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The Little Princess Chapter 2 - A French Lesson · The Frances Hodgson Burnett Library

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  Speaker 1: CHAPTER II. A FRENCH LESSON When Sarah entered the schoolroom
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  Speaker 1: the next morning, everybody looked at her with wide, interested eyes.
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  Speaker 1: By that time every pupil, from Lavinia Herbert, who was
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  Speaker 1: nearly thirteen and felt quite grown up, to Lottie Lee,
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  Speaker 1: who was only just four and the baby of the school,
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  Speaker 1: had heard a great deal about her. They knew very
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  Speaker 1: certainly that she was Miss Minchin's show pupil and was
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  Speaker 1: considered a credit to the establishment. One or two of
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  Speaker 1: them had even caught a glimpse of her French maid, Mariette,
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  Speaker 1: who had arrived the evening before. Lavinia had managed to
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  Speaker 1: pass Sarah's room when the door was open and had
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  Speaker 1: seen Mariette opening a box which had arrived late from
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  Speaker 1: some shop. It was full of petticoats with lace frills
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  Speaker 1: on them, frills and frills, she whispered to her friend
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  Speaker 1: Jessie as she bent over her geography. I saw her
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  Speaker 1: shaking them out. I heard Miss Minchin say to Miss
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  Speaker 1: Amelia that her clothes were so grand that they were
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  Speaker 1: ridiculous for a child. My Mama says that children should
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  Speaker 1: be dressed simply. She has got one of those petticoats
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  Speaker 1: on now. I saw it when she sat down. She
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  Speaker 1: has silk stockings on. whispered Jessie, bending over her geography also.
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  Speaker 1: And what little feet! I never saw such little feet. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: sniffed Lavinia spitefully, that is the way her slippers are made.
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  Speaker 1: My mama says that even big feet can be made
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  Speaker 1: to look small if you have a clever shoemaker. I
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  Speaker 1: don't think she is pretty at all. Her eyes are
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  Speaker 1: such a queer colour. She isn't pretty as other pretty
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  Speaker 1: people are, said Jessie, stealing a glance across the room.
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  Speaker 1: But she makes you want to look at her again.
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  Speaker 1: She has tremendously long eyelashes, but her eyes are almost green.
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  Speaker 1: Sarah was sitting quietly in her seat, waiting to be
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  Speaker 1: told what to do. She had been placed near Miss
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  Speaker 1: Minchin's desk. She was not abashed at all by the
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  Speaker 1: many pairs of eyes watching her. She was interested and
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  Speaker 1: looked back quietly at the children who looked at her.
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  Speaker 1: She wondered what they were thinking of, and if they
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  Speaker 1: liked Miss Minchin, and if they cared for their lessons,
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  Speaker 1: and if any of them had a papa at all
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  Speaker 1: like her own. She had had a long talk with
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  Speaker 1: Emily about her papa that morning.' He is on the
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  Speaker 1: sea now, Emily,' she had said.' We must be very
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  Speaker 1: great friends to each other, and tell each other things. Emily,
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  Speaker 1: look at me. You have the nicest eyes I ever saw.'
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  Speaker 1: but I wish you could speak.' She was a child
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  Speaker 1: full of imaginings and whimsical thoughts, and one of her
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  Speaker 1: fancies was that there would be a great deal of
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  Speaker 1: comfort in even pretending that Emily was alive and really
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  Speaker 1: heard and understood. After Mariette had dressed her in her
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  Speaker 1: dark blue schoolroom frock and tied her hair with a
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  Speaker 1: dark blue ribbon, she went to Emily, who sat in
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  Speaker 1: a chair of her own, and gave her a book.'
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  Speaker 1: You can read that while I am downstairs,' she said,
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  Speaker 1: and seeing Mariette looking at her curiously, she spoke to
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  Speaker 1: her with a serious little face. What I believe about dolls,
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  Speaker 1: she said, is that they can do things they will
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  Speaker 1: not let us know about. Perhaps really Emily can read
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  Speaker 1: and talk and walk, but she will only do it
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  Speaker 1: when people are out of the room. That is her secret.
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  Speaker 1: You see, if people knew that dolls could do things,
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  Speaker 1: they would make them work. So perhaps they have promised
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  Speaker 1: each other to keep it a secret. If you stay
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  Speaker 1: in the room, Emily will just sit there and stare.
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  Speaker 1: But if you go out, she'll begin to read, perhaps,
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  Speaker 1: or go and look out of the window. Then, if
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  Speaker 1: she heard either of us coming, she would just run
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  Speaker 1: back and jump into her chair and pretend she had
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  Speaker 1: been there all the time. Comme elle est drôle, Mariette
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  Speaker 1: said to herself, and when she went downstairs, she told
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  Speaker 1: the head housemaid about it. but she had already begun
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  Speaker 1: to like this odd little girl who had such an
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  Speaker 1: intelligent small face and such perfect manners. She had taken
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  Speaker 1: care of children before who were not so polite. Sarah
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  Speaker 1: was a very fine little person and had a gentle,
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  Speaker 1: appreciative way of saying,' If you please, Mariette.'' Thank you, Mariette,'
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  Speaker 1: which was very charming. Mariette told the head housemaid that
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  Speaker 1: she thanked her as if she was thanking a lady.
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  Speaker 1: Elle a l'air d'une princesse, cette petite, she said. Indeed,
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  Speaker 1: she was very much pleased with her new little mistress
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  Speaker 1: and liked her place greatly. After Sarah had sat in
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  Speaker 1: her seat in the schoolroom for a few minutes, being
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  Speaker 1: looked at by the pupils, Miss Minchin rapped in a
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  Speaker 1: dignified manner upon her desk. Young ladies, she said, I
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  Speaker 1: wish to introduce you to your new companion. All the
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  Speaker 1: little girls rose in their places and Sarah rose also.
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  Speaker 1: I shall expect you all to be very agreeable to
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  Speaker 1: Miss Crewe. She has just come to us from a
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  Speaker 1: great distance, in fact from India. As soon as lessons
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  Speaker 1: are over, you must make each other's acquaintance.' The pupils
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  Speaker 1: bowed ceremoniously, and Sarah made a little curtsy, and then
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  Speaker 1: they sat down and looked at each other again.' Sarah,'
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  Speaker 1: said Miss Minchin in her schoolroom manner,' come here to me.'
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  Speaker 1: She had taken a book from the desk and was
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  Speaker 1: turning over its leaves. Sarah went to her politely. As
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  Speaker 1: your papa has engaged a French maid for you, she began,
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  Speaker 1: I conclude that he wishes you to make a special
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  Speaker 1: study of the French language. Sarah felt a little awkward.
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  Speaker 1: I think he engaged her, she said, because he thought
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  Speaker 1: I would like her, Miss Minchin. I am afraid, said
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  Speaker 1: Miss Minchin with a slightly sour smile, that you have
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  Speaker 1: been a very spoiled little girl. and always imagine that
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  Speaker 1: things are done because you like them. My impression is
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  Speaker 1: that your papa wished you to learn French. If Sarah
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  Speaker 1: had been older, or less punctilious about being quite polite
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  Speaker 1: to people, she could have explained herself in a very
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  Speaker 1: few words. But as it was, she felt a flush
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  Speaker 1: rising on her cheeks. Miss Minchin was a very severe
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  Speaker 1: and imposing person, and she seemed so absolutely sure that
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  Speaker 1: Sarah knew nothing whatever of French, that she felt as
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  Speaker 1: if it would be almost rude to correct her. The
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  Speaker 1: truth was that Sarah could not remember the time when
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  Speaker 1: she had not seemed to know French. Her father had
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  Speaker 1: often spoken it to her when she had been a baby.
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  Speaker 1: Her mother had been a Frenchwoman, and Captain Crewe had
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  Speaker 1: loved her language, so it happened that Sarah had always
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  Speaker 1: heard and been familiar with it.' I— I have never really
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  Speaker 1: learned French, but— but—' she began, trying shyly to make herself clear.
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  Speaker 1: One of Miss Minchin's chief secret annoyances was that she
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  Speaker 1: did not speak French herself, and was desirous of concealing
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  Speaker 1: the irritating fact. She therefore had no intention of discussing
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  Speaker 1: the matter and laying herself open to innocent questioning by
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  Speaker 1: a new little pupil.' That is enough,' she said with
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  Speaker 1: polite tartness.' If you have not learned, you must begin
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  Speaker 1: at once. The French master, Monsieur Dufarge, will be here
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  Speaker 1: in a few minutes. Take this book and look at
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  Speaker 1: it until he arrives.' Sarah's cheeks felt warm. She went
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  Speaker 1: back to her seat and opened the book. She looked
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  Speaker 1: at the first page with a grave face. She knew
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  Speaker 1: it would be rude to smile, and she was very
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  Speaker 1: determined not to be rude. But it was very odd
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  Speaker 1: to find herself expected to study a page which told
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  Speaker 1: her that Le Père meant the father and La Mère
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  Speaker 1: meant the mother. Miss Minchin glanced toward her scrutinizingly. You
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  Speaker 1: look rather cross, Sarah, she said. I am sorry you
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  Speaker 1: do not like the idea of learning French. I am
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  Speaker 1: very fond of it, answered Sarah, thinking she would try again. But...
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  Speaker 1: You must not say but when you are told to
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  Speaker 1: do things, said Miss Minchin. Look at your book again.
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  Speaker 1: And Sarah did so, and did not smile, even when
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  Speaker 1: she found that le fils meant the son and le
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  Speaker 1: frere meant the brother. When Monsieur Dufage comes, she thought,
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  Speaker 1: I can make him understand. Monsieur Dufarge arrived very shortly afterward.
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  Speaker 1: He was a very nice, intelligent, middle-aged Frenchman, and he
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  Speaker 1: looked interested when his eyes fell upon Sarah, trying politely
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  Speaker 1: to seem absorbed in her little book of phrases. Is
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  Speaker 1: this a new pupil for me, madame? he said to
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  Speaker 1: Miss Minchin. I hope that is my good fortune. Herr Papa,
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  Speaker 1: Captain Crewe, is very anxious that she should begin the language,
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  Speaker 1: but I am afraid she has a childish prejudice against it.
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  Speaker 1: She does not seem to wish to learn, said Miss Minchin.
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  Speaker 1: I am sorry of that, mademoiselle, he said kindly to Sarah.
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  Speaker 1: Perhaps when we begin to study together, I may show
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  Speaker 1: you that it is a charming tongue. Little Sarah rose
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  Speaker 1: in her seat. She was beginning to feel rather desperate,
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  Speaker 1: as if she were almost in disgrace. She looked up
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  Speaker 1: into Monsieur Dufarge's face with her big, grey-green eyes, and
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  Speaker 1: they were quite innocently appealing. she knew that he would
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  Speaker 1: understand as soon as she spoke she began to explain
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  Speaker 1: quite simply in pretty and fluent french madame had not
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  Speaker 1: understood she had not learned french exactly not out of
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  Speaker 1: books but her papa and other people had always spoken
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  Speaker 1: it to her, and she had read it and written
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  Speaker 1: it as she had read and written English. Her papa
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  Speaker 1: loved it, and she loved it because he did. Her
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  Speaker 1: dear mama, who had died when she was born, had
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  Speaker 1: been French. She would be glad to learn anything Monsieur
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  Speaker 1: would teach her, but what she had tried to explain
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  Speaker 1: to Madame was that she already knew the words in
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  Speaker 1: this book. And she held out the little book of phrases.
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  Speaker 1: When she began to speak, Miss Minchin started quite violently
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  Speaker 1: and sat staring at her over her eyeglasses, almost indignantly,
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  Speaker 1: until she had finished. Monsieur Dufarge began to smile, and
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  Speaker 1: his smile was one of great pleasure. To hear this pretty,
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  Speaker 1: childish voice speaking his own language so simply and charmingly
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  Speaker 1: made him feel almost as if he were in his
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  Speaker 1: native land, which in dark, foggy days in London sometimes
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  Speaker 1: seemed worlds away. When she had finished, he took the
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  Speaker 1: phrasebook from her, with a look almost affectionate. But he
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  Speaker 1: spoke to Miss Minchin.' Ah, madame,' he said,' there is
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  Speaker 1: not much I can teach her. She has not learned French.
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  Speaker 1: She is French. Her accent is exquisite.' You ought to
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  Speaker 1: have told me, exclaimed Miss Minchin, much mortified, turning to Sarah.
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  Speaker 1: I— I tried, said Sarah. I— I suppose I did not begin right.
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  Speaker 1: Miss Minchin knew she had tried, and that it had
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  Speaker 1: not been her fault that she was not allowed to explain.
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  Speaker 1: And when she saw that the pupils had been listening,
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  Speaker 1: and that Lavinia and Jessie were giggling behind their French grammars,
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  Speaker 1: she felt infuriated. Silence, young ladies, she said severely, rapping
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  Speaker 1: upon the desk. Silence at once. And she began from
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  Speaker 1: that minute to feel rather a grudge against her show pupil.
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  Speaker 1: End of chapter 2