s a
Mother Superior, and that in time she would be all of the first and not
any of the latter, she had truly done this with a delicate ingenuousness
beyond compare. It had not been the exhalation by the flower of inviting
perfume or its show of color; it had been the simple opening of the
blossom to the free sun and air before my eyes.

My last interview with Mother Anastasia had crystallized in my mind a
mist of suppositions and fancies which had vaguely floated there for
some time. It is not surprising that I was greatly moved at the form the
crystal took.

When Walkirk came, the next day, to make his usual reports, I talked to
him of Mother Anastasia. Of course I did not intimate to him how I had
been thinking of her, but I gave him as many facts as possible, in order
that I might discover what he would think of her. When I had finished my
account of the interview of the morning before, I could see that a very
decided impression had been made upon him. His countenance twitched, he
smiled, he looked upon the floor. For a moment I thought he was going to
laugh.

"This amuses you," I remarked.

"Yes," he replied, his face having recovered its ordinary composure, "it
is a little funny. Mother Anastasia seems to be a good deal of a
manager."

"Yes," I said reflectively, "that is true. It is quite plain that,
perceiving an opportunity of a private conference with me, she took
advantage of the circumstances. We could have had an ordinary chat just
as well in one place as another, but it was easy to see that she did not
wish the boy who was unhitching the horse to hear even the first words
of our conversation. As you say, she is a good manager, and I had my
suspicions of that before you mentioned it." As I said this I could not
help smiling, as I thought how surprised he would be if he knew in what
direction my suspicions pointed. "Do you know," I continued, "if it is
necessary that the head of a sisterhood should be a life member of it?"

"I have never heard," he answered, "but I have been informed that the
organization of the House of Martha is a very independent one, and does
not attempt to conform itself to that of any other sisterhood. The women
who founded it had ideas of their own, and what rules and laws they made
I do not know."

For a few moments I walked up and down the room; then I asked, "How did
Mother Anastasia come to be the Mother Superior?"

"I have been told," said Walkirk, "that she gave most of