g well the new acquirements which I
have now the opportunity of making.

When I am well established here, I will write in my journal every day as
I did at Maleszow; but I am still in a state of excitement from all I
have seen, and I must first become better acquainted with my new
dwelling.

Wednesday, _April 17th_.

I am already quite familiar with all the regulations of the school. I am
very well pleased with Madame Strumle; she has excellent manners, and is
very kind to me. I might perhaps regret our court, the magnificence,
bustle, and gayety of our castle, but there comes a time for everything,
and we live here very happily and comfortably.

That which seems most strange and entirely new to me is, that there is
not even a little boy in the house, no men servants, women always, and
only women; they wait upon us even at table.

There are about fifteen boarders, all young, and belonging to the best
families.

Every one speaks highly of Miss Marianne, the Starost Swidzinski's
sister, now married to the Castellan of Polaniec; she spent two years at
the school, and has left an ineffaceable impression in the hearts of
Madame Strumle and her young companions. They say she was very
accomplished, very good and sensible, very gay, and very studious.

My parents, after having made a thorough examination of the school, felt
quite satisfied; and truly they might well be so, for no one could be
more securely guarded in a convent than here. Madame keeps the key of
the front door always in her pocket; no one can go out or come in
without her knowledge, and were it not for two or three aged masters of
music and the languages, we might be in danger of forgetting the very
existence of _man_-kind.

It is expressly forbidden to receive visits even from one's male cousins
within the walls of the school. The dancing master desired that the
young potockis should come and learn quadrilles with their sisters and
myself, but madame rejected this proposition at once, saying, 'These
gentlemen are not the brothers of all my boarders, and I cannot permit
them to enter my school.'

We have masters in French and German, as also in drawing, music, and
embroidery. We learn music on a fine piano of five octaves and a half.
What an improvement on that of Maleszow! Some of the scholars play
polonaises very well, but not by rote; they read them from the notes. My
master tells me that in six months I will have reached this perfection;
but the