This somewhat amused our hero; he was on the point of smiling.
"So we have the devout Altamira," he said to himself, "aiding me in an adulterous enterprise."
During Don Diego's solemn conversation Julien had been attentive to the hours struck by the clock of the Hotel d'Aligre.
The dinner hour was drawing near, he was going to see Mathilde again.
He went in and dressed with much care.
"Mistake No. 1," he said to himself as he descended the staircase:
"I must follow the prince's instructions to the letter."
He went up to his room again and put on a travelling suit which was as simple as it could be.
"All I have to do now," he thought, "is to keep control of my expression."
It was only half-past five and they dined at six.
He thought of going down to the salon which he found deserted.
He was moved to the point of tears at the sight of the blue sofa.
"I must make an end of this foolish sensitiveness," he said angrily, "it will betray me."
He took up a paper in order to keep himself in countenance and passed three or four times from the salon into the garden.
It was only when he was well concealed by a large oak and was trembling all over, that he ventured to raise his eyes at mademoiselle de la Mole's window.
It was hermetically sealed; he was on the point of fainting and remained for a long time leaning against the oak; then with a staggering step he went to have another look at the gardener's ladder.
The chain which he had once forced asunder—in, alas, such different circumstances—had not yet been repaired.
Carried away by a moment of madness, Julien pressed it to his lips.
After having wandered about for a long time between the salon and the garden, Julien felt horribly tired; he was now feeling acutely the effects of a first success.
My eyes will be expressionless and will not betray me!
The guests gradually arrived in the salon; the door never opened without instilling anxiety into Julien's heart.
They sat down at table.
Mademoiselle de la Mole, always faithful to her habit of keeping people waiting, eventually appeared.
She blushed a great deal on seeing Julien, she had not been told of his arrival.
In accordance with Prince Korasoff's recommendation, Julien looked at his hands. They were trembling.
Troubled though he was beyond words by this discovery, he was sufficiently happy to look merely tired.
M. de la Mole sang his praises. The marquise spoke to him a minute afterwards and complimented him on his tired appearance.
Julien said to himself at every minute,
"I ought not to look too much at mademoiselle de la Mole, I ought not to avoid looking at her too much either.
I must appear as I was eight days before my unhappiness——" He had occasion to be satisfied with his success and remained in the salon.
Paying attention for the first time to the mistress of the house, he made every effort to make the visitors speak and to keep the conversation alive.
His politeness was rewarded; madame la marechale de Fervaques was announced about eight o'clock.
Julien retired and shortly afterwards appeared dressed with the greatest care.
Madame de la Mole was infinitely grateful to him for this mark of respect and made a point of manifesting her satisfaction by telling madame de Fervaques about his journey.
Julien established himself near the marechale in such a position that Mathilde could not notice his eyes.
In this position he lavished in accordance with all the rules in the art of love, the most abject admiration on madame de Fervaques.
The first of the 53 letters with which Prince Korasoff had presented him commenced with a tirade on this sentiment.
The marechale announced that she was going to the Opera-Bouffe.
Julien rushed there. He ran across the Chevalier de Beauvoisis who took him into a box occupied by Messieurs the Gentlemen of the Chamber, just next to madame de Fervaques's box.
Julien constantly looked at her.
"I must keep a siege-journal," he said to himself as he went back to the hotel, "otherwise I shall forget my attacks."
He wrote two or three pages on this boring theme, and in this way achieved the admirable result of scarcely thinking at all about mademoiselle de la Mole.
Mathilde had almost forgotten him during his journey.
"He is simply a commonplace person after all," she thought, "his name will always recall to me the greatest mistake in my life.
I must honestly go back to all my ideas about prudence and honour; a woman who forgets them has everything to lose."
She showed herself inclined to allow the contract with the marquis de Croisenois, which had been prepared so long ago, to be at last concluded.
He was mad with joy; he would have been very much astonished had he been told that there was an element of resignation at the bottom of those feelings of Mathilde which made him so proud.
All mademoiselle de la Mole's ideas changed when she saw Julien.
"As a matter of fact he is my husband," she said to herself. "If I am sincere in my return to sensible notions, he is clearly the man I ought to marry."
She was expecting importunities and airs of unhappiness on the part of Julien; she commenced rehearsing her answers, for he would doubtless try to address some words to her when they left the dinner table.