three months in my lessons with the beautiful Laura: suffice it to say
that we exhausted every method that two young girls of ardent
imagination could propose. At last the time approached for us to
separate, and with tears and embraces we bade each other adieu.

I returned home and it was several years before I saw the sweet
companion of my school days again.

Chapter II

THE MYSTERIES OF A CONVENT

When I returned home I found my father as gloomy and austere as ever.
He welcomed me with a cold kiss and asked me a few questions as to the
progress I had made in my studies. My replies did not appear to satisfy
him and I had not been home a week before he declared his intention to
send me to school again. I was by no means sorry to hear of this
resolve, for my brother was finishing his education in New York, and
the house was insufferably dull. I was at once dispatched to Mount de
Sales, a convent near Baltimore. The inmates of the convent consisted
of pupils and nuns--the latter acting as instructresses to the former,
assisted by two or three priests.

I had been in the convent a year when we received a new pupil named
Margaret Maitland, the daughter of a distinguished lawyer, residing in
Baltimore. Margaret was a beautiful girl about my own age. She was
rather tall, her eyes and hair were black, while her skin was of a
whiteness ravishing to behold.

She was exceedingly religious and spent a great portion of her time in
prayer, fasting and vigils. I noticed that she confessed to a Father
Clark very frequently and always appeared very happy and contented when
she left the confessional. I felt satisfied that there was something
going on which partook more of the flesh than the spirit, and I
determined to watch.

Father Clark's apartment was situated at the eastern extremity of the
convent. It contained a large closet, and one day I concealed myself in
it at the time I knew his penitent would visit him. I had been there
but a few minutes before the priest entered. He was about forty years
of age, stoutly built and rather handsome. He did not wait long before
Margaret made her appearance. She looked positively beautiful. Her eyes
sparkled, her cheeks were flushed, and her bosom rose and fell, showing
that she was laboring under some excitement. To my extreme surprise,
the moment she entered the room she ran up to Father Clark, and
throwing her white arms round his neck kissed him passionately on the
lips. H