Their reading, selected from authorized books, such as the "Lettres Edifiantes," and Noel's "Lecons de Litterature," was done aloud in the evening; but always in presence of their mother's confessor, for even in those books there did sometimes occur passages which, without wise comments, might have roused their imagination.

Fenelon's "Telemaque" was thought dangerous.
The Comtesse de Granville loved her daughters sufficiently to wish to make them angels after the pattern of Marie Alacoque, but the poor girls themselves would have preferred a less virtuous and more amiable mother.
This education bore its natural fruits.

Religion, imposed as a yoke and presented under its sternest aspect, wearied with formal practice these innocent young hearts, treated as sinful.

It repressed their feelings, and was never precious to them, although it struck its roots deep down into their natures.

Under such training the two Maries would either have become mere imbeciles, or they must necessarily have longed for independence.