ABLY

As soon as Georgette was well, Madame sent her away into the country. I

was sorry; I loved the child, and her loss made me poorer than before. But I

must not complain. I lived in a house full of robust life; I might have had

companions, and I chose solitude. Each of the teachers in turn made me

overtures of special intimacy; I tried them all. One I found to be an honest

woman, but a narrow thinker, a coarse feeler, and an egotist. The second

was a Parisienne, externally refined— at heart, corrupt— without a creed,

without a principle, without an affection: having penetrated the outward

crust of decorum in this character, you found a slough beneath. She had a

wonderful passion for presents; and, in this point, the third teacher— a per-

son otherwise characterless and insignificant— closely resembled her. This

last-named had also one other distinctive property— that of avarice. In her