the Gorbeau ambush, even if he had discovered that Jean Valjean was a convict, would that have changed him, Marius? Would that have changed her, Cosette?
Would he have drawn back? Would he have adored her any the less?
Would he have refrained from marrying her?
No. Then there was nothing to regret, nothing with which he need reproach himself.
All was well. There is a deity for those drunken men who are called lovers. Marius blind, had followed the path which he would have chosen had he been in full possession of his sight.
Love had bandaged his eyes, in order to lead him whither?
To paradise.
But this paradise was henceforth complicated with an infernal accompaniment.
Marius'' ancient estrangement towards this man, towards this Fauchelevent who had turned into Jean Valjean, was at present mingled with horror.
In this horror, let us state, there was some pity, and even a certain surprise.
This thief, this thief guilty of a second offence, had restored that deposit.
And what a deposit!
Six hundred thousand francs.
He alone was in the secret of that deposit.
He might have kept it all, he had restored it all.
Moreover, he had himself revealed his situation.
Nothing forced him to this.
If any one learned who he was, it was through himself. In this avowal there was something more than acceptance of humiliation, there was acceptance of peril.