"Yes, the French way of pretending that things are what they are not," added Priscilla, as if the word "French" comprised the very essence of deceit. "Take care," retorted Martine. "I never dared tell you before, but I had a French great-great-grandmother." Although Priscilla made no reply to this, her inward comment was, "That accounts for many things that have made me wonder." At breakfast the next morning, before Martine had come down to the table, Amy asked her mother what she really thought of Yvonne's singing. "I do not profess to be a judge of that kind of thing, but the child seems to have a fine natural voice, as well as a musical nature. Yet, like all other singers, she must have her tones properly placed, and she is still too young to profit by expensive musical instruction. It is my own opinion that it would be better for her to sing little for the next few years. Some of the things that she sang last evening were beyond her, and there is danger of her forcing her voice, and so injuring it." "Have you said this to Martine?" "No, for Martine is the type of girl who profits most by finding out things for herself. She will learn gradually that everything cannot be done at once for Yvonne." CHAPTER V NEW PEOPLE "I don't like to." "Why not?" "It seems strange. They may not care to have us visit them." "We can only try. If they turn us away why, that is the worst we need expect." So, drawing Priscilla's arm within hers, Amy led her up the narrow flagged walk toward the Convent School. A sister wearing a glazed bonnet with a long veil was trimming rosebushes in the garden bed close to the house. "Yes, surely, we are glad to have visitors. The school itself is closed now, for the girls have their holidays, but you can see all there is. Excuse me for a moment and I will be with you." In a short time she had joined them in the little hallway to which they had been admitted by another sister. "Would the ladies care to see the chapel?" "Ladies" had a pleasant sound to Priscilla, and she put aside her prejudice against entering churches not of her own faith. The chapel was simply a large room suitably fitted with altar and seats. It had no color, but everything was daintily white, with here and there a touch of gold. The neat dormitory, the pleasant schoolroom, and the spotless cleanliness of the whole house appealed to Priscilla, and to her surprise she found herself asking the sister questions about her work. "We are Sisters of Charity, and our headquarters are in Halifax," the good sister said gently. "The school is but a little part of our work. We go in and out among the sick and the troubled. The Acadians are good to their own, and no one need suffer here; but some will make mistakes, and some suffer through the fault of others, and often the priest and the sisters alone can set things right."