288 FRENCH AUTHORESSES 



with a disabled wing. " If my mother," thought she, " was not always 

 pushing me towards the brink of an abyss, I would have been happier 

 with her than here. The open country, the journey, the bustle, the 

 motions, all that was life ; but now I am like the horse who is left in 

 the pasture with his legs tied. I am a prisoner on my parole, and if 

 I do but stir a step, they menace me with the public contempt." Rose 

 had an ardent spirit; her deliverer was young, handsome, and gene- 

 rous. She had dreamed of virtue allied to love, and from the day 

 she found a protector, she entertained but one thought sublime and 

 romantic that of loving devotedly. But Madelle. Cazales took the 

 utmost pains to impress upon her the vast distance that separated her 

 from Horace, and used every effort to prevent a meeting between them. 

 But Horace is commissioned by a captain of gendarmerie, who had 

 been a constant visitor at the house of Madeselle. Cazales, to make an 

 offer of his hand and fortune to Rosa. The interview that ensued 

 raised her so high in the esteem of Horace that he felt jealous of the 

 happiness'of the captain. But to his astonishment Rose declined the 

 proffered honour, alleging her determination to become a Religious. 

 Her heart was set upon Horace, but her pride forbade her to allow 

 him to suppose that she entertained pretensions to become his wife. 

 She is superior to her destiny, thought he, but she is without a soul, 

 and her virtue is only the result of a peculiar organization. Rose is 

 installed as a pensioner in the Convent of the Augustines at the 

 monarchical and religious aera of 1825. Here, by a aingular caprice 

 of fate, she again meets the melancholy and gentle Blanche, and the 

 calm current of their existence is for some time mingled. Equally 

 strangers to all the interests that occupied the lives of the others, 

 isolated in the world, without relations, support or fortune, they sym- 

 pathized in their misfortunes, and aided each other to forget them. The 

 difference of their character served to deepen this sympathy. Rose was 

 lively, susceptible, and possessed of a firm, enterprising, and passionate 

 spirit. Blanche was gentle and without energy, She had been 

 schooled in conquering and repressing her feelings, and she felt the 

 necessity of support. Superior to Rose in patience, she was inferior 

 to her in active firmness and judgment. Such were the bonds that 

 united the two characters but we feel we are going beyond our 

 limits, and we must hasten towards the conclusion. Music was the 

 only art in which Rose made any progress at the Convent. Being 

 chosen to supply the place of a first chorister, on a grand festival, the 

 spirit of song descended upon her, as it were, from the skies, and, to 

 her own great surprise, she elicited rapturous applause. Pasta her- 

 self was foremost in her congratulations and professions of esteem, 

 and the interview with the actress dwelt deeply on the mind of Rose. 

 Meantime, a new drawing-master appears at the Convent. It is 

 Laurence, the friend of Cazales. From him Rose learns tidings of 

 Horace sufficient to fan the secret flame that burned in her bosom, 

 while the young artist and Blanche conceive a mutual passion for each 

 other. Rose is obliged to interpose and forbid the visits of the artist, 

 so ruinous to her friend's peace. In his confusion he forgets a port- 

 folio in Blanche's cell. She examines it and finds a manuscript his- 

 tory of Denise Lazare, the idiot girl, written by Cazales. She was 

 horrified: she felt a vague and indistinct impression of some of the 



