Hugo now takes us to visit Javert, who is not happy. Thénardier's prisoner, who would probably have been an interesting prize for the police, has vanished, and two of the gangsters — Montparnasse and Claquesous — have slipped between his fingers, too. The latter's escape is particularly humiliating since it was engineered in the police vehicle itself. The rest of the gang are also far from inactive. One of its imprisoned members, Brujon, is engaging in suspicious maneuvers. He dispatches three messages to confederates on the outside. One day a guard catches him in the act of writing a letter, but the letter disappears before the guard can seize it.
The next day a note wrapped in a ball of bread reaches Babet, one of the leaders of the Patron-Minette gang. From Babet, it goes to Eponine, who inspects the house in the Rue Plumet. As an answer, Eponine returns a biscuit, which in the mysterious code of the underworld means "nothing doing." This abortive criminal plot has totally unexpected consequences. It acquaints Eponine with Cosette's whereabouts, and this piece of information soon changes the latter's destiny and that of her lover Marius.
