Chapter 119 nine men with bells

He watched the man walking in the garden.In his hand was a roll of money he had taken out of his vest pocket. The man was lowering his head and didn't see him coming.Jean Valjean was at his side in a few strides. Jean Valjean cried out: "One hundred francs!" The man was startled and opened his eyes. "A hundred francs for you," continued Jean Valjean, "if you would give me a place to spend the night!" The moon was fully shining on Jean Valjean's frightened face. "Ah, it is you, Grandpa Madeleine!" said the man. When the name was uttered in such a dark night, in such an unknown place, and from such a stranger, Jean Valjean drew back.

He was prepared for everything, but he didn't expect this move.He was speaking to a hunched and lame old man, dressed almost like a country bumpkin, with a rather large bell hanging from a belt around his left knee.His face was against the light, so he couldn't see clearly. At this time, the old man had already taken off his hat, and said tremblingly: "Oh, my God! How come you are here, Grandpa Madeleine? Where did you come in, Lord Jesus! You fell from heaven! That's not surprising; if you fell, you must have come from above." It fell off. Look at you now! You have no tie, you have no hat, you have no coat! You don't know, you frighten people if they don't know you. No coat! My Godfather, Dare all the saints and gods are crazy today? How did you get here?"

One sentence after another.The old man finished speaking with the freshness of a countryman, which did not make people feel uncomfortable at all.There was a mixture of surprise and innocence in his tone. "Who are you? What kind of house is this?" asked Jean Valjean. "Oh, my God, you're joking!" cried the old man. "You put me here, you introduced me to this house. Where is it! You don't know me?" "No," said Jean Valjean, "how did you know me, you?" "You saved my life," said the man. He turned round, and Jean Valjean recognized old Fauchelevent, with a ray of moonlight shining on one side of his face.

"Ah!" said Jean Valjean, "is that you? Yes, I know you." "Fortunately, it's okay!" said the old man in a complaining tone. "What are you doing here?" Jean Valjean continued. "Hey! I'm covering my melon!" Old Fauchelevent, when Jean Valjean approached him, was carrying the edge of a straw to cover the melon-field.He has been in the garden for an hour, and has covered a considerable number of straws.It was this peculiar movement which Jean Valjean had first noticed in the shed, for his work. He added: "I was thinking at first that the moon is so bright that it is about to frost. Shall I go and put a cloak on my melons?" Then, laughing again, looking at Jean Valjean, he added, "You too. You have to put on such a good one! How did you get in?"

Jean Valjean thought that since this man knew him, at least he knew the name of Madeleine, he had to be extra cautious.He asks questions from multiple perspectives.It's really a strange thing that they seem to be anti-customer-oriented.He was an uninvited guest, but kept questioning him. "What bell do you have on your lap?" "This?" replied Fauchelevent. "Bring a bell so that people will hear me and avoid me." "What! So that people can avoid you?" Old Fauchelevent rolled one eye eccentrically. "Oh, damn it! This house is full of women, most of whom are young women. It is said that bumping into me is not fun. The bell tells them to be careful. I am here, so they can avoid it."

"What kind of house is this?" "Hey! You don't know yet!" "Indeed I don't know." "If you introduce me here as a gardener, you won't know!" "Just pretend I don't know, and answer me." "Well, this is the Little Piccubs Convent!" Jean Valjean remembered.Two years ago, old man Fauchelevent fell from his car and broke his leg. Thanks to Jean Valjean, the convent of Saint-Antoine took him in, and now he happened to be in this convent again. Here, this is a coincidence, but also God's will.He muttered as if speaking to himself:

"Little Piccubs Convent!" "Well, to tell the truth, after all," continued Fauchelevent, "where did you come in, you, Grandpa Madeleine? You are a gentleman, and it is no use, you are always a man. Men are not allowed to come here." of." "How can you come again?" "Only a man like me." "But," continued Jean Valjean, "I must stay here." "Oh, my God!" cried Fauchelevent. Jean Valjean took a step towards the old man, and said to him in a serious voice: "Master Fauchelevent, I have saved your life."

"I was the first to think of it," replied Fauchelevent. "Then you may treat me today as I have treated you." Fauchelevent embraced Jean Valjean's iron palms with his wrinkled hands, which had grown old and trembled, and was speechless for a while.At last he cried out: "Oh! If I could repay you even a little, it would be the grace of a merciful God! I! Save your life! Monsieur Mayor, command me, old man!" A beam of joy seemed to change the appearance of the old man.There seemed to be a light on his face, too. "What do you say I have to do?" he went on.

"Let me talk to you slowly. Do you have a room?" "I have a lonely hut, there, in a corner behind the shabby old nunnery, where no one can see. There are three rooms in total." The shack was concealed behind the dilapidated nunnery, and its position was so concealed that no one could see it, and Jean Valjean had never discovered it. "Very well," said Jean Valjean, "I now ask of you two things." "Which two, Mr. Mayor?" "First, you don't tell anyone what you know about me. Second, you don't ask anything else about me."

"That's it. I know you've done all the right things, and I know you've been a man of mercy all your life. And you put me here. That's your business. I'll do as you say." "It's a deal. Come with me now. We'll go find the baby." "Ah!" said Fauchelevent, "there's a child!" Without another word, he followed Jean Valjean like a dog. Half an hour later, Cosette was already sleeping on the old gardener's bed, with a blazing fire burning, and her face turned red again.Jean Valjean tied his tie again, put on his overcoat, found and picked up the hat that had been thrown over the wall, and just as Jean Valjean was putting on his overcoat, Fauchelevent had removed the bell-belt from his lap, and went to Hanging from a nail next to a basket, it adorns the walls.The two sat down to warm themselves by the fire at the table on which Fauchelevent had put a cheese, a loaf of black bread, a bottle of wine, and two glasses, and the old man put his hand on Jean Valjean's knee, said to him:

"Ah! Grandpa Madeleine! It took you a long time to recognize me! You saved someone's life and then you forgot about him! Oh! It's wrong! You are always missed! You have a dark conscience!"