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When the usual compliments had been exchanged and arrangements made to give me a sunless room over-looking the backyard -- spoken of as "Notre jardin" -- Monsieur Bidout called out in a loud voice: "LOUISE"! ... and Louise entered the room.

"Voici ma fille", he said. "She is my accompanist. We shall both of us teach your daughter, Madame, to sing correctly the operatical airs".

I scarcely heard the pronouncement of this ambitious programme, for my attention was riveted upon the new-comer. I think that my mother was also somewhat taken aback when she saw standing before her the diminutive figure of a hunchback. Two enormous grey eyes were looking at us in no friendly fashion. The sharp, pointed face was crowned with a mop of frizzy hair falling low in a fringe over the forehead. There was no possible reason for this Toulouse-Leutreo face to inspire confidence. But my  mother turned to Madame Bidout and said:

"As I do not wish my daughter to go out alone I am pleased to think that Mademoiselle Louise will always accompany her on her promenades".

After this statement she got up, and leaving me in these strange surroundings, returned to her hotel.

Past experiences had inured me to the unpleasant side of life. Other girls could enjoy the natural pleasures of their age provided by their families. My case was different, and whatever the circumstances, I could only be thankful to escape a more horrible life wedged in between my brother and my mother. I philosophically accepted this new predicament, and with a view to future freedom, studied hard to enable myself to gain a livelihood.