842 Les Miserables
and services. That day, as soon as she caught sight of M. de
Rohan, she half rose, and said, in a loud voice, amid the si-
lence of the chapel, ‘Ah! Auguste!’ The whole community
turned their heads in amazement, the preacher raised his
eyes, but Madame Albertine had relapsed into her immobil-
ity. A breath from the outer world, a flash of life, had passed
for an instant across that cold and lifeless face and had then
vanished, and the mad woman had become a corpse again.
Those two words, however, had set every one in the con-
vent who had the privilege of speech to chattering. How
many things were contained in that ‘Ah! Auguste!’ what
revelations! M. de Rohan’s name really was Auguste. It was
evident that Madame Albertine belonged to the very high-
est society, since she knew M. de Rohan, and that her own
rank there was of the highest, since she spoke thus famil-
iarly of so great a lord, and that there existed between them
some connection, of relationship, perhaps, but a very close
one in any case, since she knew his ‘pet name.’
Two very severe duchesses, Mesdames de Choiseul
and de Serent, often visited the community, whither they
penetrated, no doubt, in virtue of the privilege Magnates
mulieres, and caused great consternation in the boarding-
school. When these two old ladies passed by, all the poor
young girls trembled and dropped their eyes.
Moreover, M. de Rohan, quite unknown to himself, was
an object of attention to the school-girls. At that epoch he
had just been made, while waiting for the episcopate, vicar-
general of the Archbishop of Paris. It was one of his habits to
come tolerably often to celebrate the offices in the chapel of