I would take him to the Vendee, as the Baron de Tolly is so fond of saying, and from that base he would re-conquer his kingdom; then no more about a charter—and Julien would help me.
What does he lack? name and fortune.
He will make a name, he will win a fortune.
"Croisenois lacks nothing, and he will never be anything else all his life but a duke who is half 'ultra' and half Liberal, an undecided being who never goes to extremes and consequently always plays second fiddle.
"What great action is not an extreme at the moment when it is undertaken?
It is only after accomplishment that it seems possible to commonplace individuals.
Yes, it is love with all its miracles which is going to reign over my heart; I feel as much from the fire which is thrilling me.
Heaven owed me this boon.
It will not then have lavished in vain all its bounties on one single person.
My happiness will be worthy of me.
Each day will no longer be the cold replica of the day before.
There is grandeur and audacity in the very fact of daring to love a man, placed so far beneath me by his social position.
Let us see what happens, will he continue to deserve me?
I will abandon him at the first sign of weakness which I detect.
A girl of my birth and of that medi?val temperament which they are good enough to ascribe to me (she was quoting from her father) must not behave like a fool.
"But should I not be behaving like a fool if I were to love the marquis de Croisenois?
I should simply have a new edition over again of that happiness enjoyed by my girl cousins which I so utterly despise.
I already know everything the poor marquis would say to me and every answer I should make.
What's the good of a love which makes one yawn?
One might as well be in a nunnery.
I shall have a celebration of the signing of a contract just like my younger cousin when the grandparents all break down, provided of course that they are not annoyed by some condition introduced into the contract at the eleventh hour by the notary on the other side." _____
CHAPTER XLII
IS HE A DANTON? _____
The need of anxiety. These words summed up the character of my aunt, the beautiful Marguerite de Valois, who was soon to marry the King of Navarre whom we see reigning at present in France under the name of Henry IV.
The need of staking something was the key to the character of this charming princess; hence her quarrels and reconciliations with her brothers from the time when she was sixteen.
Now, what can a young girl stake?
The most precious thing she has: her reputation, the esteem of a lifetime.
Memoirs of the Duke d' Angouleme.
the natural son of Charles IX. _____
"There is no contract to sign for Julien and me, there is no notary; everything is on the heroic plane, everything is the child of chance.
Apart from the noble birth which he lacks, it is the love of Marguerite de Valois for the young La Mole, the most distinguished man of the time, over again.
Is it my fault that the young men of the court are such great advocates of the conventional, and turn pale at the mere idea of the slightest adventure which is a little out of the ordinary?
A little journey in Greece or Africa represents the highest pitch of their audacity, and moreover they can only march in troops.
As soon as they find themselves alone they are frightened, not of the Bedouin's lance, but of ridicule and that fear makes them mad.
"My little Julien on the other hand only likes to act alone. This unique person never thinks for a minute of seeking help or support in others!
He despises others, and that is why I do not despise him.
"If Julien were noble as well as poor, my love would simply be a vulgar piece of stupidity, a sheer mesalliance; I would have nothing to do with it; it would be absolutely devoid of the characteristic traits of grand passion—the immensity of the difficulty to be overcome and the black uncertainty cf the result."
Mademoiselle de la Mole was so engrossed in these pretty arguments that without realising what she was doing, she praised Julien to the marquis de Croisenois and her brother on the following day.
Her eloquence went so far that it provoked them.
"You be careful of this young man who has so much energy," exclaimed her brother; "if we have another revolution he will have us all guillotined."
She was careful not to answer, but hastened to rally her brother and the marquis de Croisenois on the apprehension which energy caused them.
"It is at bottom simply the fear of meeting the unexpected, the fear of being non-plussed in the presence of the unexpected—"
"Always, always, gentlemen, the fear of ridicule, a monster which had the misfortune to die in 1816."
"Ridicule has ceased to exist in a country where there are two parties," M. de la Mole was fond of saying.
His daughter had understood the idea.
"So, gentlemen," she would say to Julien's enemies, "you will be frightened all your life and you will be told afterwards,
Ce n'etait pas un loup, ce n'en etait que l'ombre."
Matilde soon left them.
Her brother's words horrified her; they occasioned her much anxiety, but the day afterwards she regarded them as tantamount to the highest praise.
"His energy frightens them in this age where all energy is dead.