Sorry for being gone for so long. Anyway, I've managed to shove real life to the side for a little while to work on this:
Entrusting
The everyday chaos near and within the Prefecture would have made a weak head spin, but still Fantine forced herself to assume a straight posture as she approached the inspector on duty.
"What do you want, Madame?" Javert asked coolly.
Fantine cleared her throat even as Cosette ducked behind her skirt. "I have come to inquire after a boy who was brought here. His name is Gilles, he's about thirteen, with dark hair, and he's not that high," she said, holding out her hand to indicate Gilles' height. "May I see him, M'sieur Inspecteur?"
Javert's lip curled with disdain. "He was with a group of vagabonds causing mischief. For that he has to be detained here."
Fantine gripped Javert's desk. "Please M'sieur, even for a moment? I'm all he has left, as you know. His parents are gone---"
"I cannot release him to anyone save his parents or his guardian," Javert said as his eyes narrowed. "Have Monsieur or Madame Feuilly made any arrangements with you to that effect?"
The young woman shook her head slightly. "And what will become of him? I cannot abandon him, it would be unkind to do so. I love him like my own, M'sieur—surely you can understand that?" she asked, hoping her voice did not shake so much.
"I cannot do much for you, not at this point," Javert said firmly. "Take your daughter and go. This is no place for her."
"Monsieur!" Fantine cried, seizing Javert's hand.
Javert jerked away from Fantine's touch. "I must ask you to leave, Madame," he said curtly.
"I will pay the fine then!" Fantine blurted out.
"Twenty francs!" Javert exclaimed. "And you intend to pay that amount now?"
Fantine let out a gasp more out of surprise than of dismay. She folded her hands primly. "I will do what I must, Monsieur," she said quietly as she rummaged through her purse. "Even if it means my eating less for a week."
Javert nodded to the warden, who then left the room. A minute later, the burly man returned half-dragging a shame-faced Gilles by his arm.
Cosette's eyes went round at the sight of her friend. "Gilles, what happened?" she cried out, pointing to the bruises on Gilles' face and the new tears on his clothes.
Gilles grinned half-heartedly at the little girl then at Fantine. "I have had a little trouble, and I'm sorry for it," he said solemnly.
Fantine handed over the money and took Cosette's hand again. "We will go home now," she said firmly.
Gilles trudged behind them on their way out of the Prefecture. "I really meant to do something, Madame Fantine. I was on my way to ask a bit, but the boys down by the way called me over."
Fantine sighed at this tale. "You shouldn't have run off. I am going to see that you and Cosette will go to school. Or you can work as an apprentice if that's what you want."
"Maybe M. Madeleine's factory?" Gilles said hopefully.
Fantine shrugged. "Some other place maybe," she mumbled. "I can't expect him to be so nice for too long."
Evening was an unusual time to be running errands, but Fantine knew that there was no other time given to her. As she ambled up to the small café near the factory, she could hear the shouts and laughter of the usual patrons. She wrinkled her nose at the smell of tobacco emanating from a man seated outside the establishment.
She peered at him closely. "Monsieur Lautrec?" she asked.
Monsieur Lautrec, known to the rest of the town as the schoolteacher, raised his head sleepily. "Ah, Mademoiselle…Madame, what can I do for you?"
Fantine managed a confident smile. "I wish to send my little girl to school tomorrow."
"What is her name?" Monsieur Lautrec asked.
"I call her Cosette, but she is really Euphrasie. She is three already, and she is a very good girl. She won't be noisy or bad," Fantine replied.
Monsieur Lautrec smiled cordially as he rummaged in his pocket for paper and a pencil. "Could you write her name down here, so that I can put it in the register when I go home?"
Fantine grasped the pencil as if it was an adder. "Monsieur, I could spell it out, but…"
"There, there," Monsieur Lautrec said patronizingly, taking the pencil from Fantine. "I'll write it down. Euphrasie isn't it?"
"Yes," Fantine replied, thankful that the darkness could hide her reddened face.
"No other name?" Monsieur Lautrec asked.
"That is all," Fantine said quickly.
"I see," Monsieur Lautrec said. "And your name?"
"Fantine. That's the only name I go by."
Monsieur Lautrec wrote this down before pocketing his things. "Very well then. Please bring your daughter to the schoolhouse at seven in the morning. Classes begin then. She'll be put with the other little ones."
"Oh thank you!" Fantine said ecstatically. "We shan't be late, I promise Good evening, Monsieur Lautrec," she added more delicately.
She almost ran the entire way back to her lodgings, eager to deliver the good news. On her way she passed by what she had heard was M. Madeleine's house. She saw that only one candle was in the window.
"Thank you Monsieur," she whispered before continuing back to the house.