Page:Elizabeth Jordan--Tales of the cloister.djvu/237

 who could take charge of my duties," reflected Sister Philomene. "That would mean that Sister Cuthbert would have to take her place in the infirmary."

She read again, slowly, the letter addressed to the novice:

"Sister M. Cuthbert. ", You will pardon the intrusion of a friend who writes in your interest. I feel it my duty to inform you of the very alarming condition of your mother. Yesterday at the request of the family I and several other physicians held a consultation over her case. There was only one opinion. Unless a marked change for the better comes within forty-eight hours, we must look for the end. I regret to say there is little probability of such a change, but there is one chance for her, and that, it seems to me, rests with you.

"A pathetic feature of your mother's illness, and one which, as an old friend of the family as well as its physician, has moved me deeply, is the fact that in her delirium she constantly calls for you. In her conscious moments she insists with the unselfishness you know so well that you be not summoned to her, as such a call at this time might interfere with your duties in the cloister. She has made the family promise not to send for you. I, however, am free to follow the dictates of heart and reason, and I refuse to see her agonizing for her daughter, whose presence at this juncture might afford the one chance of her