A French Lesson

The schoolroom the morning after Sara's arrival. Every pupil has already heard about the new girl — her French maid, her private rooms, the box of petticoats with lace frills. Lavinia Herbert, nearly thirteen and the school's former natural leader, is displeased before Sara enters the room. Jessie notes that Sara is not grand about herself, which only irritates Lavinia further.

Monsieur Dufarge, the French teacher, addresses Sara in French. She answers without hesitation, fluently, naturally — she tells him she has always heard her papa speak it, so she just picked it up. Ermengarde St. John, who has been weeping over her French lessons for weeks, turns red and stares. Lavinia and Jessie giggle at Ermengarde's bewilderment. Sara, noticing this, does not find it funny.

When lessons end, Sara seeks out Ermengarde, who is sitting miserably in a window seat. She says the kind of thing little girls say to get acquainted, but there is something in her manner that makes it work. They talk. Sara tells Ermengarde that knowing French is an accident — she happened to have a papa who spoke it. By the end of the chapter they are friends, and Ermengarde has learned that Sara's apparent advantages are ones she herself claims no credit for.