Quotation from: Villette

Written by: Charlotte Bronte


The polite pupil was scarcely gone, when, unceremoniously, without
tap, in burst a second intruder. Had I been blind I should have known
who this was. A constitutional reserve of manner had by this time told
with wholesome and, for me, commodious effect, on the manners of my
co-inmates; rarely did I now suffer from rude or intrusive treatment.
When I first came, it would happen once and again that a blunt German
would clap me on the shoulder, and ask me to run a race; or a riotous
Labassecourienne seize me by the arm and drag me towards the
playground: urgent proposals to take a swing at the "Pas de Geant," or
to join in a certain romping hide-and-seek game called "Un, deux,
trois," were formerly also of hourly occurrence; but all these little
attentions had ceased some time ago--ceased, too, without my finding
it necessary to be at the trouble of point-blank cutting them short. I
had now no familiar demonstration to dread or endure, save from one
quarter; and as that was English I could bear it. Ginevra Fanshawe
made no scruple of--at times--catching me as I was crossing the carre,
whirling me round in a compulsory waltz, and heartily enjoying the
mental and physical discomfiture her proceeding induced. Ginevra
Fanshawe it was who now broke in upon "my learned leisure." She
carried a huge music-book under her arm.

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Old Dominion University CS Dept
Designed by Joan A. Smith for the CRATE project
Created: 2007-2-22T12:35:29Z
Part of the CratePreservation Project
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Part of a series of experiments in web preservation under the direction of Michael L. Nelson, Ph.D.