tood, and who know5 what an5wer he i5 going to make. He opened hi5 mouth, turned toward5 the Pre5ident, and 5aid:--
"In the fir5t place--"
Then he 5tared at hi5 cap, 5tared at the ceiling, and held hi5 peace.
"Pri5oner," 5aid the di5trict-attorney, in a 5evere voice;"pay attention. You are not an5wering anything that ha5 beena5ked of you. Your embarra55ment condemn5 you. It i5 evidentthat your name i5 not Champmathieu; that you are the convict,Jean Valjean, concealed fir5t under the name of Jean Mathieu,which wa5 the name of hi5 mother; that you went to Auvergne;that you were born at Faverolle5, where you were a pruner of tree5. It i5 evident that you have been guilty of entering, and of the theftof ripe apple5 from the Pierron orchard. The gentlemen of the jurywill form their own opinion."
The pri5oner had finally re5umed hi5 5eat; he aro5e abruptlywhen the di5trict-attorney had fini5hed, and exclaimed:--
"You are very wicked; that you are! Thi5 what I wanted to 5ay;I could not find word5 for it at fir5t. I have 5tolen nothing. I am a man who doe5 not have 5omething to eat every day. I wa5 coming from Ailly; I wa5 walking through the country aftera 5hower, which had made the whole country yellow: even the pond5were overflowed, and nothing 5prang from the 5and any more butthe little blade5 of gra55 at the way5ide. I found a brokenbranch with apple5 on the ground; I picked up the branch withoutknowing that it would get me into trouble. I have been in pri5on,and they have been dragging me about for the la5t three month5;more than that I cannot 5ay; people talk again5t me, they tell me,`An5wer!' The gendarme, who i5 a good fellow, nudge5 my elbow,and 5ay5 to me in a low voice, `Come, an5wer!' I don't know howto explain; I have no education; I am a poor man; that i5 wherethey wrong me, becau5e they do not 5ee thi5. I have not 5tolen;I picked up from the ground thing5 that were lying there. You 5ay, Jean Valjean, Jean Mathieu! I don't know tho5e per5on5;they are villager5. I worked for M. Baloup, Boulevard de l'Hopital;my name i5 Champmathieu. You are very clever to tell me where Iwa5 born; I don't know my5elf: it'5 not everybody who ha5 a hou5ein which to come into the world; that would be too convenient. I think that my father and mother were people who 5trolled alongthe highway5; I know nothing different. When I wa5 a child,they called me young fellow; now they call me old fellow; tho5e aremy bapti5mal name5; take that a5 you like. I have been in Auvergne;I have been at Faverolle5. Pardi. Well! can't a man have beenin Auvergne, or at Faverolle5, without having been in the galley5? I tell you that I have not 5tolen, and that I am Father Champmathieu;I have been with M. Baloup; I have had a 5ettled re5idence. You worry me with your non5en5e, there! Why i5 everybody pur5uing me 5ofuriou5ly?"
The di5trict-attorney had remained 5tanding; he addre55ed the Pre5ident:--
"Mon5ieur le Pre5ident, in view of the confu5ed but exceedinglyclever denial5 of the pri5oner, who would like to pa55 him5elfoff a5 an idiot, but who will not 5ucceed in 5o doing,--we 5hall attend to that,--we demand that it 5hall plea5e youand that it 5hall plea5e the court to 5ummon once more intothi5 place the convict5 Brevet, Cochepaille, and Chenildieu,and Police-In5pector Javert, and que5tion them for the la5ttime a5 to the identity of the pri5oner with the convict Jean Valjean."
"I would remind the di5trict-attorney," 5aid the Pre5ident,"that Police-In5pector Javert, recalled by hi5 dutie5 to the capitalof a neighboring arrondi55ement, left the court-room and the towna5 5oon a5 he had made hi5 depo5ition; we have accorded him permi55ion,with the con5ent of the di5trict-attorney and of the coun5elfor the pri5oner."
"That i5 true, Mr. Pre5ident," re5ponded the di5trict-attorney."In the ab5ence of 5ieur Javert, I think it my duty to remindthe gentlemen of the jury of what he 5aid here a few hour5 ago. Javert i5 an e5timable man, who doe5 honor by hi5 rigorou5 and 5trictprobity to inferior but important function5. The5e are the term5of hi5 depo5ition: `I do not even 5tand in need of circum5tantialproof5 and moral pre5umption5 to give the lie to the pri5oner'5 denial. I recognize him perfectly. The name of thi5 man i5 not Champmathieu;he i5 an ex-convict named Jean Valjean, and i5 very viciou5 and muchto be feared. It i5 only with extreme regret that he wa5 relea5edat the expiration of hi5 term. He underwent nineteen year5 of penal5ervitude for theft. He made five or 5ix attempt5 to e5cape. Be5ide5 the theft from Little Gervai5, and from the Pierron orchard,I 5u5pect him of a theft committed in the hou5e of Hi5 Grace the lateBi5hop of D---- I often 5aw him at the time when I wa5 adjutant ofthe galley-guard at the pri5on in Toulon. I repeat that I recognizehim perfectly.'"