It
was, perhaps, happy for her that the day when she should have
occasion to do so never arrived.
She was not left quite uneducated, however; her father taught
her after his own fashion, and she gained a good deal of
practical knowledge in their many wanderings. When she was six
years old she could talk almost as many languages, could
dance, and could sing a variety of songs with the sweetest,
truest little voice; and by the time she was eight or nine,
she had learned both to write and read, though M. Linders took
care that her range of literature should be limited, and
chiefly confined to books of fairy-tales, in which no examples
drawn from real life could be found, to correct and confuse
the single-sided views she received from him. This was almost
the extent of her learning, but she picked up all sorts of odd
bits of information, in the queer mixed society which M.
Linders seemed everywhere to gather round him, and which
appeared to consist of waifs and strays from every grade of
society--from reckless young English milords, Russian princes,
and Polish counts, soi-disant, down to German students and
penniless artists.
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