A Letter from Valjean to Javert

Mon cher,
I know that it is dangerous for me to write to you, if this letter is found by the guards or read by anyone where you are, in M___ sur M___. One of the new inmates is from there. When he found out that you had, until recently, been a guard here in Toulon, he told us everything he knew about you. I had to pretend not to be interested. It was very hard for me, and broke my heart a little. Most of what he said nonsense, or the kinds of things a prisoner would be interested in. Not, dare I say it, a lover. He noted that you live alone, keep to yourself, and are very involved in your duties. I see that you haven't changed.

This drivel about prisoners is hardly what I want to fill my precious, limited paper with! My thoughts move faster than my pen, I'm afraid. I miss you terribly, of course. But I am so relieved to see you gone from this Hell, and, if I may be so bold, proud of your new position. I am sure that you will soon attract attention in Paris!

Nothing here has changed. Everything is as it was before you came. I wish I had a more poetical nature, so that I could properly describe the difference you made in my life here. I'm sorry, I don't mean to depress you or make you feel guilty, I hope I have not. I could not wait for you to be free of this place, perhaps even more than I can wait for my own eventual release.

Only a few short years, and I will follow in your footsteps to freedom. Then, perhaps, if you still desire, we can have some sort of life together.

By then, I imagine, you will have been transferred to Paris. You will be an officer, living with an older gentleman, quite proper. I will be a gardener again, or perhaps some sort of work with children. I have always enjoyed spending time with children. We will have a tidy little house together, or a flat, and we'll take turns cooking for one another. I do miss cooking.

You will have someone waiting up for you in the evenings, someone to worry when you come home late. Someone keeping your bed warm. I will have everything an ex-convict could ever dream of having, or anyone, for that matter. A beautiful, charming, promising young lover to share my life with.

I am sorry to cut the letter short, but the man I am to give it to is here.

All my love,
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