anged the veil itself a little better, her face still turned away
towards the back of the chair.

"Maria! Maria!" The abbess's voice was calling her, hoarsely and almost
desperately, from the next room.

She started and sat up straight, listening. Then the cry was heard
again, more desperate, less loud. With a quick skill which seemed
marvellous in Dalrymple's eyes, Maria adjusted her veil almost before
she had sprung to her feet.

"Wait!" she said. "Something is the matter!"

She was at the bedroom door in an instant, and in an instant more she
was at her aunt's bedside.

"Maria--I am dying," said the abbess's voice faintly, as she felt the
nun's arm under her head.

Dalrymple heard the words, and did not hesitate as he hastily felt for
something in his pocket.

"Come!" cried Maria Addolorata.

But he was already there, on the other side of the bed, pouring
something between the sick lady's lips.

It was fortunate that he was there at that moment. He had indeed
anticipated the possibility of a sudden failure in the action of the
heart, and he never came to the convent without a small supply of a
powerful stimulant of his own invention. The liquid, however, was of
such a nature that he did not like to leave the use of it to Maria
Addolorata's discretion, for he was aware that she might easily be
mistaken in the symptoms of the collapse which would really require its
use.

The abbess swallowed a sufficient quantity of it, and Dalrymple allowed
her head to lie again upon the pillow. She looked almost as though she
were dead. Her eyes were turned up, and her jaw had dropped. Maria
Addolorata believed that all was over.

"She is dead," she said. "Let us leave her in peace."

It is a very ancient custom among Italians to withdraw as soon as a
dying person is unconscious, if not even before the supreme moment.

"She will probably live through this," answered Dalrymple, shaking his
head.

Neither he nor the nun spoke again for a long time. Little by little,
the abbess revived under the influence of the stimulant, the heart beat
less faintly, and the mouth slowly closed, while the eyelids shut
themselves tightly over the upturned eyes. The normal regular breathing
began again, and the crisis was over.

"It is passed," said Dalrymple. "It will not come again to-day. We can
leave her now, for she will sleep."

"Yes," said the abbess herself. "Let me sleep." Her voice was faint, but
the words were distinctly