When he reaches the top, he pulls Cosette up, jumps on the roof of a building leaning against the wall, clambers down what appears to be a linden tree, and winds up in a garden. Outside, Javert's voice barks imperative orders. The garden in which Valjean has arrived is vast and depressing. He distinguishes a big building with barred windows and, in the distance, the silhouette of other buildings. Suddenly an eerie sound breaks the silence, a hymn sung by an ethereal choir.
The winter wind begins to blow and Cosette shivers; Valjean wraps her in his own coat and then starts out to explore the grounds. As he peers through one of the windows, a macabre sight paralyzes him with terror. In a deserted room, a human form is lying prone on the floor, motionless, covered with a shroud, its arms in the shape of a cross.
He returns to Cosette panting with fright and sits down next to her; she has fallen asleep. His loving contemplation of the child is broken by the ringing of a little bell, and he sees a man limping alone in a melon patch, bending and rising rhythmically, accompanied by the sound of the bell. Valjean has no time to examine the mystery, for he suddenly notices that Cosette's hands are nearly frozen. She is not dead, as he at first fears, but her breathing is shallow. There is obviously an urgent need to find her warmth and a bed.
