Cochepaille and Chenildieu, and are sentenced for life. They are taken from the galleys and confronted with the pretended Champmathieu.
They do not hesitate; he is Jean Valjean for them as well as for Brevet.
The same age,--he is fifty-four,-- the same height, the same air, the same man; in short, it is he. It was precisely at this moment that I forwarded my denunciation to the Prefecture in Paris.
I was told that I had lost my reason, and that Jean Valjean is at Arras, in the power of the authorities. You can imagine whether this surprised me, when I thought that I had that same Jean Valjean here.
I write to the examining judge; he sends for me; Champmathieu is conducted to me--"
[4] An ex-convict.
"Well?" interposed M. Madeleine.
Javert replied, his face incorruptible, and as melancholy as ever:--
"Mr. Mayor, the truth is the truth.
I am sorry; but that man is Jean Valjean.
I recognized him also."
M. Madeleine resumed in, a very low voice:--
"You are sure?"
Javert began to laugh, with that mournful laugh which comes from profound conviction.
"O!
Sure!"
He stood there thoughtfully for a moment, mechanically taking pinches of powdered wood for blotting ink from the wooden bowl which stood on the table, and he added:--
"And even now that I have seen the real Jean Valjean, I do not see how I could have thought otherwise.