is topic
so well, and so much as a matter of course that he cannot make allowance
for the benighted darkness of the learner.

"Ninety-five firkins fourteen gallons three quarts. You see, it's quite
simple," said Mr. Cleghorn, the arithmetic master.

"Oh, thank you; I _see_," said Margaret, with the kind readiness of
woman, who would profess to "see" the Secret of Hegel, or the
inmost heart of the Binomial Theorem, or the nature of the duties of
cover-point, or the latest hypothesis about the frieze of the Parthenon,
rather than be troubled with prolonged explanations, which the
expositor, after all, might find it inconvenient to give.

Arithmetic and algebra were not this scholar's _forte_; and no young
lady in Miss Marlett's establishment was so hungry, or so glad when
eight o'clock struck and the bell rang for breakfast, as Margaret
Shields.

Breakfast at Miss Marlett's was not a convivial meal. There was a
long narrow table, with cross-tables at each end, these high seats, or
_dais_, being occupied by Miss Marlett and the governesses. At intervals
down the table were stacked huge piles of bread and butter--of extremely
thick bread and surprisingly thin butter--each slice being divided into
four portions. The rest of the banquet consisted solely of tea. Whether
this regimen was enough to support growing girls, who had risen at
seven, till dinnertime at half-past one, is a problem which, perhaps,
the inexperienced intellect of man can scarcely approach with
confidence. But, if girls do not always learn as much at school as could
be desired, intellectually speaking, it is certain that they have every
chance of acquiring Spartan habits, and of becoming accustomed (if
familiarity really breeds contempt) to despise hunger and cold. Not that
Miss Marlett's establishment was a _Dothegirls Hall_, nor a school much
more scantily equipped with luxuries than others. But the human race has
still to learn that girls need good meals just as much as, or more than,
persons of maturer years. Boys are no better off at many places;
but boys have opportunities of adding bloaters and chops to their
breakfasts, which would be considered horribly indelicate and
insubordinate conduct in girls.

"Est ce que vous aimez les tartines a l'Anglaise," said Janey Harman to
Margaret.

"Ce que j'aime dans la tartine, c'est la simplicite prime-sautiere da sa
nature," answered Miss Shields.

It was one of the charms of the "matinal meal" (as th