"Les femmes ont permission d'être faibles, et elles se servent sans
scrupule de ce privilège."




CHAPTER IX

Ninon's Friendships


Mademoiselle de l'Enclos never forgot a friend in a lover, indeed, the
trait that stands out clear and strong in her character, is her whole
hearted friendship for the men she loved, and she bestowed it upon
them as long as they lived, for she outlived nearly all of them, and
cherished their memories afterward. As has been said, Ninon de
l'Enclos was Epicurean in the strictest sense, and did not rest her
entire happiness on love alone, but included a friendship which went
to the extent of making sacrifices. The men with whom she came in
contact from time to time during her long life, were nothing to her
from a pecuniary point of view, for she possessed an income
sufficiently large to satisfy her wants and to maintain the social
establishment she never neglected.

There was never, either directly or indirectly, any money
consideration asked or expected in payment of her favors, and the man
who would have dared offer her money as a consideration for anything,
would have met with scorn and contempt and been expelled from her
house and society without ever being permitted to regain either. The
natural wants of her heart and mind, and what she was pleased to call