CHAPTER FOUR

Valerie Dickens stood before her French class, a ruler in hand, that she used to point to the blackboard in front. Most of the students in the class could not understand her change in dressing habits. She wore her hair down, having discarded the bun, Today, she was wearing a skirt several inches above her knees that showed off her lovely legs to excellent advantage and a sweater that silhouetted

her womanly curves. Four of them were fully aware of the reason. She pointed to Sylvia. "Sylvia, will you please stand up and conjugate the present tense of the verb venir.

The girl stood and smiled. Then she rattled off the answer. "Je viens. Tu viens. Il vient. Elle vient. Nous Vous venez. Ils viennent. Elles viennent."

venons.

"Very good," she answered. "Now, Barbara, you stand up and do the same for the verb faire."

She politely stood up, but began fidgeting with her fingers. "Miss Dickens, she finally said. "I just will never get the hang of French irregular verbs. I just can't remember."

"I'm quite sure that you can, if you apply yourself," she answered her pupil. "You and I are going to have to have a long talk. Would you please remain after class, if you haven't made any other plans this afternoon.

"I haven't made any other plans, Miss Dickens," Barbara answered, resuming her seat.

Grace giggled, xxxxxxx whispering to her friend beside her, "After what you did to her, you'd be crazy to stay after class. She'll probably want to get even with you. Barbara

smiled, but did not answer.

Fifteen minutes later, the bell rang, and the entire. class cleared out, but Barbara, who remained alone with Miss Dickens. "Well, Barbara, perhaps, it would have been more profitable to have used our time fax after class last week for French lessons rather than what it was applied for."

|| Maybe, you're right, Miss Dickens," the girl apologetically

answered.

"I'm not saying that last week was a complete loss, you understand," answered the teacher.

asked.

"How come you are not angry about what happened?" Barbara

"There's no point in it. What happened, happened. A good deal of it was educational. The rest is of historical interest, but nothing more. However, Barbara, the key question is whether you are going to pass this term and graduate, said Valerie Dickens. "And there is no way that that will happen, without additional tutoring. She then wrote something on a piece of paper and handed it to the girl. "Here is the address of my apartment in town. Be there at eight tonight and we will begin the study program then."

11

As Barbara prepared to keep her appointment that evening thoughts ran wildly through her mind. She remembered the bizarre reception she had prepared for Valerie Dickens a week ago. The unsuspecting woman walked into a Medieval torture chamber. The indignities heaped upon her were unending. She had been humiliated and shamed beyond belief. will had been broken, not only through bondage of a physical nature, but of a spiritual nature, as well. And yet, her

Her

#40 #

* 41 *