Page:Elizabeth Jordan--Tales of the cloister.djvu/146

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Tales of the Cloister

may not be until the end. In her delirium she may sing or say things that will be painful to you. Most of it will probably be in French. So I would suggest that you select for her attendants in the sick-room Sisters who do not understand that language."

The Superior inclined her head without speaking. The woman in the bed turned her eyes from one to the other.

"Where is my cross?" she cried, suddenly.

They had removed it when they undressed her, but one of the Sisters got it and placed it in her hand to quiet her.

"Fasten it," she said, "fasten it here, on my breast. Do you know what that cross means? It means home! Some day I shall go home, you know. I've never had a home here. And I shall show them the cross and they will let me in—they will let me in—"

The doctor felt her pulse.

"She is weaker than I thought," he said. "The excitement has told. I will remain—with your permission. It is not safe to leave her now."

The voice from the pillow babbled on of the old school-days, of former companions and classmates, of girlish revels, of the quiet garden, of the little chapel, of favorite Sisters. All the memories of the old convent life seemed

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