and I think no one could discover whether sister Gabrielle or sister Ignatia, were the chosen friend.” "Poor sister Ignatia !" said the mother-superior; "her sufferings have continued through life only to increase, and she bears then like a saint. She was to have brought a considerable portion with her to the convent, and was at length indebted to sister Mary Gabrielle, her distant cousin, for admittance as a choir sister. She was then possessed of several very useful acquirements; had a pleasing person, with but little of the nervous affection now so habitual; was remarkably quick and clever in every office assigned her; and in five years has become the distressing object you behold! Never has a murmur passed her lips, though the interior conflicts she has undergone have been a martyrdom. You see her now, apparently cold and insensible; she was once a volcano beneath the snows! but, thank God, the victory is hers. You have taken an interest in her, sister Mary Paula, which has not escaped me." "I am just considering," said Geraldine, "in which the grace of God is the most manifested, and Himself the most glorified: whether by the patient suffering of sister Ignatia, or by the rich and abundant gifts of sister Gabrielle? Without doubt I should pronounce in favour of the former, were there a shade of self-complacency discoverable in the latter; but it is, indeed, a lovely sight, to behold sister Gabrielle, as a little child in humility and confiding affection, in the midst of her sisters. Her own heart incapable of jealousy, she never imagines that such a feeling can exist in that of others." 66 Nor does it exist, thanks be to God, in our community," said the mother-superior. 66 "All we receive from our bountiful Giver is for the sisterhood. She who brings much, and she who brings little, having a willing heart, are equally accepted; for that which in temporal goods is regulated by the vow of poverty, is in spiritual and intellectual gifts equally regulated by the heart's desire of humility." The bell now rang for supper; and Geraldine followed to the choir, and thence to the refectory, trying to banish as a distraction her comparison of the two religious sisters, who had formed the subject of her conversation. She continued to meditate, however, on these two states of spiritual prosperity and adversity, for it was in that light she principally viewed them; and at length decided, after some days of observation and deliberation, that the grace of God being the most conspicuous in the lovely humility of sister Gabrielle, He must thereby receive the most glory, and the sisters the most edification. Yet she could not but think that the most glorious reward was prepared for her who had shared the most in the sufferings of her Divine Spouse. "Sister Gabrielle," thought she, "through His grace, dies to the world; but sister Ignatia is crucified to it." VOL. III.-23 CHAPTER XXI. Weep not for the saints who ascend THE SACRED HARP. "I CANNOT feel so perfectly at peace, reverend mother, as you exhort me ever to be," said our heroine one afternoon, during recreation, when the former had taken her aside to give her a little remonstrance for over-grave looks. "I am, thanks be to God, without interior or exterior trial; but I cannot disengage my heart from all sympathy with yours, and I see there is some unusual care pressing on it." "Ah! do not watch me so closely," said the mother-superior, smiling. "Mere trifles can press upon an unfaithful heart." "No," said Geraldine, "trifles have no power over you; and why will you not confide in me? Must I think, dear reverend mother, that you repent of the precious hours we have passed together, and wish me, when alone with you, to be as ceremoniously the novice' with her mother-superior,' as when with the community?" 6 6 "Never can I wish that," replied the mothersuperior; for it is I who must then feel the privi leged person. Believe me, sister Mary Paula, I find comfort, real comfort, in the time we pass together; and I fear not to intrust to you, as you request it, the cause of my anxiety, or, as I ought to feel it, rather that of greater reliance on Divine Providence. A Sister of Mercy must not be so wanting in faith, as to be anxious. The same God who guards us when we leave the enclosure, and causes our safe return, will protect us when danger is within our walls; or, if he permit our mortal part to sink in His service, will mercifully receive our souls.Two of the sisters have caught the fever." "You mean the typhus fever?" 66 "I do. Sister Placida and sister Gabrielle are now in the infirmary; and the door which opens from that corridor into the dormitories, will be kept locked. Mother Juliana will give you all other instructions, as she will receive directions this evening." "I trust, reverend mother, you will permit me to nurse the sisters," cried Geraldine, eagerly. "Let me intreat this favour of you." 66 If the infirmarian wishes for your services, sister Mary Paula, she will apply to your mistress," replied the mother-superior. "I stand rebuked," said our heroine. "Desire nothing, refuse nothing!' how easy has that appeared till now." They now returned to the rest of the community; but had not remained many minutes amongst the cheerful groups, when the five minutes' warning rang before vespers. Instantly all dispersed, in search of work to be deposited on the long tables in the community room and noviceship, in readiness for the lecture immediately after complin; and Geraldine hastened with the rest to the duty of the hour. At night prayers, the novice whose stall was behind hers, was missing. The following morning, at prime, mother Juliana led a young postulant from the choir to the infirmary; and before the evening, it was ascertained that six of the community, including sister Ignatia, had caught the malady. The two infirmarians, and a lay sister, with the mother-superior, were their constant and only assistants. Day after day Geraldine expected, in vain, to be sent for; and she found it difficult not to wish that she might have received the edification which she felt was given by the sick nuns and their tender nurses. She had, however, the comfort to receive a precious little note from the mother-superior, giving good tidings of sister Placida and the young postulant: the others continued much as they had been the preceding day, with the exception of sister Gabrielle, who was worse; and the prayers of the community continued for her with increased fervour. Three days and nights had now passed since the state of sister Mary Gabrielle had been pronounced alarming, then hopeless; and it was after the last choir office, on this third day, that Geraldine retired to her cell, hoping that she might at length receive a summons to the infirmary. She dwelt in pensive thought on the long and tender friendship which had subsisted between the dying nun and her mothersuperior, untarnished by even a passing estrangement. The highly-gifted subject had loved the sweet vassalage of obedience; to her, for Jesus' sake, the yoke had been easy, and the burthen light; and to her youthful mother had she yielded, as unto Him. This unvarying conduct, while it edified the sisterhood, was received with simplicity by the mothersuperior, as due to the office she held, and not to their previous friendship, which on both sides had been more and more purified from the mere sensible |