"Oh, I think I can bear to hear my faults," said I. "My pride is not of that sort." "No," she said; "but thou art very proud, little one." "Certainly," said I; "I am noble." Lady Judith looked suddenly up at me, with a kind of tender look in her grey eyes, which are so like, and yet so unlike, Lady Sybil’s eyes. "Little maid, tell me one thing; is thine heart at rest?" "I have never been at rest, holy Mother. I do not know how to get it." "No, dear heart; thy shoulder is not under the yoke. Listen to the words of the Master—thy Lord and mine. ’Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.’ Little maiden, wilt thou not come and learn of Him? He is the only one in Heaven or earth who will never disappoint thee." Rather bitter tears were filling my eyes. "I don’t know how!" I said. "No, dear heart; He knows _how_," said Lady Judith. "Only tell Him thou art willing to learn of Him—if thou art willing, Helena." "I have had some thoughts of going into the cloister," said I. "But—I could not leave Guy." "Dear child, canst thou not learn the lessons of God, without going into the cloister?" "I thought not," said I. "One cannot serve the good God, and remain in the world,—can one?" "Ah, what is the world?" said Lady Judith. "Walls will not shut it out. Its root is in thine own heart, little one." "But—your pardon, holy Mother!—you yourself have chosen the cloister." "Nay, my child. I do not say I might not have done so. But, in fact, it was chosen for me. This veil has been upon my head, Helena, since I was five years old." "Yet you would not deny, holy Mother, that a nun is better than a wife?"[#] [#] I trust that I shall not be misunderstood, or supposed to express any approbation of conventual life. At the date of this story, an unmarried woman who was not a nun was a phenomenon never seen, and no woman who preferred single life had any choice but to be a nun. In these early times, also, nuns had more liberty, and monasticism, as well as religion in general, was free from some corruptions introduced in later years. The original nunneries were simply houses where single women could live together in comfort and safety, and were always seminaries of learning and charitable institutions. Most of them were very different places at the date of the dissolution. "Better? I am not so sure. Happier,—yes, I think so." "Most people would say just the opposite, would they not?" said I, laughing. "Most men, and some women," she answered, with a smile. "But Monseigneur Saint Paul thought a woman happier who abode without marriage." "That is what I should like best: but how can I, without being a nun? Perhaps, if I were an eremitess, like your Nobility, I might still get leave from my superiors to live with Guy." "It is always Guy with thee," remarked Lady Judith, smiling. "Does Guy never disappoint thee, my child?"