clusion, "and I will keep it for you till you ask me for it
again. You are sure to ask for it again, dear child--to ask for it on
your bended knees!"

Pious and prophetic man! Before many days had passed his words came
true. If he had persisted severely in ordering me to flog myself, I
might have opposed him for months together; but, as it was, who could
resist the amiable indulgence he showed towards my weakness? The
very next day after my interview, I began to feel ashamed of my own
cowardice; and the day after that I went down on my knees, exactly as
he had predicted, and said, "Father Deveaux, give me back my
cat-o'-nine-tails." From that time I cheerfully underwent the discipline
of flagellation, learning the regular method of practising it from the
sisterhood, and feeling, in a spiritual point of view, immensely the
better for it.

The nuns, finding that I cheerfully devoted myself to every act of
self-sacrifice prescribed by the rules of their convent, wondered very
much that I still hesitated about taking the veil. I begged them not to
mention the subject to me till my mind was quite made up about it. They
respected my wish, and said no more; but they lent me books to read
which assisted in strengthening my wavering resolution. Among these
books was the Life of Madame de Montmorenci, who, after the shocking
death of her husband, entered the Order of St. Mary. The great example
of this lady made me reflect seriously, and I communicated my thoughts,
as a matter of course, to Father Deveaux. He assured me that the one
last greatest sacrifice which remained for me to make was the sacrifice
of my liberty. I had long known that this was my duty, and I now felt,
for the first time, that I had courage and resolution enough boldly to
face the idea of taking the veil.

While I was in this happy frame of mind, I happened to meet with the
history of the famous Rance, founder, or rather reformer, of the Order
of La Trappe. I found a strange similarity between my own worldly errors
and those of this illustrious penitent. The discovery had such an effect
on me, that I spurned all idea of entering a convent where the rules
were comparatively easy, as was the case at Anticaille, and determined,
when I did take the veil, to enter an Order whose discipline was as
severe as the discipline of La Trappe itself. Father Deveaux informed me
that I should find exactly what I wanted among the Carmelite nuns;
and, by his advice, I immed