Page:Elizabeth Jordan--Tales of the cloister.djvu/239

, and had proved a tower of strength to the fragile nun whose health had failed sadly during the year. In fact, it was a question whether Sister Rodriguez herself would not soon be forced to swell the list of invalids under Sister Cuthbert's zealous care. She had to hurry from the wing of the convent where the sick nuns lay to the dormitory that held the ailing pupils, and her days knew little rest. The pupils submitted to her tender ministrations with touching docility. In fact, it was whispered that the presence of this popular novice in the infirmary had brought about an alarming increase in the list of applicants for its shelter.

Only Sister Philomene fully understood the far-reaching influence of the ascetic novice in whose deep eyes burned the light of intense religious fervor. Sister Philomene knew why the other novices went to Sister Cuthbert in their trouble, rather than to her. It was Sister Cuthbert who soothed them, who quieted their fears, who prayed for them and with them when doubt or trials assailed them. It was Sister Cuthbert's simple piety, so deep and so moving, which, by the mere fact of its holiness, had brought many to a realization of their religion as the most important element in their lives.

"She can do more with them than I can,"