But the three nuns seized upon her; and while one held the palm of her hand forcibly over her mouth so as to check her utterance, the others hastily blindfolded her. Flora was so overcome by this alarming proceeding, that she fainted. When she came to her senses, she found herself lying on a hard and sorry couch in a large apartment, almost entirely denuded of furniture and lighted by a feebly-burning lamp suspended to the low ceiling. For a moment she thought she was laboring under the influence of a hideous dream; but, glancing around, she started with affright, and a scream burst from her lips, when she beheld the three nuns standing by the bed. "Why have you brought me hither?" she demanded, springing from the couch, and addressing the recluses with frantic wildness. "To benefit you in a spiritual sense," replied the one who had before acted as spokeswoman: "to purge your mind of those mundane vanities which have seized upon it, and to render you worthy of salvation. Pray, sisters--pray for this at present benighted creature!" Then, to the surprise of the young maiden, the three nuns all fell upon their knees around her, and began to chant a solemn hymn in most lugubrious notes. They had thrown aside their veils, and the flickering light of the dim lamp gave a ghastly and unearthly appearance to their pale and severe countenances. They were all three elderly persons: and their aspect was of that cold, forbidding nature, which precludes hope on the part of any one who might have to implore mercy. The young maiden was astounded--stupefied--she knew not what to conjecture. Where was she? who were those nuns that had treated her so harshly? why was she brought to that cold, cheerless apartment? what meant the hymn that seemed chanted expressly on her account? She could not bear up against the bewilderment and alarm produced by these questions which she asked herself, and none of which she could solve. An oppressive sensation came over her; and she was about to sink back upon the couch from which she had risen, when the hymn suddenly ceased--the nuns rose from their suppliant posture--and the foremost, addressing the poor girl in a reproachful tone, exclaimed, "Oh! wicked--worldly-minded creature, repent--repent--repent!" There was something so awful--so appalling--in this strange conduct on the part of the nuns, that Flora began to doubt whether she were not laboring under some terrible delusion. She feared lest her senses were leaving her: and, covering her face with her hands, so as to close her eyes against external objects, she endeavored to look inward, as it were, and scrutinize her own soul. But she was not allowed time to reflect; for the three nuns seized upon her, the foremost saying, "You must come with us!" "Mercy! mercy!" screamed the wretched girl, vainly struggling in the powerful grasp of the recluses.