( Javert falls silent, his expression reluctant, but contemplative. She frames it as a command, and considering how much the disgraced inspector respects her, it's not one he feels he can rightfully refuse. She already knows that he is not irreproachable, so what is the difference? )

You remember the arrest I told you about? The one that caused me to denounce Valjean to the Prefect of Police?

( He scratches his beard, and lets out an exasperated sigh at himself. )

I was out on patrol one evening, making my rounds through the town square, when I came across a man and a woman. The man was defending himself, and the woman was assaulting him, kicking and clawing at his person like a frenzied creature. I broke up the fight, dragged the woman off to the police station, which was nearby, and charged her with assault.

I did not take any statements. I did not care what had started the fight. To me, the woman was guilty, not because of what I had seen, which was damning, but because of what she was. I could not conceive of a man, upstanding and well-off as he, of doing anything unsavory. So the woman must have been lying. And why was she lying? Because she was a prostitute.

( He falls into silence again, his hands resting on his lap, looking down at the floor. There's no pride in his stance, just simple humility as he says, in a softer tone, )

I was simple minded. It brings me great shame to admit it but it's true.