Page:Elizabeth Jordan--Tales of the cloister.djvu/191

 past eight she was in her class-room. She had an hour for her noonday meal, which was preceded by prayers. She taught until four, finished the work of the school-day, and enjoyed an hour of recreation in the garden. Even here she had no intimates, but took her evening rest indifferently with this or that Sister, as it chanced. After the vesper meal she attended prayers, read, and talked with her associates in the large assembly room, and at nine was wrapped in the deep sleep of youth.

Her acquaintances came to the convent more rarely as time passed. They realized that her decision was irrevocable before the taking of the black veil should shut her off from the world forever. She, too, realized this, and thought of it with an odd sensation which she found it hard to analyze.

Before she took her final vows she was subjected to further tests of discipline, somewhat more severe, and emerged from them triumphantly. After these there was a "retreat," which included a week of silence and fasting. Then the morning of the final ceremony arrived, and the nearest and dearest of those who had known and loved the candidates for the black veil crowded the convent chapel to see them sever the last tie that bound them to the outside world.