I was shown kindness. ( He answers solemnly, and with great difficulty. ) By a man that ought not have given it to me.
( Not just any man, but a man Javert had once admired, then scorned, and now, admires again. It irritates him beyond comprehension, and both emotions fill his tone in equal measure as he continues, )
I pursued him. For seventeen years, I filled his life with fear. When he was given the chance to end mine, he chose instead to save it. Why? Because he is a good man. He was not the villain that I thought he was. Nineteen years he spent in the bagne, and upon his release, he stole. Not just the once, but twice. In spite of this, he became a respectable businessman, a mayor. He was my superior, for a time, and I his chief of police. When I found out who he truly was, what he had done, I treated him horribly.
( He sent a girl to an early grave and yet still, Valjean had thought him worthy of mercy! He doesn't understand, and he doesn't know if he ever will. )
He is kind to a fault. For many years, I thought that kindness to be a farce, a tool of deception. So much the fool I was. He is more of a saint than he is man, though I condemned him all the same, and all because he broke the law.
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( Not just any man, but a man Javert had once admired, then scorned, and now, admires again. It irritates him beyond comprehension, and both emotions fill his tone in equal measure as he continues, )
I pursued him. For seventeen years, I filled his life with fear. When he was given the chance to end mine, he chose instead to save it. Why? Because he is a good man. He was not the villain that I thought he was. Nineteen years he spent in the bagne, and upon his release, he stole. Not just the once, but twice. In spite of this, he became a respectable businessman, a mayor. He was my superior, for a time, and I his chief of police. When I found out who he truly was, what he had done, I treated him horribly.
( He sent a girl to an early grave and yet still, Valjean had thought him worthy of mercy! He doesn't understand, and he doesn't know if he ever will. )
He is kind to a fault. For many years, I thought that kindness to be a farce, a tool of deception. So much the fool I was. He is more of a saint than he is man, though I condemned him all the same, and all because he broke the law.