And yet, though all these circumstances make the spinsterhood of this old maid an extraordinary thing, it is not difficult to explain how and why, in spite of her fortune and her three lovers, she was still unmarried.

In the first place, Mademoiselle Cormon, following the custom and rule of her house, had always desired to marry a nobleman; but from 1788 to 1798 public circumstances were very unfavorable to such pretensions.

Though she wanted to be a woman of condition, as the saying is, she was horribly afraid of the Revolutionary tribunal.

The two sentiments, equal in force, kept her stationary by a law as true in ethics as it is in statics.

This state of uncertain expectation is pleasing to unmarried women as long as they feel themselves young, and in a position to choose a husband.