How
happy would it have been for France if women of fortune and abilities had
always exerted their talents and activity in this manner, instead of
wasting their powers in futile declamations, or in the intrigues of
party!
CHAPTER VIII
"E'en now the devastation is begun,
And half the business of destruction done."
GOLDSMITH.
Madame de Fleury was not disappointed in her pupils. When the public
disturbances began, these children were shocked by the horrible actions
they saw. Instead of being seduced by bad example, they only showed
anxiety to avoid companions of their own age who were dishonest, idle, or
profligate. Victoire's cousin Manon ridiculed these absurd principles,
as she called them, and endeavoured to persuade Victoire that she would
be much happier if she followed the fashion.
"What! Victoire, still with your work-bag on your arm, and still going
to school with your little sister, though you are but a year younger than
I am, I believe!--thirteen last birthday, were not you?--Mon Dieu! Why,
how long do you intend to be a child? and why don't you leave that old
nun, who keeps you in leading-strings?--I assure you, nuns, and school-
mistresses, and schools, and all that sort of thing, are out of fashion
now--we have abolished all that--we are to live a life of reason now--and
all soon to be equal, I can tell you; let your Madame de Fleury look to
that, and look to it yourself; for with all your wisdom, you might find
yourself in the wrong box by sticking to her, and that side of the
question.
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