My Master’s Pupils. 177
he was shown into a room laden with scent—how
his pupils brought fresh wafts of it into the room—
how, as he bent over them, their handkerchiefs,
their dresses, their very hair, seemed laden with
heavy, sickly sweetness—until, so he declared, he
could endure it no longer, and taking up his hat,
he said with a sweeping bow, ‘ Ladies, you are all
too sweet, I can teach you no more,’ and escaped.
No! put fifty, put a hundred aunts, mothers, parents,
governesses in the room, if you would, but not five
drops of that sickly, overpowering scent.

“The next day my new pupils came—bright
little country maidens, with no scent about them
but that of the fresh country air, accompanied by a
pleasant, sensible-looking mother. I told her my
objection—my inability to teach in the presence of
a listener; and she shewed her good sense—she
retired, not even bidding her daughters behave well
in her absence; she knew there was no necd.

“The eldest was a sweet, wise, sensible girl; but
I need not describe her—he knows Miss Churchill,
and appreciates her excellence.

“The second was not brilliant—slow, yet not un-
intelligent, nor averse to learn. Though no very
apt scholar at her music, she was devoted to poetry,
and during her sisters’ music-lessons, if she had

finished her appointed task, she would devour
M