relations of those days, many
examples of rare devotion are found, even among the nobility. Love of
the king and self-eliminating devotion to him were feelings to which
women aspired; yet we have one countess, the Countess of Perigord,
who, true to her wifehood, repels the advances of the king, preferring
a voluntary exile to the dishonor of a life of royal favors and
attentions. There is also the example of Mme. de Tremoille; having
been stricken with smallpox, she was ministered to by her husband, who
voluntarily shared her fate and died with her.

It would seem that the highest types of devotion are to be found in
the families of the ministers and men of state, where the wife was
intimately associated with the fortune and the success of her husband.
The Marquis de Croisy and his wife were married forty years; M.
and Mme. de Maurepas lived together for fifty years, without being
separated one day. Instances are many in which reconciliations
were effected after years of unfaithfulness; these seldom occurred,
however, until the end of life was near. The normal type of married
life among the higher classes still remained one of most ideal and
beautiful devotion, in spite of the great number of exceptions.

It must be observed that in the middle class the young girl grew up
with the mother and was given her most tender care; surrounded with
wholesome influences, she saw little or nothing of the world, and,
the constant companion of her mother, developed much like the average
young girl of to-day. At the age of about eleven she was sent to a
convent, where--after having spent some time in the _pension_, where
instruction in religion was given her--she was instructed by the
sisters for one year.

After her confirmation and her first communion, and the home visits to
all the relatives, she was placed in a _maison religieuse_, where the
sisters taught the daughters of the common people free of charge. The
young girl was also taught dancing, music, and other accomplishments
of a like nature, but there was nothing of the feverish atmosphere of
the convent in which the daughters of the nobility were reared; these
institutions for the middle classes were peaceful, silent, and calm,
fostering a serenity and quietude. The days passed quickly, the
Sundays being eagerly looked forward to because of the visits of the
parents, who took their daughters for drives and walks and indulged
them in other innocent diversions. Such a life h