When we left off last chapter, Valjean and Cosette were headed down a road and were unsure if they had been seen by Javert and his men as they crossed the bridge. Here’ we find Valjean at a “Y” in the road, needing to make a decision about where to go. Valjean veers to the right, hoping to make it out into some country territory, and thinks he may have lost Javert and crew.
As he procedes down the path he hits a wall and needs to mae a decision. He saw what he thought may have been someone following them and ran only to end up at this point. at this second fork the path to the right is a short dead end, so he prepares to head left, only to find that someone is waiting down the path.
It doesn’t seem that he has been seen by this guard yet, but the way is blocked, the other path ends in a dead end, and he is fairly certain that the rest of Javerts crew is rapidly approaching from behind.
Clearly Javert knew this part of the city and had sent this other guard around to catch them. Now Valjean and Cosette were caught in the jaws of a trap with no clear way out.
As I’ve been saying the last few chapters, Hugo is driving us toward the reality that even if they escape, the life before them is precarious and unsustainable. We wait to see what happens next for Valjean and Cosette.