n, which lasted four years,
discouraged his wife's liaison with Apollo. But her mind, active and
ardent, did not the less prey upon itself. At the age of four-and-twenty
she became a widow, with an income large even in England for a single
woman, and at Paris constituting no ordinary fortune. Madame de
Merville, however, though a person of elegant taste, was neither
ostentatious nor selfish; she had no children, and she lived quietly in
apartments, handsome, indeed, but not more than adequate to the small
establishment which--where, as on the Continent, the costly convenience
of an entire house is not usually incurred--sufficed for her retinue.
She devoted at least half her income, which was entirely at her own
disposal, partly to the aid of her own relations, who were not rich, and
partly to the encouragement of the literature she cultivated. Although
she shrank from the ordeal of publication, her poems and sketches of
romance were read to her own friends, and possessed an eloquence seldom
accompanied with so much modesty. Thus, her reputation, though not blown
about the winds, was high in her own circle, and her position in fashion
and in fortune made her looked up to by her relations as the head of her
family; they regarded her as femme superieure, and her advice with them
was equivalent to a command. Eugenie de Merville was a strange mixture
of qualities at once feminine and masculine. On the one hand, she had
a strong will, independent views, some contempt for the world, and
followed her own inclinations without servility to the opinion of
others; on the other hand, she was susceptible, romantic, of a
sweet, affectionate, kind disposition. Her visit to M. Love, however
indiscreet, was not less in accordance with her character than her
charity to the mechanic's wife; masculine and careless where an
eccentric thing was to be done--curiosity satisfied, or some object in
female diplomacy achieved--womanly, delicate, and gentle, the instant
her benevolence was appealed to or her heart touched. She had now been
three years a widow, and was consequently at the age of twenty-seven.
Despite the tenderness of her poetry and her character, her reputation
was unblemished. She had never been in love. People who are much
occupied do not fall in love easily; besides, Madame de Merville
was refining, exacting, and wished to find heroes where she only met
handsome dandies or ugly authors. Moreover, Eugenie was both a vain and
a prou