“I know,” said Magdalen, rousing herself. “It has made her look ten years older, and she could not talk it over or let a word be said to comfort her. She says it was all her fault, and I should have thought it was that silly little Sister Mena’s, if that is her name. “She considers it her fault for objecting to strict discipline in things of which she did not see the use,” said Jane Mohun, “and so getting absorbed in her own work, and having no fixed rule by which to train Mena.” “I see,” said Lady Merrifield; “it reminds me of a story told in Madame de Chantal’s life, how, when, _par mortification_, a Sister quietly ate up a rotten apple without complaint and another made signs of amusement, a rule was made that no one should raise her eyes at meals. It shows that some rules which seem unreasonable may have a foundation.” “It is an unnatural life altogether,” said Dolores. “Why should the rotten apple have been swallowed? or, if it was, I should think a joke over it might have been wholesome.” “Hindering priggishness in the mortified Sister,” said Gillian. “The fact is,” said Lady Merrifield, “that if you vow yourself to an unnatural life, so to speak, you must submit to the rules that have been found best to work for it.” “And poor Sister Beata did neither the one nor the other, by her own account,” said Jane. “She called herself a Sister, but disliked each rule, and chose to go her own way, like any other benevolent woman, doing very admirable work herself, but letting little Mena have the prestige of a Sister, while too busy to look after her, and without rules to restrain her.” “But surely there has been no harm!” exclaimed Lady Merrifield. “No harm, only a little incipient flirtation with the organist, nothing in any one else, but not quite like a convent maid.” “Ah! I rather suspected,” said Agatha. “I should think the best thing for Sister Mena would be to go to a good school, leave off her veil, in which she looks so pretty, and be treated like an ordinary girl,” said Lady Merrifield. “That is just what Sister Beata intends,” said Miss Mohun. “She is to sink down into Miss Marian Jenkins, to wear a straw hat and blue frock, and go to school with the other girls, the pupils, while Sister Beata begins life as a probationer at Dearport.” “Poor Sister Beata!” “She says she has experienced that it is best to learn to obey before one begins to rule. It is most touching to see how humble she is. Such a real good woman too! I doubt whether she gets a night’s rest three days in a week, and she looks quite haggard with this distress,” said Jane. “She will be a great power by and by! But what will Mr. Flight and St. Kenelm’s do without her?” “He is promised relays of Sisters from Dearport, which has stood so many years that they have a supply. You see, he, like Sister Beata, tried a little too much to be original and stand aloof.”