Exit Julien'I will not play that poor abbe Chas-Bernard the unkind trick of sendingfor him,' he said to Fouque; 'he would not be able to eat his dinner forthree days afterwards. But try to find me a Jansenist, a friend of M. Pirard and beyond the reach of intrigue.'

　　Fouque had been awaiting this development with impatience. Julienacquitted himself in a decent fashion of everything that is due to publicopinion in the provinces. Thanks to M. l'abbe de Frilair, and in spite ofhis unfortunate choice of a confessor, Julien, in his cell, was under theprotection of the Congregation; with a little more of the spirit of action,he might have made his escape. But, as the bad air of the cell producedits effect, his mental powers dwindled. This made him all the happier onthe return of Madame de Renal.

　　'My first duty is towards you,' she said to him as she embraced him; 'Ihave fled from Verrieres … '

　　Julien had no petty vanity in his relations with her, he told her of allhis weak moments. She was kind and charming to him.

　　That evening, immediately upon leaving the prison, she summoned toher aunt's house the priest who had attached himself to Julien as to aprey; as he wished only to acquire a reputation among the young womenbelonging to the best society of Besancon, Madame de Renal easily persuaded him to go and offer a novena at the abbey of Bray-le-Haut.

　　No words could express the intensity and recklessness of Julien's love.

　　By spending money freely, and by using and abusing the reputation ofher aunt, well known for her piety and riches, Madame de Renal obtained permission to see him twice daily.

　　On hearing this, Mathilde's jealousy rose to the pitch of insanity. M. deFrilair had assured her that in spite of his position he dared not flout allthe conventions so far as to permit her to see her friend more than oncedaily. Mathilde had Madame de Renal followed, so as to be kept informed of her most trivial actions. M. de Frilair exhausted every resource of a most cunning mind, in trying to prove to her that Julien wasunworthy of her.

　　In the midst of all these torments, she loved him all the more, and, almost every day, created a horrible scene in his cell.

　　Julien wished at all costs to behave like an honourable man until theend towards this poor girl whom he had so seriously compromised; but,at every moment, the unbridled passion that he felt for Madame de Renal overcame him. When, through some flaw in his argument, he failed toconvince Mathilde of the innocence of her rival's visits: 'At this stage, theend of the play must be very near,' he said to himself; 'that is some excuse for me if I cannot act better.'

　　Mademoiselle de La Mole learned of the death of M. de Croisenois. M.

　　de Thaler, that man of boundless wealth, had taken the liberty of sayingunpleasant things about Mathilde's disappearance; M. de Croisenoiscalled on him with a request that he would withdraw them: M. de Thalershowed him certain anonymous letters addressed to himself, and full ofdetails so skilfully put together that it was impossible for the poor Marquis not to discern the true facts.

　　M. de Thaler indulged in pleasantries that were distinctly broad. Madwith rage and misery, M. de Croisenois insisted upon reparations sodrastic that the millionaire preferred a duel. Folly proved triumphant;and one of the men in Paris most worthy of a woman's love met hisdeath in his twenty-fourth year.

　　This death made a strange and morbid impression on Julien'sweakened spirits.

　　'Poor Croisenois,' he said to Mathilde, 'did really behave quite reasonably and honourably towards us; he had every right to hate me afteryour imprudent behaviour in your mother's drawing-room, and to seeka quarrel with me; for the hatred that follows on contempt is generallyfurious.'

　　The death of M. de Croisenois altered all Julien's ideas with regard toMathilde's future; he devoted several days to proving to her that sheought to accept the hand of M. de Luz. 'He is a shy man, not too much ofa Jesuit,' he told her, 'and a man who no doubt intends to climb. With amore sober and persistent ambition than poor Croisenois, and with nodukedom in his family, he will make no difficulty about marrying JulienSorel's widow.'

　　 'And a widow who scorns grand passions,' replied Mathilde coldly;'for she has lived long enough to see, after six months, her lover preferanother woman, and a woman who was the origin of all their troubles.'

　　'You are unjust; Madame de Renal's visits will furnish the barristerfrom Paris, who has been engaged to conduct my appeal, with somestriking phrases; he will describe the murderer honoured by the attentions of his victim. That may create an effect, and perhaps one day youwill see me the hero of some melodrama,' etc., etc.

　　A furious jealousy and one that was incapable of wreaking vengeance,the prolongation of a hopeless misery (for, even supposing Julien to besaved, how was she to recapture his heart?), the shame and grief of loving more than ever this faithless lover, had plunged Mademoiselle de LaMole in a grim silence from which the zealous attentions of M. de Frilairwere no more capable than the rude frankness of Fouque, of making heremerge.

　　As for Julien, except during the moments usurped by the presence ofMathilde, he was living upon love and with hardly a thought of the future. A curious effect of this passion, in its extreme form and free fromall pretence, was that Madame de Renal almost shared his indifferenceand mild gaiety.

　　'In the past,' Julien said to her, 'when I might have been so happy during our walks in the woods of Vergy, a burning ambition led my soul into imaginary tracts. Instead of my pressing to my heart this lovely armwhich was so near to my lips, the thought of my future tore me awayfrom you; I was occupied with the countless battles which I should haveto fight in order to build up a colossal fortune … No, I should have diedwithout knowing what happiness meant, had you not come to visit mein this prison.'

　　Two incidents occurred to disturb this tranquil existence. Julien's confessor, for all that he was a Jansenist, was not immune from an intrigueby the Jesuits, and quite unawares became their instrument.

　　He came one day to inform him that if he were not to fall into the mortal sin of suicide, he must take every possible step to obtain a reprieve.

　　Now, the clergy having considerable influence at the Ministry of Justicein Paris, an easy method offered itself: he must undergo a sensationalconversion …'Sensational!' Julien repeated. 'Ah! I have caught you at the same game,Father, play-acting like any missionary … '

　　 'Your tender age,' the Jansenist went or gravely, 'the interesting appearance with which Providence has blessed you, the motive itself ofyour crime, which remains inexplicable, the heroic measures of whichMademoiselle de La Mole is unsparing on your behalf, everything, inshort, including the astonishing affection that your victim shows for you,all these have combined to make ............