Les Misérables: Essential Edition

Jean Valjean entered the town. It was the hour when the public-houses are closing their doors. A little tavern-keeper was closing his inn, which was situated at the corner of a street, at the same time that he was lighting his lamp. Jean Valjean asked for a lodging. The tavern-keeper cast a glance at him, saw that he was poorly clad, and said: 'I have no room.' 'Very well,' replied Jean Valjean; 'but put me somewhere—in the stable, for instance.' 'I cannot.' 'Why?' 'The horses occupy all the space.' 'Well,' resumed Jean Valjean, 'a corner of the hay-loft then. A truss of straw. We will see about that after dinner.' 'I cannot give you any dinner.' This declaration, made in a measured but firm tone, struck Jean Valjean. He took off his cap; he placed it on the threshold of the inn; then he entered the room, and sat down close to the door, on a stone seat which stood in the chimney corner. No one spoke. He sat there for a few moments with his head in his hands. The tavern-keeper approached him, and touched him on the shoulder. 'My friend, you must leave here.' Jean Valjean raised his head and answered gently: 'Ah! You don't want me to remain?' 'No.' 'But why?' 'You have no money.' 'But I have told you that I would pay.' 'You have no money,' repeated the tavern-keeper, placing his hand on Jean Valjean's shoulder, and pushing him toward the door. Jean Valjean rose, picked up his knapsack, and went out. He crossed the square, and walked straight ahead, haphazard, keeping close to the houses, like a sad and humiliated man. He did not turn round once. If he had turned round, he would have seen the tavern-keeper of the Croix-de-Colbas standing on his threshold, surrounded by all the travelers of his inn, and the inhabitants of the house, talking vivaciously, and pointing him out with his finger; and, from the glances of terror and distrust which were cast upon him, he would have been able to realize that his arrival in the town would soon become an event. He saw nothing of all this. People crushed by grief do not look behind them. They only know that misfortune follows them.