the end of four hours of absence. Three years for those four hours.
Nineteen years. In October, 1815, he was released; he had entered
there in 1796, for having broken a pane of glass and taken a loaf
of bread.

Room for a brief parenthesis. This is the second time,
during his studies on the penal question and damnation by law,
that the author of this book has come across the theft of a loaf
of bread as the point of departure for the disaster of a destiny.
Claude Gaux had stolen a loaf; Jean Valjean had stolen a loaf.
English statistics prove the fact that four thefts out of five in
London have hunger for their immediate cause.

Jean Valjean had entered the galleys sobbing and shuddering;
he emerged impassive. He had entered in despair; he emerged gloomy.

What had taken place in that soul?



CHAPTER VII

THE INTERIOR OF DESPAIR


Let us try to say it.

It is necessary that society should look at these things, because it
is itself which creates them.