ve finished in another five minutes, and then there will be no
more letters to write, my child. Sit where you choose; take a book, and be
quiet; I shall not keep you waiting long."

The words were few; the Mother-Superior's manner a little curt in speaking
them. But where Lynette chose to sit was on the cheap drugget that covered
the beeswaxed boards, with her squirrel-coloured hair and soft cheek
pressed against the black serge habit.

The Mother-Superior wrote on, apparently absorbed, and with knitted brows
of attention, but her large, white, beautiful left hand dropped half
unconsciously to the silken hair and the velvet cheek, and stayed there.

There is a type of woman the lightest touch of whose hand is subtler and
more sweet than the most honeyed kisses of others. And the Mother-Superior
was not liberal of caresses. When Lynette turned her lips to the hand, the
face that bent over the paper remained as stern and as absorbed as ever.
She went on writing, directed, closed, and stamped her letter, and set it
aside under a pebble of white quartz, lined and streaked with the faint
silvery green of gold.

"Now, my child?"

The girl said, flushing scarlet:

"Reverend Mother, I have told the Red Class the truth about me!"

The Mother-Superior started; dismay was in her face.

"Why, child?"

"I--I mean"--the scarlet flush gave place to paleness--"that I have no
name and no family, and no friends except you, dearest, and the Sisters.
That you found me, and took me in, and have kept me out of charity."

"Was it necessary to have told--anything whatever?"

"I think so, Mother, and I am glad now that I have done it. There will be
no need for deception any more."

"My daughter, there has never been the slightest deception of any kind
whatsoever upon your part, or the part of anyone else who knew. No
interests suffered by your keeping your own secret. Who first solicited
your confidence in this matter?"

"Greta Du Taine."

"Greta Du Taine." Very cold was the tone of the Mother-Superior. "May I
ask how she received the information she had the bad taste to seek?"

"Mother--she took it--not quite as I expected."

"Yet she and you have always been friends, my child."

Lynette rose up upon her knees. The long arm of the Mother-Superior went
round the slight figure that leaned against her, and in the sudden gesture
was a passion of protecting motherhood.

"Mother, she does not wish to be my friend any longer. She