Every evening, from six to eight, they all sat in the gardens in a circle together, sewing, knitting, and chatting, with occasional merry bursts of laughter.

Their existence is not, by many degrees, as monotonous as that of most women in isolated households--especially of the farmer's wife in her solitary home, miles away from a village and a post office.

They taught a school of fifty orphan girls, who lived in the convent, and for whom they frequently had entertainments.

They also had a few boarders of the old aristocracy of France, who hate the Republic and still cling to their belief in Popes and Kings.

For the purpose of perfecting herself in the language, my daughter embraced every opportunity to talk with all she met, and thus learned the secrets of their inner life.