Scarcely had Madame de l'Enclos closed her eyes upon the things of earth, than Ninon conceived the project of withdrawing from the world and entering a convent. The absence of her father left her absolute mistress of her conduct, and the few friends who reached her, despite her express refusal to see any one, could not persuade her to alter her determination. Ninon, heart broken, distracted and desolate, threw herself bodily into an obscure convent in the suburbs of Paris, accepting it, in the throes of her sorrow, as her only refuge and home on earth. Saint-Evremond, in a letter to the Duke d'Olonne, speaks of the sentiment which is incentive to piety: "There are some whom misfortunes have rendered devout through a certain kind of pity for themselves, a secret piety, strong enough to dispose men to lead more religious lives." Scarron, one of Ninon's closest friends, in his Epistle to Sarrazin, thus alludes to this conventual escapade: "Puis j'aurais su * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Ce que l'on dit du bel et saint exemple Que la Ninon donne à tous les mondains, En se logeant avecque les nonais, Combien de pleurs la pauvre jouvencelle A répandus quand sa mère, sans elle, Cierges brûlants et portant écussons, Prêtres chantant leurs funèbres chanson, Voulut aller de linge enveloppée Servir aux vers d'une franche lippée." Which, translated into reasonable English, is as much as saying: But I might have known * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * What they say of the example, so holy, so pure, That Ninon gives to worldlings all, By dwelling within a nunnery's wall. How many tears the poor lorn maid Shed, when her mother, alone, unafraid, Mid flaming tapers with coats of arms, Priests chanting their sad funereal alarms, Went down to the tomb in her winding sheet To serve for the worms a mouthful sweet. But the most poignant sorrow of the human heart is assuaged by time. Saint-Evremond and Marion de Lormes, Richelieu's "belle amie," expected to profit by the calm which they knew would not be long in stealing over the heart of their friend. Marion, however, despaired of succeeding through her own personal influence, and enlisted the sympathies of Saint-Evremond, who knew Ninon's heart too well to imagine for a moment that the mournful, monotonous life she had embraced would satisfy her very long. It was something to be admitted to her presence and talk over matters, a privilege they were accorded after some demur. The first step toward ransoming their friend was followed by others until they finally made great strides through her resolution. They brought her back in triumph to the world she had quitted through a species of "frivolity," so they called it, of which she was never again guilty as long as she lived.