“I believe that, from the good reports I have heard through our old friend, your professor.”

“He was very nice to me; it was through him that I knew about the Frenchman who will instruct me here.”

“So you’ve arranged all that, too.”

“Oh, yes; I begin my lessons next Monday.”

“Smart girl. How are you situated here; are you comfortable?”

“Comfortable!” she laughed. “I have to come downstairs to draw a good breath. They stow me away in a sort of a garret on the fourth floor. As Cousin John would say, there isn’t room to ‘cuss’ a cat without turning sideways.”

“I believe your Southern men are more given to profanity than Northerners,” he said.

“Oh, but his is so whole-souled that it is only ‘profunity.’”

“Oh, dear; don’t think that I’m opposed to it,” Glenn interrupted. “I sometimes find relief in a good, wholesome—”

Esther held up a warning forefinger.