A novel written in the early 20th century. It presents a first-person confession by a young bourgeois man, Henri, who frames an eventual “crime” as a moral act while recounting his formation between an exalted, chaste bond with his Jesuit tutor, Abbé Armand de Sembleuse, and a clandestine, troubling entanglement with his cousin, Lucienne Morin. The story probes desire, purity, and bourgeois hypocrisy through a psychological lens. The opening of the novel finds Henri addressing his lawyer, insisting his “crime” is a useful, logical outcome of his life, then retracing his upbringing: distant, respectable parents; a corrosive household atmosphere; and the arrival of the elegant Abbé Armand as preceptor. As Lucienne imposes herself on him, Armand disapproves and gradually binds Henri to a demanding ideal of purity; their intense, platonic attachment culminates in an Italian journey that heightens both devotion and perilous jealousy. Back home, amid a provincial ball and family expectations of marriage, Henri grows more alienated; ill health follows, and his parents push for a prudent future. The section ends with a confrontation in which Henri’s father announces Lucienne’s pregnancy and implies Henri is responsible, while Henri flatly denies it, invoking what Armand knows of the truth.
