, monotonous school-days
were only a prelude which had gone on long enough. Therefore she said,
with brief consideration, that her choice would be to return home.

"To Kirkham understand, _ma cherie_, not to Beechhurst," said madame
softly, warningly.

"To Kirkham, so be it! Sooner or later I must go there," answered Bessie
with brave resignation.

Mr. Cecil Burleigh was apparently gratified by the young lady's
consent, abrupt though it was. But madame's countenance fell. She was
deeply disappointed at this issue. Apart from her pecuniary interest in
Bessie, which was not inconsiderable, Bessie had become a source of
religious concern to influential persons. And there was a favorite
nephew of madame's, domiciled in Paris, about whom visionary schemes had
been indulged, which now all in a moment vanished. This young nephew was
to have come with his mother to Etretat only a week hence, and there the
canon and Madame Fournier were to have joined them, with the beautiful
English girl committed to their charge. It was now good-bye to all such
plots and plans.

Bessie perceived from her face that madame was distressed, but she did
not know all the reasons why. Madame had been very good to her, and
Bessie felt sorry; but to leave school for home was such a natural,
inevitable episode in the course of life in the Rue St. Jean that,
beyond a momentary regret, she had no compunction. Mr. Cecil Burleigh
proceeded to lay open his arrangements. He was on his road to Paris,
where he might be detained from ten to fifteen days, but madame should
receive a letter from him when the precise time of his return was fixed.
After he had spoken to this effect he rose to take leave, and Bessie,
blushing as she heard her own voice, originated her first remark, her
first question:

"My grandfather hardly knows me. Does he expect my arrival at Kirkham
with pleasure, or would he rather put it off for another year?" Madame
thought she was already wavering in her determination.

"I am sure that when I have written to him he will expect your arrival
with the _greatest_ pleasure," replied Mr. Cecil Burleigh with kind
emphasis, retaining Bessie's hand for a moment longer than was
necessary, and relinquishing it with a cordial shake.

Bessie's blushes did not abate at the compliment implied in his answer
and in his manner: he had been favorably impressed, and would send to
Abbotsmead a favorable report of her. When he was gone she all in a
momen