The sun., 1908-04-26

famous correspondence, always associated
with her name. and marked the hrst de-
cisve step on the path from which 1t was
never more in her power to escape
VII.
We have come TO a crisis in the life Of
Mile de Lespinasse which the sympathetic
biogrspher shrinks from describing In de-
tail, Two points, however, she feels in
justice bound TO recognize: First, that It
is difficult to Judge such a case by the
standard Of the present generation; SEQ
ondly, that Mile. de Lespinasse was as far
as possible from resembling the crowd
Of light hearted sinners who on every side
surrounded her, and that she suffered
agonies Of remorse such as few women Of
her encourage would have been capable
OF feeling on the same score. She wrote
10 Guibert: THE crime Of a moment has
ruined my whole life. What does II profit
me that was always virtuous before l
knew your / know that | have sinned
against virtue and against myself and !
have lost all self-respect. II was on
February 10, l77i, a date unmistakably
indicated by more than one reference in
her letters, that she forfeited, as she says.
all right to respect herself By a coinci-
dence Of unspeakable horror, It was oD
the self-same night when her true lover
the Marquis de Mora, received from a
violent hemorrhage his death blow, that
he was betrayed by the woman whom he
had trusted 80 entirely, but OF whose be-
trayal most happily for him he was never
TO know, The inevitable Nemesis how
ever, was not long delayed for Mile. de-
Lespinasse, but 1t did not assume the form
Of public exposure and disgrace Nothing
in her whole story 10 more remarkable
than the utter absence Of suspicion as to
the true nature Of her relations with Gui-
bert. 1t was not till one Of the pair had
been dead for thirty-three years, and the
other for nineteen, that the posthnmous
publication Of the Letters revealed the
long kept secret to the intense astonlsh-
ment Of their few surviving contempor-
aries. Yet they seemed TO have been
constantly together, passing hours alone
either in a private box at the Opera or in
jules room in the Rue Belechasse. That
no one in these circumstances should have
even guessed at the truth testifes alike TO
the high reputation borne by Mile. de Les
pinasse and, in justice it must be added, to
the honorable reticence maintained by
Guibert. a reticence all the more creditable
to him that it scarcely seems to have been
generally one OF his habits
jules punishment was TO come in more
subtle fashion, In the first instance through
the man she had wronged and In the
second through that other man for whom
she had made so great a sacrifice. On his
dying bed the Marquis de Mora gathered
sufficient strength TO write once more In
these words TO the woman whom he had
loved with absolute devotion: Il was
about 10 have seen you once more, and
now must die. What fearful stroke Of
fatel But you once loved me, and the
thought Of you Is still sweet to me. y is
for your sake that | am dying.
There is no doubt that In the first anguish
OF remorse and despair the recipient Of
these words resolved on taking her life, and
the resolution will surprise nobody 40
quainted with her passionate and lmpulsive
nature. That Guibert alone suspected her |
purpose and succeeded in dissuading her |
from II is rendered equally certain by tho |
incessant reproaches which on this very |
score she aiterward heaped upon him. |
The sight Of her agony evidently inspired |
him for time with genuine pity, and per-
haps with some ieeting contrition, and In
mis- efforta TO reconcile her 10 life he showed !
, tenderness which she was unable to resist.
His contrition lasted for a while, and II was
,nly gradually that Julie realized that for
ler all possibility Of happiness had van
shed on the day that Mora breathed out
his life In an inn at Bordeaux on his way
o Paris. Gradually Guibert began 10 talk
o her about the necessity Of his maSing
marriage ct convenience He sedulouely
his matrimonial designs as
BASED entirely upon prudence, and irrespec-
i've Of any woman In particular. Through |
he winter Of l774-75 he had in conversation
With Mile. de Lespinasse allowed the sub
ect 80 completely TO drop that she half
relieved him resolved upon a single life,
while all the time negotiations we're in prog
ess, and he was losing no opportunity OF |
,aying his court to Mile. do Courceles,
Who was not only we'll lowered but beauti-
ul Once the betrothal was about TO be
announced, however, It became
mpossihle any longer 10 conceal the truth.
liter a clumsy attempt at preparation
which aroused an agony OF apprehension
n his unhappy victim he told ! er Of his
marriage, representing il en-
irely az an affair OF coHpendnce and re-
,ressing the fact that he had anything
more than a formal acquaintance with his
uture bride. To the forsaken woman It
eemol that now indeed she had been
tabled TO the heart. IL we must cease
0 love, then must cea e to hvel' was the
cartbroken cry which rose TO her lips II
VII.
The hio1ra nhar annrhaaiyas tha Naa. tk..l