Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1893-11-17


face.
This was taken for rank contumacy, and
when the Reverend Mother came upon her
round of inspection from a superior class,
! she ordered Kathleen off to q room at the
top of the house, bare garrett under the
thin hot roof, which was used only for soli-
tary confinement in very bad cases. 1t was
the blackhole of the convent.
Kathleen was marched up to this place of
durance vile, and kept there till evening
prayers, with the refreshment of slice of
black bread-such bread rs the coachmen
give their horses in that country-and acup
of water. In the cool eventde she was let
out of her prison, which had been like an
oven all day, and she and Rose lay down
together side by side in their narrow beds
at the end Of the long dormltory, nearest
the door.
When all the others were asleep Rose
knelt by her sisters bed, and kissed and
comforted her; but the child was broken
hearted. She said she would die in that
miserable house. Lessons were given to
her which she could not learn, and then she
was punished for not learning them. She
had been frightened in that dreadful room.
She had heard things-awful things-run-
ming about behind the walls, squeaking and
They were rats, darling" said Rose, ca
ressing and soothing her. "You shall never,
never be put in that room again, If you will
be brave, and trust me-"
Rose shuddered at the thought Of that
sitting garnet, under the burning roof, and
| the rats running about behind the wainscot.
She had heard of children being eaten alive
by rats.
"Shall we steal out Of the house to-mor-
row morning as soon as it is light, and go
away and live by ourselves somewhere
she asked, in whisper.
1t was an hour after bedtime; the other
children wero all snoring on their hard little
bolsterR There was no one to Overhear the
sisters al they whispered and plotted. 1t
was no new thought with Rose o Hars. She
lad been meditating upon 1t for a long
time, ever Bince the new rule had begun and
had made Kathleen unhappy. She had
never forgotten those words of Miss Fitz-
patrick's: "When you are grown up you
will have to get your own living, and then
you may have TO be parted" The very
thought of severance from Kathleen, this
only beloved of her heart, was despair
Rose made up her mind that there should
be no such parting. Why should they not
work and live together? Rose felt herself
strong and brave, and able to work for both.
She had wasted no opportunity that the con-
vent afforded her. She had learnt all that
her teachers had given her to learn, and
now felt herself able to teach as she had
been taught. II Miss Fitzpatrick were left
free to plan their lives she and her sister
would be parted; but If she took their fate
into her own hands, they could spend their
lives together-prosper or fail together land,
In her young hopefulness, it seemed TO her
that failure was hardly possible.
She whispered the plan to Kathleen. They
were to get up at daybreak-at the first
glimmer of light-dress themselves, and
creep out of the dormtory and down the
stairs, with their shoes in their hands. The
door opening into the garden was bolted
only. They had nothing to do but draw
back the heavy bolts noiselessly. The gar
den was guarded by high walls, except in
one weak point which the girls knew well.
An older wall, only eight feet high-a pom
derous old wall, with heavy buttresses OF
crumbling brick-divided the western side
of the garden from an extensive orchard
sloping down to the river.
This wall had been scaled by many
young rebel, in quest of plums and pears,
and it would be no obstacle to the sisters
In little bundle, and her fortune of fifteen
gold pieces, Biddy's legacy, in her pocket;
and with this stock of worldly wealth they
would make their way to Paris, that won
derful, beautiful city, of which they had
heard so much from some Of their schoolfel-
lows the daughters of Partisan tradesmen,
who had been sent to the Belgian convent
! for cheapness.
"Are we going to walk all the way?" ask
ed Kathleen.
mot all the way. darling. We can 60 by
rail. But If we find the journey would cost
us too much We might walk part of the
way"
Il will walk as far as you like; 1 am not
afraid" said Kathleen.
Their scheme prospered. In the dewy
morning they climbed the crumbling or
chard-wall, where there was plenty Of foot
hold on the broken bricks, and ran across
the wet grass to the edge of the river, fol-
lowing which they came to the highroad.
They avoided Bruges, the city of church
towers, and steep roofs, and many bridges,
and made for the road to Courtrai. Their
first days journey of fifteen miles was over
a dusty road-long, dreary, monotonous-a
long and weary walk; but they rested on
the way at cottage, where they enjoyed
meal OF Dreau ana 1rult Wnlcn cost them
only few pence. Not for years had they
so relished any feast as they enjoyed this
dinner of black bread and black cherries,
which they ate in little arbOr covered
with hop-vne, in a corner of the cottage
! garden. They were three days on the road
to Courtrai, sleeping in humble cottages,
and living on the humblest fare. At the
railway-station at Courtrai Rose found that
the price Of railway tickets to Paris, even
the cheapest they could buy would make
! great hole in their little fortune; so she and
Kathleen decided that they would walk all
the way. 1t was long journey. but not so
long as that of the Scotch girl whom Rose
had read about in Sir Walter SCOTS story.
II should like to walk" said Kathleen.
81 have been so happy to-day-no lessons,
no one to scold us. The sky, and the fow-
ers and the fields all to ourselves"
Rose found decent lodging for the night
in weaver's cottage, and they started next
morning on the road TO Paris, Kathleen as
merry as lark, Rose happy, but with