We could not draw a picture more
interesting or strange than those two sweet maidens in their disguise.
We see them in the salons of the wealthy, in the clubs of the
politicians, and at the billiard-tables of giddy youth who little dream
of the intrusion, which, if they understood, would make them more happy.
We fancy we see those youths, so polished, so gay, and withal so
handsome, the idols of the society they move in; we hear compliments
about those delicate hands, those small feet, those charming eyes.
Our sympathy would chronicle the end fate of many an unsuspecting
maiden who loved and pined in the dream of secret love towards the
young officers that had crossed their path, whilst they revelled in
cruel delight in their triumph over their own frail, tender-hearted
sex. Our tale might unravel the plottings of hopeful mothers who
vainly plied the utmost worldly ingenuity to gain for their daughters
already passed the meridian of youth such promising and charming
husbands. What skill it would demand to describe the chagrin of those
old and young ladies, if they discovered the fraud which so heartlessly
trifled with the sacred feeling of love!
We will not tarry over imaginary incidents whilst terrible and
thrilling scenes are before us. The record of those extraordinary
maidens is only now commending in all its romantic attraction. It is
not the vicissitudes of an erring life that inspire our pen in this
brief sketch, but the merciful designs of Providence in following and
wresting from perdition a noble soul, endeared to heaven by the
prayers of a repentant mother, by the sighs of a saintly religious,
and by its own love for the immaculate Queen of Heaven.
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