perhaps to her artful condescension in this respect, more than to the influence of charms, though she was really pretty, that the Marquis's heart fell a victim. Her point once gained, however, she would most probably soon have been tired of the drudgery to which she had subjected herself to compass it, had not a circumstance occurred which released her from it, by obliging the Marquis to provide himself with an avowed secretary.

The Dauphin, that virtuous and enlightened prince to whom the hopes of France were so fondly turned, died; the Marquis, truly attached to his sovereign, forgot at that moment all his fancied wrongs, and wrote on the instant a letter of condolence to his royal master, to whom at bottom he was sincerely attached. This letter, the first perhaps that he had ever written from his heart, bore the stamp of affection and sincerity; the king was pleased with it, answered it promptly and kindly, and by this means a correspondence was established which the Marquis was not long in thinking of turning to the furtherance of his grand object; but as he mistrusted, and with justice, his own epistolary talents, he looked out for some one who could remodel his epistles, under the notion of correcting them, and at the same time assist in completing the education of Adrienne, whom he was determined to render one of the most accomplished women of the age.

A reverse of fortune had blasted at that time all the hopes and expectations of Monsieur de Villars. After having, during several years, enjoyed a property which had descended to him from his father, he was deprived of it by a claim unexpectedly set up by another branch of his family. This event caused the death of his wife. She left him childless, for the only fruit of their loves had died in infancy some years before. Villars was a man of elegant and cultivated mind, of moral habits, and amiable disposition; the Marquis, who, though a proud, was not an ignorant man, made him an offer such as a gentleman could accept without wounding his feelings or his pride, and Villars was speedily installed at the Château in the double capacity of preceptor to Adrienne, and secretary to her father.

This event at first gave great pleasure to Mademoiselle d'Anvers, who was by no means disinclined to enlist under the banners of Hymen, and who thought she saw in De Villars a very suitable partner. They were, indeed, matched in years, both being about forty, but in every other respect they were the antipodes to each other. He was a philosopher, or rather, to speak more correctly, an infidel; but, unlike the generality of infidels, he did not go the length of denying Christianity-he contented himself with thinking it unnecessary. Human nature was, in his opinion, if left to its own unsophisticated impulses, sufficiently perfect to love virtue, and to hate vice, without any reference to a future state of reward and punishment.

B 2

Fatal and horrible delusion! What other, alas, has ever caused such dreadful evil? In delivering us from the mild and sweet yoke of religion to the guidance of passions, which philosophy is powerless to calm, what sorrows does it not entail upon us? We will put eternity out of the question-it is not in the light pages of a novel that we should discuss that awful subject; but who has ever felt his earthly happiness increased by being liberated from what the infidel calls religious prejudices? Oh! that the after experience of those who owe their temporal misery to the want of religious impressions could speak conviction to the minds of the unfortunates, who, fluctuating in their belief, are about to cast away the sacred shield that can alone enable them to support the ills of life.

At the time that Monsieur de Villars entered upon his office, Adrienne was just turned of eleven years, with a spirit and capacity very far above her age. Her progress, in all the ornamental branches of education, was such as to do credit to her instructress; but, from her father's blind confidence in this woman, she was left unfortunately too much in her power; and her outrageous bigotry, the importance which she attached to all the ceremonies of religion, while her conduct was in direct opposition to its Divine spirit, had already disgusted her pupil.

It will easily be believed that Adrienne soon gave a decided preference to her preceptor, who, on his part, loved her with parental tenderness. Under his care she acquired a knowledge not only of all the literature befitting her sex, but even of those severer sciences which the pride of man would reserve exclusively to himself.

A retired Captain of cavalry resided at a short distance from the Château de Touranges, and was a frequent guest there. He was one of those supple characters who know how to make themselves acceptable to every body; and the Marquis's favour was a great object to him, as he hoped to make it a means of procuring the promotion of his son, a boy about three years older than Adrienne, whom he was educating for the army. This boy was the only creature whom this selfish and insensible man, De Chyny, had the smallest regard for. He was indulgent to him to a fault, while he totally neglected his daughter, an amiable girl about two years older than Mademoiselle de Touranges. Both the children were received at the Château as playmates for her; but the rude and sullen manners of Jacques made her soon regard him with a mixture of dread and dislike, which she could never conquer, though she strove to conceal it out of love to his sister, for whom she felt the warmest affection, an affection which was truly and sincerely returned.

But though thus united in sentiment, the characters of the friends were very different. Adrienne was, even from her childhood, proud and obstinate; these qualities were in her dignified with the epithets of firmness and proper spirit. She was said to be generous and compassionate, and so, to a certain degree, she

was; for she would make any sacrifice to those she loved, except that of her own will, and there she was inflexible. Education, which ought to eradicate our faults, on the contrary gave strength to hers. She was taught by her father that her birth had rendered her superior to the ordinary class of mankind, and her narrow-minded governess, acting upon the instruction of the Marquis, had no other rule for her conduct than whether it was or was not proper for a De Touranges. While her weak and foolish aunt, with whom personal beauty was every thing, took care that as soon as she was capable of comprehending what was said to her, she should know that she was the most beautiful of her sex. De Villars indeed undertook to correct this overweening haughtiness, but he only taught her to conceal, not to eradicate it; for how could she, who daily became, as she imagined, wiser than the rest of her fellow mortals, learn to think herself on a par with them? Her philosophy taught not humility; no, it is only by the study of the Gospel that can be acquired; and from that sacred study, alas ! every day alienated her more and more. Had she followed her own inclinations, she would, when old enough to have asserted her free will, have openly declared her disbelief; but from this step De Villars dissuaded her. He pointed out to her the example of the ancient philosophers, all of whom had considered it their duty to conform to the established religion of their country, and she conde scended to follow their example in observing the ordinances of her's, while her heart took no share in the sacred duties which she outwardly fulfilled.

Lcuise de Chyny, who was scarcely pretty, had been, from her childhood, neglected by her father, and illtreated by her brother. She possessed no brilliant qualities; but her excellent sense, unaffected sweetness of temper, and goodness of heart, made ample amends for the want of them. She was one of those rarelyto-be-found beings who seem to have been sent into the world only to love and serve others; for so extreme was her disinterestedness, that she seemed to have no idea of pleasure but what was connected in some way with the happiness of her fellow creatures, and, above all, with Adrienne, to whom she looked up with equal pride and delight. Adrienne was her model of perfection; she exulted in her charms and accomplishments; and the only thing that could have ruffled even momentarily her gentle spirit, was the appearance of insensibility to her friend's merits.

Louise was, from her childhood, a peculiar favourite of the Abbé de la Viletti; she loved him next to Adrienne, and she took every opportunity of being with him. These hours were spent in religious and moral instruction; he laid a foundation of both, which, in after life, she diligently cultivated. She partook also in the instructions which Adrienne received from Mademoiselle d'Anvers ; but as she grew older the care of her father's house occupied much of her time, ́and thus she escaped, happily for herself, the lessons of De Villars.

More than a year had elapsed since the Marquis's correspondence with his Sovereign was renewed; it continued uninterrupted, and with marks of esteem and favour on the King's part-so flattering, that the Marquis thought himself in the high road to office. He was looking forward with a confident expectation of being recalled to court, when a circumstance occurred which seemed to place the desired portfolio further than ever out of his reach. The King had for a short time abjured gallantry, and at the age that he then was, and blest with a very exemplary wife, who had borne his infidelities with the most unreproaching meekness through life, it might be supposed high time for him to reform; but the artifice of a profligate courtier, who thought all means were good that led to power, threw the infamous Madame du Barry in his way, and the weak and voluptuous monarch sacrificed to the arts of a meretricious wanton his own dignity and the hopes of his people.

To have judged of the Marquis's morals by the virtuous indignation he expressed at hearing of the King's conduct, one would have thought him immaculate. He either forgot he was in the same predicament, or else he considered the rank of his mistress as an excuse for the sin he committed; for in exclaiming against the King's new arrangement, as it was the fashion to call it, he dwelt particularly upon his Majesty's degrading himself by so low a connexion. "The declared mistress of a monarch," said he one day in the presence of his daughter, "ought to be at least a woman of birth; it is utterly contrary to the royal dignity to raise an obscure creature like this to that honour."

These words made sad confusion in the ideas of our young philosopher, then between twelve and thirteen, an age at which girls ought to be kept as much as possible ignorant even of the very existence of unchastity; but the imprudent zeal of Mademoiselle d'Anvers had already informed her that there were women destitute of purity, and that these women were reckoned infamous in this world, and eternally punished in the next. Yet her father declared that to belong openly to this class, when the object of illicit love was a king, was an honour too great to be bestowed upon any but a woman of birth. It was strange, passing strange, to her unsophisticated apprehension, and she took an early opportunity to question Mademoiselle d'Anvers on the subject; for she felt, without knowing why, that it was one on which she could not talk to De Villars.

Had her governess been a conscientious woman, the questions of Adrienne would have been candidly and judiciously answered; but this interested and narrow-minded woman had too little real religion to compromise herself with her employer, and she took a ready way to silence Mademoiselle de Touranges, by telling her she ought to be ashamed to talk of a subject which was totally unfit for a young lady, and which she desired never to hear her speak of again.

Adrienne did not speak of the subject, but she thought of it frequently, and a

circumstance soon occurred which drew her thoughts more than ever in a direction that, at her age, they ought not to have taken at all.

The peace concluded by the Duc de Choiseul chagrining the Marquis bitterly enough, because it placed his darling object further than ever from his view; nevertheless he was obliged to appear to take part in the general joy. He invited accordingly all the gentry of the Province to a superb fête, which was to be followed by one for his vassals and domestics.

At that period custom prescribed to young persons in France a simple style of dress, except upon occasions of great ceremony. Adrienne did not fail to remind her father that this was one of them, and the Marquis gave her fifty louis to lay out as she pleased.

Proud of seeing herself for the first time mistress of so much money, Adrienne engaged her governess to accompany Louise (who was then staying at the château) and her to Valenciennes, to order her dress. De Villars escorted them, and they set out on a lovely May morning in one of the Marquis's carriages. They had to pass through a small wood, and the uncommon beauty of the morning made the young people desire to traverse it on foot. This was opposed by Mademoiselle d'Anvers, who at all times hated walking; but Adrienne got De Villars to her side, and it was agreed that the carriage should drive slowly with Mademoiselle d'Anvers to a bridge that they had to cross, and that she should stop there until the young ladies and De Villars joined her.

They jumped out without giving much attention to the repeated charges which she gave them not to be long, and ran gaily forward, followed at a sober pace by De Villars. They were in the midst of a lively dialogue on the pleasures of the expected fête, when they heard a groan. The terrified Adrienne stopped suddenly; Louise, more courageous, ran to see if she could render assistance to the sufferer, and was followed with the rapidity of lightning by De Villars. What a sight met his eyes: Louise, on the banks of the river, was struggling with a young female who evidently sought to drown herself, and whose violent struggles were near precipitating the courageous girl into the water with her. De Villars, seizing her with a strong arm, drew her from the bank, and at the same moment she fell senseless at his feet. Adrienne had now approached; she joined their efforts to revive the poor sufferer, who, opening her eyes, in a few moments sent forth lamentable cries. De Villars had promptly perceived that she was with child, and her cries, her convulsive struggles, made him apprehend that nature was about to relieve herself of her burthen. "Fly, my dear child," said he to Adrienne, "bring Mademoiselle d'Anvers to us instantly." She darted forward, but before her return the child was born.

In such a moment every feeling but those of humanity were forgotton; De Villars and Louise did all they could to aid the poor sufferer; but both impa