" Her petticoats, too, had
not a curve or a wave in them, but hung down straight and long, clinging
to her lank figure. The sisters spoke to no one but from necessity. They
were too full of earnest thought, and of the exile's sick yearning, to be
ready for careless conversation or merry game. M. Heger, who had done
little but observe, during the few first weeks of their residence in the
Rue d'Isabelle, perceived that with their unusual characters, and
extraordinary talents, a different mode must be adopted from that in
which he generally taught French to English girls. He seems to have
rated Emily's genius as something even higher than Charlotte's; and her
estimation of their relative powers was the same. Emily had a head for
logic, and a capability of argument, unusual in a man, and rare indeed in
a woman, according to M. Heger. Impairing the force of this gift, was a
stubborn tenacity of will, which rendered her obtuse to all reasoning
where her own wishes, or her own sense of right, was concerned. "She
should have been a man--a great navigator," said M. Heger in speaking of
her. "Her powerful reason would have deduced new spheres of discovery
from the knowledge of the old; and her strong imperious will would never
have been daunted by opposition or difficulty; never have given way but
with life.
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