with no one to look after him, and it
was not a seeming, but a certainty, mother. It came over me suddenly
that my duty was not here, but there. Of course you can't agree with
me, but I cannot resist it, it was a call."

"But the Evil One, my dear child, calls us too; we must be careful not
to mistake the devil's call for God's call."

"Mother, I daresay." Tears came to Catherine's eyes, she began to weep.
"I can't argue with you, mother, I only know--" She could not speak for
sobbing, and between her sobs she said, "I only know that I must go
home."

She recovered herself very soon, and the Reverend Mother took her hand
and said:--

"Well, my dear child, I shall not stand in your way."

Even the Reverend Mother could not help thinking that the man who got
her would get a charming wife. Her face was rather long and white, and
she had long female eyes with dark lashes, and her eyes were full of
tenderness. She had spoken out of so deep a conviction that the
Reverend Mother had begun to believe that her mission was perhaps to
look after this hapless young man; and when she told the Reverend
Mother that yesterday she had felt a conviction that Peter was not
going to be a priest, the Reverend Mother felt that she must tell her
of Pat Phelan's visit.

"I did not tell you at once, my dear child, because I wished to know
from yourself how you felt about this matter," the nun said; and she
told Catherine that she was quite right, that Peter had left Maynooth.
"He hopes to marry you, Catherine."

A quiet glow came into the postulant's eyes, and she seemed engulfed in
some deep joy.

"How did he know that I cared for him?" the girl said, half to herself,
half to the nun.

"I suppose his father or his brother must have told him," the nun
answered.

And then Catherine, fearing to show too much interest in things that
the nun deemed frivolous, said, "I am sorry to leave before my work is
done here. But, mother, so it has all come true; it was extraordinary
what I felt that morning in the garden," she said, returning to her
joy. "Mother, do you believe in visions?"

"The saints, of course, have had visions. We believe in the visions of
the saints."

"But after all, mother, there are many duties besides religious duties."

"I suppose, Catherine, you feel it to be your duty to look after this
young man?"

"Yes, I think that is it. I must go now, mother, and see Sister Angela,
and write out for her all I know about