Les Misérables, Book 7: The Champmathieu Affair, Chapter 4 summary

What happens

1. At three in the morning, the exhausted mayor falls asleep in his chair.
2. In his dream, he walks with his brother across a barren plain, passes a strange rider, and loses his companion.
3. He explores an apparently deserted town, finding silent men behind corners, doors, and trees.
4. The men surround him outside town, and one tells him that he has long been dead.
5. He wakes cold and mistakes a carriage’s lanterns for stars before recognizing the vehicle below.
6. His doorkeeper announces the tilbury; after confusion and a long pause, he agrees to come down.

What to notice

The silent watchers finally speak by denying the dreamer’s life. This makes the nightmare’s threat explicit just before he wakes.

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