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    80 MADAME DE GIRARDIN.

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    • In Her, The Published Following Two Ye...

    semble . In lier just disdain her passionate spirit revolted , and words the most spirituelspleasantries the most piquantesescaped from her

    eloquent lips . Fools , were not wanting to pickup , the crumbs which dropped from her tableand her witticisms were soon hawked about

    , from one drawing-room to another , altered and twisted by malice , and above all divested of the generous sentiment which had inspired

    them , for when she employed these weapons it was always to defend a friendto clear an innocent person from an - imputation which

    , rightly belonged to another ; no personal sentiment ever awoke her malignity . But unfortunately her jests were telling ; they were

    impressed , so to speak , with that poetry of mirth which colors and makes it living , * they remained by those on whom they were flung ;

    they struck and could not be turned aside ; and so it was that Madame de Clairange passed for an ill-natured "woman , whom people were

    wise to fear . Ah ! in truth , it was well to fear and to fly her , if people lived on wickedness or boasted of vice .

    " Valentine fretted at this injustice shown by the world to her motherand still more at the reputation of angelic kindness with

    , which this same world , always dupe and lover of mediocrity , endowed the second Madame de Clairange ( her _steiDmother ) . How

    often Valentine compared this artificial and sterile kindness with the noble and sincere generosity of her mother ; with that devotion

    without bounds , that enlightened zeal of lively friendship which is not hindered in its impulses by the fear of injuring itself or

    displeasing another . Valentine recalled to herself with what warmth her mother was accustomed to show off to advantage the wit and

    the good qualities of her friends ; how eagerly she sought to serve them ; how many aged relatives were supported by her generosity ;

    how many misfortunes she had prevented by her kindly skill ; how many families she had reconciled ; how many enemies she had

    brought together ; what efficacious counsels she had given against her own interest ; how many women whom suspicion had blasted

    had been restored to their position and fair repute through her exertions ; how many children cast aside by their parents for whose

    career she had cared ; and talents long buried in the shade , which now owed their prominence to her praises . Valentine remembered

    also how well this woman , herself so gay , knew where to find words of consolation for the griefs of others ; and she asked herself if such

    active kindness , guided by such delicate insight , this generosity of a lifetime , was not worth more than the studied benevolence of her

    stepmother , her useless and tiresome condolences , and the indifferent food which she sent on certain fixed days to a few unknown ' poor people . '"

    Something in this portrait of Valentine's mother gives the reader an impression that Madame de Girardin was somewhat bitterly ,

    though almost unconsciously , pleading her own cause against gossiping enemies ; that the second Madame de Clairange stands for

    some mediocrity of the salons who had gained a cheap reputation

    hy treading in a track which all the world could , follow , while

    80 Madame De Girardin.

    80 MADAME DE GIRARDIN .

• Citation
  • English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Oct. 1, 1860, page 80, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01101860/page/8/