Champlain left no posterity. His wife spent only four years in Canada, after which she resided continually in Paris. During her residence in New France, she studied the Algonquin language, and instructed the young Indians in catechism, and in this manner she won the friendship of the native tribes. It was the fashion of the time for a lady of quality to wear at her girdle a small mirror, and the youthful Helene observed the custom. The savages, who were delighted to be in her company, were oft time astonished to see their own image reflected on the crystalline surface of this mirror, and said, with their native simplicity: "A lady so handsome, who cures our diseases, and loves us to so great an extent as to bear our image near her breast, must be superior to a human being." They, therefore, had a kind of veneration for her, and they would have offered their homage to her instead of to the Deity of whom they had only an imperfect knowledge. The Indians were Madame Champlain's special care, but she was respected by the French as well. We do not know very much about her social intercourse with the different families of Quebec, but it is not probable that she ignored Madame Hebert or her family, as Faillon seems to believe. Her own distinction and the position of her husband would, no doubt, render her particular in the choice of friends, but we can scarcely believe that she would completely ignore Madame Couillard, who was of her own age. How was it that she consented to live alone in Quebec during the long absence of her husband? After her return to Paris in 1624, Madame Champlain lived alone, and became more and more detached from the world, till she asked her husband to allow her to enter an Ursuline convent. Champlain, fearing that this desire might arise rather from caprice than a vocation for the life of the cloister, thought it advisable to refuse her request, and he bade her a last adieu in 1633. After Champlain's death, Father Le Jeune informed her that she was now free to follow the dictates of her heart.