Join Host Bree Carlile as she reads the one hundred eighteenth chapter of Les Miserables.
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>> Brie Carlisle: Take a look, in the book and let's see
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Speaker:>> Brie Carlisle: Values today well be
Speaker:continuing.
Speaker:Les miserables M by Victor
Speaker:Hugo chapter
Speaker:ten which explains how Javert got
Speaker:on the scent, the
Speaker:events of which we have just beheld. The reverse side, so
Speaker:to speak, had come about in the simplest
Speaker:possible manner. When Jean
Speaker:Valjean, on the evening of the very day when
Speaker:Javert had arrested him beside fantines
Speaker:deathbed, had escaped from the town jail of M.
Speaker:Sur Mde. The M police had
Speaker:supposed that he had betaken himself to Paris.
Speaker:Paris is a maelstrom where everything is lost and
Speaker:everything disappears. In this belly of the world,
Speaker:as in the belly of the sea, no
Speaker:forest hides a man as does that crowd.
Speaker:Fugitives of every sort know this. They go to
Speaker:Paris as, to an abyss. There are gulfs which
Speaker:save. The police know it also. And it
Speaker:is in Paris that they seek what they have lost. Elsewhere
Speaker:they sought. The ex mayor of Imser, M.
Speaker:Javert, was summoned to Paris to throw light on their
Speaker:researches. Javert had in
Speaker:fact rendered powerful assistance in the recapture of Jean
Speaker:Valjean Javerts zeal and intelligence
Speaker:on that occasion had been remarked by Monsieur Chaboulet,
Speaker:secretary of the prefecture under Count Anglis.
Speaker:Monsieur Chaboulet, who had, moreover, already been
Speaker:Javerts patron, had, the inspector of M.
Speaker:Sur m attached to the police force of Paris.
Speaker:There Javert rendered himself useful in divers
Speaker:and though the word may seem strange for such
Speaker:services, honorable manners,
Speaker:he no longer thought of Jean Valjean. The wolf
Speaker:of today causes these dogs who are always on the chase to
Speaker:forget the wolf of yesterday,
Speaker:when in December 1823, he
Speaker:read a newspaper, he who never read
Speaker:newspapers much,
Speaker:a monarchical man had a desire to know the
Speaker:particulars of the triumphal entry of the prince
Speaker:Generalissimo into Bayonne.
Speaker:Just as he was finishing the article which
Speaker:interested him, a name, the
Speaker:name of Jean Valjean attracted his attention. At the bottom of
Speaker:a page, the paper announced that the
Speaker:convict Jean Valjean was dead. I and published
Speaker:the fact in such formal terms that Javert did not doubt
Speaker:it. He confined himself to the remark.
Speaker:Thats a good entry. Then he threw aside
Speaker:the paper and thought no more about it.
Speaker:Sometime afterwards, it chanced that a
Speaker:police report was transmitted from the prefecture
Speaker:of the sign et Oys to the prefecture of police
Speaker:of Paris concerning the abduction of a child
Speaker:which had taken place under peculiar circumstances,
Speaker:as it was said in the commune of Montremille.
Speaker:A little girl of seven or eight years of age, the report
Speaker:said, who had been entrusted by her mother to an
Speaker:innkeeper of that neighborhood, had been stolen by a
Speaker:stranger. This child answered to the name
Speaker:of Cosette and was the daughter of a girl named
Speaker:Fantine who had died in the hospital. It was not known where
Speaker:or when. This report
Speaker:came under Javerts eye and set him to thinking.
Speaker:The name of Fantine was well known to him.
Speaker:He remembered that Jean Valjean had made him.
Speaker:Javert burst into laughter by asking him for a respite
Speaker:of three days for the purpose of going to fetch that
Speaker:creatures child. He recalled the fact that
Speaker:Jean Valjean had been arrested in Paris at the very moment
Speaker:when he was stepping into the coach for Montfermeier.
Speaker:Some signs had made him suspect at the time that this was
Speaker:the second occasion of his entering that coach and that he
Speaker:had already on the previous day made an excursion
Speaker:to the neighborhood of that village, for he had not been seen in
Speaker:the village itself. What had he been
Speaker:intending to do in that region of Mont Fermier?
Speaker:It could not even be surmised. Javert
Speaker:understood it now. Fantine's daughter was
Speaker:there. Jean Valjean was going there in search of
Speaker:her. And now this child had been stolen by a
Speaker:stranger. Who could that stranger
Speaker:be? Could it be Jean Valjean?
Speaker:But Jean Valjean was dead. Javert,
Speaker:without saying anything to anybody, took the coach from the pewter
Speaker:platter, called a sack de la Planchet, and
Speaker:made a trip to Montfermeil. He expected to
Speaker:find a great deal of light on the subject. There he
Speaker:found a great deal of obscurity. For the first
Speaker:few days, the thenardiers had chattered in their rage.
Speaker:The disappearance of the lark had created a sensation in the
Speaker:village. He immediately obtained numerous versions
Speaker:of the story which ended in the abduction of a child.
Speaker:Hence the police report. But their
Speaker:first vexation having passed off.
Speaker:Thenardier, with his wonderful instinct, had very quickly
Speaker:comprehended that it is never advisable to stir up the prosecutor
Speaker:of the crown, and that his complaints with regard to
Speaker:the abduction of Cosette would have as their first results to
Speaker:fix upon himself and upon many dark affairs
Speaker:which he had on hand the glittering eye of justice.
Speaker:The last thing that owls desire is to have a candle brought to
Speaker:them. And in the first place,
Speaker:how explain the 1500 francs which he had
Speaker:received? He turned squarely
Speaker:around, put a gag on his wifes mouth, and feigned
Speaker:astonishment when the stolen child was mentioned to
Speaker:him. He understood nothing about
Speaker:it. No doubt he had grumbled for a while at having that dear
Speaker:little creature taken from him so hastily.
Speaker:He should have liked to keep her two or three days longer out of
Speaker:tenderness that her grandfather
Speaker:had come for her in the most natural way in the world.
Speaker:He added the grandfather, which produced a good
Speaker:effect. This was the story that Javert hit
Speaker:upon when he arrived at Montremille. The
Speaker:grandfather caused Jean Valjean to vanish.
Speaker:Nevertheless, Javert dropped a few questions, like plummets
Speaker:into Thenardier's history. Who was that
Speaker:grandfather, and what was his name?
Speaker:Thenardier replied with simplicity. Hes a
Speaker:wealthy farmer. I saw his passport. I think its
Speaker:name was Monsieur Guillermet Lambert.
Speaker:Lambert is a respectable and extremely reassuring
Speaker:name. Thereupon Javert returned to
Speaker:Paris. Jean Valjean is certainly
Speaker:dead, said he, and I am a
Speaker:ninny. He had again begun to forget this
Speaker:history when in the course of March
Speaker:1824, he heard of a singular
Speaker:personage who dwelt in the parish of St. Bendard
Speaker:and who had been surnamed the mendicant. Who gives
Speaker:alms. This person, the story
Speaker:ran, was a man of means whose name no one knew
Speaker:exactly, and who lived alone with a little girl of
Speaker:eight years, who knew nothing about herself, save
Speaker:that she had come from Montfermeil.
Speaker:Montfermeil. That name was always
Speaker:coming up and it made Javert prick up his ears.
Speaker:An old beggar police spy, an ex beadle to
Speaker:whom this person had given alms, added a few more
Speaker:details. This gentleman of property was
Speaker:very shy, never coming out except in the
Speaker:evening, speaking to no one except
Speaker:occasionally to the poor, and never
Speaker:allowing anyone to approach him. He wore a
Speaker:horrible old yellow frock coat which was worth many
Speaker:millions, being all wadded with bank bills.
Speaker:This piqued Javerts curiosity in a decided
Speaker:manner. In order to get a close look at this
Speaker:fantastic gentleman. Without alarming him, he
Speaker:borrowed the Beatles outfit for a day in the place where the old spy
Speaker:was in the habit of crouching every evening, whining
Speaker:orsons through his nose and playing the spy
Speaker:under cover of prayer. The suspected
Speaker:individual did indeed approach Javert, thus
Speaker:disguised, and bestow alms on him.
Speaker:At that moment, Javert raised his head and the shock which Jean
Speaker:Valjean received on recognizing Javert was
Speaker:equal to the one received by Javert. When he thought he recognized
Speaker:Jean Valjean, however, the darkness might
Speaker:have misled him. Jean Valjeans death was
Speaker:official. Javert cherished very
Speaker:grave doubts. And when in doubt,
Speaker:Javert, the man of scruples, never laid a finger on anyones
Speaker:collar. He followed his man to the Gorbeau house
Speaker:and got the old woman to talking, which was no difficult
Speaker:matter. The old woman confirmed m the fact regarding
Speaker:the coat lined with millions and narrated to him the episode of the
Speaker:thousand franc Bill. She had seen it,
Speaker:she had handled it. Javert hired a room
Speaker:that evening. He installed himself in it. He came
Speaker:and listened at the mysterious lodgers door, hoping to catch the sound
Speaker:of his voice. But Jean Valjean saw his
Speaker:candle through the keyhole and foiled the spy by keeping
Speaker:silent. On the following day,
Speaker:Jean Valjean decamped. But the noise made
Speaker:by the fall of the five franc piece was noticed by the old woman
Speaker:who, hearing the rattling of coins, suspected that he might be intending
Speaker:to leave and made haste to warn Javert.
Speaker:At night, when Jean Valjean came out, Javert was waiting
Speaker:for him behind the trees of the boulevard with two men.
Speaker:Javert had demanded assistance at the prefecture,
Speaker:but he had not mentioned the name of the individual whom he
Speaker:hoped to seize. That was his
Speaker:secret and he had kept it for three.
Speaker:In the first place, because the slightest indiscretion might put
Speaker:Jean Valjean on the alert next,
Speaker:because to lay hands on an ex convict who had made his escape
Speaker:and was reputed dead on. A criminal whom justice
Speaker:had formerly classed forever as among male factors.
Speaker:The most dangerous sort was a magnificent
Speaker:success which the old members of the parisian police would
Speaker:assuredly not leave to a newcomer like Javert.
Speaker:And he was afraid of being deprived of his convict.
Speaker:And lastly, because Javert, being an artist,
Speaker:had a taste for the unforeseen, he hated
Speaker:those well heralded successes which are talked
Speaker:of long in advance and have had the bloom brushed
Speaker:off. He preferred to elaborate his
Speaker:masterpieces in the dark and unveil them. Suddenly, at the
Speaker:last, Javert had followed Jean Valjean
Speaker:from tree to tree, then from corner
Speaker:to corner of the street, and had not lost sight of him
Speaker:for a single instant. Even at the moments
Speaker:when Jean Valjean believed himself to be the most secure
Speaker:javerts eye had been on him. Why
Speaker:had not Javert arrested Jean Valjean?
Speaker:Because he was still in doubt. It must be
Speaker:remembered that at that epoch the police was not
Speaker:precisely at its ease. The free press
Speaker:embarrassed it. Several arbitrary
Speaker:arrests denounced by the newspapers had echoed even as far
Speaker:as the chambers and had rendered the prefecture
Speaker:timid. Interference with individual
Speaker:liberty was a grave matter. The police
Speaker:agents were afraid of making a mistake. The
Speaker:prefect laid the blame on them. A mistake
Speaker:meant dismissal. the reader can imagine the effect which this
Speaker:brief paragraph reproduced by 20
Speaker:newspapers would have caused. In Paris yesterday,
Speaker:an aged grandfather with white hair, a respectable
Speaker:and well to do gentleman who was walking with his grandchild,
Speaker:aged eight, was arrested and conducted to the
Speaker:agency of the prefecture as an escaped convict.
Speaker:Let us repeat, in addition, that Javert had scruples of his
Speaker:own. Injunctions of his conscience were added
Speaker:to the injunctions of the prefect. He was
Speaker:really in doubt. Jean Valjean turned his
Speaker:back on him and walked in the dark.
Speaker:Sadness, uneasiness, anxiety,
Speaker:depression, this fresh misfortune of being
Speaker:forced to flee by night to seek a chance refuge in
Speaker:Paris for Cosette and himself, the necessity of
Speaker:regulating his pace to the pace of the child.
Speaker:All this, without his being aware of it,
Speaker:had altered Jean Valjeans walk and impressed
Speaker:on its bearing such senility that the police
Speaker:themselves incarnate in the person of Javert,
Speaker:might and did, in fact, make a
Speaker:mistake. The impossibility of approaching too
Speaker:close his costume of an migr
Speaker:preceptor, the declaration of thenardier,
Speaker:which made a grandfather of him, and finally,
Speaker:the belief in his death in prison added still
Speaker:further to the uncertainty which gathered thick in Javerts
Speaker:mind. For an instant it occurred to him to
Speaker:make an abrupt demand for his papers. But
Speaker:if the man was not Jean Valjean,
Speaker:and if this man was not a good, honest old fellow
Speaker:living on his income, he was probably some
Speaker:merry blade, deeply and cunningly implicated in the
Speaker:obscure web of parisian misdeeds, some
Speaker:chief of a dangerous band who gave alms to conceal his other
Speaker:talents, which was an old dodge.
Speaker:He had trusty fellows, accomplices,
Speaker:retreats in case of emergencies in which he
Speaker:would no doubt take refuge.
Speaker:All these turns which he was making through the streets seemed
Speaker:to indicate that he was not a simple and honest man.
Speaker:To arrest him too hastily would be to kill the hen that laid
Speaker:the golden eggs. Where was the inconvenience
Speaker:in waiting? Javert was very sure that he would
Speaker:not escape. Thus he proceeded in
Speaker:a tolerably perplexed state of mind, putting to
Speaker:himself a hundred questions about this enigmatical
Speaker:personage. It was only quite late in
Speaker:the rue des Pontois, but thanks to the
Speaker:brilliant light thrown from a dram shop, he
Speaker:decidedly recognized Jean Valjean.
Speaker:There are in this world two beings who give a
Speaker:profound the mother who recovers her
Speaker:child and the tiger who recovers its prey.
Speaker:Javert gave that profound start as, soon
Speaker:as he had positively recognized Jean Valjean, the
Speaker:formidable convict, he perceived that there were only three
Speaker:of them, and he asked for reinforcements. At the police station of the rue des
Speaker:Pontois, one puts on gloves before
Speaker:grasping a thorn cudgel. This
Speaker:delay in the halt at the care for Roland
Speaker:to consult with his agents came near, causing him to lose the
Speaker:trail. He speedily divined, however, that
Speaker:Jean Valjean would want to put the river between his pursuers and
Speaker:himself. He bent his head and reflected like
Speaker:a bloodhound who puts his nose to the ground to make sure hes on
Speaker:the right scent. Javert,
Speaker:with his powerful rectitude of instinct,
Speaker:went straight to the bridge of Austerlitz.
Speaker:A word with the toll keeper furnished with him the information which he
Speaker:required. Have you seen a man with a little
Speaker:girl? I made him pay two sous,
Speaker:replied the toll keeper. Javert reached the
Speaker:bridge in season to see Jean Valjean traverse the small
Speaker:illuminated spot on the other side of the water.
Speaker:Leading Cosette by the hand, he saw him
Speaker:enter the rude Isham invert Saint Antoine. He
Speaker:remembered the cul de sac Ginrod arranged there like a trap,
Speaker:and of the sole exit of the rue droit mur into the rue
Speaker:petit picpiss. He made sure of his
Speaker:back burrows, as huntsmen say. He
Speaker:hastily dispatched one of his agents by a roundabout way to
Speaker:guard that issue, a patrol which was returning to
Speaker:the arsenal post having passed him, he made a
Speaker:requisition on it and caused it to accompany
Speaker:him. In such games, soldiers are
Speaker:aces. Moreover, the principle is
Speaker:that in order to get the best of a wild boar,
Speaker:one must employ the science of a venery and plenty of
Speaker:dogs. These combinations having been
Speaker:affected, feeling that Jean Valjean was caught between the blind
Speaker:ally Genrot on the right, his agent on the left, and
Speaker:himself, Javert, in the rear, he took a pinch
Speaker:of snuff. Then he began the
Speaker:game. He experienced one ecstatic
Speaker:and infernal moment. He allowed his man to go on
Speaker:ahead, knowing that he had him safe, but desirous of
Speaker:postponing the moment of arrest as long as possible,
Speaker:happy at the thought that he was taken and yet at seeing him
Speaker:free, gloating over him with his gaze, with that
Speaker:voluptuousness of the spider which allows the fly to
Speaker:flutter, and of the cat which lets the mouse
Speaker:run. Claws and talons
Speaker:possess monstrous sensuality, the obscure
Speaker:movements of the creature imprisoned in their pincers.
Speaker:What a delight this strangling is.
Speaker:Javert was enjoying himself. The meshes of
Speaker:his net were stoutly knotted. He was sure of
Speaker:success. All he had to do now was to close his
Speaker:hand. Accompanied as he was,
Speaker:the very idea of resistance was impossible.
Speaker:However vigorous, energetic and desperate
Speaker:Jean Valjean might be.
Speaker:Javert advanced slowly,
Speaker:sounding, searching on his way, all the nooks of the
Speaker:street, like so many pockets of thieves.
Speaker:When he reached the center of the web, he found the fly no longer
Speaker:there. His exasperation can be
Speaker:imagined. He interrogated his sentinel of the
Speaker:rudroit mur and petite Picpus, that
Speaker:agent who had remained imperturbably at his post, had not
Speaker:seen the man passed. It sometimes
Speaker:happens that a stag has lost head and horns.
Speaker:That is to say, he escapes, although he has the pack on his
Speaker:very heels, and the oldest huntsmen know not
Speaker:what to say. Duvier,
Speaker:Ligneville and espress halt short.
Speaker:In a discomfiture of this sort, Artem
Speaker:exclaims, it was not a stag, but a
Speaker:sorcerer. Javert would have liked to utter the
Speaker:same cry. His disappointment bordered
Speaker:for a moment on despair and rage.
Speaker:It is certain that Napoleon made mistakes during the war with
Speaker:Russia, that Alexander committed blunders in the war in
Speaker:India, that Caesar made mistakes in the war in
Speaker:Africa, that Cyrus was at fault in the war in
Speaker:Scythia, and that Javert blundered in this campaign
Speaker:against Jean Valjean. He was wrong.
Speaker:Perhaps in hesitating in his recognition of the ex
Speaker:convict. The first glance should have
Speaker:sufficed him. He was wrong in not arresting
Speaker:him purely and simply in the old building.
Speaker:He was wrong in not arresting him when he positively
Speaker:recognized him in the rue des Pontois. He was wrong
Speaker:in taking counsel with his auxiliaries in the full light of the
Speaker:moon. In the kufferin Rollin
Speaker:advice is certainly useful. It is a good
Speaker:thing to know and to interrogate those of the dogs who
Speaker:deserve confidence. But the hunter cannot
Speaker:be too cautious when he is chasing uneasy animals like the
Speaker:wolf and the convict.
Speaker:Javert, by taking too much thought as
Speaker:to how he should set the bloodhounds of the pack on the trail,
Speaker:alarmed the beast by giving him wind of the dart and
Speaker:so made him run. Above all, he was wrong in
Speaker:that after he had picked up the Sentigan on the bridge of
Speaker:Austerlitz, he played that formidable and
Speaker:puerile game of keeping such a man at the end of a
Speaker:thread. He thought himself stronger than he was
Speaker:and believed that he could play at the game of the mouse and the
Speaker:lionhead. At the same time, he
Speaker:reckoned himself as too weak when he judged it necessary to
Speaker:obtain reinforcement. Fatal
Speaker:precaution. Waste of precious
Speaker:time. Javert committed all these blunders
Speaker:and nonetheless was one of the cleverest and most correct
Speaker:spies that ever existed. He was
Speaker:in the full force of the term, what is called a
Speaker:knowing dog.
Speaker:But what is there that is perfect?
Speaker:Great strategists have their eclipses. The
Speaker:greatest follies are often composed like the largest
Speaker:ropes of a multitude of strands.
Speaker:Take the cable thread by thread. Take all
Speaker:the petty determining motives separately, and you can break
Speaker:them one after the other. And you say, that is all there is of
Speaker:it. Braid them, twist them together.
Speaker:The result is enormous. It is Attila
Speaker:hesitating between Martian on the east and
Speaker:Valentinian on the west. It is Hannibal
Speaker:tearing at Capua. It is Daunton falling
Speaker:asleep at Arsisu Abbey. However
Speaker:that may be, even at the moment
Speaker:when he saw that Jean Valjean had escaped him,
Speaker:Javert did not lose his head. Sure
Speaker:that the convict who had broken his ban could not be far
Speaker:off, he established sentinels.
Speaker:He organized traps and ambuscades and beat
Speaker:the quarter all that night. The first thing he saw
Speaker:was the disorder in the street lantern whose rope had been cut,
Speaker:a precious sign which, however, led him astray, since
Speaker:it caused him to turn all his researches in the direction of the cul de sac.
Speaker:Gin rot. In this blind alley, there
Speaker:were tolerably low walls which abutted on gardens
Speaker:whose bounds adjoined the immense, stretches of wasteland.
Speaker:Jean Valjean evidently must have fled in that direction.
Speaker:The fact is that had he
Speaker:penetrated a little further in the cul de sac gen
Speaker:rot, he would probably have done so and have been
Speaker:lost. Javert explored these gardens
Speaker:and these waste stretches as though he had been hunting for a
Speaker:needle. At daybreak, he left two
Speaker:intelligent men on the outlook and returned to the
Speaker:prefecture of police, as much ashamed as a police spy who
Speaker:had been captured by a robber might have been.
Speaker:Thank you for joining bite at a time books today
Speaker:while we read a bite of one of your favorite classics.
Speaker:Again, my name is Brie Carlisle, and I
Speaker:hope you come back tomorrow, for the next bite
Speaker:of Le Miserable.
Speaker:>> Brie Carlisle: Don'T forget to sign up for our
Speaker:newsletter@biteoutimebooks.com comma. And
Speaker:check out the shop. You can check out the show notes
Speaker:or our website, bite at a timebooks.com.
Speaker:for the rest of the links for our show. we'd love to hear from you
Speaker:on social media as well.
Speaker:>> Brie Carlisle: M
Speaker:take it chapter by chapter,
Speaker:one at a time.
Speaker:So many adventures and
Speaker:mountains we can climb
Speaker:take it word for word, line by
Speaker:line, one bite at a time.
Speaker:>> Brie Carlisle: Sadeena.