The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-07-12
Continued from Page 81
THE SHADOW OF THE ANGEL.

She was saying that we must not
give up hope. Sister Irmingarde had
a serious case of pneumonia very
serious case, indeed; and the crisis,
to-day, found her extremely weak;
but great specialist had been sent
for, and he was doing everything that
could be done. We must remember,
she said, that the one thing we could
do for Sister Irmingarde was to keep
steadily at work, as she would wish
us to do, and tighten the tasks of her
substitutes by helping them in every
way. She asked us to pray for Sister
Irmingarde-as if she needed to
when we were all doing it, deep in
our hearts, that very minute! She
turned to her notes then, and began
the French lesson, and every girl there
set her teeth and resolved to go
through that lesson we'll, if she died
doing it. We got through, every one
of us, and Sister Harmona was sim
ply wonderful in helping us, and I'M
derstanding us, and keeping us so
busy at the same time, that we
couldn't think. At the end of the les
son she gathered up her notes and
turned to us with little smile that
shone dimly through her tears, like a
rainbow through a mist.
How good you are, my children, .
she said in French. Some day l will
describe this hour to Sister Irmin-
garde, and it will make her happy.
Adieu. Pray for her.
Then she went away, without an
other word, and we began to talk to
one another, almost in whispers, for
her last words had comforted the
girls.
Some day will describe this hour
to Sister Irmingarde," she had said
"and it will make her happy"
Surely that sounded as if she
thought Sister would get well. But
Mabel Muriel Murphy, who is very
devout, was sure Sister Harmona
merely meant that she would tell Sis
ter Irmingarde when they met in
heaven.
I left them arguing over this when l
went to Sister Cecilia's room to take
my music lesson. If Sister Irmingarde
wanted us to go on as usual while
she was dying, / would go on-as long
as / could. But what l wanted to do
was to sit still and pinch myself until
I awoke from my horrible dream.
When l turned into the music hall |
&h04
seemed unreal. Usually this hall is
the noisest place in the convent, for
dozens of girls are practiciEg dozens
of different things on dozens of differ
ent pianos, and the racket is frightful
But to-day half the pianos were silent
and the rest we're going internationally
while little groups of girls stood on
every side, talking under their breath
Even the nuns were stopping to speak
to one another-asking quick ques,
ton, and then going on with a gesture
of despair
The long, dim hall seemed gloomier
than ever before, as if the Angel OF
Death, lowering over the convent, had
covered everything in it with the
shadow of his great black wings.
l knew now what the look on al
those faces meant. 1t meant fear. II
almost meant terror-and you cannot
imagine how strange it seemed to me
to see this in a convent, where they
think of death as a welcome friend
waiting to open the door of heaven
and let them pass in. A Sister who
dies finds her reward little sooner
than the rest, they say. That is all;
so why should they grieve for her:
But it was different today. I won
dered why, and yet I knew. 1t was
because Sister Irmingarde herself
was different. They all loved her
They all needed her, just as we girls
did. They felt they could not go on
without her.
As I dragged my feet down the han
that seemed o thousand miles long, ]
caught few words here and there