LETTER FROM FANTINE TO JAVERT (Marc Baladon)

Please, forgive me if I seem naīve.

M. l'Inspecteur, would you ever understand? It was not my fault. The circumstances forced me. But, I did not want to me... it was me who...Oh, Goodness! Not even the words are properly coming to me. This is too much of a long story for me to tell; for you to endure. I only pray the Heavens you could understand; mine is not an excuse I may be using to scape a punishment you think I deserve. Please Monsieur Javert, will you ever...?

One day you will recognize yourself, M. l'Inspecteur, in the dreams of those young artists who will never be crowned with glory; in this selfish world -- your world -- which renounces what it once loved; in those who are afraid; in those who are cold...you will see: you will recognize yourself. And then -- only then? -- you will remember this little bit of thing, this insignificant woman who is just fighting to save...a sweet angel, a sweet, gleaming bit of heaven fallen on earth as a snowdrop in a freezing, windy winter dawn.

Please, Monsieur, please...

Do not worry at all then. Do your duty. If it is your only will. On the other hand, who am I to deny your authority? Only a tiny person, whose problems are not the moving wheel of the world, of this very world, M.Javert, whose everlasting arms hold everything it found with no a prior caring. I am a woman whose problems will not shine as the glistering, shimmering, radiant, golden sun, as the twinkling stars, as the rippling moonlight on a lake at Luxembourg. I am a woman whose problems will change little the course of the life. A life...worth the suffering living? I am not worth your attention, M.Javert. It is only me. Only

Fantine.

LETTER FROM JAVERT TO FANTINE (Roser Montaņola)

I don't know how begin this letter. I have never written a letter to a woman like you. In fact, this is the first time that a woman like you has send a letter to me. I confess: the first reading of your letter has troubled me. But now, having my own common sense again, I believe that there is something which I have to say to you.

First, you talk about understanding: to understand your feelings, to understand your story,... even to understand my own life! Well, I think that you don't understand something: you don't understand the Law, you do not know what the Law means. The Law which preserves order and justice, the Law which is all over you and me. You are confusing justice with compassion. Justice must be blind, do you know why? You talked to me about your sad circomstances... Any whore has a sad story behind her! Any thief has it as well! If the Law must be sorry for any delinquent, the jails would be empty and the streets would be full of criminals! People can act right or wrong, that's all.

Circumstances... Is it my obligation to understand your circumstances? You do not know anything about my circumstances... There is something which will surprise you: I was born in a jail. My father was a thief, my mother was a gipsy who pretended to read the future on the hands. What do you think about my story? I might have become a thief too. But I decided go in the right way. I choosed. It wasn't easy. When I was just a "gipsy brat", as people called me, I decided go away from the scum. And, by God, I did.

My God, what am I doing? Am I justifying myself in front of a whore? I never talk about my past... Please, forgive me. My story is not your problem, it does not concern you at all.

M. Le Mayor has freed you. Make good use of it. Take advantage of the chance which you have been given and do the right thing. And remember: honest work, just reward, that's the way to please the Lord.

Javert.
Inspector First Class.

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