rather young women; it suited them ill, and gave an air of oddity even

I was still looking at them, and also at intervals examining the

teachers- none of whom precisely pleased me; for the stout one was a

little coarse, the dark one not a little fierce, the foreigner harsh

and grotesque, and Miss Miller, poor thing! looked purple,

weather-beaten, and over-worked- when, as my eye wandered from face to

face, the whole school rose simultaneously, as if moved by a common

What was the matter? I had heard no order given: I was puzzled. Ere