is above any Book."

"Oh no, it can't be, Sister, please. What Father bade me do his own
self must be better than what other people bid me; and so what God says
in His own Book must be better than what other people say, and the
Church is only people."

"Cicely, be silent! Thou art a very silly, perverse child."

"I dare say I am, Sister, but I am sure that's true."

Sister Joan was on the point of bidding Cissy hold her tongue in a still
more authoritative manner, when one of the lay Sisters entered the room,
to say that a woman asked permission to speak with one of the teaching
Sisters.

"What is her name?"

"She says her name is Denny."

"Denny! I know nobody of that name."

"Oh, please, is her name Dorothy?" asked Cissy, eagerly. "If it's
Dorothy Denny, Mrs Wade has sent her--she's Mrs Wade's servant. Oh,
do let me--"

"Silence!" said Sister Mary. "I will go and speak with the woman."

She found in the guest-chamber a woman of about thirty, who stood
dropping courtesies as if she were very uncomfortable.

Very uncomfortable Dorothy Denny was. She did not know what "nervous"
meant, but she was exceedingly nervous for all that. In the first
place, she felt extremely doubtful whether if she trusted herself inside
a convent, she would ever have a chance of getting out again; and in the
second she was deeply concerned about several things, of which one was
Cissy.

"What do you want, good woman?"

"Please you, Madam, I cry you mercy for troubling of you, but if I might
speak a word with the dear child--"

"What dear child?" asked the nun placidly.

Dorothy's fright grew. Were they going to deny Cissy to her, or even to
say that she was not there?

"Please you, good Sister, I mean little Cis--Cicely Johnson, an' it like
you, that I was sent to with a message from my mistress, the hostess of
the King's Head in Colchester."

"Cicely Johnson is not now at liberty. You can give the message to me."

"May I wait till I can see her?"

Plainly, Dorothy was no unfaithful messenger when her own comfort only
was to be sacrificed. Sister Mary considered a moment; and then said
she would see if Cicely could be allowed to have an interview with her
visitor. Bidding Dorothy sit down, she left the room.

For quite an hour Dorothy sat waiting, until she began to think the nuns
must have forgotten her existence, and to look about for some means of
reminding them of it. There were no bells in sitting-roo