an old, deaf lady, and Mademoiselle J-----, a former governess, as cold
as ice and exceedingly respectable. As to Madame Saville, she had been
received in the convent for especial reasons, arising out of
circumstances which did not make her a fit companion for inexperienced
girls. The Superior hesitated a moment and then said: "Her husband
requested us to take charge of her," in a tone by which Jacqueline quite
understood that "take charge" was a synonym for "keep a strict watch upon
her." She was spied upon, she was persecuted--unjustly, no doubt.

All this increased the interest that Jacqueline already felt in the lady
with the light hair. But she made a low curtsey to the Mother Superior
and returned no answer. Her intercourse with her neighbor was
thenceforward; however, sly and secret, which only made it more
interesting and exciting. They would exchange a few words when they met
upon the stairs, in the garden, or in the cloisters, when there was no
curious eye to spy them out; and the first time Jacqueline went out alone
Madame Saville was on the watch, and, without speaking, slipped a letter
into her hand.

This first time Jacqueline went out was an epoch in her life, as small
events are sometimes in the annals of nations; it was the date of her
emancipation, it coincided with what she called her choice of a career.
Thinking herself sure of possessing a talent for teaching, she had spoken
of it to several friends who had come to see her, and who each and all
exclaimed that they would like some lessons, a delicate way of helping
her quite understood by Jacqueline. Pupils like Belle Ray and Yvonne
d'Etaples, who wanted her to come twice a week to play duets with them or
to read over new music, were not nearly so interesting as those in her
little class who had hardly more than learned their scales! Besides this,
Madame d'Avrigny begged her to come and dine with her, when there would
be only themselves, on Mondays, and then practise with Dolly, who had not
another moment in which she could take a lesson. She should be sent home
scrupulously before ten o'clock, that being the hour at the convent when
every one must be in. Jacqueline accepted all these kindnesses
gratefully. By Giselle's advice she hid her slight figure under a loose
cloak and put on her head a bonnet fit for a grandmother, a closed hat
with long strings, which, when she first put it on her head, made her
burst out laughing. She imagined herself to