Page:What Maisie Knew (Chicago & New York, Herbert S. Stone & Co., 1897).djvu/56

42 doors it was wise not to knock—that seemed to produce, from within, such sounds of derision. Little by little, however, she understood more, for it befell that she was enlightened by Lisette's questions, which reproduced the effect of her own upon those for whom she sat in the very darkness of Lisette. Was she not herself convulsed by such innocence? In the presence of it she often imitated the shrieking ladies. There were at any rate things she really could n't tell even a French doll. She could only pass on her lessons and study to produce on Lisette the impression of having mysteries in her life, wondering the while whether she succeeded in the air of shading off, like her mother, into the unknowable. When the reign of Miss Overmore followed that of Mrs. Wix she took a fresh cue, emulating her governess and bridging over the interval with the simple expectation of trust. Yes, there were matters one couldn't go into with a pupil. There were, for instance, days when, after prolonged absence, Lisette, while she took off her things, tried hard to discover where she had been. Well, she discovered a little, but she never discovered all. There was an occasion when, on her