"I wish them not only to be _taught_," said Mrs. Quabarl, "but
_interested_ in what they learn. In their history lessons, for instance,
you must try to make them feel that they are being introduced to the life-
stories of men and women who really lived, not merely committing a mass
of names and dates to memory. French, of course, I shall expect you to
talk at meal-times several days in the week."
"I shall talk French four days of the week and Russian in the remaining
three."
"Russian? My dear Miss Hope, no one in the house speaks or understands
Russian."
"That will not embarrass me in the least," said Lady Carlotta coldly.
Mrs. Quabarl, to use a colloquial expression, was knocked off her perch.
She was one of those imperfectly self-assured individuals who are
magnificent and autocratic as long as they are not seriously opposed. The
least show of unexpected resistance goes a long way towards rendering
them cowed and apologetic. When the new governess failed to express
wondering admiration of the large newly-purchased and expensive car, and
lightly alluded to the superior advantages of one or two makes which had
just been put on the market, the discomfiture of her patroness became
almost abject. Her feelings were those which might have animated a
general of ancient warfaring days, on beholding his heaviest
battle-elephant ignominiously driven off the field by slingers and
javelin throwers.
At dinner that evening, although reinforced by her husband, who usually
duplicated her opinions and lent her moral support generally, Mrs.
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