I did not think you arrived before the rest of them, to see the shape they were in! [Javert twines his hands together atop his desk thoughtfully.] Or did you study old bulletins? Yes, that is possible.

[Javert presses his lips together in a crooked, mirthless grin. Just the facts. He does not deny what he was, after all.]

I was a police officer. You might have heard, had you asked my acquaintances. It is not a big secret.