Aprosinya gave her a haunted look. “Tell me, Aprosinya,” Mrs. Senko said, “is it worthy of me? Are you worthy of me? Are you something lustrous, something jeweled, something that can grow beyond the petty bounds of this mortal earth and spread your wings above the Bleak Academy?” Aprosinya, jerkily, shook her head. Don’t be ridiculous. “Oh,” Mrs. Senko said. Her face fell, and she looked down. “Well, that is, of course, your choice.” She rose to her feet, creakily, bracing herself with her umbrella. She walked back to the front of the classroom. She took a breath to resume the lecture. “Wait,”
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