nd how an eager band of pupils, amongst
them Ginevra Fanshawe, were working gaily under his control.

The great day arrived. The sun rose hot and unclouded, and hot and
unclouded it burned on till evening. All the doors and all the windows
were set open, which gave a pleasant sense of summer freedom--and
freedom the most complete seemed indeed the order of the day. Teachers
and pupils descended to breakfast in dressing-gowns and curl-papers:
anticipating "avec delices" the toilette of the evening, they seemed to
take a pleasure in indulging that forenoon in a luxury of slovenliness;
like aldermen fasting in preparation for a feast. About nine o'clock
A.M., an important functionary, the "coiffeur," arrived. Sacrilegious
to state, he fixed his head-quarters in the oratory, and there, in
presence of _benitier_, candle, and crucifix, solemnised the mysteries
of his art. Each girl was summoned in turn to pass through his hands;
emerging from them with head as smooth as a shell, intersected by
faultless white lines, and wreathed about with Grecian plaits that
shone as if lacquered. I took my turn with the rest, and could hardly
believe what the glass said when I applied to it for information
afterwards; the lavished garlandry of woven brown hair amazed me--I
feared it was not all my own, and it required several convincing pulls
to give assurance to the contrary. I then acknowledged in the coiffeur
a first-rate artist--one who certainly made the most of indifferent
materials.

The oratory closed, the dormitory became the scene of ablutions,
arrayings and bedizenings curiously elaborate. To me it was, and ever
must be an enigma, how they contrived to spend so much time in doing so
little. The operation seemed close, intricate, prolonged: the result
simple. A clear white muslin dress, a blue sash (the Virgin's colours),
a pair of white, or straw-colour kid gloves--such was the gala uniform,
to the assumption whereof that houseful of teachers and pupils devoted
three mortal hours. But though simple, it must be allowed the array was
perfect--perfect in fashion, fit, and freshness; every head being also
dressed with exquisite nicety, and a certain compact taste--suiting the
full, firm comeliness of Labassecourien contours, though too stiff for
any more flowing and flexible style of beauty--the general effect was,
on the whole, commendable.

In beholding this diaphanous and snowy mass, I well remember feeling
myself to be a mere