As he finished speaking, a quarter to twelve struck.
Immediately afterwards the sound of the great clock was heard.
It rang a full peal. These full solemn sounds affected Julien.
His imagination was no longer turned to things earthly.
The perfume of the incense and of the rose leaves thrown before the holy sacrament by little children disguised as St. John increased his exaltation.
Logically the grave sounds of the bell should only have recalled to Julien's mind the thought of the labour of twenty men paid fifty-four centimes each, and possibly helped by fifteen or twenty faithful souls.
Logically, he ought to have thought of the wear and tear of the cords and of the framework and of the danger of the clock itself, which falls down every two centuries, and to have considered the means of diminishing the salary of the bell-ringers, or of paying them by some indulgence or other grace dispensed from the treasures of the Church without diminishing its purse.
Julien's soul exalted by these sounds with all their virile fulness, instead of making these wise reflections, wandered in the realm of imagination.
He will never turn out a good priest or a good administrator.
Souls which get thrilled so easily are at the best only capable of producing an artist.
At this moment the presumption of Julien bursts out into full view.
Perhaps fifty of his comrades in the seminary made attentive to the realities of life by their own unpopularity and the Jacobinism which they are taught to see hiding behind every hedge, would have had no other thought suggested by the great bell of the cathedral except the wages of the ringers.
They would have analysed with the genius of Bareme whether the intensity of the emotion produced among the public was worth the money which was given to the ringers.
If Julien had only tried to think of the material interests of the cathedral, his imagination would have transcended its actual object and thought of economizing forty francs on the fabric and have lost the opportunity of avoiding an expense of twenty-five centimes.
While the procession slowly traversed Besancon on the finest day imaginable, and stopped at the brilliant altar-stations put up by the authorities, the church remained in profound silence. There prevailed a semi-obscurity, an agreeable freshness.
It was still perfumed with the fragrance of flowers and incense.
The silence, the deep solitude, the freshness of the long naves sweetened Julien's reverie.
He did not fear being troubled by the abbe Chas, who was engaged in another part of the building.
His soul had almost abandoned its mortal tenement, which was pacing slowly the north wing which had been trusted to his surveillance.
He was all the more tranquil when he had assured himself that there was no one in the confessional except some devout women. His eyes looked in front of him seeing nothing.
His reverie was almost broken by the sight of two well-dressed women, one in the Confessional, and the other on a chair quite near her.
He looked without seeing, but noticed, however, either by reason of some vague appreciation of his duties or admiration for the aristocratic but simple dress of the ladies, that there was no priest in the Confessional.
"It is singular," he thought, "that if these fair ladies are devout, they are not kneeling before some altar, or that if they are in society they have not an advantageous position in the first row of some balcony.
How well cut that dress is!
How graceful!"
He slackened his pace to try and look at them.
The lady who was kneeling in the Confessional turned her head a little hearing the noise of Julien's step in this solemn place.
Suddenly she gave a loud cry, and felt ill.
As the lady collapsed and fell backwards on her knees, her friend who was near her hastened to help her.
At the same time Julien saw the shoulders of the lady who was falling backwards.
His eyes were struck by a twisted necklace of fine, big pearls, which he knew well.
What were his emotions when he recognised the hair of Madame de Renal?
It was she!
The lady who was trying to prevent her from falling was Madame Derville.
Julien was beside himself and hastened to their side.
Madame de Renal's fall would perhaps have carried her friend along with her, if Julien had not supported them.
He saw the head of Madame de Renal, pale and entirely devoid of consciousness floating on his shoulder.
He helped Madame Derville to lean that charming head up against a straw chair. He knelt down.
Madame Derville turned round and recognised him.
"Away, monsieur, away!" she said to him, in a tone of the most lively anger.
"Above all, do not let her see you again.
The sight of you would be sure to horrify her.
She was so happy before you came.
Your conduct is atrocious.
Flee!
Take yourself off if you have any shame left."
These words were spoken with so much authority, and Julien felt so weak, that he did take himself off.
"She always hated me," he said to himself, thinking of Madame Derville.
At the same moment the nasal chanting of the first priests in the procession which was now coming back resounded in the church.
The abbe Chas-Bernard called Julien, who at first did not hear him, several times. He came at last and took his arm behind a pillar where Julien had taken refuge more dead than alive.