"Yes," said I; "but if modesty bids young ladies lower their eyes,
politeness should make them raise them now and again."

No one replied to this objection, which was a sharp cut for the absurd
woman; but after an interval of silence we rose from the table, and
Sophie went to fetch her drawings.

"I won't look at anything, Sophie, unless you will look at me."

"Come," said her mother, "look at the gentleman."

She obeyed as quickly as lightning, and I saw the prettiest eyes
imaginable.

"Now," said I, "I know you again, and perhaps you may remember having
seen me."

"Yes, although it is six years ago since we met, I recognized you
directly."

"And yet you did not look me in the face! If you knew how impolite it was
to lower your eyes when you are addressing anyone, you would not do it.
Who can have given you such a bad lesson?"

The child glanced towards her mother, who was standing by a window, and I
saw who was her preceptress.

I felt that I had taken sufficient vengeance, and began to examine her
drawings, to praise them in detail, and to congratulate her on her