y escaped
being sent to Coventry by the lucky circumstance of her going that
metaphorical journey of her own accord, and never under any temptation
speaking to any body one unnecessary word.

As far as her lessons went she was, from the false indulgence with which
she had been treated, very backward for her age. Our school was, however,
really excellent as a place of instruction: so no studies were forced upon
her, and she was left to get acquainted with the house and its ways, and
to fall into the ranks as she could.

For the present she seemed to have attached herself to Mdlle. Rose,
attracted probably by the sweetness of her countenance, her sadness, and
her silence. Her speech could not have attracted Betsy, for in common with
many of her exiled country-folk, she had not in nearly ten years'
residence in England learned to speak five English words. But something
had won her affection. She had on first being called by the governess,
from the dark corner in which she had ensconced herself, crept to the side
of the young Frenchwoman, had watched her as she wove her straw plaits,
had attempted the simple art with some discarded straws that lay scattered
upon the floor; and when Mademoiselle so far roused herself as to show her
the proper way, and to furnish her with the material, she soon became a
most efficient assistant in this branch of industry.

No intercourse took place between them. Indeed, as I have said, none was
possible, since neither knew a word of the other's language. Betsy was
silence personified; and poor Mdlle. Rose, always pensive and reserved,
was now more than ever dejected and oppressed. An opportunity of returning
to France had opened to her, and was passing away. She herself was too
young to be included in the list of emigrants, and interest had been made
with the French Consul for the re-admission of her venerable parents, and
perhaps for the ultimate recovery of some property still unsold. But her
grandfather was so aged, and her grandmother so sickly, that the expenses
of a voyage and a journey, then very formidable to the old and the infirm,
were beyond her means, beyond even her hopes. So she sighed over her
straw-plaiting, and submitted.

In the mean time the second Saturday arrived, and with it a summons home
to Betsy, who, for the first time gathering courage to address our good
governess, asked "if she might be trusted with the bonnet Mdlle. Rose had
just finished, to show her aunt--sh