the smile, coloured with the bloom I had seen brightening
it that evening at the Hôtel Crécy. He was not angry - not even grieved. For the
real injury he showed himself full of clemency; under the real provocation,
patient as a saint. This event, which seemed so untoward - which I thought had
ruined at once my chance of successful persuasion - proved my best help.
Difficult of management so long as I had done him no harm, he became graciously
pliant as soon as I stood in his presence, a conscious and contrite offender.
    Still gently railing at me as »une forte femme - une Anglaise terrible - une
petite casse-tout« - he declared that he dared not but obey one who had given
such an instance of her dangerous prowess; it was absolutely like the »grand
Empereur, smashing the vase to inspire dismay.« So, at last, crowning himself
with his bonnet-grec, and taking his ruined lunettes from my hand with a clasp
of kind pardon and encouragement, he made his bow, and went off to the Athénée
in first-rate humour and spirits.
 
After all this amiability, the reader will be sorry for my sake to hear that I
was quarrelling with M. Paul again before night; yet so it was, and I could not
help it.
    It was his occasional custom - and a very laudable, acceptable custom, too -
to arrive of an evening, always à l'improviste, unannounced, burst in on the
silent hour of study, establish a sudden despotism over us and our occupations,
cause books to be put away, work-bags to be brought out, and, drawing forth a
single thick volume, or a handful of pamphlets, substitute for the besotted
»lecture pieuse,« drawled by a sleepy pupil, some tragedy made grand by grand
reading, ardent by fiery action - some drama, whereof, for my part, I rarely
studied the intrinsic merit; for M. Emanuel made it a vessel for an outpouring,
and filled it with his native verve and passion like a cup with a vital brewage.
Or else he would flash through our conventual darkness a reflex of a brighter
world, show us a glimpse of the current literature of the day, read us passages
from some enchanting tale, or the last witty feuilleton which had awakened
laughter in the saloons of Paris; taking care always to expunge, with the
severest hand, whether from tragedy, melo-drama, tale, or essay, whatever
passage, phrase, or word, could be deemed unsuited to an audience of »jeunes
filles