Chapter 54 Chapter 24 Strasbourg

Julien had to stay in Strasbourg for a week, so he could only entertain himself with the idea of ​​making military achievements and serving his country. Did he fall in love?He knew nothing, but felt that in his tormented soul, Mathilde was the absolute ruler of his happiness, his imagination.He needs to mobilize all the strength of character to hold on and not sink into despair.Think about virtue.He couldn't do anything that had nothing to do with Miss Lamour.Once upon a time, de.The passions which Madame Rainer aroused were dissipated by small gratifications of ambition and vanity; now Mathilde attracted everything, and he looked up and saw only her everywhere.

Julien went back and forth.There is no success in sight left or right.The man who had been so vain and so proud at Verrières was now sunk in a ridiculous excess of modesty. Three days ago he would have gladly killed Father Castanede, and now in Strasbourg if a child quarreled with him he would think that child was right.He thought again about the opponents and enemies he had met in this life, and he always felt that Julien was wrong. Now his sworn enemy was this powerful vision which had continually pictured for him future successes of glory. The life of the traveler is absolutely solitary, and he expands the territory of this kingdom of black imagination.What treasure is worth a friend!But, said Julien to himself, is there a heart beating for me?Does not honor order me to be forever silent even if I have a friend?

He rode sullenly on the outskirts of Keil, a small town on the Rhine, where Indersey and Gouvillon.Saint-Cyr is immortal.A German peasant pointed out to him some streams, roads, and islets in the river, all of which were famous for the bravery of the two generals.Julien held the horse with his left hand, unfolded with his right the exquisite map attached to Marshal Saint-Cyr's "Memoirs", and raised his head with a cry of joy in his ear. It turned out to be Prince Korasov, the London friend who had revealed to him the basics of high pretentiousness some months before.Faithful to this great art, Korasov, who had arrived in Strasbourg the day before and Kell an hour before, who in his life had never read a single line about the siege of 1796, knew everything at this moment He talked about the siege to Lian Da.The German peasant looked at him in amazement, and he knew enough French to hear how many colossal mistakes the Prince had made.Julien was quite different from what the peasant had imagined. He looked at the handsome young man in amazement, admiring his demeanor on horseback.

Such a rare good character!How well his trousers fit, he said to himself, and how elegantly his hair was cut!well!If I were like this, maybe she wouldn't hate me after loving me for three days. The prince, having finished his account of the siege of Kell, said to Lien: You have the face of a Traber friar, and you exaggerate that solemn principle which I told you in London.It is not personable to look sad, but bored.If you're worried, it means something is missing, something you're not succeeding at.This is self-inferiority.On the contrary, if you are bored, it means that the low things are trying to please you but in vain.So you understand, my dear, how serious the misunderstanding is.

Julien threw an ecu at the peasant who couldn't keep his mouth shut. Well, said the Prince, grace, noble contempt, admirable!With that said, he galloped away on his horse.Julien followed closely, admiring him like a fool. ah!If I were like that, she wouldn't like Croixenoy more than me!The more his reason was assaulted by the Prince's ridiculousness, the more he despised himself for not being able to appreciate them, and felt unfortunate that he didn't have one.His loathing for himself was beyond measure. The prince found him really sad, ah, really sad, my dear friend, back in Strasbourg, the prince said to him, have you lost all your money, or are you in love with a little actress?

The Russians imitate the fashions of the French, but always with a gap of fifty years.Now they have just reached the Louis XV era. This parody of love brought tears to Julien's eyes. Why should I not ask this lovely man for advice?He suddenly thought to himself. Ah, yes, my dear, he said to the prince, you see, I really fell in love at Strasbourg, and I was left out.A charming girl who lived in a neighboring town dumped me after three days' love, and I was so terribly upset by her change of heart. He used a false name to describe Mathilde's behavior and character to the prince.

Don't finish, said Koksov, in order to make you trust your doctor, I will tell you what's on your mind.The young woman's husband was a wealthy man, or more likely she belonged to the highest local aristocracy.Anyway, it's something she can be proud of. Julien nodded; he could no longer muster courage to speak. Very well, said the Prince, here are three rather bitter medicines, which you must take at once: One, what do you call this lady when I go to see you every day? De.Madame Dubois. What a strange name!The prince laughed, sorry, but the name is lofty to you.Must go to Germany every day.Madame Dubois; but take care not to appear cold and angry in her presence.Think of the great principles of your century and go against what is expected of you.Act exactly as you did when you were lucky enough to be favored by her a week ago.

ah!I was very calm, Julien cried out in despair, I thought I was pity her A moth to a flame burns itself, said the Prince, a metaphor as old as the world. One, you visit her every day. Two, you pursue a woman in her social circle, but don't show enthusiasm, understand?I'll tell you, your role is difficult; you're acting, but if people guess you're acting, you're done. She is so smart and I am so stupid!I am done.said Julien sadly. No, you just love me more than I thought.De.Madame Dubois thought only of herself at the bottom of her heart, like all women who are blessed with too much dignity or too much money.She is always looking at herself instead of you, so she doesn't understand you.After two or three love impulses, she commits herself to you with a mighty effort of her imagination, and in you she sees the hero of her dreams, not the real you

But, hell, it's common sense, my dear Sorel, are you quite a schoolboy? Well, let's go into this store; look at this lovely black tie, it's almost John Burlington Street.Anderson's; buy it, and leave that ugly black cord around your neck far away. Also, the Prince, coming out of the best men's haberdashery in Strasbourg, continued, deMadame Dubois, great God, what a name!Don't be offended, my dear Sorel, I can't help but who are she with?Who do you want to pursue? A very decent woman, the daughter of a very rich hosier.She had the most beautiful eyes in the world, and I liked her very much; she undoubtedly had the highest status in the place, and she was good in everything, but whenever anyone talked about business and shops, she flushed and even didn't know what to do.Unfortunately, her father was once one of the most famous businessmen in Strasbourg.

If this is the case when it comes to property, laughed the Prince, you can be sure that your dreamy beauty is thinking of herself and not of you.This absurdity is a godsend and a useful one, and it keeps you from going mad for a moment before her beautiful eyes.You are bound to succeed. Julien was thinking of Chang Quade.de la Moore walking about.Mrs. Fewak Marshal.It was a foreign beauty, married to a marshal, who died a year later.Her life's goal seems to be to make people forget that she is the daughter of a businessman, and she takes the lead in morality in order to become a figure in Paris.

Julien was so convinced by the prince, what price would he not pay for listening to his ridiculous remarks!The two friends talked endlessly.Korasov was overjoyed; never had a Frenchman listened to him for so long.So, thought the elated Prince, I can finally teach my teacher, and someone listened! We agreed, and he said to Lien for the tenth time, in the presence of De.Madame Dubois could not speak to the young and beautiful daughter of a stocker in Strasbourg with the slightest enthusiasm.Instead, write with enthusiasm.Reading a well-written love letter is the ultimate joy of a serious woman, and it is a moment of relaxation.She doesn't act, but dares to listen to her inner voice; therefore, she writes two letters every day. no!no!Julien said discouragedly, I would rather be smashed in a mortar than make three sentences; I am a dead body, my dear, don't have any hope of me.Let me die on the side of the road. who asked you to make a sentence?I have six handwritten love letters in my purse.For women of every character, I have ones for the most chaste of women.Did you know that Kaliski courted the most beautiful Quaker woman in England at Richmond Terrace, three miles from London? It was less painful for Julien to leave his friend at two o'clock in the morning. The next day the Prince sent for a scribe, and two days later Julien had fifty-three numbered love letters, addressed to the noblest and most melancholy chaste women. Fewer than fifty-four, the prince said, because Kaliski was thrown out.However, you only want to influence De.What did it matter that Madame Dubois's heart was neglected by the hosier's daughter? They rode every day, and the prince fell madly in love with Julien.Not knowing how to prove his sudden friendship to him, he betrothed him to one of his cousins, a wealthy Moscow heiress.Once married, he said, my influence and this cross of yours will make you a colonel in two years. But this medal was not given by Napoleon, that is far from it. What does that matter, said the Prince, did he not create it?It is still the number one medal in Europe. Julien was about to accept it, but his duty required him to return to the great man.When he left Korasov, promising to write, he received the answer to the secret note he had sent, and galloped off to Paris; It was a torture worse than death for him, I will not marry the millions that Krasov gave me, he said to himself, but I will follow his advice. In any case, the art of seduction was his forte, and he had only thought about it for fifteen years, since he was thirty now.It cannot be said that he lacks intellect; his shrewdness, cunning, enthusiasm, and poetry cannot exist in such a character; he is like a prosecutor, which is the more sure that he will not be wrong. I have to do this, to chase Germany.Mrs Fewak. She probably bores me, but I'll look into her eyes, so beautiful, so like my favorite eyes in the world. She's a foreigner, which is a new character to watch. I'm mad, I'm drowning, and I should have heeded a friend's advice and not believed in myself.