On the first day of May, Madame de Clinville, the widow of a Notary¹ of Paris, conducted her daughter, fourteen years of age, to the delightful² garden of the Tuileries, there to breathe the pure air of spring and the sweet perfumes from its flowers. In passing through the walks leading to the royal palace, the young lady's attention was attracted by one of the shops, supplied with the choicest and most rare fruits; among which was a bunch of cherries, arranged with so much taste, and so prettily³ intermixed with fresh green leaves, that she could not forbear expressing to her mother her anxious desire to have those cherries, notwithstanding she could foresee at that season they must be extravagantly⁴ dear. Madame de Clinville, who never denied her daughter anything, and who was in general very plain and moderate in her inclinations⁵, purchased the bunch of cherries, although dear, and proceeded with her dear Emmelina—her daughter's name—to the Tuileries.

Having surveyed the beautiful walks of this truly enchanted⁶ place, they seated themselves on chairs under[Pg 243] the shade of a large chestnut⁷ tree. It was scarcely ten o'clock in the morning, the hour most agreeable for walking, and frequently the most retired⁸, as the fashionables of Paris seldom make their appearance before three or four o'clock, and in a déshabille that bespeaks⁹ them just arisen from their beds, as if to behold¹⁰ the sun for the first time. As such, Madame de Clinville and her daughter met with very little company.

The only object that struck their attention was a lady with the

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