A JourneyIn Paris you find elegant people, there may be people with character in the provinces.

　　SIEYESNext morning, at five o'clock, before Madame de Renal was visible,Julien had obtained from her husband three days' leave of absence. Contrary to his expectation, Julien found himself longing to see her again,and could think of nothing but that shapely hand. He went down to thegarden, Madame de Renal was long in coming. But if Julien had been inlove with her he would have seen her, behind her half-closed shutters onthe first floor, her face pressed to the glass. She was watching him. Atlength, in spite of her resolutions, she decided to show herself in thegarden. Her customary pallor had given place to the most glowing col-our. This simple-minded woman was evidently agitated: a feeling of constraint and even of resentment marred that expression of profoundserenity, as though raised above all the common interests of life, whichgave such charm to that heavenly face.

　　Julien lost no time in joining her; he admired those fine arms which ashawl flung in haste across her shoulders left visible. The coolness of themorning air seemed to increase the brilliance of a complexion which theagitation of the past night made all the more sensible to every impression. This beauty, modest and touching, and yet full of thoughts whichare nowhere to be found among the lower orders, seemed to reveal toJulien an aspect of her nature of which he had never yet been aware.

　　Wholly absorbed in admiration of the charms which his greedy eye surprised, Julien was not thinking of the friendly greeting which he mightexpect to receive. He was all the more astonished by the icy coldness thatwas shown him, beneath which he even thought he could make out a deliberate intention to put him in his place.

　　 The smile of pleasure faded from his lips; he remembered the rank thathe occupied in society, especially in the eyes of a noble and wealthy heiress. In a moment, his features showed nothing but pride and anger withhimself. He felt a violent disgust at having been so foolish as to postponehis departure by more than an hour, only to receive so humiliating agreeting.

　　'Only a fool,' he told himself, 'loses his temper with other people: astone falls because it is heavy. Am I always to remain a boy? When am Igoing to form the good habit of giving these people their exact money'sworth and no more of my heart and soul? If I wish to be esteemed bythem and by myself, I must show them that it is my poverty that dealswith their wealth, but that my heart is a thousand leagues away fromtheir insolence, and is placed in too exalted a sphere to be reached bytheir petty marks of contempt or favour.'

　　While these sentiments came crowding into the young tutor's mind,his features assumed an expression of injured pride and ferocity. Madame de Renal was greatly distressed by this. The virtuous coldnesswhich she had meant to impart to her greeting gave way to an expression of interest, and of an interest animated by the surprise of the suddenchange which she had just beheld in him. The flow of idle words thatpeople exchange in the morning with regard to one another's health, tothe beauty of the day, and so forth, dried up at once in them both. Julien,whose judgment was not disturbed by any passion, soon found a way ofletting Madame de Renal see how little he regarded himself as being onterms of friendship with her; he said nothing to her of the little expedition on which he was starting, bowed to her, and set off.

　　As she watched him go, overwhelmed by the sombre pride which sheread in that glance, so friendly the evening before, her eldest son, whocame running up from the other end of the garden, said to her as he embraced her:

　　'We have a holiday, M. Julien is going on a journey.'

　　At these words Madame de Renal felt herself frozen by a deadly chill;she was unhappy in her virtue, and more unhappy still in her weakness.

　　This latest development now occupied the whole of her imagination;she was carried far beyond the wise resolutions which were the fruit ofthe terrible night she had passed. It was a question no longer of resistingthis charming lover, but of losing him for ever.

　　She was obliged to take her place at table. To add to her misery, M. deRenal and Madame Derville spoke of nothing but Julien's departure. The Mayor of Verrieres had remarked something, unusual in the firm tonewith which he had demanded a holiday.

　　'The young peasant has doubtless an offer from someone in his pocket.

　　But that someone, even if it should be M. Valenod, must be a little discouraged by the sum of 600 francs, which he must now be prepared tospend annually. Yesterday, at Verrieres, he will have asked for threedays in which to think things over; and this morning, so as not to be obliged to give me an answer, the young gentleman goes off to the mountains. To have to reckon with a wretched workman who puts on airs,that's what we've come to!'

　　'Since my husband, who does not know how deeply he has woundedJulien, thinks he is going to leave us, what am I to suppose?' Madame deRenal asked herself. 'Ah! It is all settled!'

　　So as to be able at least to weep in freedom, and without having to answer Madame Derville's questions, she pleaded a splitting headache, andretired to bed.

　　'There you have a woman all over,' M. de Renal repeated; 'there's always something wrong with those complicated machines.' And he wenton his way jeering.

　　While Madame de Renal was at the mercy of the most cruel inflictionsof the terrible passion into which accident had led her, Julien was making his way light-heartedly amid the loveliest views that mountainscenery has to offer. He was obliged to pass over the high range to thenorth of Vergy. The path which he followed, rising gradually amid greatbeechwoods, forms an endless series of zigzags on the side of the highmountain which bounds the valley of the Doubs on the north. Presentlythe traveller's gaze, passing over the lower ridges which confine thecourse of the Doubs on the south, was able to sweep the fertile plains ofBurgundy and Beaujolais. Irresponsive as the heart of this ambitiousyouth might be to this kind of beauty, he could not refrain from stoppingnow and again to gaze at so vast and so imposing a prospect.

　　At length he came to the summit of the high mountain, beneath whichhe must pass in order to arrive, by this diagonal route, at the lonely valley in which his friend Fouque, the young timber merchant, lived. Julienwas in no hurry to see him, or any other human being for that matter.

　　Concealed like a bird of prey, amid the bare rocks which crowned thehigh mountain, he could see a long way off anyone that might be cominghis way. He discovered a small cave in the almost perpendicular face ofone of the rocks. He set his course for it, and presently was ensconced in this retreat. 'Here,' he said, his eyes sparkling with joy, 'men ............