I, myself, have seen hams made of pine, in the wigwams of those
children of the forest.
But civilization has acquired deception too. Society is made up of
deception. Even the best French society.
Still there was one sincere episode.
Eh?
The French Revolution!
VII.
M. Madeline was, if anything, better than Myriel.
M. Myriel was a saint. M. Madeline a good man.
M. Myriel was dead. M. Madeline was living.
That made all the difference.
M. Madeline made virtue profitable. I have seen it written:--
"Be virtuous and you will be happy."
Where did I see this written? In the modern Bible? No. In the
Koran? No. In Rousseau? No. Diderot? No. Where then?
In a copy-book.
VIII.
M. Madeline was M. le Maire.
This is how it came about.
For a long time he refused the honor. One day an old woman,
standing on the steps, said:--
"Bah, a good mayor is a good thing.
"You are a good thing.
"Be a good mayor."
This woman was a rhetorician. She understood inductive
ratiocination.
IX.
When this good M. Madeline, whom the reader will perceive must have
been a former convict, and a very bad man, gave himself up to
justice as the real Jean Valjean, about this same time, Fantine was
turned away from the manufactory, and met with a number of losses
from society.
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