Chapter summary
For the first time the idea of a bishopric is associated with the name of Julien Sorel, in the mind of the Marechale, a woman who will one day distribute the best posts in the Church. Julien copies the second letter without thinking about its meaning, and notices that the Marechale's own letters, which Bustos had lent him, are equally vague: he sees in them only an abominable fear of ridicule. For fifteen days he repeats the ritual of copying, delivering the letter and putting up the horse, in the hope of seeing the dress of Mathilde de La Mole, while his colorful and sentimental phrases acquire a more refined polish.
When Fervaques invites him to dinner, Julien finds in the salon three of those present at the drafting of the secret note, among them the bishop, the Marechale's uncle, who distributes the benefices and refuses him nothing. The dinner is mediocre and the conversation exasperating.
Analysis
Julien repeats the ritual of copying, delivering and putting up the horse for fifteen days, because what keeps him there is not the Marechale, it is the hope of seeing Mathilde's dress. The idea of a bishopric that begins to attach itself to his name in Fervaques's mind is an effect of the detour, not of his will: he accepts the advantage without having sought it.
Ch. XXVII. At the Marechale's dinner, on the conversation at table: After listening for about three minutes, we ask ourselves which is worse, the grandiloquence of the speaker or his abominable ignorance.
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