The deuce! there is plenty to dispute in the matter, is there not?
Yes, for any one but Jean Valjean. But Jean Valjean is a sly dog.
That is the way I recognized him. Any other man would have felt that things were getting hot for him; he would struggle, he would cry out--the kettle sings before the fire; he would not be Jean Valjean, et cetera.
But he has not the appearance of understanding; he says, `I am Champmathieu, and I won't depart from that!'
He has an astonished air, he pretends to be stupid; it is far better.
Oh! the rogue is clever!
But it makes no difference. The proofs are there.
He has been recognized by four persons; the old scamp will be condemned.
The case has been taken to the Assizes at Arras.
I shall go there to give my testimony.
I have been summoned."
M. Madeleine had turned to his desk again, and taken up his docket, and was turning over the leaves tranquilly, reading and writing by turns, like a busy man.
He turned to Javert:--
"That will do, Javert.
In truth, all these details interest me but little.
We are wasting our time, and we have pressing business on hand.
Javert, you will betake yourself at once to the house of the woman Buseaupied, who sells herbs at the corner of the Rue Saint-Saulve. You will tell her that she must enter her complaint against carter Pierre Chesnelong.
The man is a brute, who came near crushing this woman and her child.
He must be punished.
You will then go to M. Charcellay, Rue Montre-de-Champigny. He complained that there is a gutter on the adjoining house which discharges rain-water on his premises, and is undermining the foundations of his house. After that, you will verify the infractions of police regulations which have been reported to me in the Rue Guibourg, at Widow Doris's, and Rue du Garraud-Blanc, at Madame Renee le Bosse's, and you will prepare documents.