Les Misérables Volume 2, Chapter 5 Summary

Summary

Near Saint-Médard’s church Jean Valjean regularly gives alms to a poor mendicant who crouches by a condemned well. One evening, when Valjean approaches and places a few sous in the man’s hand, the beggar suddenly raises his eyes and fixes Jean Valjean with a lightning glance that unnerves him; the man then drops his head and resumes his prayerful pose. Valjean is shaken because the glance briefly suggests the face of Javert. He returns the following night and confirms that the beggar is indeed the old ex-beadle, which reassures him and makes him question his own nerves.

A few days later, while putting Cosette to bed, Valjean hears someone enter the house at night and pause at his door; a light through the keyhole shows that someone is listening there. He becomes afraid and cannot sleep. At daybreak he sees a man pass the door—a tall figure with a cudgel and a formidable neck and shoulders—whom he recognizes as Javert from the silhouette. Valjean infers that this man has entered with a key, and he wonders who supplied it. The old woman who keeps the house mentions a new lodger named Dumont (or Daumont), “a gentleman of property,” which increases Valjean’s unease. He secures a roll of money but accidentally lets a coin fall; later, as night comes, he and Cosette go out together, evidently to inspect the boulevard and the new situation.

Key events

1. Valjean habitually gives alms to a beggar near Saint-Médard’s church.
2. The beggar suddenly fixes Valjean with a terrifying glance that seems to recall Javert.
3. Valjean returns and confirms the mendicant is the old ex-beadle, calming himself.
4. At night someone enters the lodging house and listens at Valjean’s door with a candle.
5. Valjean glimpses a tall man passing—he recognizes Javert’s silhouette.
6. The landlady mentions a new lodger named Dumont (or Daumont), a man of means.
7. Valjean prepares money, accidentally drops a coin, and then goes out with Cosette.

Analysis

This chapter builds suspense by juxtaposing ordinary charity with the ever-present threat of discovery. The repeated image of the beggar—first as an object of routine alms, then as a sudden, almost animal glance—reintroduces the theme of hidden identities and the nervousness that shadows Valjean’s attempt at a peaceful life. The brief recognition of Javert’s face in the beggar’s glare works as a psychological echo: the law’s persistence haunts Valjean even in mundane moments.

The nighttime intrusion and the listening at the keyhole intensify the sense of surveillance. The narrative uses tight focalization on Valjean’s perceptions—sounds, slivers of light, the silhouette on the stairs—to create claustrophobic tension. The new lodger’s name, uncertainly reported, and the careless falling of a coin emphasize vulnerability and chance: small, ordinary events (a glance, a dropped coin) acquire charged meaning in Valjean’s precarious situation. Structurally, the chapter shifts from public charity to private threat, moving the drama from the street to Valjean’s home and preparing the reader for the consequences of exposure. Symbolically, the candlelight and keyhole suggest partial revelation—snatches of truth seen through narrow apertures—while the cudgel-bearing silhouette signals authority and potential force.

Important quotes

“He was an ex-beadle of seventy-five, who was constantly mumbling his prayers.”

NarratorIdentifies the mendicant and sets up Valjean's routine of charity and the beggar's outward harmlessness.

““Bah!” said Jean Valjean, “I am mad! I am dreaming! Impossible!””

Jean ValjeanValjean's startled self-reassurance after briefly mistaking the beggar's glance for Javert's, showing his fear of recognition.

“There was evidently some one there, who was holding a candle in his hand and listening.”

NarratorCreates the chapter's central suspense: someone is covertly watching Valjean's door by night, implying danger to his secrecy.

Characters in Volume 2, Chapter 5

• Jean Valjean
• Cosette
• Javert