20 THE FLOWERS

the odour of sanctity on our little assemblies,
and for some years I had no strong reason to
perceive that the weapons of warfare which I
had placed in the hands of my little pupils,
were not sufficiently powerful to enable them
to resist the snares of Satan and the dangers
of the world. For, as I remarked above,
whilst Madame Bulé alone presided over her
school, and whilst her pupils were small, the
ill effects of the heartless and formal system
inculcated by me did not appear; neither
did the evil break out till the general agita-
tion of the country was in some degree ex-
tended to this little society, by the arrival of
Mademoiselle Victoire, who, according to the
prevailing spirit of the age, no sooner found
herself established in the seminary, than she
took the lead, before her superior, and com-
menced that work of disorganization which
was already advancing in the capital.

At the time of which I am about to speak,
namely, the year 1789, there were in Ma-
dame Bulé’s seminary, three young ladies,
whom I shall have particular occasion to
mention by-and-by, and shall therefore pro-
ceed to describe in this place. The eldest of