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    EUGENIE DE GUEKIN. 103

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    «¦ » It Journals Is Consolatory And Lett...

    all the beautiful and unselfish traits of her character . She revelled in the idea of happiness for Maurice . It was the greatest possible

    addition to her own . She went to Paris for the marriage . Then , to fill her cup to the

    brim , she was led to believe that her brother's mind and heart had returned to his first faith and first love . He was once again a

    devout attendant on the services of the Church , and was not merelydecorousbut earnest and sincere . She says " Maurice could not

    , _feigist- —it was impossible to him . " Truth , however , obliges us to mark the rapidity of the change . Only in January , this same year of

    1838 , she speaks with doubt and dread of his state . This amiable woman was probably often self-deceived .

    While at Paris , where she remained before and after the marriage , from November , 1838 , to April , 1839 , she still , at Maurice ' s

    request , kept up her Journal . All this portion has unfortunatelydisappeared . "We should like to have seen her impressions of the

    great Paris world . One thing is clear , that she was not set against social enjoyment . Most womenbrought up for years in seclusion ,

    might have been , awkward and , shy ; but this was not the case with ner ; her correspondence with Maurice's friends—free , yet

    modest and ladylike—shows how well she understood her position and theirs . Men of a high order of intellect , who knew her then

    for the first time , saw her merit at once , and were ever affcer her admirers and friends . Her own reflections on leaving Paris are not

    flattering . " I quit it without having caught its _siDirit , not having * loved itand I am rather proud of this . I believe that I should

    lose something , here , that my being is in better order , remaining where it iswithout mixture . Only I might gain some agremens ,

    , which perhaps would come at the cost of losing one's foundation . So much skillfinessechatterieeasecannot be acquired without

    damage . . . . , And yet , I love everything , , elegant , in good taste : beautiful and noble manners . I am delighted with the

    distinguished and serious conversation of men , as well as with the cause . ries , the _Hine pearls , of women who play so prettily at that

    sport with their delicate lips . It is charming ; yes , charming , if we by appearances : but I am not satisfied with it . How can we

    be go contented , indeed , if we hold to the moral principle of the thing ? If we were in the worlddrawing happiness from it , founding

    , serious hopes upon it , believing still in anything . Two ladies came here : I believed them to be old friends ; hearing their

    expansive words , their mutual expressions of regard—that delicious " ma chere" of Paris . Yesone must believe them friends ; and

    they are so when _jjresent , but , after parting , one would have said that each had left her caricature to the other . Pleasant lies !

    happily for me there exist others . "—( p . 439 . ) But , alas ! for Maurice . He married too late for the cares and

    preservation of a home to be of any material avail . Handsomer ,

    Eugenie De Guekin. 103

    EUGENIE DE _GUEKIN . 103

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), April 1, 1863, page 103, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01041863/page/31/