other to her.

Madame de Verneuil, the intimate friend of the Duchesse de Bourbon, was
a member of the devout society of which Monsieur Saint-Martin (born
in Touraine and called the Philosopher of Mystery) was the soul. The
disciples of this philosopher practised the virtues taught them by the
lofty doctrines of mystical illumination. These doctrines hold the key
to worlds divine; they explain existence by reincarnations through which
the human spirit rises to its sublime destiny; they liberate duty from
its legal degradation, enable the soul to meet the trials of life
with the unalterable serenity of the Quaker, ordain contempt for the
sufferings of this life, and inspire a fostering care of that angel
within us who allies us to the divine. It is stoicism with an immortal
future. Active prayer and pure love are the elements of this faith,
which is born of the Roman Church but returns to the Christianity of the
primitive faith. Mademoiselle de Lenoncourt remained, however, in the
Catholic communion, to which her aunt was equally bound. Cruelly tried
by revolutionary horrors, the Duchesse de Verneuil acquired in the
last years of her life a halo of passionate piety, which, to use the
phraseology of Saint-Martin, shed the light of celestial love and the
chrism of inward joy upon the soul of her cherished niece.

After the death of her aunt, Madame de Mortsauf received several visits
at Clochegourde from Saint-Martin, a man of peace and of virtuous
wisdom. It was at Clochegourde that he corrected his last books, printed
at Tours by Letourmy. Madame de Verneuil, wise with the wisdom of an old
woman who has known the stormy straits of life, gave Clochegourde to
the young wife for her married home; and with the grace of old age, so
perfect where it exists, the duchess yielded everything to her niece,
reserving for herself only one room above the one she had always
occupied, and which she now fitted up for the countess. Her sudden
death threw a gloom over the early days of the marriage, and connected
Clochegourde with ideas of sadness in the sensitive mind of the
bride. The first period of her settlement in Touraine was to Madame de
Mortsauf, I cannot say the happiest, but the least troubled of her life.

After the many trials of his exile, Monsieur de Mortsauf, taking comfort
in the thought of a secure future, had a certain recovery of mind; he
breathed anew in this sweet valley the intoxicating essence of revived
hope. Com