Their position in the
school appeared, to these new comers, analogous to what is often called
that of a parlour-boarder. They prepared their French, drawing, German,
and literature for their various masters; and to these occupations Emily
added that of music, in which she was somewhat of a proficient; so much
so as to be qualified to give instruction in it to the three younger
sisters of my informant.
The school was divided into three classes. In the first were from
fifteen to twenty pupils; in the second, sixty was about the average
number--all foreigners, excepting the two Brontes and one other; in the
third, there were from twenty to thirty pupils. The first and second
classes occupied a long room, divided by a wooden partition; in each
division were four long ranges of desks; and at the end was the
_estrade_, or platform, for the presiding instructor. On the last row,
in the quietest corner, sat Charlotte and Emily, side by side, so deeply
absorbed in their studies as to be insensible to any noise or movement
around them. The school-hours were from nine to twelve (the luncheon
hour), when the boarders and half-boarders--perhaps two-and-thirty
girls--went to the refectoire (a room with two long tables, having an oil-
lamp suspended over each), to partake of bread and fruit; the _externes_,
or morning pupils, who had brought their own refreshment with them,
adjourning to eat it in the garden.
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