he might have done his slaves at work on the
sugar-cane plantation.

The elder sisters, who adored Madame Moronval, were nevertheless obliged
to separate from her, and paid her as an indemnification a satisfactory
sum. What should be done with this money? Moronval wished to start a
journal, or a review; but to make money was his first wish. Finally, a
brilliant idea came to him one day.

He knew that children were sent from all parts of the world to finish
their education in Paris. They came from Persia, from Japan, Hindostan,
and Guinea, confided to the care of ship-captains, or to merchants. Such
people being generally well provided with money, and having but little
experience in getting rid of it, Moronval decided that there was an easy
mine to work. Besides, the wonderful system of Madame Moronval could be
applied in perfection to the correction of foreign accents, to defective
pronunciation. The Professor immediately caused advertisements to be
inserted in the colonial journals, where were soon to be seen the most
amazing advertisements in several languages.

During the first year, the nephew of the Iman of Zanzibar, and two
superb blacks from the coast of Guinea, appeared upon the scene. It was
not until they arrived that Moronval bestirred himself to find a local
habitation and a name. Finally, in order to combine economy with the
exigencies of his new position, he hired the buildings we have just
visited in this hideous _Passage des Douze Maisons_, and displayed in
the avenue the gorgeous sign we have mentioned.

The owner of the property induced Moronval to believe that certain
improvements would soon be made, in fact, that an appropriation was
ordered for a new boulevard on one side of the building. This conviction
induced Moronval to forget all the inconveniences, the dampness of
the dormitory, the cold of certain rooms, the heat of others. This was
nothing: the appropriation bill was ready for the signature, and things
would be all right soon.

But Moronval was forced to endure that long period of waiting, only too
well known to Parisians in the last twenty years; and this wore heavily
upon him, costing him more thought and more anxiety than did the
improvement or welfare of his pupils. He soon discovered that he had
been hugely duped, and this discovery had the worst effect on the
passionate, weak nature of the Creole. His discouragement degenerated
into absolute incapacity and indolence. The pupils ha