ile
smothered by a very black moustache. Madame Flauve told him that M.
Flauve was 'tout-a-fait charmant, mais charmant, mon petit. Il etait si
aimable, si gentil et d'un coeur tres tres bon.' Michael grew very
tired of being jostled outside the furniture-shop every afternoon, while
his governess grubbed around the ugly furniture and argued with the man
about the prices. The only article she ever bought was a commode, which
so violently embarrassed Michael that he blushed the whole way home. But
Madame Flauve often made him blush and would comment upon subjects not
generally mentioned except by Mrs. Frith, and even by her only in a
spirit of hearty coarseness that did not make Michael feel ashamed like
this Frenchwoman's suggestion of the nasty. He was on one occasion very
much disgusted by her remarks on the inside of an egg that was slightly
set. Yet while he was disgusted, his curiosity was stimulated by the
information imparted, and he made further enquiries from Nurse that
evening. Nanny was horrified, and said plainly that she considered this
governess no better than a low beast and that she should write
accordingly to Mrs. Fane.

After a month or two Michael was sent back to school in the morning,
though the afternoon walks still continued for a time. When Michael
returned to the Misses Marrow, he was promoted to the class above the
Kindergarten and was set to learn the elements of Latin in a desultory
and unpractical way, that is to say he was made to learn--

Nominative, mensa, a table
Vocative, mensa, O table
Accusative, mensam, a table

and the rest of the unintelligible rigmarole. He had no clear notion
what Latin was, and so far as he could make out nobody else at the Miss
Marrows' school had any clearer notion. Indeed, the only distinct
addition to his knowledge of life was gained from Vernon Brown who with
great ingenuity had hollowed out a cork and by the insertion of several
pins in the front had made of it a miniature cage in which he kept a
fly. All the other boys were much impressed by Vernon Brown's
achievement, and very soon they all came to school with flies captive in
excavated corks. Michael longed to be like these bigger boys and pined
for a cage. One day Edward Arnott gave him one, and all the rest of that
day Michael watched the fly trying to escape. When he showed it to
Madame Flauve, she professed herself shocked by the cruelty of it and
begged him to release the fly, as