ing a beautiful woman remote from the world, noble in her
solitude, faithful without support to duty, spread, no doubt quickly,
through the faubourg St. Germain. In the salons I was the object of
embarrassing notice; for retired life has advantages which if
once experienced make the burden of a constant social intercourse
insupportable. Certain minds are painfully affected by violent
contrasts, just as eyes accustomed to soft colors are hurt by glaring
light. This was my condition then; you may be surprised at it now, but
have patience; the inconsistencies of the Vandenesse of to-day will be
explained to you.

I found society courteous and women most kind. After the marriage of the
Duc de Berry the court resumed its former splendor and the glory of
the French fetes revived. The Allied occupation was over, prosperity
reappeared, enjoyments were again possible. Noted personages,
illustrious by rank, prominent by fortune, came from all parts of Europe
to the capital of the intellect, where the merits and the vices of
other countries were found magnified and whetted by the charms of French
intellect.

Five months after leaving Clochegourde my good angel wrote me, in the
middle of the winter, a despairing letter, telling me of the serious
illness of her son. He was then out of danger, but there were many fears
for the future; the doctor said that precautions were necessary for
his lungs--the suggestion of a terrible idea which had put the mother's
heart in mourning. Hardly had Jacques begun to convalesce, and she could
breathe again, when Madeleine made them all uneasy. That pretty plant,
whose bloom had lately rewarded the mother's culture, was now frail
and pallid and anemic. The countess, worn-out by Jacques' long illness,
found no courage, she said, to bear this additional blow, and the
ever present spectacle of these two dear failing creatures made her
insensible to the redoubled torment of her husband's temper. Thus the
storms were again raging; tearing up by the roots the hopes that were
planted deepest in her bosom. She was now at the mercy of the count;
weary of the struggle, she allowed him to regain all the ground he had
lost.

"When all my strength is employed in caring for my children," she wrote,
"how is it possible to employ it against Monsieur de Mortsauf; how can
I struggle against his aggressions when I am fighting against death?
Standing here to-day, alone and much enfeebled, between these two young
im