use, had most solemnly
warned the whole sisterhood that they were not to speak of "Miss
Levison's" presence in the convent to any visitor, or pupil, or any other
person whatever, or to write of it to any correspondent. The nuns had
obeyed their abbess so well, that not a whisper of Salome's presence in
the house had been heard outside its walls.

At length Christmas drew near.

The academy was closed for the season, and the pupils all went home to
spend their holidays.

After the departure of their young charges, the sisterhood were very busy
in making preparations to celebrate the joyous anniversary of our Lord's
birth.

There were so many delightful little duties to be done; the chapel to be
decorated with evergreens and exotics; the shrines of the saints to be
decked; extra dainties to be made for the sick in the Infirmary; presents
to be got up for the aged men and women of the "Home" attached to the
convent; entertaining books to be selected and inscribed with the names
of the boys and girls of their Orphan Asylum; doll-babies to be dressed
and toys to be chosen for the infants of their Foundling; and, finally,
a great Christmas-tree to be mounted and decorated for the delight of the
whole community within their walls.

The sisterhood took so much pleasure in all these preparations for
Christmas, that it occurred to the abbess she might be able so far to
interest her unhappy guest in the work as to arouse her from that fearful
lethargy which seemed to be destroying both her mind and body.

Salome Levison, while she had been a pupil in the convent, had never
performed any services for the charities of the community except by
giving liberally from her ample means.

Gladly would she have ministered in person to the needs of old age,
illness, or infancy; but for her to have done so would have been against
the rules of the establishment. The pupils of the academy were not
permitted to hold any intercourse whatever with the inmates of the
charitable institutions of the convent. This was a concession to the
prudence of parents, who feared all manner of contaminations from any
communication between their children and such _miserables_.

The convent was so planned as to effect a complete separation between the
academy and the asylums.

The buildings were erected around a hollow square. They measured a
hundred feet on each side, and arose to a height of four stories.

In the centre of the front, or northern, face