interview!"

"Oh! jested, has she?" said the tire-woman, muttering between her teeth,
without Florine being able to hear her: "'They laugh most who laugh
last.' In spite of her audacious and diabolical character, she would
tremble, and would pray for mercy, if she knew what awaits her this
day." Then addressing Florine, she continued-"Return, and keep yourself,
I advise you, from those fine scruples, which will be quite enough to do
you a bad turn. Do not forget!"

"I cannot forget that I belong not to myself, madame."

"Anyway, let it be so. Farewell."

Florine quitted the mansion and crossed the park to regain the summer
house, while Mrs Grivois went immediately to the Princess Saint-Dizier.

BOOK III.

XXXVI. A Female Jesuit XXXVII. The Plot XXXVIII. Adrienne's
Enemies XXXIX. The Skirmish XL. The Revolt XLI. Treachery
XLII. The Snare XLIII. A False Friend XLIV. The Minister's
Cabinet XLV. The Visit XLVI. Presentiments XLVII. The Letter
XLVIII. The Confessional XLIX. My Lord and Spoil-sport L.
Appearances LI. The Convent LII. The Influence of a
Confessor LIII. The Examination

CHAPTER XXXVI. A FEMALE JESUIT.

During the preceding scenes which occurred in the Pompadour rotunda,
occupied by Miss de Cardoville, other events took place in the residence
of the Princess Saint-Dizier. The elegance and sumptuousness of the
former dwelling presented a strong contrast to the gloomy interior of
the latter, the first floor of which was inhabited by the princess, for
the plan of the ground floor rendered it only fit for giving parties;
and, for a long time past, Madame de Saint-Dizier had renounced all
worldly splendors. The gravity of her domestics, all aged and dressed in
black; the profound silence which reigned in her abode, where everything
was spoken, if it could be called speaking, in an undertone; and
the almost monastic regularity and order of this immense mansion,
communicated to everything around the princess a sad and chilling
character. A man of the world, who joined great courage to rare
independence of spirit, speaking of the princess (to whom Adrienne
de Cardoville went, according to her expression, to fight a pitched
battle), said of her as follows: "In order to avoid having Madame de
Saint-Dizier for an enemy, I, who am neither bashful nor cowardly, have,
for the first time in my life, been both a noodle and a coward." This
man spoke sincerely. But Madame