About three months before I left school we were told one morning that a new music and French teacher would take her abode in B-- Seminary the next day. We were all extremely anxious to see her, and at the expected hour she made her appearance. Her name was Laura Castleton, and her father lived in St. Mary's County, Maryland. She was a brunette, about twenty years of age, and one of the most beautiful girls I ever saw. She was nearly as tall as myself, but considerably stouter, and her body was molded in a most exquisite manner. Although her eyes were very black and her hair like the raven's plume, her skin was as white as alabaster. Her teeth were as regular as if they had been cut of a solid piece of ivory, and her hands and feet were fairylike in their proportions. I was the eldest girl in the school and Laura immediately made me her companion. She was exceedingly intelligent, well educated, and well read. I was soon attracted to her and we became inseparable. We would pass all our spare time reading to each other or in conversation on literary subjects. I agreed to love her with my whole heart, and was never happy outside of her company. "Laura," I said to her one day when we were walking on the playground with our arms around each other's waist, "why can't we sleep together?" "Would you like it, Kate?" she asked, bending her black eyes upon my face with a peculiar gloom in them which sent the blood rushing to my cheeks--but why and wherefore I did not know. "Indeed I would, Laura. It would be so nice to lie in your arms all night." "Well, darling, I will ask Mrs. B--. I have no doubt that she will give her consent." The lovely girl drew me towards her and gave me a warmer kiss than she had ever before bestowed upon me. The contact of her easy lips to mine sent an indefinable thrill through my body which I had never experienced before. In the evening she informed me that she had spoken to Mrs. B--and that the latter had consented that we should sleep together. I was overjoyed at this news and longed for night to come so that I might recline in my darling's arms.