Man-woman relationships -- Fiction; Poor families -- Fiction; Young women -- Fiction
I turned round to the speaker, and saw that she was a girl of my age.
Without knowing exactly why, I asked myself whether she was pretty
or not, and while I answered her, I thought about the question I had
put to myself, and decided at last that she was pretty. She had large
bright eyes and auburn hair; her face was well-shaped, yet there was
something in it to which I could not get used. What it was, however,
I could not tell. She asked me a few other questions, and I inquired
whether it was possible for me to find a situation soon.
"What kind of situation do you want?"
"I don't at all mind," I answered.
"As you do not seem to be so very particular, I think you will find one
easily."
Later on I noticed that she slept in the bed next to me. I liked her
best of all the girls. When she got into bed she rubbed her hands with
glycerine, that was all. The others took far more trouble in getting
ready for the night. Midst laughing and joking they took off their
false plaits, etc., and throwing the things on their beds, they began
to dance about on them. At ten o'clock the light had to be put out, but
the girls became none the quieter for that. They had so many things to
tell each other, and several times, when I was on the point of going
off to sleep, their laughter woke me again.
By-and-by, however, the stories grew shorter, their jokes less
frequent, and at last they all slept the sound, peaceful sleep of
heedlessness. Although the girls had not made a very good impression on
me, I was glad to rest my tired limbs, and while I listened to their
breathing, my soul filled with almost happy thoughts.
On the following morning we had to assemble again for prayer, and I
noticed that they were different from those of the evening before. Each
girl having received a Bible, we formed a circle. Then the directress
began to read a passage out of the Bible, and we had in our turn to
continue.
When it was my turn I read:
"And of the rest of the oil that is in his hand shall the priest put
upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon
the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great-toe of his right foot,
upon the blood of the trespass offering."
At the end the directress again prayed for the "poor helpless girls,"
and after that we were free for the day. As soon as I had got up from
my knees, I went over to the directress and asked her to give me an
address at which I might inquire for a situation. She motioned me to
follow her. In her room she sat down, and looked at me thoughtfully.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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