Merry Christmas!

I wish you all merry Christmas and happy holidays! May these days be a peaceful time for you, a time for meeting with friends and family and sharing a good meal and forging new, happy memories!

As a Christmas gift to all my readers, I've made the Kindle edition of SPRINGTIME PLEASURES free until 29 December. (I know it's not exactly a holiday title, but I promise I'll do better next year!) Happy reading!

Click here to find the book on Amazon

Let's celebrate! The Paperback edition of SPRINGTIME PLEASURES is out now!

I'm so thrilled to announce the release of the paperback edition of SPRINGTIME PLEASURES. The book is now available on all Amazon sites, and you can also buy it directly from CreateSpace. To celebrate the release I've set up a Goodreads giveaway where you can win one of five signed copies of the novel.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Springtime Pleasures

by Sandra Schwab

Giveaway ends December 31, 2013.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

NaNoWriMo - Day 6: Inspiration

And yet another way to get inspired for NaNoWriMo and to get past the dreaded mid-book blues: receiving a truly wonderful review for the novel you've just released! (Woohooo!)

Today I found the November edition of the German magazine LoveLetter in the mail. It not only includes an article by yours truly, but also a review of SPRINGTIME PLEASURES. It's fair to say that the reviewer loved the book: she compares the banter between the protagonists and the humour of SPRINGTIME PLEASURES to those in Hollywood comedies and calls the novel a "small jewel of a story".

Battling with the Muse has suddenly become much less of a hardship. :-)

Springtime Pleasures & NaNoWriMo 13 - Day 1

I do apologise: I've been a bad blogger. *hangs her head in shame* I really do need to get back the hang of blogging on a regular basis. I mean, I didn't even announce the publication of SPRINGTIME PLEASURES here. Argh! *head desk*

Yes, SPRINGTIME PLEASURES has come out and has already garnered some very nice reviews. The German LoveLetter magazine called it "a small jewel" and Mel from bookworm2bookworm wrote about the novel:

"If I was given one word to describe ‘Springtime Pleasures’ I would choose ‘cute’, but I’m so glad not to have to choose only one word because this is one of those books that will have you smile long after you’re done reading it."

 "Cute" was also how Carole Rae described the story:

"Overall, this was a cute and fun and simply adorable. I simply loved the added letters. It really added a special-ness to it. I'm also so glad that Sandra Schwab made the HEA between Charlie and Griff a little harder to obtain. I shall recommend this to those that love HRs and for those looking for a book that will make them smile."

Oh, I LOVE making my readers smile! :-)

You can buy the ebook online from Amazon (a print edition will follow in a few days' time), or you can enter one of several giveaways:

• on BookLikes
• on Carole's blog
• on Blodeuedd's blog

Good luck!

~~~

In other news: I'm taking part in NaNoWriMo 2013, i.e., National Novel Writing Month, when thousands of writers from all around the world aim to write a novel of 50,000 words in 30 days. I start off my first NaNoWriMo as a NaNo Rebel because I'm not exactly writing a novel, but something else. A secret project. Shhhhh.

You can find my NaNo profile here - if you're joining the NaNo madness, please feel free to add me as your Writing Buddy!

Today started quite well: so far I've written 2609 words and have already made my heroine almost cry. I will proceed to ruin my hero's day tomorrow. :-)

Here's a snippet from today's chapters (please remember that this is a raw, very raw, first draft!):

"Have you heard? Devil's back," said the men in the alehouses of London, with whom he had drunk and gambled and sometimes fought, ugly, brutal tavern brawls, not at all fitting for one of the house of Crenshaw. In the Cider Cellar, which could boast to have been his favourite haunt, they sang a raucous song in his honour, toasting the man who would laugh Satan himself in the face.

Stay tuned for further NaNoWriMo updates!

Teaser Friday

Just a little more than a week before Springtime Pleasures will be released! I'm so excited, and I can't wait to share this story with you!

For now, I present to you the following snippet, in which Carlotta (Charlie), my heroine, and her best friend Emma-Louise discuss the merits of the hero. Enjoy!

“The drive with Lord Chanderley was pleasant. Very pleasant, truth to be told.” Charlie looked up at her friend. “I wish you could meet him one day. He is so handsome. Indeed, I should say he is the most handsome man in all of London!” She smiled dreamily. “He can make his eyebrows mesh. Like this—” She curled her forehead, imitating Chanderley’s frown.

“A most peculiar feat,” her friend commented drily.

Grinning, Charlie nudged her with her elbow. “It is. And it has the most peculiar effect on me.” Reddening, she quickly continued, “But he is a charming man. And a nice one. It is not often that one finds a genuinely nice person, is it?”

Emma-Lee made herself comfortable on the arm of Charlie’s armchair. “He certainly sounds very pleasant.”

“Yes, pleasant. And sitting next to him on that box seat yesterday, now that was very pleasant as well.” Charlie grinned up at her. “It is most shocking, is it not?”

“Most,” Emma-Lee agreed. “Do continue.”

Charlie leaned her head against her friend’s shoulder “He smells very nice. And he has those lovely big hands.” She stretched out her right arm in front of her and wriggled her fingers. “They are quite lovely in gloves, but when everybody sits down to supper at the end of a ball, I can’t help looking at them in the, you know—” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “—nude.”

The two girls exchanged a glance before they burst into giggles.

“I suppose he would be much shocked if he knew that I am fantasizing about his hands,” Charlie finally gasped.

“Fantasizing!” Emma-Lee’s brows rose. “You’ve said nothing about fantasizing, Carlotta Stanton!”

“I know, it is most shocking. But his hands are so big and brawny and… and manly.” Charlie gave a happy sigh. “I never knew that hands could be so fascinating.” She glanced up at her friend. “Do you think I might be developing a brain fever? When I sat next to him in that phaeton, my body felt all warm and tingly. Prickly. As if I had fallen into nettles. Though not as unpleasant.”

“One should hope not!” Emma-Lee murmured.

More info about the novel can be found on my website. Or perhaps you'd like me to read an excerpt to you? Then check out this video!

Teaser Friday

The following snippet from SPRINGTIME PLEASURES ties in with my last blog post about handwritten music in the Regency period. I wanted to make music something to strengthen the friendship between Charlie, my heroine, and Lady Isabella, the hero's sister. In this context, swapping music and sharing your own private music album becomes an act of growing intimacy. (The traditional song that is mentioned in this excerpt can be found in the Austen music albums, too.)

Charlie rummaged in her reticule and dug out the music album she had mentioned to Isabella on one of their earlier outings. Music, as Emma-Lee had informed Charlie, was generally considered a suitable topic for young ladies and was not likely to shock a gently-bred girl like Lady Isabella (unlike boars and other wild beasts). Charlie had decided to follow her friend’s advice, and as she had expected, it turned out to be a sound one: Isabella loved music, and she particularly liked playing the fortepiano.
 

“Here is the song album I promised you.” She put the much-used album with its rubbed corners onto Isabella’s lap.
 
Delight spread across the other girl’s face. “How very kind of you.” Smiling broadly, she stroked the faded red cover. “A true St. Cuthbert’s artefact! I am so excited.”
 
“It contains all my favourites,” Charlie said eagerly, leaning forward. “Do you know ‘Waly, waly’? It’s such a lovely sad song.” Unerringly, she found the right page. “There it is. I hope you can read my hand.”
 
Isabella peered at the page of handwritten music and quietly started to hum the melody. “Is this correct? How delightful it sounds!” she said after a few bars, glancing up at Charlie.
 
“Doesn’t it? And isn’t the text of the chorus most heart-wrenching?” Charlie started to sing:

“O waly, waly, love is bonnie
A little time when it is new;
But it grows auld, and waxes cauld,
And fades away like morning dew.”

Today I'm also doing a guest post on Just Paranormal Romance about "Folk Charms and Folk Magic in Bewitched".

Hands On! Music in a Bygone Age

In our age, in which printed matter is so easy to come by - indeed, our daily life is dominated by printed matter as are our correspondences - it's very easy to forget to what extent handwritten texts dominated everyday culture 200 years ago. I knew that in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries a lot of poetry was still circulated privately among friends and family, and would be copied into private albums.

What I didn't know until I started researching this matter for SPRINGTIME PLEASURES was that a lot of music was also circulated in the same manner. And we are not merely talking about short songs here; no, people copied longer pieces, too, like whole sonatas. Chawton House holds eight manuscript volumes of music that belonged to the Austen family:

The musical content of these volumes is varied. Songs, keyboard works (both solo and duet) and chamber music form the core of the collection and are drawn from a variety of sources. The contents are typical of domestic music-making of the period - and consequently include hardly any music by composers famous today. In Jane Austen's day, Pleyel and Sterkel were more famous than Haydn and Mozart, their music often more accessible via successful printing and distribution businesses than those of their more talented colleagues with their high-powered court appointments and operatic commissions. 

(from the booklet to the CD Jane Austen Entertains)

Isn't this fascinating? I have to admit that I was rather flabbergasted by the info that longer musical works were copied, too. So I decided to do an experiment, and copy the first few bars of the Haydn sonata Isabella plays at a party in SPRINGTIME PLEASURES. You can see the result above. From what I've seen, the Austens used albums in landscape format, so format wise, my attempt is not quite authentic. In addition, it's been twenty years or more since I last wrote down music - and boy, did I feel these years!

Apart from the resulting awkwardness, I also noticed a number of other things that make copying music quite different from copying a text. First of all, with music you have to plan ahead and decide which hand to write down first. Secondly, you have to be so, so careful because it's so, so easy to make mistakes. Also, you want to make sure that you (and others) will be able to read the music after you've copied it. As a curious side-effect, you become rather intimately acquainted with the piece you are copying, which, I assume, would also make it easier to learn the piece afterwards.


If you are interested in the Chawton House collection of music, I can recommend the CDs Jane Austen Entertains (you might want to listen to the samples first; several Amazon customers apparently didn't like the soprano) and Jane Austen Piano Favourites. If you'd like to start copying a few musical pieces yourself, I suggest you do it in style and buy this scrumptious-looking Edition Peters album. 

Revisions in Action, Part 4: Beware of the Zebra!

I was mad enough to include a throw-away line about a zebra in SPRINGTIME PLEASURES: basically, Charlie asks another character whether that person has ever seen a zebra. It only occurred to me later that Charlie could have well seen a zebra herself in one of the menageries in London. So I've been leafing through my research books and flicking through early-nineteenth-century guidebooks on Google Books on the hunt for the dratted elusive zebra.

In the early 19th century, there were at least two menageries in London, namely the Royal Menagerie in the Tower and Pidcock's Museum. The Zoological Gardens were opened in 1828, but apparently, they weren't open to the public at first. But SPRINGTIME PLEASURES is set in 1817 anyway, so no London Zoo for Charlie.

About Pidcock's Museum I've so far found only the following:

Over Exeter Change, in the Strand, has a collection of divers beasts and birds, not exceeded in rarity even by the royal menagerie in the Tower. These occupy three apartments, which may be seen for half-a.crown, or two of them for two shillings.

(from: John Wallis, LONDON: BEING A COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE BRITISH CAPITAL, 4th ed., 1814)

No list of animals, alas.

I've been luckier in regard to the Royal Menagerie and found the following list in THE PICTURE OF LONDON OF 1805:

As you can see, still no mention of a zebra. So, sorry, Charlie, it looks as if there is no zebra for you.

Revisions in Action, Part 3: Music Talk

This post could also be titled "Thank you, Flintstones!" because it's thanks to Fred Flintstone's "Yabadabadooooo!" that I've figured out how to translate music talk into English.

What's music talk, you ask?

Well, have you ever heard people who play instruments talking about the pieces of music they practise? They often use nonsense words like lalalala when describing a particular passage in the music. The first time I consciously noticed this was twenty years or so ago when I was talking to my very good friend Petra about some piece or other and it suddenly struck us how utterly ridiculous we sounded.

I was reminded of this conversation when I wrote a particular scene in SPRINGTIME PLEASURES where Charlie and her new friend Lady Isabella are discussing what Isabella might play on the fortepiano at an upcoming party. Izzy thinks a Haydn sonata would do nicely.

"I have already narrowed it down to two options. One" - she gave Charlie an expectant look - "the sonata in A major that starts with dlummM-tadatadada-tidabambah," she sang, her fingers playing an invisible fortepiano on her lap. "You know, the one with all the triplets?"

"Hmm," Charlie said. "Tricky things, triplets."

Isabella's face fell a little. "Yes. Yes, you are right. Not suitable for a first performance."

"No."

"No." Isabella took a deep breath. "What then do you think of the sonata in C major where the right hand starts with bllum-dam-dam-dam bllum-dam-dam-dam, and the left hand goes yabadaba yabadaba yabadaba yabadaba? It is quite lovely, and it is one of my favourites."

So you can clearly see where Fred is coming in. To choose nonsense words in a foreign language is rather tricky, I can tell you, and it took me a while to figure out how to translate the German "jabadaba" into English - until I eventually remembered the Flintstones. :-)

Revisions in Action, Part 2: The Sphinx

So I've got this scene in SPRINGTIME PLEASURES where a character mentions travels in Egypt. Here is the relevant dialogue:

"And to Egypt?" Charlie asked.

"Indeed, I have."

"Then have you seen the Sphinx? Is it as elegant as it appears in the prints?"

XY smiled. "I must confess I considered its head to be somewhat small. Indeed, there are those who believe that it once had a different head. A lion's head, perhaps, to go with the rest of the body."

"Surely, a lion is rather imposing, too," Charlie said cautiously, "but a Sphinx is an altogether different matter!"

Innocent enough, right?

But it was only after I had written this that I vaguely remembered to have read an article on Egypt during the early 19th century. I also remembered that the Regency prints accompanying this article showed a Sphinx that was largely buried underneath the sand.

 AAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!!!!!! (The print on the cover of this issue of Jane Austen's Regency World dates from 1804.)

This nicely illustrates the dangers of an innocent throw-away line in a historical romance, and the amount of research you might be obliged to do when you are determined to use such throw-away lines. Did people even know what was underneath the sand? Did they really suspect that she might have had a lion's head once upon a time????

In the same scene I also happen to mention a zebra. *head desk* Since I wrote that scene, I have learnt about the menagerie in the upper rooms of the Exeter Exchange on the Strand and about the royal menagerie in the Tower of London, both of which operated long before the London Zoological Gardens opened. How I have to figure out whether one of them housed a zebra. *head desk, head desk, head desk*

Revisions in Action, Part 1

Regarding one particular scene, my editor's notes read: "I wanted a more intense reaction on Charlie's part. And she can realize that's why he doesn't seem interested in other things most young men of his kind would be [...]."

So, among other things, I added a few more sentences to the following paragraph (additions in colour):

Too shocked to speak, Charlie stared at her. This was truly monstrous! The poor man! She remembered the lines of strain in his face that evening in those moments when his polite mask had slipped. No wonder he looked like three days of rain!  In his situation anybody could be excused if they suffered from an attack of the blue devils. Merely thinking about the gross injustice done to him made her feel sick.

(Also, Tortured Hero alert!)

Revisions for SPRINGTIME PLEASURES

With the usual amount of chaos and panicking, I finished SPRINGTIME PLEASURES on 14 July and sent the manuscript to my new editor, the lovely Bev Katz Rosenbaum. As I still had to write the love scene that very day (and when I finally got around to it, my characters just wouldn't stop, and Griff turned out to be a bit a of a devil), I was - oh my gosh! - SOOOO happy for the time difference between Europe and North America.

Bev read the manuscript in one sitting and sent me a list with necessary revisions the very next day. Her critique started thus:

Sandra, I loved this book! What a great character you've created in Charlie! Your voice is so strong and unique, and you have a real gift for dialogue. This was a wonderful, witty read!

I'm totally keeping Bev. :-)

She sent me a list with 18 things that, in her opinion, need improvement (that's not counting the not-quite-finished scene with the Great Sphinx of Giza). In two cases, I don't share her opionion, so these two points will be disregarded. That leaves me with 16 (mostly minor) things to work on this week. AND with the Sphinx, of course.



The print out of the manuscript has just finished, so I guess I better start working.

Designing Bookmarks

In all the first-weeks-of-term flurry (not to speak of the adding-the-finishing-touches-to-dratted-diss misery), lining up my promo material for the LoveLetter Convention was of somewhat minor priority. But with only one month to go till the big event, I decided it was high time to do something about bookmarks and pretty things I would be able to sign. So I sat down last night and started to design.

The last batch of bookmarks for Castle of the Wolf didn't turn out all that nice (granted, this was partly my fault because I forgot to convert my file into a CYMK image, but there were also issues with the overall quality), so I looked around for some other options. Let's hope I'll get better results with the new printer of my choice.

Designing bookmarks for Springtime Pleasures turned out to be surprisingly difficult - I wanted a nice, dark green for the background, but my first attempts all looked rather lame. Luckily, I remembered my trusty swirls, fiddled around with transparency, fonts, and what not, and ended up with this:

I like my bookmarks rather clean and uncluttered, and I think this will do the trick nicely. What do you think?

Now I only have to decide on the punctuation of the tagline:

Caught between duty & desire ... Which one will he choose?

Caught between duty & desire - which one will he choose?

Caught between duty & desire, which one will he choose?

Hmm ....

The Bestial Boar

The new term started on Monday, so the past few days whirled by in a flurry of preparations. I didn't get much of anything done beyond stuff for uni. So I don't really have any news for you except for ...

... the Bestial Boar.

Specifically, an image of the Bestial Boar.

Yes, indeed, not sparing any effort, not caring about the great danger, I ventured forth to sketch a likeness of this mythical beast. And would you believe it? I was successful (well, more or less).

 The text is a snippet from Chapter 4 of Springtime Pleasures:

Charlie became aware that Lady Isabella was staring at her in a most peculiar fashion, which made her wonder whether she had committed another faux pas and whether wild boars were deemed an unsuitable topic in London society. She hadn't seen any wild boars since her arrival, so perhaps they were considered unworthy of being talked about. Which was entirely unfair when they presented such a problem in other parts of the country.*

_____

* This bit was partly inspired by a TV documentary about (urban) wild boars in Berlin, where apparently groups of wild boars roam through the suburbs and destroy gardens. :-)

Cover Blurb for SPRINGTIME PLEASURES

I'm working on the cover blurb for SPRINGTIME PLEASURES. This is what I've got so far. What do you think?

Caught between duty ...

George Augustus Fenton Griffin, Viscount Chanderley has to marry - fast, for his father has ordered him to find a suitable wife this very season. Alas, the only woman Griff has eyes for is the very unsuitable Miss Carlotta Stanton, who is not only far too unfashionably tall but also wears the ugliest spectacles in all of England. Still, Griff is utterly bewitched by her intense green eyes. Yet however much he feels drawn to her joie de vivre, duty and honor demand that he stay far away from Miss Stanton.

... and desire

Dubbed "the Giantess" because of her unfortunate tallness, Charlie Stanton finds that the London season is far less glamorous than she has ever thought - not the least because she is consigned a place among the wallflowers. But then she befriends Lady Isabella and becomes acquainted with her very dashing brother Lord Chanderley, whose life is overshadowed by a terribly tragedy in his past. Ever ready to help other people, Charlie is determined to rid him of his Sad Melancholia - even if it means taking on wild boars and several highwaymen. Indeed, even if the handsome viscount remains maddingly elusive and obviously doesn't want any help. However, the biggest challenge will be to overcome the handsome viscount's belief that he doesn't need any help at all. However, the biggest challenge will be the elusive viscount himself and his belief that he is beyond all redemption.

Cover Reveal!

And here it is: the preliminary cover (or rather, three slightly different versions of the cover) for the brandnew novel! What do you think? Which do you like best? (Updated to add: The edge of the lower part of the cover is different in each picture. *g*)

Springtime Pleasures will be the first in a series of four books: "A Love for Every Season" will follow the adventures of four young women who become fast friends in the course of a year. The men they meet are all strong and stubborn, and most unlikely partners for our heroines - or are they?

Names, names, names

Yesterday afternoon I had another of those pesky panic attacks, so I dived into my (very battered) 1833 copy of Debrett's Peerage. I found a pressed clover, various notes in ink (reminded me of Sir Walter Elliott editing his family's entry in the baronetage in Austen's Persuasion), and a very good reason why upper-class men addressed one another by their last names or titles: they were all called John, Henry, Edward, John Henry, Henry Edward, George, Robert, George Augustus, George Edward, William, John William, John Edward William, James, James Edward, George John, Thomas, Thomas George, Richard, John Richard, Thomas William, etc. If you had walked into White's and called "John", at least ten men would have turned their heads. Not very useful.

There are a few variations to these names as some families used the mother's maiden name as their heir's first name. Thus Austen's Mr. Darcy is called Fitzwilliam Darcy (we also learn that his cousin is Colonel Fitzwilliam, so Fitzwilliam is obviously the family name of the Earl of ---, Darcy's uncle). But judging from my copy of Debrett's, it would appear the practice wasn't that widespread.

You can also find some really fanciful names, like Sir Launcelot Lake (I kid you not). Incidentally, Sir Launcelot named his son after his wife's family title: she was the daughter of the Earl of Warwick, so the son was called Warwick Lake. His son was Launcelot-Charles Lake, then followed a few Gerards, then finally Francis-Gerard Lake, the present [i.e. in 1833] Viscount Lake. (He is also Baron Lake.)

Even though I found quite a few George Augustus Fredericks listed in Debrett's, I decided to re-name the hero of the brandnew novel because I realised that quite a few people I know have young sons called Frederick. So a romance hero called Frederick would have been ... eh ... weird.

I thought about replacing Frederick with Fenton, his mother's family name, until I realised that it would have been his elder brother who would have been given that name.

So, scratch Fenton.

In the end, Griff became a mere George Augustus. I daresay the loss of a Christian name won't bother him too much given his overall problems. (Note to self: Give all your heroes LOTS of problems so they won't be bothered when you rename them.)

His very large cousin, by contrast, got the Fenton name: he is George Fenton Cole.

His other cousin is Edward Fenton, Baron Anson (or, Ed the Snake). (Though you won't see much of Ed the Snake in Book No. 1)

As you can see, naming one's characters is a tricky business, especially when you want to stay true to the time your story is set in. :-)

3 Facts about the Brandnew Novel

1. Charlie not only wears spectacles, but she is also very tall.
2. This is considered a sad affliction by her aunt.
3. Charlie considers footmen far more distressing:

"I am too tall." She frowned, pausing for a moment. "Or perhaps the gentlemen are simply too short, whatever it is. I could live with that, I assure you, but the footmen!" She sighed, shaking her head.

"The footmen?" Mrs XY [poor woman, she doesn't have a name yet] echoed, her brows raised.

"Yes. In London one cannot go out on one's own, but is obliged to take one of them. Truly, for the life of me I cannot see what for, as they are not even armed."

"Armed?" Mrs XY's brows climbed even higher.

Charlie eyed her speculatively. Perhaps, having been out of the country for so long, Mrs. XY didn't yet know the extent of the moral depravity to be found in England.

 Confidently, Charlie leaned towards her. "On account of the highwaymen."

Yes, you guessed right: 3 facts about the aforementioned brandnew novel

1. Carlotta feels very deeply for people who have got problems and she normally feels obliged to help them (mean-spirited people refer to this habit as meddling, which is completely untrue and utterly unfair).
2. Griff has a problem. A big problem. (Remember that he has problems with his papa? His Big Problem is connected to that.) Griff himself doesn't think he has a problem.
3. Nevertheless, Charlie is determined to help him with his Big Problem, for one simply cannot have people of one's acquaintance fall into a sad melancholia!

Miss Carlotta Stanton to Lady Isabella Griffin, by two-penny post

My dear Lady Isabella,

I hope this letter finds you well. Your brother has just called on us & I am positive that the lines on his face were harsher than 3 days hence. He looks positively haggard. I am convinced  that we ought to take Some Kind of Action to cure him of his Sad Melancholia. Indeed, dire measures are called for. Do you think it will cure him when he has to teach somebody to drive a high-perch phaeton? I asked James the footman (as the Most Likeliest Person in this household to know the answer to my question) & he informed me that the highest high-perch phaeton in all of London is owned by an Individual called Whitstock. [...] I believe we ought to take Action as soon as possible to let your poor brother not continue in this sad state.

Your affectionate friend, Carlotta Stanton

Guess what! Three More Facts about the Brandnew Novel

1. Griff doesn't like dancing.
2. However, this season he is obliged to attend balls in order to meet eligible people of the female persuasion.
3. In Chapter 3 our hero & heroine meet at one such ball and they dance:

It occurred to her then that the poor man was probably horribly nervous - Mr. Bernstone [the music teacher at St. Cuthbert's] had warned them that there existed  gentlemen who might feel uncomfortable about dancing and who had a propensity  for stumbling over their own feet. One had to look at such unfortunate persons with charity, he had impressed upon the girls at St. Cuthbert's. Under no circumstances must such poor people be teased or bullied or their coats decorated with slips of paper bearing comic inscriptions.