Now he had entered the sixth grade, under M.Bance, an unfortunate fellow about twenty years old, ugly, lame, and foolishly timid, whom M.Batifol reproached severely with not having made himself respected, and whose eyes filled with tears every morning when, upon entering the schoolroom, he was obliged to efface with a cloth a caricature of himself made by some of his pupils.
Everything in M.Batifol's school--the grotesque and miserable teachers, the ferocious and cynical pupils, the dingy, dusty, and ink-stained rooms--saddened and displeased Amedee.

Although very intelligent, he was disgusted with the sort of instruction there, which was served out in portions, like soldier's rations, and would have lost courage but for his little friend, Louise Gerard, who out of sheer kindness constituted herself his school-mistress, guiding and inspiriting him, and working hard at the rudiments of L'homond's Grammar and Alexandre's Dictionary, to help the child struggle with his 'De Viris'.

Unfortunate indeed is he who has not had, during his infancy, a petticoat near him--the sweet influence of a woman.

He will always have something coarse in his mind and hard in his heart.

Without this excellent and kind Louise, Amedee would have been exposed to this danger.