But while Horatio was thus experiencing the vicissitudes of fortune, his
beautiful sister suffered little less from the caprice of that fickle
goddess. Placed as she was, one would have thought she had been secure
from all the temptations, hurries, and dangers of the world, and that
nothing but the death or inconstancy of monsieur du Plessis could have
again involved her in them. These, indeed, were the sole evils she
trembled at, and which she chiefly prayed might not befal her. Yet as it
often happens that those disasters which seem most remote are nearest to
us, so did the disappointments she was ordained to suffer, rise from a
quarter she had the least reason to apprehend.

The abbess and nuns, with whom she was, being all Italians, she set
herself to attain to the knowledge of their language, in which she soon
became a very great proficient, and capable of entertaining them, and
being entertained by them in the most agreeable manner.--The sweetness
of her temper, as well as her good sense, rendering her always ambitious
of acquiring the affection of those she converted with, she had the
secret to ingratiate herself not only to the youngest nuns, but also to
the elder and most austere, that the one were never pleased but when in
her company, and the others propose her as an example of piety and
sweetness to the rest.

She had a very pretty genius to poetry, and great skill in music, both
which talents she now exercised in such works as suited the place and
company she was in.--The hymns and anthems she composed were not only
the admiration of that convent, but also of several others to whom they
were shown, and she was spoke of as a prodigy of wit and devotion.

In fine, her behavior rendered her extremely dear to the superior; and
that affection joined to a spiritual pride, which those sanctified