worthy of her. Confiding in her courage, and the nobleness of her
character, proud of the example that she wished to give to other women,
knowing that all eyes would be fixed enviously upon her, she felt, as it
were, only too sure of herself; far from fearing that she should make a
bad choice, she rather feared, that she should not find any from whom to
choose, so pure and perfect was her taste. And, even had she met with her
own ideal, she had views so singular and so just, so extraordinary and
yet so sensible, with regard to the independence and dignity of woman,
that, inexorably determined to make no concession upon this head, she
asked herself if the man of her choice would ever accept the hitherto
unheard-of conditions that she meant to impose. In recalling to her
remembrance the possible suitors that she had met in the world, she
remembered also the dark, but true picture, which Rodin had drawn with so
much caustic bitterness. She remembered, too, not without a certain
pride, the encouragement this man had given her, not by flattery, but by
advising her to follow out and accomplish a great, generous, and
beautiful design. The current or the caprice of fancy soon brought
Adrienne to think of Djalma. Whilst she congratulated herself on having
paid to her royal kinsman the duties of a kingly hospitality, the young
lady was far from regarding the prince as the hero of her future.

And first she said to herself, not unreasonably, that this half-savage
boy, with passions, if not untamable, yet untamed, transported on a
sudden into the midst of a refined civilization, would be inevitably
destined to fiery trials and violent transformations. Now Mdlle. de
Cardoville, having nothing masculine or despotic in her character, had no
wish to civilize the young savage. Therefore, notwithstanding the
interest, or rather because of the interest, which she felt for the young
Indian, she was firmly resolved, not to make herself known to him, till
after the lapse of two or three months; and she determined also, that,