IX explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Class and Social Division

  The widow Tronchet's bitter resentment of the Frontenacs' luxury and her harsh treatment of Fleurette underscore the deep class divides in revolutionary France.

• Innocence and Corruption

  Fleurette's naive trust in Adèle and the widow contrasts with their furtive, calculating behavior, hinting at the corruption that threatens her innocence.

Characters to notice

• Fleurette

  Fleurette flees the château with Madame's casket and wallet, seeks shelter at the widow Tronchet's, and asks Adèle to secretly contact Amédé.

• Adèle

  Adèle encounters Fleurette at the cottage, observes her hidden valuables with a furtive smile, and agrees to deliver a message to Amédé.

• Ma'ame Tronchet

  The hard-hearted widow Tronchet disapproves of Fleurette, resents her privileged life, and turns out the lamp to force her to leave.

• Amédé Colombe

  Amédé is mentioned as the intended recipient of Fleurette's secret message, delivered via Adèle.

• Bibi

  Bibi (Chauvelin) is observed riding with the soldiers; Fleurette worries he might discover her secret.

Key passages

• “Fleurette was too young, too ignorant for self-analysis. She could not have told you what had made her act in the way she did, nor what had caused her so to mistrust Bibi as not to share her precious secret with him.”

  Fleurette, young and inexperienced, could not explain why she instinctively hid her secret from Bibi.

  Highlights Fleurette's lack of self-awareness and her intuitive mistrust of Bibi.

• “The widow Tronchet shrugged her shoulders and gave a short, harsh laugh. 'I'm not thinking about it at all one way or the other,' she said dryly. 'What difference does it make to us poor people,' she went on, grumbling, 'what happens to all those aristos? They never cared what happened to us.'”

  The widow Tronchet dismisses Fleurette's concern for Monsieur, expressing bitter indifference and resentment toward the aristocracy.

  Illustrates the class resentment and lack of sympathy for the arrested aristocrats among the peasantry.

• “Fleurette felt the blood rush up to her cheeks, and then had the mortification of seeing Adèle's pinched-up little face break into a smile. Of what were those two women thinking? Surely not that she, Fleurette, had been stealing.”

  Fleurette blushes with shame, fearing that Adèle and the widow suspect her of theft.

  Shows Fleurette's anxiety and the suspicious atmosphere surrounding her hidden valuables.