Wonderful storyline of "Red and Black"

Chapter 45

"Don't let anyone call poor Abbe Chas-Bernard, I don't want this kind of mischief," he said to Fouquet; " He

will be without food for three days. Try to find me a Jansenist priest, a friend of Father Pila, who will not engage in intrigues."

Fouquet is right. Waiting anxiously for him to speak. Everything that public opinion in the provinces required Julien to do was very appropriate. Although the confessor was chosen improperly, with the secret help of Father de Forlay, Julien was still protected by the Holy Society in prison; if he had been smarter , it is possible to escape. But the harsh atmosphere in the prison took its toll, and his mental faculties diminished. This made him feel happier when Madame de Rênal returned.

"My duty is first of all to you," she said, kissing him, "I escaped from Verrieres..."

Julian had no regard for her. A little bit of unnecessary self-esteem revealed all his weaknesses. She was gentle and lovable

to him.

In the evening, as soon as she walked out of the prison, she had someone call the young priest, who had grabbed Julien like a prey, to her aunt's house

because he just wanted to be there. Having gained the trust of the young women of Besan?on's upper class, Madame de Rênal easily persuaded him to go to the convent of Beaure-Leeu for a novena.

The excess and madness of Julien’s love are far beyond what words can describe.

With money, and using and abusing the credibility of her aunt, a well-known, wealthy and religious woman, Madame de Rênal was allowed to visit him twice a day. .

Hearing the news, Mathilde became jealous until she lost her mind. M. de Foley admitted to her that he was not so powerful as to disregard all etiquette and allow her to visit her friends more than once a day. Mathilde

De asked someone to follow Madame de Renal so that she could know her every move. M. de Foleylaide tried every means possible in his very nimble mind to prove to her that Julien was not worthy of her.

After experiencing all kinds of pain, she fell in love with him even more and quarreled with him almost every day.

For this poor girl whom he had so unusually implicated, Julien wanted to do his best to be an upright person until the end

; The passionate love of the Naphtha never spared him. The reasons he came up with were untenable.

Unable to convince Mathilde that Madame de Renal's visit was innocent, he said to himself: "This drama should be over soon

p>

If I can't conceal my feelings, this is my excuse."

Mademoiselle de La Mole learned that M. de Croisenois was dead. , M. de Tale, that rich man, dared to say some unpleasant things about Mathilde's disappearance, and M. de Croisenois went to ask him to take it back. M. de Tale

showed him some anonymous letters written to him, which were full of details so cleverly connected that the poor Marquis could not help reading them. to the truth.

Mr. de Talet boldly made a few more jokes that were not tactful enough. Mr. de Croisenois was so angry that he wanted to live. His request for an apology was too harsh, and the millionaire would rather have a duel. Stupidity triumphed, and one of the most lovable men in Paris died a violent death before he was twenty-four years old.

His death left a strange, morbid impression on Yulian's weakening mind.

“Poor Croisenois,” he said to Mathilde, “he is indeed very reasonable and honest in his treatment of us

Integrity; After those indiscreet things in my living room, he should have hated me and given me trouble, because the hatred that follows contempt is usually violent..."

The death of M. de Croisenois changed all Julien's ideas about Mathilde's future; he spent several days proving to her that she should accept de Lu Mr. Zi’s proposal.

"He is a shy man, but not too hypocritical," he told her. "He will certainly join the suitors. He is more ambitious than poor Croisenois." More ordinary, more lasting

He has no duchy in his family and will have no difficulty marrying the widow of Julien Soler"

"And a passion that scorns greatness. "A widow," Mathilde retorted coldly, "because six months of life is enough for her to see that her lover loves not her but another woman, and This woman is the source of all their misfortunes."

"You are not being fair. Mrs. de Renal's visit will be to the Paris lawyer who requested amnesty for me. Provide special reasons; he will depict how the murderer is cared for by his victim. This will have an effect, and maybe one day you will see me become a plot. Where is the protagonist of the play..."

A kind of crazy and unrequited jealousy, a continuation of hopeless misfortune (even if Julien is rescued, how can he save his life?

), the humiliation and pain caused by falling passionately in love with this unfaithful lover plunged Mademoiselle de La Mole into a depressed silence. Fouquet's crude frankness could not relieve her.

As for Julien, except for the time occupied by Mathilde, he lives in love and hardly cares about tomorrow.

When this enthusiasm is extreme and without any pretense, it produces a strange effect, so that Madame de Renal

almost shares his carelessness Carefree and warm joy.

“In the past,” Julien said to her, “when we were walking in the woods of Vergy, how happy I could have been.

But there was a strong Ambition took me to the land of illusion. Instead of hugging the lovely arms close to my lips, I let the fantasy of the future take away me. In order to build a huge world. I have to fight countless battles for my wealth...

No, if you don’t come to see me in prison, I will die without knowing what happiness is.”

Two. The incident disturbed this peaceful life. Although Julien's confessor was a Jansenist, he did not escape the Jesuits' calculations and became their tool unknowingly.

One day he came to Lian and said that unless he was willing to commit the terrible crime of suicide, he should do everything possible

to obtain amnesty. And the priests have great influence in the Ministry of Justice in Paris, so there is an easy solution: you should convert to religion with great fanfare..."

"With great fanfare! Julien repeated, "Ah!" I have caught you too, my father, you too are acting like a missionary

You are acting..."

"Your age," said the Jansenist priest seriously Say, "Your touching face from heaven, your unexplained motive for your crime, the heroic act performed by Mademoiselle de La Mole on your behalf, in short, everything, until your victim The amazing friendship shown

to you by the author helped to make you a hero to the young women of Besan?on. They have forgotten everything else for you, even politics..."

"Your conversion to religion will resonate in their hearts and leave a deep impression. You can be of great use to religion, and

am I to hesitate for the meaningless reason that the Jesuits would do the same thing in this case

< p>? Therefore, in this special situation of escaping their greed, they will still do harm! Let us hope not...

The tears your conversion brings will counterbalance the corrosive effect of ten editions of Voltaire's blasphemous works. "

"Then what do I have left," Julien praised coldly, "if I despise myself? I was once so ambitious that I did not want to condemn myself; at that time I acted according to the fashion of the times. Now, I live one day at a time. But if I did something cowardly, I would be looking for misfortune in the eyes of everyone..." Another incident came from Madame de Renal, more It made Julien feel painful.

I don't know which scheming girlfriend actually convinced this innocent and shy soul that her duty was to go to Saint-Cloud and kneel before Charles X to plead for mercy. .

Separating from Julien was originally a sacrifice for her, but after such hard work, appearing in public at other times

may be more uncomfortable than death. What happened now is nothing in her eyes.

"I'm going to see the king, and I'm going to publicly admit that you are my lover, because the life of a person, the life of a man like Julien,

should outweigh any pros and cons. on the balance. I say you took my life out of jealousy. There are many poor young men who have been saved by a jury or the mercy of the king in this situation..."

"I won't see you again, I'll have the prison door shut on you," Julien shouted, "if you don't swear to me that you won't do anything that will make us both embarrassed in public, I will definitely commit suicide out of despair tomorrow. The idea of ??going to Paris was not yours. Tell me the name of the female conspirator who gave you this idea..."

" Let us spend the few days of our short life in happiness, hiding our existence, our sin is too obvious. Mademoiselle de La Mole in Paris. Very influential, I believe she will do everything humanly possible.

In other provinces, all the rich and powerful people are against me. Your actions will incite those who are rich and special. They are gentle people, for whom life is so easy... Don't let the Maslons, Valenos and many others laugh at them

Us."

Julian can no longer stand the bad atmosphere in the prison. Fortunately, on the day they informed him that he was going to die, the bright sunshine filled everything with joy, and Julien was full of courage. Walking in the open air gave him a sweet feeling, as if a sailor who had been at sea for a long time walked on land. "Come on, everything goes well," he said to himself, "I don't lack courage at all."

This head has never been so poetic as when it is about to fall to the ground. . The sweetest moments he had spent in the woods of Vergy came back to him with great force.

Everything was done simply and gracefully, without any pretense on his part.

Two days ago, he said to Fouquet:

"I can't guarantee the excitement; the dungeon is so harsh and damp that I sometimes have a fever and become delirious; but fear,

No, people will not see me turn pale."

He made arrangements in advance, and on the morning of his death, Fouquet took Mathilde and De. Mrs. Reiner took them all away.

"Let them ride in a carriage," he said to him, "and try to keep the horses running. They will embrace each other, or

or hate each other. To die. In both cases the poor woman would be relieved of her terrible suffering."

Julien must make Madame de Rênal swear to live in order to take care of Mathilde's son. .

"Who knows? Maybe we have feelings after death." One day he said to Fouquet, "I quite like that little one in the mountains overlooking Verrieres

Rest in the cave, yes, rest, is exactly the word. I have told you several times that I hide in this cave at night and look out over the richest provinces in France, burning with ambition. My heart, this was my passion at that time...

In short, this cave is very precious to me, and I have to admit that its location is the envy of a philosopher's soul... OK

p>

Come on! These congregants in Besan?on make money from everything; if you knew how to do it, they would sell my body to you

..."

Fouquet made this miserable deal. He spent the night alone in his room, watching over his friend's body. Suddenly he was startled to see Mathilde come in. A few seeds ago he had left her ten leagues from Besan?on. She

described the big change and her eyes were wild.

"I want to see him," she said to him.

Fouquet did not have the courage to speak, nor did he have the courage to stand up.

He pointed to a blue cloak on the floor, and Julien's body was wrapped in it.

She knelt down. Apparently the memory of Boniface de La Mole and Marguerite de Navarre gave her superhuman courage. With trembling hands, she opened the cloak. Fouquet turned his eyes away.

He heard Mathilde moving hurriedly in the room. She lit some of her candles. When Fouquet had the strength to look at her, she had already placed Julien's head on a small stone table in front of her and kissed the forehead...

Mar Tilde followed her lover to the grave he had chosen for himself. A large number of priests escorted the coffin, and no one knew that she was sitting alone in her car covered with black veil, with the head of the person she once loved so much on her lap.

In this way, they arrived near a peak in the Jura Mountains in the middle of the night; in the small cave, countless candles lit it up

Brightly, and twenty priests were doing the annoyance. Spiritual rituals. The funeral procession passed through several small mountain villages, and the residents were attracted by this strange ceremony and followed them one after another.

Matilde appeared among them in long mourning clothes; after the funeral, she ordered people to throw thousands of five-franc coins to them.

She was left alone with Fouquet, and she wanted to bury her lover's head with her own hands. Fouquet was so painful that he almost went crazy.

Under Mathilde's care, this wild cave was decorated with marble carved in Italy at a huge cost.

Madame de Renal kept her promise. She made no attempt to commit suicide; however, three days after Julien's death, she died hugging her children