11 Charles le Téméraire (1433–77), the last of the great Valois dukes of Burgundy, who for four generations ruled Burgundy and Flanders and rivaled the power of their cousins and putative feudal lords, the kings of France. Charles's fierce military skills proved no match for the shrewd, patient, and unprincipled statecraft of Louis XI.
The Red and the Black
Monsieur de Rênal was walking quite near them; his presence irritated Julien. He realized, suddenly, that Madame de Rênal was leaning on his arm in a markedly noticeable fashion; this filled him with horror, and he pushed her away, violently, and pulled back his arm. Luckily, Monsieur de Rênal did not see this new rudeness, though it was observed by Madame Derville, who also saw her friend break down and weep. Just then, Monsieur de Rênal began to chase away, with a volley of stones, a small peasant girl who had chosen a forbidden path, cutting across a corner of the orchard. "Monsieur Julien, please," Madame Derville said quickly. "Remember that we all have our moments of ill humor." He looked at her coldly, his eyes showing a sovereign contempt. This astonished Madame Derville, and she would have been even more surprised if she had understood that look's real meaning: she would then have seen there a still unformed longing for vengeance of the most atrocious order. Who could deny that such humiliating moments have given us the Robespierres of the world?12 "Your Julien is remarkably violent; he frightens me," whispered Madame Derville to her friend. "He's right to be angry," was the reply. "Given the amazing progress he's made with the children, what difference does it make if he spends a morning without speaking to them? You'll agree, surely, that men can be remarkably harsh." For the first time in her life, Madame de Rênal felt something like a desire for vengeance on her husband. And Julien's profound hatred for the rich was rising to the surface. Luckily, Monsieur de Rênal called to his gardener and stayed busy, along with him, in closing off the orchard's forbidden path with pine branches. During the remainder of the walk, the ladies addressed a host of courteous observations to Julien; he responded to none of them. Monsieur de Rênal was barely out of sight when, on the pretext of fatigue, they each requested the support of his arm. Placed between these two women, whose red, embarrassed cheeks plainly showed their high distress, Julien's somber, steady appearance formed a striking contrast. He was contemptuous of both women, and of all their tender sentiments. "Lord!" he said to himself. "Not even five hundred francs a year to finish my studies! Ah, I'll tell him where to go!" Completely caught up in these fierce ideas, the kindly words of the two ladies—what little of them he bothered to make out—annoyed him: they were senseless, foolish, weak-minded and, in a word, feminine. Obliged to talk for the sake of talking, and to find some way to keep the conversation going, Madame de Rênal chanced to say that her husband had come back from Verrières because he'd contracted, with one of his farmers, for the purchase of corn straw. (In that region, corn straw is what mattresses are stuffed with.) "So he won't be rejoining us," she added. "He and his valet, and the gardener, will be busy refurbishing all the mattresses in the house. This morning they've already done all the beds on the first floor, and they're moving on to the second." Julien's face blanched. He looked at Madame de Rênal strangely, and began to walk faster, so he could be more or less alone with her. Madame Derville let them walk on ahead.