The Martian Part First part 1

In which on a sweltering summer afternoon in 1847, a classroom at a Parisian institution hums with the bluster and fretfulness of boys enduring lessons in Latin and French under the watchful eyes of their masters, whilst the outside world drifts by through open windows scented with lime and lilac. Into this ordered scene breaks the arrival of a striking new English pupil, whose presence stirs a quiet sense of anticipation among the schoolboys and their teachers alike.