rth free to follow her vocation, and she
was preparing for it with an impatient ardor that edified the good ladies
of the convent. Madame de Lucan expressing, one morning, in the presence
of her mother and her husband the anxiety that oppressed her heart during
these last days of respite:

"As to me, my daughter," said the baroness, "I must confess that I am
urging with all my wishes and prayers the moment which you seem to dread.
The life you have been leading since your marriage has nothing human about
it; but what forms its principal torment, is the constant struggle which
you have to sustain against that child's obstinacy. Well, when she has
become a nun, there will no longer be any struggle; the situation will be
clearer; and note that you will not be in reality any more separated than
you are now, since the house is not a cloister; I would just as lief it
were, myself; but it is not. And then, why oppose a vocation which I
really look upon as providential? In the interest of the child herself,
you should congratulate yourself upon the resolution she has taken; I
appeal to your husband to say if that is not so. Come, let me ask you, my
dear sir, what could be expected of such an organization, if she were once
let loose upon the world? Why! she would be a dangerous character for
society! You know what a head she has! a volcano! And pray observe, my
friend, that at this present moment she is a perfect odalisk. You have not
seen her for some time; you cannot imagine how she has developed. I, who
enjoy the treat of seeing her twice a week, can positively assure you that
she is a perfect odalisk, and besides, divinely dressed. In fact, she is
so well made! you might throw a window-curtain over her with a pitch-fork,
and she would look as if she were just coming out of Worth's! There, ask
Pierre what he thinks about it, he who has the honor of being admitted to
her good graces!"

Monsieur de Moras, who was coming in at that very moment, shared, indeed,
with a very limited number of friends of the family, the privilege of
accompanying Clotilde occasionally on her visits to Julia's convent.

"Well, my good Pierre," resumed the baroness, "we were speaking of Julia,
and I was telling my son-in-law that it was really quite fortunate that
she was willing to become a saint, because otherwise she would certainly
set Paris on fire!"

"Because?" asked the count.

"Because she is beautiful as Sin!"

"Undoubtedly she is quite