MEMORIES OF MY LIFE [Illustration: SARAH BERNHARDT AS _GISMONDA_, FROM A PAINTING BY CHARTRAN.] MEMORIES OF MY LIFE _Being my Personal, Professional, and Social Recollections as Woman and Artist_ _By_ SARAH BERNHARDT [Illustration] D. APPLETON AND COMPANY NEW YORK MCMVII COPYRIGHT, 1907, BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY _Published October, 1907_ CONTENTS CHAPTER I MY AUNTS PAGE My mother and her sisters—The “mask of butter”—The beauty of my mother—Away with my nurse—Life in a _concierge’s_ lodge—My aunt comes for me—An accident—I must go to school—Off for Auteuil—Mme. Fressard and her boarding school—I am left alone—Life at the _pension_—My schoolmates—Back to Aunt Rosine—My father and Rossini—My disagreeable Aunt Faure—My delightful Uncle Faure 1–16 CHAPTER II I BEGIN MY CONVENT LIFE Grandchamps Convent—My terror of the cloister—The lovely Mother Superior—The dormitory—The garden—Farewell to my father—My new schoolmates—Compulsory soup—The despised and the beloved Sister—Pets and playthings—I rescue a playmate—Preparations for the archbishop’s visit—The play in which I was not given a part—My failure as a costumer—How I got a part—Monseigneur’s arrival—The performance—The tragedy of Monseigneur Sibour—My father dies—I am baptized and confirmed 17–38 CHAPTER III A PRANK AND ITS RESULTS In the Pyrénées—Goat-herding and vacation joys—Back to the convent—The Croizettes—A soldier in the convent—How I shocked the nuns—“The Angel Raphael” and César—A night of horror—I leave the convent forever—My ambition 39–47 CHAPTER IV IN FAMILY COUNCIL ASSEMBLED A fateful day—Day-dreams and music lessons—The woes of making my toilet—The assembling of the family—The obnoxious notary—The council—My religious aspirations—My hopes are quenched—The Duc de Morny’s advice—My memory of Rachel—My fate is decided—The views of the family—I am introduced to the theater—My first play and its strange effect upon me 48–60