This chapter is the first one in the last book of part one. This new book is titled “Counter-Stroke” and it will close out the “Fantine” portion of Les Miserables.
It opens with Madeleine returning to Montreuil-sur-mer and immediately going to check on Fantine. There are several different interactions that revolve around the state of Fantine, her apparent recovery based on her belief that Madeleine had gone to retrieve Cosette, and the overall commitment (even on the part of the “always honest” sister Simplice) to half-truths and quasi-deception to keep Fantine believing that Cosette is in fact on the way.
We do learn that Madeliene will move to retrieve her but that it will take 2-3 days. What is clear is that Madeleine (without speaking directly to the reason) fears that his days of freedom are extremely numbered. The extremity of his stress, anxiety, and trauma from the last couple of days is manifested by the fact that all of his hair has turned white. While it is broadly believed that this kind of instantaneous transformation is not possible, there are plenty of documented cases of hair rapidly (a couple of weeks) going gray or white after episodes of extreme stress.
Though Hugo may take some liberties with how fast this could happen in reality, the role it plays in the story is highly effective. Just as Madeleine had been physically transformed in a very positive way by his choice to live a life of love and generosity after his fork-in-the-road encounter with bishop Myriel, now we see that his decision to bury his past and the way that it erupted back into his reality has rapidly manifested itself in and on his person.
Madeleine has taken decisive action. He sees physical manifestations in his person. The rest of the outcome is still up in the air.