Page:Elizabeth Jordan--Tales of the cloister.djvu/235



ISTER PHILOMENE, mistress of novices at St. Mary's, fingered nervously the letter she held in her hand. The envelope, addressed to Sister M. Cuthbert, lay face upward on the table before her. She looked at the firm, clear writing and smiled ironically when she realized that she was studying the characteristic slope of the letters in an absent-minded endeavor to read from them something of the writer's personality. This interest in chirography was the nearest approach to a hobby in the life of the self-contained nun. It seemed singular, however, to her that it could encroach ever so slightly on her attention when her mind was engrossed by a painful problem.

She frowned reflectingly and opened the drawer of her desk. Another letter, addressed to herself, lay in it. She took it out, drew it from its envelope, and spread it open on the table beside the first. Then, with a deepening