d her on an inferior footing, had her carefully
educated, and secretly gave her love and care. Left alone and without
resources at fifteen, Julie was taken, as governess and companion, into
the family of a sister who was the wife of Mme. du Deffand's brother.
Here the marquise met her on one of her visits and heard the story of
her sorrows. Tearful, sad, and worn out by humiliations, the young girl
had decided to enter a convent. "There is no misfortune that I have not
experienced," she wrote to Guibert many years afterwards. "Some day, my
friend, I will relate to you things not to be found in the romances
of Prevost nor of Richardson... I ought naturally to devote myself to
hating; I have well fulfilled my destiny; I have loved much and hated
very little. Mon Dieu, my friend, I am a hundred years old." Mme. du
Deffand was struck with her talent and a certain indefinable fascination
of manner which afterwards became so potent. "You have gaiety," she
wrote to her, "you are capable of sentiment; with these qualities you
will be charming so long as you are natural and without pretension."
After a negotiation of some months, Mlle. de Lespinasse went to Paris
to live with her new friend. The history of this affair has been already
related.

Parisian society was divided into two factions on the merits of the
quarrel--those who censured the ingratitude of the younger woman, and
those who accused the marquise of cruelty and injustice. But many of
the oldest friends of the latter aided her rival. The Marechale de
Luxembourg furnished her apartments in the Rue de Belle-Chasse. The
Duc de Choiseul procured her a pension, and Mme. Geoffrin gave her an
annuity. She carried with her a strong following of eminent men from
the salon of Mme. du Deffand, among whom was d'Alembert, who remained
faithful and devoted to the end. It is said that President Henault even
offered to marry her, but how, under these circumstances, he managed
to continue in the good graces of his lifelong friend, the unforgiving
marquise, does not appear. A letter which he wrote to Mlle. de
Lespinasse throws a direct light upon her character, after making due
allowance for the exaggeration of French gallantry.

"You are cosmopolitan; you adapt yourself to all situations. The world
pleases you; you love solitude. Society amuses you, but it does not
seduce you. Your heart does not give itself easily. Strong passions are
necessary to you, and it is better so, for the