Part 14 (1/2)
So severely had she blamed the conduct of Made that which she termed the disorder at Court, that, since the birth of the Duc du Maine, I had not gone to the convent to see her We were like unto persons both most anxious to break off an intimacy and yet who had not done so
The Duc de Lorraine was known to her He wrote to her, begging her to ratify him, and mainly because of her attach for my intervention and what she termed my support
Nuns always profess to be, and think that they are, cut off frorandeur than we do Madaiven their very heart's blood to seesaid to es co for your family; there is a wealthy abbey that has just becoive it to your sister, the nun; since last night she is the Abbess of Fontevrault”
I thanked the King, as it behoved me to do, and he added, ”Your brother shall be eneral of Royal Galleys, and after one or two cans he will have a marshal's baton”
”And what about me, Sire?” said I ”What, et from the distribution of all these favours and ely asked the question
”You, madame?” he replied ”To you I ether worthless; yet, as it is possible that, when this heart shall have ceased to beat, youretreat of Petit-Bourg, near Fontainebleau”
Saying this, his face wore a sad look, and I was sorry that I asked hienerously, but of his own accord, without the least pro this indiscretion, he ht, possibly, haveRoyal-Bourg
The new abbess of Fontevrault, caring less now for claustral seclusion, equipped her new residence in very sue she canity she encountered the scrutiny of the royal family and of the Court Her reat world, and possessed of all the tact and delicacy which her position as well as hed; yet, instantly recovering herself, she s and co before the King joined us, who said, ”Madaot by wearing the veil Now, youto any one who has wit and intelligence”
”Sire,” replied my sister, ”the first fifteen or twenty ened to one's fetters from the ood friends a your associates?”
”In such assemblies,” rejoined the Abbess, ”one can form no attachment or durable friendshi+p The reason for this is siious in all sincerity, she is perforce a slave to every little rule and regulation, and to her it would seeive affection to any one but to Him If, by mischance, you ht intellect that matches your own, you lay yourself open to be the rets, and her depression reacts upon you; her sorrow makes your melancholy return Privation conjures up countless illusions and every chiins of the Lord becoroan in torture!”
”Oh,”What a picture is this! What a spectacle you present to our view!”
”Fortunately,” continued Madeence are all too rare The greater nuination or fire To exiles like these, any country, any cliood; to flaccid, crushed natures of this type, every belief would seeion holy and divine Fifteen hundred years ago these nuns would have ned What they need is abstinence, prohibitions, thwartings, things contrary to nature By confororous rules, they consider thes who deserve heavy recompense; and the Carmelite or Trappist sister, who macerates herself by the hair-shi+rt or the cilex, would look upon God as a false or wicked Being, if, after such cruel torates of Paradise
”Sire,” added the Abbess de Fontevrault, ”I have three nuns in my convent who take the Holy Communion every other day, and who herself to absolve for some old piece of nonsense of twenty years back”
”Do you think you will be able to
”I am afraid not,” replied e, and your Majesty on the throne may possibly have fewer difficulties to deal with than the abbess or the prior of a convent”
The King was obliged to quit us to go and see one of theher that she was excellent company, of which he could never have too much
My sister wished to see Madame de Maintenon and the Duc du Maine; so we visited that lady, who took a great liking to the Abbess, which was reciprocated
WhenDuc du Maine, she exclaimed, ”How handsome he is! Oh, sister, how fond I shall be of such a nephew!”
”Then,” said I, ”you will forgive iven birth to him?”
”When I reproached you,” she answered, ”I had not yet seen the King When one has seen hiht