 Lucy. Did she not, in answering Dr. Bretton's question as
to whether she had ever seen the palace of the Prince of Bois l'Etang, say yeth,
she had been there theveral times.«
    »Papa, you are satirical, you are méchant! I can pronounce all the letters
of the alphabet as clearly as you can. But tell me this: you are very particular
in making me be civil to Dr. Bretton, do you like him yourself?«
    »To be sure: for old acquaintance sake I like him: then he is a very good
son to his mother; besides being a kind-hearted fellow and clever in his
profession: yes, the callant is well enough.«
    »Gallant! Ah, Scotchman! Papa, is it the Edinburgh or the Aberdeen accent
you have?«
    »Both, my pet, both; and doubtless the Glaswegian into the bargain: it is
that which enables me to speak French so well: a gude Scots tongue always
succeeds well at the French.«
    »The French! Scotch again: incorrigible, papa! You, too, need schooling.«
    »Well, Polly, you must persuade Miss Snowe to undertake both you and me; to
make you steady and womanly, and me refined and classical.«
    The light in which M. de Bassompierre evidently regarded Miss Snowe, used to
occasion me much inward edification. What contradictory attributes of character
we sometimes find ascribed to us, according to the eye with which we are viewed!
Madame Beck esteemed me learned and blue; Miss Fanshawe, caustic, ironic, and
cynical; Mr. Home, a model teacher, the essence of the sedate and discreet:
somewhat conventional perhaps, too strict, limited and scrupulous, but still the
pink and pattern of governess-correctness; whilst another person, Professor Paul
Emanuel, to wit, never lost an opportunity of intimating his opinion that mine
was rather a fiery and rash nature - adventurous, indocile, and audacious. I
smiled at them all. If any one knew me it was little Paulina Mary.
    As I would not be Paulina's nominal and paid companion, genial and
harmonious as I began to find her intercourse, she persuaded me to join her in
some study, as a regular and settled means of sustaining communication: she
proposed the German language, which, like myself, she found difficult of
mastery. We agreed to take our lessons in the Rue Crécy of the same mistress;
this arrangement threw us together for some hours of every week. M. de
Bassompierre seemed quite pleased:
