All in the house are Catholics except ourselves, one other girl, and the gouvernante of Madame's children, an Englishwoman, in rank something between a lady's maid and a nursery governess.

The difference in country and religion makes a broad line of demarcation between us and all the rest.

We are completely isolated in the midst of numbers.

Yet I think I am never unhappy; my present life is so delightful, so congenial to my own nature, compared to that of a governess.

My time, constantly occupied, passes too rapidly.