ief, and help the poor
woman a little. She must have come there in a state of destitution:
her clothes revealed her poverty. But I durst not disturb either her
mourning or their prayers, and I came out quietly on tiptoe.

Outside, the rain, which was now falling heavily, refreshed my fevered
head somewhat. I crossed the courtyard quickly; but my candle went
out, and I had some trouble in relighting it, which was very
necessary, as I had to find my way in a maze of doors and passages. At
last I reached my staircase, and passed the landing and the Sisters'
chapel. I heard a distant clock strike midnight, went up another
storey, and opened our door noiselessly. I thought that B. would
perhaps be waiting for me impatiently, anxious to learn the reason of
all the noise.

But B. was snoring with the bed-clothes over his ears.

At six o'clock some one knocked at our door, and I opened my eyes.
Daylight showed faintly through the only window. I wondered where I
was, and suddenly remembered ... Elverdinghe ... the convent....

"Is it you, Sister Gabrielle?" I asked.

"Oh, yes, it's I. Get up. I have been knocking for more than an hour."

B. sat up in his bed. I did the same, and told him what I had seen the
evening before. He shook his head mournfully, and concluded:

"Well, ... it's war.... I hope they'll have a good breakfast ready for
us."

We hurried through our dressing and ablutions, for we had to get back
quickly to our quarters. As we came out of our room, lively and
refreshed, we met Sister Gabrielle, who seemed to have been waiting
for us. She asked us how we had slept, and, to stop the flood of
eloquence that B. was on the point of letting loose, she said:

"That's right. You shall thank me later on. Come down now; your
breakfast is waiting for you. It will get cold."

But, on passing the chapel, B. would insist on seeing it. Sister
Gabrielle hesitated a moment, and then gave way, as you would to a
child for the sake of peace. She opened the outer door, and smiled
indulgently, as if anxious to humour all our whims. We passed through
an anteroom, and then entered the chapel. It was quite small, only
large enough to hold about twenty people. The walls were white,
without any ornament, and panelled up to about the height of a man.
The altar was extremely simple, and decorated with a few flowers. Some
rush chairs completed the plenishings of the sanctuary where the good
Sisters of Elverdinghe assembled every m