with her hand on the door knob.
She looked silently at her young companion, as if repeating the
question she had already asked; and Sister Giovanna understood and
slowly bent her head.

'I can bear anything now,' she said.

She opened the door, and the two entered the quiet room, where one of
the Sisters sat reading her breviary by the shaded light in the
corner. The wounded man lay fast asleep under the influence of the
morphia, and the white coverlet was drawn up to his chin. He was not
very pale, Sister Giovanna thought; but she could not see well,
because there was a green shade over the small electric lamp in the
corner of the room.

'Sister Giovanna will take your place for to-night,' said the Mother
Superior to the nun, who had risen respectfully, and who left the room
at once.

The mother and daughter turned to the bedside and stood looking down
at the sleeping man's face. Instinctively their hands touched and then
held each other. Experience told them both that in all probability
Giovanni would sleep till morning under the drug, and would wake in a
dreamy state in which he might not recognise his nurse at once; but
sooner or later the recognition must take place, words must be spoken,
and a question must be asked. Would he or would he not consent to the
operation which alone could save his life? So far as the two women
knew and understood the law, everything depended on that. If he
deliberately refused, it would be because he chose not to live without
Angela, not because he feared to go through life a cripple. They were
both sure of that, and they were sure also that if any one could
persuade him to choose life where the choice lay in his own hands, it
would be Sister Giovanna herself. The operation was not one which
should be attended with great danger; yet so far as the law provided
it was of such gravity as to require the patient's own consent.

Neither of the two nuns spoke again till the Mother Superior was at
the door to go out.

'If you want me, ring for the lay sister on duty and send for me,' she
said. 'I will come at once.'

She did not remember that she had ever before said as much to a nurse
whose night was beginning.

'Thank you,' answered Sister Giovanna; 'I think he will sleep till
morning.'

The door closed and she made two steps forward till she stood at the
foot of the bed. For a few moments she gazed intently at the face she
knew so well, but then her glance turned quickly toward