dy-love, preserved the litheness, the
freshness, the covered charms which bring a woman love and keep it
alive. The simple precautions of this course, suggested by art and
nature, and perhaps by experience, had met in her with a general system
which confirmed the results. The Marquise was absolutely indifferent
to everything that was not herself: men amused her, but no man had
ever caused her those deep agitations which stir both natures to their
depths, and wreck one on the other. She knew neither hatred nor love.
When she was offended, she avenged herself coldly, quietly, at her
leisure, waiting for the opportunity to gratify the ill-will she
cherished against anybody who dwelt in her unfavorable remembrance. She
made no fuss, she did not excite herself, she talked, because she knew
that by two words a woman may cause the death of three men.

She had parted from M. d'Espard with the greatest satisfaction. Had he
not taken with him two children who at present were troublesome, and in
the future would stand in the way of her pretensions? Her most intimate
friends, as much as her least persistent admirers, seeing about her none
of Cornelia's jewels, who come and go, and unconsciously betray their
mother's age, took her for quite a young woman. The two boys, about
whom she seemed so anxious in her petition, were, like their father, as
unknown in the world as the northwest passage is unknown to navigators.
M. d'Espard was supposed to be an eccentric personage who had deserted
his wife without having the smallest cause for complaint against her.

Mistress of herself at two-and-twenty, and mistress of her fortune of
twenty-six thousand francs a year, the Marquise hesitated long before
deciding on a course of action and ordering her life. Though she
benefited by the expenses her husband had incurred in his house, though
she had all the furniture, the carriages, the horses, in short, all the
details of a handsome establishment, she lived a retired life during the
years 1816, 17, and 18, a time when families were recovering from the
disasters resulting from political tempests. She belonged to one of the
most important and illustrious families of the Faubourg Saint-Germain,
and her parents advised her to live with them as much as possible after
the separation forced upon her by her husband's inexplicable caprice.

In 1820 the Marquise roused herself from her lethargy; she went to
Court, appeared at parties, and entertained in h