Part 2 Chapter 34
A Man of SpiritThe prefect riding along on his horse thought to himself, Whyshould I not be a minister, head of the Cabinet, a duke? This ishow I would wage war … In that way I would have innovatorsput in chains.
Le GlobeNo argument is sufficient to destroy the mastery acquired by ten yearsof pleasant fancies. The Marquis thought it unreasonable to be angry, butcould not bring himself to forgive. 'If this Julien could die by accident,'
he said to himself at times … Thus it was that his sorrowful imaginationfound some relief in pursuing the most absurd chimeras. They paralysedthe influence of the wise counsels of the abbe Pirard. A month passed inthis way without the slightest advance in the negotiations.
In this family affair, as in affairs of politics, the Marquis had brilliantflashes of insight which would leave him enthusiastic for three days onend. At such times a plan of conduct would not please him because itwas backed by sound reasons; the reasons found favour in his sight onlyin so far as they supported his favourite plan. For three days, he wouldlabour with all the ardour and enthusiasm of a poet, to bring matters to acertain position; on the fourth, he no longer gave it a thought.
At first Julien was disconcerted by the dilatoriness of the Marquis; but,after some weeks, he began to discern that M. de La Mole had, in dealingwith this affair, no definite plan.
Madame de La Mole and the rest of the household thought that Julienhad gone into the country to look after the estates; he was in hiding inthe abbe Pirard's presbytery, and saw Mathilde almost every day; she,each morning, went to spend an hour with her father, but sometimesthey remained for weeks on end without mentioning the matter that wasoccupying all their thoughts.
'I do not wish to know where that man is,' the Marquis said to her oneday; 'send him this letter.' Mathilde read:
'The estates in Languedoc bring in 20,600 francs. I give 10,600 francs tomy daughter, and 10,000 francs to M. Julien Sorel. I make over the estatesthemselves, that is to say. Tell the lawyer to draft two separate deeds ofgift, and to bring me them tomorrow; after which, no further relationsbetween us. Ah! Sir, how was I to expect such a thing as this?
'LE MARQUIS DE LA MOLE'
'I thank you very much,' said Mathilde gaily. 'We are going to settle inthe Chateau d'Aiguillon, between Agen and Marmande. They say thatthe country there is as beautiful as Italy.'
This donation came as a great surprise to Julien. He was no longer thesevere, cold man that we have known. The destiny of his child absorbedall his thoughts in anticipation. This unexpected fortune, quite considerable for so poor a man, made him ambitious. He now saw, settled on hiswife or himself, an income of 30,600 francs. As for Mathilde, all her sentiments were absorbed in one of adoration of her husband, for thus it wasthat her pride always named Julien. Her great, her sole ambition was tohave her marriage recognised. She spent her time in exaggerating thehigh degree of prudence that she had shown in uniting her destiny withthat of a superior man. Personal merit was in fashion in her brain.
Their almost continuous separation, the multiplicity of business, thelittle time that they had to talk of love, now completed the good effect ofthe wise policy adopted by Julien in the past.
Finally Mathilde grew impatient at seeing so little of the man whomshe had now come to love sincerely.
In a moment of ill humour she wrote to her father, and began her letterlike Othello:
'That I have preferred Julien to the attractions which society offered tothe daughter of M. le Marquis de La Mole, my choice of him sufficientlyproves. These pleasures of reputation and petty vanity are nothing tome. It will soon be six weeks that I have lived apart from my husband.
That is enough to prove my respect for you. Before next Thursday, I shallleave the paternal roof. Your generosity has made us rich. No one knowsmy secret save the estimable abbe Pirard. I shall go to him; he will marryus, and an hour after the ceremony we shall be on our way to Languedoc, and shall never appear again in Paris save by your order. But whatpierces me to the heart is that all this will furnish a savoury anecdote at my expense, and at yours. May not the epigrams of a foolish public oblige our excellent Norbert to seek a quarrel with Julien? In that event, Iknow him, I should have no control over him. We should find in hisheart the plebeian in revolt. I implore you on my knees, O my father,come and attend our wedding, in M. Pirard's church, next Thursday. Thepoint of the malicious anecdote will be blunted, and the life of your onlyson, my husband's life will be made safe,' etc., etc.
This letter plunged the Marquis in a strange embarrassment. He mustnow at length make up his mind. AH his little habits, all his commonplace friends had lost their influence.
In these strange circumstances, the salient features of his character,stamped upon it by the events of his younger days, resumed their fullsway. The troubles of the Emigration had made him a man of imagination. After he had enjoyed for two years an immense fortune and all thedistinctions of the Court, 1790 had cast him into the fearful hardships ofthe Emigration. This hard school had changed the heart of a man of twoand twenty. Actually he was encamped amid his present wealth ratherthan dominated by it. But this same imagination which had preservedhis soul from the gangrene of gold, had left him a prey to an insane passion for seeing his daughter adorned with a fine-sounding title.
During the six weeks that had just elapsed, urged at one moment by acaprice, the Marquis had decided to enrich Julien; poverty seemed tohim ignoble, dishonouring to himself, M. de La Mole, impossible in thehusband of his daughter; he showered money upon him. Next day, hisimagination taking another direction, it seemed to him that Julien wouldhear the silent voice of this generosity in the matter of money, change hisname, retire to America, write to Mathilde that he was dead to her. M. deLa Mole imagined this letter as written, and traced its effect on hisdaughter's character …On the day on which he was awakened from these youthful dreams byMathilde's real letter, after having long thought of killing Julien or ofmaking him disappear, he was dreaming of building up for him a brilliant future. He was making him take the name of one of his properties;and why should he not secure the transmission of his peerage to him? M.
le Duc de Chaulnes, his father-in-law, had spoken to him several times,since his only son had been killed in Spain, of wishing to hand on histitle to Norbert …'One cannot deny that Julien shows a singular aptitude for business,audacity, perhaps even brilliance,' the Marquis said to himself… 'But at the back of that character, I find something alarming. It is the impressionthat he produces on everyone, therefore there must be something real init' (the more difficult this reality was to grasp, the more it alarmed theimaginative spirit of the old Marquis).
'My daughter expressed it to me very cleverly the other day' (in a letterwhich we have suppressed): '"Julien belongs to no drawing-room, to noset." He has not contrived to find any support against me, not the slightest resource if I abandon him … But is that due to ignorance of the actualstate of society? Two or three times I have said to him: "There is no realand profitable candidature save that of the drawing-rooms … "'No, he has not the adroit and cautious spirit of a pettifogger who never loses a minute or an opportunity … It is not at all the character of aLouis XI. On the other hand, I see in him the most ungenerous maxims … I lose track of him … Does he repeat those maxims to himself, toserve as a dam to his passions?
'Anyhow, one thing is clear: he cannot endure contempt, in that way Ihold him.
'He has not the religious feeling for high birth, it is true, he does not respect us by instinct … That is bad; but, after all, the heart of a seminaristshould be impatient only of the want of pleasure and money. He is verydifferent; he cannot endure contempt at any price.'
Forced by his daughter's letter, M. de La Mole saw the necessity ofmaking up his mind: 'Well, here is the great question: has Julien's audacity gone the length of setting him to make love to my daughter, becausehe knows that I love her more than anything in the world, and that Ihave an income of a hundred thousand crowns?
'Mathilde protests the opposite … No, master Julien, that is a pointupon which I wish to be under no illusion.
'Has there been genuine, unpremeditated love? Or rather a vulgar desire to raise himself to a good position? Mathilde is perspicacious, shefelt from the first that this suspicion might ruin him with me; hence thatadmission: it was she who thought first of loving him …'That a girl of so lofty a character should so far have forgotten herselfas to make tangible advances! … Press his arm in the garden, one evening, how horrible! As though she had not had a hundred less indelicateways of letting him know that she favoured him.
'To excuse is to accuse; I distrust Mathilde … ' That day, the Marquis'sarguments were more conclusive than usual. Habit, however, prevailed; he resolved to gain time and to write to his daughter; for they communicated by letter between different parts of the house. M. de La Moledared not discuss matters with Mathilde and hold out against her. Hewas afraid of bringing everything to an end by a sudden concession.
'Take care not to commit any fresh act of folly; here is a commission asLieutenant of Hussars for M. le Chevalier Julien Sorel de La Vernaye.
You see what I am doing for him. Do not cross me, do not question me.
He shall start within twenty-four hours, and report himself at Strasbourg, where his regiment is quartered. Here is a draft upon my banker;I expect obedience.'
Mathilde's love and joy knew no bounds; she sought to profit by hervictory and replied at once:
'M. de La Vernaye would be at your feet, speechless with gratitude, ifhe knew all that you are deigning to do for him. But, in the midst of thisgenerosity, my father has forgotten me; your daughter's honour is indanger. A single indiscretion may leave an everlasting blot, which an income of twenty thousand crowns would not efface. I shall send this commission to M. de La Vernaye only if you give me your word that, in thecourse of the next month, my marriage shall be celebrated in public, atVillequier. Soon after that period, which I beg you not to prolong, yourdaughter will be unable to appear in public save with the name of Madame de La Vernaye. How I thank you, dear Papa, for having saved mefrom the name of Sorel,' etc., etc.
The reply was unexpected.
'Obey or I retract all. Tremble, rash girl, I do not yet know what yourJulien is, and you yourself know even less than I. Let him start for Strasbourg, and put his best foot foremost. I shall make my wishes known ina fortnight's time.'
The firmness of this reply astonished Mathilde. 'I do not know Julien';these words plunged her in a day-dream which presently ended in themost enchanting suppositions; but she believed them to be the truth. 'MyJulien's mind has not donned the tawdry little uniform of the drawing-rooms, and my father disbelieves in his superiority because of the veryfact which proves it …'Anyhow, if I do not obey this sudden impulse, I foresee the possibilityof a public scene; a scandal lowers my position in society, and may makeme less attractive in Julien's eyes. After the scandal … ten years ofpoverty; and the folly of choosing a husband on account of his merit canonly be saved from ridicule by the most brilliant opulence. If I live apart from my father, at his age, he may forget me … Norbert will marry someattractive, clever woman: the old Louis XIV was beguiled by theDuchesse de Bourgogne … '
She decided to obey, but refrained from communicating her father'sletter to Julien; his unaccountable nature might lead him to commit someact of folly.
That evening, when she informed Julien that he was a Lieutenant ofHussars, his joy knew no bounds. We may form an idea of it from theambition that marked his whole life, and from the passionate love that henow felt for his child. The change of name filled him with astonishment.
'At last,' he thought, 'the tale of my adventures is finished, and thecredit is all mine. I have contrived to make myself loved by this monsterof pride,' he added, looking at Mathilde; 'her father cannot live withouther, nor she without me.'