Page 800 - les-miserables

This report came under Javert’s eye and set him to think-
ing.
The name of Fantine was well known to him. He re-
membered that Jean Valjean had made him, Javert, burst
into laughter, by asking him for a respite of three days, for
the purpose of going to fetch that creature’s child. He re-
called the fact that Jean Valjean had been arrested in Paris
at the very moment when he was stepping into the coach
for Montfermeil. Some signs had made him suspect at the
time that this was the second occasion of his entering that
coach, and that he had already, on the previous day, made
an excursion to the neighborhood of that village, for he had
not been seen in the village itself. What had he been intend-
ing to do in that region of Montfermeil? It could not even be
surmised. Javert understood it now. Fantine’s daughter was
there. Jean Valjean was going there in search of her. And
now this child had been stolen by a stranger! Who could
that stranger be? Could it be Jean Valjean? But Jean Valjean
was dead. Javert, without saying anything to anybody, took
the coach from the Pewter Platter, Cul-de-Sac de la Planch-
ette, and made a trip to Montfermeil.
He expected to find a great deal of light on the subject
there; he found a great deal of obscurity.
For the first few days the Thenardiers had chattered in
their rage. The disappearance of the Lark had created a
sensation in the village. He immediately obtained numer-
ous versions of the story, which ended in the abduction of
a child. Hence the police report. But their first vexation
having passed off, Thenardier, with his wonderful instinct,

800 Les Miserables