Jacqueline, vol 1 | Page 4

to sample the author's ideas before making
an entire meal of them. D.W.]

JACQUELINE
By THERESE BENTZON (MME. BLANC)
With a Preface by M. THUREAU-DANGIN, of the French Academy

TH. BENTZON
It is natural that the attention and affection of Americans should be
attracted to a woman who has devoted herself assiduously to
understanding and to making known the aspirations of our country,
especially in introducing the labors and achievements of our women to
their sisters in France, of whom we also have much to learn; for simple,
homely virtues and the charm of womanliness may still be studied with
advantage on the cherished soil of France.
Marie-Therese Blanc, nee Solms--for this is the name of the author who
writes under the nom de plume of Madame Bentzon--is considered the
greatest of living French female novelists. She was born in an old
French chateau at Seine-Porte (Seine et Oise), September 21, 1840.
This chateau was owned by Madame Bentzon's grandmother, the
Marquise de Vitry, who was a woman of great force and energy of
character, "a ministering angel" to her country neighborhood. Her
grandmother's first marriage was to a Dane, Major-General
Adrien-Benjamin de Bentzon, a Governor of the Danish Antilles. By
this marriage there was one daughter, the mother of Therese, who in
turn married the Comte de Solms. "This mixture of races," Madame
Blanc once wrote, "surely explains a kind of moral and intellectual
cosmopolitanism which is found in my nature. My father of German
descent, my mother of Danish--my nom de plume (which was her
maiden-name) is Danish--with Protestant ancestors on her side, though
she and I were Catholics--my grandmother a sound and witty Parisian,
gay, brilliant, lively, with superb physical health and the consequent
good spirits--surely these materials could not have produced other than
a cosmopolitan being."
Somehow or other, the family became impoverished. Therese de Solms
took to writing stories. After many refusals, her debut took place in the
'Revue des Deux Mondes', and her perseverance was largely due to the
encouragement she received from George Sand, although that great
woman saw everything through the magnifying glass of her genius. But
the person to whom Therese Bentzon was most indebted in the matter
of literary advice--she says herself--was the late M. Caro, the famous
Sorbonne professor of philosophy, himself an admirable writer, "who
put me through a course of literature, acting as my guide through a vast
amount of solid reading, and criticizing my work with kindly severity."

Success was slow. Strange as it may seem, there is a prejudice against
female writers in France, a country that has produced so many
admirable women-authors. However, the time was to come when M.
Becloz found one of her stories in the 'Journal des Debats'. It was the
one entitled 'Un Divorce', and he lost no time in engaging the young
writer to become one of his staff. From that day to this she has found
the pages of the Revue always open to her.
Madame Bentzon is a novelist, translator, and writer of literary essays.
The list of her works runs as follows: 'Le Roman d'un Muet (1868); Un
Divorce (1872); La Grande Sauliere (1877); Un remords (1878); Yette
and Georgette (1880); Le Retour (1882); Tete folle (1883); Tony,
(1884); Emancipee (1887); Constance (1891); Jacqueline (1893). We
need not enter into the merits of style and composition if we mention
that 'Un remords, Tony, and Constance' were crowned by the French
Academy, and 'Jacqueline' in 1893. Madame Bentzon is likewise the
translator of Aldrich, Bret Harte, Dickens, and Ouida. Some of her
critical works are 'Litterature et Moeurs etrangeres', 1882, and
'Nouveaux romanciers americains', 1885.
M. THUREAU-DANGIN de l'Academie Francaise.

BOOK 1.
JACQUELINE

CHAPTER I
A PARISIENNE'S "AT HOME"
Despite a short frock, checked stockings, wide turned-over collar, and a
loose sash around the waist of her blouse in other words, despite the
childish fashion of a dress which seemed to denote that she was not
more than thirteen or fourteen years of age, she seemed much older. An
observer would have put her down as the oldest of the young girls who
on Tuesdays, at Madame de Nailles's afternoons, filled what was called
"the young girls' corner" with whispered merriment and low laughter,
while, under pretence of drinking tea, the noise went on which is
always audible when there is anything to eat.

No doubt the amber tint of this young girl's complexion, the raven
blackness of her hair, her marked yet delicate features, and the general
impression produced by her dark coloring, were reasons why she
seemed older than the rest. It was Jacqueline's privilege to exhibit that
style of beauty which comes earliest to perfection, and retains it longest;
and, what was an equal privilege, she resembled no one.
The deep bow-window--her favorite spot--which