La Carmélite

"In peril on the sea" by Montague T. Hainsselin is a novel written in the late 19th century. It appears to be a dramatic study of faith, sacrifice, and family honor centered on Nicolette, a devout young woman in southern France whose desire to become a Carmelite collides with the world when she shields her sister Irène from scandal. Entangled with Irène’s domineering husband and the sister’s cavalry-officer lover, she is pressed toward a marriage of duty rather than a life in the cloister. The work explores piety versus passion, conscience, and reputation. The opening of the story follows Nicolette as she prays at a Carmelite convent in Beaucaire and confirms to the prioress her wish to enter as a novice. At home, we learn her sister Irène is unhappily married to the hot-tempered Jacques Malivert. One night Jacques surprises Irène with her lover, the hussar Frédéric de Varimpré; Irène drags the officer into Nicolette’s room, and Nicolette claims he came for her to save her sister from ruin and possibly death. Malivert then forces a marriage prospect, and Nicolette’s confessor counsels her to accept this sacrifice as God’s will. Frédéric’s formal suit follows; in a guarded conversation in the garden, Nicolette sets terms—he must respect her vow of chastity until the Church releases it, allow her rigorous religious life, and embrace honorable conduct. She makes a final retreat at the convent, bids a painful farewell to the cloister, and the section closes with the town preparing for the imminent wedding. (This is an automatically generated summary.)