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the sole object of saving the corpse. And that corpse I was.
He said to himself: ‘There may still be a glimpse of life there,
perchance; I will risk my own existence for that miserable
spark!’ And his existence he risked not once but twenty
times! And every step was a danger. The proof of it is, that
on emerging from the sewer, he was arrested. Do you know,
sir, that that man did all this? And he had no recompense to
expect. What was I? An insurgent. What was I? One of the
conquered. Oh! if Cosette’s six hundred thousand francs
were mine ...’
‘They are yours,’ interrupted Jean Valjean.
‘Well,’ resumed Marius, ‘I would give them all to find
that man once more.’
Jean Valjean remained silent.