First Appearance in SocietyAbsurd and touching memory: one's first appearance, at eighteen,alone and unsupported, in a drawing-room! A glance from a woman was enough to terrify me. The more I tried to shine, the moreawkward I became. I formed the most false ideas of everything;either I surrendered myself for no reason, or I saw an enemy in aman because he had looked at me with a serious expression. Butthen, amid all the fearful sufferings of my shyness, how fine wasa fine day!

　　KANTJulien stopped in confusion in the middle of the courtyard.

　　'Do assume a reasonable air,' said the Abbe Picard; 'you take hold ofhorrible ideas, and you are only a boy! Where is the nil mirari of Horace?'

　　(That is: no enthusiasm.) 'Reflect that this tribe of flunkeys, seeing youestablished here, will try to make a fool of you; they will regard you asan equal, unjustly set over them. Beneath a show of good nature, of goodadvice, of a wish to guide you, they will try to catch you out in some stupid blunder.'

　　'I defy them to do so,' said Julien, biting his lip; and he recovered allhis former distrust.

　　The drawing-rooms through which our friends passed on the firstfloor, before coming to the Marquis's study, would have seemed to you,gentle reader, as depressing as they were magnificent. Had you beenmade a present of them as they stood, you would have refused to live inthem; they are the native heath of boredom and dreary argument. Theyredoubled Julien's enchantment. 'How can anyone be unhappy,' hethought, 'who lives in so splendid a residence?'

　　Finally, our friends came to the ugliest of the rooms in this superbsuite: the daylight barely entered it; here, they found a wizened little man with a keen eye and a fair periwig. The abbe turned to Julien, whomhe presented. It was the Marquis. Julien had great difficulty in recognising him, so civil did he find him. This was no longer the great nobleman, so haughty in his mien, of the Abbey of Bray-le-Haut. It seemed toJulien that there was far too much hair in his wig. Thanks to this impression, he was not in the least intimidated. The descendant of Henri III'sfriend struck him at first as cutting but a poor figure. He was very thinand greatly agitated. But he soon remarked that the Marquis showed acourtesy even more agreeable to the person he was addressing than thatof the Bishop of Besancon himself. The audience did not occupy threeminutes. As they left the room, the abbe said to Julien:

　　'You looked at the Marquis as you would have looked at a picture. Iam no expert in what these people call politeness, soon you will knowmore about it than I; still, the boldness of your stare seemed to me to bescarcely polite.'

　　They had returned to their vehicle; the driver stopped by theboulevard; the abbe led Julien through a series of spacious rooms. Julienremarked that they were unfurnished. He was looking at a magnificentgilt clock, representing a subject that in his opinion was highly indecent,when a most elegant gentleman approached them with an affable expression. Julien made him a slight bow.

　　The gentleman smiled and laid a hand on his shoulder. Julienquivered and sprang back. He was flushed with anger. The abbe Pirard,for all his gravity, laughed till the tears ran down his cheeks. The gentleman was a tailor.

　　'I leave you at liberty for two days,' the abbe told him as they emerged;'it is not until then that you can be presented to Madame de La Mole.

　　Most people would protect you like a young girl, in these first momentsof your sojourn in this modern Babylon. Ruin yourself at once, if you areto be ruined, and I shall be rid of the weakness I show in caring for you.

　　The day after tomorrow, in the morning, this tailor will bring you twocoats; you will give five francs to the boy who tries them on you. Otherwise, do not let these Parisians hear the sound of your voice. If you uttera word, they will find a way of making you look foolish. That is their talent. The day after tomorrow, be at my house at midday … Run along, ruin yourself … I was forgetting, go and order boots, shirts, a hat at theseaddresses.'

　　Julien studied the handwriting of the addresses.

　　 'That is the Marquis's hand,' said the abbe, 'he is an active man whoprovides for everything, and would rather do a thing himself than orderit to be done. He is taking you into his household so that you may savehim trouble of this sort. Will you have sufficient intelligence to carry outall the orders that this quick-witted man will suggest to you in a fewwords? The future will show: have a care!'

　　Julien, without uttering a word, made his way into the shops indicatedon the list of addresses; he observed that he was greeted there with respect, and the bootmaker, in entering his name in his books, wrote 'M.

　　Julien de Sorel'.

　　In the Cemetery of Pere-Lachaise a gentleman who seemed highly obliging, and even more Liberal in his speech, offered to guide Julien to thetomb of Marshal Ney, from which a wise administration has withheldthe honour of an epitaph. But, after parting from this Liberal, who, withtears in his eyes, almost clasped him to his bosom, Julien no longer had awatch. It was enriched by this experience that, two days later, at noon, hepresented himself before the abbe Pirard, who studied him attentively.

　　'You are perhaps going to become a fop,' the abbe said to him, with asevere expression. Julien had the appearance of an extremely youngman, in deep mourning; he did, as a matter of fact, look quite well, butthe good abbe was himself too provincial to notice that Julien still hadthat swing of the shoulders which in the provinces betokens at once elegance and importance. On seeing Julien, the Marquis considered hisgraces in a light so different from that of the good abbe that he said tohim:

　　'Should you have any objection to M. Sorel's taking dancing-lessons?'

　　The abbe was rooted to the spot.

　　'No,' he replied, at length, 'Julien is not a priest.'

　　The Marquis, mounting two steps at a time by a little secret stair, conducted our hero personally to a neat attic which overlooked the hugegarden of the house. He asked him how many shirts he had orderedfrom the hosier.

　　'Two,' replied Julien, dismayed at seeing so great a gentleman descendto these details.

　　'Very good,' said the Marquis, with a serious air, and an imperative,curt note in his voice, which set Julien thinking: 'very good! Order yourself two and twenty more. Here is your first quarter's salary.'

　　 As they came down from the attic, the Marquis summoned an elderlyman: 'Arsene,' he said to him, 'you will look after M. Sorel.' A fewminutes later, Julien found himself alone in a magnificent library: it wasan exquisite moment. So as not to be taken by surprise in his emotion, hewent and hid himself in a little dark corner; from which he gazed withrapture at the glittering backs of the books. 'I can read all of those,' hetold himself. 'And how should I fail to be happy here? M. de Renalwould have thought himself disgraced for ever by doing the hundredthpart of what the Marquis de La Mole has just done for me.

　　'But first of all, we must copy the letters.' This task ended, Julien ventured towards the shelves; he almost went mad with joy on finding anedition of Voltaire. He ran and opened the door of the library so as not tobe caught. He then gave himself the pleasure of opening each of theeighty volumes in turn. They were magnificently bound, a triumph ofthe best craftsman in London. This was more than was needed to carryJulien's admiration beyond all bounds.

　　An hour later, the Marquis entered the room, examined the copies,and was surprised to see that Julien wrote cela with a double l, cella 'Soall that the abbe has been telling me of his learning is simply a tale!' TheMarquis, greatly discouraged, said to him gently:

　　'You are not certain of your spelling?'

　　'That is true,' said Julien, without the least thought of the harm he wasdoing himself; he was moved by the Marquis's kindness, which madehim think of M. de Renal's savage tone.

　　'It is all a waste of time, this experiment with a little Franc-comtoispriest,' thought the Marquis; 'but I did so want a trustworthy man.

　　'Cela has only one l,' the Marquis told him; 'when you have finishe............