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5 Love and Rebellion
So, what is Marius's idea?
It is this... He wants to marry Cosette, but he has no money.
His grandfather has money. He must ask his grandfather...
But his grandfather is an old man, and old men's ideas do not change easily.
He shouts at Marius, Marius shouts back, and that is the end of that.
The next evening he goes as usual to the Rue Plumet.
There is nobody in the garden, the house is dark, the windows are closed- Cosette and her father are gone.
Marius cannot live without Cosette.
He wants to die, but Gavroche tells him that his friends need him.
It is June 1832,
and students and workers are running through the streets of Paris, bringing rebellion to the city,
and everyone must fight the government.
Marius is soon at the barricades, with a gun in his hand.
He is happy. Death can come at any moment with a bullet from a soldier's gun.
These are dangerous times.
Jean Valjean sees Inspector Javert in a street near the Rue Plumet.
What is he doing there? Are the police watching his house?
Valjean does not wait. The same night he and Cosette leave Rue Plumet.
They move to 7 Rue de I'Homme-Armé, and begin to get ready for England.
How can love find a way in these troubled times?
When the soldiers attacked in front of the Arsenal building,
the people turned and ran, this way and that way, through the streets of the city.
Marius and his friends came to the Rue de la Chanvrerie and they built their barricade there.
It was two metres high, made of wood and stone.
Behind their barricade, the rebels waited for the soldiers.
Night came, but nothing happened.
Enjolras was the leader of the students.
He called Gavroche to him. ‘You're small,’ he said. ‘Nobody sees you.
‘Go and have a look round the city, and then bring us any news.’
Just after midnight, Gavroche was back.
‘The soldiers aren't moving,’ he said. ‘But there are a lot of them.’
He stopped suddenly and whispered, ‘Hey, who's that? That tall man, over there?’
Enjolras and Marius turned to look. ‘I don't know him,’ said Marius.
‘People are coming and going all night,’ said Enjolras. ‘Why, Gavroche? Do you know him?’
‘Yes,’ whispered Gavroche. ‘He's not one of us. He's a spy, a police spy.
‘Name of Javert. He stopped me once, down by the river. Put me in prison all night.’
‘Are you certain about this, Gavroche?’ said Marius.
‘I'm certain, all right,’ said Gavroche. ‘He's a spy!’
The rebels did not like spies.
Four of Enjolras's men jumped on Javert, pulled him into the tavern behind the barricade, and tied him to the wall.
‘Do we shoot him now?’ asked one of the men.
‘Later,’ said Enjolras. ‘He can wait.’
They went back outside to the barricade and listened for the sound of soldiers.
Gavroche found Marius at the far end of the barricade.
‘Marius,’ he whispered, ‘on my way back here I came past your rooms and went in.’
‘Why?’ whispered Marius.
‘I was hungry,’ said Gavroche.
‘The woman in your house is nice- she always gives me something to eat.
‘But she had a letter for you. She gave it to me. It came two days ago, she said.’
‘A letter? A letter from whom?’ Suddenly there was hope in Marius's heart.
‘Quick— give it to me.’ The letter was from Cosette.
My dearest. Father says we must leave at once.
We go tonight to 7 Rue de I’Homme-Armé, and soon to England.
Oh my dear, how can I live without you? Cosette
Marius read this letter four times and then kissed it.
She still loved him! He must write back to her and say his last goodbye.
There was still no sound of soldiers in the street.
He found some paper and a pencil.
Cosette, dearest. I came to the Rue Plumet, but you were gone already.
We cannot marry. I went to my grandfather, and he said no.
I have no money, and you have no money.
I love you. I can never forget you.
The fighting begins here very soon.
When I am dead, don't be sad.
Our love was beautiful. Marius
He called to Gavroche. ‘I want you to take this letter to the Rue de I'Homme-Armé. Can you do that for me?’
‘Yes, but not now!’ said Gavroche. ‘I'm staying here for the fighting. I can shoot too, you know!’
‘Gavroche, you're just a boy! We don't want you to die in the fighting. Stay away from the shooting!
‘And this letter is very important to me. It must go now.
‘I want you to put it into Cosette's hands. Please, Gavroche.’
‘Oh, very well,’ said Gavroche.
He took the letter, put it inside his shirt, and ran off into the dark.
When Valjean and Cosette left the house in Rue Plumet, Cosette was very sad.
Valjean saw this, but he said nothing.
In the Rue de I'Homme-Armé, Cosette stayed in her bedroom. Toussaint took her meals up to her.
In the night Valjean could not sleep.
The city was quiet, but for how long?
He went outside the house and stood in the street, listening.
There were voices in the next street, and then he heard singing. A boy, singing.
Gavroche came up the street, looking at the house numbers. He saw Valjean and stopped.
‘Well, young man, what's the news?’ said Valjean.
‘The news is that I'm hungry,’ said Gavroche.
Valjean put his hand in his pocket and found a five-franc piece.
Gavroche stared at it. He didn't see many five-franc pieces,
and he was very pleased to see this one. He put it in his pocket.
‘You're all right,’ he said. ‘Do you live in this street? Do you know number seven?’
‘What do you want with number seven?’ said Valjean.
‘Letter for someone,’ said Gavroche. ‘A woman.’
Valjean stared at him. He felt cold. A woman. Cosette?
He remembered at once the young man in the Luxembourg.
He tried to smile. ‘Ah, that's the letter for Cosette,’ he said. ‘I'm waiting for it.’
‘Yes, that's her. Well, here you are,’ said Gavroche.
‘It comes from the barricade in the Rue de la Chanvrerie. I'm going back there now. Goodnight, Monsieur.’
Jean Valjean went back into the house with Marius's letter.
He read it quickly... I love you. I can never forget you...
So, Cosette, his dear, dear daughter, was in love.
She was his world; without her, his life was nothing.
He could not even think about it...
When I am dead, don't be sad... Those words gave him hope.
So the young man was one of the rebels at the barricade.
‘When the soldiers start shooting,’ he thought, ‘that's the end of all the rebels.
‘I do nothing, I say nothing, I keep this letter, and poof!
‘Nothing changes in our lives.’
But Valjean did not feel easy.
He remembered all their happy years as father and daughter,
and he saw again Cosette's sad eyes when they left the Rue Plumet.
How could he take her away to England?
He turned and went out of the room.
A little later, he left the house, wearing dark clothes and carrying a gun, and walked away down the street.
