Mrs.or Madam Delacoste's boarding-school had a name which on the whole it deserved pretty well.

She had some very good instructors for girls who wished to get up useful knowledge in case they might marry professors or ministers.

They had a chance to learn music, dancing, drawing, and the way of behaving in company.

There was a chance, too, to pick up available acquaintances, for many rich people sent their daughters to the school, and it was something to have been bred in their company.
There was the usual division of the scholars into a first and second set, according to the social position, mainly depending upon the fortune, of the families to which they belonged.

The wholesale dealer's daughter very naturally considered herself as belonging to a different order from the retail dealer's daughter.