Les Misérables, page 53
CHAPTER VII--FAUCHELEVENT BECOMES A GARDENER IN PARIS
Fauchelevent had dislocated his kneepan in his fall. Father Madeleinehad him conveyed to an infirmary which he had established for hisworkmen in the factory building itself, and which was served by twosisters of charity. On the following morning the old man found athousand-franc bank-note on his night-stand, with these words in FatherMadeleine's writing: _"I purchase your horse and cart."_ The cart wasbroken, and the horse was dead. Fauchelevent recovered, but his kneeremained stiff. M. Madeleine, on the recommendation of the sisters ofcharity and of his priest, got the good man a place as gardener in afemale convent in the Rue Saint-Antoine in Paris.
Some time afterwards, M. Madeleine was appointed mayor. The first timethat Javert beheld M. Madeleine clothed in the scarf which gave himauthority over the town, he felt the sort of shudder which a watch-dogmight experience on smelling a wolf in his master's clothes. Fromthat time forth he avoided him as much as he possibly could. When therequirements of the service imperatively demanded it, and he couldnot do otherwise than meet the mayor, he addressed him with profoundrespect.
This prosperity created at M. sur M. by Father Madeleine had, besidesthe visible signs which we have mentioned, another symptom which wasnone the less significant for not being visible. This never deceives.When the population suffers, when work is lacking, when there is nocommerce, the tax-payer resists imposts through penury, he exhausts andoversteps his respite, and the state expends a great deal of money inthe charges for compelling and collection. When work is abundant, whenthe country is rich and happy, the taxes are paid easily and cost thestate nothing. It may be said, that there is one infallible thermometerof the public misery and riches,--the cost of collecting the taxes.In the course of seven years the expense of collecting the taxes haddiminished three-fourths in the arrondissement of M. sur M., and thisled to this arrondissement being frequently cited from all the rest byM. de Villèle, then Minister of Finance.
Such was the condition of the country when Fantine returned thither. Noone remembered her. Fortunately, the door of M. Madeleine's factory waslike the face of a friend. She presented herself there, and was admittedto the women's workroom. The trade was entirely new to Fantine; shecould not be very skilful at it, and she therefore earned but little byher day's work; but it was sufficient; the problem was solved; she wasearning her living.
