3 "The people" here for le peuple, the commoners or lower classes, among whom the cult of Napoleon was strongest.
The Red and the Black
He deceived himself about the letter: Madame de Rênal, guided by her friend, Madame Derville, was completely lost in her profound remorse. In spite of herself, she often thought of the unusual being who, once he'd come into her life, had turned it upside down. But she would have been exceedingly careful about writing to him. If we spoke the seminary's language, we could call this dispatch of five hundred francs a miracle; we could say the gift was from Father de Frilair himself, who had been made heaven's instrument for that purpose. Twelve years earlier, Father de Frilair had come to Besançon, carrying a suitcase holding very little indeed, and what it did contain, according to the chronicle, was in fact all he owned. He found himself, now, one of the richest landholders in the district. In the course of this prosperous advance, he had invested in one half of a property, the other half of which had been left to Monsieur de La Mole. This led to a protracted lawsuit between these two. Despite his prominence in Paris, and the position he occupied at the king's court, Marquis de La Mole felt it might be risky to fight, on his home grounds, against a vicar-general who had a reputation for making and unmaking governors. But instead of seeking a fifty-thousand- franc public gratuity—to be hidden in the budget under any authorized name—and withdrawing from this paltry fifty-thousand-franc lawsuit, the marquis got angry. He thought he was right—as if this had anything to do with legal matters. Now, if I may say so: Where will we find a judge without a son, or at least a cousin, to push forward in the world? To make matters clear enough even for the blind: a week after obtaining a preliminary decree, Father de Frilair borrowed the bishop's carriage and went, in person, to bring his lawyer the medal of the Legion of Honor. Monsieur de La Mole, a bit dizzied by his adversary's attitude, and sensing some yielding on the part of his own lawyers, sought Father Chélan's advice, whereupon the marquis was introduced to Father Pirard. At the time of our story, the relationships just recounted had gone on for several years. Father Pirard brought his fiery temperament to this business. He had endless contact with the marquis's lawyers; he studied the marquis's cause; and, finding it just, he took the Marquis de La Mole's side against the all-powerful vicar-general. Father de Frilair was outraged by such insolence—and from a little Jansenist! "Just see these court noblemen, who claim to be so powerful!" Father Frilair would say to his close friends. "Monsieur de La Mole hasn't even sent a miserable medal to his Besançon agent, and he's simply going to let him lose his post. Still, as I hear from Paris, this fine peer of the realm never lets a week go by without showing off his wonderful medals and ribbons, in the keeper of the seal's4 drawing room—whoever he may be." In spite of Father Pirard's energetic support, and even though Monsieur de La Mole was, as ever, on the very best of terms with the minister of justice, and above all with the minister's subordinates, all he'd been able to accomplish, after six years of effort, had been to keep from definitively losing his lawsuit. In constant correspondence with Father Pirard, in this business that both of them passionately pursued, the marquis came to appreciate how the priest's mind worked. Bit by bit, despite the immense difference in social standing, their letters took on a friendly tone. Father Pirard would tell the marquis how they were trying to force him, by means of insults and affronts, to resign his post. In his anger at the disgraceful stratagem (as he put it) used against Julien, he told the marquis Julien's history.