Page:Elizabeth Jordan--Tales of the cloister.djvu/187

 the vases in her room with garden roses and mignonettes, and her acquaintances marvelled at the taste which preferred these to the sumptuous flowers she might have had. They did not realize that their simple perfume was as if breathed from the cloister to which her heart turned.

Two years passed, and she went back to the convent. It was understood by her friends that she was only "on probation." She was not to take her vows until there had been time to discover that her choice of life should be the cloister and not the world. But she slipped so readily into the little niche awaiting her that there was neither in her soul nor in theirs much question as to her ultimate decision.

As "candidate" and "novice" the years went swiftly. Some slight relaxation of the rules was made for her. She was permitted to see her outside friends occasionally, and keep in touch with their lives and interests. In the perfect conventual system, where each unit has its special place, she had been assigned to the teaching ranks. She prepared herself for this work with characteristic thoroughness. She became also the first assistant of Sister Rodriguez, the convent infirmarian, and won the deep respect of that gentle nun.