When the news arrived that Father Daly had been transferred suddenly
by the Bishop to another parish, Sister Winifred walked about in
terror, expecting every minute to bring her a summons to the
Prioress's room. A shiver went through her when she thought of the
interview which probably awaited her; but as the morning wore away
without any command reaching her, she began to take pleasure in the
hope that she had escaped, and in the belief that the Prioress was
afraid of an explanation. No doubt that was it; and Sister Winifred
picked up courage and the threads of the broken intrigue, resolving
this time to confine herself to laying stress on the necessitous
condition of the convent, which was still in debt, and the
impossibility of Sister Teresa's singing redeeming it entirely.
It would have been wiser if she had conducted her campaign as she
intended to do, but the temptation was irresistible to point out,
occasionally, that those who did not agree with her were the very
nuns--Angela, Veronica, Rufina, and one or two others--who had
confessed to the sin of praying for the visitations of counterparts
during the hour of meditation and other hours. By doing this she
prejudiced her cause. Her inuendoes reached the ears of the Bishop
and Monsignor Mostyn, who came to the convent to settle the
difficulty of an alteration in the rule; she was severely
reprimanded, and it was decreed that the contemplative Orders were
not out of date, and that nuns should be able to meditate on the
Cross without considering too closely the joys that awaited the
brides of Christ in heaven. St. Teresa's writings were put under ban,
only the older nuns, who would not accept the words of the saint too
literally, being allowed to read them. "Added to which," as Monsignor
said, "the idle thoughts of the novices are occupying too much of our
attention. This is a matter for the spiritual adviser of the novices,
and Father Rawley is one who will keep a strict watch."
The Bishop concurred with Monsignor, and then applied his mind to the
consideration of the proposed alteration of the rule, deciding that
no alteration could receive his sanction, at all events during the
life of the present Prioress. Sister Winifred was told that the
matter must be dropped for the present. It so happened that Monsignor
came upon her and Evelyn together before the Bishop left; and he
tried to reconcile them, saying that when the Prioress was called to
God--it was only a question of time for all of us, and it didn't seem
probable that she would live very long; of course, it was a very
painful matter, one which they did not care to speak about--but after
her death, if it should be decided that the Order might become a
teaching Order, Sister Teresa would be the person who would be able
to assist Sister Winifred better than any other.
"But, Monsignor," Evelyn said, "I do not feel sure I've a vocation
for the religious life."
Out of a shrivelled face pale, deeply-set eyes looked at her, and it
seemed that she could read therein the disappointment he felt that
she was not remaining in the convent. She was sorry she had
disappointed him, for he had helped her; and she left him talking to
Sister Winifred and wandered down the passage, not quite certain
whether he doubted her strength to lead a chaste life in the world,
or could she attribute that change of expression in his eyes to
wounded vanity at finding that the living clay put into his hands was
escaping from them unmoulded... by him? Hard to say. There was a fear
in her heart! Now was it that she might lack the force of character
to leave the convent when the time came... after the Prioress's
death? Life is but a ceaseless uprooting of oneself. Sister Winifred
might be elected....
"Who will have the strength to turn the convent into an active Order
when I am gone?" the Prioress often asked Evelyn, who could only
answer her that she hoped she would be with them for many a day yet.
"No, my dear, not for many months. I am a very old woman." She
questioned Evelyn regarding Mother Philippa's administration; and
Evelyn disguised from her the disorder that had come into the
convent, not telling how the nuns spent a great deal of time visiting
each other in their cells, how in the garden some walked on one side
and some on the other, how the bitterest enmities had sprung up. But,
though she was not told these things, the Prioress knew her convent
had fallen into decadence, and sometimes she said:
"Well, I haven't the strength to restore dignity to this Order; so it
had better disappear, become an active Order. But who among you will
be able to reorganise it? Mother Philippa--what do you think, dear?"
"Mother Philippa is an excellent woman," Evelyn answered; "but as an
administrator--"
"You don't believe in her?"
"Only when she is guided by another, one superior to herself."
"One who will see that the rule is maintained?"
Evelyn was thinking of Mother Hilda.
"Mother Hilda," she said, "seems to me too quiet, too subtle, too
retiring." And the Prioress agreed with her, saying under her breath:
"She prefers to confine herself to the education of her novices. So
what is to be done?"
From Mother Hilda Evelyn's thoughts went to Sister Mary John, and it
seemed to her she never realised before the irreparable loss the
convent had sustained. But what was the good in reminding the
Prioress of Sister Mary John? No doubt, lying back there in her
chair, the old mind was thinking of the nun she had lost, and who
would have proved of such extraordinary service in the present
circumstances. While looking at the Prioress, thinking with her (for
it is true the Prioress was thinking of Sister Mary John), Evelyn
understood suddenly, in a single second, that if Sister Mary John had
not left Sister Winifred would not have come forward with the project
of a school, nor would there have been any schism. But in spite of
all her wisdom, the Prioress had not known, until this day, how
dependent they were on Sister Mary John. A great mistake had been
made, but there was no use going into that now.
A bell rang, and Evelyn said:
"Now, Mother, will you take my arm and we'll go down to chapel
together?"
"And after Benediction I will take a turn in the garden with you,"
the Prioress said.
She was so weary of singing Gounod's "Ave Maria" that she accentuated
the vulgarity of the melody, and wondered if the caricature would be
noticed. "The more vulgarly it is sung the more money it draws." And
smiling at the theatrical phrase, which had arisen unexpectedly to
her lips, she went into the garden to join the Prioress.
"Come this way, dear; I want to talk to you." And the Prioress and
the novice wandered away from the other nuns towards the fish-pond,
and stood listening to the gurgle of the stream and to the whisper of
the woods. An inspiring calm seemed to fall out of the sky, filling
the heart with sympathy, turning all things to one thing, drawing the
earth and sky and thoughts of men and women together.
"Teresa, dear, when you leave us what do you intend to do? You have
never told me. Do you intend to return to the stage?"
"Mother, I cannot bear to think of leaving you." The old nun raised
her eyes for a moment, and there was a great sadness in them, for she
felt that without Evelyn her death would be lonely.
"We came here for the same reason, or very nearly. I stayed, and you
are going."
"And which do you think is the better part, Mother?"
The nun did not answer for a long time, and Evelyn's heart seemed to
beat more quickly as she waited for the answer.
"These are things we shall never know, whether it is better to go or
to stay. All the wisdom of the ages has never solved this question--
which ever course we take; it costs a great deal to come here."
"And it costs a great deal to remain in the world. Something terrible
would have happened to me. I should have killed myself. But you know
everything, Mother; there is no use going over that story again."
"No, there is none. Only one thing remains to be said, Teresa--to
thank you for remaining with me. You are a gift from God, the best I
have received for a long time, and if I reach heaven my prayers will
always be with you."
"And, Mother, if you reach heaven, will you promise me one thing,
that you will come to me and tell me the truth?"
"That I promise, and I will keep my promise if I am allowed."
The ripple of the stream sounded loud in their ears, and the skies
became more lovely as Evelyn and the Prioress thought of the promise
that had been asked and been given.
"I'll ask you to do some things for me." And she gave Evelyn
instructions regarding her papers. "When you have done all these
things you will leave the convent. You will not be able to remain. I
have seen a great deal of you, more than I saw of any other novice,
and I know you as if you were my own child.... I am very old, and you
are still a young woman."
"Mother, I am nearly, forty, and my trials are at an end, or nearly."
"Truly, a great trial. I am old enough now, Teresa, to speak about it
without shame. A great trial, yet one is sorry when it is over. And
you still believe that a calamity would have befallen you?"
"And a great calamity nearly did befall me."
They sat side by side, their eyes averted, knowing well that they had
reached a point beyond which words could not carry them.
"We are always anxious to be understood, every one wants to be
understood. But why? Of what use?"
"Mother, we must never speak on this subject again, for I love you
very dearly, and it is a great pain to me to think that your death
will set me free."
"It seems wrong, Teresa, but I wouldn't have you remain in the
convent after me; you are not suited to it. I knew it all the while,
only I tried to keep you. One is never free from temptation. Now you
know everything.... We have been here long enough."
"We have only been here a few minutes," Evelyn answered; "at least it
has only seemed a few minutes to me. The evening is so beautiful, the
sky is so calm, the sound of the water so extraordinary in the
stillness! Listen to those birds, the chaffinch shrieking in that
aspen, and the thrush singing all his little songs somewhere at the
end of the garden."
"And there is your bullfinch, dear. He will remain in the convent to
remind them of you when you have left."
The bird whistled a stave of the Bird Music from "Siegfried," and
then came to their feet to pick. Evelyn threw him some bread, and
they wandered back to the novices, who had forgotten their
differences, and were sitting under their tree with Mother Hilda
discussing a subject of great interest to them.
"We haven't seen them united before for a long time."
"That odious Sister Winifred waiting for your death, thinking only of
her school."
"That is the way of the world, and we find the world everywhere, even
in a convent. Her idea comes before everything else. Only you,
Teresa, are good; you are sacrificing yourself to me; I hope it will
not be for long."
"But we said, Mother, we wouldn't talk of that any more. Now, what
are the novices so eager about?"
Sister Agatha ran forward to tell them that it had been suddenly
remembered that the thirtieth of the month would be Sister Bridget's
fortieth anniversary of her vows.
"Forty years she has been in the convent, and we are thinking that we
might do something to commemorate the anniversary."
"I should like to see her on an elephant, riding round the garden.
What a spree it would be!" said Sister Jerome.
The words were hardly out of her mouth when she regretted them,
foreseeing allusions to elephants till the end of her days, for
Sister Jerome often said foolish things, and was greatly quizzed for
them. But the absurdity of the proposal did not seem to strike any
one; only the difficulty of procuring an elephant, with a man who
would know how to manage the animal, was very great. Why not a
donkey? They could easily get one from Wimbledon; the gardener would
bring one. But a donkey ride seemed a strange come-down after an
elephant ride, and an idea had suddenly struck Sister Agatha.
"Sister Jerome doesn't mean a real elephant, I suppose. We might
easily make a very fine elephant indeed by piling the long table from
the library with cushions, stuffing it as nearly as possible into the
shape of an elephant."
"And the making of the elephant would be such a lark!" cried Sister
Jerome.
Mother Hilda raised no objection, and the Prioress and Evelyn walked
aside, saying:
"Well, it is better they should be making elephants than dreaming of
counterparts."