Brickclub 2.5.10
That’s a lot of disparate information that Javert puts together. Hugo (Vicky Bigs!) does a good job presenting it as a series of coincidences/Javert being very meticulous (and now I want to pull out my Information Behavior textbooks to analyze this), but still. His train of thought goes something like:
*JVJ is dead (and we needed a political coincidence to even get him this info)
*A kid disappeared in the area where a kid JVJ was once interested in lived
*False alarm, that kid’s with relatives
*A poorly-dressed guy is giving out money in Paris
*It turns out that guy’s ward is a kid from the same town as the one who disappeared-but-not-really [Are there so few children from Montfermil that it’s likely to be the same one? Or it is a place no one ever leaves?]
I mean, the first hypothesis I’d reach (if I even took all of these as related) is that the grandpa is living in Paris with his grandchild, and he chooses not to spend a lot of money on clothing. Or that these are different children. Or that dressing badly while being generous isn’t a crime and maybe I should be focusing on crime rather than mildly eccentric people. [How many children go missing in Paris and its environs? Is Javert focusing unusually on Montfermil because of a guy whom he believes to be safely in prison and/or dead? Is he doing the same with other JVJ-associated sites, ie, Montreuil-sur-Mer or Faverolles? Seriously, where was this level of official scrutiny when Cosette was being neglected?]
Like, from the point where Javert recognizes JVJ, I’ll concede. But...it’s still a bit of a stretch that he’s acquired enough information at this point that the best use of his time is borrowing clothing to stake out a guy who gives money to beggars.
Short version: Javert is right, but the information he’s putting together is very fragmentary, and he has no concrete reason to be focusing on a dead guy and an apparently safe child.
Called it on the bridge-keeper remembering JVJ & Cosette.
Comparing Javert to great generals: a straight-played comparison to stress just how good/tenacious an officer Javert is, or Vicky Hugs throwing shade on his own character?
[Additional hypotheses for Javert beside “JVJ faked his own death and escaped from prison to kidnap a child and quietly raise her in Paris while giving money to the poor”: JVJ is dead, but entrusted money to a friend or agent to retrieve and care for Cosette; someone who knew Madeleine (or got money after his disappearance) decided to finish his work/honor his ideals by caring for the kid; the news of Madeleine/JVJ’s arrest brought the story of Fantine/Cosette to the attention of a relative who has consequently taken Cosette; ditto, but with a friendly benefactor unrelated to the child (and Thenardier being confused); ditto, but with a malevolent person hoping to use Cosette to some purpose (and Thenardier either deceived or complicit); that these are unrelated coincidences and JVJ has nothing to do with anything].