The note reads: "To my son: The Emperor named me baron on the battlefield of Waterloo. Since the Restoration questions the title I won with my blood, my son will take it and bear it. It goes without saying that he will be worthy of it." On the back, the colonel adds: "At the same battle of Waterloo, a sergeant saved my life. The man is called Thénardier. Lately I believe he has been running an inn in the vicinity of Paris in Chelles or Montfermeil. If my son meets him he will be as helpful as he can."
One day Marius' indifference to his father is shaken by a fortuitous encounter with the churchwarden who knew and admired Georges Pontmercy. A casual conversation brings Marius the momentous revelation of his father's selfless love and the explanation of his apparent neglect. Marius is stunned. The next day, he asks his grandfather's permission to leave for three days. What he does will be explained later. On his return, he goes straight to the library and asks for the collection of the newspaper Le Moniteur. He devours it and everything else he can read concerning the Republic and the Empire. He hardly ever comes home. The old man, judging from his own past, suspects a love affair. It is something of the sort. Marius has begun to worship his father.
His emotional upheaval is accompanied by a transformation in his political views. The Revolution, which in the past seemed to him one of the darkest chapters of history, now impresses him with its battle for civil rights for the masses; the Empire becomes the standard-bearer of democracy in Europe. Likewise, Marius reconsiders his ideas about Napoleon, who ceases to be the monster of Marius' childhood and is transformed into the victorious captain who swept away the last remnants of the Old Regime. One stormy night, overwhelmed by the majesty of the hour, Marius completes his conversion by the fervent exclamation, "Long live the Emperor!" He is now entirely his father's son; he goes to a printer on the Quai des Orfevres and orders visiting cards with the inscription "Baron Marius Pontmercy."
