Hugo walks us through the roller coaster of events that brought Javert to this point where we find ourselves: Javert outside trying to figure out how Valjean had evaded him, Javert and Cosette hiding inside of the convent. Rather than discussing them in depth, here’s a bulleted outline:
- When Valjean initially escaped, Javert was called to Paris to help with the hunt for him.
- Because he was so helpful in apprehending Valjean he was offered a position in Paris and took it.
- He did not think about Valjean again until he happened to see him mentioned in the paper: It was noted that Valjean the prisoner had died.
- Later Javert heard of a report child abducted under peculiar circumstances in Montfermeil. The report mentioned that the child was named Cosette and had a mother named Fantine who had died in the hospital. This obviously sparked Javert’s interest.
- He recalled that Valjean had previously asked for time to go retrieve this child, and that Valjean had been arrested while boarding a coach bound for Montfermeil.
- Concerned that this was somehow Valjean and he was not dead as the paper had claimed, Javert headed for Montfermeil without telling anyone about it.
- By the time he arrived in Montfermeil the Thenardiers had changed their tune - no longer were they claiming abduction, but instead they insisted that the child had been claimed by her grandfather, and said the name on his passport was Lambert
- Javert went back to Paris more convinced than ever that Valjean was dead.
- He had almost forgotten everything but in March 1824 he heard a story about a “beggar who gives alms” taht was living with a small girl, seemed to be financially independent, and the girl knew nothing of her history other than that she had come from Montfermiel.
- Javert went to visit the source fo this story, an elderly beggar who served as a police informant, and ended up donning his disguise to get a glimpse of this suspect himself.
- We saw this from Valjean’s view earlier, when he locked eyes with a begger he swore was Javert
- it was dark and Javert was not sure so he followed Valjean back to his place
- we know of the long night where Javert waited to hear Valjean speak, and Valjean was silent.
- When Valjean and Cosette later left under cloak of darkness Valjean followed. He had not seen his face again so hesitated to make an arrest
- Then he saw it outside the police station.
- we know of the trap laid from here - the pursuit across the bridge, the surrounding of Valjean and Cosette, the shock when the trap closed and Valjean could not be found.
- After finding the cut rope Javert assumed Valjean had climbed one of the other walls deeper in the alley. They were shorter and beyond them were undeveloped spaces.
We find ourselves caught up as Javert is convinced he may have actually lost Valjean and Valjean and Cosette sleep just beyond his reach, in the home of the groundskeeper of this convent, a man Valjean had saved earlier that had first set Javert’s suspicions upon him.
What will happen next? We’ll have to read on to find out.