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LOUISE DE CHAULIEU TO RENEE DE MAUCOMBE

WHAT!

To be married so soon But this is unheard of At the end of a

er to you, and about

who The man may be deaf--there are so many kinds of

deafness!--he may be sickly, tiresome, insufferable!

Don't you see, Renee, what they ith you? You are needful for

carrying on the glorious stock of the l'Estorades, that is all You

will be buried in the provinces Are these the promises we made each

other? Were I you, I would sooner set off to the Hyeres islands in a

caique, on the chance of being captured by an Algerian corsair and

sold to the Grand Turk Then I should be a Sultana some day, and

wouldn't I --yes, and

afterwards too!

You are leaving one convent to enter another I know you; you are a

coward, and you will submit to the yoke of family life with a lamblike

docility But I am here to direct you; you must come to Paris There

we shall drive the men wild and hold a court like queens Your