my having left at all; not that I was assured of having
done the will of God therein. Such an assurance would have been too
much for me. But I could neither see nor regard anything, receiving
everything alike from the hand of God, who directed and disposed of
these crosses for me either in justice or in mercy.

The Marchioness of Prunai, sister of the chief Secretary of State to
his Royal Highness (the Duke of Savoy) and his prime minister, had sent
an express from Turin, in the time of my illness, to invite me to come
to reside with her; and to let me know that, "being so persecuted as I
was in this diocese, I should find an asylum with her; that during that
time things might grow better; that when they should be well disposed
she would return with me and join me with a friend of mine from Paris,
who was willing also to come to labor there, according to the will of
God." I was not at that time in a condition to execute what she desired
and expected to continue with the Ursulines till things should change.
She then wrote to me about it no more. This lady is one of
extraordinary piety, who had quitted the splendor and noise of the
Court, for the more silent satisfaction of a retired life, and to give
herself up to God. With an eminent share of natural advantages, she has
continued a widow twenty-two years; has refused every offer of marriage
to consecrate herself to our Lord entirely and without any reserve.
When she knew that I had been obliged to leave the Ursulines, yet
without knowing anything of the manner in which I had been treated, she
procured a letter to oblige Father La Combe to go to pass some weeks at
Turin, for her own benefit, and to bring me with him thither, where I
should find a refuge. All this she did unknown to us. As she has told
us since, a superior force moved her to do it, without knowing the
cause. If she had deliberately reflected on it, being such a prudent
lady, she probably would not have done it; because the persecutions,
which the Bishop of Geneva procured us in that place, cost her more
than a little of humiliations. Our Lord permitted him to pursue me,
after a surprising manner, into all the places I have been in, without
giving me any relaxation. I never did him any harm, but on the
contrary, would have laid down my life for the good of his diocese.

As this fell out without any design on our part, we, without
hesitation, believed it was the will of God; and thought it might be
the me