Les Misérables, v. 1/5: Fantine

by Victor Hugo

  CHAPTER VII

  FAUCHELEVENT BECOMES A GARDENER AT PARIS.

  Fauchelevent had put out his knee-cap in his fall, and Father Madeleinehad him carried to an infirmary he had established for his workmenin his factory, and which was managed by two sisters of charity. Thenext morning the old man found a thousand-franc note by his bed-side,with a line in M. Madeleine's handwriting, "Payment for your cart andhorse, which I have bought:" the cart was smashed and the horse dead.Fauchelevent recovered, but his leg remained stiff, and, hence M.Madeleine, by the recommendation of the sisters and his cur?, procuredhim a situation as gardener at a convent in the St. Antoine quarter ofParis.

  Some time after, M. Madeleine was appointed Mayor; the first timeJavert saw him wearing the scarf which gave him all authority in thetown, he felt that sort of excitement a dog would feel that scented awolf in its master's clothes. From this moment he avoided him as muchas he could, and when duty imperiously compelled him, and he couldnot do otherwise than appear before the Mayor, he addressed him withprofound respect.

  The prosperity created in M---- by Father Madeleine had, in additionto the visible signs we have indicated, another symptom, which, thoughnot visible, was not the less significant, for it is one that neverdeceives: when the population is suffering, when work is scarce andtrade bad, tax-payers exhaust and exceed the time granted them, andthe State spends a good deal of money in enforcing payment. Whenwork abounds, when the country is happy and rich, the taxes are paidcheerfully, and cost the State little. We may say that wretchednessand the public exchequer have an infallible thermometer in the costof collecting the taxes. In seven years these costs had been reducedthree-fourths in the arrondissement of M----, which caused it to befrequently quoted by M. de Villele, at that time Minister of Finances.

  Such was the state of the town when Fantine returned to it. No oneremembered her, but luckily the door of M. Madeleine's factory was likea friendly face; she presented herself at it, and was admitted to thefemale shop. As the trade was quite new to Fantine, she was awkward atit and earned but small wages; but that was enough, for she had solvedthe problem,--she was earning her livelihood.