CHAPTER SEVEN

Choices

The children loved Julien, but he thought of other things. He was a good tutor, but he felt only hatred towards the high society he joined. At one dinner, Mr Valenod was speaking about honesty. How people respected this man who doubled his fortune while running the poor house! Julien had to escape to the garden to hide his true feelings. "Ah! What monsters!" he thought.

While Julien still thought Mrs de Rênal was beautiful, now he hated her because of her beauty. He rarely spoke to her, and he regretted that first day when he kissed her hand. Elisa, Mrs de Rênal's maid, had immediately fallen in love with the young tutor. Mrs de Rênal wondered why he spoke with her so much. She soon learned that Julien had so few clothes that needed Elisa's help to keep them clean and repaired.

Mrs de Rênal began to pity him for what he lacked. This might seem foolish, but while Mrs de Rênal was sensitive, she had no experience of life. Until Julien arrived, she had hardly noticed anyone but her children. Their lives were her life. The men in her life seemed only concerned with money and their social position. She saw that Julien was different, and little by little she became attracted to him.

Once, she thought about how poor he was and she wept. Julien saw this and asked what was wrong.

"Call the children, Julien," she replied, "and we'll go for a walk." She took his arm closely. "I want you to take some money, but please don't tell my husband."

Julien stopped walking and became very angry. "I am not rich, but I am not lowly. I will not hide from Mr de Rênal anything concerning money."

To apologize, she took Julien and the boys to the bookstore in town, even though the owner was known to be a liberal. She purchased books for the children that she knew Julien wanted. Julien was only thinking about the number of books in the store. He didn't think once about Mrs de Rênal, only about how he could read some of those books!

He began planning a way to get Mr de Rênal to buy some. He thought of a plan that would bring him the books, and at the same time convinced Mr de Rênal that he, too, feared what the liberals might say. This small battle was won easily, as were many others.

How he hated these rich people! What monsters and what fools! He always privately disagreed with them, but many times he didn't understand their political beliefs.

Mrs de Rênal, however, thought more and more of Julien.

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