of that little bigot of a Talbrun, who had secretly
blown up the fire of religious enthusiasm in Jacqueline, when Madame
d'Avrigny's energetic "Hush!" put an end to the discussion. It was time
to come back to more immediate interests, to the play which went on in
spite of wind and tide.

BOOK 3.

CHAPTER XIV. BITTER DISILLUSION

Some people in this world who turn round and round in a daily circle of
small things, like squirrels in a cage, have no idea of the pleasure a
young creature, conscious of courage, has in trying its strength; this
struggle with fortune loses its charm as it grows longer and longer and
more and more difficult, but at the beginning it is an almost certain
remedy for sorrow.

To her resolve to make head against misfortune Jacqueline owed the
fact that she did not fall into those morbid reveries which might have
converted her passing fancy for a man who was simply a male flirt into
the importance of a lost love. Is there any human being conscious of
energy, and with faith in his or her own powers, who has not wished
to know something of adversity in order to rise to the occasion and
confront it? To say nothing of the pleasure there is in eating brown
bread, when one has been fed only on cake, or of the satisfaction that a
child feels when, after strict discipline, he is left to do as he likes,
to say nothing of the pleasure ladies boarding in nunneries are sure to
feel on reentering the world, at recovering their liberty, Jacqueline by
nature loved independence, and she was attracted by the novelty of her
situation as larks are attracted by a mirror. She was curious to know
what life held for her in reserve, and she was extremely anxious to
repair the error she had committed in giving way to a feeling of which
she was now ashamed. What could do this better than hard work? To owe
everything to herself, to her talents, to her efforts, to her industry,
such was Jacqueline's ideal of her future life.

She had, before this, crowned her brilliant reputation in the 'cours' of
M. Regis by passing her preliminary examination at the Sorbonne; she was
confident of attaining the highest degree--the 'brevet superieur', and
while pursuing her own studies she hoped to give lessons in music and in
foreign languages, etc. Thus assured of making her own living, she could
afford to despise the discreditable happiness of Madame de Nailles, who,
she had no doubt, would shortly become Madame Marien; als