Page 840 - les-miserables

the closet.’ That was one of their greatest luxuries.
Once—it was at the epoch of the visit from the archbish-
op to the convent— one of the young girls, Mademoiselle
Bouchard, who was connected with the Montmorency
family, laid a wager that she would ask for a day’s leave of
absence—an enormity in so austere a community. The wa-
ger was accepted, but not one of those who bet believed that
she would do it. When the moment came, as the archbishop
was passing in front of the pupils, Mademoiselle Bouchard,
to the indescribable terror of her companions, stepped out
of the ranks, and said, ‘Monseigneur, a day’s leave of ab-
sence.’ Mademoiselle Bouchard was tall, blooming, with the
prettiest little rosy face in the world. M. de Quelen smiled
and said, ‘What, my dear child, a day’s leave of absence!
Three days if you like. I grant you three days.’ The prioress
could do nothing; the archbishop had spoken. Horror of the
convent, but joy of the pupil. The effect may be imagined.
This stern cloister was not so well walled off, however,
but that the life of the passions of the outside world, drama,
and even romance, did not make their way in. To prove this,
we will confine ourselves to recording here and to briefly
mentioning a real and incontestable fact, which, however,
bears no reference in itself to, and is not connected by any
thread whatever with the story which we are relating. We
mention the fact for the sake of completing the physiogno-
my of the convent in the reader’s mind.
About this time there was in the convent a mysteri-
ous person who was not a nun, who was treated with great
respect, and who was addressed as Madame Albertine.

840 Les Miserables