She refused every offer.
"I will not descend from the world of my noble chimeras," she replied to the incessant remonstrances of her father; "what I want is not a position but a mind.

I will die single rather than prostitute my own mind in an union with a being with whom I have no sympathies." Deprived of her mother by an early death, alone in the house of a father where disorder was the consequence of a second _amour_, melancholy gained possession of her mind, though it did not overcome it.

She became more collected and reserved, in order to strengthen her feelings against isolation and misfortune.

The perusal of the _Heloise_ of Rousseau, which was lent to her about that time, made on her heart the same impression that Plutarch had made on her mind.

Plutarch had shown her liberty; Rousseau made her dream of happiness: the one fortified, the other weakened her.