JEAN VALJEAN REVENGES HIMSELF.
So soon as Jean Valjean was alone with Javert he undid the rope which
fastened the prisoner round the waist, the knot of which was under the
table. After this, he made him a signal to rise. Javert obeyed with
that indefinable smile in which the supremacy of enchained authority is
condensed. Jean Valjean seized Javert by the martingale, as he would
have taken an ox by its halter, and dragging him after him, quitted
the wine-shop slowly, for Javert, having his feet hobbled, could only
take very short steps. Jean Valjean held the pistol in his hand, and
they thus crossed the inner trapeze of the barricade; the insurgents,
prepared for the imminent attack, turned their backs.
Marius alone, placed at the left extremity of the barricade, saw them
pass. This group of the victim and the executioner was illumined by the
sepulchral gleams which he had in his soul. Jean Valjean forced Javert
to climb over the barricade with some difficulty, but did not loosen
the cord. When they had crossed the bar, they found themselves alone
in the lane, and no one could now see them, for the elbow formed by
the houses hid them from the insurgents. The corpses removed from the
barricade formed a horrible pile a few paces from them. Among the dead
could be distinguished a livid face, dishevelled hair, a pierced hand,
and a half-naked female bosom; it was Éponine. Javert looked askance at
this dead girl, and said with profound calmness,--
"It seems to me I know that girl."
Then he turned to Jean Valjean, who placed the pistol under his arm,
and fixed on Javert a glance which had no need of words to say,
"Javert, it is I."
Javert answered, "Take your revenge."
Jean Valjean took a knife from his pocket and opened it.
"A clasp-knife," Javert exclaimed. "You are right, that suits you
better."
Jean Valjean cut the martingale which Javert had round his neck, then
he cut the ropes on his wrists, and stooping down, those on his feet;
then rising again, he said, "You are free."
It was not easy to astonish Javert, still, master though he was of
himself, he could not suppress his emotion; he stood gaping and
motionless, while Jean Valjean continued,--
"I do not believe that I shall leave this place. Still, if by accident
I do, I live under the name of Fauchelevent, at No. 7, Rue de l'Homme
Armé."
Javert gave a tigerish frown, which opened a corner of his mouth, and
muttered between his teeth,--
"Take care!"
"Begone!" said Jean Valjean.
Javert added,--
"You said Fauchelevent, Rue de l'Homme Armé?"
"No. 7."
Javert repeated in a low voice,---"No. 7."
He rebuttoned his frock-coat, restored his military stiffness between
his shoulders, made a half turn, crossed his arms while supporting his
chin with one of his hands, and walked off in the direction of the
markets. Jean Valjean looked after him. After going a few yards Javert
turned and said,--
"You annoy me. I would sooner be killed by you."
Javert did not even notice that he no longer addressed Jean Valjean
with familiarity.
"Begone!" said Jean Valjean.
Javert retired slowly, and a moment after turned the corner of the Rue
des Prêcheurs. When Javert had disappeared, Jean Valjean discharged the
pistol in the air, and then returned to the barricade, saying,--
"It is all over."
This is what had taken place in the mean while. Marius, more occupied
with the outside than the inside, had not hitherto attentively regarded
the spy fastened up at the darkened end of the ground-floor room. When
he saw him in the open daylight bestriding the barricade, he recognized
him, and a sudden hope entered his mind. He remembered the inspector of
the Rue de Pontoise, and the two pistols he had given him, which he,
Marius, had employed at this very barricade, and he not only remembered
his face but his name.
This recollection, however, was foggy and disturbed, like all his
ideas. It was not an affirmation he made so much as a question which he
asked himself. "Is that not the Police Inspector, who told me that his
name was Javert?" Marius shouted to Enjolras, who had just stationed
himself at the other end of the barricade,--
"Enjolras?"
"Well?"
"What is that man's name?"
"Which man?"
"The police agent. Do you know his name?"
"Of course I do, for he told it to us."
"What is it?"
"Javert."
Marius started, but at this moment a pistol-shot was heard, and Jean
Valjean reappeared, saying, "_It is all over._" A dark chill crossed
Marius's heart.