7 An invention of Stendhal's; Stendhal had studied several English philosophers, probably including Locke.
Chapter Seven: An Attack of Gout
The medal earned him an extremely odd visit, that of the Baron de Valenod,8 who had come to Paris to thank the minister for making him a baron and for consenting to meet with him. He was going to become mayor of Verrières, replacing Monsieur de Rênal. Julien roared with laughter, though only inwardly, when Monsieur de Valenod informed him that they'd just discovered Monsieur de Rênal to be a Jacobin. The truth was that a new election was to be held, and the freshly minted baron was the government's candidate, as he was of the district's electoral college, as strongly right-wing as anything could be, and Monsieur de Rênal was supported by the liberals. Julien tried in vain to learn anything about Madame de Rênal; the baron appeared to well remember their former rivalry, and was impenetrable. Indeed, in the end he asked Julien to seek his father's vote. Julien promised to write him. "Really, Monsieur Chevalier, you ought to introduce me to the Marquis de La Mole." "Indeed, I ought to!" Julien thought. "But he's such a rascal! ..." "In point of fact," he answered, "I'm much too unimportant, in the de La Mole household, to take it on myself to introduce anyone." He told all this to the marquis. That evening, he told him of Valenod's ambitions, as well as what he'd been doing, and how, ever since 1814. "Not only," replied Monsieur de La Mole, most seriously, "will you present the new baron to me tomorrow, but afterward I will invite him to dinner. His will be one of our new districts." "In that case," said Julien coolly, "I should like my father to have the post of director of the Pauper's Bureau." "Good, good!" said the marquis, becoming cheerful once more. "Agreed. I was expecting a morality lesson. You're shaping up." Baron de Valenod informed Julien that the lottery licensee in Verrières had just died. It seemed to our hero a good joke to give the job to Monsieur de Cholin, that old imbecile whose illiterate petition he had found, once, in cleaning the room occupied by the Marquis de La Mole. The marquis laughed heartily, as Julien recited that petition to him, while he was signing a letter seeking this post from the minister of finance. Monsieur de Cholin had just been nominated when Julien learned that the post had been sought by the district delegation, on behalf of Monsieur Gros, the eminent mathematician. This noble, generous man had an income of only fourteen hundred francs, and every year lent six hundred to the license holder who'd just died, to help him raise his family. Julien was stunned by what he'd done. "It's nothing," he told himself. "I'll have to be unjust many times over, if I want to get to the top, and somehow cover them up with pretty, sentimental phrases. Poor Monsieur Gros! He deserves this medal, and I have it, and I'm bound to follow the lead of the government which gave it to me."