ie there. She contented herself, moreover, with a dark little closet,
leaving the largest rooms to Claire and La Normande. The later, with
the authority of the elder born, had taken possession of the room that
overlooked the street; it was the best and largest of the suite. Claire
was so much annoyed at her sister's action in the matter that she
refused to occupy the adjoining room, whose window overlooked the yard,
and obstinately insisted on sleeping on the other side of the landing,
in a sort of garret, which she did not even have whitewashed. However,
she had her own key, and so was independent; directly anything happened
to displease her she locked herself up in her own quarters.

As a rule, when Florent arrived the Mehudins were just finishing
their dinner. Muche sprang to his neck, and for a moment the young man
remained seated with the lad chattering between his legs. Then, when
the oilcloth cover had been wiped, the lesson began on a corner of
the table. The beautiful Norman gave Florent a cordial welcome. She
generally began to knit or mend some linen, and would draw her chair up
to the table and work by the light of the same lamp as the others; and
she frequently put down her needle to listen to the lesson, which filled
her with surprise. She soon began to feel warm esteem for this man who
seemed so clever, who, in speaking to the little one, showed himself as
gentle as a woman, and manifested angelic patience in again and again
repeating the same instructions. She no longer considered him at all
plain, but even felt somewhat jealous of beautiful Lisa. And then she
drew her chair still nearer, and gazed at Florent with an embarrassing
smile.

"But you are jogging my elbow, mother, and I can't write," Muche
exclaimed angrily. "There! see what a blot you've made me make! Get
further away, do!"

La Normande now gradually began to say a good many unpleasant things
about beautiful Lisa. She pretended that the latter concealed her real
age, that she laced her stays so tightly that she nearly suffocated
herself, and that if she came down of a morning looking so trim and
neat, without a single hair out of place, it must be because she looked
perfectly hideous when in dishabille. Then La Normande would raise her
arm a little, and say that there was no need for her to wear any stays
to cramp and deform her figure. At these times the lessons would be
interrupted, and Muche gazed with interest at his mother as she rais