show out what lies in her, and what she is capable of, I was all along
afraid of this public examination. I was the more uneasy, as it was to
be of a kind which does not admit of any especial preparation; and even
if it had been conducted as usual, Ottilie never can be prepared to make
a display. The result has only too entirely justified my anxiety. She
has gained no prize; she is not even amongst those whose names have been
mentioned with approbation. I need not go into details. In writing, the
letters of the other girls were not so well formed, but their strokes
were far more free. In arithmetic, they were all quicker than she; and
in the more difficult problems, which she does the best, there was no
examination. In French, she was outshone and out-talked by many; and in
history she was not ready with her names and dates. In geography, there
was a want of attention to the political divisions; and for what she
could do in music there was neither time nor quiet enough for her few
modest melodies to gain attention. In drawing she certainly would have
gained the prize; her outlines were clear, and the execution most
careful and full of spirit; unhappily, she had chosen too large a
subject, and it was incomplete.

"After the pupils were dismissed, the examiners consulted together, and
we teachers were partially admitted into the council. I very soon
observed that of Ottilie either nothing would be said at all, or if her
name was mentioned, it would be with indifference, if not absolute
disapproval. I hoped to obtain some favor for her by a candid
description of what she was, and I ventured it with the greater
earnestness, partly because I was only speaking my real convictions, and
partly because I remembered in my own younger years finding myself in
the same unfortunate case. I was listened to with attention, but as soon
as I had ended, the presiding examiner said to me very kindly but
laconically, 'We presume capabilities: they are to be converted into