ere was some special thought
behind that smile, and wondered what it was. Miss Clifford made it her
duty to know the character, temper, constitution, and capacity of
every one of the eighty girls under her, and watched carefully for
every change in them. This good-night, which was a dignified and
impressive ceremony, gave her an opportunity of inspecting each girl
separately every day, and very little escaped her. If a girl looked
unhappy, run down, overworked, or otherwise out of sorts, Miss
Clifford sent for her next morning to find out what was the matter;
and she was scolded, comforted, put on extras, had a tonic to take, or
was allowed another hour in bed in the morning, according to the
necessities of her case.

The girls who were in certain bedrooms sat up an hour after prayers,
and had dry bread and water for supper; they turned to the left and
went back to their class-rooms when they had made their curtseys. The
others turned to the right and went upstairs. Beth was one of these.
She was in No. 6. There were several beds in the room, and beside each
bed was a washstand, and a box for clothes. The floor was carpetless.
There were white curtains hung on iron rods to be drawn round the beds
and the space beside them, so that each girl had perfect privacy to
dress and undress. The curtains were all drawn back for air when the
girls were ready, but no girl drew her curtain without the permission
of the girl next to her. When a bell rang, they all knelt down, and
had ten minutes for private prayers night and morning, the bell being
rung again when the time was up. The girls had to turn down their beds
to air them before they left their rooms in the morning. They had an
hour's lessons before breakfast, then prayers. After prayers the
monitresses rose from their seats below the reading-desk, and, as they
filed out, each in turn reported if any one had spoken or not spoken
in the bedrooms. Breakfast consisted of thick bread and butter and tea
for the girls, with the addition of an insufficient quantity of fried
bacon for the teachers. After breakfast the girls went upstairs again
and made their beds in a given time; then all but a few, who were kept
in for music, went out into the garden for half-an-hour. Beth had to
go out that first morning. The sun was shining, bright drops sparkled
on grass and trees, the air was heavy with autumn odours, but fresh
and sweet, and the birds chirped blithely. Beth felt like a free
cr