ss of her
magnanimous cousins. Rogron had found the life that suited him. He
scolded Pierrette as he used to scold his clerks; he would call her when
at play, and compel her to study; he made her repeat her lessons, and
became himself the almost savage master of the poor child. Sylvie, on
her side, considered it a duty to teach Pierrette the little that she
knew herself about women's work. Neither Rogron nor his sister had the
slightest softness in their natures. Their narrow minds, which found
real pleasure in worrying the poor child, passed insensibly from outward
kindness to extreme severity. This severity was necessitated, they
believed, by what they called the self-will of the child, which had not
been broken when young and was very obstinate. Her masters were ignorant
how to give to their instructions a form suited to the intelligence
of the pupil,--a thing, by the bye, which marks the difference between
public and private education. The fault was far less with Pierrette than
with her cousins. It took her an infinite length of time to learn the
rudiments. She was called stupid and dull, clumsy and awkward for mere
nothings. Incessantly abused in words, the child suffered still more
from the harsh looks of her cousins. She acquired the doltish ways of a
sheep; she dared not do anything of her own impulse, for all she did was
misinterpreted, misjudged, and ill-received. In all things she awaited
silently the good pleasure and the orders of her cousins, keeping her
thoughts within her own mind and sheltering herself behind a passive
obedience. Her brilliant colors began to fade. Sometimes she complained
of feeling ill. When her cousin asked, "Where?" the poor little thing,
who had pains all over her, answered, "Everywhere."

"Nonsense! who ever heard of any one suffering everywhere?" cried
Sylvie. "If you suffered everywhere you'd be dead."

"People suffer in their chests," said Rogron, who liked to hear himself
harangue, "or they have toothache, headache, pains in their feet
or stomach, but no one has pains everywhere. What do you mean by
everywhere? I can tell you; 'everywhere' means _nowhere_. Don't you know
what you are doing?--you are complaining for complaining's sake."

Pierrette ended by total silence, seeing how all her girlish remarks,
the flowers of her dawning intelligence, were replied to with ignorant
commonplaces which her natural good sense told her were ridiculous.

"You complain," said Rogron, "b