a along the edge of the long valley into which the plain dropped the sun sank in a white sky and caught the point of one of the ribs of her so that she could hold it in a better position to shade her eyes and she saw how the houses stretched into a point the last being an inn no doubt the noisy resort of the and the landscape painters there was a painter making his way towards the valley his paint box on his back but at that moment the carriage turned into a lane where a enclosed the small gardens she then noticed the or apple tree to which was attached a clothes line enormous in the dusty comers the by brick was and broken in colour and in every one of these cottages is living is laughing will soon be dead good heavens how strange we are nearly there started it was father speaking to her the cottages have spoilt the appearance on this side but the view is splendid from the other the lane ascended and remembered how the house stood inside a wall behind some trees looking westward the last southern end of the common land as the was the last northern end there had been iron gates when a great city merchant lived in the house which had been gradually transformed to suit the of the sisters the melancholy little peal of the bell hanging on a loose wire sounded far away and in the interval noticed the large double door from which the old green paint was a step was heard within and the little which closed the i in the of the door was drawn back the eyes and forehead band of a appeared for an instant in the opening and then with a rattle of keys the door was hastily opened and the little with ruddy cheeks and a shy smile stood aside to let pass in she kissed the hand of as he turned to her with a kindly word of salutation the reverend mother is expecting you she said her agitation being due to the im i of the occasion no doubt they have been praying that i might sing well poor thought as she followed the up the paved covered way through the iron frame work woven through and through with ers and monthly roses she caught glimpses of the partly carriage drive and of the neatly kept flower beds filled with and tall white in the hall an adam s ceiling in graceful lines from a central and before a statue of the sacred heart a light was burning remembered how the poor lay sisters to keep the stone floor and it was into the parlour on the left which remembered to be the best parlour sister ushered them by in the old days before a sudden crisis on the stock exchange had obliged the owner to sell the house for much less than its true value to the little community of sisters of the passion who were then seeking a permanent house this room round which and the two priests were looking for seats had been used as a morning room three long french windows looked out on the garden and the flowers and air made it a bright cheerful room in spite of the severe pictures on the walls she recognised at once the of s last supper which hung over the solid marble chimney piece a little above the statue of our lady of and the two blue and also the pale walls and the coloured smiling portrait of the pope and a full length photograph of cardinal signed in his own clear neat handwriting and the priests still where they should sit looked at the little sofa brought forward for her one of the six high straight backed chairs and they sat at the circular table laid out with severe books a volume of the lives of the saints lay under her hand and she glanced at a little box for she looked at the priests and then round the room striving to penetrate the meaning which it vaguely conveyed to her � an indescribable air of scrupulous neatness and cleanliness a sense of but suddenly a startling sense of the came upon her that she the s mistress should be admitted into a should be received the honoured guest of holy women and she got up leaving the two priests to discuss the financial results of the concert and stood gazing out at the window there was the with the bushes shutting out the view of the green fields beyond and this was the portion of the garden given up to visitors and she used to walk there during the retreat away to the right was the big sunny garden where the went for their daily by special permission she had once been allowed there she remembered the sloping the fringe of stately elms and over them the view westward of park she thought of the walking under their trees half ghost like half they used to seem in their grey habits with their long grey falling their thoughts fixed on an by infinite life and this life seeming more to them than a little passing shadow returned slowly to the table the priests were talking of the choir turned to address a question to her but before he spoke the door opened and two entered hardly of this world did they seem in their long grey habits the mother a small thin woman with eager eyes and a nervous intimate manner hastened forward felt that the mother could not be less than sixty yet she conveyed an idea of youth between her rapid an expression of sadness came upon her face through the bright eyes and contrasted her with mother the sub even the touch of these women s hands was different there was a nervous emotion in the mother 