"Ah, Frank!" cried Mr. Stowe, as we made our appearance, "we were looking for you. I did not know but that you had run away with Ellen." "No," said I, "not yet; but we were contriving the best plan to run away with a nun." "Hush! you fool!" whispered Langley, pinching my arm. "Go to thunder!" was the reply, "I know what I'm about." I then related to Mr. Stowe the story the reader well knows, and which I found Mr. Stowe knew very well also, and finally disclosed Ellen's very excellent plan for the deliverance of my cousin. "If," said Mr. Stowe, in reply, when I had finished, "if you can get sister Agatha's consent to elope at the proper time, Ellen may fall sick if she pleases. I may be suspected in having a hand in the matter; but if the affair is properly managed, they can do no more than suspect, and that I care nothing about, as I'm going to move back to Boston in the spring. But the grand difficulty you will find to be in persuading Sister Agatha to break her vow." "Let me alone for that," replied I, "if I can only have an interview with her." "That is easily done," said Mary Stowe, "the nuns are allowed to see their friends at the grate." "And I will go with you to the convent to-morrow, and engage the superior's attention while you talk with your cousin," added her father. In the evening Langley and I held a council of war, wherein it was decided, _nem. con_., that our plot was in a fair way to be accomplished. CHAPTER VIII. _The Visit at the Convent._ The next day Mr. Stowe and myself set out for the convent in that gentleman's carriage. Upon our arriving there we were shown into a spacious parlor, at one end of which was a larger grated window, opening into a smaller room. In a few moments the Lady Superior entered. She was a tall, handsome woman, and surprised my Protestant prejudices by receiving us very cordially, and immediately engaging with Mr. Stowe in a very lively, animated conversation in Spanish. Suddenly she turned toward me, "My good friend, Senor Stowe, says that you wish to see Sister Agatha, who was your cousin." "Yes, senora." "Well, the senor and myself are going to the school-room, and I will send her to you; but you must not make love to your cousin--she is very pretty, and you Americans have very sad morals;" and so saying, the lively superior led the way to the school-room, followed by Mr. Stowe. After they had retired I went up to the grate, and waited several minutes, until at last a door of the inner room opened, and a nun entered. Her face bore the traces of deep melancholy; but notwithstanding that, and the unbecoming dress which half concealed her form, I thought I had never seen a woman so lovely, so completely beautiful. I stood in mute wonder and admiration. "Did you wish to see me, senor?" asked the nun, in a low, soft voice. "I did, madam," I replied. "If you are Clara Garcia, allow me to introduce myself as your cousin, Frank Byrne."