Ninon was pleased with the amiable companion of her old friend.  Her figure, her mental attainments, and her talents enchanted her, and Desyvetaux, who appeared in a ridiculous light when she first saw him in his masquerade, now seemed to her to be on the road to happiness.  She made no attempt to persuade him to return to his former mode of life, which she could not avoid at this moment, however, as considering more agreeable than the new one he had adopted.  But what could she offer in the way of superior seductive pleasures to a pair who had tasted pure and natural enjoyments?  The vain amusements and allurements of the world have no sympathy with anything but dissipation, in which, the mind, yielding to the fleeting seductions of art, leaves the heart empty as soon as the illusion disappears.

The strange conduct of Desyvetaux gave birth to numerous reflections of this nature in Ninon’s mind, but she did not cease to be his friend, on the contrary, she entered into the spirit of his simple life and visited him from time to time to enjoy the spectacle of such a tender masquerade which Desyvetaux continued up to the time of his death.  It gave Mademoiselle Dupuis nearly as much celebrity as her lover attained, for when the end came, she obeyed his desire to play a favorite dance on her harp, to enable his soul to take flight in the midst of its delicious harmony.  It should be mentioned, that Desyvetaux wore in his hat as long as he lived, a yellow ribbon, “out of love for the gentle Ninon who gave it to me.”

Socrates advises persons of means to imitate the swans, which, realizing the benefit of an approaching death, sing while in their death agony.  The Abbe Brantome relates an interesting story of the death of Mademoiselle de Lineul, the elder, one of the queen’s daughters, which resembles that of Desyvetaux.

“When the hour of her death had arrived,” says Brantome, “Mademoiselle sent for her valet, Julian, who could play the violin to perfection.  ‘Julian,’ quoth she, ’take your violin and play on it until you see me dead—­for I am going—­the Defeat of the Swiss, and play it as well as you know how; and when you shall reach the words “tout est perdu,” play it over four or five times as piteously as you can:’  which the other did.  And when he came to ‘tout est perdu’ she sang it over twice; then turning to the other side of the couch, she said to those who stood around:  ‘Tout est perdu a ce coup et a bon escient;’ all is lost this time, sure.’”

CHAPTER X

Some of Ninon’s Lovers

Notwithstanding her love of pleasure, and her admiration for the society of men, Ninon was never vulgar or common in the distribution of her favors, but selected those upon whom she decided to bestow them, with the greatest care and discrimination.  As has been already said, she discovered in early life, that women were at a discount, and she resolved to pursue the methods of men in the acceptance or rejection of friendship, and in distributing her favors and influences.  As she herself declared: