ittle to do even in that line of the law! He took off his tasselled cap
to me as I passed his workshop, and went up-stairs with the milk to
Minima, who was already gone to bed for the sake of warmth. The
discovery did not affect me with surprise. If he had been an avocat, my
astonishment at French barristers would have been extreme.

Yet there was something galling in the idea of being under the roof of a
man and woman of that class, in some sort in their power and under their
control. The low, vulgar cunning of their nature appeared more clearly
to me. There was no chance of success in any contest with them, for they
were too boorish to be reached by any weapon I could use. All I could do
was to keep as far aloof from them as possible.

This was not difficult to do, for neither of them interfered with the
affairs of the school, and we saw them only at meal times, when they
watched every mouthful we ate with keen eyes.

I found that I had no duties to perform as a teacher, for none of the
three French pupils desired to learn English. English girls, who had
been decoyed into the same snare by the same false photograph and
prospectus which had entrapped me, were all of families too poor to be
able to forfeit the money which had been paid in advance for their
French education. Two of them, however, completed their term at
Christmas, and returned home weak and ill; the third was to leave in the
spring. I did not hear that any more pupils were expected, and why
Madame Perrier should have engaged any English teacher became a problem
to me. The premium I had paid was too small to cover my expenses for a
year, though we were living at so scanty a cost. It was not long before
I understood my engagement better.

I studied the language diligently. I felt myself among foreigners and
foes, and I was helpless till I could comprehend what they were saying
in my presence. Having no other occupation, I made rapid progress,
though Mademoiselle Morel, the head governess, gave me very little
assistance.

She was a dull, heavy, yet crafty-looking woman, who had taken a
first-class diploma as a teacher; yet, as far as I could judge, knew
very much less than most English governesses who are uncertificated. So
far from there being any professors attending the school, I could not
discover that there were any in the town. It was a cotton-manufacturing
town, with a population of six thousand, most of them hand-loom weavers.
There were three