Les Misérables, page 30
CHAPTER IX--NEW TROUBLES
When the hour came for him to take his departure from the galleys, whenJean Valjean heard in his ear the strange words, _Thou art free!_ themoment seemed improbable and unprecedented; a ray of vivid light, a rayof the true light of the living, suddenly penetrated within him. But itwas not long before this ray paled. Jean Valjean had been dazzled bythe idea of liberty. He had believed in a new life. He very speedilyperceived what sort of liberty it is to which a yellow passport isprovided.
And this was encompassed with much bitterness. He had calculated thathis earnings, during his sojourn in the galleys, ought to amount toa hundred and seventy-one francs. It is but just to add that he hadforgotten to include in his calculations the forced repose of Sundaysand festival days during nineteen years, which entailed a diminutionof about eighty francs. At all events, his hoard had been reduced byvarious local levies to the sum of one hundred and nine francs fifteensous, which had been counted out to him on his departure. He hadunderstood nothing of this, and had thought himself wronged. Let us saythe word--robbed.
On the day following his liberation, he saw, at Grasse, in front ofan orange-flower distillery, some men engaged in unloading bales. Heoffered his services. Business was pressing; they were accepted. He setto work. He was intelligent, robust, adroit; he did his best; the masterseemed pleased. While he was at work, a gendarme passed, observedhim, and demanded his papers. It was necessary to show him the yellowpassport. That done, Jean Valjean resumed his labor. A little whilebefore he had questioned one of the workmen as to the amount which theyearned each day at this occupation; he had been told _thirty sous_. Whenevening arrived, as he was forced to set out again on the following day,he presented himself to the owner of the distillery and requested to bepaid. The owner did not utter a word, but handed him fifteen sous. Heobjected. He was told, _"That is enough for thee."_ He persisted. Themaster looked him straight between the eyes, and said to him _"Beware ofthe prison."_
There, again, he considered that he had been robbed.
Society, the State, by diminishing his hoard, had robbed him wholesale.Now it was the individual who was robbing him at retail.
Liberation is not deliverance. One gets free from the galleys, but notfrom the sentence.
That is what happened to him at Grasse. We have seen in what manner hewas received at D----
