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whose gray hair, enveloped in wool cloth, gave her the look of a peasant, built a small house on the land she owned on the main road. She turned the house into an auberge, which she named À l'Espérance (Hope). The sign informed passersby that there was goat's milk for sale. Behind the auberge was a small garden enclosed by a fence, a clothesline, and a few chickens and a goat scratching for something to eat. The auberge itself consisted of three rooms. Furnishings were sparse: a counter, a table made of white wood with the ubiquitous checked tablecloth, and several chairs. Workers sat around the table, or, when the weather permitted, in the garden. The second room served as a small store offering a few grocery items and drinks. The third room was the kitchen. In the back, at the end of the garden, stood a small building with rooms that Madame Henry rented to workers. Mainly these were builders working on a hospice for the elderly and the terminally ill, the front gate of which stood across the street, on the grounds of an old château that had seen better days.
    At the age of ten, Émile received a small scholarship to a school in Fontenay-sous-Bois, east of Paris. Émile began his studies there during the 1882–83 academic year, remaining for two years. He received excellent marks. A teacher there noted Émile's superior intelligence and excellent disposition. At the suggestion of school administrators, he took the entrance exam for one of the upper-level schools in Paris. In 1884 he received a half scholarship to the École primaire supérieure Jean-Baptiste Say in Auteuil, on the western edge of Paris, where he studied for four years. The marquise paid the rest of his annual fees. The other pupils playfully called Émile "Microbe" because of his small size. He ranked third in his class after the first semester, and his report praised his excellent conduct, good judgment, and lively imagination. Émile had done extremely well in all subjects except chemistry. His second report was even more glowing, saluting "perfect" conduct, "an excellent pupil in every way, very intelligent, hardworking, and docile. Certainly will do well." He received a grade of three out of five for his responses to questions on Caesar's
Commentaries
in Latin, a textual reading of a passage from a classical play, the history of the Treaty of the Pyrénées in 1659 (which fixed the border with Spain), the geography of the French coasts, and finally, syllogisms. Moreover, Émile's progress in chemistry, which had been his weakest subject, had been remarkable. His professor added, "I can only sing the praises of this pupil so far as his character, conduct, and performance." Monsieur Philippe, another of his teachers, remembered that he never had to reproach or punish Émile. Émile was the most talented pupil he had ever known. A fellow student remembered him as brilliant, while yet another considered him "a perfect youth, the most honest that one could ever meet."
    Over the next years, Émile continued to shine. He earned a second prize for excellence in 1885–86, first prize for excellence in the same year, a second prize the following year, and honorable mention in 1887–88. Émile received his
baccalauréat
in science, with honors, four days before his sixteenth birthday, passing examinations in physics, math, and chemistry. His examiners asked him about the detonating properties of chlorine. Émile demonstrated uncommon promise.
     
    At J.-B. Say, Émile was a member of the "moles," students preparing for possible admission to one of the
grandes écoles,
highly competitive institutions of higher education. The moles paid a small membership fee and occasional fines (sometimes given in jest), and at the end of the year the money was pooled for a banquet honoring those admitted to the prestigious École polytechnique, a school for future engineers. On some Sundays, he invited his friends from Paris to go with him to Brévannes for a day in the