of Ninon's son a similar tinge, his self-immolation being due, not to
the horror of having indulged in criminal love for his own mother, but
to the regret at not having been able to accomplish his purpose.




CHAPTER XV

Her Bohemian Environments


The daily and nightly doings at Ninon's house in the Rue des
Tournelles, if there is anything of a similar character in modern
society that can be compared to them, might be faintly represented by
our Bohemian circles, where good cheer, good fellowship, and freedom
from restraint are supposed to reign. There are, indeed, numerous
clubs at the present day styled "Bohemian," but except so far as the
tendency to relaxation appears upon the surface, they possess very few
of the characteristics of that society of "Birds" that assembled
around Mademoiselle de l'Enclos. They put aside all conventional
restraint, and the mental metal of those choice spirits clashed and
evolved brilliant sparks, bright rays of light, the luster of which
still glitters after a lapse of more than two centuries.

Personally, Ninon was an enemy of pedantry in every form, demanding of
her followers originality at all times on penalty of banishment from
her circle. The great writer, Mynard, once related with tears in his
eyes that his daughter, who afterward became the Countess de
Feuquières, had no memory. Whereat Ninon laughed him out of his