What could this man, who was reproved, say to that woman, who was dead?
What words were those?
No one on earth heard them.
Did the dead woman hear them?
There are some touching illusions which are, perhaps, sublime realities. The point as to which there exists no doubt is, that Sister Simplice, the sole witness of the incident, often said that at the moment that Jean Valjean whispered in Fantine's ear, she distinctly beheld an ineffable smile dawn on those pale lips, and in those dim eyes, filled with the amazement of the tomb.
Jean Valjean took Fantine's head in both his hands, and arranged it on the pillow as a mother might have done for her child; then he tied the string of her chemise, and smoothed her hair back under her cap. That done, he closed her eyes.
Fantine's face seemed strangely illuminated at that moment.
Death, that signifies entrance into the great light.
Fantine's hand was hanging over the side of the bed.
Jean Valjean knelt down before that hand, lifted it gently, and kissed it.
Then he rose, and turned to Javert.
"Now," said he, "I am at your disposal."
BOOK EIGHTH.--A COUNTER-BLOW
CHAPTER V
A SUITABLE TOMB
Javert deposited Jean Valjean in the city prison.
The arrest of M. Madeleine occasioned a sensation, or rather, an extraordinary commotion in M. sur M. We are sorry that we cannot conceal the fact, that at the single word, "He was a convict," nearly every one deserted him.
In less than two hours all the good that he had done had been forgotten, and he was nothing but a "convict from the galleys."
It is just to add that the details of what had taken place at Arras were not yet known.
All day long conversations like the following were to be heard in all quarters of the town:--
"You don't know?
He was a liberated convict!"
"Who?"
"The mayor." "Bah!
M. Madeleine?"
"Yes."
"Really?"
"His name was not Madeleine at all; he had a frightful name, Bejean, Bojean, Boujean."
"Ah! Good God!"
"He has been arrested."
"Arrested!"
"In prison, in the city prison, while waiting to be transferred."
"Until he is transferred!"
"He is to be transferred!"
"Where is he to be taken?"
"He will be tried at the Assizes for a highway robbery which he committed long ago."
"Well!
I suspected as much. That man was too good, too perfect, too affected.
He refused the cross; he bestowed sous on all the little scamps he came across. I always thought there was some evil history back of all that."
The "drawing-rooms" particularly abounded in remarks of this nature.
One old lady, a subscriber to the Drapeau Blanc, made the following remark, the depth of which it is impossible to fathom:--
"I am not sorry.
It will be a lesson to the Bonapartists!"
It was thus that the phantom which had been called M. Madeleine vanished from M. sur M. Only three or four persons in all the town remained faithful to his memory.
The old portress who had served him was among the number.
On the evening of that day the worthy old woman was sitting in her lodge, still in a thorough fright, and absorbed in sad reflections. The factory had been closed all day, the carriage gate was bolted, the street was deserted.