Monsieur Leblanc
Inside Petit-Picpus, Valjean finds a peace he had not known. The convent garden is sanctuary. He tends roses with the attention he once gave to hiding. Nurturing growth is the work he had been denied: to create rather than flee. Sisters whisper about scarred hands and do not make the whisper into a warrant. A pause is not a full civic welcome. It is enough to let a child have a childhood.
Key Insight
Sanctuary is a protected interval, not a rewritten state. Use it to grow something, including a child, then do not confuse the walls with a country that has accepted you.
