While Julien, full of prejudices drawn from books and in the memories of Verrieres pursued the chimera of a tender mistress who no longer thinks of his own existence as long as it has brought joy to her lover, the vanity of Mathilde was furious against him.

Since she was bored for two months, she no longer feared boredom, so without being able to doubt it at all, Julien had lost its greatest advantage.

So I gave a master! he said to Mademoiselle de La Mole agitated by walking in his room. It is full of honor, at the right time, but if I push to end his vanity, he will take revenge by making known the nature of our relations. Such is the misfortune of our century, even the strangest aberrations are not a cure for boredom. Julien was the first love of Mathilde, and in this circumstance of life that gives some illusions tender souls even the driest, she was a prey to the bitterest reflections.