rning in March, and she was to be Supervising Nurse for
the week, but the custom was to go on duty at eight o'clock and it was
not yet seven.

'Well?' asked the Mother Superior, looking up from her papers, while
the young nun remained standing respectfully at the corner of the big
desk.

The tone did not invite confidence; for some reason as yet unexplained
the Mother had avoided speaking with her best nurse since that morning
in the cell.

'I have made up my mind to go to the lepers with the others, Mother,
if you will give me your permission.'

The alabaster face suddenly glowed like white fire in the early light,
the dark eyebrows knitted themselves angrily, and the lips parted to
speak a hasty word, but immediately closed again. A long silence
followed Sister Giovanna's speech, and the elder nun looked down at
her papers and moved some of them about mechanically, from one place
to another on the table.

'Are you angry with me, Mother?' asked Sister Giovanna, not
understanding.

'With you, child?' The Mother looked up, and her face had softened a
little. 'No, I am not angry with you--at least, I hope I am not.'

It was rather an ambiguous answer, to say the least, and the young nun
waited meekly for an explanation. None came, but instead, advice,
delivered in a direct and businesslike tone.

'You had better put the idea out of your mind for a month or so,
honestly and with all the intention of which you are capable. If this
is a mere impulse, felt under some mental distress, it will subside
and you will think no more about it. If it is a true call, it will
come back and you will obey it in due time. More than that, I cannot
tell you. If you are not satisfied that I am advising you well, go to
Monsignor Saracinesca the next time he is here. It is my place to
warn, not to hinder; to help you if I can, not to stand in your way.
That is all, my daughter. Go to your duties.'

Sister Giovanna bent her head obediently and left the room at once.
When she was gone, the Mother Superior rose from her desk and went
into her cell, locking the door after her. An hour later she was still
on her knees and her face was buried in her hands. She was weeping
bitterly.

In all that numerous community which she governed and guided so well
there was not one person who would have believed that she could shed
tears, scalding and passionate, even rebellious, perhaps, if the whole
truth were known; for no Sister or novice of them