Page 802 - les-miserables

who dwelt in the parish of Saint-Medard and who had been
surnamed ‘the mendicant who gives alms.’ This person, the
story ran, was a man of means, whose name no one knew
exactly, and who lived alone with a little girl of eight years,
who knew nothing about herself, save that she had come
from Montfermeil. Montfermeil! that name was always
coming up, and it made Javert prick up his ears. An old beg-
gar police spy, an ex-beadle, to whom this person had given
alms, added a few more details. This gentleman of proper-
ty was very shy,— never coming out except in the evening,
speaking to no one, except, occasionally to the poor, and
never allowing any one to approach him. He wore a hor-
rible old yellow frock-coat, which was worth many millions,
being all wadded with bank-bills. This piqued Javert’s curi-
osity in a decided manner. In order to get a close look at this
fantastic gentleman without alarming him, he borrowed
the beadle’s outfit for a day, and the place where the old spy
was in the habit of crouching every evening, whining ori-
sons through his nose, and playing the spy under cover of
prayer.
‘The suspected individual’ did indeed approach Javert
thus disguised, and bestow alms on him. At that moment
Javert raised his head, and the shock which Jean Valjean re-
ceived on recognizing Javert was equal to the one received
by Javert when he thought he recognized Jean Valjean.
However, the darkness might have misled him; Jean
Valjean’s death was official; Javert cherished very grave
doubts; and when in doubt, Javert, the man of scruples, nev-
er laid a finger on any one’s collar.

802 Les Miserables