believe, if this plan were proposed to the sisters, it would be agreed
to."

I scouted the idea as utterly absurd; but when, the next morning, I
mentioned it to my grandmother, she caught at it eagerly, and no sooner
had she finished her breakfast than she ordered her carriage and drove
to the House of Martha.

She returned triumphant.

"We had a long discussion," she said, "but Mother Anastasia finally saw
the matter in its proper light. She admitted that if a room could be
arranged in this house, in which a sister could be actually secluded,
there was no good reason why she should not work there as consistently
with their rules as if she were in the House of Martha. Therefore, she
agreed, if you concluded to carry out this plan, to send a sister every
morning to write for you. So now, if you want a secretary from the House
of Martha, you can have one."

To this I replied that I most positively wanted one; and Walkirk was
immediately instructed to have a suitable grating made for the doorway
between my study and the secretary's room.

Nearly a week was required for the execution of this work, and during
this time I took a rest from literary composition and visited some
friends, leaving all the arrangements for my new secretary in the hands
of my grandmother and Walkirk. When I returned, the iron grating was in
its place. It was a neat and artistic piece of work, but I did not like
it. I object decidedly to anything which suggests restraint. The whole
affair of the secretary was indeed very different from what I would have
had it, but I had discovered that even in our advanced era of
civilization one cannot always have everything he wants, albeit he be
perfectly able and willing to pay for it.

XI.

MY NUN.

At nine o'clock on the morning of the appointed day my new secretary
came, accompanied by one of those sisters called by Walkirk sub-mothers.

My grandmother received the two, and conducted them to the secretary's
room. I was sitting in my study, but no attention was paid to me. The
sub-mother advanced to the grating, and, having examined it, appeared
satisfied to find that it was securely fastened in the doorway. The nun,
as I called her, although Walkirk assured me the term was incorrect,
stood with her back toward me, and when her companion had said a few
words to her, in a low tone, she took her seat at the table. She wore a
large gray bonnet, the sides and top of which extended far beyond h