feat_summary_path: finished_summaries/shmoop/The Red and the Black/section_64_part_0.txt
feat_book_id: The Red and the Black.part 2.chapter 35
feat_summary_id: part 2, chapter 35
feat_summary: {"name": "Part 2, Chapter 35", "url": "https://web.archive.org/web/20200920104425/https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/red-and-the-black/summary/part-2-chapter-35", "summary": "Julien gets ready to leave Father Pirard's one day when Pirard gives him a huge wad of money from the marquis. The man doesn't want anything about Julien's life to reveal his lower class status. Julien gets along swimmingly when he first joins the army in his new post. Everyone likes and respects him. Out of nowhere, he gets a note from Mathilde telling him to come to her immediately in Paris. It's an emergency. When Julien gets to Paris, Mathilde tells him that her father has run a background check on Julien and found out about his affair with Madame de Renal back in the day. Madame herself wrote a letter to the marquis talking about how Julien seduced her. It doesn't look good. In fact, it sounds like exactly what he did with Mathilde. Julien runs away in shame. He heads all the way back to his hometown of Verrieres. The first place he goes is the local gun shop, where he buys a pair of pistols. He goes to the Verrieres church, where mass is happening. He walks into the pew directly behind Madame de Renal's and shoots her twice in cold blood for ratting him out. Things just got real.", "analysis": ""}
text: CHAPTER LXV
  
  A STORM
  
  
          My God, give me mediocrity.--_Mirabeau_.
  
  
  His mind was engrossed; he only half answered the eager tenderness that
  she showed to him. He remained gloomy and taciturn. He had never seemed
  so great and so adorable in Mathilde's eyes. She was apprehensive of
  some subtle twist of his pride which would spoil the whole situation.
  
  She saw the abbe Pirard come to the hotel nearly every morning. Might
  not Julien have divined something of her father's intentions through
  him? Might not the marquis himself have written to him in a momentary
  caprice. What was the explanation of Julien's stern manner following on
  so great a happiness? She did not dare to question.
  
  She did not _dare_--she--Mathilde! From that moment her feelings for
  Julien contained a certain vague and unexpected element which was
  almost panic. This arid soul experienced all the passion possible in
  an individual who has been brought up amid that excessive civilisation
  which Paris so much admires.
  
  Early on the following day Julien was at the house of the abbe Pirard.
  Some post-horses were arriving in the courtyard with a dilapidated
  chaise which had been hired at a neighbouring station.
  
  "A vehicle like that is out of fashion," said the stern abbe to him
  morosely. "Here are twenty thousand francs which M. de la Mole makes
  you a gift of. He insists on your spending them within a year, but
  at the same time wants you to try to look as little ridiculous as
  possible." (The priest regarded flinging away so substantial a sum on a
  young man as simply an opportunity for sin).
  
  "The marquis adds this: 'M. Julien de la Vernaye will have received
  this money from his father, whom it is needless to call by any other
  name. M. de la Vernaye will perhaps think it proper to give a present
  to M. Sorel, a carpenter of Verrieres, who cared for him in his
  childhood....' I can undertake that commission," added the abbe. "I
  have at last prevailed upon M. de la Mole to come to a settlement with
  that Jesuit, the abbe de Frilair. His influence is unquestionably too
  much for us. The complete recognition of your high birth on the part
  of this man, who is in fact the governor of B---- will be one of the
  unwritten terms of the arrangement." Julien could no longer control his
  ecstasy. He embraced the abbe. He saw himself recognised.
  
  "For shame," said M. Pirard, pushing him away. "What is the meaning of
  this worldly vanity? As for Sorel and his sons, I will offer them in my
  own name a yearly allowance of five hundred francs, which will be paid
  to each of them as long as I am satisfied with them."
  
  Julien was already cold and haughty. He expressed his thanks, but in
  the vaguest terms which bound him to nothing. "Could it be possible,"
  he said to himself, "that I am the natural son of some great nobleman
  who was exiled to our mountains by the terrible Napoleon?" This idea
  seemed less and less improbable every minute.... "My hatred of my
  father would be a proof of this.... In that case, I should not be an
  unnatural monster after all."
  
  A few days after this soliloquy the Fifteenth Regiment of Hussars,
  which was one of the most brilliant in the army, was being reviewed on
  the parade ground of Strasbourg. M. the chevalier de La Vernaye sat
  the finest horse in Alsace, which had cost him six thousand francs. He
  was received as a lieutenant, though he had never been sub-lieutenant
  except on the rolls of a regiment of which he had never heard.
  
  His impassive manner, his stern and almost malicious eyes, his pallor,
  and his invariable self-possession, founded his reputation from
  the very first day. Shortly afterwards his perfect and calculated
  politeness, and his skill at shooting and fencing, of which, though
  without any undue ostentation, he made his comrades aware, did away
  with all idea of making fun of him openly. After hesitating for five
  or six days, the public opinion of the regiment declared itself in his
  favour.
  
  "This young man has everything," said the facetious old officers,
  "except youth."
  
  Julien wrote from Strasbourg to the old cure of Verrieres, M. Chelan,
  who was now verging on extreme old age.
  
  "You will have learnt, with a joy of which I have no doubt, of the
  events which have induced my family to enrich me. Here are five hundred
  francs which I request you to distribute quietly, and without any
  mention of my name, among those unfortunate ones who are now poor as I
  myself was once, and whom you will doubtless help as you once helped
  me."
  
  Julien was intoxicated with ambition, and not with vanity. He
  nevertheless devoted a great part of his time to attending to his
  external appearance. His horses, his uniform, his orderlies' liveries,
  were all kept with a correctness which would have done credit to the
  punctiliousness of a great English nobleman. He had scarcely been made
  a lieutenant as a matter of favour (and that only two days ago) than
  he began to calculate that if he was to become commander-in-chief
  at thirty, like all the great generals, then he must be more than a
  lieutenant at twenty-three at the latest. He thought about nothing
  except fame and his son.
  
  It was in the midst of the ecstasies of the most reinless ambition that
  he was surprised by the arrival of a young valet from the Hotel de la
  Mole, who had come with a letter.
  
  "All is lost," wrote Mathilde to him: "Rush here as quickly as
  possible, sacrifice everything, desert if necessary. As soon as you
  have arrived, wait for me in a fiacre near the little garden door,
  near No. ---- of the street ---- I will come and speak to you: I shall
  perhaps be able to introduce you into the garden. All is lost, and I am
  afraid there is no way out; count on me; you will find me staunch and
  firm in adversity. I love you."
  
  A few minutes afterwards, Julien obtained a furlough from the colonel,
  and left Strasbourg at full gallop. But the awful anxiety which
  devoured him did not allow him to continue this method of travel beyond
  Metz. He flung himself into a post-chaise, and arrived with an almost
  incredible rapidity at the indicated spot, near the little garden door
  of the Hotel de la Mole. The door opened, and Mathilde, oblivious of
  all human conventions, rushed into his arms. Fortunately, it was only
  five o'clock in the morning, and the street was still deserted.
  
  "All is lost. My father, fearing my tears, left Thursday night. Nobody
  knows where for? But here is his letter: read it." She climbed into the
  fiacre with Julien.
  
  "I could forgive everything except the plan of seducing you because
  you are rich. That, unhappy girl, is the awful truth. I give you my
  word of honour that I will never consent to a marriage with that man.
  I will guarantee him an income of 10,000 francs if he will live far
  away beyond the French frontiers, or better still, in America. Read the
  letter which I have just received in answer to the enquiries which I
  have made. The impudent scoundrel had himself requested me to write to
  madame de Renal. I will never read a single line you write concerning
  that man. I feel a horror for both Paris and yourself. I urge you to
  cover what is bound to happen with the utmost secrecy. Be frank, have
  nothing more to do with the vile man, and you will find again the
  father you have lost."
  
  "Where is Madame de Renal's letter?" said Julien coldly.
  
  "Here it is. I did not want to shew it to you before you were prepared
  for it."
  
  
          LETTER
  
          "My duties to the sacred cause of religion and morality,
          oblige me, monsieur, to take the painful course which I
          have just done with regard to yourself: an infallible
          principle orders me to do harm to my neighbour at the
          present moment, but only in order to avoid an even
          greater scandal. My sentiment of duty must overcome
          the pain which I experience. It is only too true,
          monsieur, that the conduct of the person about whom you
          ask me to tell you the whole truth may seem incredible
          or even honest. It may possibly be considered proper
          to hide or to disguise part of the truth: that would
          be in accordance with both prudence and religion. But
          the conduct about which you desire information has
          been in fact reprehensible to the last degree, and
          more than I can say. Poor and greedy as the man is, it
          is only by the aid of the most consummate hypocrisy,
          and by seducing a weak and unhappy woman, that he has
          endeavoured to make a career for himself and become
          someone in the world. It is part of my painful duty to
          add that I am obliged to believe that M. Julien has no
          religious principles. I am driven conscientiously to
          think that one of his methods of obtaining success in
          any household is to try to seduce the woman who commands
          the principal influence. His one great object, in spite
          of his show of disinterestedness, and his stock-in-trade
          of phrases out of novels, is to succeed in doing what he
          likes with the master of the household and his fortune.
          He leaves behind him unhappiness and eternal remorse,
          etc., etc., etc."
  
  This extremely long letter, which was almost blotted out by tears, was
  certainly in madame de Renal's handwriting; it was even written with
  more than ordinary care.
  
  "I cannot blame M. de la Mole," said Julien, "after he had finished it.
  He is just and prudent. What father would give his beloved daughter to
  such a man? Adieu!" Julien jumped out of the fiacre and rushed to his
  post-chaise, which had stopped at the end of the street. Mathilde, whom
  he had apparently forgotten, took a few steps as though to follow him,
  but the looks she received from the tradesmen, who were coming out on
  the thresholds of their shops, and who knew who she was, forced her to
  return precipitately to the garden.
  
  Julien had left for Verrieres. During that rapid journey he was unable
  to write to Mathilde as he had intended. His hand could only form
  illegible characters on the paper.
  
  He arrived at Verrieres on a Sunday morning. He entered the shop of the
  local gunsmith, who overwhelmed him with congratulations on his recent
  good fortune. It constituted the news of the locality.
  
  Julien had much difficulty in making him understand that he wanted a
  pair of pistols. At his request the gunsmith loaded the pistols.
  
  The three peals sounded; it is a well-known signal in the villages of
  France, and after the various ringings in the morning announces the
  immediate commencement of Mass.
  
  Julien entered the new church of Verrieres. All the lofty windows of
  the building were veiled with crimson curtains. Julien found himself
  some spaces behind the pew of madame de Renal. It seemed to him that
  she was praying fervently The sight of the woman whom he had loved so
  much made Julien's arm tremble so violently that he was at first unable
  to execute his project. "I cannot," he said to himself. "It is a
  physical impossibility."
  
  At that moment the young priest, who was officiating at the Mass, rang
  the bell for the elevation of the host. Madame de Renal lowered her
  head, which, for a moment became entirely hidden by the folds of her
  shawl. Julien did not see her features so distinctly: he aimed a pistol
  shot at her, and missed her: he aimed a second shot, she fell.
  
  
  
  
  
  
feat_summary_name: Part 2, Chapter 35
target: Julien gets ready to leave Father Pirard's one day when Pirard gives him a huge wad of money from the marquis. The man doesn't want anything about Julien's life to reveal his lower class status. Julien gets along swimmingly when he first joins the army in his new post. Everyone likes and respects him. Out of nowhere, he gets a note from Mathilde telling him to come to her immediately in Paris. It's an emergency. When Julien gets to Paris, Mathilde tells him that her father has run a background check on Julien and found out about his affair with Madame de Renal back in the day. Madame herself wrote a letter to the marquis talking about how Julien seduced her. It doesn't look good. In fact, it sounds like exactly what he did with Mathilde. Julien runs away in shame. He heads all the way back to his hometown of Verrieres. The first place he goes is the local gun shop, where he buys a pair of pistols. He goes to the Verrieres church, where mass is happening. He walks into the pew directly behind Madame de Renal's and shoots her twice in cold blood for ratting him out. Things just got real.