Кармілла
An Early Fright
Therewasafourth,MademoiselleDeLafontaine,aladysuchasyouterm,Ibelieve,a"finishinggoverness."ShespokeFrenchandGerman,MadamePerrodonFrenchandbrokenEnglish,towhichmyfatherandIaddedEnglish,which,partlytopreventitsbecomingalostlanguageamongus,andpartlyfrompatrioticmotives,wespokeeveryday.TheconsequencewasaBabel,atwhichstrangersusedtolaugh,andwhichIshallmakenoattempttoreproduceinthisnarrative.Andthereweretwoorthreeyoungladyfriendsbesides,prettynearlyofmyownage,whowereoccasionalvisitors,forlongerorshorterterms;andthesevisitsIsometimesreturned.
Thesewereourregularsocialresources;butofcoursetherewerechancevisitsfrom"neighbors"ofonlyfiveorsixleaguesdistance.Mylifewas,notwithstanding,ratherasolitaryone,Icanassureyou.
Mygouvernanteshadjustsomuchcontrolovermeasyoumightconjecturesuchsagepersonswouldhaveinthecaseofaratherspoiledgirl,whoseonlyparentallowedherprettynearlyherownwayineverything.
Thefirstoccurrenceinmyexistence,whichproducedaterribleimpressionuponmymind,which,infact,neverhasbeeneffaced,wasoneoftheveryearliestincidentsofmylifewhichIcanrecollect.Somepeoplewillthinkitsotriflingthatitshouldnotberecordedhere.Youwillsee,however,by-and-by,whyImentionit.Thenursery,asitwascalled,thoughIhaditalltomyself,wasalargeroomintheupperstoryofthecastle,withasteepoakroof.
