Sophie had totally misinterpreted the theme. No thoughts had filled her mind at the sight of that lieutenant whom the master had depicted as a marked out enemy, in order to exercise his pupils in man[oe]uvring; she had only described his cloak, his entire uniform with sword and carbine; for the rest of the portrait the tutor himself had sat, and she had not neglected to expatiate upon the warlike fire that flashed in the eye of the officer and his imposing moustache. Sophie was sharply reprimanded on account of that unseemly representation! she had gained no elevating ideas from the Lieutenant, and, besides, had described him in very clumsy style. It was, said the master, a veritable hurdle-race, over fences and ditches, in which the German language must break its legs and arms. The master pleased Lori. She should not dismiss him on any account. By means of this very fanciful theme that he had selected, he would bring the pupils to a clear consciousness of a feeling of propriety. History was being taught in the second class; the teacher was a girl not much older than her pupils, with a face like painted china, and full of painfully stiff dignity. She was examining the girls about the Seven Years' War, and utter strategic embarrassment was displayed. The Austrians were beaten at Rossbach, the French at Zorndorf. As regards the dates hopeless confusion prevailed, which was shared by the teacher, who was deprived of her self-possession by the visitors, and at last it was unanimously decided, with her silent consent, to transpose the peace of Hubertusburg to a period in which Frederick the Great was only preparing for war. Fräulein Sohle considered it advisable to interfere so as to reduce Frederick the Great's affairs to something like order. However, she could not even provide any proper place for the battle of Kunersdorf, and wandered vainly from one date to another. The third class was in a state of complete anarchy; the teacher had been obliged to send an apology for her absence on account of violent toothache, but that message had not reached Fräulein Sohle. Miss Sourland, a little English girl, had assumed the lecturer's seat, and parodied the teacher's English in so comical a manner that all the girls crowded round her with peals of laughter; she was at that moment engaged in uttering some guttural tones when Fräulein Sohle's appearance interrupted the merry fun. This lady inflicted some punishment task upon the class, but then let it return home. Lori made a note of the name of the principal culprit; she considered a black book indispensable, so that the mistress of a school could at once detect the black sheep in every class. At heart, nevertheless, she felt sympathy with the girl, and acknowledged to herself that in a similar case she should have been just as wild as the red-haired islander.