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."