Chapter 71 Four Judiciary Exercising Legal Powers Again

Fantine had not seen Javert since the Mayor had rescued her from him.Her sick mind couldn't understand what happened at that time at all, she thought he came for her, and she couldn't stand that fierce look.She felt like she was going to lose her breath.She covered her face with her hands and wailed: "Monsieur Madeleine, save me!" Jean Valjean (we will no longer call him by another name) rose, and said to Fantine in the softest and most peaceful voice: "Don't worry. He didn't come to see you." Then he said to Javert: "I know what you're here for."

Javert replied: "Go!" There was an indescribable, barbaric and arrogant meaning in the tone of his uttering those two words.What he said was not "Go!" but a sound like "Go!" so that there was no word for that sound. It was no longer the speech of a man, but the roar of a beast. He did not follow the usual rules, he never explained why he had come, and he never produced an arrest warrant.Jean Valjean was to him a mysterious, inscrutable rival, a wrestler in the dark, whom he had strangled for five years without being able to overthrow him.This arrest is not the beginning, but the end.So he just said:

"Go!" As he said this, without moving a step, he hooked Jean Valjean with that iron-hooked look with which he draws people to him who he usually tells nothing about. . It was this look that Fantine had felt in her bones two months before. Javert roared, and Fantine opened his eyes again.But Mr. Mayor is here.What's so scary about her? Javert came into the middle of the room and exclaimed: "Are you going or not?" The unhappy woman looked around.Only the nun and Mr. Mayor were in the house.Who would use the word "you" in such a degrading way?It could only have been said to her.She was shaking.

At the same time she saw a strange thing, so strange that it could not be more strange, such a strange thing had not been seen even in the worst nightmare of her fever. She saw the spy Javert grab the mayor by the collar, and she saw the mayor bow his head.She seemed to feel the world turned upside down. Javert did seize Jean Valjean by the collar. "Monsieur Mayor!" cried Fantine. Javert laughed out loud, showing all his teeth. "There is no Monsieur Mayor here!" Jean Valjean let the hand seize the collar of his coat without moving, and said: "Javert..."

Javert didn't wait for him to finish, but roared: "Call me Mr. Scout." "Monsieur," continued Jean Valjean, "I would like to have a word with you personally." "Speak up! You must speak up!" answered Javert. "People always talk to me loudly!" Jean Valjean continued humbly: "I ask you one thing..." "I told you to speak up." "But only you can hear this matter..." "What does this have to do with me? I won't listen!" Jean Valjean turned to him, and hastily whispered to him: "Please postpone for three days! For three days, I can go to pick up the poor woman's child! I will pay what I have to pay. If you want to go with me, you can."

"Joke!" cried Javert. "Ha! I didn't think you were such a fool before! You're holding me back for three days so you can get away! You say you're going to get the bitch's child! Ha! Ha! How wonderful! How wonderful! " Fantine shuddered. "My child!" she cried, "get my child! She is not here! My sister, answer me, where is Cosette? I want my child! Monsieur Madeleine! Monsieur Mayor! " Javert raised his foot for a moment. "Now this one is getting entangled! Are you going to shut up or not, you bitch! This shameful place, the prisoner is the governor, and the public prostitute enjoys the countess's happiness! Don't worry! Everything will be reversed, it is It's time!"

Noticing that Fantine was still, he seized Jean Valjean again by tie, shirt, and collar, and said: "I tell you, there is neither M. Madeleine nor M. the Mayor here. There is only a thief, a brigand, a convict named Jean Valjean! It is he who I am arresting! That is all!" Fantine jumped up, leaning on her stiff arms and hands, looked at Jean Valjean, at Javert, at the nun, opened her mouth as if to speak, and a mouthful of phlegm rose from the bottom of her throat. , her teeth chattering, she stretched out her arms sadly, spread her convulsed hands, and groped about at the same time, like a doomed man, and suddenly she sank down on the pillow.Her head hit the head of the bed, bounced back, landed on her chest, her mouth was open, her eyes were open but faded.

she died. Jean Valjean put his hand on that of Javert's that was grasping him, and broke it open with one stroke, as if it were a baby's hand, and then he said to Javert: "You killed the woman." "Not much," bellowed Javert, in a rage. "I'm not here to hear your reasoning. Don't waste time. The procession is downstairs. Go now, or I'll be in chains!" In a corner of the room, there was an old broken iron bed, which was used as a temporary bed for the night watchmen on weekdays.Jean Valjean went to the front of the bed and tore down the broken head of the bed in an instant. With his strength, it was not a difficult task. He held the big iron bar tightly, eyes Looking at Javert.

Javert stepped back towards the door. Jean Valjean, holding the iron bar in his hand, walked slowly towards Fantine's bed. When he had reached it, turning around, he said to Javert in a voice that was barely audible: "I advise you not to disturb me at this time." It is quite certain that Javert trembled with terror. He wanted to call the police, but he was afraid that Jean Valjean would take the opportunity to escape.He was obliged to hold still, clutching the tip of his stick, leaning his back against the door-frame, and not taking his eyes off Jean Valjean. Jean Valjean, leaning his elbows on the ball at the head of the bed, resting his forehead on his hand, looked at Fantine, who lay motionless.He stayed like this, concentrated and silent, and what he thought of was naturally not about the things in this world.There was only an inexpressible color of regret in his countenance and figure, and after a few moments of silent recitation, he bent down to Fantine's ear, and whispered to her.

What did he say to her?What can this dying man say to this dead woman?What are these words?No one in the world has ever heard his words.Did the dead hear it?Some touching fantasies are perhaps the most sacred of realities.There can be no doubt that Sister Sanprise, the sole witness of the time, used to say that when Jean Valjean spoke in Fantine's ear, she saw clearly the gray lips of the deceased, who had smiled, and her eyes The eyes that were still in shock were also slightly happy. Jean Valjean took Fantine's head in both hands, and placed it on the pillow as a mother does her own child, and tied the string of her blouse, and tucked her hair into her hat.Having done these things, he closed his eyes again.

Fantine's face seemed strangely bright at this moment. Death is the first step into the great realm of light. Fantine's hands were still hanging over the edge of the bed.Jean Valjean knelt before this hand, took it up gently, and kissed it. He stood up and turned to Javert: "Now," he said, "I will follow you."