Her uncle, the abbe, resumed his former office of protector and counsellor. He withdrew her from the contemplation of her grief, and drew her attention to her duties, the chief and dearest of which was the education of her two children, a son and a daughter. To this object, and to rendering the life of her uncle happy, she resolved to devote herself. Of her obligations to her uncle she thus speaks in a letter written many years afterwards, on the occasion of his death: "I am plunged in sorrow: ten days ago I saw my dear uncle die; and you know what he was to his dear niece. He has conferred on me every benefit in the world, either by giving me property of his own, or preserving and augmenting that of my children. He drew me from the abyss into which M. de Sevigne's death plunged me; he gained lawsuits; he put my affairs in good order; he paid our debts; he has made the estate on which my son lives the prettiest and most agreeable in the world." Time restored to the young widow her lost gayety, and she was the delight of the circles in which she was intimate. The Hotel de Rambouillet, at Paris, where she resided, was the resort of all who were celebrated for wit or talent, and her presence was always hailed with joy. _Euphuism_ was the fashion of the day, and in this _coterie_ it had reached the highest degree of perfection. Common appellations were discarded; water became "_l'humeur celeste_," and a chaplet "_une chaine spirituelle_." The use of names was banished, and each was addressed as "ma chere" or "ma precieuse." "_Les Precieuses Ridicules_" of Moliere at length put an end to the affectation. Many of the _coterie_ were present at its first representation, and were obliged to swallow the vexation which the delight evinced by the public at seeing them held up to ridicule, could not fail to excite.