teen (as it appeared to me) up to twenty; the most modest
attire, the simplest fashion of wearing the hair, were apparent in all;
and good features, ruddy, blooming complexions, large and brilliant
eyes, forms full, even to solidity, seemed to abound. I did not bear
the first view like a stoic; I was dazzled, my eyes fell, and in a voice
somewhat too low I murmured--

"Prenez vos cahiers de dictee, mesdemoiselles."

Not so had I bid the boys at Pelet's take their reading-books. A
rustle followed, and an opening of desks; behind the lifted lids which
momentarily screened the heads bent down to search for exercise-books, I
heard tittering and whispers.

"Eulalie, je suis prete a pamer de rire," observed one.

"Comme il a rougi en parlant!"

"Oui, c'est un veritable blanc-bec."

"Tais-toi, Hortense--il nous ecoute."

And now the lids sank and the heads reappeared; I had marked three, the
whisperers, and I did not scruple to take a very steady look at them as
they emerged from their temporary eclipse. It is astonishing what ease
and courage their little phrases of flippancy had given me; the idea by
which I had been awed was that the youthful beings before me, with their
dark nun-like robes and softly braided hair, were a kind of half-angels.
The light titter, the giddy whisper, had already in some measure
relieved my mind of that fond and oppressive fancy.

The three I allude to were just in front, within half a yard of my
estrade, and were among the most womanly-looking present. Their names
I knew afterwards, and may as well mention now; they were Eulalie,
Hortense, Caroline. Eulalie was tall, and very finely shaped: she was
fair, and her features were those of a Low Country Madonna; many a
"figure de Vierge" have I seen in Dutch pictures exactly resembling
hers; there were no angles in her shape or in her face, all was curve
and roundness--neither thought, sentiment, nor passion disturbed by line
or flush the equality of her pale, clear skin; her noble bust heaved
with her regular breathing, her eyes moved a little--by these evidences
of life alone could I have distinguished her from some large handsome
figure moulded in wax. Hortense was of middle size and stout, her
form was ungraceful, her face striking, more alive and brilliant than
Eulalie's, her hair was dark brown, her complexion richly coloured;
there were frolic and mischief in her eye: consistency and good sense
she might possess, but none of her featu