And you can say anything to her. She takes
the trouble to appear not to understand, but her conduct, half an hour
afterwards, reassures you completely--oh, completely!
However, it is the tall one, the one of the private lessons, that is the
most remarkable. These private lessons, my good Prosper, are the most
brilliant invention of the age, and a real stroke of genius on the part
of Miss Miranda! They also take place in the _petit salon_, but with the
doors tightly closed, and with explicit directions to every one in the
house that we are not to be disturbed. And we are not, my good Prosper;
we are not! Not a sound, not a shadow, interrupts our felicity. My
_cousine_ is really admirable; the shop deserves to succeed. Miss
Miranda is tall and rather flat; she is too pale; she hasn't the adorable
_rougeurs_ of the little Anglaise. But she has bright, keen, inquisitive
eyes, superb teeth, a nose modelled by a sculptor, and a way of holding
up her head and looking every one in the face, which is the most finished
piece of impertinence I ever beheld. She is making the _tour du monde_
entirely alone, without even a soubrette to carry the ensign, for the
purpose of seeing for herself _a quoi s'en tenir sur les hommes et les
choses--on les hommes_ particularly.
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