Page:Elizabeth Jordan--Tales of the cloister.djvu/113

 The first words she spoke did that, and the rich tones made the nun's heart beat faster. Madame Holstein spoke English correctly and rapidly, but with a marked foreign accent.

"The Sister Cecilia, is it not?" she said. "It is a great pleasure to me to thank you for your kindness to my lonely little girl. Ernestine has written much of you. I think we share her heart among us—you and I and the dear father in Germany."

"You are most kind," said the nun, gently, "but I have really done little for the child that calls for gratitude. She is good and industrious, and I think she is overcoming her loneliness as she knows us better."

She looked up at the other woman as she spoke with a sweet shyness in her glance. It was the musician's tribute to the genius of the singer. Something in it touched the visitor.

"You will allow me to remain, will you not, a little while?" she asked as she took the chair the nun indicated. "I have had the pleasure of meeting the Reverend Mother, as my little girl calls her. She was good enough to let me come to you in this informal way."

She settled herself comfortably as she spoke, and, loosening her furs, threw them over the back of her chair. They made a rich setting