The Professor Chapter XIV

In which the professor’s arrival at Mdlle. Reuter’s schoolroom interrupts a rapid prayer, and he reflects with sober observation on the stern duties and restrained demeanour essential in the task of instructing young ladies whose charms lie in intellect rather than appearance. Amidst the measured routine and whispered rivalries, the peculiar and foreign Mdlle. Henri struggles quietly to keep pace with her lessons, her anxious composure betraying a mind both earnest and out of place.