Was there, then, any truth in that comparison of the chrysalis which had presented itself to the mind of Marius? Was Jean Valjean really a chrysalis who would persist, and who would come to visit his butterfly?

One day he remained still longer than usual. On the following day he observed that there was no fire on the hearth.⁠—“Hello!” he thought. “No fire.”⁠—And he furnished the explanation for himself.⁠—“It is perfectly simple. It is April. The cold weather has ceased.”

“Heavens! how cold it is here!” exclaimed Cosette when she entered.

“Why, no,” said Jean Valjean.

“Was it you who told Basque not to make a fire then?”

“Yes, since we are now in the month of May.”

“But we have a fire until June. One is needed all the year in this cellar.”

“I thought that a fire was unnecessary.”