A/N - Rampant sap, you have been warned! But it had to happen sometime, I suppose . .
The nuns brought Cosette to the hospital, waiting outside until the arrival of the mayor, whohad specifically asked to be present at the reunion.
As soon as she saw Adele she somehow managed to let slip Sister Perpetua's grasp and ran to embrace her. It was clear that, for Cosette, this was a homecoming of sorts and she buried herself in the folds of Mme Jacquemin's cloak, wrapping her arms around her thick waist. Adele bent down and kissed Cosette on both cheeks; fierce, protective kisses in which there may have been a hint of defiance. The mayor regarded them with an unfathomable expression on his face and, feeling the weight of his gaze, both child and woman became intimidated, abashed, and released their hold on one another.
Cosette, especially, seemed to be affected by his presence, staring disconsolately at the floor and chewing a strand of her hair. Madeleine's presence seemed to bring on a return of the painful reticence which the child had exhibited when first arrived in Montreuil. The mayor, appearing not to notice the child's reserve, addressed her in a grave, kindly voice: "Are you well, Euphrasie?"
The answering 'yes, Sir' was scarcely audible.
"Today is a very special day, Euphrasie. Today you shall be reunited with you mother."
"With my mother? . . . Maman?" This news seemed to restore some of the child's confidence, or at least to reawaken her natural curiosity, for she began to chatter on in a rather brighter manner than the one she had previously exhibited, addressing her remarks to Adele as much as Madeleine (but not at all to the nun). Adele kept silent throughout - she had promised herself that she would not to so much as open her mouth until she had seen this business through and could gauge what the mayor meant.
"You mean I truly have a mother? A real one - like you Mme Jacquemin? I never thought about having a mother before - "
"Everybody has a mother, child" said Madeleine gently.
"Yes, I just didn't believe in her, I suppose. Cos I couldn't remember her. But now . . What is she like? I do hope she's like you, Madame!"
"Euphrasie, your mother is a good woman who loves you very much.. At the moment she is very sick, so you must help her to get better - do you understand? When she is quite well you shall live together and you shall both be very happy - "
"I wonder why she wants me back now?" mused Cosette, entirely innocently. That her mother should suddenly appear and lay claim to her was as unremarkable to the child as the fact that she had disappeared in the first place, that Javert had brought her to Montreuil or, indeed, that on some days it chose to rain: "Did Papa find her?"
"Well, not exac - " began the mayor, but Cosette had not really been waiting for a response.
"I'm excited about having a maman now. And when she is well we will all live together - her and me and Papa - won't we?"
Adele looked away. The mayor bit his lip for a moment then replied: "No, Euphrasie, it will be just you and your mother, and you both shall be very - "
"Not Papa? Why?"
"He's not really your father - "
"Oh," said Cosette dully, looking back at the floor again. She did not understand the logic behind this at all, but did understand it to be one of those thing that happened because it happened, on of those examples of - "Why? Because I said so." - that the adult world was so fond of offering and with which she had learned not to argue. None-the-less, a large pearly tear trickled down the child's otherwise impassive face, followed by another. Madeleine looked at her and sighed as he opened the sickroom door, indicating to the others to wait.
Sister Simplice helped Fantine to sit up in bed and wrapped a woollen shawl around her shoulders. The girl smiled broadly, her faced flushed with what could either have been excitement or consumption
"She's really here? I am really to see her? My little girl . . At last!" She turned to Madeleine, who had seated himself at the side of the bed, "And it is all thanks to you, Monsieur Madeleine, God keep you! You are so kind . . !"
And she seized Madeleine's hand and made as if to kiss it. Madeleine blushed and pulled his hand away almost brusquely, looking down at the floor. To have this woman, of all people, praise his goodness was almost unbearably painful to him.
Still gazing at the tiles, he said: "Shall I fetch her in? sister?" Both women nodded, the sister gravely and the mother with an excited little gasp.
"You may come in now, Sister Perpetua." called Madeleine.
The door opened slowly, Cosette can in first nudged through by Adele, who remained standing just inside the doorway, Sister Perpetuachose this moment to walked slowly towards the sickbed, not exactly with trepidation, but thoughtfully, stopping just short of Madeleine's chair
"Euphrasie, this is your mother, " he said quietly, looking at the child to save looking at the mother, who as now crying
"Dieu! My little girl! God has forgiven me! My little one - but so grown! So grown . . "
Cosette at first regarded this strange spectacle with confusion, unable to see why this unknown woman should be weeping, apparently over her. Then she looked closer, and the woman seemed familiar. An image came into her head - a burgundy scarecrow and two missing teeth on a cold winter's afternoon. And then, more dimly, blonde sweet hair and candlelight and a woman singing something about the Blessed Virgin and violets.
This had long been the child's oldest and most obscure and treasured memory. She had told her father about it once, when he had asked her about her life in Monfermiel. He had simply nodded, lifting up the corners of his mouth in an expression that was not a smile, and said: "The rose is blood red and the violet is blue. The rose is blood red and my heart remains true."# Then he had laughed.
Meanwhile the woman was still crying, which , unaccountably, rather upset Cosette. She stepped forward to the bedside and said:" But, I . . I know you! You told me about your little girl. Outside the baker's, remember?"
"I'm your mother!" Fantine sobbed, suddenly confused by the situation. She had been more than half expecting to see the bonny, curly-haired almost-baby she had left behind, not a tall, well-grown child like the one standing before her.
The little girl knitted her brow and then, impulsively, climbed up onto the bed and put her hand on Fantine's face "Don't cry! Please don't cry . . ."
Adele watched this scene unfold from the doorway, an unwelcome sense of turmoil rising in her brain. She felt slightly dizzy and leant against the door lintel, entirely ceasing to pay attention to what was going on around her. Suddenly, an uncertain amount of time later, she heard the mayor call her name.
"Madame Jacquemin? I have business to attend to - would you be so kind as to return Cosette to the Sisters?" Adele nodded, determined to be agreeable, but still noting that there was something in the mayor's tone which said "And straight to the Sisters, mind you.".
When Madeleine left the room Adele sat herself down on his chair and looked between Cosette and the girl in the bed - poor, ridiculous chit of a thing! Eventually she remarked, not unkindly:
"She looks like you, you know - beautiful eyelashes."
It was true but Fantine looked surprised. She had been gazing at the child sat on the edge of the bed - solemn and a little reserved, head cocked to one side and hands bunched up in her sleeves - and thinking that, in manner at least, she was highly reminiscent of someone else entirely.
#This part of a song Fantine sings when she is delirious (Part 1, bk 7, ch 6) and Hugo calls it "an old cradlesong". The translation (rather free) is mine. The French runs thus: "Les bleuets sont bleus, les roses sont roses/Les bleuets sont bleus, j'aime mes amours"