Fantine finds a job in Mr. Madeleine, but she does not know that Cosette is treated almost like a slave by the greedy innkeepers. Alain after many hesitations accepts the job as a messenger that Mr. Madeleine offered him; he does not know that Madeleine is actually Jean Valjean, who many years earlier had also stolen bread to feed his family and for this he had served 17 years in prison.