The spring had come; the expedition was ready to depart from Rochelle, but the mother of the future colony was wanting. These hardy men needed the solicitude and refining influence of a woman in their midst. The call of Jeanne Mance to fill this rôle is full of romance. This devoted lady was then about thirty-three years of age, having been born towards the year 1606 at Nogent-le-Roi, about four leagues from Langres, of one of the most honourable families of the district. She was a modest girl, of great virtue, who from an early age had taken a vow of perpetual chastity, but although she never entered the religious life, she always nevertheless remained an unmarried lay woman. Towards the middle of April of 1640 she had heard for the first time of the devotedness of Madame de la Peltrie, who had just taken the Ursulines to Quebec, and of the generosity of the Duchesse d'Aiguillon, who had founded the house for the "Hospitalières." Though of frail health, yet she had a daring spirit that dominated her soul so that a strong attraction for a like sacrifice came to her. She, too, would offer her services for Canada. Seeking advice she was told to seek Father Lalemant in Paris. Thither she went from Langres on May 30th. She saw Father Lalemant, but the future of the foundation of Montreal was then uncertain, and he was then going to Dauphigny with M. Dauversière to see M. de Lauson, as related. He could give no decided advice. [Illustration: JEANNE MANCE Administratrix of the first hospital in Montreal.] Jeanne now consulted Father de St. Jure, the rector of the novitiate of the Society of Jesus in Paris. He confirmed her in her vocation, and she now acquainted her reluctant relatives with her firm intention of going to the mission field of Canada. That winter, in Paris, she visited Père Rapin, provincial of the Recollects, who entering into her designs, introduced her to Madame de Bullion, a rich and charitable lady, the widow of Claude de Bullion, the superintendent of finance and keeper of the seals under Louis XIII. He was a rich man, very worldly, clever and courageous, but he had a good heart and had endowed a hospital for the Franciscan Cordeliers, and in which he had died on the night of December 22-23, 1640, leaving behind him four sons and one daughter. When Jeanne Mance called upon the surviving widow, a few weeks later, there was laid the foundations of a life-long friendship. At Jeanne's fourth visit, Madame de Bullion asked her if she could undertake the charge of a hospital which she had herself resolved to found in New France, when opportunity occurred.