Ninon was afterward called “La belle gardeuse de cassette,” and Voltaire, whose vigilance no anecdote of this nature could escape, has made it, with some variations, the subject of a comedy, well known to every admirer of the French drama, under the name of “La Depositaire.”

Ninon had her preferences, and when one of her admirers was not to her taste, neither prayers nor entreaties could move her.  Hers was not a case of vendible charms, it was le bon appetit merely, an Epicurean virtue.  The Grand Prior of Vendome had reason to comprehend this trait in her character.

The worthy Grand Prior was an impetuous wooer, and he saw with great sorrow that Ninon preferred the Counts de Miossens and de Palluan to his clerical attractions.  He complained bitterly to Ninon, but instead of being softened by his reproaches, she listened to the voice of some new rival when the Grand Prior thought his turn came next.  This put him in a great rage and he resolved to be revenged, and this is the way he fancied he could obtain it.  One day shortly after he had left Ninon’s house, she noticed on her dressing table a letter, which she opened to find the following effusion: 

“Indigne de mes feux, indigne de mes larmes,
Je renonce sans peine a tes faibles appas;
  Mon amour te pretait des charmes,
  Ingrate, que tu n’avais pas.”

Or, as might be said substantially in English: 

Unworthy my flame, unworthy a tear,
I rejoice to renounce thy feeble allure;
  My love lent thee charms that endear,
  Which, ingrate, thou couldst not procure.

Instead of being offended, Ninon took this mark of unreasonable spite good naturedly, and replied by another quatrain based upon the same rhyme as that of the disappointed suitor: 

“Insensible a tes feux, insensible a tes larmes,
Je te vois renoncer a mes faibles appas;
  Mais si l’amour prete des charmes,
  Pourquoi n’en empruntais-tu pas.”

Which is as much as to say in English: 

Caring naught for thy flame, caring naught for thy tear,
I see thee renounce my feeble allure;
  But if love lends charms that endear,
  By borrowing thou mightst some procure.

CHAPTER VII

Effect of Her Mother’s Death

It is not to be wondered at that a girl under such tutelage should abandon herself wholly, both mind and body, to a philosophy so contrary in its principles and practices to that which her mother had always endeavored to instill into her young mind.  The father was absent fighting for Heaven alone knew which faction into which France was broken up, there were so many of them, and the mother and daughter lived apart, the disparity in their sentiments making it impossible for them to do otherwise.  For this reason, Ninon was practically her own mistress, and not interfered with because the husband and wife could not agree upon any definite course of life for her to follow.  Ninon’s heart, however, had not lost any of its natural instincts, and she loved her mother sincerely, a trait in her which all Paris learned with astonishment when her mother was taken down with what proved to be a fatal illness.