wrong it was Fraulein Schult who was reproached first; if there was any
difficulty in the management of Jacqueline, she alone received
complaints. In the eyes of the "two friends," Fraulein Schult was
somehow to be blamed for everything that went wrong in the family,
but between themselves an observer might have watched in vain for the
smallest cloud. Madame de Nailles, when she was first married, could not
make enough of the very ugly yet attractive little girl, whose tight
black curls and gypsy face made an admirable contrast to her own more
delicate style of beauty, which was that of a blonde. She caressed
Jacqueline, she dressed her up, she took her about with her like a little
dog, and overwhelmed her with demonstrations of affection, which served
not only to show off her own graceful attitudes, but gave spectators a
high opinion of her kindness of heart.

When from time to time some one, envious of her happiness, pitied her for
being childless, Madame de Nailles would say: "What do you mean? I have
one daughter; she is enough for me."

It is a pity children grow so fast, and that little girls who were once
ugly sometimes develop into beautiful young women. The time came when
the model stepmother began to wish that Jacqueline would only develop
morally, intellectually, and not physically. But she showed nothing of
this in her behavior, and replied to any compliments addressed to her
concerning Jacqueline with as much maternal modesty as if the dawning
loveliness of her stepdaughter had been due to herself.

"Her nose is rather too long-don't you think so? And she will always be
too dark, I fear." But she used always to add, "She is good enough and
pretty enough to pass muster with any critic--poor little pussy-cat!"
She became desirous to discover some tendency to ill-health in the plant