The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1894-02-09
CHAPTER I.
COPYRIGHTED 1894 syAAeRItW gss ASSOCIATE


stands convent of one of the Catholi
sisteShoods. The building, or series {
buildings, shoots upward from an en-
nence that gives the monastic structure
Conspicuity strangely in contrast wit
the lives of its gentle lnmates--some {
whom daily visit the city to teach i
the parochial schools assigned to thei
order; others who care for the orphan
making their lullabies-even more ten
der than mother's-a soothing, pray
erful song of heavenly praise and ap
peal in rcparation for the manifold sin
Of humanity.
IN yne convent reception room, II
The first year of the last decade Of the
present century, two lovers sit opposite
the superior, Mother st. Gertrude, the
three engaged in conversation which
yet the nun takes more than passing
Interest in it. She stands in the rela-
tion of mother to the girl.
Mother st. Gertrude is woman of
medium height. She is nearing the
half century mark, but the happiness
enjoyed in her community has kept the
burrows of time from touching the face
that looks out from her hood like a
Raphaelistic picture of the Madonna in
sunshine, and not dolorous. The man.
agement of the large institution over
which she presides, embracing branch
establishments calling for much judg-
ment and knowledge of financiering,
necessarily gives her a deeper insight
into the ways Of the world than the
average nun can ever gain.
The greatest saints in the calendar
have had the most buoyant of DISPOSE
lions; the deeds that earned their can
onization-acts of startling miracle and
surprising Notwithstanding been
drawn from the catacombs of ecclesias-
ticism, where they had been preserved
with the embalmment of-what2 HUI
NOR, sweet and subtle; fancy, free and
ford; humanity, broad and blessed,
all exercised in exercising evil by ex-
citing joy and awakening the people
into new life that leads to the eternal;
the hottest of men and women who
have walked in the shadow of ascetism,
disseminated in their wake the light
and incentive to pleasure that kept
their memories hallowed until the
church placed upon them the aureole
of benediction.
OF this type is Mother st. Gertrude,
pleasant woman, with mind as sus-
ceptible to mirth as her heart is to suf-
fering, her interest in all her friends,
worldly and religious, not ignoring any
feature of their lives.
Laurence, you know your own
mind, don't your" she asked, address,
ing the young man. Isabel thinks
you may change, If her ancestry turns
out to have been plebeian.
"Nonsense, said the young man.
~'The aristocrat of today was a barba-
fian yesterday. The old aristocrat was
dethroned and the title confscated by
the savage conqueror who assumed,
generally with poor grace, an air of
gentility he fancied was in keeping
with his stolen grandeur. 'The rank
Hs but the guinea stamp you know
! Laurence Mangan was about 26 years
of age, tall, athletic, manly. He was
a newspaper man whose caustic articles
had made him feared as his honesty
had made him respected by the politi-
clans whom he had often thwarted in
their designs upon the city and county
treasures. His bearing indicated self
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES vanity nor offensive
pride. His features were handsome;
his character chivalric. A Byronic
brow, surmounted by curls that distin-
gnish the sculpture typical of the Greek
gods, rose above eyes whose sparkle-or
lire, If You will-gave you no better
Idea Of his mental strength than of his
physical energy. ,
Isabel LIE Clair, aglow with the ,
health and beauty of 90 summers, look
ed at him archly, gratiied with his SEN
timents, but apparently still mistrust- (
full, as If something hidden in the flu
lure were yet to come between them. ,
Laurence. ~" ~. ssc,:c. ARE you sure
Mother st, Gertrude has told son a1i!"
"Cf course" interjected the nun. II
will repeat it, because know it will
give you more satisfaction.
lyon needn't, said Laurence. Let /
ne assure Isabel that IL is herself, not {
her ancestry. am in love with. Cir |
may undermine the romance {
have built around her birth, but it ;
cannot change her character. The sins /
Of our ancestors, by commission or
mar not us, unless we brood
upon them, and the false social spirit re- s
lects us through fear of their ebullition
in ourselves. But. l believe and in !
tho enthusiasm of the moment he step t
ped forward, lifted Isabel from her a
chair, and pressing her to his bosom !
Kissed the upturned FACET believe :
with the poet Moore: t
oh. what vas love made for. II tits not the q
same
through JOY and through torment through
glory and shamei
know not, ask not, IL quilts in that heart, J {
but know that love thee, whatever thou | ,
art"
He lifted his eyes to Mother st. Ger
rude, who had herself arisen. She had
meant to chide one or the other, prob
bly, both, but as she looked at the will
owy form of her fair protege, heaving
nth delight, a blush of maidenly
ervor making Isabel more beautiful ,
han ever, her chidings failed to find
dice. and it was Laurence's words that
roke the si!ence:
Don't mind what do, mother; tell '
our story i
ut isn't very long" resumed the