"He did not tell me," Marius replies. "Upon the barricade-- when he begged custody of the spy, and-- I thought Javert dead."

To Cosette, he says, "I swore not to tell."

It comes out faintly, weakly, and he knows it is no excuse at all. "He had hidden his past, I did not think you would know any more of it than I. I-- I hoped to protect you from the knowledge of it. If he had truly done the wicked things I thought of him. But he did not!" He must be absolutely clear on this point. "The man is a saint, a wonder-- he saved my life, and I have done this to him!" He looks to Cosette again. "To you. He-- he may have died, and you never have seen him, and the fault would have been all mine."