After Fantine died, the Thenardiers kept Cosette. It was not for love; it was because the girl was useful as a servant. The Thenardiers were dreadful people. At the sound of Madame Thenardier’s voice, everything trembled: windows and furniture as well as people. She swore like a sailor and could crack a nut with her fist. She adored her daughters, Eponine and Azelma, but ignored her son, Gavroche.
Monsieur Thenardier was no better. He pretended to have been a sergeant in Napoleon’s army. He claimed to have risked his own life to save a wounded general at the Battle of Waterloo. He had even painted a flamboyant picture of his heroic deed on the sign in front of his inn. He dreamed of becoming rich, but at the moment he was fifteen hundred francs in debt.
Young Cosette was the Thenardiers’ only servant. She washed, scrubbed, and swept. Although she was small and scrawny, she did all the heavy work. Madame Thenardier often beat Cosette. Monsieur Thenardier did not want to spend any money on Cosette, so she went without socks in the winter. The poor child was passive and silent. The Thenardiers’ inn was like a trap in which she had been caught.
On Christmas night in 1823, Cosette was sitting in her usual spot under the kitchen table. Clothed in rags, she was knitting wool stockings for the Thenardier daughters, who could be heard laughing in the next room. Soon Madame Thenardier turned the faucet.
Cosette held her breath. Drinking water was scarce in Montfermeil, the town where Cosette lived with the Thenardiers. It was a 15-minute walk to the spring in the woods. During the day a hired man brought water to the Thenardiers’ inn, but at night fetching water was Cosette’s job. Four unexpected guests had arrived earlier in the evening, and Cosette was worried that the water would run out before morning.
Madame Thenardier frowned as she watched a thin stream run into her glass. "I guess there’s enough," she finally announced.
Cosette exhaled and resumed her knitting, but a long time passed before her heart stopped pounding.
Suddenly one of the guests came into the kitchen and said angrily, "You haven’t watered my horse!"
"Of course we have," said Madame Thenardier.
"I know he hasn’t had any water because he snorts when he needs a drink!"
Cosette came out from under the table. "Oh, monsieur, your horse had a big drink," she lied. "I brought him the bucket myself, and I talked to him."
"Here’s a girl the size of a mouse who can tell a lie as big as a house!" exclaimed the man. "Give my horse some water and say no more about it."
Cosette slipped back underneath the table.
"Cosette!" said Madame Thenardier. "Carry some water to this man’s horse."
"But there isn’t any water," Cosette said quietly.
"Then go fetch some!" Madame Thenardier’s voice rattled every pot in the kitchen.
Cosette hung her head and fetched an empty bucket by the fireplace. The bucket was so large that she could have sat comfortably within it.
"Here, Miss Toad." Madame Thenardier handed her a coin with the insult. "Get a loaf of bread at the bakery on your way home."
Cosette put the coin in her apron and went out. There was a Christmas market in town, and a stall filled with toys stood across the road from the inn. In the place of honor sat a magnificent doll, nearly two feet tall and wearing a sparkling pink dress. Cosette stopped to admire it.
"Oh, how beautiful!" She sighed. "That looks like the kind of doll a princess would own."
"Stop your dawdling!" shouted Madame Thenardier from the inn’s doorway.
Cosette ran as fast as she could with her bucket. When she passed the last Christmas stall, she found herself in darkness. She kept on going and hurried by a woman walking in the other direction.
"Who is that child and where in the world can she be going at this hour?" The woman peered after Cosette. "Oh, it’s just the Lark."
When Cosette came to the edge of town, she stopped. To go beyond the last Christmas stall had been difficult. To go farther than the last house seemed impossible. There was no light and Cosette was so afraid. She put the bucket on the ground and buried her face in her hands.
When Cosette raised her head and looked around in the dark, she felt as if Madame Thenardier were there with her. Terrified, she ran into the woods until she reached the spring. She bent over the water and dipped in the bucket, never noticing the coin falling from her apron pocket.
With great effort, Cosette set the bucket on the ground. It was so heavy that she could hardly lift it. She took a dozen steps and then stopped to rest. At this rate it would take her more than an hour to return to the inn. What a beating she would get! Suddenly a man appeared at her side and took the handle of the bucket from her. For some strange reason, Cosette was not afraid.
This strong, white-haired man was Jean Valjean. He had not died when he fell from the mast of the Orion. In fact he had not fallen, but had jumped and hidden in a small boat. Eventually he had made his way to Paris, where he rented rooms in a remote part of the city.
Earlier that day he had left Paris by stagecoach and arrived near Montfermeil. Valjean had disappeared into the woods, where he walked until he found a tree with a special mark on it. He had checked the ground nearby to be sure that it hadn’t been disturbed, and then resumed walking through the woods. At that point he had met the little girl struggling with the bucket.
"Are you going far?" he asked her.
"About a 15-minute walk," she replied.
"Why are you out here all alone? Where’s your mother?"
"I don’t think I have a mother or if I did, I don’t remember her. I live at the inn."
"What’s your name, little girl?"
"Cosette."
Valjean had to get control of his emotions before he could ask any more questions.
"And who has sent you into the woods at night?"
"Madame Thenardier. She’s my mistress and she manages the inn."
"Show me the way, Cosette. I’m going to stay at that inn tonight."
Valjean walked quickly, but Cosette was able to keep up with him. By questioning the girl, he was able to learn that she worked all day while Eponine and Azelma played.
"They have dolls and all kinds of things to amuse themselves with." Cosette sighed. "I don’t have much time to play, but when I do, they won’t let me touch their toys."
They reached the town, where Cosette guided Valjean through the streets. She did not remember to stop at the bakery. As they drew near the inn, Cosette timidly patted his arm.
"Please let me take the bucket now," she said. "If Madame Thenardier sees that someone carried it for me, she’ll beat me!"