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you another.”
    Over the fireplace there was a round mirror in a gilded frame. Everything looked queer in it: she could see herself holding the flowered teacup on the embroidered napkin, see the little table with the teapot and the cake plate and Miss Thorne on the other side of the table. All of these were squat, condensed and flattened out. Even Miss Thorne looked wide and flat.
    “That’s a bull’s-eye mirror,” Miss Thorne said, following Anna’s gaze. “I don’t see much point in having it myself. But then, it’s not my house.”
    “Not?”
    “No, my nephew’s. He and his wife have only the one child and it’s a large house, so when I came down from Boston they invited me to live here with them and it has been very nice for me indeed.”
    “And were you a teacher when you lived in Boston?” Anna asked shyly.
    “Yes, I’ve been a teacher ever since I left school myself. I came to New York to be the assistant headmistress at a private school for girls. That’s what I do all day, you see. Then at night I teach English to newcorners like you.”
    “And what do you teach the girls in the daytime, since they already know how to speak English?”
    “I teach them Latin and ancient Greek.”
    “Oh. But why—excuse me, I ask too many questions.”
    “Not at all. How will you find out if you don’t ask? Tell me what you wanted to know.”
    “Well, I want to know what Latin is. And ancient Greek.”
    “A long time ago, two thousand years ago and more, there were powerful countries in Europe where those languages were spoken. The languages aren’t spoken anymore;we say they’re ‘dead,’ but the laws, the ideas those people left to us, are very much alive. And it’s also true that the languages are the great-great-grandparents of English. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
    Anna nodded. “I understand. Those girls in your school are so fortunate, learning all these things, I think.”
    “I wish they all thought so. Or had your eagerness, Anna. That’s why I like to teach in your school, at night. Because so many of you want to learn—I feel I’m doing something really important.”
    Now that she had been invited here to tea Anna felt bolder. It was different from the classroom, with the elevated platform where the teacher sat above everybody else.
    “Do people speak differently, is that why you speak differently, because you’re from Boston?”
    “What do you mean, differently?”
    “I notice that some words are different. The way you say ‘park,’ for instance? That’s not the way some other Americans say it.”
    “Extraordinary, your ear! Yes, it’s true, we have a different accent there. In the South, in the Midwest, there are all sorts of accents.”
    “I see. And will you answer something else, please?”
    “If I can.”
    “Please, I’ve never had tea in a cup like this. What must I do with the spoon after I’ve stirred the tea?”
    “You just lay the spoon on the saucer, Anna.”
    “That was probably a foolish question. I might have figured it out for myself. Except that I should like to do things right, the American way.”
    “It wasn’t a foolish question. Only, let me tell you something. Wherever you go, and I hope you’ll go far, don’t ever be nervous about manners. Manners are mostly common sense, being tidy about things and considerate of other people. I don’t think you’ll have the slightest trouble about either of those, Anna.”
    “Then, may I have another piece of cake, please? It’s very good cake.”
    “Of course. And when you’ve finished I want to give you the list of reading that I’ve made out for you. I finally got around to it. That’s one of the reasons I asked you to come today, because we can talk better than at school.”
    The list was pages long, written in a neat script that looked like Miss Thorne herself. Anna scanned it.
    Hawthorne:
The House of the Seven Gables
    Hardy:
The Return of the Native
    Dickens:
David Copperfield, Bleak