By a curious contradiction, the more the princess Julie's love increased in her heart, the more she shunned all occasions, not only of meeting, but of making the acquaintance of M. de Létorière. After two years' connection with the court, the favor and success of the Marquis were at their highest. A thousand gallantries were imputed to him. Strange as it may seem, the jealousy of Mlle. de Soissons was not excited. The chaste and proud passion of this young girl gave her courage to view with pity the ephemeral and foolish loves which were attributed to the Marquis. She felt so sure, so worthy of being passionately adored, of being preferred to all when she revealed herself to him, that she remained for a long time almost heedless of the numerous flirtations of Létorière. The princess Julie wished to watch him whom she loved, in order to judge if he were worthy of her. . . . She readily perceived that these successes were the natural result of the rare attractions with which he was endowed. But she wished to know if his heart remained noble and generous amid such intoxicating circumstances. In a question of lofty sentiments no proofs are trifling; the daily walk is in such cases more trustworthy, perhaps, than great bursts of devotion; the former is the habit, the latter the accidents, of life. Thus three poor and obscure persons had rendered important services to Létorière during his adversity,--Dominique, the tailor, and his wife. With keen delight, Mlle. de Soissons learned from Martha that the Marquis continued to keep Dominique near him, and that he always treated him with deferential affection. Very often Létorière recounted, with manifestations of profound gratitude, the obligations he was under to these excellent people. A man of his age, whom the most unbounded prosperity and the most brilliant success did not blind, who remained simple, good, and emphatically grateful to such obscure benefactors, ought to be esteemed a man of noble heart. The project of Mlle. de Soissons was irrevocably resolved upon. She would freely, boldly, offer her hand to him whom she found so worthy. No objection of birth or fortune could change her resolution. She was an orphan, and felt herself free to choose a husband. Profoundly indifferent to all the reasons which her aunt daily brought to prove to her that she, a princess of a royal house, ought to make certain alliances, the princess Julie replied distinctly, that though she saw no need of quoting example, Mlle. de Montpensier married M. de Lanzun. . . . As to herself, she would marry an artizan, without scruple, if an artizan seemed to her to deserve her love. Madame Rohan-Soubise, utterly ignorant of her niece's secret, treated these ideas as phantasies, foolish reveries, encouraged by the romances of Rousseau. Mlle. de Soissons answered nothing, but secretly followed her plan with incredible pertinacity.