The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved; loved for ourselves, or rather in spite of ourselves.
Victor Hugo

It was not hard to see what was passing in the man's mind. When the soul has been caged, beaten, and made like that of the dumb animals, thoughts are but the more clearly read.

Anger burned in his dark pupils, the rage of a cornered wolf. The three gendarmes holding the man here at his door had been the ones to corner him. Fear could be seen in his eyes as well, shadowed as they were by the poor light. Fear of pain, if a loaf of bread could give a man five years in Toulon, how much more would he have for the value of this silver? And yet through the anger, the pain, the fear, there shone something else. Much smaller and less noticeable than the others, yet it was there.

Shame.

The animals did not feel shame. There was no remorse for them after an offense, only men were capable of that.

And this thing in front of him; this filthy, exhausted, broken thief, was still a man.

He was a man so full of hatred he would possibly never reemerge from the prison. He would die as lost as he was now; as impoverished as he was born. If there was one thing to be learned from the study of God, it was that mercy reigns supreme. No man, no matter how poor, how evil, could find forgiveness and acceptance in the arms of Christ. Here on earth, people were set to share this love, to be the examples copying that which most people couldn't see.

He was one of those people.

And if he let this one man slip into the grasp of hell, he would have failed in his work.

So he advanced.

"Ah! Here you are! I am glad to see you. Well, but how is this? I gave you the candlesticks too, which are of silver like the rest, and for which you can certainly get two hundred francs. Why did you not carry them away with your forks and spoons?"

The man's eyes widened, he had clearly expected to be denounced; to be returned to the earthly hell from whence he had come. But he knew, as a man of God, nothing on this world He was merely the caretaker for his heavenly master, everything he possessed was to be used to help those in need.

"So what this man said is true then?" The gendarme asked, clearly amazed. "We came across him. He was walking like a man running away. We stopped him to look into the matter. He had this silver…"

He smiled benignly at the officer.

"And he told you, that it had been given to him by a kind old fellow of a priest with whom he had passed the night? I see how the matter stands. And you brought him back here? It is a mistake."

"In that case, we can let him go?" The man seemed unable to fathom the simple giving away of thousands of francs worth of silver.

"Certainly."

The gendarmes released the man, who still seemed shocked.

'My friend, before you go, here are your candlesticks. Take them."

The other man's hands shook as he received the precious objects.

"You may retire, gentlemen." He said to the gendarmes, then he blessed them, they bowed in acceptance of his benediction.

When they were gone he turned back to the thief on his doorstep.

"Do not forget, never forget, that you have promised to use this money to become and honest man."

The other jerked away, bewildered; for he had never voiced such a promise.

He spoke with finality, hoping that this man would take his words to heart and act upon them.

"Jean Val Jean, my brother, you no longer belong to evil, but to good. It is your soul that I buy from you; I withdraw it from black thoughts and the spirit of perdition. And I give it to God."

A/N

So, I love classic literature. I love pretty much all literature

(Except Twilight-esque nonsense. But that is a rampage for another time.)

But classic literature is by far the best, and Victor Hugo was a master. I strongly recommend that you read his books, any one of them, they are all good. Warning; they are a lot to handle, he spends a lot of time describing things, but it is well worth it! I was sooo excited when I heard about the Les Miserables movie coming out, I went to see it, and it was everything I was hoping for! This is my absolute favorite book and the movie was nearly as good. I love the character of the priest and wanted to show his POV with the candlesticks scene.

Anyway, that's enough rambling. Thanks so much for reading; please, please, please review, I would really appreciate it. I am always trying to improve!

-Empress