The Restoration did not look with favor on one of Napoleon's staunchest partisans, and Pontmercy was retired on half pay. Worse, the reactionary M. Gillenormand detests him, calls him a "bandit," and pressures him into giving up his son under the threat of disinheriting the child. Marius knows that he has a father, but he is completely indifferent to him. From the disapproval his name evokes in his royalist environment, he has gathered that his father is a man to be ashamed of.
He is tragically mistaken. Georges Pontmercy was not only a heroic soldier, he is a loving father. Unable to bear total separation from his child, he periodically comes to Paris and stealthily enters St. Sulpice church to watch his son at mass. His sacrifice has brought him a small consolation. It has won him the friendship of the curate of Vernon, M. l'abbé Mabeuf. This priest is a brother of the churchwarden of St. Sulpice, who has noticed Pontmercy, his scars, and his tears during his secret visits to the church. On a visit to his brother at Vernon, Mabeuf recognizes Pontmercy; the two brothers pay the colonel a visit and learn his story. This confidence has created a friendship based on mutual admiration.
In 1827, Marius has just turned seventeen. One evening as he comes home, his grandfather hands him a letter.
— Marius, says M. Gillenormand, you are to go to Vernon tomorrow.
— Why?
— To see your father.
The colonel is ill and has asked to see his son. Marius is not anxious to go because he feels that his father has deserted him. Nevertheless, he sets out for Vernon the next day. He is too late, however. Georges Pontmercy is dead. Marius is not grief-stricken: He feels only the sadness caused by the death of any stranger. He leaves forty-eight hours later, taking with him a note, his only legacy from his father.
