I knew it perfectly well,yet these words pained me.We made our way in with difficulty.Ladies,gentlemen,women of the people,workmen,officials,nuns,servants,all leading boys with one hand,and holding the promotion books in the other,filled the anteroom and the stairs,making such a buzzing,that it seemed as though one were entering a theatre.I beheld again with pleasure that large room on the ground floor,with the doors leading to the seven classes,where I had passed nearly every day for three years.There was a throng;the teachers were going and coming.My schoolmistress of the first upper class greeted me from the door of the class-room,and said:-