Marius entered Cosette’s garden each night by pushing aside one of the bars in the gate. For more than a month, they met among the trees and shrubbery. They told each other about their families and their pasts.
Marius had fallen so madly in love, he had temporarily forgotten all about that strange night in the Thenardiers’ apartment. He did not know at night what he had eaten for breakfast or what he had done all day. He lived only for the hours when he was able to see Cosette. Then he was in heaven.
Jean Valjean suspected nothing. Cosette, though less distracted than Marius, was cheerful. She was happy, and that was enough to make Valjean happy. Marius always arrived after Valjean was in bed, so the two men never met. Marius never entered the house. He sat with Cosette in the garden and held her hand.
One night in early June 1832, Marius arrived and found that Cosette was sad. She had been weeping and her eyes were red.
"What’s the matter?" asked Marius in alarm.
She sat on a bench and he took his place beside her.
"My father told me this morning that I must prepare to go away."
"What do you mean?"
"He said I should tidy up my affairs and be ready to leave Paris in a week. And oh, Marius, this is the worst part. . . ." Here Cosette had to stop so she wouldn’t begin to cry. "He said that perhaps we would move to England!"
"That’s horrible! When would you come back?"
"He didn’t say."
"So will you go to England?" asked Marius.
Cosette’s eyes were full of pain and confusion. "Why do you ask me that? If my father leaves for England, of course I must go with him."
Marius shuddered. "This is all so sudden. Is there anything we can do to stop him?"
Cosette shook her head, but then she began to smile. "There is one thing you could do. Follow me to England!"
"Go with you? Are you insane?" Marius leaped up. "I don’t have money for a passport, never mind a ticket. You only see me at night, so you don’t realize how shabby my clothes are. If you saw me by day, you’d think I was a beggar."
Marius leaned against a tree with his eyes closed. He stood a long time like that until he heard a small, stifled sound. It was Cosette sobbing. He fell on his knees in front of her.
"Don’t weep," he said. "Do you love me?"
"You know that I do. Do you love me?"
"Cosette, I’ve never given my word of honor to anyone because that’s such a serious thing to do. But I swear that if you go away, I shall die!"
Cosette was so shocked that she stopped crying.
"Now listen," said Marius. "Don’t expect me tomorrow night. I have something I must do, but I will return here the next night. In the meantime you should know my address in case you need to get in touch with me. I live with my friend, Courfeyrac, at 16 Rue de la Verrerie."
He took out his penknife and scratched the address on the garden wall.
"I will wait for you," said Cosette, taking his hands in hers.
The next evening Marius set out for his grandfather’s house. For four years Monsieur Gillenormand had hoped that Marius would return. But the old man was still stunned when a servant announced that Marius wished to see him.
"Show him in," said Monsieur Gillenormand.
The young man entered the room.
Gillenormand didn’t know what to say, so he said rather abruptly, "What do you want?"
"Monsieur . . ."
Monsieur? Gillenormand couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Marius should rush to him and embrace him, not stand across the room, calling him "monsieur."
"Did you come to beg my pardon?" interrupted Gillenormand. "Have you realized you were wrong?"
"No, monsieur."
"Then what do you want from me?" exclaimed Gillenormand in a voice filled with grief and rage.
"Father, I know that my presence here is upsetting you. But I came to ask only one thing of you and then I will go away."
That one word, "father," was all Gillenormand needed to hear. "What can I do for you, my son?"
Marius explained that he wanted his grandfather’s permission to marry Cosette. Gillenormand looked him up and down. It was obvious from the young man’s clothes that he didn’t have any money.
"How much money do you make as a lawyer?"
"I don’t work as a lawyer," Marius replied.
"So the girl is rich? She must have a large dowry," said Gillenormand.
"Oh no, she doesn’t have any dowry. She’s an orphan like me."
Gillenormand laughed. "Then, my dear boy, love this girl but don’t marry her. Keep her as your mistress."
"Never!" said Marius. "You have insulted Cosette by even suggesting that. Good evening, monsieur."
And with that, he turned and fled his grandfather’s house for the second time in his life.
That same afternoon Jean Valjean was sitting behind a slope. He wore a workingman’s waistcoat, brown linen trousers, and a cap with a large visor that hid his face. Valjean was anxious about a number of things and needed time alone to think.
A while ago he had spotted Thenardier near his house. Thanks to Valjean’s disguise as a workingman, the villain had not recognized him. Valjean had seen Thenardier again several times, and he was now certain that Thenardier was prowling about the neighborhood. This alone was enough to make Valjean consider leaving Paris. But there were other things preying on his mind.
There was political unrest in Paris, which meant that the police were more alert than usual. Valjean feared that they might find him when they were arresting other people. So he had decided to leave France with Cosette, but he was worried about getting a passport.
In addition, something strange had happened that very morning. Valjean had been walking in the garden at dawn when he came across a message: 16 Rue de la Verrerie. The words were scratched upon a wall. They looked quite fresh, so they must have been written overnight. But what was this? An address? A warning for him? A signal for others?
Valjean had no idea, but it was obvious that someone had been in the garden. He remembered Cosette’s sighting of the shadow with the hat. It would probably be wise not to mention this latest mystery to her.
In the midst of these thoughts, he sensed that someone was standing on the slope behind him. He was about to turn around when a piece of paper fell at his feet.
Valjean jumped up just in time to see someone running away. This person was larger than a child but smaller than a man, and dressed in a gray smock and brown velvet pants. Valjean picked up the paper and read a message scrawled in large letters: Move out.