As I passed the governess-pupil, I said to her-- "You have come in too late to receive a lesson to-day; try to be more punctual next time." I was behind her, and could not read in her face the effect of my not very civil speech.

Probably I should not have troubled myself to do so, had I been full in front; but I observed that she immediately began to slip her books into her cabas again; and, presently, after I had returned to the estrade, while I was arranging the mass of compositions, I heard the folding-door again open and close; and, on looking up, I perceived her place vacant.

I thought to myself, "She will consider her first attempt at taking a lesson in English something of a failure;" and I wondered whether she had departed in the sulks, or whether stupidity had induced her to take my words too literally, or, finally, whether my irritable tone had wounded her feelings.

The last notion I dismissed almost as soon as I had conceived it, for not having seen any appearance of sensitiveness in any human face since my arrival in Belgium, I had begun to regard it almost as a fabulous quality.

Whether her physiognomy announced it I could not tell, for her speedy exit had allowed me no time to ascertain the circumstance.