The church formed a part of the convent building. It was, in fact, only
a small chapel, built in a wing of the convent, with a little cupola and
a bell over it. The bell was ringing when the party from the boat went
up towards the edifice. On entering Rollo found that the room was very
small. At the upper end was a platform, with an altar and a crucifix at
the farther end of it. The altar had very tall candles upon it, and
several bouquets of flowers. The candles were lighted.

Below the platform, in the place where the congregation would usually
be, there were two rows of seats, like pews, with small benches before
each seat to kneel upon, and also a support to lean upon in time of
prayer. These seats were very few, and there were but few people sitting
on them. The people that were there seemed to be the servants of the
convent. Mr. George and Rollo, and the people that came with them, were
the only strangers. Rollo looked around for the nuns and for the girls
of the school, but they were nowhere to be seen.

As soon as Rollo had taken his seat, he observed that, though there was
no minister or priest at the altar, the service was going on. He could
hear a female voice, which appeared to issue from some place in a
gallery behind him, out of view, reading what seemed to be verses from
the Bible, in a very sweet and plaintive tone, and at the close of each
verse all the people in the congregation below would say something in a
responding voice together.

"Do you suppose that that is one of the nuns?" whispered Rollo to his
uncle.

"Yes," said Mr. George, "probably it is."

"This is a Catholic church, is it not?" asked Rollo.

"Yes," said Mr. George, "almost all the churches on the Rhine are
Catholic churches; and nunneries are _always_ Catholic."

Rollo said no more, but attended to the service.

There was nothing that was said or done that Rollo could at all
understand; and yet the scene itself was invested with a certain
solemnity which produced a strong and quite salutary impression on his
mind. By and by a priest, dressed in his pontifical robes, came in by a
side door, and taking his place before the altar, with an attendant
kneeling behind him, or by his side, went through a great number of
ceremonies, of which Rollo understood nothing from beginning to end. Mr.
George, however, explained the general nature of the performance to him
that afternoon when they were walking up the river to Remagen, in a
co