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Then a voice inside him spoke in reply . He had promised the bishop to be an honest man . If he stayed silent , he would be a good mayor and a respected man , but inside he would be a thief again , because he would have stolen another man’s life . He would be an honest mayor outside , and a liar inside . If he went to Arras and told the truth , he would lose everything , but his soul would be clean . He got up and burned some old things that he had kept hidden : the clothes he had worn when he came out of the galleys , and his old stick . Among the ashes a small coin shone in the firelight : it was the forty - sou piece that he had taken from Little Gervais . Then he looked at the two silver candlesticks on the mantelpiece and almost threw them into the fire too . A voice seemed to cry inside him : “ Jean Valjean ! ” He took his head in his hands . All night he went from one side to the other . Sometimes he decided to go to Arras , and sometimes he decided to stay . At three in the morning he fell asleep in his chair and had a strange , cold dream about walking through an empty land where everyone was dead . When he woke up , a carriage was waiting at the door . He had ordered it the evening before , without knowing exactly why . He got in , and he drove away towards Arras . He still did not know what he was going to do there . The journey was long and difficult . A wheel broke , and he had to wait while it was mended , and every time the journey stopped he felt a secret hope that he would arrive too late . But each time he found a way to go on . Night had already fallen when he arrived in Arras and found the court . The trial had begun hours before , and the room was full . VII . The Trial at Arras The mayor had to give his name to an officer before he could enter . Because he was the famous mayor of Montreuil - sur - Mer , the judge invited him to sit behind him , among the important guests . He went into the hot , crowded room and looked at the man in the dock . The prisoner looked about sixty . He was rough and stupid - looking , with grey hair and a frightened face , and he did not seem to understand what was happening . For a moment the mayor felt as if he was looking at himself , as he had been eight years before . The trial was nearly over , and although the lawyer had tried to defend the prisoner , nobody believed him . The poor man kept saying that he had found the branch of apples on the ground , that he had never been in the galleys , and that he did not know any Jean Valjean . Then the three witnesses were brought in , one after the other : Brevet , Chenildieu and Cochepaille , all three old convicts who were now in prison again . Each of them looked at the prisoner and said , “ Yes , I know him . He is Jean Valjean . ” Javert had already given his evidence and returned to Montreuil - sur - Mer .
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