Next morning, however, Madelon had a cold, a pane of glass was
found in fragments on the gravel walk beneath the window, a
skull was discovered, lying among the long grass on the lawn;
one can fancy the exclamations, the inquiries, the commotion.
Madelon, though not a little frightened, avowed boldly enough
what she had done, and so far gained her end that the skull
never reappeared, and a safe precedent was established for
Soeur Lucie's future guidance; but she got into great trouble
at the time, and gained moreover the unenviable distinction of
having committed a deed of unparalleled audacity. After this,
what might not be expected of such a child? The nuns at once
formed a bad opinion of her, which they owed it to themselves
to confirm on the occasion of each succeeding offence, by a
reference to this past misdeed which had first taught them of
what enormities she was capable.
Matters were no better when there came to be a question of
lessons. Madelon did not mind the actual learning, though she
wearied a little of the continued application to which she was
unused; but she resented to the last degree the astonishment
that her ignorance on all sorts of subjects excited both in
the nuns who taught her, and in the other children in the
class, and which was expressed with sufficient distinctness.
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