Valjean does not hesitate. He goes straight to the man in the garden and shouts to him, "A hundred francs if you give us shelter for the night." Unexpectedly, the stranger answers, "Well! It's you, M. Madeleine!" and continues to chat with Valjean like an old friend. Valjean, astonished, recognizes Fauchelevent, the old man whose life he saved when he was trapped under a cart. Fauchelevent explains that they are in the garden of the convent of Petit-Picpus, where he is gardener. He is still very grateful to "M. Madeleine" for saving his life and left Montreuil before Valjean's true identity was discovered, so he readily agrees not only to keep Valjean's secret but to harbor him and Cosette. A warm bed in his cottage brings Cosette back to consciousness, and a glass of wine and a frugal meal revive Valjean.
While they rest, Hugo explains Javert's uncanny arrival on the scene. There is really no mystery about it. When Valjean "drowned," the police suspected he might really have escaped and would, like many fugitives, head for Paris. Javert was called to Paris to assist with the hunt because he knew Valjean by sight, and his subsequent zeal and intelligence earned him an appointment to the Paris police force. Some time later, Javert came upon the report of the kidnapping of a little girl from her guardians, the Thénardiers, at Montfermeil. He suspected it was Jean Valjean who had taken Cosette away and subsequently learned that at the Gorbeau House there lived an old bourgeois whose "granddaughter" came from Montfermeil. Thoroughly suspicious now, he disguised himself as the old beggar one evening and identified Jean Valjean.
