The Red and the Black (70 page)

shall never set foot in Paris again except on your orders. But what
pierces me to the heart is the thought that all this will make a
stinging anecdote to tell against me, and against you. May not the
epigrams of a foolish public force our splendid Norbert to pick a
quarrel with Julien? If that happened, I know him, I should have no
influence over him. We should find in him shades of the rebellious
plebeian. Dear father, I beseech you on my knees: come and witness the
celebration of our marriage in Father Pirard's church next Thursday.
The sting will be taken out of this malicious anecdote, and the threat
to the lives of your only son and my husband will be removed, etc.,
etc.

The marquis was thrown by this letter into a state of curious embarrassment. So the time had come at last for him
to make up his mind
. All his little habits, all his ordinary friends had lost their influence.

In this strange situation, the broad traits of his character,
imprinted by the events of his youth, resumed all their hold over him.
The misfortunes of the Emigration had turned him into a man of
imagination. Having spent two years enjoying an immense fortune and
all the honours of the Court, he had been cast by the events of 1790
into the appalling hardships of the Emigration. Learning the hard way
had radically altered the character of the twenty-two-year-old
marquis. Basically, he stood assertively in the midst of his present
wealth, rather than being dominated by it. But this very imagination
which had saved his soul from being consumed by the gangrene of gold,
had made him fall prey to a mad desire to see his daughter adorned
with a fine title.

During the six
weeks which had just elapsed, there had been moments when the marquis,
on an impulse, had decided to make Julien rich; Julien's poverty
struck him as unworthy, as dishonourable for him, M. de La Mole, and
out of the question for the husband of his daughter; he flung his
money away. The following day, his imagination took another turn, and
it seemed to him that Julien would heed the silent message of this
financial generosity, would change his name, exile himself to America,
and write to tell Mathilde that as far as she was concerned he was
dead. M. de La Mole imagined this letter already written, and pictured
its effect on his daughter's character...

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On the day he was awakened from these youthful fantasies by the
real
letter from Mathilde, he had considered at length killing Julien or
having him removed, and then began dreaming of setting up a brilliant
fortune for him. He would bestow on him the name of one of his
estates; and why shouldn't he pass on his peerage to him? The Duc de
Chaulnes, his fatherin-law, had spoken to him several times, ever since
his only son had been killed in Spain, of his desire to hand on his
title to Norbert...

One can't deny that Julien has an unusual gift for business, he's adventurous, perhaps even
brilliant
,
the marquis said to himself... But in the depths of his character I
detect something that alarms me. This is the impression he gives
everyone, so there must genuinely be something there (the more
difficult it was to pin down what was genuinely there, the more it
alarmed the imaginative faculties of the old marquis).

As my daughter put it to me so shrewdly the other day (in a letter we
have suppressed): 'Julien has not given his allegiance to any salon
or any coterie.' He's got no one lined up to side with him against me,
or any resource whatsoever if I abandon him... But is this a sign of
ignorance of the present state of society...? On two or three
occasions I have said to him: 'No one has any realistic expectations
of making his way without the backing of the salons...'

No, he doesn't have the shrewd and cunning genius of an attorney who
never loses a minute or an opportunity... He doesn't have anything of
Louis XI's
^*
character. On the other hand, I hear him him uttering maxims that are
the opposite of generous... I'm at sea... Might he be repeating these
maxims for his own benefit to serve as a
dike
against his passions?

At any rate, one thing stands out: he can't abide scorn, that's my hold over him.

He doesn't worship high birth, it's true, he doesn't respect us out
of instinct... He's at fault there; but anyway, the only thing that
the soul of a seminarist should find it hard to abide is the lack of
creature comforts and money. He's quite different, he can't bear scorn
at any price.

Put on the spot by his daughter's letter, M. de La Mole recognized the need to come to a decision: Well, this is the big

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question: did Julien's audacity go so far as embarking on courtship
of my daughter because he knows I love her more than anything, and I
have an income of a hundred thousand crowns?

Mathilde protests to the contrary... No, Mister Julien, this is a point on which I don't wish to be deluded.

Was it a case of genuine, unexpected love? Or was it a vulgar desire
to rise to a high position in society? Mathilde is perspicacious, she
sensed right away that this suspicion could damn him in my eyes, hence
her avowal: she was the one who took it into her head to fall in love
first...

Could a girl with such a
proud spirit forget herself to the point of making physical
advances...! Squeezing his arm in the garden one evening--how
dreadful! As if she hadn't had hundreds of less improper ways of
letting him know that he was someone special.

Making excuses is an admission of guilt; I mistrust Mathilde... That
day, the marquis's reasoning was more conclusive than usual. However,
habit got the better of him and he resolved to gain time by writing to
his daughter. For communication took place by letter from one side of
the house to the other. M. de La Mole did not dare discuss matters
with Mathilde face to face and stand up to her. He was afraid of
ending everything by a sudden concession.

LETTER

Make sure you do not commit any fresh acts of folly; here is a
lieutenant's commission in the Hussars for M. le Chevalier Julien
Sorel de La Vernaye. You see what I am doing for him. Do not stand in
my way, do not ask me any questions. He must leave in the next
twenty-four hours, to present himself in Strasburg where his regiment
is stationed. Here is a warrant from my banker; I wish to be obeyed.

Mathilde's love and joy knew no bounds; she determined to take advantage of victory, and replied forthwith:

M. de La Vernaye would be at your feet, overcome with gratitude, if
he knew all the things you are deigning to do for him. But in the
midst of all this generosity, my father has forgotten me; your
daughter's honour is in danger. An indiscreet word can cause an
eternal blot--one that an income of twenty thousand crowns would

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not expunge. I shall not send the commission to M. de La Vernaye
unless you give me your word that some time in the next month my
marriage will be celebrated in public, at Villequier. I beg you not to
delay any longer, because shortly thereafter your daughter will only
be able to appear in public under the name of M
^me
de La Vernaye. How much I think you, dear Papa, for sparing me the name of Sorel, etc., etc.

The reply was unexpected.

Obey, or I retract everything. Tremble, rash girl. I do not yet know
what sort of person your Julien is, and you yourself know even less
than I do. He must leave for Strasburg, and take care not to put a foot
wrong. I shall make known my wishes in the next fortnight.

So stern a reply astonished Mathilde.
I do not know Julien
;
this phrase plunged her into a reverie which soon offered her the
most bewitching of hypotheses; but she took them for the truth. My
Julien hasn't cloaked his mind in the mean, petty
uniform
of the salons, and my father doesn't believe in his superiority, precisely because of what proves it...

All the same, if I don't give in to this passing display of
toughness, I foresee the possibility of a public scene; a scandal will
lower my standing in society, and may make me less attractive in
Julien's eyes. After the scandal... poverty for ten years; and the
folly of choosing a husband for his personal qualities can only escape
ridicule by the most dazzling opulence. If I live a long way away from
my father, at his age he may forget me... Norbert will marry a
charming and clever woman: Louis XIV was captivated in his old age by
the Duchess of Burgundy...
^*

She had made up her mind to obey, but was careful not to impart her
father's letter to Julien; his unruly character might have driven him
to some act of folly.

That evening,
when she informed Julien that he was a lieutenant in the Hussars, his
joy knew no bounds. To picture it, just consider his lifelong ambition
and the passion he now felt for his son. The change of name filled
him with astonishment.

When you come to think about it, he reflected, my story's

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ended, and all the credit goes to me alone. I've succeeded in making
this monster of pride fall in love with me, he added, glancing at
Mathilde; her father can't live without her, nor she without me.

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O God, give me mediocrity!

MIRABEAU

HIS mind was elsewhere; he responded only half-heartedly to her
displays of great tenderness. He remained silent and morose. Mathilde
had never looked up to him so much, never found him so lovable. She
feared some subtle quirk of his pride that would go and upset the
whole situation.

Almost every morning
she saw Father Pirard coming to the house. Mightn't Julien through
him have gained some insight into her father's intentions! Mightn't
the marquis himself have written to him on the whim of a moment? After
a stroke of good fortune like this, how was Julien's stern expression
to be explained? She did not dare question him.

She
did not dare
!
she, Mathilde! From that moment on there entered into her feelings
for Julien something ill-defined, something unexpected, almost like
terror. This and soul experienced passion as fully as is possible in
someone brought up in the midst of the surfeit of civilization that
Paris worships.

Early the next
morning Julien was at Father Pirard's presbytery. Post horses were
making their way into the courtyard with a dilapidated chaise hired
from the nearest station.

'An
equipage like this is no longer appropriate,' said the stern priest
with a scowl. 'Here are twenty thousand francs as a gift from M. de La
Mole; he invites you to spend them within a year, endeavouring,
however, to avoid making a fool of yourself in so far as possible.'
(Such a considerable sum of money lavished on a young man was viewed
by the priest as nothing less than an invitation to sin.)

'The marquis adds: " M. Julien de La Vernaye will be assumed to have
received this money from his father, to whom there is no need to refer
otherwise. M. de La Vernaye will perhaps see fit to give a present to
M. Sorel, a carpenter in Verrières, who cared for him as a child..." I
can see to this

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part of the instructions,' the priest added. 'I have at last
persuaded M. de La Mole to reach a settlement with the Abbé de
Frilair, who is such a Jesuit. His influence is decidely too much of a
match for us. Implicit recognition of your noble birth by this man
who rules Besançon will be one of the tacit conditions of the
settlement.'

Julien could no longer control his feelings, and embraced the priest: he saw himself recognized.

'Come, come!' said M. Pirard, rebuffing him; 'what is the meaning of
this worldly vanity?... As for Sorel and his sons, I shall offer them,
in my own name, an annuity of five hundred francs, to be paid to each
one of them for as long as I am satisfied with them.'

Julien had already become cold and aloof. He expressed his thanks,
but in very vague terms that made no commitment. Could it really be
possible, he wondered, that I might be the natural son of some great
lord driven into exile in our mountains by the terrible Napoleon? This
idea seemed less improbable to him with every passing moment... My
hatred for my father would be proof of it... I shouldn't be a monster
any more!

Only a few days after this monologue, the fifteenth regiment of Hussars,
*
one of the most brilliant in the army, was lined up in battle
formation on the parade ground in Strasburg. M. le Chevalier de La
Vernaye was mounted on the finest horse in Alsace, which had cost him
six thousand francs. He was being presented as a lieutenant without
ever having been a sublieutenant except on the books of a regiment he
had never heard of.

His impassive
expression, the stern, almost fierce look in his eyes, his pallor and
his imperturbable composure launched his reputation right from the
very first day. A little while later, his perfect, restrained
civility, his skill with pistols and swords, which he displayed
without too much affectation, banished any thought of joking out loud
at his expense. After five or six days of wavering, public opinion in
the regiment declared itself in his favour. 'This young man has
everything,' said the old officers mockingly, 'except youth'.

From Strasburg Julien wrote to M. Chélan, the former priest of Verrières, who was now verging on extreme old age:

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