re. My father of German descent,
my mother of Danish--my nom de plume (which was her maiden-name) is
Danish--with Protestant ancestors on her side, though she and I were
Catholics--my grandmother a sound and witty Parisian, gay, brilliant,
lively, with superb physical health and the consequent good
spirits--surely these materials could not have produced other than a
cosmopolitan being."

Somehow or other, the family became impoverished. Therese de Solms took
to writing stories. After many refusals, her debut took place in the
'Revue des Deux Mondes', and her perseverance was largely due to the
encouragement she received from George Sand, although that great woman
saw everything through the magnifying glass of her genius. But the person
to whom Therese Bentzon was most indebted in the matter of literary
advice--she says herself--was the late M. Caro, the famous Sorbonne
professor of philosophy, himself an admirable writer, "who put me through
a course of literature, acting as my guide through a vast amount of solid
reading, and criticizing my work with kindly severity." Success was slow.
Strange as it may seem, there is a prejudice against female writers in
France, a country that has produced so many admirable women-authors.
However, the time was to come when M. Becloz found one of her stories in
the 'Journal des Debats'. It was the one entitled 'Un Divorce', and he
lost no time in engaging the young writer to become one of his staff.
From that day to this she has found the pages of the Revue always open to
her.

Madame Bentzon is a novelist, translator, and writer of literary essays.
The list of her works runs as follows: 'Le Roman d'un Muet (1868); Un
Divorce (1872); La Grande Sauliere (1877); Un remords (1878); Yette and
Georgette (1880); Le Retour (1882); Tete folle (1883); Tony, (1884);
Emancipee (1887); Constance (1891); Jacqueline (1893). We need not enter
into the merits of style and composition if we mention that 'Un remords,
Tony, and Constance' were crowned by the French Academy, and 'Jacqueline'
in 1893. Madame Bentzon is likewise the translator of Aldrich, Bret
Harte, Dickens, and Ouida. Some of her critical works are 'Litterature et
Moeurs etrangeres', 1882, and 'Nouveaux romanciers americains', 1885.

M. THUREAU-DANGIN
de l'Academie Francaise.

JACQUELINE

BOOK 1.

CHAPTER I

A PARISIENNE'S "AT HOME"

Despite a short frock, checked stockings, wi