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NEW TROUBLES
When the hour came for him to take his departure from the
galleys, when Jean Valjean heard in his ear the strange words,
Thou art free! the moment seemed improbable and unprecedented;
a ray of vivid light, a ray of the true light of the living, suddenly
penetrated within him. But it was not long before this ray paled.
Jean Valjean had been dazzled by the idea of liberty.
He had believed in a new life. He very speedily perceived
what sort of liberty it is to which a yellow passport is provided.
And this was encompassed with much bitterness.
He had calculated that his earnings, during his sojourn in
the galleys, ought to amount to a hundred and seventy-one francs.
It is but just to add that he had forgotten to include in
his calculations the forced repose of Sundays and festival days
during nineteen years, which entailed a diminution of about eighty
francs.
At all events, his hoard had been reduced by various local
levies to the sum of one hundred and nine francs fifteen sous,
which had been counted out to him on his departure. He had understood
nothing of this, and had thought himself wronged. Let us say the
word--robbed.
On the day following his liberation, he saw, at Grasse, in
front of an orange-flower distillery, some men engaged in unloading
bales. He offered his services.
Business was pressing; they were accepted. He set to work.
He was intelligent, robust, adroit; he did his best; the master
seemed pleased.
While he was at work, a gendarme passed, observed him, and
demanded his papers.
It was necessary to show him the yellow passport.
That done, Jean Valjean resumed his labor. A little while
before he had questioned one of the workmen as to the amount which
they earned each day at this occupation; he had been told thirty
sous.
When evening arrived, as he was forced to set out again on
the following day, he presented himself to the owner of the distillery
and requested to be paid.
The owner did not utter a word, but handed him fifteen sous.
He objected. He was told, "That is enough for thee."
He persisted.
The master looked him straight between the eyes, and said
to him "Beware of the prison."
There, again, he considered that he had been robbed.
Society, the State, by diminishing his hoard, had robbed him
wholesale. Now it was the individual who was robbing him at retail.
Liberation is not deliverance.
One gets free from the galleys, but not from the sentence.
That is what happened to him at Grasse.
We have seen in what manner he was received at D----
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