Charlotte had returned to Brussels knowing that Monsieur Heger held her in the highest regard as one of his star pupils. This was the first time that someone outside her family, capable of informed judgement and himself of an intellect equal, if not superior, to her own, had recognized and encouraged her talent. It is not surprising, therefore, that in at least three of the essays she wrote this year she raised the question of the nature of genius.8 She had done this once before, in her essay on ‘Peter the Hermit’, identifying herself with him because she saw that the spiritual flame within
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