Essays on Life 



I have sometimes wondered whether the ob- 

 viously scandalised gesture of the Lady Prin- 

 cipal might not be directed at these Cupids, 

 rather than at anything the monitress may 

 have been reading, for she would surely find 

 them disquieting. Or she may be saying, 

 " Why, bless me ! I do declare the Virgin has 

 got another hamper, and St. Anne's cakes 

 are always so terribly rich ! " Certainly the 

 hamper is there, close to the Virgin, and the 

 Lady Principal's action may be well directed 

 at it, but it may have been sent to some other 

 young lady, and be put on the sub-dais for 

 public exhibition. It looks as if it might have 

 come from Fortnum and Mason's, and I half 

 expected to find a label, addressing it to " The 

 Virgin Mary, Temple College, Jerusalem," 

 but if ever there was one the mice have long 

 since eaten it. The Virgin herself does not 

 seem to care much about it, but if she has 

 a fault it is that she is generally a little 

 apathetic. 



Whose the hamper was, however, is a point 

 we shall never now certainly determine, for the 



best fossil is worse than the worst living form. 



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