But Madame Constant cared little for the
naked walls and the discomforts of the apartment; she was occupied with
the impression she was making, and the part she was playing, that of
a lady of importance. She was quite condescending, and felt sure
that children must be well off in this place, the rooms were so
spacious,--just as well, in fact, as if in the country.

"Precisely," said Moronval, hesitatingly.

The black boy kindled the fire, and M. Moronval looked for a chair for
his distinguished visitor. Then Madame Moronval, who had been summoned,
made her appearance. She was a small woman, very small, with a long,
pale face all forehead and chin. She carried herself with great
erectness, as if reluctant to lose an inch of her height, and perhaps to
disguise a trifling deformity of the shoulders; but she had a kind and
womanly expression, and drawing the child towards her, admired his long
curls and his eyes.

"Yes, his eyes are like his mother's," said Moronval, coolly, examining
Madame Constant as he spoke.

She made no attempt to disclaim the honor; but Jack cried out in
indignation, "She is not my mamma! She is my nurse!"

Upon which Madame Moronval repented of her urbanity, and became more
reserved. Fortunately her husband saw matters in a different light, and
concluded that a servant trusted to the extent of placing her master's
children at school, must be a person of some importance in the house.

Madame Constant soon convinced him of the correctness of this
conclusion. She spoke loudly and decidedly--stated that the choice of a
school had been left entirely to her own discretion, and each time that
she pronounced the name of her mistress, it was with a patronizing air
that drove poor Jack to the verge of despair.

The terms of the school were spoken of: three thousand francs per annum
was named as the amount asked; and then Moronval launched forth on the
superior advantages of his institution; it combined everything needed
for the development of both soul and body. The pupils accompanied their
masters to the theatre and into the world. Instead of making of the boys
intrusted to his charge mere machines of Greek and Latin, he sought to
develop in them every good quality, to prepare them for their duties
in every position in life, and to surround them with those family
influences of which they had too many of them been totally deprived. But
their mental instruction was by no means neglected; quite the contr