"Yes, Mr. President, I was the first to recognize him,and I stick to it; that man is Jean Valjean, who entered at Toulon in 1796, and left in 1815. I left a year later.He has the air of a brute now; but it must be because age has brutalized him; he was sly at the galleys: I recognize him positively."
"Take your seat," said the President. "Prisoner,remain standing."
Chenildieu was brought in, a prisoner for life, as was indicated by his red cassock and his green cap. He was serving out his sentence at the galleys of Toulon,whence he had been brought for this case. He was a small man of about fifty, brisk, wrinkled, frail, yellow,brazen-faced, feverish, who had a sort of sickly feebleness about all his limbs and his whole person,and an immense force in his glance. His companions in the galleys had nicknamed him I-deny-God (Je-nieDieu, Chenildieu).