front of his
best coat, and coughed and choked until he was very red in the face.

When Jane was ten years old there came to live at the Rectory a daughter
of Mrs. Austen's sister. She came to them direct from France. Her name was
Madame Fenillade. She was a widow and only twenty-two. Once, when little
Jane overheard one of the brothers say that Monsieur Fenillade had kissed
Mademoiselle Guillotine, she asked what he meant and they would not tell
her.

Now Madame spoke French with grace and fluency, and the girls thought it
queer that there should be two languages--English and French--so they
picked up a few words of French, too, and at the table would gravely say
"Merci, Papa," and "S'il vous plait, Mamma." Then Mr. Austen proposed that
at table no one should speak anything but French. So Madame told them what
to call the sugar and the salt and the bread, and no one called anything
except by its French name. In two weeks each of the whole dozen persons
who sat at that board, as well as the girl who waited on table, had a
bill-of-fare working capital of French. In six months they could converse
with ease.

And science with all its ingenuity has not yet pointed out a better way
for acquiring a new language than the plan the Austens adopted at
Steventon Rectory. We call it the "Berlitz Method" now.

Madame Fenillade's widowhood rested lightly upon her, and she became
quite the life of the whole household.

One of the Austen boys fell in love with the French widow; and surely it
would be a very stupid country boy that wouldn't love a French widow like
that!

And they were married and lived happily ever afterward.

But before Madame married and moved away she taught the girls charades,
and then little plays, and a theatrical performance was given in the barn.

Then a play could not be found that just suited, so Jane wrote one and
Cassandra helped, and Madame criticized and the Reverend Mr. Austen
suggested a few changes. Then it was all rewritten. And this was the first
attempt at writing for the public by Jane Austen.

* * * * *

Jane Austen wrote four great novels, "Pride and Prejudice" was begun when
she was twenty and finished a year later. The old father started a course
of novel-reading on his own account in order to fit his mind to pass
judgment on his daughter's work. He was sure it was good, but feared that
love had blinded his eyes, and he wanted to make sure. After six mo