Page 465 - les-miserables

he is an ex-convict named Jean Valjean, and is very vicious
and much to be feared. It is only with extreme regret that
he was released at the expiration of his term. He underwent
nineteen years of penal servitude for theft. He made five or
six attempts to escape. Besides the theft from Little Gervais,
and from the Pierron orchard, I suspect him of a theft com-
mitted in the house of His Grace the late Bishop of D—— I
often saw him at the time when I was adjutant of the galley-
guard at the prison in Toulon. I repeat that I recognize him
perfectly.’’
This extremely precise statement appeared to produce a
vivid impression on the public and on the jury. The district-
attorney concluded by insisting, that in default of Javert, the
three witnesses Brevet, Chenildieu, and Cochepaille should
be heard once more and solemnly interrogated.
The President transmitted the order to an usher, and,
a moment later, the door of the witnesses’ room opened.
The usher, accompanied by a gendarme ready to lend him
armed assistance, introduced the convict Brevet. The audi-
ence was in suspense; and all breasts heaved as though they
had contained but one soul.
The ex-convict Brevet wore the black and gray waistcoat
of the central prisons. Brevet was a person sixty years of age,
who had a sort of business man’s face, and the air of a ras-
cal. The two sometimes go together. In prison, whither fresh
misdeeds had led him, he had become something in the na-
ture of a turnkey. He was a man of whom his superiors said,
‘He tries to make himself of use.’ The chaplains bore good
testimony as to his religious habits. It must not be forgotten

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