“‘Now, Genevra, I call you by your right name; you remember hearing me say last night to that old woman, that I intended educating you for the stage, if I took you from her; you are too young yet to know what that means, but you will learn in time. I have already adopted two little girls, situated much as you were, and mean to educate them also as actresses. I hope time will show that you possess a tractable disposition, and sweet temper, without which no accomplishments can be of advantage to you. You are to be placed at the same school with these girls, who will, doubtless, be friends and companions to you in your studies; in the course of five or six years, if you live, you will be prepared, by dint of hard study and application, to make your debut.’
“One half of these remarks I had not understood; I only comprehended, that I was required to perform something very difficult to be done; I presumed a sort of punishment, which was to prepare me for some future eclat; but after having experienced so much of destitution, slight privations seemed light as air, and I joyfully welcomed the idea of, as I thought, going to work.
“He told me to run up stairs, and ask Marguerite to find me some sort of hood, or bonnet, to wear out in the street. After an active search, she at length discovered a gingham hood, which I hastily tied on, and ran back to my protector; he took my hand, and we passed out into the street; it was a fine clear day, I remember; the sun shone bright, although the air was somewhat cold; how different I felt in spirit, as I gayly trotted along by his side; I did not feel the same acute sense of degradation I had always felt with that depraved old hag; the happy buoyant sense of being, which is the principal of happiness in youth, was gradually springing up again in my heart, which had been, as it were, stunted and depressed, by a malevolent genius.
“At a short distance from his own house, he stopped before a gloomy looking dwelling, chequered alternately on the front, with red and black brick; he knocked at a large gate, which seemed to form the only mode of entrance to this convent-like abode; it was slowly unbarred and opened by a stout german woman, dressed in the usual style of the peasantry; my friend passed her without remark, and we ascended a heavy stone stair-case, which wound upward from the court-yard; at the first landing place he led me into a large parlor, furnished plainly, but tastefully; the floor was uncarpeted, but waxed and rubbed till it shone, and reflected every object like a mirror; a piano stood in one corner, and all the chairs were covered with cushions, elegantly embroidered in German worsted; two sofas were also ornamented with the same beautiful work; there was no fire in the grate, however, and the room had a cold, comfortless air about it; one mirror, inserted between the windows, and opposite the door, as we entered, afforded me a full length view of myself, and I started with astonishment at seeing the pretty form reflected there; very different did it look from the ragged, dirty child, I was accustomed to see reflected in the shop windows as I passed.
“We had been seated scarcely a moment, when the door opened, and a small thin woman, with a sharp, bright expression of face, wearing a calico dress, and wrapped in a red shawl, came tripping in; they spoke together for some time, in the same unintelligible language I had heard the night before; at length, turning to me, the lady said in German, ‘So my dear, you are to be a pupil of mine, I hear; I trust I shall find you obedient and diligent.’ They resumed their conversation, while I sat quietly by the side of my new-found guardian; holding his hand in mine, for I felt sad, at thus being obliged so soon to part from him. I heard the sound of mirthful laughter, and noisy whispering, which seemed to be in the vicinity of the parlor, and looking down the stone-paved gallery, I saw at its farthest extremity a door open, and within the room many young girls seated at desks, studying. The house, in its architecture, resembled more one of those old gothic cathedrals, I have since seen in my travels, than anything else I can compare it to; it was lofty, antique, and gloomy, one almost felt like the ghosts themselves, as one walked through its stone galleries, and heard one’s steps resound with a hollow echo.
“When my guardian and the lady had finished their conference, which lasted more than half an hour, he took his hat, preparatory to departure. At the idea of losing this kind man, and being left in a strange house, to form acquaintances with people whom I neither knew, nor cared for, I burst into tears; the lady endeavored to console me, patting me on the head, telling me I should be her little favorite, and she was sure I would be contented and happy. Monsieur Belmont (I heard her call him so) shook me repeatedly by the hand, saying he should see me regularly twice a week; that I must obey Madame Deville in all things, and study hard, that I might become an accomplished girl.
“‘I have no doubt she will be both happy and satisfied, when she becomes a little accustomed to the pupils and myself,’ observed Madame to Monsieur Belmont, as she stood beside me, pressing my hand in hers.
“‘I hope so,’ was his reply, ‘it will be at least three months, I presume, before I can begin to give her instruction in music, she is so totally uninformed.’
“‘Oh yes,’ cried she, with the sharp, quick intonation of a French woman: ‘it will require at least that length of time to instruct her in the rudiments; I shall try and do my best, Monsieur, I assure you, with your protegé; before you go, would you not like to have Inez and Blanche called from the school-room, that they may be introduced to their future companion?’
“‘Yes,’ answered Monsieur, ‘if it is convenient, I should like to see them.’