CHAPTER XI--CHAMPMATHIEU MORE AND MORE ASTONISHED

  It was he, in fact. The clerk's lamp illumined his countenance. He heldhis hat in his hand; there was no disorder in his clothing; his coatwas carefully buttoned; he was very pale, and he trembled slightly;his hair, which had still been gray on his arrival in Arras, was nowentirely white: it had turned white during the hour he had sat there.

  All heads were raised: the sensation was indescribable; there wasa momentary hesitation in the audience, the voice had been soheart-rending; the man who stood there appeared so calm that they didnot understand at first. They asked themselves whether he had indeeduttered that cry; they could not believe that that tranquil man had beenthe one to give that terrible outcry.

  This indecision only lasted a few seconds. Even before the Presidentand the district-attorney could utter a word, before the ushers and thegendarmes could make a gesture, the man whom all still called, at thatmoment, M. Madeleine, had advanced towards the witnesses Cochepaille,Brevet, and Chenildieu.

  "Do you not recognize me?" said he.

  All three remained speechless, and indicated by a sign of the head thatthey did not know him. Cochepaille, who was intimidated, made a militarysalute. M. Madeleine turned towards the jury and the court, and said ina gentle voice:--

  "Gentlemen of the jury, order the prisoner to be released! Mr.President, have me arrested. He is not the man whom you are in searchof; it is I: I am Jean Valjean."

  Not a mouth breathed; the first commotion of astonishment had beenfollowed by a silence like that of the grave; those within the hallexperienced that sort of religious terror which seizes the masses whensomething grand has been done.

  In the meantime, the face of the President was stamped with sympathy andsadness; he had exchanged a rapid sign with the district-attorney and afew low-toned words with the assistant judges; he addressed the public,and asked in accents which all understood:--

  "Is there a physician present?"

  The district-attorney took the word:--

  "Gentlemen of the jury, the very strange and unexpected incidentwhich disturbs the audience inspires us, like yourselves, only with asentiment which it is unnecessary for us to express. You all know, byreputation at least, the honorable M. Madeleine, mayor of M. sur M.;if there is a physician in the audience, we join the President inrequesting him to attend to M. Madeleine, and to conduct him to hishome."

  M. Madeleine did not allow the district-attorney to finish; heinterrupted him in accents full of suavity and authority. These are thewords which he uttered; here they are literally, as they were writtendown, immediately after the trial by one of the witnesses to this scene,and as they now ring in the ears of those who heard them nearly fortyyears ago:--

  "I thank you, Mr. District-Attorney, but I am not mad; you shall see;you were on the point of committing a great error; release this man! Iam fulfilling a duty; I am that miserable criminal. I am the only onehere who sees the matter clearly, and I am telling you the truth. God,who is on high, looks down on what I am doing at this moment, and thatsuffices. You can take me, for here I am: but I have done my best; Iconcealed myself under another name; I have become rich; I have becomea mayor; I have tried to re-enter the ranks of the honest. It seems thatthat is not to be done. In short, there are many things which I cannottell. I will not narrate the story of my life to you; you will hear itone of these days. I robbed Monseigneur the Bishop, it is true; it istrue that I robbed Little Gervais; they were right in telling you thatJean Valjean was a very vicious wretch. Perhaps it was not altogetherhis fault. Listen, honorable judges! a man who has been so greatlyhumbled as I have has neither any remonstrances to make to Providence,nor any advice to give to society; but, you see, the infamy from which Ihave tried to escape is an injurious thing; the galleys make the convictwhat he is; reflect upon that, if you please. Before going to thegalleys, I was a poor peasant, with very little intelligence, a sortof idiot; the galleys wrought a change in me. I was stupid; I becamevicious: I was a block of wood; I became a firebrand. Later on,indulgence and kindness saved me, as severity had ruined me. But, pardonme, you cannot understand what I am saying. You will find at my house,among the ashes in the fireplace, the forty-sou piece which I stole,seven years ago, from little Gervais. I have nothing farther to add;take me. Good God! the district-attorney shakes his head; you say, 'M.Madeleine has gone mad!' you do not believe me! that is distressing. Donot, at least, condemn this man! What! these men do not recognize me! Iwish Javert were here; he would recognize me."

  Nothing can reproduce the sombre and kindly melancholy of tone whichaccompanied these words.

  He turned to the three convicts, and said:--

  "Well, I recognize you; do you remember, Brevet?"

  He paused, hesitated for an instant, and said:--

  "Do you remember the knitted suspenders with a checked pattern which youwore in the galleys?"

  Brevet gave a start of surprise, and surveyed him from head to foot witha frightened air. He continued:--

  "Chenildieu, you who conferred on yourself the name of 'Jenie-Dieu,'your whole right shoulder bears a deep burn, because you one day laidyour shoulder against the chafing-dish full of coals, in order to effacethe three letters T. F. P., which are still visible, nevertheless;answer, is this true?"

  "It is true," said Chenildieu.

  He addressed himself to Cochepaille:--

  "Cochepaille, you have, near the bend in your left arm, a date stampedin blue letters with burnt powder; the date is that of the landing ofthe Emperor at Cannes, March 1, 1815; pull up your sleeve!"

  Cochepaille pushed up his sleeve; all eyes were focused on him and onhis bare arm.

  A gendarme held a light close to it; there was the date.

  The unhappy man turned to the spectators and the judges with a smilewhich still rends the hearts of all who saw it whenever they think ofit. It was a smile of triumph; it was also a smile of despair.

  "You see plainly," he said, "that I am Jean Valjean."

  In that chamber there were no longer either judges, accusers, norgendarmes; there was nothing but staring eyes and sympathizing hearts.No one recalled any longer the part that each might be called uponto play; the district-attorney forgot he was there for the purpose ofprosecuting, the President that he was there to preside, the counsel forthe defence that he was there to defend. It was a striking circumstancethat no question was put, that no authority intervened. The peculiarityof sublime spectacles is, that they capture all souls and turn witnessesinto spectators. No one, probably, could have explained what he felt;no one, probably, said to himself that he was witnessing the splendidoutburst of a grand light: all felt themselves inwardly dazzled.

  It was evident that they had Jean Valjean before their eyes. That wasclear. The appearance of this man had sufficed to suffuse with lightthat matter which had been so obscure but a moment previously, withoutany further explanation: the whole crowd, as by a sort of electricrevelation, understood instantly and at a single glance the simpleand magnificent history of a man who was delivering himself up sothat another man might not be condemned in his stead. The details, thehesitations, little possible oppositions, were swallowed up in that vastand luminous fact.

  It was an impression which vanished speedily, but which was irresistibleat the moment.

  "I do not wish to disturb the court further," resumed Jean Valjean. "Ishall withdraw, since you do not arrest me. I have many things to do.The district-attorney knows who I am; he knows whither I am going; hecan have me arrested when he likes."

  He directed his steps towards the door. Not a voice was raised, not anarm extended to hinder him. All stood aside. At that moment there wasabout him that divine something which causes multitudes to stand asideand make way for a man. He traversed the crowd slowly. It was neverknown who opened the door, but it is certain that he found the door openwhen he reached it. On arriving there he turned round and said:--

  "I am at your command, Mr. District-Attorney."

  Then he addressed the audience:--

  "All of you, all who are present--consider me worthy of pity, do younot? Good God! When I think of what I was on the point of doing, Iconsider that I am to be envied. Nevertheless, I should have preferrednot to have had this occur."

  He withdrew, and the door closed behind him as it had opened, for thosewho do certain sovereign things are always sure of being served by someone in the crowd.

  Less than an hour after this, the verdict of the jury freed the saidChampmathieu from all accusations; and Champmathieu, being at oncereleased, went off in a state of stupefaction, thinking that all menwere fools, and comprehending nothing of this vision.

  BOOK EIGHTH.--A COUNTER-BLOW