Valjean confessedd the truth of his past to Marius and insists that after the young couple are married, he must go away rather than taint the sanctity and safety of their union. At Marius' and Cosette's wedding the Thenardiers try to blackmail Marius. Thenardier says Cosette's "father" is a murderer and, as proof, produces a ring which he stole from a corpse in the sewers the night the barricades fell. It is Marius' own ring, and he realizes it was Valjean that rescued him that night.
Marius and Cosette go to Valjean, where Cosette learns for the first time of her own history before the old man dies, joining the spirits of Fantine, Eponine, and all of those who died on the barricades.
