Chapter 28 Chapter Twenty-Eight

It's useless for Julien to pretend to be stupid, he can't be liked, he is too special, but, he thought, these teachers are all smart people, picked out of thousands, why don't they like my humility Woolen cloth?He felt that his diligence had only deceived one person, because this person believed in everything and seemed to be fooled by everything.This person is the master of ceremonies of the cathedral, Xia Si.Father Bernard, fifteen years ago, when he was given the prospect of being given the chance to be a minister of affairs, waited while he taught evangelism in the seminary.When Julien was still in the dark, he often came first in several subjects, among which was preaching.Father Chas was kind to him for this, and after class, he was willing to take his arm and walk around the garden a few times.

What is he trying to do?Julien said to himself.He wondered that Father Chase had been talking to him for hours about the ornaments the cathedral had.In addition to the funeral ornaments, the cathedral has seventeen veils with friezes.Great hopes were placed on the old Mrs. Rubainpré, who was ninety years old, and for seventy years had kept her wedding dress, made of the best Lyon stuff with gold thread.Just think, my friend, said the Abbe Chase, standing still and wide-eyed, so much gold is used that the material can stand.At Besançon it was generally believed that the will of the Speaker's wife would add to the cathedral's treasury more than a dozen veils, not counting four or five tunics for great festivals.What's more, Father Chas lowered his voice, and added, I have reason to think that the lady of the speaker will leave us with eight exquisite gilded silver candlesticks, which are said to have been bought from Italy by Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. One of his ancestors was his favorite.

However, this man talked a lot about old clothes, what on earth did he want to do?Julien thought, this kind of foreshadowing is really ingenious. I have been doing it for a hundred years, but I still don't see anything.He must not trust me!He was cleverer than those people, whose secret purpose I guessed in two weeks.I see, this man has been tormented by ambition for fifteen years! One evening, while he was having a fencing lesson, Julien was called to the Abbe Pirard, who said to him: Tomorrow is Corpus Christi.Xia Si.Monsieur Bernard needs your help to decorate the cathedral, go and obey.

The Abbe Pirard called him back again, and added with a sympathetic air: This is an opportunity to go out into town, if you like it. I have enemies hiding.Julien replied. Early the next morning, Julien went to the cathedral with his eyes downcast.Julien felt very comfortable at the sight of the streets and the bustle which had begun to take place in the town.Everywhere hanging curtains were hung on the fronts of houses in honor of the Eucharist.He felt that the whole time he had spent in the seminary was but a flash, and he thought of Welgie, and of the beautiful Amanda.Binet, maybe I can meet her, her café is not too far away.Xia Si.The Abbe Bernard was standing at the door of his beloved cathedral, and Julien saw him from afar; he was a fat man with a cheerful face, and I was waiting for you, my dear son, who called Julien when he saw him. Dao, welcome.Today's work is heavy and the hours are long. Let's eat the first meal first to build up some strength, and the second meal will start at ten o'clock in the middle of the high mass.

Sir, I hope, said Julien solemnly, that I would like to have someone with me at all times, please note, adding that I arrived at a minute to five, pointing to the clock above his head. ah!Those little villains from the seminary scare you!It's good that you think of them, said Father Chase. Isn't a road less beautiful because the hedges have thorns on both sides?The traveler hurried on his way, leaving the piercing thorn to wither where it was.Let's work, my dear friend, let's work! Father Chas was right, the work was heavy, the cathedral had had a great funeral the day before; no preparations had been made, so the Gothic colonnades forming the three naves had to be covered in a single morning with a red brocade Cover up.Monsieur Bishop sent four drapiers from Paris by mail, but these gentlemen could not do the work, and instead of encouraging the clumsy Besançon companions, they laughed at them and made them even more stupid.

Julien saw that he would have to climb the ladder himself, and his agility helped him a lot.He assumed the command of the city's drapery makers.Father Chas was overjoyed to see him fly from one ladder to the other.All the pillars were covered with brocade, and five gigantic plumes were next to be placed on the great canopy above the main altar.It was an intricate wooden gilded ceiling supported by eight large Italian marble spiral columns.But to get to the center of the canopy above the great tabernacle, one had to walk over a frieze of wood, which was old and probably moth-eaten, and stood forty feet above the ground.

Seeing this dangerous road, the Parisian drapery makers, who had been in high spirits, were all dumbfounded; they watched from the bottom and chattered, but they didn't go up.Julien snatched up the plume, and at a run, climbed up the ladder.He placed the feather tufts firmly on the centerpiece of the canopy.He came down the ladder, Chase.Father Bernard took him in his arms: very well, cried the good priest, and i will tell my lord bishop this. The ten o'clock meal was a happy one.Father Chas had never seen his church so beautiful. Dear disciple, he said to Lian, my mother rented out chairs in this venerable church, so I was brought up in this great building.Robespierre's terror ruined us; but I was eight years old and could help at Mass in private homes, so they fed me on Mass days.When it comes to folding the sacrificial cloak, no one can fold it better than me, and the sash has never been broken.Since Napoleon's restoration of the religion, I have had the honor of directing all affairs in this venerable cathedral.Five times a year I see it adorned with such beautiful ornaments.But it has never been so magnificent, never has the brocade spread so flat, so tightly attached to the pillars.

He had told his secret, Julien thought, he was talking about himself, he was pouring out his heart.However, this obviously excited man said nothing inadvertently, but he had done a lot of work, he was happy, Julien thought, and he drank a lot of good wine.What a man!What a role model for me!He was a little dazed. (It was a swear word he had learned from the old army doctor.) The bells of Holy Mass rang, and Julien wanted to put on his white surplice and join the bishop in the great procession of the Eucharist. And thieves, my friend, and thieves!exclaimed the Abbe Chase, you hadn't thought of that.The procession is coming out, the church is going to be empty; you and I, we'll have to watch.If only two onas are missing from the beautiful golden thread around the base of the pillar, it is our good fortune.That, too, was a gift from Madame Rubainplet; it was from her great-grandfather, the famous count; and of pure gold, my dear friend, added the abbe, with evident emotion in his ear, No adulteration at all!I put you in charge of checking the north side hall, stay there and don't come out; the south side hall and the main hall belong to me.Note the cradles; it was from there that the thief's eyes were on us as we turned.

As soon as he finished speaking, the bell rang at quarter past eleven, followed by the big bell.The bells rang loudly, so full, so solemn, that Julien was moved.His imagination floated away, leaving the world. The smell of incense, of rose petals scattered before the Eucharist by children masquerading as St. John, finally stirred him. The sound of the bell was so solemn that it should have made him think only of the labor of twenty men, paid only fifty centimes, with perhaps fifteen or twenty faithful helping them.He should think of the wear and tear of the rope, the wear and tear of the bell frame, the danger to the clock itself, which falls every two centuries; other graces that would bring wealth without deflated their purses to pay their wages.

Julien did not make these wise considerations, his soul was stimulated by such a majestic and full voice, and he traveled in the space of imagination.He could never be a good priest, an efficient administrator.Such an excitable mind is at best fit to produce an artist.At this moment, Julien's conceit was fully exposed.Perhaps fifty of his fellow seminarians, who were heeded to the realities of life by popular hatred and people telling you that Jacobinism lurks behind every fence, thought only of going to war after hearing the cathedral bells. Bell's wages.They'll use the genius of Barlem to check that the people's emotion matches the money paid to the bell striker.As long as Julien was willing to consider the material interests of the cathedral, his wild imagination would also consider how to save forty francs in the maintenance of the cathedral, and pass up an opportunity to avoid the payment of twenty-five centimes.

On this day, the weather could not have been more sunny, the procession of the Eucharist walked slowly through Besançon, stopping now and then in front of the splendid altars erected by the powerful, while the church was immersed in a deep silence.There was a pleasant coolness in the semi-darkness; the scent of incense and flowers still permeated everywhere. The silence, the deep solitude, the coolness of the long hall made Julien's dreams more tender and sweet.He didn't have to worry about being disturbed by Father Chase, he was busy in another place.Julien's soul almost abandoned the cloak of the body, and wandered slowly in the north wing that was under his inspection.He was even calmer when he was sure there were only a few pious women in the confessional; he glanced at it indifferently. His absent-mindedness, however, was not complete, for he saw two splendidly dressed women, one kneeling in the confessional, and the other beside her, kneeling on a chair.He glanced at it casually, or felt a vague sense of responsibility, or admired the noble and elegant attire of the two ladies. He noticed that there was no priest in the confessional room, which was strange, he thought, if they were pious If you are a man, you should kneel before the altar; if you are a person of high society, you should be in the front row of a certain balcony.How well cut this dress is!How elegant!He slowed down to look at them. The sound of Julien's footsteps resounded in the deep silence, and the woman kneeling in the confessional heard her and turned her head slightly.Suddenly, she gave a soft cry and passed out. The kneeling woman threw herself back, and her friend, who was close beside her, jumped up to support her.Just then Julien saw the shoulder of the woman who had fallen backward.A twisted necklace of large fine pearls caught his attention, familiar to him.When he recognized De.How excited he was when he touched Madame Rainer's hair!It was her.The lady who tried to hold her head to keep her from falling was Madame Derville.Julien rushed forward desperately, and if he hadn't held them up, Des.Madame Rainer would fall, dragging her friend with her.De.Mrs. Rainer was pale and unconscious, her head limply resting on his shoulder.He helped Madame Derville rest the charming head on the back of a straw chair.He knelt down. Madame Derville turned her head and recognized him. Go away, sir, go away!She said to him, with the strongest anger in her voice, especially don't let her see you again.Seeing you will only disgust her, she was so happy before seeing you!Your methods are too cruel.Go away, go away, if you have any shame. The words were so strongly spoken, and Julien was so weak at the moment that he would not let him go, she hated me all the time.He thought of Madame Derville, and said to himself. At this time, the priests in the front row of the procession were humming and singing in the church, and they came back.Xia Si.The abbe Bernard called Julien several times, but he did not hear him, and took him by the arm and dragged him out from behind a large pillar.Julien hid there, half dead.The priest wanted to introduce him to the bishop. You are not well, my boy, the priest saw him so pale that he could hardly walk, you have too much work to do.The abbe gives him his arm, come, sit on this little holy-water stool, behind me, I keep you in the way.At this time they are on the side of the gate, don't worry, there are still 20 minutes before the bishop will show up.Try to restore your spirits, I will lift you up when he passes, I am old but strong. But Julien trembled so violently when the bishop passed that the Abbe Chas had to give up his attempt to introduce him. Don't be too sad, he told him, I'll find another chance. In the evening, he sent ten catties of candles to the chapel of the seminary, which he said had been saved by Julien's carefulness and quickness in extinguishing the candles.Not at all.The poor boy himself went out too, since seeing De.Mrs. Rainer, his mind was blank.