successful efforts in instructing young girls, both secularly and
religiously, and thought it might be pleasing to God to associate with
her other pious young persons, who could easily be found in the
congregation of which she was Prefect, and establish them _permanently_
in the discharge of that duty. He accordingly made the proposal to her,
which she did not refuse, believing it would contribute to the glory of
God, and be a means of accomplishing His will. In order to act
prudently, however, M. Jandret consulted his superior, M. de Theoloyal,
of the cathedral of Troyes, who assured him that the project was a wise
one, and the two priests in concert drew up a formula of rules which
they judged fit to lead those for whom they were intended securely in
the path of Christian perfection. M. le Theoloyal went to Paris to
submit the rules to the doctors of the Sorbonne, who decided in their
favor, and advised that they be reduced to practice.

Two virtuous young ladies were thereupon associated with Margaret
Bourgeois, and Mme. de Chuly, of whom we shall have occasion to speak
more at length, gave them an apartment in her own house to make the
experiment. In proposing the rules to these pious young women, the
persons who had written and approved of them had undoubtedly the
_future_ in view, but God had still wiser and other designs. It was only
a preparation or foundation for the rules and constitutions that
Margaret, many years after, sought to have approved in France for the
government of the Community she established at Ville-Marie, she and her
first companions having had a most happy experience of them during their
early religious life. They engaged zealously in the education of the
children confided to their care, always making moral training the
principal object, but most especially did they seek to guard those whose
surroundings endangered their virtue. On one occasion, a set of
libertines managed to entice a poor but honest girl away from home.