use for wishing to
inspect the institution. It would be supposed that he meant to write an
article upon it. He did not intend to say why he had come.

The building occupied by the Sisters of St. Elizabeth was certainly
beautiful and picturesque. Hubert remembered with a half smile the
enthusiastic praise that Mrs. Rumbold had bestowed upon it. The chapel,
an exquisite little gem of Gothic architecture, stood in the centre,
flanked by two long gray wings appropriated to the school-girls and
their teachers, the Orphanage and the Sisterhood. St. Elizabeth's was
becoming quite a noted school for girls, especially among persons of
High Anglican proclivities; and in surveying the lovely buildings, the
exquisitely-kept grounds, the smooth lawns and shrubberies which met his
eyes. Hubert could not but acknowledge that the outer appearance of the
place was all that could be desired. The school buildings were swathed
in purple clematis and roses; there was a pleasant hum of voices, even
of laughter, from some of the deep mullioned windows; and he saw a host
of children sporting on the lawn in the distance. The scene was bright,
peaceful, and joyous. Hubert Lepel felt a momentary thrill of relief; he
had done well for Westwood's child--he need not reproach himself on that
score.

A portress with a rosy smiling face admitted him into a visitors' room,
a small but cosy place, with vases of flowers on the table, sacred
pictures and a black-and-white crucifix on the yellow-washed walls. Here
a Sister clad in conventual garb came to inquire his business. The
stillness of the house, the unfamiliar aspect of the women's dresses,
reminded Hubert of some French and Flemish Romanist convents which he
had visited abroad. He was charmed with the likeness. It was something,
he said to himself, to find such serenity, such sweet placidity of life,
possible in the very midst of nineteenth-century England, with all her
turmoil and bustle and distraction. He did not discuss with himself the
question as to whether the life led by the inmates of these retreats
was wholesome or agreeable; it was simply on the aesthetic side that its
aspect pleased him. He could fancy himself for a moment in the depths of
a foreign land or far back in remote mediaeval times.

Could he see the buildings, the church, the school, the orphanage? Oh,
certainly! Sister Agnes, who had come to him, would be pleased to show
him everything.

She was very pleasant in manner,