The year passed by without any great change in my life, but two months before my second examination I had the misfortune to have to change my professor. Provost was taken ill, and I went in to Samson’s class. He counted very much on me, but he was authoritative and persistent. He gave me two very bad parts in two very bad pieces: _Hortense_, in “L’Ecole des Vieillards,” by Casimir Delavigne, for comedy, and “La Fille du Cid,” for tragedy. This piece was also by Casimir Delavigne. I did not feel at all in my element in these two rôles, both of which were written in hard, emphatic language. The examination day arrived, and I did not look at all nice. My mother had insisted on my having my hair done up by her hairdresser, and I had cried and sobbed on seeing this “Figaro” make partings all over my head in order to separate my rebellious mane. Idiot that he was, he had suggested this style to my mother, and my head was in his stupid hands for more than an hour and a half, for he never before had to deal with a mane like mine. He kept mopping his forehead every five minutes, and muttering: “What hair! Good heavens! it is horrible—just like tow! It might be the hair of a white negress!” Turning to my mother, he suggested that my head should be entirely shaved, and the hair then trained as it grew again. “I will think about it,” replied my mother in an absent-minded way. I turned my head so abruptly to look at her when she said this that the curling irons burned my forehead. The man was using the irons to _uncurl_ my hair. He considered that it curled naturally in such a disordered style that he must get the natural curl out of it and then wave it, as this would be more becoming to the face. “Mademoiselle’s hair is stopped in its growth by this extreme curliness. All the Tangiers girls and negresses have hair like this. As mademoiselle is going on the stage, she would look better if she had hair like madame,” he said, bowing with respectful admiration to my mother, who certainly had the most beautiful hair imaginable. It was fair and so long that, when standing up, she could tread on it and not bend her head. It is only fair to say, though, that my mother was very short. Finally, I was out of the hands of this wretched man, and was nearly dead with fright after an hour and a half’s brushing, combing, curling, hairpinning, with my head turned from left to right and from right to left. I was completely disfigured at the end of it all, and did not recognize myself. My hair was drawn tightly back from my temples, my ears were very visible and stood out, looking positively improper in their nakedness, while on the top of my head was a parcel of little sausages arranged near each other to imitate the ancient diadem.