e as from over-much righteousness, that
a stray tress, a loose ribbon, a little rent even, will relieve the
eye and hold it with a subtile charm. Under the snow white hair of
Dame Rochelle--for she it was, the worthy old housekeeper and ancient
governess of the House of Philibert--you saw a kind, intelligent face.
Her dark eyes betrayed her Southern origin, confirmed by her speech,
which, although refined by culture, still retained the soft intonation
and melody of her native Languedoc.

Dame Rochelle, the daughter of an ardent Calvinist minister, was born in
the fatal year of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, when Louis
XIV. undid the glorious work of Henri IV., and covered France with
persecution and civil war, filling foreign countries with the elect
of her population, her industry, and her wealth, exiled in the name of
religion.

Dame Rochelle's childhood had passed in the trying scenes of the great
persecution, and in the succeeding civil wars of the Cevennes she lost
all that was nearest and dearest to her--her father, her brothers, her
kindred nearly all, and lastly, a gallant gentleman of Dauphiny to whom
she was betrothed. She knelt beside him at his place of execution--or
martyrdom, for he died for his faith--and holding his hands in hers,
pledged her eternal fidelity to his memory, and faithfully kept it all
her life.

The Count de Philibert, elder brother of the Bourgeois, was an officer
of the King; he witnessed this sad scene, took pity upon the hapless
girl, and gave her a home and protection with his family in the Chateau
of Philibert, where she spent the rest of her life until the Bourgeois
succeeded to his childless brother. In the ruin of his house she would
not consent to leave them, but followed their fortunes to New France.
She had been the faithful friend and companion of the wife of the
Bourgeois and the educator of his children, and was now, in her old age,
the trusted friend and manager of his household. Her days were divided
between the exercises of religion and the practical duties of life. The
light that illumined her, though flowing through the narrow window of a
narrow creed, was still light of divine origin. It satisfied her faith,
and filled her with resignation, hope, and comfort.

Her three studies were the Bible, the hymns of Marot, and the sermons of
the famous Jurieu. She had listened to the prophecies of Grande Marie,
and had even herself been breathed upon on the top of M