s,
cares nothing for religion, and makes her own ethics, or an ignorant and
innocent young girl, like either of the two Maries. Perhaps there may
be as much danger with the one kind as with the other. Yet the vast
majority of men who are not so old as Arnolphe, prefer a religious Agnes
to a budding Celimene.

The two Maries, who were small and slender, had the same figure, the
same foot, the same hand. Eugenie, the younger, was fair-haired, like
her mother, Angelique was dark-haired, like the father. But they both
had the same complexion,--a skin of the pearly whiteness which shows the
richness and purity of the blood, where the color rises through a
tissue like that of the jasmine, soft, smooth, and tender to the touch.
Eugenie's blue eyes and the brown eyes of Angelique had an expression of
artless indifference, of ingenuous surprise, which was rendered by the
vague manner with which the pupils floated on the fluid whiteness of
the eyeball. They were both well-made; the rather thin shoulders would
develop later. Their throats, long veiled, delighted the eye when their
husbands requested them to wear low dresses to a ball, on which occasion
they both felt a pleasing shame, which made them first blush behind
closed doors, and afterwards, through a whole evening in company.

On the occasion when this scene opens, and the eldest, Angelique, was
weeping, while the younger, Eugenie, was consoling her, their hands and
arms were white as milk. Each had nursed a child,--one a boy, the other
a daughter. Eugenie, as a girl, was thought very giddy by her mother,
who had therefore treated her with especial watchfulness and severity.
In the eyes of that much-feared mother, Angelique, noble and proud,
appeared to have a soul so lofty that it would guard itself, whereas,
the more lively Eugenie needed restraint. There are many charming beings
misused by fate,--beings who ought by rights to prosper in this life,
but who live and die unhappy, tortured by some evil genius, the victims
of unfortunate circumstances. The innocent and naturally light-hearted
Eugenie had fallen into the hands and beneath the malicious despotism of
a self-made man on leaving the maternal prison. Angelique, whose nature
inclined her to deeper sentiments, was thrown into the upper spheres of
Parisian social life, with the bridle lying loose upon her neck.

CHAPTER II. A CONFIDENCE BETWEEN SISTERS

Madame de Vandenesse, Marie-Angelique, who seemed to