n unaffectedly cordial welcome. Her guest could not look at
her, however, without a feeling of astonishment. Attired in a long brown
petticoat, and a vest which concealed her figure, she wore a manly
virile aspect, according thoroughly with the character of the life she
had adopted.

Her cottage consisted of a single room on the ground floor, which served
as dining-room, drawing-room, and bedroom; it was adorned with a guitar,
a violin-case, a collection of animals, art-objects, and arms. The
exceeding solitariness of her dwelling exposed her to frequent attacks
by night, and hence a brace of pistols always hung at the head of her
bed. Her fruit, her poultry, and even her vines suffered from prowling
depredators; she was continually on the watch, and especially had to
guard against a repetition of the cruel attempt to which on one occasion
she nearly fell a victim.

Her account of this affair was as follows:--Two days before it occurred,
a Greek applied to her for work and food. The former she was unable to
give; the latter she would never deny. The next day but one, as she was
returning in the twilight from a geological excursion, carrying in her
hand a small hatchet which she used for breaking stones, she discovered
that this man was walking behind her stealthily. Turning to look in his
face, she found herself at the same moment grasped round the waist--the
hatchet was snatched from her hand--and blow after blow was rained on
her head until she fell to the ground in a swoon. When she recovered
consciousness, the assassin had disappeared. How she reached home with
her skull fractured she never could explain. For months her life was in
peril, and her reason trembled in the balance. At the time of Madame de
Hell's visit she still suffered acutely from some fragments of a comb
that remained in her head.

Remote from the ordinary track as was Mademoiselle Jacquemart's lonely
dwelling, many persons were drawn to it by the attraction of her
singular story. Not long before, a young and handsome lady, incognita,
but evidently of high birth, had spent a whole day there. Her curiosity
greatly excited, Mademoiselle Jacquemart said to her on her departure,
smilingly, "Queen or shepherdess, leave me your name, that it may always
recall to me one of the most delightful souvenirs of my hermit-life."

"Well," replied the unknown, in the same spirit, "pass me your album,
and you shall know me as a very sincere admirer of your merit.