<P> A short chapter , mainly consisting of two newspaper articles , informs the reader , that Jean Valjean has been re-arrested while getting into the stagecoach to Montfermeil ( on his way to get Fantine 's eight - year - old daughter , Cosette , whom he had promised to rescue ) . In July 1823 , he was condemned to death for the 40 - sous theft and the escape from the jail in Montreuil - sur - Mer , as the prosecutor claims that Valjean was part of a gang of street robbers and the latter refuses to defend himself . His sentence was graciously reduced by the king to only life in prison instead of death . Before he was captured , Jean Valjean had already traveled near to Montfermeil and buried all the money he 'd saved as M. Madeleine -- a chapter tells of a worker in Montfermeil , a former Toulon convict , who claims having seen , according to a local fairy tale , the devil burying his treasure in the forest . No further explanation is ever given as to why , having buried his money near Montfermeil , Valjean had traveled back to Paris and then attempted to travel back to Montfermeil . </P>
why did jean valjean take care of cosette
he had promised