In the course of the day, Duprez had accidentally lapsed into French, whereupon to his surprise Thelma had answered him in the same tongue,--though with a different and much softer pronunciation.
Her "_bien zoli_!" had the mellifluous sweetness of the Provencal dialect, and on his eagerly questioning her, he learned that she had received her education in a large convent at Arles, where she had learned French from the nuns.

Her father overheard her talking of her school-days, and he added-- "Yes, I sent my girl away for her education, though I know the teaching is good in Christiania.

Yet it did not seem good enough for her.
Besides, your modern 'higher education' is not the thing for a woman,--it is too heavy and commonplace.

Thelma knows nothing about mathematics or algebra.

She can sing and read and write,--and, what is more, she can spin and sew; but even these things were not the first consideration with me.