The Pruner from Faverolles

It was nearly dawn when at last the fugitives stopped along an isolated stretch of roadside. Cosette lost no time in plopping down on the grass and dozing off. Gilles took off his shoes before following suit. However, Fantine sat up ramrod straight and looked at Jean Valjean.

"Who are you?" she asked. It was only then, now that the madness of flight was slipping away, that cold light was beginning to set in her mind. She realized that perhaps back in the infirmary she had been rash; she did not even know the man she was going off with.

The man gave her a weary look as he sat down on a rock. He had a makeshift staff in hand, picked up from a fallen bough they had passed in the dark. "I was a pruner from Faverolles," he said simply.

Fantine's jaw dropped. "Please do not make jokes," she said to Valjean.

Valjean's expression grew rueful, with a trace of mirth hidden in it. "What makes you say that?"

The young woman shrugged. "You are, or were the mayor of the town, and yet you were a pruner? I expected something more...grand."

Valjean shook his head. "I was a pruner till I was given five years for stealing a loaf of bread."

"What for?"

"I had a sister," Valjean said. "She had seven children. She was a little like you, now that I think about it. It was winter then, and I had no work, and the children were hungry."

The word 'hungry' sent Fantine's stomach rumbling. She laughed with embarrassment. "Now I wish we had some bread," she said shame-facedly.

Valjean reached into his coat and brought out a piece, which he divided into four. He handed one portion to Fantine, pocketed the two, but did not eat the last. "I broke a windowpane to get the bread. I was caught, and given five years. But I wanted to leave. I had to."

"So you escaped?" Fantine whispered.

"I tried several times. In the end, I had my sentence extended," Valjean said, his gaze growing far-off. "Nineteen years. I lost track of time in the galleys, of everything..."

Fantine chewed on her bread reflectively. "And how did you end up in Montreuil-sur-mer?"

Valjean managed a smile. "When I left Toulon, the galleys, that terrible place, I tried to work. I eventually ended up in Digne, homeless. And yes, it is true, I robbed a Savoyard child there. But I met a saint as well, in that town. I tried to rob the cure, or rather the Bishop. But when I was dragged back with the silver, he did something else."

"Which was?" Fantine breathed.

Valjean bowed his head. "He gave it to me as a gift. He said that he had bought my soul for God. How could I ever forget that?"

"Did he point you this way?" Fantine asked, gesturing back to the town.

"Not that kind of way, but a way nonetheless," Valjean replied. "I decided to look for a new situation--where no one had heard of me. In the end, I came to the town, and saved a child there from a fire. They asked my name, I gave one."

"Pere Madeleine," Fantine quipped.

"At first." Valjean said. "That is my story, Madame. Far from grand, or beautiful, but that is the truth."

Fantine nodded understandingly. "I grew up in Montreuil-sur-mer, M'sieur Valjean. I was an urchin, an orphan."

Now it was Jean Valjean's turn to wear an incredulous expression. "Truly now?"

"I knew nothing else till I was old enough to work," Fantine shrugged. "Begging, picking pockets, getting into fights---you would not have known me as a little girl, M'sieur."

Jean Valjean nodded. "And how did you come to Paris?"

"I worked among the farmers for a while," Fantine said. She bit her lip, struggling to rethread her story together from the patchwork that was her memories. At last, she looked Valjean in the face. "I was a little girl, and I had dreams."

"And they led you there," Valjean said. "And of Cosette..."

"Do not ask, M'sieur," Fantine said, looking down. Any joy she might have felt in retelling her life to her friend was now submerged by the memory of Tholomyes. "Not today."

"I see," Valjean said. He gestured to a clear spot in the brush that was still hidden from the main road. "Move the children here. We will move again at nightfall."

Fantine carried Cosette to the clearing while Valjean half-dragged Gilles. After getting the children comfortable, Fantine curled up next to her daughter. "And you?" she asked Valjean.

"Will stay watch for a while. I'll wake you up later," he said to Fantine reassuringly.

Fantine smiled before sinking into slumber. "Now what a kind of man, to come out of Faverolles!"