Page 1508 - les-miserables

to him that he no longer dared. Was it because of Cosette?
Was it because of Fantine? He felt a certain religious hor-
ror at letting that shadow enter Cosette’s thought; and of
placing a third in their destiny. The more sacred this shade
was to him, the more did it seem that it was to be feared.
He thought of Fantine, and felt himself overwhelmed with
silence.
Through the darkness, he vaguely perceived something
which appeared to have its finger on its lips. Had all the
modesty which had been in Fantine, and which had vio-
lently quitted her during her lifetime, returned to rest upon
her after her death, to watch in indignation over the peace
of that dead woman, and in its shyness, to keep her in her
grave? Was Jean Valjean unconsciously submitting to the
pressure? We who believe in death, are not among the num-
ber who will reject this mysterious explanation.
Hence the impossibility of uttering, even for Cosette,
that name of Fantine.
One day Cosette said to him:—
‘Father, I saw my mother in a dream last night. She had
two big wings. My mother must have been almost a saint
during her life.’
‘Through martyrdom,’ replied Jean Valjean.
However, Jean Valjean was happy.
When Cosette went out with him, she leaned on his arm,
proud and happy, in the plenitude of her heart. Jean Valjean
felt his heart melt within him with delight, at all these
sparks of a tenderness so exclusive, so wholly satisfied with
himself alone. The poor man trembled, inundated with an-

1508 Les Miserables