280 ANOTHER CHAPTER ON THE " RIGHTS OF WOMAN/ 1 



St. Julien demands a complete justification of her conduct : the 

 doubt which this implies offends the princess. 



" ' Ah ! St. Julien/ said she, ' how can my friends make me suffer thus ? 

 Why are they not like me ? Why do they not believe in me as I believe 

 in them? What is it which is ever thus marring my affections ? Why 

 are all the sympathies I inspire smothered in their birth ? Why am I 

 despised by one half and misunderstood by the other? What have I done 

 to merit this ? When my whole life has been a perpetual sacrifice to 

 friendship, must I purchase the confidence of those to whom I surrendered 

 my own? When I found you one day on the high-road, jaded, breathless, 

 and covered with dust, why did I not take you for a vagabond and an ad- 

 venturer of low degree ? Why did I believe in the candour depicted in 

 your countenance in the nobleness of your sentiments ? It is I then who 

 have a false and equivocal air. What ! do you seek to learn from others 

 what you ought to think of me ? Does not your heart tell you ; or have 

 I been unsuccessful in finding the way to it ? Of what value then shall be 

 your esteem when I shall have compelled it ? You will then give me but 

 my due, your heart will accord me nothing.' 



" ' You are right/ said St. Julien, " keep your proofs, I want them not. 

 Keep your love for the man who has deserved it. But for my respect, my 

 devotion, my friendship, if I dare use the word made use of by you, put 

 them to the proof. You have vanquished a most distrustful and petulant 

 disposition. God must have rewarded your greatness of soul, by a large 

 measure of power over the souls of others. Complain no more ; you will 

 find friends as often as you shall desire them ; or should they be deficient 

 in numbers, I shall try to multiply myself a hundredfold to obey you/ 



" Quintilia burst into tears, and flung herself on his neck. He embraced 

 her with the tenderness of a brother." 



This agreeable scene is interrupted by the appearance of Ginetta, 

 with some secret communication of importance, and the princess re- 

 tires with her for an instant. During her absence he almost me- 

 chanically lays his hand on the princess's watch. He opens it, and as 

 he casts his eyes on the interior of the case, the coldness of death crept 

 through his frame. He read distinctly the name of " Charles de 

 Dortan" and the story of the traveller of Lyons flashed upon his re- 

 collection. The discovery caused a complete revulsion in the senti- 

 ments of St. Julien, and when Qunitilia returned, he could only 

 behold her in the light of an impudent comedian, playing all charac- 

 ters for her amusement, and despising all the virtues she affected. 



But this is not all; in one of his moonlight walks, St. Julien 

 makes acquaintance with a sentimental gentleman named Spark, to 

 whom he confides the state of his mind, his proofs of the guilt of the 

 princess, and the anguish of his doubts. Spark explains away his 

 doubts, and proclaims the princess to the model of all that is excellent 

 and pure. But unfortunately, in one of his justificatory harangues, 

 he drops a billet containing an assignation with Quintilia, which is 

 picked up by the page and shown to St. Julien. They both station 

 themselves to watch the result of the proposed interview, and St. 

 Julien has the conviction of his own eyes of the frailty of the prin- 

 cess. The discovery of this last turpitude confirmed all the rest, and 

 St. Julien became a prey to anguish more intolerable than any he 

 had previously experienced. He could find no other solution for his 

 perplexities than that Quintilia, with the consummate refinement of a 



