d. The following scenes took place on the 12th
February, the eve of the fatal day, on which the members of the family of
Rennepont, the last descendants of the sister of the Wandering Jew, were
to meet together in the Rue St. Francois. St. Mary's Convent was a model
of perfect regularity. A superior council, composed of influential
ecclesiastics, with Father d'Aigrigny for president, and of women of
great reputed piety, at the head of whom was the Princess de Saint
Dizier, frequently assembled in deliberation, to consult on the means of
extending and strengthening the secret and powerful influence of this
establishment, which had already made remarkable progress.

Skillful combinations and deep foresight had presided at the foundation
of St. Mary's Convent, which, in consequence of numerous donations,
possessed already real estate to a great extent, and was daily augmenting
its acquisitions. The religious community was only a pretext; but, thanks
to an extensive connection, kept up by means of the most decided members
of the ultramontane (i. e. high-church) party, a great number of rich
orphans were placed in the convent, there to receive a solid, austere,
religious education, very preferable, it was said, to the frivolous
instruction which might be had in the fashionable boarding schools,
infected by the corruption of the age. To widows also, and lone women who
happened moreover to be rich, the convent offered a sure asylum from the
dangers and temptations of the world; in this peaceful retreat, they
enjoyed a delightful calm, and secured their salvation, whilst surrounded
by the most tender and affectionate attentions. Nor was this all. Mother
Sainte-Perpetue, the superior of the convent, undertook in the name of
the institution to procure for the faithful, who wished to preserve the
interior of their houses from the depravity of the age, companions for
aged ladies, domestic servants, or needlewomen working by the day, all
selected persons whose morality could be warranted. Nothing would seem
more worthy of sympathy and encouragement than such an institution; but
we shall presently unveil the vast and dangerous network of intrigue
concealed under these charitable and holy appearances. The lady Superior,
Mother Sainte-Perpetue, was a tall woman of about forty years of age,
clad in a stuff dress of the Carmelite tan color, and wearing a long
rosary at her waist; a white cap tied under the chin, and a long black
veil, clo