Page:Madame Rolland (Blind 1886).djvu/23

Rh marked by the beginning of an intimacy which never knew break or interruption for thirteen years; and to the correspondence which it elicited we owe the knowledge of Madame Roland's daily thoughts, habits and surroundings while she still lived in the peaceful obscurity of private life.

In the summer months of 1765 some new boarders, young ladies from Amiens, were expected at the convent. Great excitement in consequence among the pupils pending their arrival! At last the strangers made their appearance, and happened at supper to be seated at the same table with Manon Phlipon. They were Henriette and Sophie Cannet. The eldest was a well-grown girl of eighteen, whose countenance indicated a mixture of sensitiveness, pride, and discontent. The fact being, that, as she was of a very joyous and lively disposition, she did not relish being sent back to convent life in order to mitigate her sister's grief at leaving home. Sophie seemed of a much more equable temper, though her charming countenance was just then stained with tears. She was a gentle, demure, affectionate young damsel of fourteen, with a prematurely reflective turn of mind. Manon was taken at first sight by her young neighbour, though she could see her but indistinctly, her face being covered by a veil of white gauze. They soon became inseparable. They worked, read, walked together, and, being both in a deeply religious frame of mind, enjoyed the closest community of sentiment. In the fresh delight of uttering their thoughts for the first time, they often sauntered arm-in-arm down the fragrant avenues of old lime-trees, and the year which they thus passed together remained one of the most pleasant memories of their lives.