A little after 2 o’clock the hand-cart came round to the door. All the packages could not fit in it, in spite of Reverend Mother having made us take out nearly all we had gathered together; for she had learnt by experience, in carrying the things she had prepared for Lady Abbess as far as Vlamertinghe, three days before, the difficulties of walking so far, and carrying a heavy parcel at the same time. The enclosure door was then fastened on the inside, and all other important rooms or cupboards being likewise locked, we passed with a last farewell through the long-loved choir, which had known the joys and sorrows of our whole religious life. We then went through the outer church into the sacristy, locking the door of the grille behind us. There was but one more door which separated us from the outside world--one door more! and we should be out of our enclosure, perhaps never more to return! There was a pause in our sad procession--the key was not there. Our Lord watched over us once more; for, had we then continued in our procession, some of us would inevitably have been badly hurt, if not indeed killed. After a few minutes’ waiting, the key was brought, and already placed in the key-hole, when a loud explosion, accompanied by a terrific crash which shook the entire building, laid us all prostrate.... Bewildered, rather than afraid, we arose, and saw, through the window, a shower of bricks and glass falling into the garden. The first--though not the last--shell had struck our well-loved Abbey. We now realised that there was no time to waste. Already Edmund was screaming out from the other side of the still-locked door. ‘Why don’t you come? I told you, you should have left long ago. The convent is struck! We shall all be killed if you don’t make haste!’ The door was opened, and with an indescribable feeling of horror, mingled with uncertainty, we went out. In the street we raised our eyes in one sad farewell to our beloved Monastery; and there, out of the cell windows, principally that of Mother Prioress, a cloud of vapour and smoke told us of the passage of the shell; while the remains of the garret windows overhead and other débris of slates, bricks, wood and glass, strewn on the pavement, proved without a doubt, that Divine Providence had truly intervened in allowing the little delay in the sacristy, but for which we should have been just on the spot when all this had happened. A cry of anguish arose from our hearts as, hurrying along the deserted street, we saw our convent thus apparently burning.