, or do not know - it is equal: without that rôle the
play is stopped. There are now but a few hours in which to learn it: not a girl
in this school would hear reason, and accept the task. Forsooth, it is not an
interesting, not an amiable, part; their vile amour-propre - that base quality
of which women have so much - would revolt from it. Englishwomen are either the
best or the worst of their sex. Dieu sait que je les déteste comme la peste,
ordinairement« (this between his recreant teeth). »I apply to an Englishwoman to
rescue me. What is her answer - Yes, or No?«
    A thousand objections rushed into my mind. The foreign language, the limited
time, the public display ... Inclination recoiled, Ability faltered,
Self-respect (that vile quality) trembled. »Non, non, non!« said all these; but
looking up at M. Paul, and seeing in his vexed, fiery, and searching eye, a sort
of appeal behind all its menace - my lips dropped the word oui. For a moment,
his rigid countenance relaxed with a quiver of content: quickly bent up again,
however, he went on, -
    »Vîte à l'ouvrage! Here is the book; here is your rôle: read.« And I read.
He did not commend; at some passages he scowled and stamped. He gave me a
lesson: I diligently imitated. It was a disagreeable part, - a man's - an
empty-headed fop's. One could put into it neither heart nor soul: I hated it.
The play - a mere trifle - ran chiefly on the efforts of a brace of rivals to
gain the hand of a fair coquette. One lover was called the Ours, a good and
gallant but unpolished man, a sort of diamond in the rough; the other was a
butterfly, a talker, and a traitor: and I was to be the butterfly, talker, and
traitor.
    I did my best - which was bad, I know: it provoked M. Paul; he fumed.
Putting both hands to the work, I endeavoured to do better than my best; I
presume he gave me credit for good intentions; he professed to be partially
content. »Ça ira!« he cried; and as voices began sounding from the garden, and
white dresses fluttering among the trees, he added: »You must withdraw: you must
be alone to learn this. Come with me