the halls and passages were all alive and astir. In
the train of the moving crowd, I had no difficulty to find my way to
the place of gathering.

This was the school parlour; not the one where I had seen Mme. Ricard.
Parlours, rather; there was a suite of them, three deep; for this part
of the house had a building added in the rear. The rooms were large
and handsome; not like school rooms, I thought; and yet very different
from my home; for they were bare. Carpets and curtains, sofas and
chairs and tables were in them, to be sure; and even pictures; yet
they were bare; for books and matters of art and little social
luxuries were wanting, such as I had all my life been accustomed to,
and such as filled Mme. Ricard's own rooms. However, this first
evening I could hardly see how the rooms looked, for the lining of
humanity which ran round all the walls. There was a shimmer as of
every colour in the rainbow; and a buzz that could only come from a
hive full. I, who had lived all my life where people spoke softly, and
where many never spoke together, was bewildered.

The buzz hushed suddenly, and I saw Mme. Ricard's figure going slowly
down the rooms. She was in the uttermost contrast to all her
household. Ladylike always, and always dignified, her style was her
own, and I am sure that nobody ever felt that she had not enough. Yet
Mme. Ricard had nothing about her that was conformed to the fashions
of the day. Her dress was of a soft kind of serge, which fell around
her or swept across the rooms in noiseless yielding folds. Hoops were
the fashion of the day; but Mme. Ricard wore no hoops; she went with
ease and silence where others went with a rustle and a warning to
clear the way. The back of her head was covered with a little cap as
plain as a nun's cap; and I never saw an ornament about her. Yet
criticism never touched Mme. Ricard. Not even the criticism of a set
of school-girls; and I had soon to learn that there is none more
relentless.

The tea-table was set in the further room of the three. Mme. Ricard
passed down to that. Presently I heard her low voice saying, "Miss
Randolph." Low as it always was, it was always heard. I made my way
down through the rooms to her presence; and there I was introduced to
the various teachers. Mademoiselle Genevieve, Miss Babbitt, Mme.
Jupon, and Miss Dumps. I could not examine them just then. I felt I
was on exhibition myself.

"Is Miss Randolph to come to me, Madame?" the first o