y dwelling and
this slovenly woman? No; it was all too real for me to doubt their
existence for an instant.

She was pouring out some cold tea into two little cups, when Monsieur
Perrier made his appearance, his face begrimed and his shaggy hair
uncombed. I had been used to the sight of rough men in Adelaide, on our
sheep-farm, but I had never seen one more boorish. He stood in the
doorway, rubbing his hands, and gazing at us unflinchingly with the hard
stare of a Norman peasant, while he spoke in rapid, uncouth tones to his
wife. I turned away my head, and shut my eyes to this unwelcome sight.

"Eat, mees," said the woman, bringing us our food. "There is tea. We
give our pupils and instructresses tea for supper at six o'clock: after
that there is no more to eat."

I took a mouthful of the food, but I could hardly swallow it, exhausted
as I was from hunger. The bread was sour and the butter rancid; the tea
tasted of garlic. Minima ate hers ravenously, without uttering a word.
The child had not spoken since we entered these new scenes: her careworn
face was puckered, and her sharp eyes were glancing about her more
openly than mine. As soon as she had finished her hunch of black bread,
I signified to Madame Perrier that we were ready to go to our bedroom.

We had the same vaulted passage and cart-shed to traverse on our way
back to the other house. There we were ushered into a room containing
only two beds and our two boxes. I helped Minima to undress, and tucked
her up in bed, trying not to see the thin little face and sharp eyes
which wanted to meet mine, and look into them. She put her arm round my
neck, and drew down my head to whisper cautiously into my ear.

"They're cheats," she said, earnestly, "dreadful cheats. This isn't a
splendid place at all. Oh! whatever shall I do? Shall I have to stay
here four years?"

"Hush, Minima!" I answered. "Perhaps it is better than we think now. We
are tired. To-morrow we shall see the place better, and it may be
splendid after all. Kiss me, and go to sleep."

But it was too much for me, far too much. The long, long journey; the
hunger the total destruction of all my hopes; the dreary prospect that
stretched before me. I laid my aching head on my pillow, and cried
myself to sleep like a child.

I was awakened, while it was yet quite dark, by the sound of a
carpenter's tool in the room below me. Almost immediately a loud knock
came at my door, and the harsh voice of madame