Fouqué had hadmarriage plans, unhappy loves; long confidences on the subject had filled the conversations of the two friends. Having found happiness too soon, Fouqué had realized that he wasnot alone in his love. All these stories had astonished Julien; he had learned many new things. His solitary life, all imagination and distrust, had distanced him from anything that could enlighten him.

Élisa, Mme de Rênal's femme de chambre, had not failed to fall in love with the young preceptor; she often spoke of it to her mistress. Mlle Élisa's love had earned Julien the hatred of one of the valets. One day, he overheard this man saying to Élisa: You don't want to talk to me since that filthy tutor came into the house. Julien didn't deserve this insult; but, by instinct of a pretty boy, he redoubla of care for his person. M. Valenod's hatred also redoubled. He said publicly that such coquetry was unbecoming of a young abbé. Except for the cassock, this was the costume Julien wore.

Certain of Julien's affection, perhaps her virtue would have found strength against him. Trembling to lose him forever, her passion led her astray to the point of taking back Julien's hand, which, in his distraction, he had left pressedon the back of a chair. This action awakened this ambitious young man: he wished it had been witnessed by all those proud noblemen who, at table, when he was at the bottom with the children, looked at him with such protective sourire. This woman can no longer despise me: in that case, he thought, I must be sensitive to her beauty; I owe it to myself to be her lover. Such an idea would not have occurred to him before his friend's naive confidences.

I am a test

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