"Perhaps not. I shouldn't think it likely that you had. I don't suppose that M. Doumer talks to everyone about all of his pupils." "Are you one of his pupils? "I am. I am at Lingfield House School, and I have been in his French class for now going on for four terms." "And who's Miss-- What's-her-name? Is she another of the pupils?" "Miss Frazer is one of our governesses; and if he thinks that because she is an Englishwoman he can use her as if she were a football he's mistaken." "Use her as if she were a football? What do you mean? What's he been doing to her?" "He's broken her heart, that's what he's been doing to her. And when I came away just now she was crying so that if someone doesn't stop her soon I know she'll do herself an injury." The landlady person made a noise with her nose which I should describe as a sniff. She straightened herself up as if she were trying to add another three or four inches to her stature, which would not have made her very tall even if she had succeeded. "I thought as much. I have suspected it for months. But I am not one to speak unless I know. The man's a regular Bluebeard." "A regular Bluebeard!--M. Doumer!" "A complete Don Juan. I have long been convinced of it. He fascinates every woman he comes across. But he doesn't care." The idea of calling that barrel-shaped monster, with his shining yellow head and scrubbing-brush physiognomy, a "complete Don Juan" so filled me with astonishment that for a second or two I could only look my feelings. "M. Doumer is not like my idea of Don Juan in the very least." "Indeed! And pray what do you know about Don Juan? A chit of your age! At my time of life I suppose I may be allowed to know something of what I'm talking about, and I tell you that I'm persuaded that he breaks hearts like walnuts." "But--he's so ugly!" "Ugly! Maximilian Doumer ugly! Misguided girl! But it's not becoming that I should discuss such subjects with a mere child like you. I know what I know. But it is none the less my duty on that account to see that he trifles with no woman's affections. And as his wife my duty shall be done."