Madame Levene
Madame Levene is the headmistress of the Maison Royale de Saint-Louis school at Saint-Cyr and the mother of Jacques, the school's groundskeeper.
Biography
As the Maison Royale's headmistress, Madame Levene kept track of her students' behavior. One particular student, the motherless Templar Élise de la Serre, caught her attention due to the young lady's rebellious acts. She attempted to help Élise with a battle of wills, which brought the girl's hatred for her. On September 8, 1787, she requested audience with her father, François de la Serre in her office to discuss Élise's behavior, which never did improve, much to Madame Levene's dismay. By January 8, 1788, she again called audience which Freddie Weatherall attended to discuss Élise's risk of getting expelled from Maison Royale.
A gossip spread across Maison Royale that Madame Levene had been visiting a "lover" at night in the woods, an idea that Élise used to blackmail her to send a letter of request to her father. Her "lover" was in fact, her son, Jacques, the groundskeeper, which she kept a secret to the rest of the school and met him in his lodge every midnight. She noticed the young girl spying on her and the next day, she managed to get a hold of Élise's journal and learned her thoughts and plan to blackmail her.
Infuriated, Madame Levene called Élise to her office and showed her the journal, explaining to the young lady that her strictness was for her sake and only wanted the best for the broken Élise. She made a deal with the girl: Élise must stay quiet about what she saw and Madame Levene will send the letter of request to her father. She also revealed that Jacques was her son, not lover, which made Élise rather ashamed of herself.
Personality and Characteristics
Known for her strictness, Madame Levene was referred by Élise as a "witch", unaware of the headmistress' concerns for her and the other students. The young lady was naive to Madame Levene's attempts to do what was best for her students and often thought that the headmistress was listening to other people's conversation, which she was not. Madame Levene often regretted her punishments to disobedient students.
Although she was a loving mother, she hid the fact that Jacques was her son to the students.