f I did not go to see her, she should come
after me.

Mme. de Sable retorts in a satirical vein, that her friend is too well
instructed in the needed precautions, to be quite free from the charge
of timidity, adding the hope that since she understands the danger, she
will take better care of herself in the future.

This calls forth another letter, in which Mlle. de Rambouillet says,
"One never fears to see those whom one loves. I would have given
much, for your sake, if this had not occurred." She closes this spicy
correspondence, however, with a very affectionate letter which calms the
ruffled temper of her sensitive companion.

Mme. de Sable has another friend, Mlle. d'Attichy, who figures quite
prominently in the social life of a later period, as the Comtesse de
Maure. This lady was just leaving Paris to visit her in the country,
when she learned that Mme. de Sable had written to Mme. de Rambouillet
that she could conceive of no greater happiness than to pass her life
alone with Julie d'Angennes. This touches her sensibilities so keenly
that she changes her plans, and refuses to visit one who could find
her pleasure away from her. Mme. de Sable tries in vain to appease her
exacting friend, who replies to her explanations by a long letter in
which she recalls their tender and inviolable friendship, and closes
with these words:

Malheurteuse est l'ignorance,
Et plus malheureux le savoir.

Having thus lost a confidence which alone rendered life supportable to
me, I cannot dream of taking the journey so much talked of; for there
would be no propriety in traveling sixty leagues at this season, in
order to burden you with a person so uninteresting to you, that after
years of a passion without parallel you cannot help thinking that the
greatest pleasure would consist in passing life without her. I return
then into my solitude, to examine the faults which cause me so much
unhappiness, and unless I can correct them, I should have less joy than
confusion in seeing you. I kiss your hands very humbly.

How this affair was adjusted does not appear, but as they remained
devoted friends through life, unable to live apart, or pass a day
happily without seeing each other, it evidently did not end in a serious
alienation. It suggests, however, a delicacy and an exaltation of
feeling which we are apt to accord only to love, and which go far toward
disproving the verdict of Mongaigne, that "the soul of a woman is not
f