"What are you so anxious to learn French for?" "Mamma knows it, and I have often heard her talk French with a great many people; and papa and I always wanted to be able to talk it too; and mamma wanted me to learn it; she said there were a great many French books I ought to read." "That last is true, no doubt. Ellen, I will make a bargain with you,--if you will study English with me, I will study French with you." "Dear Miss Alice," said Ellen, caressing her, "I'll do it without that; I'll study anything you please." "Dear Ellen, I believe you would. But I should like to know it for my own sake; we'll study it together; we shall get along nicely, I have no doubt; we can learn to read it, at least, and that is the main point." "But how shall we know what to call the words?" said Ellen doubtfully. "That is a grave question," said Alice, smiling. "I am afraid we should hit upon a style of pronunciation that a Frenchman would make nothing of. I have it!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands--"where there's a will there's a way--it always happens so. Ellen, I have an old friend upon the mountain who will give us exactly what we want, unless I am greatly mistaken. We'll go and see her; that is the very thing!--my old friend Mrs. Vawse." "Mrs. Vawse!" repeated Ellen; "not the grandmother of that Nancy Vawse?" "The very same. Her name is not Vawse; the country people call it so, and I being one of the country people have fallen into the way of it; but her real name is Vosier. She was born a Swiss, and brought up in a wealthy French family, as the personal attendant of a young lady to whom she became exceedingly attached. This lady finally married an American gentleman; and so great was Mrs. Vawse's love to her, that she left country and family to follow her here. In a few years her mistress died; she married; and since that time she has been tossed from trouble to trouble; a perfect sea of troubles;--till now she is left like a wreck upon this mountain top. A fine wreck she is! I go to see her very often, and next time I will call for you, and we will propose our French plan; nothing will please her better, I know. By the way, Ellen, are you as well versed in the other common branches of education as you are in your mother tongue?" "What do you mean, Miss Alice?" "Geography, for instance; do you know it well?" "Yes, ma'am, I believe so; I am sure I have studied it till I am sick of it." "Can you give me the boundaries of Great Thibet or Peru?" Ellen hesitated. "I had rather not try," she said; "I am not sure. I can't remember those queer countries in Asia and South America half so well as Europe and North America." "Do you know anything about the surface of the country in Italy or France; the character and condition of the people; what kind of climate they have, and what grows there most freely?" "Why no, ma'am," said Ellen; "nobody ever taught me that."