"Count Altamira … am I certain of eternal silence? My request for advice must not be a fresh step which will raise still further complications. Alas! I have no one left but the gloomy abbé Pirard. His mind is crabbed by Jansenism.… A damned Jesuit would know the world, and would be more in my line. M. Pirard is capable of beating me at the very mention of my crime."
The genius of Tartuffe came to Julien's help. "Well, I will go and confess to him." This was his final resolution after having walked about in the garden for two good hours. He no longer thought about being surprised by a gun shot. He was feeling sleepy.
Very early the next day, Julien was several leagues away from Paris and knocked at the door of the severe Jansenist. He found to his great astonishment that he was not unduly surprised at his confidence.
"I ought perhaps to reproach myself," said the abbe, who seemed more anxious than irritated. "I thought I guessed that love. My affection for you, my unhappy boy, prevented me from warning the father."
"What will he do?" said Julien keenly.
At that moment he loved the abbé, and would have found a scene between them very painful.
"I see three alternatives," continued Julien.
"M. de la Mole can have me put to death," and he mentioned the suicide letter which he had left with the Marquis;" (2) He can get Count Norbert to challenge me to a duel, and shoot at me point blank."
"You would accept?" said the abbé furiously as he got up.
"You do not let me finish. I should certainly never fire upon my benefactor's son. (3) He can send me away. If he says go to Edinburgh or New York, I will obey him. They can then conceal mademoiselle de la Mole's condition, but I will never allow them to suppress my son."
"Have no doubt about it, that will be the first thought of that depraved man."
At Paris, Mathilde was in despair. She had seen her father about seven o'clock. He had shown her Julien's letter. She feared that he might have considered it noble to put an end to his life; "and without my permission?" she said to herself with a pain due solely to her anger.
