For my part, I should have liked to go wandering through the woods, spending ten minutes here and ten minutes there; now stopping to pluck a flower, and now to sit down upon some mossy fallen tree; or else to have lost myself amongst the embowering leaves. In short, I should have liked to do just as I pleased; while all the time the rule seemed to be that we should do just as some one else liked; and "some one else" was generally that detestable, screwy, old Miss Furness, with her "Keep together, young ladies," or "Now, a little faster," or "Straightforward," or "To the right" Oh! it was so sickening, I declare that I would rather have sat up in the dormitory--pooh, such nonsense!-- in the bedroom, and watched and envied the birds in the long, wavy boughs of the beautiful cedars. I know I could have contrived several meetings if it had not been for Miss Furness, who was always prying and peering about, as suspiciously as possible, though half of that was on purpose to annoy me, and because she knew that I did not like it. But though Clara had at one time vowed that she would not help me, she never, in the slightest degree, went against any of my plans; but even went so far as to allow herself to be turned into a passive post-office--if I may use the expression--by holding a note for Achille in her French grammar, and bringing back another when she had had her regular scolding--for she certainly was very stupid over her French, though at one time she had manifested considerable ability over her Italian, while she sketched beautifully.