When Monsieur Gillenormand found the cards and locket belonging to Marius, he was furious. He sat in silence for an hour until Marius returned home. Then, as soon as his grandson opened the door, he lashed out at the young man.
"So you’re a baron now?" Monsieur Gillenormand held up one of Marius’ calling cards. "What does this mean?"
"It means that I am my father’s son," replied Marius.
"Your father’s son?" Monsieur Gillenormand said harshly. "But I am your father."
"My father was a humble and heroic man, who gloriously served France. He died forgotten and abandoned, and he had just one fault: He loved his country and me too much."
This was more than Gillenormand could listen to. He sprang to his feet.
"Marius, you abominable child! I don’t know what your father was, and I don’t want to know! What I do know is that the men fighting for Napoleon were all beggars, assassins, and thieves! They were cowards and traitors!"
Marius shuddered at his grandfather’s words. He had to defend his father, yet that would mean insulting his grandfather. How could he do that?
"Down with King Louis XVIII!" he finally shouted. The king had been dead for four years, but it was the best insult that Marius could come up with at the moment.
The old man turned whiter than his hair. "We cannot remain under the same roof. Be off!"
Marius went away without saying where he was going, without knowing where he was going. He could find neither the locket nor his father’s "will," so he assumed that his grandfather had hidden them somewhere or thrown them into the fire. Marius left with thirty francs, his watch, and a few things in a carpetbag. He hired a cab, jumped in, and headed toward the Latin Quarter.
When Marius arrived outside the Cafe Musain, he recognized a fellow law student. Although he did not know this student very well, Marius got out of the cab. His new friend, Courfeyrac, knew of a place where Marius could stay. It was in the lodging house where Courfeyrac lived.
Courfeyrac also introduced Marius to a group of friends. They belonged to a secret society of students and workingmen who wanted to improve the lot of the common man. Marius started to attend their meetings at the Cafe Musain. He began to feel so comfortable with these young men that he joined in their debates.
One afternoon he loudly defended Napoleon. His remarks were greeted with silence. It was obvious that he was a bigger supporter of the former emperor than the other students. They wanted to push for a republic with a leader elected by the people. So Marius now felt isolated from his new friends as well as his grandfather.
But Courfeyrac remained his friend. When the landlord demanded the rent, Courfeyrac tried to help Marius.
"What are you going to do?" asked Courfeyrac. "How much money do you have?"
"I have no idea," said Marius. "I only have 15 francs."
"I could lend you the rent money."
"No, I don’t want to be in debt to anyone."
Marius didn’t mention that his grandfather had asked his aunt to send him six hundred francs every six months. Marius had returned the money to her, saying that he had enough to live on.
"I know a clothes dealer who’ll buy your overcoat and a pair of trousers," said Courfeyrac. "Do you have a watch?"
"Yes, a gold one. If I sell the clothing, that will leave me with one pair of trousers, one waistcoat, a hat, and a coat. That’ll be enough."
"I also know a watchmaker who’ll buy your watch," said Courfeyrac. "But what will you do after that? Can you read English or German?"
"No."
"That’s too bad because a friend of mine, a publisher, needs someone who can translate articles into French. It doesn’t pay well, but you can live on it."
"Then I will learn English and German." Marius handed his overcoat, trousers, and watch to Courfeyrac.
Life became hard for Marius. He moved to other lodgings, where he swept his own room. Sometimes he bought only a penny’s worth of cheese at the market. He waited until evening to buy bread when the baker reduced the price. When he bought a lamb cutlet, he cooked it himself and made it last three days. Through all this, Marius managed to study law and to be admitted to the bar.
Three years passed. By means of hard work, courage, and perseverance, Marius managed to earn seven hundred francs a year. He had learned English and German, and thanks to Courfeyrac, he had a job at the publishing house as a translator. Marius had survived a world of deprivation. In his struggle against poverty, he had done everything except go into debt. He didn’t owe money to anyone.
In all his trials he felt encouraged by a secret force within himself. Beside his father’s name, another name was engraved upon Marius’ heart: Thenardier. Marius had surrounded this man with a kind of halo. Thenardier was a hero, as far as Marius was concerned, because the innkeeper had saved his father’s life. Marius had even gone to Montfermeil in search of Thenardier. There he had learned of the unlucky innkeeper’s bankruptcy and ruin.
Since then Marius had made many efforts to track the man down. For three years he had devoted himself to this search, spending what little money he could spare. But nobody could give him any news of Thenardier. It was thought that he had gone abroad. Even Thenardier’s creditors could not find him, and they had been looking for him with even more zeal than Marius.
Marius’ father had left him only one debt to pay: to thank Thenardier and help the innkeeper in any way he could. And Marius had made it a point of honor to pay this debt. His only goal in life was to meet Thenardier one day and say, "You do not know me, but I know you and what you have done for my father. Here I am. Let me help you."
As for Marius’ relationship with his grandfather, things remained the same. Neither side attempted a reconciliation or sought a meeting. Marius imagined that his grandfather had never loved him, but he was mistaken. Gillenormand adored Marius. He had ordered everyone to never speak of Marius again, but he regretted that he was so well obeyed. At first he was sure that Marius would return. But weeks, months, and years passed without Marius arriving home. Old men need affection as they do sunshine, and Gillenormand missed Marius.
While Gillenormand was suffering, Marius was congratulating himself on never thinking about the old man.
Suffering had taken away Marius’ bitterness. If he thought about his grandfather at all, it was only with kindness. But he had determined to take nothing more from the man who had been so cruel to his father.
When his grandfather drove him away, Marius was a child. But poverty and suffering had made Marius a man.