Chapter summary
Months later, Julien Sorel oversees the Marquis de La Mole's estates in Brittany and Normandy, drafts the correspondence for the Abbé de Frilair's lawsuit, studies theology and is given a horse by the marquis. Abbé Pirard takes him to Jansenist societies, where he meets Count Altamira, a liberal condemned to death in his own country and, at the same time, devout. At home, the graded amiability of the salon fills him with deadly boredom, his relations with Norbert cool, and he resolves never to speak to Mathilde de La Mole. The marquis entrusts him with the most difficult business, and the marquise only brightens when Baron de La Joumate is announced, whom she dreams of having as a son-in-law.
Analysis
Julien resolves never to speak to Mathilde again, after having been inappropriate with her once or twice, and he feels inferior in the house: silence is the defense of one who cannot win on her ground. Outside the salon he does what the marquis trusts him with, the difficult business and the lawsuit against Frilair, and his worth comes from his work, not from the circle.
Ch. V. Chapter epigraph, attributed to Faublas: A livelier idea seems rude, so accustomed are we to empty words. Woe to him who invents as he speaks! FAUBLAS
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