CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Facing the Death
Mrs de Rênal returned to Besançon. "My first duty is to you," she said, kissing him. "I ran away from Verrières." No words could express the amount of Julien's love. Julien wanted to be a gentleman to Mathilde, but every time his love for Mrs de Rênal was stronger.
Mathilde learned that Marquis de Croisenois died. Another man had made some bad jokes about Mathilde, and the marquis had challenged him to a duel. The other man won, and one of Paris' best men died at twenty-three years old.
"Poor Croisenois," Julien said. "Now you must marry Mr de Luz. He's more ambitious, but he'll marry Julien Sorel's widow."
"A widow who has seen her lover prefer another woman. A woman that caused all our suffering," Mathilde said.
Mathilde was jealous, but she loved her faithless lover even more. Julien, however, lived for Mrs de Rênal's love. He never thought about the future.
The air in Julien's cell had become very bad. On the day Julien was told he would die, the countryside was full of bright sunshine. He was full of courage. He had never looked so handsome as he did when his head was about to fall.
Everything happened simply, and with no troubles.
Before that day, Julien told Fouqué to take Mathilde and Mrs de Rênal away. "I'd like to rest," Julien said, "in the mountains outside of Verrières. Many times I stopped to rest there, and my heart was filled with ambition."
Mathilde returned to Fouqué's room. "I want to see him," she said. Fouqué brought her to his body. She took Julien's head, and kissed his forehead. Fouqué could not watch.
Many priests went with the body to Julien's tomb. Mathilde rode alone in a carriage, carrying the head of the man she loved so much. They went to one of the highest mountains, and twenty priests said prayers for the dead.
Alone with Fouqué, Mathilde insisted on burying her lover's head alone. Mrs de Rênal kept her promise. She did not try to end her own life, but, three days after Julien was guillotined, she died with a broken heart.
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