Les Misérables Volume 2, Chapter 6 Summary

Summary

On the afternoon of Christmas Day, 1823, a solitary man walks slowly through the deserted Boulevard de l’Hôpital, appearing as a well-bred mendicant: extremely poor but scrupulously clean. The narrative dwells on his appearance—white hair, old-fashioned garments, a trimmed cudgel with a red-wax head—and on the paradox of his bearing, which combines weariness with unusual vigor. He is unfamiliar with local routines, so when the royal carriage of Louis XVIII thunders past at its usual hour the man is startled; a guard notices him and an agent is ordered to follow, but the man evades pursuit by slipping into the faubourg’s side streets as dusk falls.

The traveller reads a poster outside the Porte Saint-Martin, then takes a coach for Lagny, paying his fare though he departs at Chelles. He walks rapidly across the dark country roads, turns toward Montfermeil, slips into the forest and proceeds with particular attention to the trees and ground. He halts at a clearing with a heap of whitish stones and inspects an ash and a chestnut tree whose bark bears a zinc band; he touches the band and tests the soil between tree and stones as if verifying whether it has been disturbed. The chapter closes by revealing the traveller as the same man who earlier encountered a tiny child bearing a large water-bucket: he steps forward and, without speech, takes hold of the bucket’s handle, relieving the child of her burden.

Key events

1. A shabby but well-kept man walks the Boulevard de l’Hôpital and avoids passers-by.
2. The royal carriage of Louis XVIII passes; a guard notes the man and an agent follows but loses him.
3. The man reads a theatre poster, then boards the Lagny coach and alights at Chelles.
4. He crosses fields toward Montfermeil, hides when passers-by approach, and enters the forest.
5. He inspects a clearing with a heap of stones and studies two marked trees and the soil.
6. The traveller recognizes the child he met earlier and silently takes hold of her bucket.

Analysis

This chapter functions as a close, atmospheric interlude that shifts focus from urban observation to deliberate, near-secret action in the countryside. The narrative deliberately withholds the traveller’s identity, presenting him through physical detail and measured behavior rather than names; this cultivates suspense and invites readers to weigh appearance against capacity. The contrast between the pomp of the king’s passage and the man’s solitary, humble walk foregrounds social disparity—royal spectacle versus private stealth—and emphasizes how public ritual brushes past private lives.

The man’s gestures—careful inspection of stones, touching the zinc band, testing soil—suggest method and purpose, introducing the motif of furtive searching and buried things that will shape subsequent movement. Hugo’s third-person narrator provides interpretive hints (‘‘the man had, in fact, hired a chamber’’) while preserving mystery, a narrative technique that guides readers without resolving questions. The closing rescue of the child reframes the traveller from merely curious to compassionate actor, linking his earlier reconnaissance to a concrete moral act. The chapter thus blends setting, character study, and quiet foreshadowing: it deepens curiosity about the man’s past and intentions while reinforcing themes of concealment, social margins, and unexpected kindness.

Important quotes

“On the afternoon of that same Christmas Day, 1823, a man had walked for rather a long time in the most deserted part of the Boulevard de l’Hôpital in Paris.”

NarratorOpens the chapter and introduces the solitary traveller whose appearance and movements the chapter scrutinizes.

“He took his bundle and his cudgel and jumped down from the vehicle.”

NarratorMarks the traveller's abrupt departure at Chelles and begins his solitary march toward Montfermeil.

“It was the man who had just met Cosette.”

NarratorReveals that the careful, secretive traveller is the same figure who encountered the child earlier, preparing the chapter's final act of assistance.

Characters in Volume 2, Chapter 6

• Cosette
• King Louis XVIII
• M. le Duc de Havré
• M. le Comte d’Anglès