Chapter summary
An hour later, Julien Sorel wakes with tears running over his hand and thinks it is Mathilde de La Mole again, but it is Madame de Rênal, who has come to beg him to appeal. He throws himself at her feet, the two forgive each other, and Julien conditions the appeal on her oath that she will not attempt her own life. In the reunion they tell each other what each had not known, and the letter to the Marquis de La Mole becomes clear: it was written by the young priest who was her spiritual adviser and then copied by her. After three days, Monsieur de Rênal sends the carriage and orders his wife to return to Verrières. An intriguing and unsuccessful priest among the Jesuits of Besançon sets up in the street, at the door of the prison, where he prays litanies on his knees in the mud before a crowd that answers him. Julien, humiliated by the idea that his name is being repeated, receives him. In the quarter hour that follows, he feels the fear of death for the first time, and he rids himself of the priest by asking him for a forty-franc mass.
Analysis
Julien conditions the appeal on her oath that she will not attempt her life, because he knows what remorse and love do to Madame de Rênal and does not want his death to bring hers. The letter to the marquis, which made her guilty, becomes clear: it was written by her young priest adviser and copied by her, and the forgiveness comes with that explanation.
In the reunion, the two tell each other what each did not know, and the authorship of the letter to the Marquis de La Mole becomes clear:
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