of paper; consultations; rewritings; copyings; the list of their sins,
of all the sins of their lives.

"_Ma chère!_"--pigtails and sunbonnets hiving outside would shudder.
"Oh, _Mon Dieu!_ To have to confess all--but _all_ your sins! As for
me, it would kill me, sure!"

And the frightful recoils of their consciences would make all
instantly blanch and cross themselves.

"And look at Pupasse's sins! Oh, but they are long! _Ma chère_, but
look! But look, I ask you, at them!"

The longest record was of course the most complimentary and honorable
to the possessor, as each girl naturally worked not only for
absolution but for fame.

Between catechisms and instructions Madame Joubert would have "La Vie
des Saints" read aloud, to stimulate their piety and to engage their
thoughts; for the thoughts of first communicants are worse than flies
for buzzing around the forbidden. The lecture must have been a great
quickener of conscience; for they would dare punishment and cheat
Madame Joubert, under her own eyes, in order surreptitiously to add a
new sin to their list. Of course the one hour's recreation could not
afford time enough for observation now, and the little girls were
driven to all sorts of excuses to get out of the classroom for one
moment's peep through the shutters; at which whole swarms of them
would sometimes be caught and sent into punishment.

Only two days more. Madame Joubert put them through the rehearsal,