“That,” says the master, “is my bog voice to make the horses mind, and to make sure that you hear it.  And I told you the other day that I spoke for your good, not for my own.  If I should say every time I want trotting, ’My dear and much respected beautiful young ladies, please to trot,’ how much would you learn in a morning?”

“We are ladies,” says the society young lady, “and we should be treated as ladies.”

“And you—­or these others, since you retire—­are my pupils, and shall be treated as my pupils,” he says with a courtly bow and a “Good morning,” and you go away trying to persuade the society young lady to reconsider.

“Not that I care much whether she does or not,” Nell says confidentially to you.  “She’s too overbearing for me,” and just at that minute the voice of the society young lady is heard to call the master “overbearing,” and you and Nell exchange delighted, mischievous smiles.

Now for that stiffness of yours, Esmeralda, there is a remedy, as there is for everything but death, and you should use it immediately, before the rigidity becomes habitual.  Continue your other exercises, but devote only about a third as much time to them, and use the other two thirds for Delsarte movements.

First:  Let your hands swing loosely from the wrist, and swing them lifelessly to and fro.  Execute the movement first with the right hand then with the left, then with both.

Second:  Let the fingers hang from the knuckles, and shake them in the same way and in the same order.

Third:  Let the forearm hang from the elbow, and proceed in like manner.

Fourth:  Let the whole arm hang from the shoulder, and swing the arms by twisting the torso.

Execute the finger and hand movements with the arms hanging at the side, extended sidewise, stretched above the head, thrust straight forward, with the arms bent at right angles to them and with the arms flung backward as far as possible.  Execute the forearm movements with the arms falling at the side, and also with the elbow as high as the shoulder.

After you have performed these exercises for a few days, you will begin to find it possible to make yourself limp and lifeless when necessary, and the knowledge will be almost as valuable as the ability to hold yourself firm and steady.  You will find the exercises in Mrs. Thompson’s “Society Gymnastics,” but these are all that you will need for at least one week, especially if you have to devote many hours to the task of persuading the society young lady not to leave your class unto you desolate.

IX.

“Left wheel into line!” and they
wheel and obey.
Tennyson.