“I give you back the wedding ring.”––Page 400.
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Copyright, 1899, by Rand, McNally & Co.
All rights reserved.
Entered at Stationers’ Hall, London.
THE BONDWOMAN
Near Moret, in France, where the Seine is formed andflows northward, there lives an old lady named MadameBlanc, who can tell much of the history written here––thoughit be a history belonging more to American livesthan French. She was of the Caron establishment whenJudithe first came into the family, and has charge of a homefor aged ladies of education and refinement whose meanswill not allow of them providing for themselves. It is amemorial founded by her adopted daughter and is knownas the Levigne Pension. The property on which it is establishedis the little Levigne estate––the one forming theonly dowery of Judithe Levigne when she married PhilipAlain––Marquis de Caron.
There is also a bright-eyed, still handsome woman of matureyears, who lives in our South and has charge of anothermemorial––or had until recently––a private industrial schoolfor girls of her own selection. She calls herself a creole ofSan Domingo, and she also calls herself Madame Trouvelot––shehas been married twice since she was first known bythat name, for she was never the woman to live alone––notshe; but while the men in themselves suited her, theirnames were uncompromisingly plain––did not attract herat all. She married them, proved a very good wife, but whileone was named Johnson, and another Tuttle, the good wife2persisted in being called Madame Trouvelot, either throughsentiment or a bit of irony towards the owner of that name.But, despite her vanities, her coquetries, and certain erraticphases of her life, she was absolutely faithful to the trustreposed in her by the Marquise; and who so capable as herselfof finding the poor girls who stood most in need of trainingand the shelter of charity? She, also, could add to thishistory of the woman belonging both to the old world andthe new. There are also official records in