This page is still very much under construction. I do not, for all my obsession, know the book by heart, so it takes a long time to write even a summary down. It's a 1500 page book. Gimme a break.
© 1997 serrah@angelfire.com
Fantine
The story begins with Monsiuer Charles Myriel, seventy-five years old, once a man of simple worldly pleasures, who as a fairly old man visited Italy and came back a priest. About eleven years later, after being specially noticed by Napoleon, he was made the Bishop of Digne. He went to Digne with his sister, Mademoiselle Baptistine, and a single servant, Madame Magloire. On arrival, he moved into the bishop's palace, only to move out again the next day to the hospital, which was hardly big enough to contain the twenty-six patients it had, and the bishop's palace became the new hospital. When he would receive his fifteen thousand francs yearly from the government, he would divide it equally among charities and other orginazations of Digne, leaving only enough for himself to get the household through the year. The people called him Monseigneur Bienvenu, Bienvenu meaning "welcome".
Now that you have seen the bishop, we must bring the traveler into the story. The traveler was perhaps forty years old, and he walked with a gnarled stick. You could see that he was not heavy-set, but thick-set. He wore a leather cap on his head and a yellow blouse, with blue trousers. On his back was a knapsack, and on his feet were hob-nailed shoes. He had stopped at an inn just inside Digne, and was sitting at a bench awaiting the dinner he had been promised. As he waited, however, the innkeeper sent a boy, unseen by the traveler, to the town hall. The boy returned with a paper which he handed to the innkeeper, and the innkeeper read it, troubled, and told the traveler that he would have to leave. The traveler grew angry at him, and asked him why. After trying to come up with an excuse, all of them being dismissed, the innkeeper finally said "Go away." He waved the paper in front of the traveler's face. "Your name is Jean Valjean. When I saw you come in, I suspected something. I receieved this from the mayor's office. Can you read?" After glancing at the paper, the traveler left.
