But the serpent amid flowers is one of the finest myths that antiquity has bequeathed for the guidance of our lives.

How often we hear fools, trying to excuse themselves in their own eyes or in the eyes of others, exclaiming, "It was all so natural that any one would have been taken in." In 1809, Madame Descoings, who never told her age, was sixty-five.

In her heyday she had been popularly called a beauty, and was now one of those rare women whom time respects.

She owed to her excellent constitution the privilege of preserving her good looks, which, however, would not bear close examination.

She was of medium height, plump, and fresh, with fine shoulders and a rather rosy complexion.