At nine o'clock in the evening, he arrives at the garden to say good-bye to his love forever, but he is to be denied this last consolation. Jean Valjean has already taken Cosette away, and Marius falls on the bench like a man who has received a mortal blow. Then, through the trees, a dim figure whispers a message: "Monsieur Marius, your friends are waiting for you at the barricade in the Rue de la Chanvrerie."
M. Mabeuf is also in despair. He has been sinking to the last stages of destitution. Gavroche's purse has done him no good since in his naive honesty he has taken it to the police. His indigo experiment has been a total failure. The plates of his books have been sold to a pawnbroker. He cannot even afford his starvation diet, and he has been forced to the supreme sacrifice of selling his rare books. The promised help of a cabinet member proves a disappointment. At last he is reduced to disposing of his most precious volume, a book by Diogenes Laertius, to buy medicine for his sick servant. When he hears shots in the direction of the Arsenal, he takes his hat and goes out.
