Chapter summary
The Marquis de La Mole, rejuvenated, tests the memory of Julien Sorel and gives him a mission: to memorize the summary of what is said at a secret meeting and carry it, in four pages, to an important figure, without being noticed by anyone. Julien proves his memory by reciting the first page of La Quotidienne and dresses in an old-fashioned style for the occasion.
Analysis
The marquis entrusts the mission to Julien because he tests him in what he has that is rare, his memory, and because he needs someone outside the circle to record what each one says without being noticed. Julien accepts without asking who the twelve are, and dresses in an old-fashioned way for the occasion: he enters the state secret as a secretary, not as a peer.
The order about what Julien will do in that salon is given without circumlocution.
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