Page:Elizabeth Jordan--Tales of the cloister.djvu/168

 "The man," she hazarded; "he must be good if you care for him."

"He is—he is all that is good," came the stifled tones from the head now buried in her lap. "He is so kind, so generous, he does so much for my poor people. It was through them that I met him, for he works among them too. He is Dr. Richard Schuyler."

The nun looked at the water bubbling in the fountain near them. A gold-fish came up to the surface, and she followed its graceful motions with intent interest until it dropped again to the bottom of the little pool.

"Every one seems to speak of him, and all speak well," she said, slowly. Then she sat for a few moments in silence and deep thought.

The voice of the other ran on, and the nun listened, though her mind was busy. Her brain worked out in detail the situation between the man and the sweet but almost fanatical girl who might give up, if she were permitted, the happiness of a lifetime. It was all clear enough.

"He says he will help me in my work," said Alice, faintly. "I think he would, too, and yet I am afraid we might fail, and grow absorbed and selfish. I put all these things away from me, you know, when I made my profession. Yet now a thousand temptations