ts first radiance,
and her smile was angelic. She was short of stature, but it was
impossible to imagine more beautiful features or hands. Her education
had been very desultory; she had learned more from lovers than from
teachers. She had a strong taste for empirical medicine and for alchemy,
and was always compounding elixirs, tinctures and balms, some of which
she regarded as valuable secrets. So it was that charlatans, trading on
her weakness, made her consume, amid drugs and furnaces, a talent and a
spirit which might have distinguished her in the highest societies. Yet
her loving and sweet character, her compassion for the unhappy, her
inexhaustible goodness and her open and gay humour never changed; and
even when old age was coming on, in the midst of poverty and varied
misfortunes, her inward serenity preserved to the end the charming
gaiety of her youth. All her mistakes arose from a restless activity
which demanded incessant occupation. She thirsted, not for intrigues,
but for enterprises.

Well, the first sight of Mme. de Warens inspired me not only with the
liveliest attachment, but with an entire trust which was never
disappointed. Her presence filled my whole being with peace and
confidence.

_Three Years in Turin_

My situation was discussed with the Bishop, and it was decided that I
should go to Turin and remain for a time at an institution devoted to
the instruction of catechumens. Thither I went, regarding myself as the
pupil, the friend, and almost the lover, of Mme. de Warens. The great
doors closed upon me, and here I was instructed for several weeks in
very indifferent company. At length, having been received into the
church, I found myself in the street with twenty francs in my pocket,
and the counsel that I should be a good Christian.

I took a lodging in Turin, and was presently introduced, by the kindness
of my hostess, to the service of a countess. But this lady died shortly
afterwards, and I left her house bearing with me lasting remorse for an
atrocious action: I had accused a fellow-servant of a theft which I had
myself committed, and thus may very well have caused the poor child's
ruin.

Returning to my old lodging, I spent my days in wandering about town,
often offending the public by my depravities. But I had kept certain
acquaintances made during my situation with the countess, and one of
these, a M. Gaime, whom I sometimes visited, gave me most valuable
instructions in the pr