her arms, never more share in her joys or in
her sorrows, or nurse her in sickness; and when her own last hour
arrives, though but a few streets divide them, she may not give
her dying blessing to the child who has been for so many years
the pride of her eyes and heart.

"They gave me an excellent place, quite close to the grating,
beside the Countess de S----o; that is to say, a place to kneel
on. A great bustle and much preparation seemed to be going on
within the convent, and veiled figures were flitting about,
whispering, arranging, &c. Sometimes a skinny old dame would come
close to the grating, and, lifting up her veil, bestow upon the
pensive public a generous view of a very haughty and very
wrinkled visage of some seventy years standing, and beckon into
the church for the major-domo of the convent (an excellent and
profitable situation, by the way), or for padre this or that.
Some of the holy ladies recognized and spoke to me through the
grating.

"But, at the discharge of fireworks outside the church, the
curtain was dropped, for this was the signal that the nun and her
mother had arrived. An opening was made in the crowd as they
passed into the church, and the girl, kneeling down, was
questioned by the bishop, but I could not make out the dialogue,
which was carried on in a low voice. She then passed into the
convent by a side door, and her mother, quite exhausted and
nearly in hysterics, was supported through the crowd to a place
beside us, in front of the grating. The music struck up; the
curtain was again drawn aside. The scene was as striking here as
in the convent of the Santa Teresa, but not so lugubrious. The
nuns, all ranged around, and carrying lighted tapers in their
hands, were dressed in mantles of bright blue, with a gold plate
on the left shoulder. Their faces, however, were covered with
deep black veils. The girl, kneeling in front, and also bearing a
heavy lighted taper, looked beautiful, with her dark hair and
rich dress, and the long black lashes resting on her glowing
face. The churchmen near the illuminated and magnificently-decked
altar formed, as usual, a brilliant background to the picture.
The ceremony was the same as on the former occasion, but there
was no sermon.