صفحة 264 من 1118

The abbess and nuns, rejoicing at the acquisition of such

powerful friendship, received with great gratitude the honour

conferred in preference on them, and entered with avidity into

the views of the prince; Gertrude experienced all sorts of

favours and indulgences, and, child as she was, the respectful

attention of the nuns towards her was exercised with the same

deference as if she had been the abbess herself! Not that they

were all pledged to draw the poor child into the snare; many

acted with simplicity, and through tenderness, merely following

the example of those around them; if the suspicions of others

were excited, they kept silence, so as not to cause useless

disturbance; some, indeed, more discriminating and compassionate,

pitied the poor child as being the object of artifices, to the

like of which they themselves had been the victims.