Imposed upon by this treacherous recommendation, Madame de Fleury received into the midst of her innocent young pupils one who might have corrupted their minds secretly and irrecoverably.

Fortunately a discovery was made in time of Manon's real disposition.

A mere trifle led to the detection of her habits of falsehood.

As she could not do any kind of needlework, she was employed in winding cotton; she was negligent, and did not in the course of the week wind the same number of balls as her companions; and to conceal this, she pretended that she had delivered the proper number to the woman, who regularly called at the end of the week for the cotton.

The woman persisted in her account, and the children in theirs; and Manon would not retract her assertion.