The Red and the Black. Стендаль

like living with me, you can go back to the seminary after a short time. And, I can promise you the best parish in the district, because I supply firewood to the Archbishop and several of the leading citizens who need it for their factories, so....

      Julien

      I get the parish, because you supply the firewood? (he laughs)

      Fouqué

      Exactly. You’re too proud. It’s honest labor.

      Julien

      You’re right. I am too proud. I don’t want to be a merchant.

      Fouqué

      As a merchant, I’ll be able to buy and sell you in five years.

      Julien

      That’s true. But a tutor, a priest, has a certain position.

      Fouqué

      Shit. That may have been true fifty years ago, but not today. Money counts today.

      Julien

      Not at the highest levels.

      Fouqué

      Who’s talking about the highest levels?

      Julien (serious)

      I am.

      Fouqué

      You want to join the aristocracy?

      Julien

      With all my heart and soul.

      Fouqué (whistles)

      I always knew you were ambitious. But, that’s exactly why you shouldn’t be a priest.

      Julien

      On the contrary, that’s exactly why I should become a priest. There are only two roads for a poor man in France. They are the Army and the Clergy. I have chosen the Clergy because since Napoleon, it is clear that the most one can hope for from the Army is to be a General.

      Fouqué

      The most one can hope to be.... This beats all.

      Julien

      As you said, I am ambitious. I’ve never told anyone of my dreams before. I forbid you ever to repeat it.

      Fouqué

      Who would believe me? Still, a few years with me. You could build a nest egg....

      Julien

      Why should I throw away a half dozen years of my life? I’d be twenty- eight by then, and at that age Napoleon had already performed his greatest deeds. Who knows, if after obscurely heaping up money selling timber, my soul wouldn’t be as coarse as the merchandise.

      Fouqué

      Napoleon again. If you feel degraded to be a timber merchant, I’ll say no more.

      Julien

      I don’t mean it that way. But, surely you can see it’s not the timber from which heroes are made.

      Fouqué

      I suppose so.

      Julien

      It’s not a choice between vice and virtue, but between a prosperous, though mediocre, future and a glorious dream. Perhaps I have no real strength of character or I wouldn’t doubt my capacity to work for you for a while and re-emerge as a hero.

      Fouqué

      Napoleon...heroes...aristocracy? What next? And yet, you put up with Reynal’s insults.

      Julien

      What if I took possession of his wife right under his nose?

      Fouqué

      And now, a Don Juan!

      Julien

      I owe it to myself to become her lover.

      Fouqué

      Think of the risk.

      Julien

      One must dare. Besides, if I do make a name for myself, and someone jeers at me for having been a tutor, I can say that love drove me to it.

      Fouqué

      But, what makes you think you’ll succeed with her. She’s got a reputation for being pretty stuck up.

      Julien

      Oh, of success, there’s no doubt. (nonchalantly) I’ll have to tell her I love her.

      Fouqué

      But, for an inexperienced gauche person like you, to love a great lady.

      Julien

      I may be inexperienced and crude, but at least I won’t be weak.

      Fouqué

      Julien....

      Julien

      Yes, and lacking in character, too. I’d have made a bad soldier for Napoleon. But a little intrigue with the lady of the house will keep me amused for a while. I must tell her I lover her at once.

      (He leaves, leaving Fouqué stunned.)

      CURTAIN