CHAPTER IV—AUTHORITY REASSERTS ITS RIGHTS
Fantine had not seen Javert since the day on which the mayor had torn her from the man. Her ailing brain comprehended nothing, but the only thing which she did not doubt was that he had come to get her. She could not endure that terrible face; she felt her life quitting her; she hid her face in both hands, and shrieked in her anguish:—
“Monsieur Madeleine, save me!”
Jean Valjean—we shall henceforth not speak of him otherwise—had risen. He said to Fantine in the gentlest and calmest of voices:—
“Be at ease; it is not for you that he is come.”
Then he addressed Javert, and said:—
“I know what you want.”
Javert replied:—
“Be quick about it!”
There lay in the inflection of voice which accompanied these words something indescribably fierce and
