What afflicted her most daring this ordeal was not the fear of hell, to which she believed herself condemned; no, it was lest she should be reduced to the horrible alternative of hating God, whom she wished to love in _time_, if she could not in _eternity_. Humility was another of her characteristic virtues, for, after she had solidly established her institute, and formed the Sisters in her spirit, her chief desire was to be exempted from all honorable functions in the community, to become the last and least in the holy obedience. They complied reluctantly with her desires in such matters during the remaining years of her saintly life, but all respected her, and remembered with gratitude how much they owed her. She herself recalled only her sins and infidelities. Such shining virtues were the result of her extraordinary devotion to the Mother of God, to whose service she had consecrated herself from childhood, and to whose glorified earthly actions she had united her own. Believing that Magdalen and Martha were the great models of religious life, she regarded Mary Immaculate as _their Mistress_, and loved to represent her instructing young virgins, and assisting to form the Church of Jesus Christ. She came to Canada for the express purpose of living in a city named after Mary--Ville-Marie. She called her Congregation Notre Dame--Our Lady--and wished that everything connected with it should bear the name of _Mary_. But the Queen of Heaven did not allow herself to be outdone in generosity. The statue shone with celestial light before the eyes of young Margaret at Troyes. On the Feast of the Assumption this privileged soul saw in the Holy Host an infant a thousand times more beautiful than the children of men, looking love into her eyes. In a dream she saw as distinctly as in life one of Mary's most devoted clients, M. de Maisonneuve, and finally the Blessed Virgin assured her _personally_ of protection by the solemn words, "Go to Canada. I will never abandon you." If charity is the queen of virtues, Sister Bourgeois practised it to heroism. In girlhood she courageously put on her father's burial-shroud with her own hands, which charitable office for the poor became afterward a favorite duty of her life. Being informed that a few reckless libertines were leading off a young girl to make her the victim of their debaucheries, she followed them with a crucifix in her hands, and despite their menaces to kill her, heroically snatched from them their prey. A soldier once being benumbed with cold, she gave him her only mattress; another received her bed, and two other unfortunates her comforters, her own couch in consequence being the cold ground. A Sister having fallen into her agony, the holy Foundress, who was far advanced in years, cried out to God: "Take _me_, O Lord, I am old and _useless_. This young Sister may yet render you great service." The noble sacrifice was accepted, the Sister in her agony recovering,