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98 black book came to me she said, "How much better you look! I am sure you liked that book," and I answered, "No, take it away. If I could I would burn every copy of it. If I look better to-day it is because I am living in the days of chivalry; I am seeing the romance of the French court; I am bowing down before Louis XIV., and I am happy to read about the daring deeds of the Mousquetaires, and how their cry was always 'For the king and for the ladies.

"Oh," she said, "you are only reading a novel." And I then confess to stealing a quotation from Jane Austen:

Only a novel, I said; it is only "Cecilia," or "Camilla," or "Belinda," or, in short, only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineations of its variety, the liveliest effusions of wit and humor are conveyed to the world in the best language.

For the girl who loves to read I do not advise all translations, but there are very many which are good. If you are interested in France you can choose all the novels of the elder Dumas; that wonderful story of life, 93," written by Victor Hugo, and also "Les Misérables." Then you