San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-12-24

z1SSN the convent during
~ two or three weeks
of the year, and there was plenty
of available space at the disposal
of those who wished to do so.
Such visits were, indeed, most
commonly made during the lenten
season, and on the day when
Unorna sought refuge among the nuns
it CHANGED that there was but one
otter stranger within the walls. She
was glad to find this the case. Her
peculiar position would have made it
hard for her to bear with equanimity
the quiet observation OF Il number of
women, most of whom would probably
have been to some extent acquainted
with the story of her life, and some OF
whom would certainly have wished out
of curiosity to enter into nearer ac-
guainuance with her while within the
convent, while not intending to pro-
long their intercourse with her any
further. 1t could not DE expected
indeed, that in city like Prague such
a woman as UnOrna could escape no.
llCC, anu JllC ltlIJ JlltlI llbllC vi IOlulllS
was known of her true history had left
a very wide field for the imaginations
ofthose who chose to invent one for her.
The common story, and the one which
on the whole was nearest to the
truth, told that she was the daughter
OF a noble OF eastern Bohemia, who
had died soon after her birth, the last
OF his family, having converted his
ancestral possessions into money for
UnOrna' ) benefit, in order to destroy
all trace of her relationship to him.
The secret must, of course, have been
cOnfided to some one, but it had been
kept faithfully, and Unorna herself
was no wiser than those who amused
themselves with fruitless speculations
regarding her origin. If from the
first, from the moment when, as a young
girl, she left the convent to enter into
possession of her fortune, she had
chosen to assert some right to foot
ing in the most exclusive arislOcracy
Of the world it is not impossible that
the protection of the Abbess might
have helped her to obtain it. The
secret of her birth would. however,
have rendered a marriage with a man
Of that class all but impossible,
and would have entirely excluded her
from the only other position con.
sidered digniied for well born
woman of fortune, and wholly with
out living relations or connections
that OF a lady canOness on the crown
foundation. Moreover her wild
bringing up, and the singular natural
gifts she possessed ana which she
could not resist the impulse to ex-
ercise had in few months placed
her in a position from which no
escape was possible so long as she
lived in Prague, and: against those
few chiefly men who for her
beauty's sake, or out of curiosity.
would gladly have made her acquain-
lance she raised an impossible barrier
OF pride and reserve. Nor was her
reputation altogether an evil one.
She lived in strange fashion. it is true.
but the very face of her extreme Sc
clusion had kept her name free from
stain. If people spoke of her as the
Witch, it was more from habit and
half in jest, than in earnest. In
strong contradiction to the cruelty
which she could exercise ruLhlesslv
when reused to anger was her we'll
known Kindness to the poor, and her
charities to institutions founded for
their benefit We're in reality consider
able and were said to be boundless.
These explanations seem necessary in
order to account for the readiness
with which she turned to the convent
when she was in danger, and for the
facilities which were then at once Of
Tered her for stay long or short: as
she would please TO make 1t. Some
OF the more suspicious nuns looked
grave when they heard she was under
their roof, others, who had not vet
seen her, were filed with curiosity,
others, again, had been attached to
her during the time she had formerly
spent among them, and there were
not lacking those who, disappearing
OF her presence, held their peace, in
the anticipation that the rich and
eccentric lady would, on departing,
present gift of value TO their order.
Unorna was familiar with convent
life, and was aware that the benedic-
ton was over and that the hour for
the evening meal was approaching. A
fire had been lighted in her sitting
room, but the air was still very cold,