Les Miserables Volume 2 Cosette, BOOK SIXTH.--LE PETIT-PICPUS CHAPTER VII SOME SILHOUETTES OF THIS DARKNESS

Description

During the six years which separate 1819 from 1825, the prioress of the Petit-Picpus was Mademoiselle de Blemeur, whose name, in religion, was Mother Innocente. She came of the family of Marguerite de Blemeur, author of Lives of the Saints of the Order of Saint-Benoit. She had been re-elected. She was a woman about sixty years of age, short, thick, "singing like a cracked pot," says the letter which we have already quoted; an excellent woman, moreover, and the only merry one in the whole convent, and for that reason adored. She was learned, erudite, wise, competent, curiously proficient in history, crammed with Latin, stuffed with Greek, full of Hebrew, and more of a Benedictine monk than a Benedictine nun.

The sub-prioress was an old Spanish nun, Mother Cineres, who was almost blind.

The most esteemed among the vocal mothers were Mother Sainte-Honorine; the treasurer, Mother Sainte-Gertrude, the chief mistress of the novices; Mother-Saint-Ange, the assistant mistress; Mother Annonciation, the sacristan; Mother Saint-Augustin, the nurse, the only one in the convent who was malicious; then Mother Sainte-Mechtilde (Mademoiselle Gauvain), very young and with a beautiful voice; Mother des Anges (Mademoiselle Drouet), who had been in the convent of the Filles-Dieu, and in the convent du Tresor, between Gisors and Magny; Mother Saint-Joseph (Mademoiselle de Cogolludo), Mother Sainte-Adelaide (Mademoiselle d'Auverney), Mother Misericorde (Mademoiselle de Cifuentes, who could not resist austerities), Mother Compassion (Mademoiselle de la Miltiere, received at the age of sixty in defiance of the rule, and very wealthy); Mother Providence (Mademoiselle de Laudiniere), Mother Presentation (Mademoiselle de Siguenza), who was prioress in 1847; and finally, Mother Sainte-Celigne (sister of the sculptor Ceracchi), who went mad; Mother Sainte-Chantal (Mademoiselle de Suzon), who went mad.

There was also, among the prettiest of them, a charming girl of three and twenty, who was from the Isle de Bourbon, a descendant of the Chevalier Roze, whose name had been Mademoiselle Roze, and who was called Mother Assumption.

Mother Sainte-Mechtilde, intrusted with the singing and the choir, was fond of making use of the pupils in this quarter. She usually took a complete scale of them, that is to say, seven, from ten to sixteen years of age, inclusive, of assorted voices and sizes, whom she made sing standing, drawn up in a line, side by side, according to age, from the smallest to the largest. This presented to the eye, something in the nature of a reed-pipe of young girls, a sort of living Pan-pipe made of angels.

Those of the lay-sisters whom the scholars loved most were Sister Euphrasie, Sister Sainte-Marguerite, Sister Sainte-Marthe, who was in her dotage, and Sister Sainte-Michel, whose long nose made them laugh.

All these women were gentle with the children. The nuns were severe only towards themselves. No fire was lighted except in the school, and the food was choice compared to that in the convent. Moreover, they lavished a thousand cares on their scholars. Only, when a child passed near a nun and addressed her, the nun never replied.

This rule of silence had had this effect, that throughout the whole convent, speech had been withdrawn from human creatures, and bestowed on inanimate objects. Now it was the church-bell which spoke, now it was the gardener's bell. A very sonorous bell, placed beside the portress, and which was audible throughout the house, indicated by its varied peals, which formed a sort of acoustic telegraph, all the actions of material life which were to be performed, and summoned to the parlor, in case of need, such or such an inhabitant of the house. Each person and each thing had its own peal. The prioress had one and one, the sub-prioress one and two. Six-five announced lessons, so that the pupils never said "to go to lessons," but "to go to six-five." Four-four was Madame de Genlis's signal. It was very often heard. "C'est le diable a quatre,--it's the very deuce--said the uncharitable. Tennine strokes announced a great event. It was the opening of the door of seclusion, a frightful sheet of iron bristling with bolts which only turned on its hinges in the presence of the archbishop.

With the exception of the archbishop and the gardener, no man entered the convent, as we have already said. The schoolgirls saw two others: one, the chaplain, the Abbe Banes, old and ugly, whom they were permitted to contemplate in the choir, through a grating; the other the drawing-master, M. Ansiaux, whom the letter, of which we have perused a few lines, calls M. Anciot, and describes as a frightful old hunchback.

It will be seen that all these men were carefully chosen.

Such was this curious house.

Disclaimer:
Contents of this page are indexed from the Internet. All actions are under your responsability. Email us to report illegal contents or external links and we'll remove them immediately.

Please check the description for download links if any or do a search to find alternative books.

Can't Download?
Please search mirrors if you can't find download links for "Les Miserables Volume 2 Cosette, BOOK SIXTH.--LE PETIT-PICPUS CHAPTER VII SOME SILHOUETTES OF THIS DARKNESS" in "Description" and someone else may update the links. Check the comments when back to find any updates.

Search Mirrors
Maybe some mirror pages will be helpful, search this book at top of this page or click here to find more info.

1. Ebooks list page : 92
2. Les Miserables Volume 2 Cosette, BOOK SIXTH.--LE PETIT-PICPUS CHAPTER I NUMBER 62 RUE PETIT-PICPUS
3. Les Miserables Volume 2 Cosette, BOOK SIXTH.--LE PETIT-PICPUS CHAPTER XI END OF THE PETIT-PICPUS
4. Les Miserables Volume 2 Cosette, BOOK SIXTH.--LE PETIT-PICPUS CHAPTER III AUSTERITIES
5. Les Miserables Volume 2 Cosette, BOOK SIXTH.--LE PETIT-PICPUS CHAPTER IV GAYETIES
6. Les Miserables Volume 2 Cosette, BOOK SIXTH.--LE PETIT-PICPUS CHAPTER V DISTRACTIONS
7. Les Miserables Volume 2 Cosette, BOOK SIXTH.--LE PETIT-PICPUS CHAPTER VI THE LITTLE CONVENT
8. Les Miserables Volume 2 Cosette, BOOK SIXTH.--LE PETIT-PICPUS CHAPTER IX A CENTURY UNDER A GUIMPE
9. Les Miserables Volume 2 Cosette, BOOK SIXTH.--LE PETIT-PICPUS CHAPTER II THE OBEDIENCE OF MARTIN VERGA
10. Les Miserables Volume 2 Cosette, BOOK SIXTH.--LE PETIT-PICPUS CHAPTER X ORIGIN OF THE PERPETUAL ADORATION
11. Les Miserables Volume 2 Cosette, BOOK SIXTH.--LE PETIT-PICPUS CHAPTER VIII POST CORDA LAPIDES
12. Les Miserables Volume 2 Cosette, BOOK THIRD.--ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THE PROMISE MADE TO THE DEAD WOMAN CHAPTER XI NUMBER 9,430 REAPPEARS, AND COSETTE WINS IT IN THE LOTTERY
13. Les Miserables Volume 2 Cosette, BOOK THIRD.--ACCOMPLISHMENT OF THE PROMISE MADE TO THE DEAD WOMAN CHAPTER VII COSETTE SIDE BY SIDE WITH THE STRANGER IN THE DARK
14. Les Miserables Volume 2 Cosette, BOOK FIRST.--WATERLOO CHAPTER IV A
15. Les Miserables Volume 2 Cosette, BOOK FIRST.--WATERLOO CHAPTER XII THE GUARD
16. Les Miserables Volume 2 Cosette, BOOK FIRST.--WATERLOO CHAPTER IX THE UNEXPECTED