"What a pretty thing that is!"
"This reticule? Yes, it is pretty: and very convenient. Have you one?"
"Not like that. Mine is an ugly one, made out of a piece of carpet; I bought it ever so long ago at the fair at Nulle."
"Shall you ever go back to Nulle?"
"I should be there at this present time, but for a fever that has broken out at Miss Barlieu's. It is getting better, though; I heard from Miss Annette on Saturday."
"Fever, or not fever, I should say it would be a happy change for you from this dull place.
Dull! This! It was my Elysium. I felt like a guilty girl in my self-consciousness, and the bright colour stole over my face and neck.
"Allow me to fasten your dress for you."
I thanked her, but laughingly said that I was accustomed to dress myself. She laughed too; observed that schoolgirls generally could help themselves, having no choice upon the point, and turned to look from the window.
She stood there with her back to me until I was ready to go down, sometimes turning her head to speak. We quitted the room together, and she seemed to have recovered her good temper. I had reached the foot of the stairs when I happened to look up the well of the staircase. There was the face of Mrs. Penn, regarding me with a strange intensity. What did she see in me?